19

19 is a mystical number that appears regularly throughout the works of Stephen King, particularly the Dark Tower series.

It is the eighth smallest prime number, and the tenth smallest positive odd number.

Notable Occurrences

• In the Man in Black's note, "nineteen" is said to be the keyword that will unlock Nort's memories of what he'd seen while he was dead.

Names containing nineteen letters.

• Shanice Anya Ackerman - Billy Summers
• Claudia y Inez Bachman - Dark Tower
• Ted Stevens Brautigan - Dark Tower
• Donald Frank Callahan - Salem's Lot
• Althea Pierce Dunning - 22/11/63
• Dennis Edward Hazlett - The Dead Zone
• Charles Daniel Jacobs - Revival
• Dayna Roberta Jurgens - The Stand
• Terrance John Maitland - The Outsider
• Michael Corey Ryerson - Salem's Lot
• Richard Patrick Sayre - Dark Tower
• Catherine Ann Summers - Billy Summers

Story titles containing nineteen letters:

• "Everything’s Eventual"
• "Low Men in Yellow Coats"

Phrases containing nineteen letters:

• "The Coming of the White"
• "Hyperborean Wanderer"
• "A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE"

Abstruse Occurrences

• In The Shining, the most dangerous room in the Overlook Hotel is room 217. 2 + 17 = 19
• The license plate number of Lisey Landon's BMW is 5761RD. The sum of 5 + 7 + 6 + 1 = 19, while RD are the initials of gunslinger Roland Deschain.
• N. explains to Dr. John Bonsaint that half of 3728 is 1864, and that the digits of 1864 add up to 19, "a powerful odd number."
• Claire, Sam and Joe McClatchey live at 19 Mill Road in Chester's Mill, Maine
• Jackie Wettington and Linda Everett find a scrap of paper with 1693, the code to disarm the alarm at the WCIK radio tower, written on it. The sum of 1 + 6 + 9 + 3 = 19.
• Aidan Appleton borrows a Shawshank Prison workshirt bearing the prisoner number of 9091. The sum of 9 + 0 + 9 + 1 = 19.
• Jim Rennie is assigned to room #19 at Catherine Russell Hospital in Chester's Mill for treatment of his cardiac arrhythmia.
• Pamela Chen retrieves Bus 19 from the Chester's Mill bus depot to transport residents on Visitor's Day.
• Wesley Smith was born on 19 July 1974.
• In UR 7191974, Ernest Hemingway died on 19 August 1964. The sum of the numbers in UR 117586 is 19.
• Both Frank Faraday and William Blakely wore the uniform number 19.
• In Mile 81, Rachel and Blake Lussier live at Nineteen Fresh Winds Way, Falmouth, Maine, 04105 (the sum of 4, 10, and 5 also being 19). The license plate of their family's Ford Expedition is 3772IY, with 3+7+7+2 also equaling 19.
• In The Dune, protagonist Harvey Beecher describes a 1959 plane crash in Florida in which 119 people died.
• The modern-day ambulance from Kingdom Hospital is Unit 19.
• 19 is Billy's uniform number in Blockade Billy.
• In "Drunken Fireworks" Alden McCausland describes a firework as being "like Apollo 19."
• In "Weeds," the crate discovered in a basement at Horlicks University is marked with the text "ARCTIC EXPEDITION JUNE 19, 1834."
• In Storm of the Century a character attempts to communicate over a radio using channel 19.
• In Rose Red Patricia Waterman's license plate is "019-TRI."
• In "The Dead Zone" John Smith's last bet on the Wheel of Fortune game was 19.
• Page 129 of "the Dead Zone" "Herb turned fifty-two, Vera fifty-one, and Sarah Hazlett twenty-seven. Johnny had been in his coma for four years." (52+51-27)/4+19
• In the novel 11/22/63, the game cribbage contains the phrase "Mystic 19, the so called impossible hand."
• In the novel, 11/22/63, the address of the Dunning family is 379 Kossuth st. 3+7+9=19
• In the novel, 11/22/63, Jake stores his manuscript in lockbox 775. 7+7+5=19.
• In 11/22/63 the telephone numbers add up to 19 and there are several addresses that do as well.
• In the novel Elevation, the character Deirdre is a champion runner who uses the number 19 as her lucky number.
