Numerology and Numerology Parodies

Numerology & numerology parody

This didn't take long: I received first the e-mail below from my niece Eva on September 16th; it was one of the first "conspiracy" or legend-like messages I received (and I should note that I received it from her spontaneously, as she did not know I was collecting this kind of stuff). In less than a month, I received the second e-mail message below from John Zimmerman. It includes the text from the "original" message on the right, but "David Pawson" (whoever he may be) has added his own parody of the warning.

I must confess that I found the numerology parody one of the funniest pieces of 9/11 e-lore I received. It is also one of the most intriguing: it's not often that e-lore grounded in a kind of "folk belief" like this gets directly parodied. There are a number of "urban legend" parody messages that have circulated electronically, but usually the "joke" inherent to them is that they combine elements of a number of legends. It's rare to see the "original" text of a belief-based message like this directly copied and mocked in the parody version. Usually, if people conclude, like "David," that a belief-based forward they receive is "B. S.," as he says, they simply delete it. They don't generally go to the trouble of adding dismissive commentary and forwarding it again.

And yet, this parody version seems to have circulated just as widely as the original. This is a remarkable occurrence, and can, perhaps, be attributed to people's heightened need to distinguish "reality" from paranoia. The wide circulation of the parody seems to function as a way of asking people to stay rational and not to increase national hysteria by circulating inflammatory messages. Notably, the dominant legend that circulated at the time also quickly generated parodies (see other pages in this part of the archive).

From: Eva Hathaway
To: rvhatha@unco.edu [among others]
Subject: Fwd: [Fwd: FW: FW: Look at this: It's very strange....]
Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2001 22:40:04 +0000

----- Forwarded message -----
Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 19:28:35 -0700
From: York
Subject: [Fwd: FW: FW: Look at this: It's very strange....]
To: Hide

Subject: Look at this: It's very strange....

The date of the attack: 9/11 - 9 + 1 + 1 = 11
September 11th is the 254th day of the year: 2 + 5 + 4 = 11
After September 11th there are 111 days left to the end of the year.
119 is the area code to Iraq/Iran. 1 + 1 + 9 = 11
Twin Towers - standing side by side, looks like the number 11
The first plane to hit the towers was Flight 11

I Have More.......

State of New York - The 11 State added to the Union
New York City - 11 Letters
Afghanistan - 11 Letters
The Pentagon - 11 Letters
Ramzi Yousef - 11 Letters (convicted or orchestrating the attack on the WTC in 1993)
Flight 11 - 92 on board - 9 + 2 = 11
Flight 77 - 65 on board - 6 + 5 = 11

Crazy huh??

From: John Zimmerman
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 16:01:49 EDT
Subject: Fwd: Can't win
To: rvhatha@bentley.unco.edu

[Note: A previous sender--also on September 18th--prefaced this with the comment, "I don't know who David is, but his response is hilarious!!! Ya know.......some people look for things like this...and it amazes me. At first I rolled my eyes....then I read Dave's response and I couldn't have said it better if I had all day to do it."]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Original Letter:

I Have More.......

State of New York - The 11th State added to the Union
New York City - 11 Letters
Afghanistan - 11 LettersThe Pentagon - 11 Letters
Ramzi Yousef - 11 Letters (convicted or orchestrating the attack at the WTC in 1993)
Flight 11 - 92 on board - 9 + 2 = 11
Flight 77 - 65 on board - 6 + 5 = 11

Dave's response:

Oh my God! How worried should I be? There are 11 letters in the name "David Pawson!" I'm going into hiding NOW. See you in a few weeks.

Wait a sec .. just realized "YOU CAN'T HIDE" also has 11 letters! What am I gonna do? Help me!!! The terrorists are after me! ME! I can't believe it!

Oh crap, there must be someplace on the planet Earth I could hide! But no.."PLANET EARTH" has 11 letters, too!

Maybe Nostradamus can help me. But dare I trust him? There are 11
letters in "NOSTRADAMUS."

I know, the Red Cross can help. No they can't... 11 letters in "THE RED CROSS," can't trust them.

I would rely on self defense, but "SELF DEFENSE" has 11 letters in it, too!

Can someone help?

Anyone? If so, send me email. No, don't... "SEND ME EMAIL" has 11 letters....

Will this never end? I'm going insane! "GOING INSANE???" Eleven letters!!

Nooooooooooo!!!!!! I guess I'll die alone, even though "I'LL DIE ALONE" has 11 letters.....

Oh my God, I just realized that America is doomed! Our Independence Day is July 4th ... 7/4 ... 7+4=11!

~Dave

PS. "IT'S BULLSHIT" has 11 letters also.

The e-mail message below, meanwhile, represents a different sort of "numerology"-related message that was circulating at the time. Like the numerology "prophecy," this one suggests that if we'd been able to decipher, literally, certain encoded texts, we might have seen this coming. (When converted into the wingding font, the sequence of letters shows the icon of a plane flying toward two "towers"--actually, icons for text documents--followed by a skull-and-crossbones and a star of David).

My sister, a social worker, reports here that several of the teenagers she counsels told her about this; I also had a folklore student show me a copy of a similar message, and received a third variant from my mother. This message doesn't seem to have circulated as widely or as credibly as the numerology message, possibly because--as the folklore student pointed out--aside from being the age of Jesus at his death, the number "33" had no significance in relation to the events of 9/11 (it wasn't one of the flight numbers, for example).

From: "Pam McKinley"
To: "Rosemary V Hathaway"
Subject: Try this
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 11:42:47 -0400

here's a weird little thing that was passed on to me by one of my teenage clients to add to your September 11th folklore collection. First type this into your computer Q33 NY then blow it up to at least a 36 wing ding font . What you should see , well see if it works and you'll know instantly what it is. Always trolling for more stuff for you.
Love, Pam

"If you have to live in a soap opera try not to get the worst role."
Boy George.

Candle chain letter

Legends