Valerie Fain aims the 19th century vampire killer she and her husband will auction off. The vampire-killing kit comes with cross-shaped gun, silver bullets and wooden stake.
Photos by Jim Craven
By PAUL FATTIG
GRANTS PASS -- The vampire-killing kit doesn't contain instructions for slaying Dracula.
But it doesn't take a Bram Stoker to figure it out: There's an ivory crucifix that fires a silver bullet, a wooden stake to drive deep into his heart and garlic powder to ward off any residual evil.
And you get four silver bullets in the kit, circa 1880, one of about 1,000 items to be sold at auction Nov. 8 and 9 at the Josephine County Fairgrounds. Admission is $30 per buyer.
The auction is being held by Fain & Co. of Grants Pass, a firm owned by Chris Fain and his wife, Valerie. The two Grants Pass residents are avid antique collectors who have been gathering the material for seven years.
The vampire-killing kit is among more than $1 million worth of items to be sold, including everything from classic cars to antique toys, Valerie Fain said.
She doesn't know where her husband -- whom she described as a consummate antique collector -- picked up the unique antique.
"But this is one of the most unusual he's ever collected," she admitted.
The kit, neatly laid out in a wooden coffin, er, box, also contains a mold for making more silver bullets, a small canister of gunpowder and a tiny bottle of anti-vampire serum, just in case you miss.
"It had some sort of potion Professor Blomberg came up with," she said. "But it's all used up."
She was referring to a Professor Ernst Blomberg, the apparent creator of the kit.
"This box contains the items necessary for the protection of persons who travel into certain little known countries of Eastern Europe where the populace are plagued with the peculiar manifestation of evil known as Vampires," reads a faded paper attached to the underside of the lid.
"Professor Ernst Blomberg respectfully requests that the purchaser of this kit carefully read his book in order, should evil manifestations become apparent, he is equipped to deal with them efficiently."
A Belgium gunmaker named Nicholas Plomdeur helped produce the gun, according to the paper.
The Fains say the vampire-killing kit was probably made in the 1880s, just before Stoker's book "Dracula" was published in 1897.
"But the really big vampire scare was in the late 1700s," Valerie Fain said. "There were cases actually documented in Europe in which they felt they found vampires.
"Evidently he (Blomberg) must have written a book about this, and capitalized on the fact people were afraid."
Unfortunately, they have been unable to find his book or additional details about Blomberg.
The cover of the box contains an ivory piece with the initials "IHS," which the Fains believe stands for "In His Service."
They don't know what the vampire-killing kit will bring in the auction, but they know it will draw plenty of warm-blooded buyers.
"I don't really believe in vampires, but a lot of people out there are interested in it," she said. "We've had 50,000 hits off the Internet (http://www.fain-co.com) for this vampire-killing kit."
None from Transylvania.
