Survival Arts

I did a search on GunBroker for "Luger" today, because I remember seeing one picture a long time ago of a long barrel Luger that I thought was much better proportioned than the usual ones.

Sure enough, a beautiful 1914 Naval Luger with a 6 inch barrel. $2800 opening bid.... Put the silver bullets in THAT!

Curt-

vampire kit is a scam

As German translators listed at our local Roseburg, Oregon library, my wife and I were contacted several years ago by a gunsmith who specialized in black powder arms, to translate a couple of articles. The articles turned out to be a list of instructions as to how to use Professor Ernst Blomberg's "Vampire Killing Kit", a thank you note to a Belgian gunsmith and the recipe for his "New Potion" from what I recall of the info (I didn't copy them), there were instructions on how to utilize the potion, which consisted of Holy Water, garlic extract, honey, and salt, each having scientific reasons for their being in the potion. The instructions were very detailed, they told of how to safely load the gun using the powder measure, how to appy the wadding and the silver bullet. (It even included an alternative method for placing linen in after the bullet to assist in "shooting at a downward angle"). It stated the cross was made of ivory and had a brass thread at the base which could be used to "screw into the wooden stake and provide additional stabilization when pressing through the chest into the heart". The instructions included the packing detail for the boxes contents. After we had provided this gunsmith with the translation, he brought a prototype of the kit as had made it. He'd antiqued the gun and even the purplish colored cloth the kit was lined with. His plan was to sell the kits to the "people in Hollywood and other places who buy anything just to have it".
All quite interesting.......

I'm very interested by any informations about vampire killing kits. Especially the instructions... There are a lot of fakes around, but some are authenticals. Nicolas Plomdeur was a gunsmith from Liege (Belgium) but started to works in Paris around the 1850's.
Some vampire killing kits were produced in what was Germany, Austria and Hungaria during the nineteenth century. The Surnateum possess a antique one in his collections for more than a century now. Fakes are very easy to detect.

Hi there! You should know that all the quotes on your site are a load of codswallop. The reason is this: The whole VAMPIRE KILLING KIT myth is purely the result of my very fertile imagination and I produced "The Original" in 1972. Nicolas Plomdeur the Gunsmith in Liege and Professor Ernst Blomberg are not and have never been real people. I still have an original copy of the label from the box and am astounded to learn how my joke has caused so much interest and "FAKERY"

Interestingly a "vampire killing kit" was found by Melbourne (Australia) police in August 2004 during a drug raid..it consisted of a silver percussion cap pistol, stake, bone inlayed crucifix, vial for holy water, silver ball projectiles with crucifix stamped into them, and a container for garlic.It's dated at 1800's and the pistol was manufactured in Ireland the words "Deus Vult were engraved in the stakes ... which translates to "God wills it" and the lid has Greco Roman words dated to 5BC which were believed to offer protection from vampires.
The words "Deus Vult" were used by Pope UrbanII to launch the first crusade in 1095
Similar kits have reportedly gone to auction and been sold for $50,000

Well, there's a Belgian gunsmith by the name of Nicolas Plomdeur; some of his works are in Liege's museum of Weapons.

I Hope you mere humans don't find your vampire killing kit because I am having fun being a vampire.

I Hope you mere humans don't find your vampire killing kit because I am having fun being a vampire.

A 19th century antique vampire kit was located several months ago here in Australia. It was located by police when searching the property of an old romanian man in Victoria I believe. The kit contained virtualy everything you have mentioned and was shown on national television.
The romanian man had it well hidden and was found by accident. I believe the owner was deceased. The kit would more and likely go on auction I would say?
Any way thought it was worth a mention.
March 2005

Hi there. I have written down the true story of the origin of the Vampire Killing Kits. If you would like me to send it to you, please send me an Email. Regards, Michael de Winter

Michael de Winter,

It would have helped greatly if you'd actually included an email address in your post.

If you really do have such a "true story," go ahead and post it here.

