There are lots of folks out there making replica vampire killing kits, but the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museums have the real deal: kits earnestly prepared to combat bloodsuckers and packed with silver bullets, wooden daggers, and anti-vampire potions.
The Ripley’s collection, acquired by Ripley’s VP Edward Meyer, contains 30 authentic vampire killing kits, 26 of which are currently on display in eight Ripley’s museums. Apparently the kits are extremely rare; Meyer says Ripley’s are the only kits on public display and the remaining few reside in private collections.
It’s interesting to see how the items in these kits compare with vampire-killing tools in modern fiction. It looks like there’s a heavy reliance on chemical compounds, and the wooden stakes look more like carved knives that pointy sticks, with handy hilts and tips of metal or bone.
Vampires Beware: Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Owns the World’s Largest Collection of Authentic Vampire Killing Kits [Ripley’s Newsroom via Neatorama]