At auction, a Victorian vampire-killing equipment that includes crucifixes, two pistols, and a hammer is expected to bring in up to £3,000.
Lord Hailey, a British peer and former administrator in British India, was the owner of the unsettling wooden box containing anti-vampire weapons.
His initials and his full name and address are imprinted on the tools and sacred items.
On the box’s lid are two brass crucifixes that function as a sliding covert locking mechanism.
More crucifixes, a matching set of pistols, holy water, a Gothic Bible, a wooden mallet, a stake, brass candelabra, rosary beads, and historical papers from the Metropolitan police are all contained inside.
On June 30, it will be auctioned off at Hansons Auctioneers in Derbyshire, where it is expected to bring in between £2,000 and £3,000.
The supernatural was a subject of great fascination for the Victorians, and tales of vampires and ghosts were especially well-liked.
“Items like this always attract the world’s imagination,” remarked auctioneer Charles Hanson.
Vampire mythology dates back hundreds of years and is still prevalent in various parts of the world today. Vampires are said to be undead creatures that require human blood to exist.
The provenance serves as a reminder that people from all areas of life are impacted by the vampire myth.
The owner was well known for his intelligence; his full name was William Malcolm Hailey.
He received his education at Corpus Christi College in Oxford, and from 1924 to 1928 he served as the governor of India’s Punjab province.
Later, from 1928 to 1934, he served as governor of the United Provinces, an area of India that was a part of the British Empire.
And yet, despite his distinguished career, Mr. Hanson continued, “he was lured to this vampire-slaying gear.”
“That makes great sense.” These items are both intriguing and odd.
For more than 200 years, vampires have been a part of popular culture. They are a part of the folklore of Europe.
The task of murdering a vampire was quite serious, and ancient records stated that certain techniques and equipment were required.
As a result, these were included in the kit we discovered. “Items of religious value, such as crucifixes and Bibles, were thought to repel these monsters.”
The Vampyre by John Polidori, which was published in 1819 and had a significant influence, was followed by Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1897.
The gruesome equipment was just just discovered by the vendor, who is from Derbyshire.
It’s an interesting object and a topic of conversation, they claimed. It was only recently that I came across it near Southwell, Nottinghamshire.
I appreciated its originality and historical significance.
It’s interesting to note that Lord Hailey is honored on a memorial tablet in Westminster Abbey in London.