The Greatest Numbers of All Time | The Curse of 13
6/22/202654 min
Has there ever been a number more maligned in western culture than 13? So feared, it's got its own horror-film franchise. So infamously unlucky, a good many of us avoid it en masse. We've just blindly accepted its bad reputation. As part of our series, The Greatest Numbers of All Time, IDEAS explores where our irrational fear and uncomfortable feelings about 13 began.
*All five episodes of our series on numbers will be available in our feed all this week.*
Guests in this episode:
Stephen Winick is a folk life specialist at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress.
Barry Markovsky is distinguished professor emeritus of sociology at University of South Carolina. His latest book is Everyday Extraordinary: A Scientist Ponders a Lifetime of Magical, Bizarre, and Paranormal Experiences.
Claire Potter is a freelance educational writer and the author of the book Getting the Little Blighters to Eat.
Rabbi Heschel Greenberg is the founder and director of the Jewish Discovery Center in Buffalo, New York. He has written many books including Tefillin: Judaism's Crown.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
Host unforgettable backyard barbecues with savings from Whole Foods Market. Get the good times going with made-in-house chicken or pork sausages and ready-to-cook kabobs for hassle-free flavor. Grab tasty flatbreads and their new balsamic chicken salad in the prepared foods department. Keep things fresh with organic red cherries, strawberries, and peaches at their peak. And stock up on bug sprays and sun care must-haves. Make your summer sizzle at Whole Foods Market.
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:27
[music] This is a CBC podcast.
Nahlah Ayed· Host0:31
[music] Welcome to Ideas. I'm Nahlah Ayed.
Johnny Cash· Soundbite0:39
[singing] Bad luck wind been blowin' at my back.
Nahlah Ayed· Host0:46
And this is Johnny Cash- [singing] I was born to bring you trouble to wherever I ride ... telling the story of a man born in the soul of misery, nameless and destined for trouble from birth.
Johnny Cash· Soundbite0:57
[singing] Got the number thirteen tattooed on my neck.
Nahlah Ayed· Host1:02
All because he's been branded with the number thirteen.
Johnny Cash· Soundbite1:06
[singing] When the ink starts to itch, then the black will turn to red. I was born in the soul of misery. Never had me a name. They just gave me the number when I was young.