Friday the 13th...unlucky for some...

Elevator buttons showing the missing 13th floor

It's always intrigued me, the superstitions that we as humans hold true--- even after decades of time and scientific advancement have proven they are, in fact, not true. Of course, most superstitions have their ORIGINS in fact....it probably only took a few people getting injured from items falling from ladders for it to be deemed unlucky to walk under them.

But, triskaidekaphobia? How is somebody hurt by a number?? The fear of the number 13 runs so deep that some buildings refuse to have a "13th" floor...evident by the lack of "13" in their elevator numbers---- there's a 12 and a 14, but no 13. Forget the fact that the floor just above the 12th, though it is labeled 14, is in fact the 13th floor.....

And to further the query.... where did the fear of Friday the 13th originate? Friggatriskaidekaphobia, to quote the technical term....Most beliefs of the "unlucky-ness" of Friday the 13th seems to stem from Old Christian thinking. Christ was crucified on a Friday...there were 13 members at the last supper. The number 13 was considered "lucky" by Pagan beliefs--- 13 lunar cycles, etc., which proved to be another reason 13 was deemed unlucky (easier to make people fear a belief, makes the promoted belief that much more revered.)

How many superstitions have we been "forced" to believe because it was the easiest way to control the mass populace?

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