Happy Friday the 13th!
The number thirteen has had negative and sinister meanings for centuries. I don’t think any number is different from any other number, but it’s fun to pretend. It’s even more fun to turn it on its head. That’s what the Thirteen Club did.
In the late 1800s, hundreds of different clubs existed so that men could spend time with other men who had similar ideas and passions. Captain William Fowler, a builder in New York City, loved the number thirteen. He also loved joining clubs (he belonged to thirteen of them.) In 1881, Fowler invited twelve men to join a new club that he formed. The Thirteen Club.
It was considered unlucky to have thirteen people at a table, but Fowler challenged that idea. He had all the members walk under a ladder before sitting down, and the meal had thirteen courses. The idea of the club caught on, and soon there were hundreds of members.
Did anything evil happen to the club? While there were mishaps over the years, it wasn’t anything different from other clubs, so I’d say the Thirteen Club didn’t tempt fate. Although, every member of this club is dead, so that could be spooky. Or it could be that everyone who was born in the mid-1800s is dead.
That is how superstitions work. We create meaning, good or bad, to an event but never think about all the other times it has happened. We’re just not wired that way. But for a brief moment, a club broke mirrors, spilled salt, and made thirteen toasts to show that superstitions were bunk.
Check out this article from Atlas Obscura for more facts about the Thirteen Club. I think we need to virtually resurrect it again since superstitions are alive and well.