Superstitions

In Europe the number 13 is not a popular number among the superstitious. When they are counting, the even said: twelve twelve + one! fourteen… There is a Spanish saying ( in Spanish it has rhyming) that says, "when 13 don’t get married or embark."

Well, in the running last year (2013) 'on the 13th, at the entrance to the Bullfight Ring one of the carpenters of the Running with the Bulls was waiting the arrival of a group of Policeman. Because of the overcrowding, the carpenter could not close the door and many people slinked through preventing to close the door. The space to enter the bullring was halved in a matter of seconds. A huge human pile was created within seconds and it was no way out except from retracing the steps and finding a catnip to escape.

We knew the bulls where on their way to the Bullring so we were panicking!  We could see all those trapped, some with the bulls horn on their face feeling the breath of the bulls, other suffocating crushed by the crowd. The seconds were eternal, but fortunately enough the Fuente Ymbro beasts decided not to charge against the human pile and finally a hole was created on the same door that was left open so funny enough, what caused the tragedy became the solution! The bulls went down the alley and were forced to leave the arena by opening another door.  They went directly to the corrals. This running of the bulls provided an endless 4 minutes 15 seconds of anguishing moments. Several runners were unconscious and black and blue face. It was overwhelming. Dozens of shoes were left on the sand; you could see people crying with anguish ... The final balance was 25 wounded, 21 of them related to this human pile tragedy. The worst one was a boy from Vitoria, only 19. Nowadays he’s still in intensive care.