13 Facts You Didn’t Know About Friday the 13th

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All October posts are part of the Countdown to Halloween!

 

Happy Friday the 13th! I’ve always loved superstitions, so rather than being scared of them, I’ve been curious. I guess my inner Lydia Deetz just comes out, and I want to embrace the strange and unusual things in life!

To celebrate Friday the 13th,  I’ve rounded up a few fun facts for you to enjoy.

Looking for ways to celebrate? I’ve got a blog post for that too!

 

13 Facts About Friday the 13th:

  1. The fear of Friday the 13th is known as paraskevidekatriaphobia and the fear of the number 13 is triskaidekaphobia. (But don’t ask if I can pronounce either.)
  2. The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina estimates 17 – 21 million Americans suffer from paraskevidekatriaphobia. (Wow!)
  3. There is no definitive origin of the superstition surrounding Friday the 13th. Fear of the day could have originated from: a book of the same name, published in 1907; the arrest of hundreds of Knights Templar on Friday, October 13, 1307; or possibly the last supper at which 13 individuals were present.
  4. What is known is that Friday and 13 being an unlucky combination was not documented until the 19th century.
  5. Tuesday the 13th is unlucky in Hispanic and Greek cultures, and Friday the 17th is unlucky in Italy.
  6. From 1900 – 2099, Friday the 13th occurs 688 times.
  7. Every calendar year has one Friday the 13th, but it can occur up to three times in one year. (Most recently it happened in 2015).
  8. For a Friday the 13th to occur, the month must begin on a Sunday.
  9. Alfred Hitchcock’s 100th birthday would have occurred on Friday, Aug. 13, 1999. (He passed away at age 80 in 1980.)
  10. In Finland, Friday the 13th is a national accident awareness day, dedicated to educating people on how to prevent accidents at home, work and in the community.
  11. 80% of high rise buildings in the U.S. don’t have a 13th floor.
  12. In French Lick Springs, Indiana it is the law that all black cats must wear a bell on their collar on Friday the 13th.
  13. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Didi Conn (Frenchie in “Grease”), Darius Rucker, Kate Walsh and Kat Dennings were all born on a Friday the 13th.

So all of that begs the question…

 

What’s your favorite superstition?

I’d love to hear yours! Share it in the comments.

I have several, but one of mine is turning my drink label out when my football team kicks field goals. (Thanks, Bud Light.) And if you don’t think it works, my kicker missed two easy field goals last weekend.

I didn’t have my drink label turned out for either one.

Happy haunting,

Miranda | Spooky Little Halloween

Miranda is the Houston-based writer, blogger, and Halloween lover behind Spooky Little Halloween, the blog celebrating October 31st all year long. Her favorite Halloween things include pumpkin guts, chocolate bars in her trick-or-treat pail, real haunted houses (including the one she lives in!), and historic cemeteries.

24 Comments

  1. Reply

    Eileen

    October 13, 2017

    Haha my favorite fact about Friday the 13th is “11. 80% of high rise buildings in the U.S. don’t have a 13th floor.”

    I live in Asia most of life, so I don’t really have any western superstitions. It’s quite funny how different eastern and western superstitions are.

    • Reply

      Miranda | Spooky Little Halloween

      October 16, 2017

      I’ve always thought that one is kind of silly because really…the 13th floor is still there. It’s just not called the 13th floor.

      I’d love to hear some of your superstitions in Asia!

  2. Reply

    Ali

    October 13, 2017

    Isn’t superstition funny. My OH buys into a lot of it, including Friday the 13th, don’t open an umbrella indoors, don’t put shoes (new ones obvs) on a table. My mom was like that too. I’m afraid I don’t have any superstitions, but its fun to listen to others describe theirs

    • Reply

      Miranda | Spooky Little Halloween

      October 16, 2017

      I have lots of silly ones. I used to have more when I was little, like never stepping on cracks or holding my breath while driving by a cemetery. These days, I’ve given up most of them.

  3. Reply

    James

    October 13, 2017

    I love number 10, taking the day as a way to do something positive for the community as a whole.

  4. Reply

    Joseph Mello

    October 13, 2017

    Here’s another: My favorite TV show is Friday the 13th: The Series! ;)

  5. Reply

    Samhain

    October 14, 2017

    GREAT post! Enjoyed a LOT the fear of Friday the 13th one :) HA!

  6. Reply

    James Wood

    October 15, 2017

    I really do not believe in superstitions. I think everything done to someone is because of his own mistakes.

  7. Reply

    Chelsea Celaya

    February 15, 2018

    My sister was almost born on Friday the 13th, but my mom refused to push until midnight so that she wasn’t born that day! XD I love that black cats have to wear bells on a Friday the 13th in French Lick Springs. What an amusing tradition for sure!

    I wonder if anyone else has this happen, but Friday the 13ths are usually very lucky days for me. Things always seem to be aligned just right and fall into place and be a very great day. However, the following Saturday the 14th seems to decide to place catch-up on the bad luck.

  8. Reply

    Candace Jedrowicz

    April 13, 2018

    I’ve always been thrilled by spooky things! We never had superstitions in my family, but, in my husband’s family, it was very bad to put a wreath on the front door because it could foreshadow a black wreath that announced a death in the family. You could never cause an empty rocking chair to rock as it may be an invitation for a ghost to visit.

  9. Reply

    Anne

    August 6, 2021

    It’s been many years, but I also remember reading “Worlds in Collision” by Emanuel Velikovsky who theorized the earliest association of Friday the 13th as a day of bad luck occurred when on that day, the earth had a close encounter with a planet (Venus?) that caused major cataclysms, as he found recorded in ancient sources around the world, including the story of the plagues and exodus from Egypt in the Bible. Who knows? but maybe one to add to the list.

  10. Reply

    Sonja

    August 12, 2021

    Fun fact about me!……I was born on September 13th. When I turned 13 (many moons ago!) it was on a Friday! :)

  11. Reply

    Pamela K. Kinney

    August 13, 2021

    That Friday the 13th is not the movies, if that is what you are thinking. But a series in the 80s. A videographer friend downloaded the series on DVD for me.

  12. Reply

    Pamela K. Kinney

    August 13, 2021

    Actually, the number 13 and even backwards as 31 (Halloween) was my lucky number for me. I won a lot of Halloween Carnival cake walks as a kid, using 13 or 31.

  13. Reply

    DeAnna

    August 15, 2021

    Some hospital emergency rooms do not have a room 13. I’m an EMT and have seen it first hand!

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