Friday the 13th; 13 facts about the most feared day

Beware of any month that begins on a Sunday.

It’s a sign that the most feared date on the calendar is just around the corner. If you’re a superstitious person it’s likely a day you dread.

It comes around at least once every year (sometimes three times!), but have no fear, Friday the 13th is here.

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Here are 13 facts about the inauspicious day.

1 – Maybe even scarier than the day itself is the pronunciation of the scientific name for the fear of the day. You’ve probably heard of ‘triskaidekaphobia,’ the fear of the number 13. Well, ‘paraskevidekatriaphobia’ is the fear of Friday the 13th. The name is a combination of the greek words for Friday (paraskevi), and thirteen (dekatreis).

 

2 – The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina estimate anywhere from 17 to 21 million people in the United States alone suffer from the ‘paraskevidekatriaphobia.’ Making Friday the 13th the most feared date on the calendar by a wide margin.

 

3 – Thankfully for all you ‘paraskevidekatriaphobia’ sufferers, Friday the 13th only occurs approximately once every 212 days on average. Though it is guaranteed to pop up once every calendar year, there are certain times when we have a 14 month gap between the day. The last time this happened was July 2018 to September 2019. In non-leap years the day can occur in back to back months (February and March). This last happened in 2015.

 

4 – In a cruel twist, the 13th actually lands on Friday more than any other day of the week. Over the past 4800 months the 13th has landed on a Friday 688 times, compared to 684 for Thursday and Saturday, the least common days.

 

5 – There are many theories on the possible origins of the superstition. One of the most prevailing is that it comes from the story of Jesus’ crucifixion. The night before was the last supper where Jesus and his 12 disciples were present, Judas being the 13th person to sit at the table. Jesus was crucified the following day on Friday.

 

6 – The Olsen twins, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Steve Buscemi were all born on the notorious day but according to FiveThirtyEight lots of parents won’t take a chance with a Friday the 13th birth. Since many births are scheduled, either through induced labour or a cesarean section, they found that there are a significantly lower amount of babies born on the 13th of each month. And that number drops even further when the 13th lands on a Friday.

 

7 – The ominous date hasn’t deterred bikers in Southern Ontario. Thousands of motorcyclists traditionally gather in Port Dover, Ont. whenever Friday the 13th rolls around. The rally has been going on since 1981, when it was just a few dozen people, it now attracts upwards of 200,000 people and over 15,000 motorcycles.

RELATED: Doug Ford wants people to skip Friday the 13th rally in Port Dover

 

8 – The dreaded day spawned a well-known horror film franchise that’s been stretched out to twelve films. The most recent was released in 2009. In what can only be described as a marketing swing and miss, only four of the twelve ‘Friday the 13th’ films have been released on an actual Friday the 13th.

 

9 – What could be more frightening than Friday the 13th? A Friday the 13th with a full moon. According to NASA this rare and terrifying (for some) occurrence took place for most of North America in September 2019. That was the first time in 19 years. It won’t happen again for another 30 years.

 

10 – In 1907, long before Jason Voorhees was terrorizing teens in the 80’s slasher films, there was a novel called ‘Friday the Thirteenth.’ It was written by stockbroker Thomas L. Lawson and was about a man who chose that day to manipulate the stock market and bring down Wall Street. A significant stock market crash did occur on a Friday the 13th in October 1989. But a 2018 Yahoo! article assesses that, at least in recent years, the markets generally don’t move much in either direction when the day comes around.

 

11 – There are some significant trends that prove a lot of people aren’t willing to do as much on a Friday the 13th, perhaps out of caution. According to the Stress Management and Phobia Institute businesses actually lose close to $900 million in revenue on each Friday the 13th because of a decrease in consumer activity. People being too afraid to leave the house may explain the result of a 2008 study by the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS). The study found the day to be safer than other Fridays with fewer incidents and fewer reports of fire and theft.

 

12 – Friday the 13th is a superstition in most of the western world but in Spanish speaking countries Tuesday the 13th is actually the most dreaded day. The film franchise was renamed ‘Martes 13’ (Tuesday the 13th) when it was translated to Spanish. In Italy, Friday the 17th is most the feared day.

 

13 – Keeping with superstition we’ll be skipping number 13.

Happy Friday the 13th!