Editing Triskaidekaphobia (section)

==Thirteenth floor==
{{Redirect|Thirteenth floor}}
[[File:ShanghaiMissingFloors.jpg|thumb|175px|right|Panel from an elevator in a residential apartment building in [[Shanghai]]. Floors 4, 13 and 14 are missing, because of the [[tetraphobia|similarity]] between the pronunciation of the word "four" and "death" in Chinese.]]
The '''thirteenth floor''' is a designation of a [[storey|level]] of a multi-level building that is often omitted in countries where the number {{num|13}} is considered unlucky.<ref name = "VyseSI2020">{{cite journal |last1=Vyse |first1=Stuart |title=Are you afraid of the thirteenth floor? Supersition and real estate, part 2 |journal=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |date=2020 |volume=45 |issue=5 |pages=21–25|author1-link=Stuart Vyse }}</ref><ref name= "Fleischman">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/18/AR2007081800890.html |title=The 13th Floor: A Ghost Story |last=Fleischman |first=Sid |publisher=The Washington Post Company |access-date=2008-07-26 |date=2007-08-19}}</ref> Omitting the 13th floor may take a variety of forms; the most common include denoting what would otherwise be considered the thirteenth floor as level 14, giving the thirteenth floor an alternative designation such as "12A" or "M" (the thirteenth letter of the [[Latin alphabet]]), or closing the 13th floor to public occupancy or access (e.g., by designating it as a [[mechanical floor]]).

Reasons for omitting a thirteenth floor include triskaidekaphobia on the part of the building's owner or builder, or a desire by the building owner or landlord to prevent problems that may arise with [[superstitious]] tenants, occupants, or customers. In 2002, based on an internal review of records, Dilip Rangnekar of [[Otis Elevator]]s estimated that 85% of the buildings with at least thirteen floors {{clarify|date=January 2024}} with Otis brand elevators did not have a floor named the 13th floor.<ref name="otis">{{cite web |url=http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20020913_13thfloor.htm |title=Bottom Line Conjures Up Realty's Fear Of 13 |last=Perkins |first=Broderick |publisher=Realty Times |date=2002-09-13 |access-date=2015-05-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430013751/http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20020913_13thfloor.htm|archive-date=30 April 2013}}</ref> Early tall-building designers, fearing a fire on the 13th floor, or fearing tenants' superstitions about the rumor, decided to omit having a 13th floor listed on their elevator numbering.<ref name="otis" /> This practice became commonplace, and eventually found its way into American mainstream culture and building design.<ref name="otis" />

[[Vancouver]] city planners have banned the practice of skipping 4s and 13s, since it could lead to mistakes by [[first responder]]s, for example going to the wrong floor.<ref>{{cite news |title=No more skipping 4, 13, 14, 24 in Vancouver floor numbers |url=https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/no-more-skipping-4-13-14-24-in-vancouver-floor-numbers |access-date=21 January 2020 |newspaper=Vancouver Sun |date=4 November 2015 |language=en}}</ref>

===Origin===
The origin of skipping the thirteenth floor when installing elevators is not known. However, during the advent of early skyscrapers, New York architectural critics warned developers not to exceed the height of the 13th floor.<ref name= "Glaeser">{{cite news |url=http://criticalenvironmentalism.org/2011/05/24/triumph-of-the-city/ |title=Triumph of the City |last=Glaeser |first=Edward |publisher=Critical Environmentalism |access-date=2011-06-02 |date=2011-05-24}}</ref> These critics insisted that buildings rising above the 13th floor ({{convert|130|ft|m|disp=or}}) 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]].

