Authentic “Vampire Kill Kit” from the 19th century?

An image purporting to show a real antique vampire killing kit was circulated on social media in October 2024 (archived) (archived). For example, an

Crazy things from the past 🧵

1. Vampire killing kit pic.twitter.com/FbGctUUGFg

— James Lucas (@JamesLucasIT) October 20, 2024

In the image's ALT text, the X user who created the post wrote:

While it is believed that most vampire killing sets presented as 19th century artifacts actually date from the second half of the 20th century, this particular set belonged to a 19th century nobleman named Lord William Malcolm Hailey. Hansons Auctioneers, the New York Post and several other publications have reported that it dates from the 19th century.

It's true that Hansons Auctioneers – the company that put the set up for auction in 2022 – has identified it as a late 19th century vampire killing set that once belonged to William Malcolm Hailey, a British lord who ruled from 1872 to Lived in 1969 and spent most of his life working as a colonial administrator in India. According to the auction listing, the kit contained, among other things, crucifixes, pistols, a glass bottle for holy water, a wooden hammer and a stake.

(Hanson's Auctioneers)

It is also true that several publications reported the same details about the kit's provenance at the time the kit was sold 13,000 pounds (approximately $15,000) in June 2022.

However, there was no concrete evidence that the set was authentic instruments used to kill vampires in the 19th century or that it ever belonged to Hailey.

Jonathan Ferguson, keeper of firearms and artillery at the Royal Armories Museum in Leeds, has been studying so-called vampire killing kits for more than a decade and has found no evidence that such kits existed in the 19th century.

In fact, as he has written in various articles and blog posts, Ferguson has concluded that the kits first appeared in the mid-to-late 20th century as a result of the popularity of low-budget vampire films from Hammer Film Productions.

When we investigated another suspected vampire killing kit in 2019, we discovered that some of these kits may contain individual items – such as Bibles and crucifixes – that are really old. However, these items were not originally part of equipment intended for killing vampires.

The claim that Hailey once owned the set examined here seemingly lent credence to claims that the set was an actual artifact from the late 19th century – which, if true, would make it the oldest known vampire killing set by decades would do.

However, there was no verifiable evidence to support the claim that Hailey was once the owner of the kit examined here – and, accordingly, no evidence that this particular kit was an exception to the general rule that such kits are modern creations, which are sold as novelty items. unlike real artifacts used for vampire hunting.

By email, Ferguson said he was aware of this particular set and saw no reason to believe it was an authentic 19th century vampire killing set and could be genuine antiques.

Ultimately, Ferguson said, the kit “looks like a deliberate fake” to him, although he noted that he could not definitively prove this as his attempts to contact the buyer of the 2022 kit through the auction house were unsuccessful. The buyer's identity was not public information.

Ferguson also said that a representative from Hansons Auctioneers told him in 2022 that the company did not purchase the item directly from any member of the Hailey family and had no substantial evidence that Hailey ever owned it. This detail contradicted previous reports about the kit. For example, a Washington Post reporter wrote in a 2023 article (archived):

According to founder Charles Hanson, his company was asked to sell the artifact by a relative of Lord Hailey, who died in 1969. Although there is no record of Hailey owning the kit, it was reported that Hailey purchased the kit around 1900 and that it had remained untouched in the relative's home for the past 50 years.

Instead, Ferguson said, the auction house told him that the actual consignor of the kit was a private seller who had no family connection to Hailey and who had purchased the kit in a private sale from an unknown seller.

A representative from Hansons Auctioneers confirmed via email that the person who contacted them with the kit was in fact not a relative of Hailey's, but rather an unrelated person who told them he had the kit in Nottinghamshire, England. acquired. Proof of the kit's connection to Hailey, according to the representative, was that “the kit contained Lord Hailey's name and address and some items were marked with his initials.”

In summary, there was no verifiable evidence that the alleged vampire killing kit in the photo was any more authentic than comparable modern sets manufactured and sold as novelties. For this reason, we have classified the photo as mislabeled.

Ultimately, Ferguson said, the authenticity of vampire killing sets doesn't matter to many buyers because they are often aware that the sets are modern novelties rather than authentic 19th-century sets used for vampire hunting. These buyers, he said, “buy into the fantasy as if they were paying a lot of money for a movie prop.”