Some hotel traditions are charming. Others are downright eerie.
At the world-famous The Savoy Hotel in London, one of the most unusual customs in hospitality history still quietly continues today: whenever a dinner party totals thirteen guests, a silent black cat named Kaspar joins the table as the fourteenth diner.
He receives a napkin around his neck. He is served every course. Real cutlery, real glasses, real china.
And according to legend, the tradition began after a wealthy man ignored a deadly superstition - and paid for it with his life.
The Dinner That Started the Legend
The story dates back to 1898.
A wealthy South African businessman and diamond magnate named Woolf Joel hosted a farewell dinner at the Savoy before departing for South Africa. During the evening, one invited guest cancelled at the last moment, leaving exactly thirteen people seated at the table.
In Victorian and Edwardian society, the number thirteen carried a deeply rooted superstition. One common belief claimed that when thirteen people dined together, the first person to rise from the table would be the first to die.
Friends reportedly warned Joel not to leave first.
He laughed at the idea.
A few weeks later, while working in his Johannesburg office, Woolf Joel was shot dead.
Whether coincidence or curse, the incident became one of London’s most enduring hotel legends.
Enter Kaspar the Cat
Years later, the Savoy decided never to risk another table of thirteen again.
In the 1920s, the hotel commissioned a three-foot-tall carved black cat named Kaspar. Created from wood and dressed with theatrical elegance, Kaspar became the hotel’s official “fourteenth guest.”
Whenever thirteen diners were booked, Kaspar would be seated at the table to break the unlucky number.
The hotel treated him with full respect:
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A napkin was tied around his neck
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Every course was served to him
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Wine glasses and silverware were placed in front of him
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Savoy staff included him in formal service etiquette
The ritual became one of the hotel’s most beloved traditions and remains one of the strangest examples of superstition influencing luxury hospitality.
Winston Churchill’s Fascination With Kaspar
Perhaps Kaspar’s most famous admirer was Winston Churchill.
Churchill reportedly enjoyed dining with the black cat so much that he requested Kaspar at his table even when there were not thirteen guests present.
That detail helped cement Kaspar as more than a quirky superstition. He became part of the Savoy’s living mythology - a silent mascot tied to the glamour, mystery, and eccentricity of old London society.
As a side note…
Winston Churchill loved his own cat so much that, to this day, his old house always has a marmalade cat named Jock living in it.
Churchill was gifted a ginger kitten named Jock for his 88th birthday in 1962, a present from his private secretary Sir John “Jock” Colville. Jock sat on his knee and traveled with him between homes.
When the family handed Churchill’s home to the National Trust, they made a request.
There should always be “a marmalade cat with a white bib and four white socks, named Jock, in comfortable residence” at the house. The Trust has honored this request ever since. Jock the Seventh currently resides at the property
Why the Number Thirteen Became “Unlucky”
The fear of thirteen even has its own name: triskaidekaphobia.
The superstition appears across multiple cultures and religions:
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In Norse mythology, thirteen guests attended a banquet before chaos and death followed
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In Christian tradition, Judas Iscariot was considered the thirteenth guest at the Last Supper
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Many hotels and skyscrapers still skip labeling a 13th floor entirely
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these beliefs were taken surprisingly seriously among Europe’s upper classes. Elite hotels often adjusted seating arrangements to avoid thirteen at the table.
The Savoy simply found a more memorable solution than most.
Kaspar Still Dines Today
More than a century after Woolf Joel’s death, Kaspar the Cat remains part of the Savoy’s identity.
Visitors to The Savoy Hotel can still learn about the famous feline figure who has quietly attended countless dinners through the decades.
In a city filled with ghost stories, royal history, and old-world superstition, Kaspar occupies a strange middle ground between mascot, lucky charm, and memorial to a dinner conversation nobody forgot.
And somewhere in London, whenever thirteen guests gather beneath the Savoy’s chandeliers, a black cat still takes his seat.