===Methods of avoiding===
*Skipping: Most commonly, 13 is skipped, as in: ''12'', ''14'', ''15''... The floor labeled "14" on the elevator is the thirteenth floor and the number 13 is skipped on the elevator console. In such buildings, floors after 12 are nominally incorrect, with their labeled floor being one higher than the actual floor. Many ships, including cruise liners have omitted having a 13th deck due to triskaidekaphobia. Instead, the decks are numbered up to 12 and skip straight to number 14.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.express.co.uk/travel/cruise/1052720/cruises-2019-cruise-ship-holidays-deck-13-unlucky-number|work=The Express|title=Cruise secrets: Why can passengers never find this mysterious location on a cruise ship?: CRUISE ships are often enormous vessels that some passengers may be overwhelmed by when first boarding. However, keen-eyed cruisers may notice that there is one thing missing from many ships.|first=Harriett|last=Mallinson|date=December 8, 2018|access-date=February 26, 2024}}</ref>
*12A, 12B, 14: Sometimes to keep numbers consistent the 13th floor is simply renumbered as ''12A'' or ''12B'', as in: ''12'', ''12A'', ''14''.., or ''12'', ''12B'', ''14''; this does not affect the numbers of the higher floors. Likewise, ''14'' could be used for the 13th floor and ''14A'' or ''14B'' could be used for the 14th floor.
*Special designations: Other buildings will often use names for certain floors to avoid giving a floor on the building the number 13 designation. One such example is the [[Radisson Hotels|Radisson Hotel]] in [[Winnipeg]], [[Manitoba]], where the 13th floor is called the ''pool floor''. Another example is the [[Sheraton on the Falls]] in Niagara Falls, Ontario, where the 13th floor consists solely of a [[restaurant]]. A third example is the [[Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago]] in Chicago, Illinois, where the 13th floor is the [[mezzanine floor]].
*Uninhabited 13th floor: sometimes, the floor is put to some other use, such as a [[mechanical floor]]. Such usage is sometimes the subject of [[conspiracy theories]] (see [[#In popular culture|below]]).
*Letter M: In Richmond, Virginia, the Monroe Park Towers has a 13th floor, but it is used for mechanical equipment and is only accessible from the freight elevator or the stairs. The M designation on the elevator buttons of the freight elevator can also be construed as meaning the ''Mechanical level'' in this particular building, or as a ''[[Mezzanine]] level''.
*Split-level apartments: Sometimes, a tenement block will contain split-level apartments where the units themselves contain internal staircases and the main elevators for the building therefore do not stop on every floor. One example is Princess Towers in [[Kingston, Ontario]], which has {{frac|16|1|2}} stories excluding the roof-top. The elevators stop at B (basement), G (ground), 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15th floors only. In this case, the unmarked 11th and 13th floors are accessed within units on the marked 12th floor.

===Research===
In a 2007 Gallup poll,<ref name="Gallup Poll">{{cite web |last1=Carroll |first1=Joseph |title=Thirteen Percent of Americans Bothered to Stay on Hotels' 13th Floor |url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/26887/Thirteen-Percent-Americans-Bothered-Stay-Hotels-13th-Floor.aspx |website=Gallup |date=15 March 2007 |publisher=Gallup, Inc. |access-date=31 August 2020}}</ref> 13 percent of American adults reported that they would be bothered if given a hotel room on the thirteenth floor, while 9 percent indicated that they would be sufficiently bothered to request a room on a different floor.  Research on thirteenth-floor effects on real estate values presents a mixed picture.  Several prominent American real estate developers have claimed that they are unaware of any reduction in the value of thirteenth-floor offices or apartments.<ref name = "VyseSI2020" />  On the other hand, in  studies conducted in Russia, Antipov and Pokryshevskaya,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Antipov|first1=Evgeny A. |last2=Pokryshevskaya|first2=Elena B. |title=Are buyers of apartments superstitious? Evidence from the Russian real estate market |journal=Judgment and Decision Making |date=2015 |volume=10 |issue=6 |pages=590–592|doi=10.1017/S1930297500007026 |doi-access=free }}</ref> and Burakov <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Burakov |first1=Dmitry |title=Do discounts mitigate numerological superstitions? Evidence from the Russian real estate market |journal=Judgment and Decision Making |date=2018 |volume=15 |issue=5 |pages=467–470|doi=10.1017/S1930297500008743 |s2cid=53402335 |doi-access=free }}</ref> found that thirteenth-floor apartments were less likely to sell compared to apartments on twelfth or fourteenth floors. This effect, however, was eliminated if developers offered buyers a 10% or greater discount on the cost of thirteenth-floor apartments.