Yes, Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobiacs. They confuse me. Yep, they have a fear. A fear of numbers. Well, a fear of the number 666 to be more precise.
What’s that about? Surely it’s a mental condition. We see it more commonly with the fear of the number 13. People will pretend that the 13th floor of the building is not actually the 13th. They’ll call it “12A” or flip straight to calling it “14”, despite it still actually being the 13th floor.
Hey, how confusing this must be for Americans and Brits swapping locations and trying to avoid the 13th floor. Over here we call the Ground floor the Ground floor, and the floor above it is the 1st Floor, and so on. Americans more logically call the Ground Floor the 1st Floor, and the floor above it is the 2nd Floor, and so on.
So, which is the real 13th floor. Our equivalent of the 13th floor is called the 14th in America. They call our equivalent of the 12th floor the 13th, or avoid the 13 and call it the 14th. Does a traveller fearing the number 13 have to avoid the 12th, 13th, and 14th floors to make sure whatever evil it is doesn’t get him? It must be confusing for the poor devils.
Speaking of devils, let’s move on to the number 666. Middle Eastern originated religions seem to have a lot of fears of numbers. Actually, in fairness it’s not just the Middle Eastern religions. The number 666 appears to be the scariest number for Christians. Indeed, a radio station allocated 666 kilohertz as a frequency to broadcast via in Northern Ireland asked for a different frequency because people were too frightened to listen to it in case the number 666 got them. How loony is that?
I guess I can understand that up to a hundred years ago we were very undeveloped and didn’t have the scientific research, instant communication or logic that we have today. In those days people’s minds would wonder and wander, making up odd rituals and methods of fore-telling events or trying to keep safe. It’s very odd to find people caught up in this sort of mumbo jumbo in 2007, though.
Deeply religious people will fear the number 666 so much that they’ll throw themselves on fires rather than face it. Isn’t it time we either locked these people up or neutered them so they don’t pass it on to their children?
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