You guys seem like rationally minded people …well most of you, heh.
Anyway, how did this superstition become so powerful that almost every single Apt and Office buildings have no 13th floor? When did this madness start?
The logical answer is that Apt owners think that they may not sell any apts on this floor, but hey mark down the price and I’ll live there with no complaints. Office buildings on the other hand have no excuse for it though, it just enters the domain of unfounded superstition.
I also want to know if houses are allowed to have the #13 on their front door?
At least 13 is less common than 4, which is the forbidden unlucky number in Chinese-speaking places. (It sounds very similar to “death” in Chinese … good luck finding a hospital room # ending in 4)
Meh. Its’ tradition and it makes for good riddles.
I think the fear of 13 goes back to the Last Supper. Jesus plus the twelve apostles made thirteen. Jesus left first and got killed soon afterwards. I also remember the purging of the Knights Templar, a group that can be connected with the Masons, happened on Friday the thirteenth.
I’m sure I’ve seen #13 on houses, but I can’t think of one right now. I really don’t see why not.
Uh-huh. I’m agreeing with Reeder here. I’ve never been in a building that had at least 13 floors that didn’t have a 13th floor. Do you have an example of a building that doesn’t?
I remember reading somewhere that owners of buildings skip having a thirteenth floor for more than superstitious reasons. When it comes to selling the building, a seventeen story building has more value than a sixteen story one.
I work in a Catholic hospital, and there is no room 13 in the MICU or SICU; however, there is one in the O.R.
Ah. Perhaps then. Buildings constructed around the turn of the century (20th) sometimes had no thirteenth floor due to superstition. But that fell by the wayside in the US, for the most part, by the time of heaviest skyscraper construction.
It’s my understanding that casino/hotels never have a thirteenth floor because they’re afriad that all the superstitious folk would refuse to stay there. I think William Poundstone said that in one of his books.
As a result, the 14th Floor is actually the 13th floor, even though it’s really not. Or something like that.
Ask the guy who designed elevator control panels for ten years!
At most, five percent of the panels for tall buildings did not have 13th floors, mostly casinos and apartments. If it had ever been the norm it isn’t anymore.
I used to live at 1300 L_____ Road, and my father lives at 666 T___ Drive. And I still have relatives in a town where one third of the phone numbers are ‘+1 xxx 666 xxxx’. So it seems that Canadians aren’t scared of these numbers for geograpgic addresses and phone numbers. But, yes, there are a fair number of buildings in the Toronto area without a floor numbered thirteen.
My building doesn’t have a thirteenth floor either. Of course, it has no 12th, 11th, 10th,… or 5th floor, either.
I’ve been plenty of buildings without a floor NUMBERED 13, and yes, it’s quite stupid. I remember being very happy when I discovered the building I did my recent internship in was not afraid of having a floor with that number.
The Delta terminal at DFW airport didnt have a gate 13…When I worked security there it was a running joke, telling people the restroom was near gate 13. It may now though…that was a long time ago.
