Superstitious Well No.23

In the early days of oil extraction, there are many superstitions and stories supernatural entities. One such story is of Well No.23.

Well No.23 is an oil well that was drilled into, of all places next to the Krokop cemetery. Not surprisingly there there was much uneasiness to be drilling at the site of No.23. So famous were the many stories told of that working at that well, that if an oil worker was infuriated by a colleague, he might well tell him angrily (and euphemistically) "Go to 23!!".

This had such an effect that even by the 1970s, apparently some of the Shell buildings were being numbered 22A rather than 23!