Vampire Hunting Kits

[Dr von Zarkov]

Create a boxed set of garlic, crucifixes, wooden stakes, and silver bullets, and you're ready to annihilate the blood-sucking forces of evil. Such sets – authentic or otherwise – have been displayed here in the past.

Our friends at BoingBoing direct us to a photo gallery of such kits at LA Weekly.

[Mad Miss Holmes]

http://vliegendenederlandse.deviantart.com/art/Tools-of-the-Trade-III-120147556
My version. I'm also working on a "slayer's manual" to go with it. The Idiot's Guide to Vampire Hunting, if you will.

[darkshines]

So who's kit made it to the front of Fortean Times this month then?!

[Captain Lyerly]

These can be a lot of fun - I have just found an appropriate crucifix, and I am tracking down a box as a starter.  Mine will definitely have a Steampunk flair, and I hope to do it up as convincingly as some of those I have seen out there.

Now, obviously, none of these were actually put together "in period"; even if they use antique components, there were none sold, even as tourist souvenirs or curiosities, before the middle of the 20th century (if anybody has concrete evidence to the contrary, I would dearly love to see it! I do wish they were real).  But I want to go back to square one; and come up with - well, not quite what Van Helsing used in that movie, but what was available at the time, starting with what was 'known' at the time, and come up with a single full kit for fighting off all forms of supernatural monsters.  Vampires, zombies, lycanthropes, and so on (no offense to our more hirsute members, I am sure!).

Ideas?


Thanks!



Chas.

[Aleister Crow]

Have you thought about using a violin case? Roomy, easy to carry, and no one has made a vampire kit in one as far as I know. Another idea would be an old fashioned doctor's bag.

Just tossing these out, as the wooden cases vampire kits usually have don't seem all that convenient to carry around.

[Herbert West]

Propnomicon has a very nice selection on his blog.

http://propnomicon.blogspot.com/search/label/Vampire%20Hunting%20Kits

[VampirateMace]

Have you thought about using a violin case? Roomy, easy to carry, and no one has made a vampire kit in one as far as I know. Another idea would be an old fashioned doctor's bag.

Just tossing these out, as the wooden cases vampire kits usually have don't seem all that convenient to carry around.

I always thought a bag was more practical, though unless it's fairly small or has pockets, you'll have to rummage around for the tool you want/need, which is probably not a good thing when vampires are closing in on you.

[Aleister Crow]

Have you thought about using a violin case? Roomy, easy to carry, and no one has made a vampire kit in one as far as I know. Another idea would be an old fashioned doctor's bag.

Just tossing these out, as the wooden cases vampire kits usually have don't seem all that convenient to carry around.

I always thought a bag was more practical, though unless it's fairly small or has pockets, you'll have to rummage around for the tool you want/need, which is probably not a good thing when vampires are closing in on you.

Those cases don't look all that fast to get into, either, not to mention they'd be quite a bit heavier. Besides, if vampires are closing in on you, you're doing it wrong. You hunt them during the day, while they sleep. It's so much easier to put a stake in them when they're not ripping your arms off.

The wood cases make for great displays, or "Storage when not hunting". Aside from that, you'd grab what you think you'll need, stuff it in your bag, (and put your gun in a holster) and go.

[Captain Lyerly]

I just picked up a gilt crucifix - it is actually a casket crucifix; how it got to a charity shop I just can't figure.  It will go on the lid of the box; carried like an attache case it will be correctly displayed - when placed on a flat surface and opened, it would face away from the person using the box.  I think this will be a "professional" level kit - for somebody who is going out to hunt, rather than the "traveler's" kit, for someone to use for defense if passing through afflicted areas, such as Transylvania, Karpathia, or Philadelphia.   Depending on the size of the box I eventually choose, I may include an "expansion pack" for one or more specific geographical areas.  It makes sense that you wouldn't take the measures that are only good against European Lycanthropes, for instance, on a tomb-robbing expedition to the Upper Nile.

I find it interesting that some of the prices, and the fact that otherwise reputable auction houses are selling these as "genuine", make this an awful tempting thing.  Considering some of the obvious mistakes in some of the more expensive versions, it seems that about a thousand dollars investment in real antiques, cobbled together as these are with just a little more care and attention to period detail, could give you a pretty high return; enough for a steady income.  All you have to do is be as dishonest as they are.  I am trying not to succumb to the temptation.





Cheers!

Chas.

[VampirateMace]

Those cases don't look all that fast to get into, either, not to mention they'd be quite a bit heavier. Besides, if vampires are closing in on you, you're doing it wrong. You hunt them during the day, while they sleep. It's so much easier to put a stake in them when they're not ripping your arms off.

You got a point there.

I remember something, vaguely, about the idea of the wooden cases being that you're be traveling by stagecoach/carriage/cart anyways, so it’s not so much a matter of carrying the case as it is having all the pieces conveniently together should the need arise, because you weren't hunting vampires so much as hoping they didn't come after you.

I might just start a kit myself.

[Aleister Crow]

It has risen from it's grave! 


Digging this up as I'm thinking of making one. I'll leave the other thread for denouncing kits that try to pass themselves off as 'real', and post stuff for actually building one here.

There's a vampire kit tutorial, posted yesterday on Pronomicon's site: http://propnomicon.blogspot.com/2012/06/vampire-killing-kit-tutorial.html

It's definitely given my some ideas, and I like the suitcase- a nice compromise between the big wooden box and the doctor's bag I was suggesting before.

[Mr Addams]

I am almost ready to start putting all of the bits that I have collected together to make my Vampire killing Kit.
I just need to find a couple more pieces.
I shall post pictures here once I start.

[Capt. Dirigible]

You got a point there.

I remember something, vaguely, about the idea of the wooden cases being that you're be traveling by stagecoach/carriage/cart anyways, so it’s not so much a matter of carrying the case as it is having all the pieces conveniently together should the need arise, because you weren't hunting vampires so much as hoping they didn't come after you.

And when all else fails you can always hit the vampire round the head with the heavy wooden case!

[Siliconous Skumins]

I'm also going to have a go at making a VKK, I have two boxes to choose from - antique Victorian era vanity case (sadly missing it's interior) and a Victorian or Edwardian sewing box (still with it's removable compartment).  I will probably go with the vanity case, as it is buggered, even the side of the case has a bloody great crack down it... So it will not harm anything if it is modified into something else.

Time to check out the car boot sales for a Victorian bible - last year I saw BOXES of them, nobody wants them and they are usually not worth anything.  The crucifix, wooden stakes and possibly the mallet I will make myself, unless I find something original / old to use. The gun and silver bullets will be the tricky part - will see what I can come up with, though need to watch what I'm doing regarding laws on replica firarms...

Should all be fairly easy to knock up. 

SS

[Aleister Crow]

I had my eye on a leather covered wood traveling case on eBay, but it went from no bids to right out of my price range in the last fifteen minutes of the auction. That'll probably be the hardest part for me; the equipment itself will be easy to find or make, but finding something to put it all in is going to be a pain.

Curse my lack of workspace, tools and money. 

[Herbert West]

I'd rather like to see a vintage paranormal investigator kit to be honest. Pop culture has so ruined vampires in recent years.

[Uncle Arthur]

ANYTHING is a better love story than  "Twilight". I like your idea Mr West.

[Siliconous Skumins]

A vintage paranormal investigator kit....  H.W, I accept your challenge! 

I think I can come up with a few ideas for that.

SS