The thirteenth floor in a building.?

Question

Why don't buildings have a thirteenth floor? I don't get it just because of a stupid superstition they skip a floor when naming the floors of a building. Why? It's bad luck to walk under a ladder so why do they still make ladders???
Whats the big deal with the thirteenth floor?

Answer 1

In Christian mythology, 13 is unlucky. In other mythologies, 13 is the number of months in the lunar year, and is therefore both holy and feminine, representing the completeness of the cosmos and its generative properties. The more interesting question, then, slw182, is why the number became so feared, so reviled, so 'unlucky,' and so quickly(less than a thousand years).

Pagans, your move!

Answer 2

The levels of a multi-story building are numbered sequentially, from "one" or "ground" upwards. In some countries, the number 13 is considered unlucky and building owners will sometimes purposely omit the thirteenth floor. Even landlords who are not themselves superstitious realize that the rentability of suites on the 13th floor might be compromised because of superstitious tenants, or commercial tenants who fear superstitious customers.

Thirteen may be considered a "bad" number simply because when a group of 13 objects or people is divided into two, three, four or six equal groups, there is always one leftover, or "unlucky", object or person.

It was suggested by Charles A. Platt writing in 1925 that the reason 13 is considered unlucky is that a person can count from 1-12 with their 8 fingers, two thumbs and 2 feet, but not beyond that, so the number 13 is unknown, hence frightening, hence unlucky.[1] This idea discounts the use of toes or other body parts in counting.

In Tarot decks, the 13th card of the Major Arcana is Death. While Death is rarely interpreted literally, it is possible that this furthered the perception of 13 as an unlucky number.

just some interesting facts on the number 13:

Thirteen was once associated with the Epiphany by Christians, the child Jesus having received the Magi on his thirteenth day of life.
In Judaism, 13 signifies the age a boy matures (bar mitzvah).
The number of principles of Jewish faith according to Maimonides
According to the Torah, God has 13 Attributes of Mercy

Answer 3

Yeah, I definitely agree: it's a ridiculous superstition, called, triskaidekaphobia. At least the superstition about walking under a ladder has *some* validity to it, especially if someone on the ladder might drop something! Or breaking a mirror - it might be seven years before it's safe to walk barefooted in the room where the mirror was broken!

During WWII, any baby born after Sept. 13, 1942 didn't count as an exemption from military service, because children born after that date were considered to have been conceived after Pearl Harbor, HI, was bombed by the Japanese on Dec. 7, 1941.

When my wife and I were first married, we lived in a furnished apt. on 13th Ave.; when I got my first job out of college, the address of our unfurnished apt. was 913 1/2. We're still married to each other and the good Lord willing, shall celebrate our 43rd Anniversary in Dec., this year (no, not on the 13th)!

Answer 4

The levels of a multi-story building are numbered sequentially, from "one" or "ground" upwards. In some countries, the number 13 is considered unlucky and building owners will sometimes purposely omit the thirteenth floor. Even landlords who are not themselves superstitious realize that the rentability of suites on the 13th floor might be compromised because of superstitious tenants, or commercial tenants who fear superstitious customers.
Similarly, new buildings in some parts of China omit the fourth, fourteenth, twenty-fourth, etc. floors, as the word "four" (Hanzi: 四) sounds like "death" (死 – pronounced "sì" and "sǐ", respectively) in Mandarin, the predominant dialect for the country, and most other Chinese dialects. A small number of buildings also follow the Western tradition of omitting the thirteenth floor, with the fifteenth floor immediately following the twelfth.

Although the Hanja for four and death are read identically in Korean, buildings in South Korea tend not to omit the fourth floor. However, newer buildings tend to label the fourth floor with the letter F, instead of the number 4.
Some conspiracy theorists have suggested that the thirteenth floor in government buildings is not really missing, but actually contains top-secret governmental departments, or more generally that it is proof of something sinister or clandestine going on [citation needed]. This implication is often carried over, implicitly or explicitly, into popular culture; for example, in the films The Thirteenth Floor, the hidden research and development labs of Network 23 in the television program 'Max Headroom', the top-secret research and development division of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the fifth book of the series, Mostly Harmless, and the computer game Floor 13 by Virgin Interactive. In the sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf "floor 13" referred to a secret brig which was several decks high.