• In the 1985 film Silver Bullet, the Coslaw family's home address number is 5131. 5 + 13 + 1 = 19.
• In the 1994 miniseries adaptation of The Stand, Lloyd Henreid's prison uniform number is 25741. 2 + 5 + 7 + 4 + 1 = 19.
• In the 2003 film Dreamcatcher, Duddits' address is 19 Maple Lane.
• In the 2014 film A Good Marriage, one of the character's license plate numbers is 19X9 R8.
• In the film The Shawshank Redemption, Andy Dufresne is imprisoned for 19 years; this differs from the novella "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption," in which Andy spends more than twenty years in prison.
• In the 2023 film The Boogeyman:
  • The Billings family's address is 217 Oak Drive. 2 + 17 = 19.
  • The street number of the Harper Family's address is 19.
• In the novel 'Salem's Lot:
  • According to the 1970 U.S. census, Jerusalem's Lot had a population of 1319.
  • Jerusalem's Lot was incorporated in 1765. 1 + 7 + 6 + 5 = 19.
  • Mark Petrie had to memorize the 119th Psalm in Sunday shool when he was living in Kittery.
• In the novel Thinner:
  • Billy Halleck has nineteen exits remaining before reaching his home after paying a toll.
  • Billy reflects that his weight drifted upward from 190 at some point as he aged.
  • Billy hadn't been inside a church since age 19.
  • Several of Billy's weights given throughout the novel include numbers that add up, in one combination or another, to equal 19. These include 217, 188, 181, 172, 118, and 127.
  • While staying in a hotel, Billy receives room service from an employee that he estimates to be, at most, 19 years old.
  • Billy leaves Bucksport for Bar Harbor on June 19.
  • An investigation into Richard Ginelli's gang-related activities was dropped in 1981. 1 + 9 + 8 + 1 = 19.
• In the novella "Hearts in Atlantis":
  • The last four digits of Peter Riley's girlfriend's phone number are either 8146 or 8164 (he is unable to remember which). The sum of both combinations is 19.
  • Riley mentions that his father had previously been in a coma for nineteen days after a two-story fall.
• In the novel Cell:
  • During the Pulse, Clayton Riddell and Tom McCourt witness a plane with the number LN6409B on its tail crash in Boston. 6 + 4 + 0 + 9 = 19.
  • Near Route 128 in New Hampshire, the protagonists pass a road sign reading "MANCHESTER 19 MI".
  • Gaiten Academy was founded in 1846. 1 + 8 + 4 + 6 = 19.
  • The protagonists follow routes 19 and 19A during a portion of their walk through New Hampshire and Maine.
  • The phone number that Ray Huizenga uses as part of his bomb detonator is 207-919-9811. Besides directly including the number "19" in its 5th and 6th digits, 9 + 1 + 9 = 19 and 9 + 8 + 1 + 1 = 19.
  • In the days after the Pulse, The Phoners use the phone number 911 as their main means of converting "normies" into new Phoners; Clay also uses this number near the end of the book in an effort to undo the effects of the Pulse on his son Johnny Riddell. 9 + 1 + 1 = 19.
• In the novella In the Tall Grass:
  • Cal and Becky DeMuth were born nineteen months apart.
  • Both Becky and her mother were pregnant at age 19.
• In the novel Mr. Mercedes, Bill Hodges' username in Debby's Blue Umbrella is "kermitfrog19".
• In the novel Finders Keepers:
  • Oliver Madden is scheduled to take flight 119.
  • John Rothstein writes a letter to Flannery O'Connor on February 19, 1953.
  • The keypad code to Andrew Halliday's office is 9118, the sum of which is 19.
  • Brady Hartsfield's hospital room number is 217, with the sum of 2 and 17 being 19. This room is also referenced throughout End of Watch.
• In the novel End of Watch:
  • Keith Frias was 19 years old when he was injured at the City Center Massacre.
  • Bill Hodges and Holly Gibney use December 19 —the date of the most recent major storm in their city as of the opening events of the novel— as a point of reference during their investigation.