I have set the true story up in 'Word', it is too large to go in this space. give me an Email address and I will send it as an attachment. regards, Michael de Winter
April 4, 2005

Russell Whitaker
You asked for the truth. If you want it, send Email address and I will send it to you. It's now up to you! Regards, Michael de Winter

Michael, I tried to send you my email address, but your mail relay host bounced my mail.

So, if you're that adamant about it, find a place to post it where those who really care (not me) can read it openly.

Russell Whitaker
Hi there. Thanks for speedy reply. If you care. you could get a copy from: chuckstraub@yahoo.com
Regards, Michael de Winter. (mikedew123@fsmail.net)

Just got back from New Orleans (4/25/05) and saw the real deal "Vampire Killing Kit" in a high end antiques store on Royal Street or Chartes. The store had the kit in a display case. The place is so high-end none of the prices are listed. It contains original works of art, such as Rodin, Monet, Picasso, Meisen furniture, etc.

This kit does exist, it is in excellent condition and is surely a conversation piece. My research shows the kit is worth $12,000.

Hi there Kelly. I have never said that Vampire Killing Kits don't exist, merely that I invented them. If you send me an Email address, I will send you a copy of 'The Truth'. My Email address is mikedew123@fsmail.net Regards, Michael de Winter

Michael, if you expect to be taken seriously, you should post at least a summary version of your claim to have been the originator of the hoax.

Note that I have no opinion one way or the other in this matter.

Russell Whitaker. Hi there. To produce a praecis of the story, is not all that easy, but I will give it a go! I sold antique pistols and a poor quality Belgian boxlock percussion pistol came into my possession. I decided to produce something which had not to my knowledge previously existed: a Vampire Killing Kit. I put together a number of items, hand set a trade label, priced the item at £1000 and was amazed at the interest it produced. I didn't expect to sell it, merely to use it as a marketing tool. IT SOLD! The whole story can be yours if you wish, I will send it as an attachment to an Email. My Email address is mikedew123@fsmail.net. Regards, Michael de Winter

Michael, why not just post the entire story here as a comment? How much plain text (in Kb) is it?

Hi Russell, thanks for speedy reply. The story is two sheets of A4,equalls approx 37kb. I know how to send it with a normal Email as an attachment, but haven't any idea how to deliver it to this forum. Regards, Michael de Winter

1.) Open the file.
2.) Select the text.
3.) Copy text into the comment window.
4.) Post.

VAMPIRE KILLING KITS

THE TRUE ORIGIN OF THE MYTH

By Michael de Winter
________________________________________________

I am prompted to write this true story of The Vampire Killing Kits, which have proliferated during the last few years since the coming of the Internet.

My story starts in or around 1970 when I was employed in the printing industry. My hobby was buying, selling and refurbishing antique guns. I sold mainly at the famous Portobello Market in London. My usual stock of guns for sale was only 10-20 at any one time and these tended to be of superior quality. I had a number of regular clients who arrived every week to see if I had any new stock. One of my regulars wanted a fine flintlock pistol and asked me to take in part exchange a Belgian percussion pocket pistol. I grudgingly agreed and allowed him £15.00 off the price of the flintlock.

So, here it is, a poor quality pocket pistol in mediocre condition! What to do with it? That was my question. Having an extremely fertile imagination and being an avid reader, I was inspired. It occurred to me that I could produce something unique that would be a great advertising gimmick and would attract people to my stall. The Vampire Killing Kit was on its way.

I had recently been reading a nineteenth century book on the manufacturing of various types of guns, specifically percussion and the language of the book helped me in my setting up of the label for the kit. I was very careful to produce an item, which as it was unique was also as perfect as I could make it. The type used for the heading of the label was very old and whilst not Victorian, nevertheless was acceptable to that period. I hand set the label myself and the copy I used was printed on a hand operated press using the fly leaf of a book printed in 1850.

