History Main / ThirteenIsUnlucky

* ''Series/{{House}}'' has a character commonly known as Thirteen who has Huntington's Disease.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': Anne was teleported by the Calamity Box to Amphibia on her 13th birthday.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "Dungeons and Discords", Discord makes his big entrance wearing a #13 basketball jersey, foreshadowing how badly the Guys' Night will start out.

** The 13th Division of the Gotei 13 has a history of terrible things happening to it. A few decades before the start of the story, its lieutenant, Kaien Shiba, dies in battle with a hollow, an incident that traumatizes much of the squad and results in it taking a long time to replace him as lieutenant. At the start of the series, Rukia Kuchiki, a member of the squad, is fored to transfer her Soul Reaper powers to Ichigo Kurosaki, an illegal act that ends with her getting arrested and nearly arrested as part of Aizen's evil plan to steal the MacGuffin inside of her. Much later in the series, [[spoiler:Squad 13 Captain Jushiro Ukitake is forced to sacrifice himself]].

** The Gotei 13 themselves as well. In the Soul Society arc, three of it’s captains, the BigBad Aizen, and his CoDragons, Gin and Tosen betray them and declare war on them, for the majority of the series the Gotei 13 has had ten captains, until the post timeskip half where they once again have Thirteen captains.

* In ''ComicBook/ABCWarriors'', during the Volgan War {{arc}}, Volkhan recruits thirteen (well, twelve plus Mek-Quake) disciples.
* An early issue of ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' has a group focused on debunking superstitions, named "The 13 Club". The Joker wants to join the club as the 13th member, and instead they induct Batman for protection. As revenge, the Joker plots a series of murders based around the superstition that each member debunked.

* Marvel's ComicBook/CaptainBritain and his teammates in ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'' occasionally worked with the British Government's paranormal investigative branch, MI-13. Eventually, after Excalibur disbanded, MI-13 became a super-team in their own right in ''ComicBook/CaptainBritainAndMI13''.
* The Creator/DCComics character Doctor Thirteen is a paranormal investigator. His daughter Traci Thirteen is a sorceress. Neither one is a particularly bad sort, though Doctor Thirteen is a FlatEarthAtheist suffering from ArbitrarySkepticism.

* In ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' a notable planet that got destroyed, Xanshi, was in designated Sector 1313.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'', all the witches from fables live on the thirteenth floor of the Bullfinch building in Fabletown. They're not entirely evil, more ChaoticNeutral.
* ''ComicBook/HouseOfMystery''

* In ''ComicBook/TheMultiversity'', Earth-13 is a [[Creator/VertigoComics Vertigo-y]] DarkFantasy world where the greatest superheroes are [[ComicBook/{{Etrigan}} Super-Demon]] and ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}.
* ''Magazine/{{Spirou}}'' hasn't had a page 13 since 1995. It has a page 12, 12bis, and it goes on to 14.
* ''ComicBook/SpyBoy'' skipped the 13th issue, but eventually it appeared as a miniseries that is numbered as 13.1, 13.2 and 13.3. Very bad things happen to a cast member on it.
* ''ComicBook/SweetChastity'' has [[AerithAndBob Vincent]], 13th [[MadScientist baron]] von Franchise/{{Frankenstein}}. 'nuff said.
* A ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' comic story had an engine named "Unlucky No.13" who constantly had bad luck. Actually subverted, as his luck turns around after he has a new firebox fitted, meaning that his number wasn't the cause of his misfortune after all.
* The comic book series and videogame ''ComicBook/{{XIII}}'', which is about a man with amnesia, the number XIII tattooed on his back, and a knack for using weapons.

** The BigBad of the 7th ''DBZ'' movie is Android #13, who then transforms into Super Android #13. He also lampshades this trope when fighting Goku.
--->'''Android 13''': Number 13... That's your unlucky number. And I ain't talkin' about no silly superstition, city-boy. I'm talkin' about yours truly; Big 13!

* The works of Creator/AAPessimal: When Rebecka Smith-Rhodes moves to [[UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica Rimwards Howondaland]] on the Literature/{{Discworld}} to work as a stealth Witch, she is given the services of a black orderly to help out in her surgery and infirmary. At first she wonders why he is universally known as ''Dertein'' - "Thirteen". Then she is told he has an accident-prone streak. ''Thirteen'' is a nickname; it has stuck so closely she never gets to know what he's really called.

