AbstractThe 15 primes 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 41, 47, 59, 71 are called the supersingular primes: they occur in several contexts in number theory and also, strikingly, they are the primes that divide the order of the Monster. It is also known that the moduli space of (1, p)-polarised abelian surfaces is of general type for these primes. In this note, we explain that apparently coincidental fact by relating it to other number-theoretic occurences of the supersingular primes.