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by HungryGuy on August 31st, 2004

HungryGuy

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Why is the number "13" considered an "unlucky" number?

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  • by Biggie15 on February 9th, 2007

    Biggie15

    There are many explanations. One explanation is that the number 13 brings bad luck because there were 13 people present at "The Last Supper" in the Bible. Another story comes from Norse mythology. One of the nastiest Norse gods, "Loki", crashed a party at "Valhalla." Valhalla was the "banquet hall of the gods." There were 12 guests present at the hall until Loki arrived. With the mean-spirited Norse god as the 13th guest, the affair turned grim. The story goes that "Balder", "the god of light, joy, and reconciliation", died when Loki tricked Balder's
    sightless brother Hod into throwing mistletoe at him. Just like Kryptonite to Superman, Mistletoe, you see, was the only thing on earth that could kill Balder.

    The famous mystery writer Agatha Christie (1890-1976) actually capitalized on the superstition that surrounds the number 13 when she penned 13 short stories and put them in a book titled, "The Thirteen Problems" in 1933. Each story featured her busybody sleuth, "Miss Jane Marple." Christie did it again when she wrote the mystery, "Thirteen at Dinner", which starred Peter Ustinov and Faye Dunaway. It hit the movie screen in 1985.

    Whether 13 is actually an unlucky number or not will forever remain a mystery. There are many truths about the number 13, though. For example, it is a prime number. That means that it is only divisible -without there being a remainder- by the number 1 and itself. It is also a "Fibonacci Number." A Fibonaci Number can be defined as "a number that is the sum of the two preceding numbers." If you begin with 0 and 1, the sequence would run 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,45,79, and so on.

    (Thanks to associatedcredit.com for the answer)

    Comments

    • The Confederate States also thought the number 13 was dreadful because the 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery.

      kevin.coleman14

      by kevin.coleman14 on August 25th, 2010

    • Mistletoe killed someone?? Ya okay...lmao like a vampire right. This is where I lose my faith...

      Tara_C

      by Tara_C on August 26th, 2010

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