Inside the Thirteenth Floor Haunted House - The Philadelphia Haunted House Legend

I met a woman once who had not only heard of the thirteenth floor haunted house, but who claimed that she had actually been there. I could see that she wanted to tell me it all, was desperate to share her tale with me, but then she thought better of it, so that all I really learnt about it, was that she’d only made it to the sixth floor, and would go no further.

The real thirteenth floor haunted house is a modern day legend, and the next great horror movie waiting to be made, a haunted house so scary, that should you make it through the 13^th floor, you’ll be given your money back, and should you not, well, then who knows what might happen to you.

Whilst there are claims that this thirteen floor haunted house has been spotted all around the world it is most commonly thought to appear in Philadelphia, USA. Some say that once a year on Halloween a certain group of individuals take over a warehouse and convert it into the best haunted house possible, and that the legend was created as nothing more than a great advertising campaign, others claim the thirteenth floor haunted house to be something more, telling of how some who enter through it’s doorways, never leave.

The number 13 has always been a number shrouded in mystery and a cause of panic for some. Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13, and this phobia is more common than you might suspect, so the fact that this most notorious of haunted houses has thirteen floors will have been no accident.

Friday the 13^th is regarded as a day of bad luck all around the world, from England to the Philippines. The association is thought to derive from the fact that Jesus was believed to have been the 13th guest at the last supper.

There are 13 months in the Pagan lunar calendar, in Britain; those who were to be hung walked 13 steps to the noose, Jack the ripper, John Wayne Gacy, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer and Theodore (Ted) Bundy all have thirteen letters to their names. Many streets do not contain a house number 13 and many airports use ‘12b’ in place of the number 13 at airport gates. Apollo 13 malfunctioned in space having been launched at thirteen minutes past one, or 13:13, making thirteen the most notorious of numbers.

Floor after floor within the thirteenth floor haunted house the terror rises, it is said to start with simple parlour trickery, silly-string and rubber snakes, but with each step things become more real, and more insane. The first floor and you’re laughing and joking, cursing the fool who sold you this tale, the next a little better but still the same old same, the thirds a little gross but you can handle it, no worries, but then things become stranger and weirder, and all of a sudden you’re not entirely sure what’s going on anymore, and few are said to make it past the sixth or seventh, and some of those who do, are never seen again.

To enter the thirteenth floor haunted house you are first required to sign a waiver, signing away any right to make legal claim against those who operate the thirteenth floor haunted house, so that whatever happens within those walls, is between you and the house.

Would you enter the thirteenth floor?  and even if you would, where would you find it?  nobody knows where the thirteenth floor haunted house is.  They say an advert plays on a local Philadelphia radio station just before it opens its doors, to announce its location to those who've been searching, but even if you knew where it was, would you go in?