If you are reading this, that means you survived Friday the 13th. A date so entrenched with the superstition that the world loses almost 800 million dollars every time it rolls around. This enormous loss is the result of people refusing to do business as usual, and the fact that many people will not fly in the attempt to mitigate any possible bad luck that might befall them. But where, and why, did the superstition even began at all?
The roots of the supposedly "unlucky" date are believed to have originated from religion. For example; Jesus Christ is said to have been betrayed by Judas, his 13th apostle and because of that betrayal Jesus was crucified, on a Friday. It is also believed that Eve tempted Adam on a Friday, although there is no real evidence of this being accurate.
However, religious stories aren't the only historical tales lending evidence of just how Friday the 13th became synonymous with misfortune.
King Philip IV of France, for example, disbanded the Knights Templar on Friday, October 13, 1307. This essentially prompted the tortures and deaths of thousands in the years following.
Math also plays a role in the dislike, or fear, of the number 13. According to Wolfram, the number 12 is the pseudoperfect number. After all, 12 is all around us. We have 12 months in a year, 12 hours on the clock, 12 signs in the zodiac, even as far back as Jesus-he had 12 disciples. Therefore, anything past 12, just couldn't be good.
But for those who are still skeptical about the validity of this cursed date. Here are a few "bad luck" events that occurred on Friday the 13th. Mind you, the idea of an unlucky date wasn't really prevalent until the turn of the 18th century.
On Friday, Nov. 13, 1829 a daredevil by the name of Sam Patch leaped to his death while performing a stunt in which he jumped from the Genesee Falls in New York. Patch had gained notoriety from a similar stunt only months prior, when he plunged from Niagara Falls. It was reported that Patch "did not retain the position while descending or strike the water as he did on the former occasion." Either way, his Friday the 13th stunt, was his last.
On Jan. 13, 1939 a wildfire ripped through a province in Australia taking the lives of 36 people. This disaster accounted for nearly half of the devastation that would be experienced that January.
On Sept. 13, 1940, during the German onslaught of England in World War II, Buckingham Palace took one of its heaviest hits of the war. On this particular day the palace chapel took significant damage and one person was killed.
On July 13, 1951 Kansas experienced the worst floods in the history of the Midwest. Twenty-eight people died and another 500,000 were displaced due to the catastrophic flood.
On Friday, June 13, 1952, the infamous "Catalina Affair" occurred. This happened during the Cold War, when the Soviets shot down a Swedish aircraft. The Swedes insisted it was only a training flight, and the Soviets denied any involvement. However, after 40 years, both parties confirmed the other's suspicions as Sweden admitted it was a spy plane, and the Soviets admitted they had shot it down.
In 1964, one of the most brutal and well-known murders of New York happened. On a Friday, the 13th of March, Kitty Genovese was raped and murdered. It was originally reported that 38 people witnessed the crime, yet no one called the police. However, later reports insist that these numbers were inflated, and that people did in fact attempt to help Ms. Genovese, but were too late to save her.
Other historical catastrophic occurrences that took place on Friday the 13th are events such as a deadly cyclone in 1970 that killed at least 300,000 people in Bangladesh, as well as the devastating plane crash of the Uruguayan Old Christians Club rugby team that the best-selling book "Alive" was based on, and the murder of the cultural icon, Tupac Shakur, was on Friday, Sept. 13, 1996... and many more.
Maybe now it is easy to understand how such immense superstition can be attached to one, seemingly harmless date. Hopefully this doesn't add to, or induce your friggatriskaidekaphobia-or your fear of Friday the 13th.
