The Truth Behind why Friday the 13th is Unlucky
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but today is Friday the 13th. Is it really that bad though? Or is it all made up?
Friday the 13th is infamously known for being a day of bad luck, but what is it about this exact date that causes such hysteria? Or could it be the number 13 in general? The superstition is so widespread that some hotels don’t even have a 13th floor.
Now we all know that Friday the 13th is unlucky, but why? For all of the superstitious people out there, I have done my research and I’m here to tell you where it all the mystery may have began.
- This superstition, as it turns out, predates Christianity and instead stems from Ancient Roman Mythology. According to the ancient Roman mythos, the number 12 has always been known to be a complete and wholesome number. There were the 12 Roman gods, 12 hours on a clock, and 12 months out of the year and many more. Unfortunately for 13, 12 was a tough act to follow. The number instantly was neglected, not to mention it’s not nicely divisible by 2.
- The mythos surrounding the number has also influenced Christianity. In terms of the Apostles, there were 12. Judas, the Apostle who betrayed Jesus was known to be the 13th person to sit down at the Last Supper. Also, Jesus was crucified on a Friday.
- Speaking of Friday, Geoffrey Chaucer, author of the “Canterbury Tales”, noted in this novel that Friday was deemed unlucky.
- It is also possible that Thomas Lawson’s novel “Friday, the Thirteenth” created a frenzy. In his novel, a stock broker takes a big risk and shakes up the stock market on this day. This is a big reason why there is the superstition that business is bad on this day and the stock market doesn’t do well.
- 13 is the number you need to form a coven of witches.
- Whether it’s ancient mythology, a movie, or a novel, that helped this superstition come to fruition, it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. So I’ll leave you with the wise words of comedian Mitch Hedberg “Come on people on the 14th floor, you know what floor you’re really on!”
Now you know background information on why it is suspicious, here are events in history that has happened to make it worse.
[caption id="attachment_7539" align="aligncenter" width="374"]
Bomb damage outside Buckingham Palace, September 1940Copyright Westminster City Archives[/caption]
- Buckingham Palace was hit by five bombs on Friday, the 13th 1940. One members of the royal staff was killed, and King George VI and King Elizabeth were nearly killed.
- A Chilean Air Force Plane disappeared in the Andes on Friday, September 13th 1940. 16 passengers lived showing up two months later after being forced to eat dead bodies to survive.
- In 1976, a man by the name of Daz Baxter, was so afraid of this superstition that he decided to stay in bed. Later that day, he was killed due to his apartment block collapsing on top of him.
- The Italian cruise ship called the Costa Concordia crashed ashore on January, 13th 2012. This event killed 30 passengers.
- The Paris Attacks took place on November, 13 2015. Killing 130 people.
You tell us! Are you a believer in Friday the 13th being unlucky?
