The prestigious Savoy Hotel in London had an amusing tradition: believing that thirteen is an unlucky number, especially for the number of guests at a dinner party, the hotel staff ensured that there will always be a fourteenth “guest” at the party, specifically, a black cat statue named Kaspar.
He would be placed in a chair, a napkin tied around his neck, and his place settings changed through the various courses of the meal. Silly, of course, but innocent enough, and in time it was less a matter of superstition and more a matter of a whimsical tradition of the hotel.
