INDIANAPOLIS -- Do you think it's bad luck to have a black cat cross your path? What about walking beneath a ladder? Will you face seven years of bad luck for breaking a mirror?
Superstitions have been around seemingly as long as mankind.
In fact, Purdue University psychology professor Clifford H. Swenson told former Channel 6 reporter Ken Nelson that superstition is simply a primitive way of coping with life.
In this throwback from 1983, Nelson fearlessly investigated several superstitions including triskaidekaphobia, or the fear of the number 13.
It's actually more common than you might think.
Have you ever noticed the No. 13 button missing from a hotel elevator?
Believe it or not, skipping the 13th floor is a common practice in the hotel industry.
I checked with several downtown Indianapolis hotels to see if they had a 13th floor. While the majority did not have a floor labeled with the number 13, two hotels did.
If you're feeling lucky, you can get a room on the 13th floor at the Hilton Garden Inn Indianapolis Downtown or the Westin Indianapolis.
Here's a list of downtown Indianapolis hotels and whether or not they have a 13th floor:
- The Conrad - No
- Hilton Indianapolis - No
- Hyatt Regency Indianapolis - No
- JW Marriott Indianapolis - No
- Marriott Indianapolis - No
- Sheraton Indianapolis - No
- Hilton Garden Inn - Yes
- Westin Indianapolis - Yes
Finally, while I don't consider myself superstitious, I did run into a problem while preparing this story. A video tape deck gobbled up one of the WRTV archive tapes I was digitizing.
The tape number? 13.
Hmm...
