Is there really no 13th floor on elevators?

[sidel]

I've heard theres no 13th floor inside the elevators, that when people build the elevators, they skip the 13th floor because of superstition or something.

true?

[indeed]

Nope every one i've been in has a 13th floor, if their are 13 or more floors obviously in the building

[Mad Manfred]

In "western" socities such as the UK, Europe, Australia and Northern America I seriously doubt it.

But...I've heard rumors about it being the case in China and Japan...of how they avoid the whole 13th floor thing.

Its nothing more than superstitious nonsense.

Edit: HOW they avoid it...I'm not sure...I think they simply don't number that particular floor.

Edited March 18, 2006 by Mad Manfred

[dragonlady_mothman]

I've heard there isn't a fourth floor in buildings in Japan. The number four is bad luck because the character is pronounced the same as the character for "death"

[zandore]

Fear of the number 13 is called: Triskaidekaphobia << A link

From the link:

Some buildings number their floors so as to skip the thirteenth floor entirely, jumping from floor 12 to floor 14 in order to avoid distressing triskaidekaphobics, or using 12a and 12b instead. An example is 1 Canada Square in Canary Wharf, the tallest building in the UK, which lacks a 13th floor. This is sometimes applied to house or room numbers as well. The same is also true of rows in aeroplanes.

Edited March 18, 2006 by zandore

[Stalker]

I HAVE seen elevators that skip the 13th floor, and go directly from 12 to 14. However, the 13th floor IS still there, even if its labled as "14". You can't physically skip a floor in a building

[Dante Rouseau]

I've noticed the same sort of thing recently when i've been flying back and forth between home and uni. On most if not all of the planes the numbered rows go up till 12 then skip straight to 14.

[dragonlady_mothman]

The Japanese fear of the number four is obvious...where does "thirteen" come from?

[Rykster]

I have seen many elevators that skip the "13th" floor. It was a superstition.

[jobot37]

I've stayed at hotels where there is no marked thirteenth floor, and there was one where they had a thirteenth floor, they just didn't rent out the rooms on it or use it for anyhting but storage.

[Yelekiah]

Silly superstition but I guess it's for the convenience of guests. The 14th floor of course, is the 13th. oooooo

[QueenVixxen]

I live in a building with a 13th floor. However, this is the first building I have ever been in that has a 13th floor marked.

[Sofia Alexandra]

13 is supposed to be an unlucky number in general, some say if 13 people are dining together the first one to rise will soon die, and then there's the whole business with Friday the 13th.

[Tobias Shamtul]

ummm... sorry, but shouldnt this be in the urban legends thing?

[Pax Unum]

It is said: If 13 people sit down to dinner together, all will die within the year.

The Turks so disliked the number 13 that it was practically expunged from their vocabulary (Brewer, 1894).

Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue.

Many buildings don't have a 13th floor.

If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck (Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names).

There are 13 witches in a coven.

ancient civilizations weren't unanimous in their dread of 13. The Chinese regarded the number as lucky, some commentators note, as did the Egyptians in the time of the pharaohs.

sources suggest the number 13 was purposely vilified by the founders of patriarchal religions in the early days of western civilization because it represented femininity. Thirteen had been revered in prehistoric goddess-worshiping cultures, allegedly, because it corresponded to the number of lunar (menstrual) cycles in a year (13 x 28 = 364 days). The "Earth Mother of Laussel," for example, a 27,000-year-old carving found near the Lascaux caves in France often cited as an icon of matriarchal spirituality, depicts a female figure holding a cresent-shaped horn bearing 13 notches. According to this theory, as the solar calendar triumphed over the lunar with the rise of male-dominated civilization, so did the number 12 over the number 13

Paraskevidekatriaphobia: Fear of Friday the 13th

[rob lester]

Well , I can say all the Hotel/Casino's in Reno/Las Vegas/Lake Tahoe have a 13th floor button.....If any place would not have this do to " bad luck " these would be the places.Urban Legend

[Immortal Norway]

In a hotel I was in in Kristiansand (a city in Norway) they solved the problem with having offices in the 13th flour which you could only get into if you used the stairs.

[Dante The Hunter]

well i can understand the no.4, where did triskadeckaphobia come from?

[Emcee]

They had this in the Wayside School books. It always puzzled me as a child. The floor was still the 13th. It just had a different number.

People sometimes.

[Emcee]

They had this in the Wayside School books. It always puzzled me as a child. The floor was still the 13th. It just had a different number.

People sometimes.

[Klown Face]

In "western" socities such as the UK, Europe, Australia and Northern America I seriously doubt it.

But...I've heard rumors about it being the case in China and Japan...of how they avoid the whole 13th floor thing.

Its nothing more than superstitious nonsense.

Edit: HOW they avoid it...I'm not sure...I think they simply don't number that particular floor.

in china, my grandmother told me that they skip the 7th floor (i think, but im pritty sure) because the number 7 soungds like evil in kantinese or manderin

also i have a really weird story bout the 13th floor...

ight i was with some friends in an elevator in an apartment and one of them was all like they skipped the number 13 on the floor pannal thing. so everyone else looks at the panal and relized he was right. just as we were between the twelth and "forteenth" floor the elevator stops for a couple of seconds and then starts back up. after that we were pritty freeked out by the elevator and chose to use the stairs on our way bak down.

[Tornado]

If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck (Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names).

o0o

My first and maiden name (put together) have 13 letters in it. My new name doesn't. Am I okay now?

Oh, does it only count with your first and last name, or does it include your middle name too?

AcK! Too many questions, sorry.

--------------------------------------------------------------

I don't know about the "13th floor" thing. I don't believe so. But I do know that many streets in the UK don't have a house number of "13". It will be 11A, then jump straight to 15.

[oldie]

All of the cruise ships that I have been on skips the thirteenth floor. They go from floor twelve to fourteen.

[Idriss]

In my area there are alot of Hospitals that don't have a 13th ward because of this

[Perfect Imperfection]

The house in which I live should be number 13, but when it was being built my 'rents had the choice of it being 13 or 15, they went for 15. As houses over here, the odds are on one side of the street, evens on the other. Never noticed the whole 13th floor thing though.