The Vampire Killing Kit or "The accoutrements for the eradication of vampires"

**DARTH SABER** · Mar 12, 2011

So my wife and I are watching this show (Auction Kings) on Discovery channel a few weeks back and they were auctioning off a 19th century vampire killing kit -

This kit ended up selling for $12K

My wife, who's a vampire fan, looks at me and says "That's one of the coolest things Ive ever seen...You should make one."...Needless to say , my mind was already working out all the materials I would need to make one.

So, I went ahead and picked up one of those home decor trunk/suitcases. THey usually sell for about 25-30$ at Michaels or other craft stores. Usually these kits are made from 19th century lap desks, but I wanted something with a handle and some vintage accents on the outside (Lap desks dont usually come with handles and the ones with vintage designs usually run $200-$400)

THe home decor suitcases use pretty flimsy wood for the top and bottom, but that didn't matter since I was going to build an inner tray with compartments that would reinforce the flimsy wood.

So after picking up the suitcase, I managed to find a small bible from the 1870's on Ebay (only $14!)

Ordered two sets of corked apothecary bottles (a set of five larger bottles, a set of ten slender smaller bottles, and one amber bottle for the holy water). about.
a Denix 1849 colt pocket pistol replica (hasn't arrived yet).

a vintage powder flask replica.

Vintage rosary beads from Ebay.

9.5" dagger from Ebay .

an old mallet at a local junk shop.

A vintage syringe from ebay

Still need to find the right crucifix and percussion cap tin.

The good part is that most of the stuff I bought was really old, so no real need to weather it.

I made the stakes out of wood rods from Home Depot by using a utility knife to widdle the shape. Stained the wood and sealed with polyurethane.
The grips were done with twine.

Im building the inner tray with the compartments right now.Unfortunately im Still waiting for those bottles to arrive so I can get an accurate measurement.
Im also going to try and get a hold of the actual authentic ingredients for the potions contents of the apotropaic vials.

More updates later.

DS

**RPF Support**

**Jm419** · Mar 12, 2011

Pretty damn cool. Nice work.

**rundown** · Mar 12, 2011

A holy hammer of the lands of Ban!
Not really the first thing that comes to my mind when i think about killing vampires. Funny though

**hradzka** · Mar 13, 2011

Great project!

There was an interesting discussion about a similar kit in the Survival Arts forum (which no longer exists, but here's a link to the wayback machined thread), when one sold several years ago. A guy named Michael De Winter claimed to have invented the Vampire Killing kit in the early 70s, when he was in the antique guns trade in London. One day, a customer traded him a low-grade Belgian percussion pistol as part of a deal, and figuring it wasn't worth anything else, De Winter fobbed up a "Vampire Killing Kit" as a Barnum stunt, and priced it outrageously for its advertisement value. Then he started seeing copies of it pop up, all of them copying the original bunkum text he'd written.

That was De Winter's story, anyway. I'm inclined to believe him, as pre-Dracula vampire lore is all over the place, and if you look at the contents, the stuff that got packed into these supposedly historic kits is all the kind of thing that somebody would pack if they'd seen a lot of Universal horror movies.

It's a terrific project, anyway.

**DARTH SABER** · Mar 13, 2011

hradzka said:

Great project!

There was an interesting discussion about a similar kit in the Survival Arts forum (which no longer exists, but here's a link to the wayback machined thread), when one sold several years ago. A guy named Michael De Winter claimed to have invented the Vampire Killing kit in the early 70s, when he was in the antique guns trade in London. One day, a customer traded him a low-grade Belgian percussion pistol as part of a deal, and figuring it wasn't worth anything else, De Winter fobbed up a "Vampire Killing Kit" as a Barnum stunt, and priced it outrageously for its advertisement value. Then he started seeing copies of it pop up, all of them copying the original bunkum text he'd written.

That was De Winter's story, anyway. I'm inclined to believe him, as pre-Dracula vampire lore is all over the place, and if you look at the contents, the stuff that got packed into these supposedly historic kits is all the kind of thing that somebody would pack if they'd seen a lot of Universal horror movies.

It's a terrific project, anyway.

