This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.
BBC Sounds music radio podcasts.
Here we are, the last one, episode 13.
13.
A bad omen.
Well, perhaps, but I love this number.
I think it's the best place to end because it's a perfect example of how stories can take a grip on our lives.
There are all sorts of tales surrounding the origins of thirteen's ominous nature, from the Knights Templar to Norse legends of Loki.
Still to this day, many buildings don't have a 13th floor.
Many hotels don't have a room.
13.
When it comes to witches, some have said it's the optimal number for a coven.
12 witches plus the devil.
But what if it's actually lucky?
Have you heard this story?
The tale goes that in many ancient pagan cultures, 13 was connected with goddesses and fertility, an important optimistic belief wiped out with the rise of Christianity.
That's an urban myth too, spread online.
There's no evidence for it, but it is interesting that we flock to this number, so heavily laden with stories in this series tracing the story of the witch.
It's clearer than ever to me that stories are not just stories, because so often the lines of fact and fiction are so pleated together that we can't tell them apart, making us remove lift buttons and door signs.
People's lives grow out of folklore, and so this is true of the witch.