Monster Hunting Kits

All Hallow's Eve is just around the corner....time for a Halloween themed post.

I thought this year I would revisit the Vampire Hunter Colt that I posted last Halloween as well as show you a couple of tribute guns. In addition I compiled some pictures of similar "Monster Hunting Kits"....but first some history......

During the Summer of 1816, several writers met on the shores of Lake Geneva, Switzerland. Among the attendees were Lord Byron, Mary Godwin-Shelly, Percy Shelly and John William Polidori.
One evening, while consuming copious amounts of adult beverages and telling "German Ghost Stories" (perhaps the legend of the werewolf was one of them?) Lord Byron proposes that each of them author a "ghost story".
The results of that challenge were the stories of Frankenstein and Dracula (originally a short story simply entitled: Vampyre)....and the world has not slept well since. 
80 years later an Irishman by the name of Bram Stoker, wrote a novel based on Vampyre. That novel was of course Dracula. In the novel the arch nemesis of the evil Count Dracula was a man by the name of Abraham Van Helsing. Helsing led a small group of people in the hunting of the Count Dracula and thus the "Monster Hunting Kit" was born.


Last year we brought you the pictures of the Vampire Hunter Colt from the National Firearms Museum (part of the Robert E. Peterson Gallery) 
We also covered the Zombie craze here craze, here, and here.


Here is the original Vampire Hunter Colt Detective Special, engraved by Leonard Francolini. The gun is a .38 Special, that has full coverage engraving, a lanyard loop, ebony stocks. The gun was silver plated and the small parts were nitre blued. 
remember to click on the pictures to see a hi-res version

The following two tribute guns were engraved by Wayne D'Angelo:
 This 1st one has a similar coffin case with silver bullets and some Holy Water

Here is the second tribute gun

 

This one sports ivory grip panels with vampire scrimshaw

 
Here are some pictures of other Vampire & Monster Hunting tool kits, among the items featured in these kits include:

• Wooden stake and hammer
• Bible
• Crucifix
• Rosary Beads
• Holy Water
• Mirror
• Pistol with Wood and/or Silver bullets
• Garlic/Garlic Oil
• Knives
• Brass Knuckles
• Hatchet
• Candles
• Gold and Silver Flake
• Pliers 
• Essential Oils

 To properly dispatch a vampire with a gun you'll need bullets made of wood, this Steampunk revolver's (a Civil War era Lemat) shotgun barrel has been modified to accept a stake projectile

Wood is great for Vampires, but according to lore, you need silver bullets for Werewolves:

 Of course for Zombies you need special Zombie Ammo:

 This unique kit from Coonan comes with silver-tip .357 magnum cartridges and a wooden stake, they call it the "Triple Threat Apocalyptic Kit", it will dispatch Werewolves (silver bullets), Vampires (wooden stake) and Zombies (either the bullets or the stake, but make sure you get them in the head....)

 

Links:
Nutmeg Sports
National Firearms Museum
Guns America