This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Broward chapter.
Get to know the OTHER spookiest day of the year – Friday the 13th!
Did you know how often Friday the 13th occurs? What about where this superstition came from? Learn more with these 13 facts:
- The fear of Friday the 13th is known as paraskevidekatiaphobia and the fear of the number 13 is triskaidekaphobia. (But don’t ask if I can pronounce either.)
- The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina estimates 17 – 21 million Americans suffer from paraskevidekatiaphobia. (Wow!)
- There is no definitive origin of the superstition surrounding Friday the 13th. Fear of the day could have orginated 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.
- What is known is that Friday and 13 being an unlucky combination was not documented until the 19th century.
- Tuesday the 13th is unlucky is Hispanic and Greek cultures, and Friday the 17th is unlucky in Italy.
- From 1900 – 2099, Friday the 13th occurs 688 times.
- Every calender year has one Friday the 13th, but it can occur up to three times in one year. (Most recently it happened in 2015.)
- For a Friday the 13th to occur, the month must begin on a Sunday.
- Alfred Hitchcock’s 100th birthday would have occured on Friday, Aug. 13, 1999. (He passed away at age 80 in 1980.)
- 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.
- 80% of high rise buildings in the U.S. don’t have a 13th floor.
- In French Lick Springs, Indiana it is the law that all black cats must wear a bell on their collar on Friday the 13th.
- 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.