Exclusive Paranormal Investigation: THE DREAD DOORS OF DEATH

England has a chilling and storied history of church doors (and allegedly one old pub) that have been tricked out with a special additional touch, that of human skin. These are most often those of the Danes (Vikings) who made a point of ransacking churches and other religious institutions, enacting some of their own vicious practices on local dignitaries, such as the excruciating ‘Blood Eagle’ treatment.

So no surprise that the Anglo-Saxons wanted a little payback, eh?

King Aella's execution by the 'Blood Eagle'

The fact that most, if not all, of these legendary retributory punishments such as Hadstock, appear to be false should not detract from the psychic/paranormal horror the stories were designed to inflict on potential wrongdoers, and the lingering hatred of the Danes in some rural English communities in England, almost always in the eastern part of the country facing the North Sea from whence the raiders came.

Even today, intoxicated Essex bumpkins are wont to set up a wild cry of “Let us all go a-Viking smashing” to commemorate the St. Brice's Day Massacre of the Danes on 13th November 1002, ordered by King ?thelred ‘the Unready’ (968-1016 AD) in response to a perceived assassination plot by the Northmen.

Let’s have a look at some others, shall we?

St. Michael & All Angels church, Copford, Essex

From the church website:

The ancient door for the laity near the west end on the north side, and entering the nave, hangs on partly original hinges under which, reputedly, some pieces of parchment were discovered in around 1780. This is consistent with an ancient and gruesome local tradition, that a marauding Dane had been caught plundering the church and paid for his sacrilegious act with his skin . However, marauding Danes predated the building of our church by 200 years or more (the church dates from 1130 AD). The truth may be that the skin had belonged to a poacher caught harassing the king’s deer. The law at the time of Henry I stated that, “If a man chaseth the deere and mayketh him pannte, if he be free, he shall lose his hand, if bond, his skin.” Forensic examination of the ‘parchment’ early in the 20th century confirmed that the skin was that of a fair-skinned male.

Some websites say the skin is of a donkey though.

Rochester Cathedral, Kent

Pepys Diary:

"Then to Rochester, and there saw the Cathedrall, which is now fitting for use, and the organ then a-tuning. Then away thence, observing the great doors of the church, which, they say, was covered with the skins of the Danes.

No evidence currently exists of said skins.

Worcester Cathedral

The library in Worcester Cathedral boasts three pieces of what appear to be human skin. They have been analysed and confirmed as the flesh of a northern European from around the time of Danish King HarthaCnut’s (1018-1042 AD) tax impositions. A zealous tax collector foolishly attempted to drag the Sanctus bell out of the cathedral as payment, Enraged at this sacrilege, a mob of locals skinned him alive, then stretched and nailed his bloody hide to the Cathedral door. Over the years, slivers were taken as souvenirs, and possibly sold to other churches, for their very own ‘Daneskin’ adorned entrances.

East Thurrock - site unconfirmed, possibly St Mary's parish church, Corringham

Microscopist John Thomas Quekett (1815–1861)

‘Specimens reached him from all over the world and he was consulted on numerous matters. One of his investigations related to human hair and skin that could sometimes be found under the nails of church doors. He published a paper in 1849 on one example of a leathery material found under a metal plate on a church door at East Thurrock that was found to be the skin of a light haired man, seeming to confirm a local story of a Danish raider caught in the act and flayed alive, his skin nailed to the door under the plate!’

And a pub door: The Hatchet Inn, Bristol

Dating back to 1606, or earlier, The Hatchet Inn is the oldest pub in Bristol; a favourite of Blackbird the pirate and where the door is said to be embedded with the flayed flesh of an executed murderer, rather than calcified chunks of regurgitated pork scratchings.

Bristol Live says the skin is, ‘Conveniently, it is reputedly under layers and layers of black paint. But there is no evidence, apart from folklore, to suggest that this is actually the case. Until the owners of the Hatchet allow the door to be scientifically examined’

Ye Olde Greate Westminister Cathedral Heist of 1303 AD

The greatest exception to the rule of solely Scandinavian skin decoration is one Richard of Pudlicott (subject of the drama Heist in BBC Four’s 2008 Medieval Season), who had the stones to make off with hardcase King Edward ‘Longshanks’ I’s (1239-1307) royal treasury at Westminster Abbey.

The true story, as far as we can say is that ‘Dick’ was a penurious former English wool merchant, who possibly harboured a grudge against King Edward, whose tax policies had ruined many in the wool trade. Along with accomplices including some of the monks of Westminster Abbey, thieved a big slice of the king's treasury of gold, gems, and coin - over ￡100,000, around a whole a year's tax revenue for the Kingdom. But, as priceless objects began appearing in pawn shops, brothels, hidden in Thames fishing nets, dropped in the nearby churchyard and other places, the King, then biffing the Scots, was alerted. Dozens of suspects were rounded up and imprisoned, then brought to trial in of the greatest hearings of the English High Middle Ages.

Much of the swag was retrieved and a dozen eventually strung up, including Richard. Many escaped the executioner, as Richard bravely confessed falsely that he was the only culprit, saving his clerical inside men. Post-execution, his body was flayed, the skin was nailed to the door of Westminster Abbey as a warning from the monarch pour encourager les autres.

But, in a 2005 study of the door (said to be the oldest in England, dating from around 1050 AD, although the door at Hadstock could possibly be at least a decade older) revealed the legend to be unfounded . Pieces of hide found under the door's surviving iron strap were from an animal, probably an ox or cow.

Notes from Pudlicott’s confession reveal how the heist was supposedly accomplished:

"Eight days before Christmas he came there to break in with tools acquired for the job, namely two chisels, large and small, a knife and some smaller iron ‘engines’, and he worked at night until a fortnight after Easter, and on the night of Wednesday, the eve of Saint Mark, he got into the treasury, stayed inside through Saint Mark’s day sorting out the things he wanted to carry off, and on the following night he got out, leaving part of the treasure under the bush, to recover it the next night, and the rest he carried away with him, getting away through a gate behind St Margaret’s Church."

Highly unlikely, as it appears a monk named Adam of Warfield simply let Richard into the Crypt to steal at his comparative leisure.

Other sources:

Bob Dylan - Knockin' On Heaven's Door (Bardcore)

The Doors - Break On Through (Bardcore)

The Doors - The End (Bardcore)

Stephen Arnell’s novel THE GREAT ONE, is available on Amazon Kindle:

Stephen Arnell AD 19/02/2025