  • Ruth Scapelli lives at 298 Tannenbaum Street, with the sum of 2, 9, and 8 being 19.
  • Barbara Robinson is nineteen blocks away from Bill Hodges when she attempts to kill herself on Martin Luther King Avenue.
  • The experimental medicine used on Brady Hartsfield is named with two numbers, the first one summing up to 19.
• In the novel Sleeping Beauties:
  • Scott Hughes was 19 years old at the time the events of the novel took place.
  • Alfred Freeman lived at 19 Eldridge Street in the town of Dooling, West Virginia.
  • Nell Seeger's inmate number was #4609198-1. Apart from including the number 19 directly, the first four digits in the number add up to 19 (4 + 6 + 0 + 9) and so do the last four (1 + 9 + 8 + 1).
  • Reporter Michaela Morgan was scheduled to go live with coverage about the Aurora disease at 4:19 not long after the outbreak began.
  • Frank Geary initially gathered a team of nineteen people to try to retake the Dooling Correctional Facility for Women, although the addition of Johnny Lee Kronsky brought the final number up to twenty.
• In the novel The Outsider:
  • Mary, part-owner of Tommy and Tuppence, had flyers distributed for her business on April 19.
  • Lovie Ann Bolton's address is Box 397, Rural Star Route 2, Marysville, Texas. 3 + 9 + 7 = 19.
  • The Outsider, while masquerading as Heath Holmes, appeared in security camera footage from a gas station at 12:19 PM on April 23.
  • A reference is made to an alleged case of a doppelganger appearing in a Latvian girls' school in 1845; 19 students are said to have witnessed the doppelganger's appearance.
• In the novel The Institute
  • Luke Ellis uses the password "#x49ger194GbL4" to access the Internet during his imprisonment; the password contains the number 19.
  • The children in the Back Half of the Institute watch a video that includes someone holding up a sign reading "JOHN 3:16" (in reference to the Bible verse). 3 + 16 = 19.
  • The Institute's Gold Team uses Exit 181 on their way to the town of DuPray, South Carolina. 18 + 1 = 19.
  • According to a sign at the edge of DuPray, its population was 1369. 1 + 3 + 6 + 9 = 19.
• In the novel Gwendy's Magic Feather (by Richard Chizmar):
  • Gwendy Peterson receives an important email from her mother on November 19, 1998.
  • Gwendy imagines herself getting in a car accident and her button box being found by a nineteen-year-old.
  • Gwendy's apartment unit number in Castle Rock is 19B.
  • Anita Bradley's husband was nineteen years older than her.
  • Deborah Parker lived in the nineteen-hundred block of View Drive.
• In the collection If It Bleeds:
  • In the novella "Mr. Harrigan’s Phone":
    • The last stock number that Mr. Harrigan views on his new phone when he first receives it is 14,716. 1 + 4 + 7 + 1 + 6 = 19.
  • In the novella "The Life of Chuck":
    • Gus suggests that Marty Anderson should take routes 11 and 19 in order to avoid a sinkhole that's opened up downtown.
    • Marty's ex-wife, Felicia Anderson, lives on Fern Lane, house number 19.
  • In the novella "If It Bleeds":
    • Holly Gibney's final audio report regarding the Chet Ondowsky case dated December 19, 2020.
    • The bomb planted at Albert Macready Middle School detonates at 2:19 p.m. on December 8, 2020.
    • Dan and Brad Bell live on 19 Lafayette Street in Portland, Maine.
    • Detective Ralph Anderson's address is listed as 619 Acacia Street in Flint City, Oklahoma.
    • The entry code to the Frederick Building, where Finders Keepers is located, is 4753. 4 + 7 + 5 + 3 = 19.
  • In the novella "Rat":
    • Drew Larson's email username is "drew1981." Besides already including the number 19 on its own, the sum of the username's individual numbers, 1 + 9 + 8 + 1, is 19.
    • Ellie of the Elise Dilden Agency first responds to Drew's email about his novel on January 19 of 2019.
