Today, in case you’re interested, is a phobia day.
The medical term describing sufferers of this phobia is worth 33 points in Scrabble (without letter bonuses) and 34 points in Words With Friends. Fear of the number 13 is triskaidekaphobia.
Thankfully, it’s a 17-letter word - if the term for the fear were thirteen letters, just mentioning it might freak some out.
Those included in the “some” who might freak would include descendants of the Knights Templar and horror author Stephen King.
King admits he’s so horrified by the number he avoids the thirteenth step on staircases and won’t pause on pages that total 13 (think pages 94, 85, 76, etc). “It’s neurotic, sure. But it’s also….. safer,” King wrote in 1984.
There’s no real accounting for how many people suffer the phobia, but it’s widespread enough that you won’t find a thirteenth row on many airplanes, or a thirteenth floor in many buildings (both Otis and Kone elevator companies offer the option to omit 13 in their floor numbering).
Author King describes his fellow sufferers as “triskies” and, in almost Stephen King-like fashion, there’s even a multiplier of the phobia/fear.
When the date falls on a Friday (like today) it’s even more horrifying to the “triskies”.
The multiplier also has two descriptive terms: paraskevidekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia (I’m not making these up).
Where did the phobia originate?
No definitive answer, but it’s been attributed to a variety of happenings, from the thirteen guests who attended the Last Supper with Jesus on the Friday before he was crucified to the Knights Templar being rounded up and summarily executed by orders issued by King Phillip IV of France on Friday, October 13, 1307. More than 600 Templars were arrested with many, including the leaders, tortured before being burned at the stake for heresy.
OK, that’s enough to make me nervous.
Yet another historical reference goes back to the Sumerians who considered the number twelve to be the perfect number. They also considered the number after twelve to be extremely imperfect..to the point they skipped it in their numbering system.
There are even more theories, but the one most anthropologists and cultural observers prefer says, simply, that people are “hard-wired to find meanings in various patterns, connections and perceptions.” Consequently, we“need someone or something to blame when stuff goes wrong, and numbers are an easy target.”
All the various explanations make just enough sense to result in one of those “patterns” resonating with us. That “resonance” is why advocates for any of the theories are so adamant in their belief.
But it also backs us into the corner where we’re forced to admit that despite all our so-called sophistication and belief in science, we’re still -at best- a superstitious lot.
Personally, I don’t believe in superstition. It’s bad luck.
It may be a frightening Friday, but it’s still a lead-in to the weekend. Get outside and enjoy it.
We’ll keep you posted.
-- Jim Shepherd