Yeah, I read up on DeWinter while doing research for this project.
The only problem is that DeWinter claims "Professor Ernst Blomberg" and "Nicholas Plomdeur" were creations of his own imagination.
However on the Survivalarts site it was discovered that both Blomberg and Plomdeur" were real.

Blomberg was a zoologist proffessor who was obsessed with lycanthropy and vampirism.
http://spookylandcrypt.webs.com/blomberg.html#part4a

Nicolas Plomduer was also a noted gun maker -
http://spookylandcrypt.webs.com/blomberg.html#part5b

THis doesn't prove that these kits are real, but it does question the validity of DeWinter's claims.

**Gunplameister** · Mar 14, 2011

Great project, every home should have one of these...right next to the zombie survival kit.

**DARTH SABER** · Mar 21, 2011

OK, here's something creepy -
so I went ahead and picked up a syringe on Ebay...It arrived today, and it came with a small broken glass vial labeled "Strychnine Sulphate" "POISON".

Makes me wonder what the hell this syringe was used for.

**littlecabezas** · Mar 22, 2011

That is going to be a great display piece, interesting about the poison in the syringe too

**WireFox** · Mar 22, 2011

Are you going to line the box with fabric? or possibliy age the inside a bit as well?

**DARTH SABER** · Mar 22, 2011

WireFox said:

Are you going to line the box with fabric? or possibliy age the inside a bit as well?

Yeah, I already picked up some rolls of self adhesive velvet.

**devious** · Mar 22, 2011

Pretty cool.
Are you going to use real holy water?

And the syringe could have been used by a vet, the posion to put down an animal perhaps.

Cool build, keep us posted.

**tullfan81** · Mar 22, 2011

I love this kind of stuff. I can't wIt to see more pictures and the finished product.

**DARTH SABER** · Mar 30, 2011

Update -

DS

**SamC** · Mar 30, 2011

Wow, beautiful work! Funny thing for me is, I played with the same idea two days before you posted your project here

**mrsmartypants** · Mar 30, 2011

DARTH SABER said:

Update -

DS

This is coming along nicely! Keeping a close eye on this.

One question: if you're going for "historical" accuracy, should you use a Colt pistol? A civil war era firearm seems kind of out of place in an Eastern European vampire killer's arsenal. Maybe a Russian or Spanish flintlock or derringer from the era instead?

Just a thought. Keep up the great work, regardless.

**DARTH SABER** · Mar 30, 2011

mrsmartypants said:

This is coming along nicely! Keeping a close eye on this.

One question: if you're going for "historical" accuracy, should you use a Colt pistol? A civil war era firearm seems kind of out of place in an Eastern European vampire killer's arsenal. Maybe a Russian or Spanish flintlock or derringer from the era instead?

Just a thought. Keep up the great work, regardless.

While most kits are supposedly European, some of the kits were made in New Orleans and Boston for travelers heading to Europe. I decided to go with one of the american made kits.
Also, I just got sick of seeing all the kits with flintlock type pistols. I wanted to add something a bit different.

**mrsmartypants** · Mar 30, 2011

I hear ya. You're inspiring me to start my own kit, so I'm anxious to see how yours ultimately turns out.

**DARTH SABER** · Apr 4, 2011

New update -
Finally got my bottles.

**TazVader** · Apr 4, 2011

wow....very tasteful....wow.

Best
TAZ

**Vincenzo330** · Apr 4, 2011

This is such an awesome Idea! How much do you think you've spent so far?

**mrsmartypants** · Apr 4, 2011

The rail and hinge in the bottle section is a very nice touch.

**DARTH SABER** · Apr 4, 2011

Thanks guys.

Vincenzo330 said:

This is such an awesome Idea! How much do you think you've spent so far?

Id say probably about $350...However, after figuring out some things by making this kit, I could probably cut down the price to about half if I made another one.

**DarkPassenger** · Apr 4, 2011

This reminds me of a time when vampires were cool, before they started to suck but not just literally.

**DARTH SABER** · Apr 4, 2011

DarkPassenger said:

This reminds me of a time when vampires were cool, before they started to suck but not just literally.

Agreed -

VAMPIRE =

NOT VAMPIRE =

**DARTH SABER** · Apr 15, 2011

Here's the final product -

The Vampire Killing Kit or "The accoutrements for the eradication of vampires"

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