the number that seem to be almost universally considered unlucky is 13 no other number has had such a bad reputation for so long yhe ancient roman regard it as a symbol of death destruction and misfortune one of the earlist written stories about the number 13 appear in norwrgian mythology this story tell about a feast at valhalla to which 12 god were invited loki the the god of evil came uninvited raising the number to 13 imthe struggle to thorw out loki balder the favourite of the god was kill