How to Kill a Vampire

How to Kill a Vampire

Over the years audiences and readers have noticed that vampires have been portrayed as everything from a rat-like monster to a dark foreigner to the guy next door. Therefore, one must always be prepared with the tools and knowledge of how to kill a vampire. From Van Helsing to Buffy, vampire slayers have found numerous ways to kill vampires over the centuries. Here we provide you with some of the most used, and most efficient, ways of eliminating vampires, as well as an introduction to the father of vampire hunters: Arthur Van Helsing.

Methods & Weapons:

Exposure to Sunlight - It has only been in the last fifty or sixty years that sunlight has been considered fatal to vampires. As creatures of the night, exposure to sunlight burns the vampire to ashes. Some modern vampire lore, including that of Anne Rice, asserts that vampires can become immune to the harms of sunlight, and/or vampires can move around in the daylight only without their powers.

Crucifix - Vampires are evil and often associated with Satan so the crucifix represents the goodness of Jesus Christ and God and the power of religion over such evil. Much vampire lore insists that the one holding the crucifix must have faith if it is to work properly as a deterrent. The crucifix usually isn't powerful enough to kill a vampire, but it can drain them of strength, burn their flesh, and keep them at a safe distance.

Staking - This is the most common method of vampire hunting. The stake must be thrust into the vampire's heart in order to kill it. The stake is typically made of ash, aspen, or juniper. Traditionally, the stake was used to affix corpses to the ground to either prevent them from becoming a vampire or to prevent them from leaving the burial site and harming innocent people.

Garlic - Garlic has been used for centuries as a healing medicine and to strengthen the body's defenses to disease. Garlic is used to ward off vampire attacks by hanging it around one's neck or around one's room, and it can be stuffed into the vampire's mouth after decapitation to ensure its complete annihilation.

Holy Water - Acts much the same way as the crucifix. It burns a vampire's skin like acid causing extreme pain. Dousing a vampire in holy water could lead to death, but it's not the most reliable method.

Fire - The vampire must be thoroughly burned in order for this to work. Results are best if the heart is removed and the head decapitated before burning. Fire is considered a ritual of cleansing and defense.

Silver - Silver is considered a metal of purity and daggers, stakes, bullets, and crucifixes made of silver are common devices used to kill vampires. Silver amulets and silver nails hammered into a coffin lid are thought to prevent vampires from rising from their graves.

Beheading - This is often done in addition to cutting out the heart and burning the body to safeguard against any type of resurrection.

Eucharistic Wafer - The host also serves a similar function to the holy water and crucifix in that it will burn the vampire's flesh, but is not recommended as a sole way to kill a vampire.

Van Helsing:

Vampire hunters tend to be from the middle to upper class and must be alert, fast healers, and intelligent. A hunter must also dedicate him or herself one hundred percent to killing vampires and must remain on the side of good. A vampire hunter's sole purpose is to rid the world of vampires.

Abraham Van Helsing is the quintessential vampire hunter; He is the prototype created by Bram Stoker in his novel, Dracula. As a doctor, professor, and progressive scientist, Van Helsing is quick to recognize the signs of vampirism in his patients. He is eccentric, but extremely knowledgeable about vampire hunting and killing. Van Helsing is representative of all the good in the world as he tirelessly fights the war against vampires and strives to save those who have bee infected and affected by them. He is a successful vampire hunter because he uses all of his religious, superstitious, scientific, and medicinal knowledge combined to recognize, track, and kill vampires. Almost everything we know about vampires from Stoker's novel is because Van Helsing tells us. He is the father of all vampire hunters.

Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency (FVZA):

The FVZA was an undercover operation created in 1868 to hunt and kill zombies and vampires. The organization was divided into two divisions: a scientific division based in Washington D.C. and a military division with bases all over the country. Eventually, a vampire vaccine was created in the 1960s. With vampires arguably under control, President Ford shut down the organization in 1975. While in its prime, the agency activated three levels of hunting agents: the advance team used for reconnaissance missions; the assault team which killed the vampires; and the "Shadows" who went on the very dangerous night missions and included only the most skilled agents.

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Although the existence of vampires is scoffed at by many in today's society, there are still those who seek to protect themselves from this ultimate form of evil. A nineteenth century "Vampire Killing Kit" recently sold for $12,000 at a Sotheby's auction. Kits such as this are believed by some to have been available to travelers in Eastern Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. The kit contains a label that reads, "This box contains the items necessary for 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."