The number 13: Origin, Meaning and When It Actually Started

Q: How old is this superstition?

First recorded: Norse myth and the Last Supper as later explanations; buildings skipping floor 13 from the early 1900s. Twelve is the number of completeness in many systems — months, hours, zodiac signs, apostles — so thirteen sits just past a closed set. The Norse story of Loki as the thirteenth guest and the Last Supper are both used as origins, and both were attached to the fear after it existed.

When it actually starts

How old is this one

First recorded Norse myth and the Last Supper as later explanations; buildings skipping floor 13 from the early 1900s

That makes it about 126 years old

Rank by age 35 oldest of 40 dated here

Category Numbers

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Twelve is the number of completeness in many systems — months, hours, zodiac signs, apostles — so thirteen sits just past a closed set. The Norse story of Loki as the thirteenth guest and the Last Supper are both used as origins, and both were attached to the fear after it existed.

What people say

An unlucky number; a thirteenth guest is dangerous.

What is going on

Around 80% of high-rise buildings skip the 13th floor, which means the belief has physically reshaped cities. The floor exists — it is simply labelled 14.

Where it applies. In Italy 17 is the unlucky number, in China and Japan it is 4, because the word sounds like "death". Thirteen is unremarkable there.

Recorded around the same time

The number 13 is the 35th oldest of the 40 dated superstitions here. Of those, 6 are younger than a century and 5 predate the common era.

Whistling indoors 1850 Wedding superstitions 1871 Friday the 13th 1907 Theatre superstitions 1930

First-recorded dates are the earliest documented appearance in written sources, not the earliest possible origin — an unrecorded practice can be older. How the dating works and where it is uncertain →