Is it true that the pictures from social networks show real vampire hunter kits?

On social networks you can often find photographs of suitcases with devices that were allegedly used against vampires in the 19th century. We have verified the authenticity of these images.

In popular publics in "VKontakte" And Facebook You can find numerous publications telling subscribers about vampire hunter kits. Although the suitcases are decorated differently, their contents are generally similar: a crucifix, a pistol (presumably with silver bullets), an aspen stake, a set of bottles with incomprehensible (but probably magical) contents, sometimes candles and a head of garlic. The pictures were quite actively published on other social networks - for example, in Twitter, LiveJournal and on Pikabu.

Since there are quite a lot of photos of vampire hunter kits on the Internet, let’s look at a few of the most popular ones separately. Let's start with four pictures that are usually published together. This selection can be found, for example, in popular public pages "How I Met Tetanus" And "The Cheerful Sociopath" on VKontakte, as well as on Twitter.

The first photo (above left) shows a suitcase upholstered in red fabric, which definitely did not appear in the 19th century. In 2005 he made American Jason McKittrick, who five years later published a photo of his work on the DeviantArt website. In the caption to that publication, he clarified that he had made the set for an exhibition about vampires and werewolves, and only a few of the items inside the set were genuine antiques, most were remakes created by McKittrick himself. When this photo was later published as a photo of a real vampire hunter's kit, McKittrick was not lazy write in the comments that this is not at all true.

The second set (top right) in 2014 was sold at an auction in the USA, the bidding price started at $4,000. The entire description of the work consists of two sentences: “A 19th century Central European vampire hunter kit in a hand-painted wooden box. The set contains wooden stakes, silver crucifixes and other items." Please note that the seller does not indicate the exact date and place of manufacture of this set, as well as its provenance, that is, the history of the transition from one owner to another. This is often serves serious grounds for doubting the authenticity of the product.

We were unable to determine the origin of the set shown in the third photo (bottom left). This item is not represented in museum collections or on auction house websites.

The last, fourth set (bottom right) for the first time showed in 2010 on the Discovery Channel's Auction Kings program. Then the seller of the product stated that it was made in the 19th century, and eventually received $12,000 for it. Moreover, in 2018, when the same set sold at auction for $3,500, it was described as “made in the early 20th century.” Moreover, shortly after the show aired on Discovery, some viewers began tell, how to easily assemble the same sets at home from items purchased on eBay.

Photos of another set can be found, in particular, in public pages "Weapons of Humanity" And "This is interesting!" on VKontakte, it was also published on Pikabu. This suitcase sold at auction in the USA in 2012. As with one of the sets above, the seller did not describe the history of the item and its previous owners, limiting itself to listing the contents.

Another set, allegedly used by a vampire hunter, appeared in public not only in "VKontakte", but also in Facebook. There is no point in talking about its authenticity. Suitcase and its contents made in 2013, the Rag N Bone Emporium store, which for several years sold their products on Etsy, a popular marketplace in the United States for handmade goods and vintage items. Besides immediately several vampire hunter kits, Rag N Bone Emporium sold letters from Jack the Ripper, Bigfoot teeth, Titanic tickets, werewolf fangs and other homemade curiosities.

In 2020, the sale of another vampire hunter set attracted the attention of major media outlets around the world. This event was written about BBC, The New York Times, The Telegraph, Daily Mail and many others. In Russia, notes were published, in particular, on Lenta.ru and in "Rossiyskaya Gazeta". At the same time, the price of the lot, as well as the unknown origin, makes this set little different from those sold previously. In its authenticity wasn't sure even the head of the auction house that sold the item. He assumed that this could actually be a theatrical prop from the mid-20th century, and called the mystery of its origin the secret of the “charm” of the set. Experts also did not see any historical value in the lot.

The examples discussed above are part of a very widespread cultural tradition, emerging in the second half of the 20th century. Then, in the wake of the popularity of films and other works of popular culture about vampires and other undead, there was a demand for themed souvenirs, and their manufacturers began to strive for authenticity. At the same time, historians emphasizethat this authenticity is usually achieved through one or two genuine items, and the rest of the contents of the set are specially aged. 

Although the historical value of such sets is at least low, they are, according to specialists, are of interest as an independent cultural phenomenon. In 2012, the British Royal Armories Museum specially bought one of these suitcases is being auctioned precisely as an item reflecting the place of vampires in popular culture. Museum curator Jonathan Ferguson explained, that many of the items contained in the set were not associated with vampires until the second half of the 20th century, accordingly, the set itself was made at least after 1970. At the same time, the author was inspired by films rather than by Bram Stoker’s Dracula and other gothic novels.

Thus, numerous vampire hunter kits, photographs of which are presented on social networks, were not used either in the 19th or early 20th centuries. In fact, these are souvenirs, the tradition of making which arose relatively recently. Often in such a set, the vast minority of items were actually created more than a hundred years ago. Nevertheless, skillfully crafted suitcases are highly prized and sell at auction for several thousand dollars. At the same time, serious auction houses like Christie’s directly warnthat "the contents of the suitcase were collected together in the second half of the 20th century."

Cover photo: Vampire killing kit case (circa 1970) from the collection Royal Armories Museum (Leeds, UK)

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Royal Armories. The ‘vampire killing kit’
2. The New York Times. How to Kill a Vampire: Not With This Kit, Apparently
3. Snopes. Is This a Vampire Hunting Kit from the Early 19th Century?
4. Atlas Obscura. Does it Even Matter if These Vintage Vampire-Killing Kits Are Real?