Today is Friday the 13th, so you already know what that means!! There are a bunch of superstitions about today and all Friday the 13ths in general, but where exactly do they come from? Why are people so worried/scared of Friday the 13th? Could it be because of the movies and people who decide to dress as Jason to scare people? Is it because 13 is an “unlucky number” and Friday is known to be an “unlucky day” so they two of them combined is just an overload of unlucky? According to a recent study 17-20 million people fear Friday the 13th. Hit the jump to uncover the truth behind Paraskevidekatriaphobics, the fear of Friday the 13th!
@Julie1205
The 13th can fall on a Friday anywhere between one to three times per year. According to some religions Friday it’s self is a bad/unlucky day because Jesus is said to have died on a Friday. The number 13 is believed to be “The Devil’s Dozen” and is associated with bad luck. Some people believe that if you have 13 letters in your name it’s bad and others believe having 13 dinner guests will result in one person dying in the year, some buildings do not have a 13th floor, and some airlines will not fly on Friday the 13th. The superstition of Friday the 13th being a bad/unlucky day began on October 13, 1307 when King Phillip IV of France had hundreds of monks, knights, sergeants, priests, and serving brethren tortured. Since then a few bad events have taken place on Friday the 13th adding to the superstition:
July 1951: The Great Flood killed 24 people, destroyed more than 2 million acres of land in Kansas and caused $760 million in damage.
March 1964: The “Good Friday” earthquake wasn’t actually so good. It remains the largest earthquake in North American history, killing 131 people near Prince William Sound.
July 1987: An F4 tornado ripped through Edmonton, Alberta, killing 27 people and injuring at least 300.
March 1992: An earthquake killed nearly 2,000 people and left 50,000 homeless in Turkey.
Tupac Shakur was shot and killed in Las Vegas on a Friday the 13th.
Al Capone was sentenced to prison on a Friday the 13th.
Benny Goodman, the King of Swing, died on a Friday the 13th.
Hubert Humphrey, the 38th Vice President of the United States, died on a Friday the 13th.
