23 enigma

The 23 enigma is a belief in the significance of the number 23.[1] The concept of the 23 enigma has been
popularized by various books, movies, and conspiracy theories, which suggest that the number 23 appears
with unusual frequency in various contexts and may be a symbol of some larger, hidden significance. A
topic related to the 23 enigma is eikositriophobia, which is the fear of the number 23.

Origins
Robert Anton Wilson cites William S. Burroughs as the first person to believe in the 23 enigma.[2] Wilson,
in a 1977 article in Fortean Times, related the following anecdote:

I first heard of the 23 enigma from William S Burroughs, author of Naked Lunch, Nova Express,
etc. According to Burroughs, he had known a certain Captain Clark, around 1960 in Tangier,
who once bragged that he had been sailing 23 years without an accident. That very day, Clark’s
ship had an accident that killed him and everybody else aboard. Furthermore, while Burroughs
was thinking about this crude example of the irony of the gods that evening, a bulletin on the
radio announced the crash of an airliner in Florida, USA. The pilot was another Captain Clark
and the flight was Flight 23.[3]

In literature
The 23 enigma can be seen in:

Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea's 1975 book The Illuminatus! Trilogy (therein called
the "23/17 Phenomenon")
Wilson's 1977 book Cosmic Trigger I: The Final Secret of the Illuminati (therein called "the
Law of Fives" or "the 23 Enigma")
Arthur Koestler's contribution to The Challenge of Chance: A Mass Experiment in Telepathy
and Its Unexpected Outcome (1973)
Principia Discordia
The text titled Principia Discordia claims that "All things happen in fives, or are divisible by or are
multiples of five, or are somehow directly or indirectly appropriate to 5" [4]—this is referred to as the Law of
Fives. The 23 enigma is regarded as a corollary of the Law of Fives because 2 + 3 = 5.

In these works, 23 is considered lucky, unlucky, sinister, strange, sacred to the goddess Eris, or sacred to the
unholy gods of the Cthulhu Mythos.

The 23 enigma can be viewed as an example of apophenia, selection bias and confirmation bias. In
interviews, Wilson acknowledged the self-fulfilling nature of the 23 enigma, implying that the real value of
the Law of Fives and the 23 enigma is in their demonstration of the mind's ability to perceive "truth" in
nearly anything.
 When you start looking for something you tend to find it. This wouldn't be like Simon Newcomb,
the great astronomer, who wrote a mathematical proof that heavier than air flight was impossible
and published it a day before the Wright brothers took off. I'm talking about people who found a
pattern in nature and wrote several scientific articles and got it accepted by a large part of the
scientific community before it was generally agreed that there was no such pattern, it was all just
selective perception."[5]

In the Illuminatus! Trilogy, Wilson expresses the same view, saying that one can find numerological
significance in anything, provided that one has "sufficient cleverness".

In popular culture
Music and art duo The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (later known as The KLF and the K Foundation)
named themselves after the fictional conspiratorial group "The Justified Ancients of Mummu" from
Illuminatus!;[6] the number 23 is a recurring theme in the duo's work.[7][8] Perhaps most infamously, as the
K Foundation they performed a performance art piece, K Foundation Burn a Million Quid on 23 August
1994[9] and subsequently agreed not to publicly discuss the burning for a period of 23 years.[10] 23 years to
the day after the burning they returned to launch a novel and discuss why they had burnt the money.[11]

The 2007 film The Number 23, starring Jim Carrey, is the story of a man who becomes obsessed with the
number 23 while reading a book of the same title that seems to be about his life.[12]

Industrial music group Throbbing Gristle recounted in great detail the meeting of Burroughs and Captain
Clark and the significance of the number 23 in the ballad "The Old Man Smiled".[13]

See also
Benford's law
Ideas of reference and delusions of reference
Texas sharpshooter fallacy

References
1. Cahal, Milmo; Willetts, Tom (23 February 2007). "23 fascinating facts about the number
twenty-three" (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/23-fascinating-facts-about-
number-twenty-three-6262624.html). The Independent. Archived (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20201101014458/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/23-fascinating-facts-
about-number-twenty-three-6262624.html) from the original on 2020-11-01. Retrieved
27 November 2020.
2. "Going loco over 'El Becko'" (https://www.theguardian.com/editor/story/0,12900,990935,00.ht
ml)
3. Robert Anton Wilson on the "23 Phenomena" (http://forteantimes.com/features/commentary/3
96/the_23_phenomenon.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20080928122012/http://
forteantimes.com/features/commentary/396/the_23_phenomenon.html) September 28, 2008,
at the Wayback Machine
4. Principia Discordia, pg. 23
5. Robert Anton Wilson sees the clustering illusion everywhere, not just 23, Robert Anton
Wilson Explains Everything (audiobook), December 2001.
 6. Cranna, Ian (1987). "1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?) review" (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20161004150537/http://www.libraryofmu.net/display-resource.php?id=479). Q. Archived
(via the Library of Mu) on 4 October 2016.
7. Pilley, Max (24 August 2017). "The Ice Kream Van Kometh: The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu
Return" (https://web.archive.org/web/20200226003707/http://drownedinsound.com/news/41
51283-the-ice-kream-van-kometh--the-justified-ancients-of-mu-mu-return). Drowned in
Sound. Archived from the original (http://drownedinsound.com/news/4151283-the-ice-kream-
van-kometh--the-justified-ancients-of-mu-mu-return) on 26 February 2020. Retrieved
26 February 2020.
8. Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (23 August 2017). "The return of the KLF: pop's greatest
provocateurs take on a post-truth world" (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/aug/23/klf
-bill-drummond-jimmy-cauty-2023-book). The Guardian. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
9. Reid, Jim (25 September 1994). "Money to burn" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160916120
338/http://www.libraryofmu.net/display-resource.php?id=387). The Observer. Archived (via
the Library of Mu) on 16 September 2016.
10. K Foundation (8 December 1995). "Cape Wrath" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160916113
827/http://www.libraryofmu.net/display-resource.php?id=519). The Guardian (advertisement).
Archived (via the Library of Mu) on 16 September 2016.
11. "The KLF: Pop's saboteurs return after 23 years" (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-
arts-41022272). BBC News. 23 August 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
12. Ordora, Michael (14 January 2007). "Quite a jazzy little number" (https://www.newspapers.co
m/clip/119856979/quite-a-jazzy-little-number/). The Los Angeles Times. p. E10. Retrieved
28 February 2023.
13. Benecke, Mark (2011). "The Numerology of 23". Skeptical Inquirer. 35 (3). Committee for
Skeptical Inquiry: 49–53.

External links
Quotations related to 23 enigma at Wikiquote

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