Why are so many people obsessed with number 13 and/or 23?

Answer 1

I thought you may enjoy this, it is an extension of one of my previous answers involving the number 13. I believe all the hype about the number 23, is mainly revolved around pop culture and the movies, although I may be wrong on that point.

Origins
The origin of the Friday the 13th superstition has been linked to the belief that there were 13 people at The Last Supper of Jesus, who was crucified on Good Friday, but no evidence has been found that Friday 13th was considered especially unlucky until the 19th century. The number 13, however, has a long history of association with ill-luck. It has been linked to the fact that a lunisolar calendar must have 13 months in some years, while the solar Gregorian calendar and lunar Islamic calendar always have 12 months in a year. Another suggestion is that the belief originated in a Norse myth about twelve gods having a feast in Valhalla. The mischievous Loki gate-crashed the party as an uninvited 13th guest and arranged for Hod, the blind god of darkness, to throw a branch of mistletoe at Balder, the god of joy and gladness. Balder was killed instantly and the Earth was plunged into darkness and mourning as a result. Both the first and last explanations, however, seem more relevant to the superstition linked to having 13 people at the same table during a meal. There is also another theory that Friday the 13th of October 1307 was the day that Philip IV of France arrested hundreds of the French Knights Templar to get their money for the French treasury. One other note which predates all of the aforementioned is that the first Passover seems to have occurred on Friday the 13th. The death of the firstborns of Egypt occurred on a Shabbat on the 14th of Nisan in the evening. But the Jewish calendar counts days from sunset to sunset so this would have been Friday the 13th in terms of the gentile reckoning of the days. (Exodus 12:6) Feminists have argued that because of the lunar year and Friday being named after a goddess in most European pagan calendars, the fear of Friday the 13th is a patriarchal invention, associating femininity with bad luck.
http://www.useless-knowledge.com/1234/ma...

So what is some of the facts behind these superstitions? Well, first of all, let’s distinguish between two fears:

1) Tridecaphobia – fear of the number 13

2) Paraskevidekatriaphobia – fear of Friday the Thirteenth

The first one, Tridecaphobia, stems from people who just plain hate the number 13. Period. They will go to all extents to avoid the number. I know a few of these people, and sometimes it gets to be quite annoying. One person in particular that I know is unbelievably superstitious. He won’t write a check out if it has the number 13 on it. He purposely avoids being thirteenth in anything. 13 does not exist for him. 12 then 14 does, but not 13. It’s not part of his vocabulary. Extreme, yes, but he has a phobia, after all.

Paraskevidekatriaphobia—don’t even ask me to pronounce it, but it’s quite real. People who have this fear will not go out of their house on that day (Friday the 13th), avoid sharp objects on that day—just avoid it all together. The whole day just doesn’t exist on their calendar.

Answer 2

Friday the 13th is the day the Knights Templar was destroyed because they had become too much of a powerful rival to kings and church. "On October 13, 1307, a day so infamous that Friday the 13th would become a synonym for ill fortune, officers of King Philip IV of France carried out mass arrests in a well-coordinated dawn raid that left several thousand Templars — knights, sergeants, priests, and serving brethren — in chains, charged with heresy, blasphemy, various obscenities, and homosexual practices. None of these charges was ever proven, even in France — and the Order was found innocent elsewhere — but in the seven years following the arrests, hundreds of Templars suffered excruciating tortures intended to force 'confessions,' and more than a hundred died under torture or were executed by burning at the stake."

Answer 3

I can't vouch for the number 23, but there is a superstition that goes with the number 13...

Jesus had twelve disciples. At the final supper, he sat down at the table with his 12 disciples. While they were talking amongst themselves, Jesus got up to pray, and was crucified the next day. So the superstition would be stated as so: If 13 sit at a table to dine, the first to rise is the first to die.

Answer 4

I'm not sure about the number 23, but 13 is associated with bad luck. I honestly don't know what people would like that number, but it is my favorite.

Answer 5

13 is known to bring bad luck. Right now there's a movie preview about Jim Carry losing his marbles due to the number 23, so very soon 23 will become somewhat popular in meaning evil stuff happening or bad luck.

Answer 6

I never heard of 23, but its just been forever the 13 has been bad. Crap if you ask me. Kids can't wait to turn 13. It is in the Bible about 666 for the devil though.

Answer 7

At the last supper there were 12. Then there was the Satan who was the 13th un-invited guest. 13 is associated with the Satan.

Answer 8

Because they're crack heads