The Plague Doctor Costume Was a Real Medical Uniform (And It Smelled Like Lavender)

About this episode

The episode discusses the historical use of the plague doctor costume and its ineffective aromatherapy.

That creepy bird-mask plague doctor you put on your front porch every Halloween? That was a real outfit worn by actual physicians in 17th century Europe. The beak was stuffed with herbs and dried flowers because they believed good smells would cancel out the plague. It did not work. Hundreds of thousands of people died. The leather suit maybe helped a little — kept the fleas off. The aromatherapy did nothing. Are You Shitting Me? — something Brett learned while avoiding real responsibilities. Cheers!

People in this episode

Host: Brett

Topics covered

• plague doctors
• historical medical practices
• aromatherapy
• costumes
• European history

Keywords

• plague doctor
• costume
• 17th century
• aromatherapy
• medical uniform
• history
• Europe

Mentioned in this episode

Places: 17th century Europe

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