Every year has at least one and at most three Friday the 13ths.
Fear of the number 13 is known as triskaidekaphobia, while fear of Friday the 13th is known as paraskavedekatriaphobia. Now try to pronounce it!
People in Spanish-speaking nations fear Tuesday the 13th.
The ancient Chinese regarded the number 13 as lucky. The ancient Egyptians also thought 13 brought good luck.
The 1980 film “Friday the 13th” grossed nearly $40 million during its initial cinema run.
More than 60 million people worldwide claim to be affected by a fear of Friday 13th. Some of them won’t go to work, drive cars or get out of bed on this day.
Black Sabbath’s eponymous debut album was released in the UK on Friday, February 13, 1970.
The Tarot Card number 13 is the Death Card, which depicts the Grim Reaper. Though the picture is often seen by most people as equivalent to death, things are not as bad as they seem. The card is read as transition or change, and not literally death.
Killers Charles Manson, Saddam Hussein, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Theodore Bundy and Jack the Ripper each have 13 letters in their names.
Many hospitals don’t have a room 13, in the same way that many airports don’t have a gate 13.
In Italian popular culture, Friday the 17th — not the 13th — is considered a day of bad luck. Coincidentally, Italians generally consider 13 to be a lucky number.
The next year in which we’ll have three Friday the 13ths is 2015. They’ll fall in February, March and November.
Want to avoid bad luck on Friday the 13th? There are a number of things you can do to ward off ill fate, according to superstition: Touch wood, cross your fingers, avoid black cats, don’t look at the full moon through a pane of glass, and throw salt over each shoulder.
