THE THIRTEEN CONNOTATION

By Greg Evans

What do you fear? Snakes, spiders, roller coasters, water, the unknown, or maybe you are afraid of the number 13. What is it about the strange number thirteen that gives us that empty hollow feeling inside? We notice shivers racing through our body and sensations of cold and occasionally a sour taste develops in your mouth. Would you really want to live on the 13th floor of a building or walk thirteen blocks to work in building number 13. Would you feel awkward baking thirteen cookies or getting married on the thirteenth day of the month? Where did this remarkable fear of the number 13 originate from?

It is said that the number 13 was first used to represent evil in Norse Mythology when Aegir had twelve gods to a banquet and a 13th god showed up, uninvited. This god was Loki the god of evil. There is also the story of the Last Supper when Jesus dined with the twelve apostles. As the story goes, Judas who was the thirteenth apostle betrayed Jesus giving him over to the Romans. Those are some of the stories of the origination of the number thirteen as having evil connotations but you also have the number thirteen representing other forms of darkness and discomfort. Did you know that there are thirteen members in a witch's coven. We all know from the Wizard of Oz the evil witches are capable of and then those witches we would see as children flying across the sky at night as we lay in our beds staring out the window at the bright moon through the pines. How about this one? Remember the Apollo 13 mission? On April 13th the shuttle left the launch pad at 13:13 hours and then exploded. Was it just a coincidence or was something peculiar and sinister going on that day? Do you believe in coincidences? I'm not sure I do. I have always been a superstitious person but the context of the superstition wasn't always black and white. I have been superstitious of the number 13 periodically in my life and I have always been grateful when I have been on an elevator and noticed that the building didn't have a thirteenth floor. Though I once did briefly wear the number thirteen basketball jersey while in middle school and even then I was somewhat conscious of that superstition.

In sports Dan Marino of the Miami Dolphins wore the number thirteen and has gone down in history as the greatest quarterback ever to play without winning a Superbowl. And do you think that also is a coincidence? Triskaidekaphobia is the name of the phobia for people who are afraid of the number 13. I don't think I would use that label for myself but I understand where the fear derives from and it isn't the unknown. There are many people out there who have thirteen as their lucky number. Poets I imagine. On Friday the 13th, 1407 King Philip the IV of France put out an arrest warrant on the Knights Templar. Those captured were tortured and killed in horrific manners. A great many people will say that it is mind over matter, and that people come up with all forms of craziness and lore but is it really all just craziness. If it didn't have some element of truth would the superstition have lasted through the ages? That is for you to determine for yourself though the next time you are walking through a dark parking garage at midnight and you realize you parked in spot number thirteen, don't get scared.