• In the novel Later:
  • Kenneth Therriault sets nineteen bombs in New York City and New Jersey before causing his first fatality with the twentieth.
  • The code to Donald Marsden's panic room is 73612. 7 + 3 + 6 + 1 + 2 = 19.
  • The passcode to Liz Dutton's phone is 2665. 2 + 6 + 6 + 5 = 19.
• In the novel Billy Summers:
  • As a child, Billy kills Bob Raines with Raines' M9X19 gun. Besides containing the number 19 directly, 9 + 1 + 9 = 19 as well.
  • Billy takes up part-time residence in 658 Pearson Street. 6 + 5 + 8 = 19.
  • As a child, Billy's family's trailer park address was 19 Skyline Drive.
  • While communicating via text, Billy's associate Bucky uses the alias "bigpapi982." 9 + 8 + 2 = 19.
  • Bucky communicates with Billy via a YouTube comment tagged Hanson199. Besides containing the number 19 directly, 1 + 9 + 9 = 19 as well.
  • Billy and Alice Maxwell reach Bucky's residence in Sidewinder, Colorado partly via Route 19.
  • Nick Majarian's home in in Paiute, Nevada has an adress of 1900 Cherokee Drive.
  • Alice's father died of a heart attack when his other daughter, Gerry, was nineteen years old.
  • The code to Nick's Paiute residence safe room is 6247. 6 + 2 + 4 + 7 = 19.
  • One of Billy's email addresses is woodyed667@gmail.com 6 + 6 + 7 = 19.
  • Roger Klerke's address in Montauk Pointe, New York is 775 Montauk Highway. 7 + 7 + 5 = 19.
  • Judy Blatner's email address is judyb14455@aol.com 1 + 4 + 4 + 5 + 5 = 19.
  • Billy and Alice stop at Happy Jack's Truck Stop. "Happy Jack's Truck Stop" contains 19 letters (not including the apostrophe).
• In the novel Gwendy's Final Task:
  • The rocket that Gwendy and her crew use to reach the MF-1 Space Station is called Eagle-19 Heavy.
  • Gwendy's crew plans to spend 19 days aboard MF-1.
  • The code that opens the case containing the button box is 1512253. 1 + 5 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 5 + 3 = 19.
  • As in Gwendy's Button Box and Gwendy's Magic Feather, the button box dispenses 1891 Morgan silver dollars. 1 + 8 + 9 + 1 = 19.
  • Gwendy completes a cognitive assessment in 19 minutes.
  • Thomas Mitchell's address is 1920 Tupelo Road, Derry, Maine.
  • Gwendy and her father go to a Sears on Route 119 in Lewiston, Maine, to buy a telescope.
  • The code for the airlock that Gwendy uses to exit Eagle-19 Heavy is 0748. 0 + 7 + 4 + 8 = 19.
• In the novel Fairy Tale:
  • Howard Bowditch negotiates a nineteen-thousand-dollar discount on his medical bills after breaking his leg.
  • A Twitter user named BullGuy19 expresses skepticism on Twitter about accusations surrounding Benjamin Dwyer's supposed murder of Wilhelm Heinrich.
  • Howard Bowditch hired a caretaker in 1972. 1 + 9 + 7 + 2 = 19.
  • Howard Bowditch discovered the well connecting Sentry's Rest to Empis in 1919.
  • Nineteen Night Soldiers—excluding Kellin—guard the prisoners training for the Fair One.
• In the novel Holly:
  • Penny Dahl's phone number, 216-555-0019, ends in 19.
  • Upon seeing a photo of Bonnie Dahl, Holly Gibney reflects that she thought she would look more like Holly herself had looked at age 19 or 20.
  • Tom Higgins' former address was 2395 Eastland Avenue. 2 + 3 + 9 + 5 = 19.
  • Penny Dahl's address is 883 Renner, Upriver. 8 + 8 + 3 = 19.
  • Barbara Robinson's poem "Faces Change" is nineteen lines long.
  • A portion of the novel's story take place on May 19, 2021.
  • Holly parks on the lawn of 91 Ridge Road while investigating Rodney and Emily Harris. 9 and 1 reversed = 19.
  • The after-hours number for Finders Keepers is 225-521-6283. 6 + 2 + 8 + 3 = 19.
  • Holly Gibney's personal phone number is 440-771-8218. 8 + 2 + 1 + 8 = 19.
  • While investigating the home of Rodney and Emily Harris, Barbara Robinson deliberately walks past their address (93 Ridge Road) to 109 Ridge Road. 10 + 9 = 19.

