19th-century vampire-slaying kit up for auction

By AFP

LONDON

Worried about attacks from the undead? The answer could be at hand with a 19th-century vampire-slaying kit, “almost complete and in good condition”, about to be put up for auction in Britain.

The kit contains a mallet and stakes -- presumably for hammering into the bloodsucker’s heart -- plus pistol, steel bullet mold, Rosary beads, an 1857 Anglican prayer book and a crucifix, Tennants Auctioneers said in a statement.

Housed in a mahogany box, the kit also contains glass bottles containing holy water, holy earth, and garlic paste for warding off vampires, the BBC reported.

The kit will go under the hammer in North Yorkshire in northern England on June 22, close to where Bram Stoker wrote his classic vampire novel Dracula, published in 1897. It has already attracted international interest.

The box was left to a local woman in her uncle’s will, the BBC said.

“It’s probably a novelty thing. It’s playing to people’s superstitions,” Oonagh Drage, of the auctioneers, told the broadcaster.

The kit also contains a handwritten extract from the Bible, quoting Luke 19:27, the BBC said.

The quotation reads: “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.”