Ever wonder why there are so many movies associated with Friday the 13th? For those nervous about the connotations of the day, doctors have diagnosed 17 to 21 million Americans with the phobia known as “paraskavedekatriaphobia.”
This has been a rough year for those suffering from paraskavedekatriaphobia. February had a Friday the 13th, and now March and November do as well. This triple unlucky phenomenon happens whenever there is a Friday the 13th in a February with 28 days.
The Stress Management Center Phobia Institute lists the following Friday the 13th statistics:
- Famous people scared of this day include former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who would not travel on the 13th day of any month or have 13 guests at a meal. Napoleon and Herbert Hoover were also scared of 13.
- It is estimated that $750 million are lost in business on Friday the 13th because some people will not travel, shop, or leave their homes at all.
- Symptoms of people with a phobia of this day can range from “mild anxiety and a nagging sense of doom to full blown panic attacks.”
- Some hotels or skyscrapers do not have a 13th floor.
But why is Friday the 13th dreaded? I’m sure many people would agree that a Monday the 13th sounds much more terrifying.
Some people say the bad luck started on Friday, Oct. 13, 1307, when Phillip IV had the Knights Templar (alleged guardians of the Holy Grail) arrested with the blessing of the Pope.
Another theory attributes the bad luck of the day to the blending of two superstitions. Friday has been regarded as an unlucky day for several centuries now. In Christian scripture Jesus was crucified on a Friday. Even as far back as Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales,” Friday has been regarded as a bad day to start a journey or project. Friday has been associated with disasters and stock market crashes (Black Friday) for more than 200 years.
Thirteen has also been regarded as an unlucky number for just as long. For centuries the superstition has prevailed that having 13 people seated at a table will lead to the death of one of the guests. This derives from the Last Supper and a Norse myth. This superstition is taken so seriously that in France people used to hire a 14th dinner guest!
On Mt. Olympus there were 12 gods, in the year there were 12 months, 12 zodiac signs, so 13 was always “outside” the natural amount of things. The 1925 book “Popular Superstitions” has this to say about the number 13: “It seems clear that, to the primitive mind of early man, 13 had no real meaning- he stopped at 12. So persistent are these old instincts that, even today, we stop at ‘Twelve Times Twelve’ in our school multiplication triplication tables, though there is absolutely no reason whatever why we should do so.”
Even luck attributed to the number 13 has been reversed. Ancient Egyptians thought there were 12 stages in life, and the 13th stage was the positive journey into the afterlife. However, as time wore on the number 13 just became associated with death.
Whatever the origins of this day may be, the end result is the same: people dread this day. It is probably the one date that has had a series of movies made after it, a phobia named after it, and leads people to call in sick to work and school saying, “Sorry boss, the doctor said I have a bad cause of paraskavedekatriaphobia.”
