Most locks are not warded locks, and typically skeleton keys can only open low-security padlocks or antique locks.

Skeleton keys are used to open warded locks when you don’t have the key. A locksmith’s skeleton keys look like long strips of metal with a handle on one end and a series of notches on the other. For modern warded padlocks, one can be made by simply shaving off the teeth. Skeleton keys look like typical keys but have only the last notch or the last two notches on the teeth or bitting. They can therefore be turned without getting caught in the wards. Skeleton keys have been shaved down to the bare essentials. Warded locks have small shapes, or “wards,” cut into them, and only keys with the correct patterns can get past these wards. No skeleton key works on every single warded lock. On top of that, each skeleton key is geared towards a different type of warded or lever lock. They only work on outdated lock designs such as the warded lock and some lever locks. Skeleton keys are not actually universal. They are, for the most part, useless against modern locks. They only work on older or antique lock designs, however. This allows you to break into places you may otherwise not be wanted. Locks That Skeleton Keys Cannot Open FAQs What is a skeleton key?Ī skeleton key is a key you can use to open some locks without having the real key for them. To understand skeleton keys, you need to know:Ĥ. They only work in specific circumstances and on particular types of locks. Skeleton keys are real, but they’re not these legendary objects capable of opening every lock imaginable. They could be as mythical and mysterious as the living dead themselves: a story that we tell to frighten or intrigue with the malevolent, or even benevolent, possibilities, but not something that could exist in real life.Īs it turns out, the truth is somewhere in between.

You could simply pull out your skeleton key and bypass any secret passageway trying to keep you out.

You would no longer have to worry about being held back by doors or locks. The reputation of skeleton keys would have you believe that if you had one in your possession, nothing could stop you. The name invokes images of crafty members of the undead, picking locks with bones and other ghoulish memorabilia, stealing long-lost treasures and ancient gold out of decrepit chests, or escaping from rusty, cobweb-laden jail cells aboard haunted pirate ships.

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