13th Floor

[dgrey83]

Do elevators go to the 13th floor? I have heard that buildings that have more then 13 floors will never have a number 13 floor.

[Headtime]

I don't know about here in britain, but every building I have been to in America with more that 13 floors, has never had a 13th floor stop in the elevator.

[IndieSinger]

Conversely, I've never seen a lift that doesn't stop on a 13th floor (I'm in Britain). However, I did notice on my KLM flight to Amswerdam that there was no seating row 13.

[SteveD]

It just shows what a lot of nonsense it is when you consider that, In the US, the ground floor is known as the 1st floor whereas, in Europe, the 1st floor is the floor above that.

What is the difference between the floor that is 13th above the ground and one that is labelled "14" in the lift or elsewhere?

[tetherend]

Don't know, but recently in hospital I noticed that there was no bed number 13, just 12 and 12A then 14.

[kempie]

I think you'll find that the aforementioned hotels etc. do have a 13th floor... which has been renamed the 14th (or room nos begin 14x, 14xx or whatever).

Unless the upper floors are levitating.

[acw]

Also, many restaurants don't have a table 13 because customers won't sit there.

I thought it was unlucky because Judas was the 13th disciple.  There are probably loads of other reasons too.

Mind you, I guess if you live on the 13th floor and the lift doesn't stop there, that WOULD be unlucky! :-p

Nice thread though.

[smudge]

In our area, all the houses that should be 13 are in fact 11A.

[Octavius]

Alexander the G wanted to be a God and accordingly made a 13th statue on the place of his capital. He died and people considered that his will to be a 13th God (12 gods, one for each month were known) was the reason of his death. After that this number was considered as unlucky.

According to historians, there were 13 people at Christ's Last Supper and Christ was crucified on Friday 13th. So, Friday 13th is considered as Unlucky.

[Grunty]

The road where I live is the opposite of smudge's.  There is a 13 but no 15.  I suppose the first occupier of no 13 must have wanted to make a point.

[Hippy]

The Friday the 13th superstition is thought by many to have started on Friday October the 13th, 1307. The Roman Catholic Pope and the King of France, Philip IV, carried out a secret death warrant against the Knights Templar. They were an order of fighters within the Roman Catholic Church who promised to protect Christian travellers visiting Jerusalem in the centuries after the Crusades. The order became a rich, powerful and allegedly corrupt, and were killed as heretics. Their Grand Master, Jacques DeMolay, was arrested and before he was killed, was tortured and crucified. A Black Friday indeed!

13 eh? Harold Shipman, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, and even Jack the Ripper were all nasty men with 13 letters in their names, so look out for Robert Redford, Pierce Brosnan, and Mario Di Maggio becoming mass murderers! In Ancient Egypt there were 12 stages of life and the 13th was death. Not considered unlucky or bad, but the entrance to glorious immortality. There are 13 lunar cycles (just about) in a year, so the extra one must be bad, after all everything else is in 12s, isn't it? However, Jews and others observe Lunar calendars without too much trouble; their 13th month is no worse than any other!

The South American Maya people, whose number system was to base 20 and included zero, had two calendars, a ritual one, the Tzolkin, composed of 13 months of 20 days and a 365-day civil calendar, the Haab. This had 18 months, named after agricultural events, each with 20 days, numbered 0 to 19, and a short month of only 5 days, called the Wayeb. This was considered an unlucky period and the Maya did not wash, comb their hair or do any hard work during these five days. Anyone born during Wayeb would have bad luck and remain poor and unhappy all their lives.

[Bangkok]

A lot of buildings and airlines do not have a 13, although 12A or 12-14 gives it away.  In Hong Kong and China, a lot of buildings do not have a 14, 24, 34 or any 40's, as 4 is unlucky in Chinese cultures

[acw]

I'll be brave - and post the 13th reply!  I wonder if it will be labelled 12A though! :p

[ladybird1960]

I'm superstitious about a few things and strangley enough I had a gold ring with my name engraved on it that my sister gave me for my 13th birthday it snapped thirteen years later on the 13th April is that coincidence?

[Haj]

My brother lives on the 13th floor of a tower block (in the UK) and thankfully the lift does stop there!

[sanafani]

i don't know and i didn't hear to any person this information..but for elevators information you just see here:
http://www.transitionsmobility.com