13th floor

reply to post by FreeWillAnomaly


More likely, the belief that the number 4 (or 13, or any number containing 4) is unlucky would lead to more attention being paid to the occurrences, and more significance attached to them, despite not being considered significant otherwise.

Plenty of people die in hotels... but maybe it's only picked up as a "huh"-worthy topic if there's something that appeals to our desire to find significance in these things. So... they're reported as odd, and more frequently reported... but happen just as often anywhere else.

Nto so much that belief makes it happen... but more that belief makes it noticed.

reply to post by tinner07


Well, numerology plays a large role in demonology from what I know.

On top of that, as others have suggested, it is possible that demons are actually a construct of the human consciousness.

If that were the case (not saying it is), it is possible that the belief in the 13th floor being bad makes bad things happen.

However, too much has happened to write it off as purely superstition.

If you research why the originally started removing the 13th floor, it was because a lot of fires, strange occurrences, and people dying in general seemed to originate with floors labeled the number 13. Enough that what we would like to think is just superstition caused the number to be taken out of buildings for most of the industrial age, often called an age of reason coincidentally.

reply to post by Mianeye


Yes, I was going to start a thread on all that eventually. There is a lot of good and bad attached to the number. It pops up a lot in numerology.

I have personally noticed a lot of very important, for better or worse, days in my life - life changing stuff - seems to happen on the 13th.

But, specifically, I wanted to talk about buildings.

TELL ME SOMEONE KNOWS ABOUT THE FREAKING LIGHT!!!

It wasn't a camera flash or a flashlight. It was a very strange light, plus the building was relatively empty and no one was outside of the elevator.

I just wish someone would be like: oh yeah, there was a youtube prank going around a few years back...

Also, this happened in the same city as the story I posted.

reply to post by CrikeyMagnet


Yeah, I have considered that. I can respect that opinion, but I can't help but notice this pattern... it does seem that the number 13, and the 13th floor, do seem to have some significance of some sort.

I wish I could say I am convinced it is just superstition, but I am really not convinced.

Pfft, if 13 really was an unlucky number with true merit, there wouldn't be 12 months with a 13th day. Or a 13th hour in military/astronomical time (the 24 hour clock, 0 to 23 hours) Let alone a 13th minute or 13th second, too. What about 13 in terms of measurement? 13 meters, 13 feet, 13 inches, 13 centimeters and so forth? This is just foolish superstition, one where most people don't think it through & forget about anywhere else the number 13 occurs.

reply to post by FreeWillAnomaly

In that case, i can't help you, hope you find what you are looking for and looking forward to your thread on superstision.

Maybe search google for "13th floor elevator myth" or something, it could be it brought up something

reply to post by Mianeye


Yeah, I tried that. There is such a large amount of stuff on the internet about the number 13 and elevators that if others have seen it, I can't find it on the internet.

Anyways, it is not a thread on superstition in general - just the number 13 (not just related to buildings and elevators). Whether or not it is all superstition, I couldn't tell you. I have come across enough information to write a college thesis on, though.

reply to post by FreeWillAnomaly


I was born on the 13th, and consider myself a pretty good person. I think too much negative connotation has been attributed to the number 13.

If anything, I consider 13 to be my lucky number...

Des

I can't believe nobody's mentioned the movie...

13th Floor, IMDB

It's based on the same concept as 'The Matrix', the works of Plato. It was released before said other movie, but presumably overlooked because it didn't have all the crazy-slo-mo-shoot-outs. I thought it was the better of the 2, but I prefer mind-benders over action flicks. Definitely worth a watch if you're in to that sort of thing.

I've only been in a 12+ floor building a few times though, personally. Just wanted to point that out since nobody else had.

reply to post by CretumOrbis


Does it have the same gnostic concepts presented in the Matrix?

Aleister

....many apartment buildings and condos are built with no 13th floor, at least not what they call the 13th floor, because people don't want to move onto it. Lots of superstitions about the 13th floor. Good topic.

Also in Britain it was common for street numbers to have no number 13 but have the number 11a instead. Odds on one side and evens on the other. eg: 9, 10, 11, 11a, 15 etc.

Amazing how superstitions can influence our fragile and gullible mentalities.

When I was in high school my family and I went on vacation in Orlando, FL. We were talking on the plane on our trip down and jokingly mentioned that maybe we would be on the 13th floor at the Peabody Hotel - my dad reassured us that most hotels skip the 13th floor. Funny enough, when we arrived we received our keys for our room...on the 13th floor! Nothing bad happened, we had a great trip

reply to post by FreeWillAnomaly

Another absurd aspect of this superstition is that floors are counted in different ways in different countries.
The numbering system for English buildings is not "First Floor, Second Floor, Third Floor", but "Ground Floor, First Floor, Second Floor".
So if an American goes to the "Twelfth Floor" of an English building, he is on what would be called the "Thirteenth Floor" on the American numbering system.
Now is that going to be unlucky or not?