Other Occurrences

• Nineteen is the atomic number of Potassium.
• Nineteen feet is the height of the statues of both Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson in their respective memorials.
• The Renault 19 was a French car produced from 1988 to 2000.
• The 19th President of the United States was Rutherford B. Hayes.
• The 19th state admitted to the Union was Indiana.

In religion

• Nineteen apostles founded the Bahá'í faith.
• 19 months of 19 days comprise the Bahá'í calendar, as well as a 19-year cycle, and a 361-year supercycle – 361 = 19 x 19.
• 19 is said to be a mystical number in the Qur'an.
• The Qur'an contains 114 sura – 114 = 19 x 6.
• Nineteen angels are said to guard over Jahannam.

In games

• A standard game of Go is played on a 19-by-19 board.
• 19 is the jersey numbers of:

Johnny Unitas of the Baltimore Colts (NFL)

Lance Alworth of the San Diego Chargers (NFL)

Robin Yount of the Milwaukee Brewers (MLB)

Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres (MLB)

Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians (MLB)

Josh Beckett of the Florida Marlins and Boston Red Sox (MLB)

Willis Reed of the New York Knicks (NBA)

Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings (NHL)

Bill Masterton fo the Minnesota North Stars (NHL)

Larry Robinson of the Montreal Canadiens (NHL)

Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche (NHL)

Bryan Trottier of the New York Islanders (NHL)

In music

• "Hey Nineteen is a 1980 Steely Dan song.
• "I Was Only Nineteen" is a 1983 Redgum anti-Vietnam War song.
• "19" is a 1985 Paul Hardcastle anti-Vietnam War song.
• "19 is a 2003 album by Alsou.
• "19 is the 2006 debut albus by Evan Yo.
• "19 is the 2008 debut album by Adele.
• "Nineteen" is the title of songs by Bad4good, Buck-O-Nine, Tegan and Sara, Phil Lynott, and Old 97's.
• "19th Nervous Breakdown" is a song by the Rolling Stones.
• "Balance of the 19" is a song by Secret Chiefs 3.

In literature

• Nineteen angels serve as "wardens of the Fire" according to the Qur'an (74:30).
• The epilogue of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is titled "Nineteen Years Later."
• Jodi Picoult's first New York Times Best Seller was titled Nineteen Minutes.
• The Louis Sachar series "Sideways Stories" mentions a nonexistent 19th story of the 30-story Wayside School, taught by a nonexistent teacher named Miss Zarves.  Curiously, this 19th-story classroom actually does appear in Wayside School is Falling Down and is supposedly impossible to escape, resulting in a horror-like trope not commonly found in Sachar's books.

In television

• "Hey Nineteen" was the 88th episode of Wings, named after the Steely Dan song.
• "Deus Ex Machina" is the 19th episode of Lost. At the house of Dandelo, Susannah Holmes finds a note from Stephen King reading "RELAX! HERE COMES THE DEUS EX MACHINA!" Lost producers have acknowledged The Stand as a text influencial to the creation of the television series, and King has made repeated references to Lost in his most recent writing, including Duma Key and Under the Dome (the latter of which also refers to a Lost sequel entitled The Hunted Ones).

Appearances

• The Gunslinger
• Bag of Bones
• Wolves of the Calla
• Song of Susannah
• The Dark Tower

• "N."
• Rose Madder
• Doctor Sleep 
• Elevation
• Doctor Sleep (film)