Regarding Professor Ernst Blomberg and the Gunmaker of Liege, Nicholas Plomdeur, both these gentlemen were figments of my imagination and I was amazed to find mention on a Website of Nicholas Plomdeur’s early career in Paris.

To prove the authenticity of this document, I am now setting out the wording of the original label.

Vampire Killing Kit
This box contains the items considered necessary, for the protection of persons who travel into certain little known countries of Eastern Europe, where the populace are plagued with a particular manifestation of evil known as Vampires. Professor Ernst Blomberg respectfully requests that the purchaser of this kit, carefully studies his book in order, should evil manifestations become apparent, he is equipped to deal with them efficiently. Professor Blomberg wishes to announce his grateful thanks to that well known gunmaker of Liege, Nicholas Plomdeur whose help in the compiling of the special items, the silver bullets &c.;, has been most efficient.

The items enclosed are as follows

(1) An efficient pistol with its usual accoutrements
(2) Silver Bullets
(3) An Ivory crucifix
(4) Powdered flowers of garlic
(5) A wooden stake
(6) Professor Blomberg’s new serum

A breakdown of the kit follows

(1) Good quality Victorian Walnut Box
(2) Unnamed box lock pocket pistol with Liege proof marks
(3) Silver Bullets. These were difficult to produce due to the higher melting point of silver when compared to lead
(4) Powdered flowers of garlic in an original Victorian medicine bottle
(5) A wooden stake with a silver point
(6) Professor Blomberg’s Serum: produced in Harley Street, London, made from mainly fluorescing salts. In an original Victorian medicine bottle
(7) An original ivory crucifix
(8) The pistol accessories, including a solid silver gunpowder flask, an original bullet mould, box of percussion caps, etc.

As can be seen from the above, no expense was spared, enabling me to produce a totally unique item. Can’t possibly be a fake can it! This was not a copy of anything that existed. To encourage interest, I priced the kit at £1000, believing that it would cause some interest, but certainly put anyone off buying it. On the first day at Portobello Road, I loaned the kit to a friend who specialised in the weird and wonderful. A well known Hollywood Star, who was best known for his ‘hammy’ horror roles expressed a lot of interest in it, but said he couldn’t afford it. Well, it soon did sell and it occurred to me that I had really got my horror stories mixed up: wooden stakes and garlic are ok to combat vampires, but silver bullets are for werewolves; aren’t they?

So, that’s how it all started, I seem to have spawned a lovely silly myth and I wonder how many of “Professor Blomberg’s Vampire Killing Kits” are around. It is interesting to note that the majority of kits produced use both of my invented persons, ie Professor Blomberg and Nicholas Plomdeur. Additionally they seem to like my phraseology, ie, use of words such as populace and manifestations of evil. What this shows of course, is that they are all copies of my original and that includes the kit which fetched $12,000 at Sothebys and the kit which fetched $21,000 in the States.

Michael de Winter
April, 2005

Michael,

Fascinating account. I've created a separate entry today as a pointer to this thread:

http://www.survivalarts.com/archives/001311.html

Glad you are pleased with the story. Now, I wonder if anyone can prove to have either heard of or has any knowledge of 'kits' before 1970?
Regards, Michael de Winter

I always though Professer Blomberg's old serum was great, don't know why they had to mess with the formula.

Silly humans with your talk of wooden stakes and silver bullets.Its going to take much more than that to kill the living dead. Mortals u have been warned

i find it funny that the guy befor me pretends that he is a vampire. and if he was one, why the heck would he post death threats on a website. look at the time he was on too. 9 at night. should he be out suckin blood...

Has anyone ever heard of Bram Stoker!? Clearly Vampire myths have existed for some time, if anyone should get credit for the kits it should be Bram Stoker.I mean anyone who has read his book could have done that.lol

Vampire Killing Kits appeared for sale shortly after the publication of Dracula by Bram Stoker. They are well documented historically, and several are in museum collections around the world. However none to my knowledge ever contained a pistol, or silver bullets, as those were useful against werewolves, as previously pointed out here.

