If you have a fear associated with the number 13, you are not alone. In a Gallup Poll conducted several years ago, 13% of those interviewed claimed that it would bother them to stay on the 13th floor of a hotel (how odd that the percentage landed on the number 13). Nine percent said they would go so far as to ask for a different floor. There is actually a name for people that take this phobia to the extreme, and it’s called triskaidekaphobia. Triskaidekaphobia is defined as a is fear or avoidance of the number 13. The term was used as early as in 1910 by Isador Coriat in Abnormal Psychology. This is why many hotels and office buildings do not have a 13th floor, it’s harder to fill those rooms. But in reality, they still have a 13th floor, they just happen to call it the 14th floor. So take note anyone with triskaidekaphobia, if you get assigned to the 14th floor, you may actually be staying on the 13th!
There are many theories as to how the number 13 may have developed its reputation as being an unlucky number, but no one really knows for sure. The first known association between the number 13 and bad luck first appears sometime after the Middle Ages in Europe. Some people believe that the superstition came about with the readings of Tarot cards. One of the trump cards in tarot represents death and is the card number 13 in several variants. Another belief is that the number 13’s association with bad luck began at the Last Supper, where Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th to sit at the table. Although the Bible says nothing about the order in which the Apostles sat. There are other theories as well.
