Thirteenth Floor - Conspiracy Theory

Conspiracy Theory

Some conspiracy theorists have suggested that the thirteenth floor in government buildings is not really missing, but actually contains top-secret governmental departments, or more generally that it is proof of something sinister or clandestine going on. This implication is often carried over, implicitly or explicitly, into popular culture; for example in:

  • the films The Thirteenth Floor, Nightmare on the 13th Floor, and 1408
  • the hidden research and development labs of Network 23 in the television program Max Headroom
  • the top-secret research and development division of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the fifth book of the series, Mostly Harmless
  • the computer game Floor 13 by Virgin Interactive
  • the sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf where "floor 13" referred to a secret brig which was several decks high.
  • the book Company by Max Barry
  • the Superman story in Action Comics #448 (June 1975) featured a secret thirteenth floor used to teleport alien tourists from another planet to visit Earth.
    • The "Night of Owls" storyline in Batman features the thirteenth floors of Gotham's buildings being used as bases by the assassins of a secret society that has ruled Gotham for generations.
  • the level "The 13th Floor" in the computer game Tomb Raider: Chronicles
  • the episode "Grey 17 Is Missing" of the TV series Babylon 5 has a similar theme of a "missing" floor number actually containing a hidden floor with dark secrets.
  • The psychedelic rock band The 13th Floor Elevators
  • The Rockford Files episode "Sticks and Stones May Break Your Bones, But Waterbury Will Bury You".

It is widely believed that Canary Wharf's One Canada Square houses a physical plant room on its level 13 but this is just another example of undeserved notoriety on the part of the 13th floor. One Canada Square's plant areas are in its basements (Levels B3 to M1) and above Level 50 (Level M2). The floor directly above level 12 is level 14.

Read more about this topic:  Thirteenth Floor

Famous quotes containing the words conspiracy and/or theory:

    “If we are on the outside, we assume a conspiracy is the perfect working of a scheme. Silent nameless men with unadorned hearts. A conspiracy is everything that ordinary life is not. It’s the inside game, cold, sure, undistracted, forever closed off to us. We are the flawed ones, the innocents, trying to make some rough sense of the daily jostle. Conspirators have a logic and a daring beyond our reach. All conspiracies are the same taut story of men who find coherence in some criminal act.”
    —Don Delillo (b. 1926)

    “every subjective phenomenon is essentially connected with a single point of view, and it seems inevitable that an objective, physical theory will abandon that point of view.”
    —Thomas Nagel (b. 1938)