There isn’t a more feared day on the calendar than Friday the 13th. Almost since the beginning of civilization, it has always been a cursed date, and it has a mysterious nature around it.
It is very popular in the world and an important part of history and pop culture, so there are many interesting things about this day, here are 13 of them.
13. Not Everyone Believes It’s Bad Luck
Friday the 13th is actually a sacred date among pagans. Pagans are very spiritual people who combine many religions like Buddhism or Hinduism, along with having a lot of knowledge about metaphysics and witchcraft. This date is praised by pagans for many reasons, like Friday is called that way in honor of Freya, the goddess of love and fertility who is always in the company of 2 black cats, and the fact that there are 13 moons in the lunar cycle. So they take advantage of this obscure day to expand the magic energies to do their rituals, especially if it has a full moon.
12. Spooky Weddings In Las Vegas
If you and your partner are really into creepy things, a wedding in Las Vegas on a Friday the 13th will be the most incredible experience in your life. A lot of chapels decide to gather a spooky ceremony with zombie, vampire, and mummy decorations that won’t be ever forgotten by any of the guests. It is called the Gothic Themed Wedding, Party and it is very popular among not superstitious couples.
11. Good Things Have Happened Too
Even though it is always related to evil, some remarkable great things happened on a Friday the 13th. An example of this is the settlement of the Hollywood, first called Hollywoodland sign in 1923, the signing of the first law against gender discrimination at work in the U.S by Lyndon Johnson in 1967 or 1985 when the first Mario Bros game was released in Japan.
10. It Isn’t The Only Unlucky Day
Though Friday the 13th is known worldwide as a day full of bad luck, other similar dates can be as unlucky. In the Hispanic culture, such as Spain, Cuba, and most countries in South America, Tuesday the 13th is even more cursed because this weekday in Spanish is called Martes, in honor of Mars, the god of war. Meanwhile, in Italy, they fear Friday the 17th, due to the ancient Roman numbers that when they were reorganized they spelled “my life is history”
9. The Phobia Of The Date
While triskaidekaphobia is the irrational fear of the number 13, paraskavedekatriaphobia is the specific fear of Friday the 13th. People who suffer from this phobia can’t stand this date and avoid doing things on it. This starts with superstitions and the concern of attracting bad luck, which ends up with a belief that everything bad will happen on this particular day, and they can’t help being terrified.
8. Many Important Events Happened On This Day
The trail of terrible things that happened on Friday the 13th officially started with Phillip IV of France who ordered the arrest and trial of the Knights Templar in 1307. This event was followed by many others, like the deadliest forest fire in Victoria, Australia in 1939, the computer virus that attacked all of Great Britain and Black Friday in 1989, and even Tupac Shakur’s death in 1996. The list goes on, but the last thing was the terrorist attack on Paris in 2015.
7. It Happens At Least Once A Year
Every year has an unlucky day, but it also can happen up to three times in the same year, as it happened in 2015, while from 2017 to 2020 when each year had two Friday the 13th. The cursed day will arise every month that begins on a Sunday, even on leap years. In the Gregorian calendar, we have had this date 688 times all through human history. Also, the longest time that it won’t appear is 14 months.
6. The Thirteen Club
In 1890, a secret society at the College of William & Mary in Virginia was formed. It started as a mock of superstition and fear of Friday the 13th. The members often performed rituals that included actions that attracted bad luck, like 13 people dining on the same table, walking under a ladder, open umbrellas under a roof, spilling salt, breaking mirrors, and whenever they could think of. They were highly secretive, but some of the remarkable members include 5 Presidents of the United States: Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt.
5. Arnold Schoenberg
What does the German-American composer Arnold Schoenberg have to do with Friday the 13th? This man had a bad case of triskaidekaphobia that caused him paraskavedekatriaphobia at the same time. He spent all of his life in fear of this date. He avoided using this number, and it is believed that his superstition led him to die in a year multiple of 13. He was born and died on the 13th day of the month, the last one being a Friday.
4. Many People Believe In It
Even the least superstitious people are afraid of the bad luck of the date. It isn’t a weird thing that many buildings don’t have a designated 13th floor, especially if they are particularly tall or that many important businessmen avoid doing meetings or important jobs during Friday the 13th. Even pilots don’t like flying on this day, since a lot of accidents have happened on this date, such as the crash of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571.
3. The Influence Of TheBook ‘Friday, The Thirteenth’
Though the specific origin of the superstition is kind of blurry, it seems like this book, written by Thomas Lawson in 1907, was a big tool to accentuate the concept of bad luck. The author told the story about a stockbroker who managed to use superstition to his advantage to bring down Wall Street by manipulating the stock market. The book was very popular at the time and led brokers to evade making their stock business on Friday the 13th.
2. Alfred Hitchcock Was Born On Friday The 13th
While Schoenberg died on this day, Alfred Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense, was born on Friday, August 13 of 1899. It seems like Hitchcock was meant to be part of the horror world from the moment he was born, so no wonder how all of his movies were so popular and became classics. Funnily enough, he would have been 100 years old on a Friday the 13th of August in 1999. Other celebrities were born this cursed day too, like the Olsen twins, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Steve Buscemi.
1. Asteroid (99942) Apophis
This asteroid was first discovered in 2004 and has been on observation since then by NASA. At first, this celestial body wasn’t supposed to be a big threat to our planet, but as the years went by, experts have been worrying more about it. It seems like Apophis could be the closest to Earth in 2029, and their predictions say that the most likely day for that to happen is April 13th, which you may assume is precisely a Friday.
Maybe our collective fear of bad luck will never end, but if we keep a positive mind, our chances to have a bad day on Friday the 13 will decrease. In the end, it still is part of the weekend and we should enjoy it.