Most original kits contained a cross, wooden stake(type of wood varied though each was claimed to be the most effective), a hammer(try driving a stake through a thick section of ribs and see how easy it is), a container of water claimed to be holy water, and garlic in some form.

Vampires exist in almost every mythology from europe to asia to mesoamerica, though in each culture their characteristics, and vulnerabilities varied. Ancient mesopotamians believed vampires needed the blood of small animals and children, so adults were relatively safe. Roman vampires would bite off your nose, bypassing your neck altogether.

The two most famous historical "vampires" were never claimed to be immortal, or to require blood for sustenance until after Dracula was published. While Vlad Tepis did indeed drink blood it was only one of many terror tactics used to frighten his enemies. His distant cousin Erzebetha Bathory never drank blood, but bathed in it, and specified a need for the blood of female virgens. This is what got her caught as the qauntity of blood required for a bath averaged 30 or more gallons, and the human body only contains about 5 litres. She quickly exhausted her supply of virgens(never as plentiful as the church would like to believe) and used a member of the nobility.

An interesting aside is that werewolf mythology traditionally requires three silver bullets to be placed in the beasts heart. I doubt anyone with a muzzle loading weapon could accomplish that feat while being charged. This is also a clear indication that while werewolf mythology existed, it didn't become popular until the 19th, and 20th centuries when repeating firearms became common.

Vampires also didn't require a wooden stake to be killed, only to be paralyzed. Finishing them off including severing the head, and removing the heart, with destruction of the heart being the main thing. In Dracula itself the killing blow is delivered with a bowie knife.

Hello Michael de Winter,

Can you give us the recipe for the famous Ernst Blomberg Anti-Vampire serum that you've created for the fakes killing kit?

And do you create these serum for "kill the vampires" or for "heal the human after being infected"?

This is some crucial information for the myth!

Thanks!

So there.

Michael,
You forgot that the kit also contained a rosary.

Hi there. To JC. THE ORIGINAL KIT DID NOT CONTAIN A ROSARY. Regards, Michael de Winter

I have in my posession a fantastic mid Victorian solid brass door handle,hand made and forged by Pomdeur Fournier Bte. Liege in Belgium.It is fully stamped in triangular shape.I'm just wondering if you made up the name,how there just happens to be a highly skilled gentleman with exact name doing business in the mid 1800's,so you couldn't have made up the name,you borrowed it from a real maker.Best regards, Gordy

To GORDY,HINCH, re note posted on October 15. Hi there. Your brass door handle you say was made by Pomdeur Fournier Bte. My imaginary Gunsmith was Nicholas Plomdeur. Not the same is it? It still all came from my fertile imagination! Regards, Michael de Winter

Hello Michael.My apologies for my typo.The name on my piece is Plomdeur,not Pomdeur.I wouldn't have any trouble sending you a jpeg image.So,where does this information leave us?Regards,Gordy

To Gordy Hinch. Hi there. At the end of the day, I did think up the name Nicolas Plomdeur, so the fact that there was someone with that name is truly pure coincidence. By the way, Alexandre Dumas and Daphne du Maurier both thought up "DE WINTER" and as you know, that's my name. Regards

Michael,

Can you tell me if you know anything about the pamphlet (apparently written by Professor Ernst Blomberg) called The Vampire, that was included with some of these kits? It seems to have been printed in London by John E. Taylor, Little Green Street. Just Curious.

Hi folks. Regarding Professor Blomberg's pamphlet: This is news to me. I plead "not guilty". I would be interested to see it, or if you want, I'll produce one for you! Regards, Michael de Winter

Michael,

My brother has a beautiful pair of handguns from the mid 1800s produced by a gunsmith called Plomdeur in Paris.The name Plomdeur appears on the box, on the guns and on the gunpowder flask... All this make it hard to believe that the Gunsmith Plomdeur never existed... Unless those guns come from you!

best regards

Clement C.

