Last week, one auction-goer went home well-prepared to face an encounter with the undead after buying a “vampire-slayer kit” dating back to the late 19th century. The kit sold for nearly $15,600 (£13,000) — six times its estimated price, after bids came from around the world.
The U.K. buyer brought home a heavy wooden box adorned on its outside with a set of brass crucifixes that slide to unlock the kit. Inside the box is a matching set of pistols, a brass gunpowder flask, holy water, a Bible, a wooden mallet, a wooden stake, brass candlesticks and rosary beads. The box also contains paperwork from the Metropolitan Police, a force that serves the greater area around London, registering an “alien enemy” in 1915.
“The task of killing a vampire was extremely serious, and historical accounts suggested the need for particular methods and tools,” Charles Hanson, the owner of Hansons Auctioneers, the auction house that sold the box, said in a statement (opens in new tab). “Items of religious significance, such as crucifixes and Bibles, were said to repel these monsters, hence their presence in the kit.”
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