Sucker for a sales pitch or grabbed a stake in a great investment? Vampire-slaying kit fetches £7,500 at auction

Johnny Depp plays 200-year-old vampire Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows (REUTERS)

A Victorian vampire-slaying kit has sold at auction for £7,500.

The collection of weapons and other objects in a wooden box attracted a flurry of interest at a sale in North Yorkshire, the auctioneers said.

The kit included a pistol, a bottle of Holy Water, a crucifix and wooden stakes with a mallet.

It also contained an 1851 copy of the Book of Common Prayer and an extract from the New Testament.

Nigel Smith, from Tennants Auctioneers, of Leyburn in the Yorkshire Dales, said it was probably made in the late 19th century.

"There was a lot of interest in this," Mr Smith said.

"We had been expecting something between £1,500 and £2,000 and it went for £7,500.

"We had six telephones on it and there was a lot of bidding. It's an extremely interesting thing."

Mr Smith said he believed the kit was now heading for a museum collection, although he could not be more specific.

It was sold by a Yorkshire woman who inherited it from an uncle.

PA