Why is 13 Considered Unlucky? Explaining the Power of Its Bad Reputation

 Would you think it weird if I refused to travel on Sundays that fall on the 22nd day of the month?

How about if I lobbied the homeowner association in my high-rise condo to skip the 22nd floor, jumping from the 21st to 23rd?

It’s highly unusual to fear 22 – so, yes, it would be appropriate to see me as a bit odd. But what if, in just my country alone, more than 40 million people shared the same baseless aversion?

That’s how many Americans admit it would bother them to stay on one particular floor in high-rise hotels: the 13th.

According to the Otis Elevator Co., for every building with a floor numbered “13,” six other buildings pretend to not have one, skipping right to 14.

Many Westerners alter their behaviors on Friday the 13th. Of course bad things do sometimes happen on that date, but there’s no evidence they do so disproportionately.

As a sociologist specializing in social psychology and group processes, I’m not so interested in individual fears and obsessions. What fascinates me is when millions of people share the same misconception to the extent that it affects behavior on a broad scale. Such is the power of 13....<<<Read More>>>....

The Number 13

There is a term for a fear of the number 13; triskaidekaphobia, of Greek origin. The term for a fear of Friday the 13th is paraskevidekatriaphobia.

Across many cultures, the belief that the number 13 is evil and brings bad luck is so strong that many hotels, office and apartment buildings do not have or recognize a 13th floor, airports usually do not have a 13th gate and many people stay home on Friday the 13th.

The Chinese and ancient Egyptians believed the number 13 brings good fortune. The Egyptians believed in 12 stages in life toward spiritual enlightenment. The 13th stage was the eternal afterlife. In this sense, death was not a place of fear, but a place of high regard for the afterlife.

One theory about why this negative belief about the number 13 exists is that Judas, who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th person to be seated at the Last Supper.

In 1881, a group of New Yorkers set out to debunk this and all other superstitions and formed a group called the Thirteen Club. Its first meeting took place on Friday the 13th at 8:13 pm and 13 people sat down to dinner in room number 13. To get into the room each guest walked under a ladder and sat down around piles of spilled salt. Needless to say, all of the guests survived. For the next 40 years, Thirteen Clubs cropped up all over the U.S., but then faded from popularity....<<<Read More>>>...