The Royal Armouries buys vampire-slaying kit

The Royal Armouries is a museum in Leeds, United Kingdom.

Last week, the Royal Armouries made the news by spending £7,500 on an 19th century vampire-slaying kit. The £7,500 isn’t a large amount of money for a museum to spend but the purchase itself was interesting.

The 19th centuary is rather late on the millenium to be actively chasing vampires – although it is possible. Another theory is that the box was produced in response to the popularity of Bram Stoker’s 1897 Dracula novel.

The vampire-slaying kit includes weaponry in the form of a small gun and stakes but also a copy of the Book of Common Prayer and a handwritten extract from the Bible that quotes Luke 19:27.

“But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.”

What do you think? Did the museum spend their money wisely?