Friday the 13th Facts

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:

1. 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.)
2. The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina estimates 17 – 21 million Americans suffer from paraskevidekatiaphobia. (Wow!)
3. 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.
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 is Hispanic and Greek cultures, and Friday the 17th is unlucky in Italy. 
6. From 1900 – 2099, Friday the 13th occurs 688 times.
7. 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.)
8. For a Friday the 13th to occur, the month must begin on a Sunday.
9. Alfred Hitchcock’s 100th birthday would have occured 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.

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