The new housing development that went up last year across from me does not have a number 13! I was delighted at this modern example of an ancient superstition. Here's the evidence
Numbering already dodgy here... 11 then 12, no odd and even for this lot of fearful builders...
Next door is number 14!
On this wide shot, you can see the only thing between 12 and 14 are the double garages! How cool!- 13 turns up in Norse legends, where Loki, the god of mischief, equivalent with the devil is the 13th member at Odin's feast
- The 13th fairy in Sleeping Beauty is the bad one who curses her to prick her finger on a needle and die
- Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus was the 13th to be chosen
- Fishermen in Britain would never say the fatal number, rather 'Twelve and One'
- Another common name for 13 is 'the baker's dozen' (so-called because kindly bakers would give their customers an extra bun or cake if they bought 12);
- Fishermen would also not have boat registration numbers which could add up to 13, nor boat names with 13 letters!
- Lifts in Japan don't have 13, 14 or 4, all are thought to be unlucky - 4 because the Japanese word for the number is phonetically similar to the word for 'death'!
- Fearful Persian builders label houses in Iran 12+1
There are loads more
Did you know that...
- 13 is the atomic number of Aluminium on the Periodic Table of Elements?
- Sikhs look on 13 as being lucky, as 'tera' 13, also means 'yours'. Guru Nanak counted 'tera' after 13 as all things belonged to God, hence it was good fortune?
- Traditionally there are 13 steps leading to the gallows?
- 13 goes into 999,999 exactly 76,923 times!?
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