* ''Film/TheDaVinciCode'': The origin of Friday the Thirteenth as an unlucky day is discussed, as the day the Knight Templars were wiped out by the Catholic Church.

--->'''Tatianna''': I thought this was for tomorrow. Today is the thirteenth, isn't it?\\
'''Bond''': This is a hell of a time to be superstitious.

-->'''Burglar 1''': Quick, jump out of the window!
-->'''Burglar 2''': We can’t do that, this is the 13th floor!
-->'''Burglar 1''': [[ComicallyMissingThePoint You idiot, this is no time for superstition!]]

-->'''Jon''': I should have known that picking ''thirteen'' would be bad…

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': District 13 is the odd district out, especially after it got destroyed by the Capitol prior to the events of the series - or so Katniss and most of the country has been told. A portion of the district has been quietly surviving underground, having enough nuclear weapons to keep itself and the Capital locked into an uneasy truce out of fear of a nuclear war. Still, they're cut off from most of the world.

* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': The flashbacks in “The Trial”, which ended with the deaths of seven gangsters as well as several elderly women being seriously hurt, is noted to have taken place on Friday the Thirteenth.

* In ''VideoGame/AiToYuukiToKashiwaMochi'', on the 13th playthrough the title screen will change to show [[spoiler: Yuuki]] as a skeleton. Failing the game 13 times will result in an ending where [[spoiler:Yuuki]] takes Ai away permanently, removing her from the game's title screen and cutscenes.

* The Wii version of ''VideoGame/FortuneStreet'' has a number of cards you can draw with various effects if you land on a Suit space. Card 13 is one of the worst in the game - it reduces the value of ''every'' property you own by 13%. Annoying if drawn in the early game, devastating if drawn late. It's also the only card to play an ominous theme when drawn.

* ''VideoGame/HarvestFestival64'': The titular Harvest Festival takes place on Friday the 13th. [[spoiler: Predictably, once it starts things go horribly wrong when three of the harvest goers are found dead, then another commits suicide by drowning, and the player finds themself infected.]]

-->'''Ashens''': Fucking hell, unlucky for some!

* Funnily enough, in number theory, 13 is both a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_number lucky number]] and a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortunate_number fortunate number]]. Of course this doesn't mean that the number is actually considered to be lucky - for the former, "lucky" refers to the number surviving the sieving process, while the latter was named after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reo_Fortune Reo Fortune]].

* ''13'' was a GoldenAge superhero (later revived in ''ComicBook/ProjectSuperpowers'') who always had spectacularly bad luck whenever he had anything to do the number 13. He ultimately adopted 13 as his crime-fighting alias and sought to bring bad luck to evil doers.

** Back in 1911, at the first Indy 500 car #13 was already being euphemistically referred to as "12 1/2". Not that it mattered much, since it never even turned up for the race. The number was next adopted by George Mason in 1914, who managed to actually enter the race but broke down in the middle of it. Next Wallace Reid was set to compete with #13 in 1922, but was forced to withdraw and then died less than a year later. Herbert Scheel then failed to qualify with his #13 car in 1923, then Tom Alley tried in 1924, but his car wasn't completed in time. He tried again next year, and failed to qualify. Finally, the officials decided that they'd had enough and officially banned the number 13, even on request.

Often writers will associate someone or something to the number thirteen to show that they are dark, evil, unnatural, or just unlucky. Maybe the ButtMonkey or the CosmicPlaything was born on the 13th.

--->If 13 is unlucky, then so should the letter B be, because B looks like a scrunched-together 13. "Hello. What's your name?" "Bob." "Get the fuck away!"

