Cops hunt for person wearing creepy 17th-century plague doctor costume

Avoid him like the plague!

Cops in the English village of Hellesdon are hunting for an unidentified individual who’s been creeping out locals by lurking around town while dressed as a 17th-century plague doctor, according to a report.

The menacing oddball — who sports a black cloak, hat and beak-like mask — has been spotted several times in recent weeks, with observers calling the costume downright spooky, according to the Telegraph.

“Kids would be frightened, my mum would be frightened,” a gym worker vented on a community Facebook page. “I know that, even in daylight, if she was to go round the corner and bump into him she would be so scared.”

“Scared the life out of my missus. Terrifying for kids,” another resident wrote, according to the BBC.

Jade Gosbell, 21, who snapped a photo of the person walking through a local park, said they looked like a wacko.

“It’s clearly for attention or something like that, because normal people just wouldn’t do that,” he said, according to the Telegraph.

Cops have received several reports about the freaky faux-doctor amid the coronavirus crisis and plan to give them a warning in the form of “words of advice,” the paper reported.

“Officers have been made aware of an individual who was seen walking around the Hellesdon area wearing a plague outfit,” a Norfolk police spokesman said.

“Although no offenses have been committed at this time, officers are keen to trace the individual in order to provide words of advice about the implications of his actions on the local community.”

The spokesman added, ”Should any further information come forward about any offenses being committed, we will act accordingly.”

In 1665, an outbreak of the bubonic plague spread through London, killing a quarter of the city’s population in a matter of months. Doctors treating those infected with the plague believed the creepy mask acted as a filter against the disease.