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May 12, 2005

Triskaidekaphobia

We went to the Top Of The Mark in San Francisco for Mother's Day brunch. As we were speeding up towards the rooftop dining, I noticed that there was no 13th floor. I thought this rather strange. Shane then told me that no buildings in the United States have a thirteenth floor. I expressed my skepticism. He must have been bamming me, I thought, but then he sends me one word today: Triskaidekaphobia.

So I looked it up.

Triskaidekaphobia is an irrational fear of the number 13. It is usually considered a superstition.

It has been linked to the fact there were 13 people at the last supper of Jesus, but it probably originated only in medieval times.

Triskaidekaphobia may have also affected the Vikings - it is believed that Loki in the Norse pantheon was the 13th god. This was later Christianized into saying that Satan was the 13th angel.

The Mesopotamian Code of Hammurabi (ca. 1686 BC) omits 13 in its numbered list. This seems to indicate a superstition existed long before the Christian era.

Some buildings number their floors so as to skip the thirteenth floor entirely, jumping from floor 12 to floor 14 in order to avoid distressing triskaidekaphobics, or using 12a and 12b instead. This is sometimes applied to room numbers as well.

A specific fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia.

More at: triskaidekaphobia: Definition and Much More From Answers.com

I find this hard to believe, but I guess a lot of superstitious people do feel uncomfortable with the idea of living or being on the 13th floor. But really, how is that any different from living on the truly 13th floor (or the 14th in Europe) and having it being falsely called the 14th/15th? That just seems devious - like the work of the devil himself!

This is actually quite a common affliction - not just affecting the silly superstitious masses, but also some of the greatest minds of history.

Napoleon, J. Paul Getty, Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were all practicing triskaidekaphobes, Fernsler said. "FDR might have been our most superstitious president," Fernsler said.

"He was scared to death of the number 13. When luncheon or dinner parties numbered 13, he would ask his secretary to join the guests to make an even 14."

That is a common fear, Fernsler said, adding that, in Paris, superstitious diners can hire a quatorzieme, or professional 14th guest.

Mark Twain once was the 13th guest at a dinner party, Fernsler said, and a friend told him not to go because it was bad luck. "It was bad luck," Twain later told the friend. "They only had food for 12."

Roosevelt's fears extended far beyond the dinner table, affecting even his travel arrangements.

"If he was going to travel on the 13th, often he would make the conductor leave at 11:50 p.m. on the 12th or wait until the early hours of the 14th," Fernsler said. "He died on Thursday, April 12, 1945—it was his final trip, and it was almost as if he said, I'm not leaving on the 13th."

More at: No fear of Friday the 13th for triskaidekaphobia expert

Posted by sorsha at May 12, 2005 4:19 PM