* UsefulNotes/FormulaOne has always been suspicious of the number 13, and not without reason:
** Before 1926 it was allocated like any other number, until both Paul Torchy and Giulio Masetti were both involved in fatal accidents just 7 months apart, both while driving car #13. This spooked people so much that the number was no longer allocated to drivers, though it was still available on request.
** Since then, only a couple of people have used #13 and never with good results. Moises Solana used the number in 1963 Mexican Grand Prix and his car failed 8 laps from the finish line. Though he continued to race, he never used the number again. Divina Galica then attempted to qualify for her first Grand Prix in car #13, and failed.
** In 2014, the system was changed so that drivers would have a permanent number of their choosing, rather than being allocated one based on the previous year's standings. Pastor Maldonado started driving a car with that number starting in the season; Maldonado is Venezuelan, a country where thirteen is considered a lucky number. Unfortunately for him, the end result became rather [[http://www.carthrottle.com/all-of-pastor-maldonados-crashes-and-fails-from-the-2014-f1-season/ catastrophic.]] Things only worsened to Maldonado in 2015 season. Despite Lotus having the [[InfinityPlusOneSword best engine (Mercedes)]], the car was so fragile and combined with a good amount of more bad luck (and a bit of mistakes), made him lose a lot of points (he almost finished in the 13th position in the drivers standings, however). In 2016, before the start of the season [[TheCavalry Lotus was bought by Renault after struggling to survive]] and become a works team again. Everything was going right and the expectations are high for the upcoming years, but he was fired by the team, despite being under contract for racing in 2016, due a conflict between Renault and his sponsor. With no place to go and [[MoneyDearBoy his sponsor (PDVSA)]] becoming nearly bankrupt due to the Venezuelan economy crisis, he is forced to take a sabbatical year and maybe never return to racing in F1.

* Averted by UsefulNotes/WiltChamberlain, whose jersey number was 13 throughout his professional career.
* Averted by Super Bowl XXXI as the Green Bay Packers made it 13 straight NFC wins over the New England Patriots and the AFC. The streak ended at 13 the next year with the Denver Broncos defeating those Packers.
* Averted by Pavel Datsyuk, who wore jersey number 13 throughout his professional NHL career and played entirely with the Detroit Red Wings, winning the Stanley Cup in 2002 and 2008.
* Averted by Kurt Warner, who wore number 13 in his NFL career, becoming one of the league's best passers in his time as a quarterback with the Rams (with whom he would win a Super Bowl with during the 1999 season), Giants, and Cardinals.

* Until 2014, there was no car #13 in UsefulNotes/FormulaOne for this reason. Pastor Maldonado started driving a car with that number starting in the season; Maldonado is Venezuelan, a country where thirteen is considered a lucky number. Unfortunately for him, the end result became rather [[http://www.carthrottle.com/all-of-pastor-maldonados-crashes-and-fails-from-the-2014-f1-season/ catastrophic.]] Things only worsened to Maldonado in 2015 season. Despite Lotus having the [[InfinityPlusOneSword best engine (Mercedes)]], the car was so fragile and combined with a good amount of more bad luck (and a bit of mistakes), made him lose a lot of points (he almost finished in the 13th position in the drivers standings, however). In 2016, before the start of the season [[TheCavalry Lotus was bought by Renault after struggling to survive]] and become a works team again. Everything was going right and the expectations are high for the upcoming years, but he was fired by the team, despite being under contract for racing in 2016, due a conflict between Renault and his sponsor. With no place to go and [[MoneyDearBoy his sponsor (PDVSA)]] becoming nearly bankrupt due to the Venezuelan economy crisis, he is forced to take a sabbatical year and maybe never return to racing in F1.

* [[https://www.theguardian.com/business/2007/feb/22/theairlineindustry.internationalnews When the logo of Brussels Airlines was first revealed,]] it just so happened to contain 13 dots. The company recieved so many complaints from superstitious passengers that they had to redesign the logo to add an extra dot.
* A ''very'' strong inversion: the original ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 Super Mario Bros]]'' released for the Famicom on Friday, September 13, 1985. Nobody would say ''that'' Friday the 13th was unlucky.

* Prince Hans is the thirteenth son of the King of the Southern Isles, and has been mistreated by his father and older brothers. [[spoiler:He's also the villain, referencing his status as thirteenth child as proof that he'll never get the throne, and Anna having fallen for him is very bad luck for her.]]

* A way to test people's gullibility: tell them that this year is Halloween will be extra spooky because it will take place on Friday the 13th. Then see how long it takes them to realise that Halloween isn't on the 13th.

And a last especially crazy theory: [[AllPeriodsArePMS You know what happens 13 times in a year?]]

* In ''Literature/{{Replica}}'' the thirteenth Amy clone (who was not supposed to exist and accidentally off from the twelfth) is the only Amy who does not have the clone perfection.

* ''Film/NoRetreatNoSurrender2'' does this with it's inciting incident, Scott's girlfriend Sulin being abducted by political dissidants and Scott setting off on a perilous rescue mission. Said abduction happens in Room 13 of a sleazy motel Scott rented, with the camera [[LampshadeHanging lingering on the number]] for... reasons.