Vampire hunting kits first appeared in the mid-Victorian era, around the year 1840. They became even more common post-1897 with the publication of Bram Stoker‘s novel Dracula, appealing to both the Victorian’s passion for highly decorative conversation pieces and their keen interest in the supernatural. They have been located in countries across Europe, including England, France and Romania.
They were usually housed in portable wooden boxes, with locking systems to prevent keep both the contents safe and secure and to prevent them from falling into the ‘wrong hands’. Though the contents varied according to the whims of the manufacturer or the owner they variously contained:
1. A wooden mallet
2. A wooden stake
3. A rosary
4. A crucifix
5. A stake (sometimes more than one, allowing for bad shot and multiple foes
6. Pliers (presumably to assist with the removal of coffin nails and fangs
7. A pistol
8. Vials of various liquids and potions; holy water, sulphur, powdered flowers of garlic, flour of brimstone, holy earth
9. A Bible or sacred texts
10. Rope to bind the limbs
Although reproductions have appeared from the 1920′s right up to the present day, original kits, often with their contents completely intact, have found their way onto the general market, commanding high prices. Below is a kit acquired by the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, England, purchased at a major auction house for £2000.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-18367300
Although suspected to be a late 20th Century copy, it features a handwritten note which says:
Luke 19:27, But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.
Daz Lawrence