Michael,

My brother has a beautiful pair of handguns from the mid 1800s produced by a gunsmith called Plomdeur in Paris.The name Plomdeur appears on the box, on the guns and on the gunpowder flask... All this make it hard to believe that the Gunsmith Plomdeur never existed... Unless those guns come from you!

best regards

Clement C.

Hi there. I'm not guilty in the case of the Plomdeur Guns. It seems quite unreal to discover that my made up name was out there all the time, albeit in another town and another country. Compliments of the season to all! Michael de Winter, Torquay, United Kingdom

And Plomdeur was a gunsmith from Liege, he moved to Paris (France) in the early nineteenth. A reference about him in "les armuriers liégeois" (the gunsmith from Liege) p 130.
I'm also curious about the vkk in Ripley's museum.
Coincidence, ahem...

Hi there. Re the "Ripley" VKK: quite simply, if it contains the names of Nicolas Plomdeur and Professor Ernst Blomberg then it is using the names I invented. There does appear to be evidence showing that Nicolas Plomdeur did in fact exist but nobody has yet come up with any ideas on MY Mad Professor? Regards to all. Michael de Winter

AHH come ON!
SERIOUSLY!
Your lying right? I mean you have to be...
The evidence against you is just too high man...
scientifically... you like... MUST be lying and stuff....dude.

Hi there. NO, I'm not lying! The truth is on this site as The TRUE Story. I still have not seen ANY evidence Re Professor Ernst Blombergs' existence before c1972. I agree however that there is evidence available indicating the gunsmith Nicolas Plomdeur did exist, but have stated elsewhere that this is just coincidence.
I stand by my story and await without trepidation for anyone to prove otherwise.

Firstly, has anyone stopped to think that although De Winter may have came up with the idea for kits all by himself, the beleif remains that other kits were existant beforehand, even if michael had no knowledge of them.
Secondly, you wouldnt need a kit to kill a genuine vampire. I wont tell you how, but it's very simple and requires no SPECIALIZED tools.

Hello.
I'd like to add to all of this. There is no such thing as vampires, the kit was merely a toy for people who like to have things and show it all off. The only thing that comes close to vampiric tales are Sanguinarions, and they are human. So, to tell the truth about it all. You'd just be killing a human if you wanted to kill a 'vampire' which is illegal. So, this kit is just a silly way to impress people.
You don't need to care if somebody existed or not, it was a hundred years ago! Its not going to ruin your life? You won't remember it in ten years. Mr. De Winter is just trying to press your buttons. He's a 46 year old fat guy on his computer, shopping at eBay just to try and out smart you. And God only knows, why would an 'immortal' man be on his computer just trying to annoy you when he could be out learning something and trying to teach others.. Not sitting at home laughing at you all. You're all hopeless peices of filth. And all you wannabe vampires, shut your mouths and go back to school! Maybe get a job? Live your life without thinking you are undead. Its pathetic.
Anyways, have a good day.
-Michelle.J.M.
~Love what you have. Respect what you don't.

this kit works some what as i tested it in eastern europe

Sorry, don't have any info on Prof. Ernst Blomberg but I do live 100 yards from Little Green Street in London (where the pamphlet apparently originated from). If it's genuine, the British Library will have a copy.

Little Green Street itself is over 250 years old and is close to the famous Highgate Cemetery, so you never know! (have a look at www.littlegreenstreet.com - developers are threatening the street so it would be cool if anyone signed the petition to help save it!)

