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Egads! Found near Vlad Tepes' castle in Sighisoara. That says it all. There is no such castle. And Vlad had no connection with vampires. And look at that Latin! Now we are expected to believe that "nosferatu" is a Latin word!
It isn't even Romanian.

Some idiot is going to buy this? Oh well, there is one born every minute.

Baby Jinx

>Some idiot is going to buy this?

Yep, some idiot DID buy it and paid $1,000 [plus $90-$300 to ship it from Transylvania].


The buyer is a dummy bidder, so it goes nowhere. In a compact theory.

G Howard

I am the "Idiot" that bought the vampire killing kit. I am an expert in antiques. The piece is authentic, and worth a lot of money. GH

G Howard

By the way it did come in DHL from Romania, and has been authenticated by a major auction house and estimated at 25-35K!!!! Yes, the "castle" was not correct, but the pieces is. It has even come with a stack of documents from the Romania Gov. Giving access for it to leave the country. Who's the idiot now? GH


(repeated comments deleted)


Check out http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/a/040359.htm

At some point, it appears that someone gathered items and put them into "vampire killing kits." Even Sotheby's admitted that these might have been put together after Stoker's novel became popular (ie 20th century). But even if they were assembled in the 19th, that hardly makes them authentic as far as vampire killing is concerned.I do not dispute that the container itself may be a valuable antique. I do not know.

By the way, the Romanian government (and individual Romanians) are not averse to making a few dollars off the tenuous connection between Romania and vampires. A few years ago, an enterprising Romanian in Sighisoara was selling small bottles of "genuine soil from Count Dracula's castle."!!!

Let me reiterate what I stated earlier about "nosferatu." If that word appears anywhere on the documentation, then let the bells ring loud and clear. There is no such word in the Romanian (let alone Latin) language. Its first appearance was in Gerard's 1885 article where Stoker found it. Gerard apparently misinterpreted something she heard and rendered it as "nosferatu."


I wish I was the buyer of this antique, it doesnt look fake and some people dont know how to authenticate an antique.

The buyer is a very lucky person he got it that cheap. Sighs


whats in the bottles?? whats in the bottles?? whats supposed to be in THOSE LITTLE EXCITING BOTTLES???!!!!Please annyone buyer or nay sayer or self proclaimed expert even the seeler- what ever was to be done w/it-and DONT say all those little bottles are stupid holy water from differnt level Preist, then a pastor (incase) a bisshops pee, spittle from a virgin , rotted bllod of a saint or pope???


This is very interesting, I just saw an identical box like that one on ebay for sale. Could it be another? Or another hoax? It sounds like the same story as the other one, found near Dracula's castle with government papers.


Its a fake. Theres one on ebay as i type the words here. I found it and as many when they first see this item their jaw drops. Me being interested did some research about it because im a smart buyer. It led me here to this site on my journey down the paper trails and look what i find. The exact item. No difference what so ever. There are not just one box but many. Its too bad its not worth anything. It would be so exciting though huh. :) I still think the box set is cool and for that alone I'd pay 100 bucks. I feel for people who spent more. This whole kit and what has become of the production of these boxes makes me wonder if i should start making my own :)


Re vampire kit. As the saying goes, there's one born every minute!

A few years ago, someone was selling soil from Transylvania. Now how easy is that! Go into your back yard, scoop up some good ole American heartland soil and you're in business.

Seriously, a few years ago I did bring back a small amount of soil from Transylvania (actually from the Borgo Pass). At least it is possible to get such soil. But these vampire-hunting kits! What a scam!

As for being found near Dracula's castle - what Dracula's castle? There is in truth no such place.

I agree that the kit is "cool" and may very well be worth $100. Great decoration for Halloween. But as for any real value or any connection with actual vampire hunting, forget it.


