FB1 - Circa 1870 Vampire Slayer Box
From the darkest of man’s soul and the worst of all evil came a creature that no life sustains; this abomination started with a mere mortal named Ambrogio. He was an Italian-born adventurer whose fate brought him to ancient Delphi, in Greece, where, between blessings and curses from the gods, transformed Ambrogio into the very first Vampire.
​
Angering the gods while at Delphi, curses were bestowed on Ambrogio. The first curse, imposed by the sun god Apollo under a fit of rage, was that Ambrosio's skin would burn if exposure to sunlight for ever more. The second curse was imposed when Ambrogio ended up gambling his soul away to Hades, the god of the underworld. The third curse came from Apollo's sister Artemis, the goddess of the moon and hunting, as of which Ambrogio's skin would burn if touched by silver.
After taking pity on the cursed Ambrogio, Artemis decided to bestow a few blessings to improve his sorry fate. The first blessing that Artemis bestowed was the blessing of immortality. He would live forever but still retain his curses.
The second blessing she then gave to Ambrogio was the power of speed and strength to be the ultimate hunter second only to her. The last blessing, she bestowed was blood-sucking also known as hematophagy. She included this as a blessing allowing Ambrogio to hunt swans and use their blood as ink to write love poems to his lady Selene. This was not unusual for the ancient Greeks to use all resources from hunting. Drinking blood was also needed to fulfil his hunger as a hunter and sustain his viability.
​
Ambrogio returned to his homeland of Italy as a full-blown Vampire and started the first Vampire Colony. Over millenniums, vampirism spread throughout the world feeding off the people and the lands. There are many ancient stories recorded and spoken of the undead. In the 15th and 16th centuries, a strong force of vampirism was felt from Vlad Tepes (1431-1476) a Romanian prince, also known as Count Dracula. With expansionism to the Americas, vampirism followed and established its roots here to be fought by those with the skills and fortitude to fight the curse of the vampire. This Vampire kit was well used and successful in holding back the tide.
The Vampire
Slayer's Box
ca. 1860
​
This kit was made using an early 1800s Chinese export perfume box. The box once held valuable vials of essence for perfume making. The inside consisted of twelve glass vials that were decompartmentalized. The value of the contents legitimized the key lock and the sturdiness of the wooden box.
1.
3.
5.
7.
9.
The prefect box for making a kit that will hold up to the strenuous needs of killing vampires and compact for transporting. The box consists of a few design elements. Two removable trays, room for a mallet and wooden stakes and a false bottom. As shown in photo 2, the underside of the lid has storage for 6 blessed wooden stakes. One stake was broken when fighting
High Vampire,
Wilhelm Schomiesseir
in Niagara Falls, New York. His defeat was crucial to the steep decline of vampirism in the U.S. in the late 1870s.
​
​
In photo 3, the first tray of tools is accessible. Also seen is the end of the wood mallet for driving in the stakes. The mallet cannot be removed until the first tray is removed.
​
​
After tray #1 is removed, the second tray can be seen along with the mallet. The items in the second tray are accessible without removing the tray but to remove the tray, the mallet must first be removed as can be seen in pictures 5 & 6.
​
​
In photos 7 & 8 the mallet has been removed and tray #2 is unobstructed for removal.
​
​
In the last two photos (9 & 10),
there is a solid wood cover that can be removed. This is a shallow space where the trophies of the kill are kept along with prayer/blessing cards for inner strength.
​
​
It is not known to many outside the trade but the trophies are the fangs of the vampire that have been eliminated.
2.
4.
6.
8.
10.
Detail of Tray Contents
1
3
1
2.
3
4
5
6
7
1
2.
3
a
b
c
5
4
Tray #1
1 - Silver Dagger, 2 - Collapsible Communion Cup, 3 - Metal Rosary Book, 4 - Silver Crucifixion Cross, 5 - Holy Marry and Christ Icon in Metal Slip Case, 6 - St Christopher and Christ Icon in Glass Case, 7 - Silver Hand Mirror (mirror positioned down)
Tray #2
1 - Holy Water Flask, 2 - Garlic Bulbs, 3 - Glass Vials (a - Holy Earth b - Garlic Powder c - Dead Sea Salt), 4 - 1870s Pepperbox Deringer Pistol, 5 - 1/2 Doz. Silver Tipped Rounds.
1877 - Extracted Fangs of:
High Vampire,
Wilhelm Schomiesseir
1875 - 1884 - Extracted Fangs of:
High Vampire &
3-1/2 sets of other colony members
1
2
3
4
Further Details:
1 - Collapsible Communion Cup Expanded, 2 - Metal Rosary Book opened with two rosary Bead Necklaces, 3 - St Christopher and Christ Icon with opened Glass Case, 4 - Holy Marry and Christ Icon removed from Metal Slip Case.