It is widely believed that Canary Wharf's One Canada Square houses a plant room on its level 13 but this is just another example of undeserved notoriety on the part of the 13th floor. One Canada Square's plant areas are in its basements (Levels B3 to M1) and above Level 50 (Level M2). The floor directly above level 12 is level 14.

It should be noted that to place a floor between those accessible from an elevator, it is necessary to either take longer to travel between the neighboring floors, or accelerate, both of which would be noticed by the riders. It would also be noticeable from the exterior, requiring either an extra row of windows or a conspicuous gap between rows. Thus, it would make much more sense to build a secret floor as a basement.

Answer 5

Every building built above thirteen floors has a thirteenth floor, they just don't label it. It's just a superstition they have. LOL I don't know why they still make ladders if there's a superstition about them. Same with cats. If it's bad luck to have a black cat cross your path, why not kill off all black cats? (I'm not serious with the cat thing)

Hit Me With It: I stayed at the Sheriton in Niagara Falls and they had no 13th floor, so there are buildings with no 13th floor

Answer 6

This whole thing of '13' and '666' being unlucky or evil seems to be a purely Western thing, because of the Biblical associations of those numbers. Go to Japan and you'll find that '4' and '9' are regarded as unlucky - The Japanese word for '4' sounds very similar to their word for 'death' while the Japanese for '9' sounds much like their word meaning 'agony' or 'torture'. Seven, meanwhile, is regarded as a lucky number - Buddhists believe in seven reincarnations. The Japanese celebrate the seventh day after a baby's birth. So, if you're on holiday in Japan and have an accident, would you be OK with them putting you in hospital bed number 49 while you recover?

Answer 7

I believe that this goes back much further than most of us realize. The number 3 has been powerful and significant since ancient times (in Greek mythology etc.). So, what I have heard is that 13 is taboo because the number 1 should not be put before the the number 3. Why this does not apply to other number (i.e. 23, 43, etc.) I do not know.

Answer 8

FRIDAY THE 13TH - how did Friday the thirteenth become such an unlucky day?
fear of Friday the 13th is rooted in ancient, separate bad-luck associations with the number 13 and the day Friday. The two unlucky entities combine to make one super unlucky day.
There is a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, their heaven. In walked the uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous Loki. Once there, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Balder died and the Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned.
There is a Biblical reference to the unlucky number 13. Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th guest to the Last Supper.
A particularly bad Friday the 13th occurred in the middle ages. On a Friday the 13th in 1306, King Philip of France arrested the revered Knights Templar and began torturing them, marking the occasion as a day of evil.
In ancient Rome, witches reportedly gathered in groups of 12. The 13th was believed to be the devil.


Both Friday and the number 13 were once closely associated with capital punishment. In British tradition, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose.
It is traditionally believed that Eve tempted Adam with the apple on a Friday. Tradition also has it that the Flood in the Bible, the confusion at the Tower of Babel, and the death of Jesus Christ all took place on Friday.
Numerologists consider 12 a "complete" number. There are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 apostles of Jesus. In exceeding 12 by 1, 13's association with bad luck has to do with just being a little beyond completeness.
FRIDAY THE 13TH - how is fear of the number thirteen demonstarted?
More than 80 percent of high-rises lack a 13th floor.
Many airports skip the 13th gate.
Airplanes have no 13th aisle.
Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13.
Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery.
On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half.
Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue
In France, socialites known as the quatorziens (fourteeners) once made themselves available as 14th guests to keep a dinner party from an unlucky fate.
Many triskaidekaphobes, as those who fear the unlucky integer are known, point to the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13.
If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck . Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names.



Friday the Thirteenth - The Scandinavian's believed that the number 13 was unlucky due to the mythological 12 demigods being joined by a 13th, an evil one, who brought misfortune upon humans. It was also said that Christ was crucified on Friday and the number of guests at the party of the Last Supper was 13, with the 13th guest being Judas, the traitor.

Answer 9

It is becouse of the supersition that most buildings dont have a 13th floor. Even though its bad luck to walk under a ladders they are still needed, where it dosen't cost anything to skip having a 13th floor.

Answer 10

think about it they actually do, it goes 12 and the next floor is numbered 14, 14 id actually the 13th floor, if the place just wanted to skip the 13th floor they should just end at 12 and not have to worry about it, they don't like thirteen because of superstitions