I suspect it would be not all that difficult or expensive to make a pretty good looking vampire killing kit along those lines, especially if like me you collect odd old bottles and so forth.

moises rodriguez

i was the one who bid on this item on ebay but the auction was closed. I would still like to buy it but i have no means of finding the seller.... if any one knows who it may be or someone who is selling a similar item please call me at 786-205-3770


This kit as well as all of them are fakes!!! They were made in 1970 by Michael de Winter as a gimmick to draw attraction to his gun business. Heres the link to the page.



Vlad "Tepes" Dracula (the fictional Dracula's namesake) had nothing to do with vampires, it's actually highly agreed upon by historians that Stoker's character "Dracula", borrowed from the Wallachian prince Vlad only in name and Stoker had not (contrary to several period writers) been influenced by Vlad's deeds... so what intrinsic value would a kit found near his castle have? By the way, Vlad Dracula never set foot in whats known today as "Dracula's Castle" (actually named castle Bran), the only thing left of Vlad's actual fortress isn't even a castle, but some partially restored ruins located between the industrial wasteland and Transylvanian alps in the impoverished Bucharest. Just thought I'd clear that up... but hey, i think I'll try to make and sell one of those kits now, sounds like easy money.

Bryan Alexander

It does sound like easy money. :)

I think you'll find a lot of sympathetic ears here, Josh.


I've been making stage props for years...this is an antique silverware box, the stakes are cut with a jigsaw from pine and burned with a propane torch to look old (popular 1970's trick), and the bottles, which have screw caps, date newer than 1912 when screw caps were invented. This kit keeps popping up on ebay...it is not authentic, it is not even made very well. the "real" kits were made (as the story goes) for English speaking travelers, and therefore would be entirely in English, English Bible, etc. It's not a hoax, it's a halloween toy that someone put together (possibly a very long time ago) without doing proper research. Want a real Vampire killing kit? Ripley's has the only ones I've ever seen. According to them Robert Ripley started buying them up before WWII...which puts a giant hole in the "Michael de Winter" claim that it was all his idea. So where is the truth? We may never know. That's what makes these so much fun. If you find one, don't buy it because it's historic relic. Buy it because it will look cool at your Halloween party, and pay accordingly.


I have a USED vampire Killing kit - from Bulgaria - actually my father a german soldier brought that back in 1945. Till that time we have that in our attik. I dates back to 1780 and has a letter in latin with it which explains when and why it has been used. We got the translation and it seems that tghe story is true.

we sell it for a good offer.


guess what? The same one is back on ebay again...except this time they switched out the bottles with old cork-top medicine bottles. I guess they read this thread!
These guys should be shot with a silver bullet.


The only one I know of which is nothing like the ready-made boxes you see everywhere is in the Surnateum(.org). An English wimp claims he made it in 1970 but can't stake (get it!) his claim by any proof. The Surnateum kit has many, many more than these obvious accessories.
Interestingly, the professor Blomberg actually did exist. He was a professor of Zoology in Luebeck and he published books on vampires and werewolves. Wiki him as ernst freiherr von blomberg.

immo ardennen

This is fabulous report. I loved to see your blog with great presentation


Want a real good looking Vampire killing kit? Check this out...



Why did the guy who bought this kit stop posting?


Real or not real! Who care??? Unless you are an antique collector I wouldn't care. I love Vampire anything. I would take a fake one just for show on my vampire wall. It is pretty cool tho. The autcion show on cable had one as well and it went for a thousand or two. I would only pay about 40.00 myself but heck I guess if you have money to pee away go for it. LOL


Literary Feline- There are always so many clngheales it's hard to choose which ones to do. :PJenclair- I haven't really checked out all the reviews yet at the review site. I'm sure it'll be bad for my wishlist though when I do though.Les- Thanks! It was low-key but nice. :)Andi- Congrats to you too! I may have to give Frankenstein a go sometime.ideru- thanks! I ordered Colleen's books from Amazon Japan but I did see the 2nd one at Kinokuniya in Tokyo.Nymeth- It was a very fun challenge! As for the questions, go right ahead. I just adapted them from someone else. :P


The kit looks cool but I like the ones here: http://www.mysteriouspast.com . I think they look great.

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