In 1781, Antoine Court de Gébelin writes of this card's presence in the Tarot of Marseilles that the number thirteen was "toujours regarde comme malheureux" ("always considered as unlucky").
[3] In 1784, Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf cites Gébelin, and reaffirms that the tarot card number 13 is death and misfortune ("Der Tod, Unglück").
From the 1890s, a number of English-language sources reiterated the idea that at the Last Supper, Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th to sit at the table.
In 1968, Douglas Hill in Magic and Superstitions recounts a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party in Valhalla.
The trickster god Loki, who was not invited, arrived as the 13th guest, and arranged for Höðr to shoot Balder with a mistletoe-tipped arrow.
[7][8] However, in the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, the story about Loki and Balder does not emphasize that there are 12 gods, nor does it talk about a dinner party or the number 13.
[24] In the case of the actual 13th flight, the crew was apparently not superstitious and made a humorous mission patch that had a black cat on it.
[36] These critics insisted that buildings rising above the 13th floor (130 feet or 40 metres) would lead to increased street congestion, ominous shadows and lower property values.
Nevertheless, in a work published in 1939, sociologist Otto Neurath compared the use of money in an economy, which he saw as unnecessary, to the superstition of not installing the thirteenth floor: merely a social convention.
Several prominent American real estate developers have claimed that they are unaware of any reduction in the value of thirteenth-floor offices or apartments.
13 Jersey retired by the NBA's Golden State Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers; Los Angeles Lakers, Harlem Globetrotters, and Kansas University Jayhawks, all of which he played for.
In 1966, the Portugal national football team achieved their best-ever result at the World Cup final tournaments by finishing third, thanks to a Mozambican-born striker, Eusebio, who has scored nine goals at World Cup – four of them in a 5-3 quarterfinal win over North Korea – and won the Golden Boot award as the tournament's top scorer while wearing the number 13.
[53] More recent footballers playing successfully despite wearing number 13, include Michael Ballack, Alessandro Nesta, and Rafinha.
[55] Some conspiracy theorists have suggested that the thirteenth floor in government buildings is not really missing, but actually contains top-secret governmental departments, or more generally that it is proof of something sinister or clandestine going on.