We just survived another Friday the 13th (November 2020).
If the number 13 scares you, you’re not alone.
Millions of people in the world, including prolific horror writer Stephen King, have an irrational fear of the number 13. The phenomenon is so widely reported, it even has its own hard-to-pronounce name: triskaidekaphobia.
Those who suffer from triskaidekaphobia associate the number 13 with bad luck or danger due to superstitions. They may avoid staying at hotel rooms with the number 13, going up to the 13th floor of any building or sitting in the 13th row in airplanes — if such floors or aisles even exist.
People with more deeply rooted triskaidekaphobia, like King, might also skip the 13th step on staircases, get anxious watching Channel 13 or, while reading books, make a point not to pause on pages in which the digits add up to 13, like page 94. “It’s neurotic, sure. But it’s also . . . safer,” King wrote about his phobia in 1984.