I have a Vampire & Werewolf Killing Kit that i picked up at an auction in 1969. Now that is 3 years befor 1972. The boxed set was very old at the time i got it. Ed

Hi there. Any chance you could describe contents and perhaps send a picture? Regards, Michael de Winter

The "vampire kit" Mr. de Winter lays claim to may be of his notion, but that such items existed in the latter half of the 19th Century is quite true, and expensive. Inspired by the "Dracula" yarn, they were created to fit the notion, and purchased for use by gullible and worried but well-off travellers (with the sort of wealth that made even the those taking the famous Grand Tour look cheap) headed for the supposedly vampire-ridden area of the Balkans - mostly Transylvania. An antique example of one of those anti-vampire kits is in the Henry J. Mercer Tool Museum in Doylestown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

The "vampire kit" Mr. de Winter lays claim to may be of his notion, but that such items existed in the latter half of the 19th Century is quite true, and expensive. Inspired by the "Dracula" yarn, they were created to fit the notion, and purchased for use by gullible and worried but well-off travellers (with the sort of wealth that made even the those taking the famous Grand Tour look cheap) headed for the supposedly vampire-ridden area of the Balkans - mostly Transylvania. An antique example of one of those anti-vampire kits is in the Henry J. Mercer Tool Museum in Doylestown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

It's a shame Ed hasn't come back, I would have like to have seen the kit he picked up..It would certainly shed a little more light on the subject

I'd just like to point you guys to this site:
http://www.surnateum.org/English/surnateum/collection/Cryptozoologie/rhesus3.htm
It talks about a Vampire Killing Kit that was sold by Prof. Ernst Blomberg in the second half of the 19th Century. It also has a pistol, origionally a flint-lock, that was later converted to a purcussion cap, made by Nicolas Plomdeur. This kit even included the Prof. Blomberg's New Serum, that Mr. DeWinter has said he put in. However, this kit has been in the Surnateum Collection since the late 19th Century.

So would you like to explain, Mr. DeWinter, how the same names appear on a Vampire Killing Kit from the 19th Century that you say you invented in 1972?

The "Surnateum" sounds very, very much like the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles.

http://www.mjt.org/

Now, I dearly love the Museum of Jurassic Technology, but this is chiefly because they are the purveyors of the highest-quality bull I've ever seen.

Of course, there is also the Mutter Museum

http://www.collphyphil.org/mutter_collection.htm

which is every bit as strange, but totally real. (I have personally been to both of these places.) Simply put, you need not believe everything you find on the Internet. Even when you've seen things with your own eyes, some investigation might be fruitful.

Hi there. Re the Vampire Killing Kit in the Surnateum collection. I have Emailed them and told them that their kit is a modern fake, but they declined to answer! I stand by my statement that Professor Ernst Blomberg is a name thought up by me and I defy anyone to show ANY proof he existed prior to 1970. Michael de Winter, 18th April, 2007

Well, for what it's worth several (but not many) men with the name Ernst Blomberg come up when doing searches on ancestry.com, none have adequate information to suggest that any of them are professors. I did find an Ernest Von Blomberg in an insane asylum in California in 1920, he was 51 at the time. But I digress, information provided "implies" that this Prof Blomberg is from somewhere outside of the United states (assuming that the kits are real). now, I did find some other information while doing a search in Sweden's 1890 Census. They have a Ernst Blomberg who was born in 1874. After searching on the internet tonight that's all I've found. No searches on past or present literature uncover anything written by this "Professor". That's all I know and any other speculation would be just that, so I'll leave it where it is....

Also, I am having great difficulty finding any information about Nicholas Plomdeur, I have found the name Plomdeur associated with guns, but am not finding that his first name was Nicholas, but rather Auguste and was from France, not Belgium. This seems, at this point, to support Mr. DeWinter's allegations that he is fictional... More to come, until i bore of this "witch hunt"

and for fun here's a couple more 1800s Blombergs from searches:

ERNST DIEDRICH WILHELM BLOMBERG:
CHristening- 23 DEC 1827
Evangelisch,Heiden, , Lippe, Germany

ERNST LUDWIG WERNER BLOMBERG:
Christening- 22 JUL 1814
Evangelisch, Hausberge, Westfalen, Preussen