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FRIDAY THE 13th

Face it, you're in trouble. Today is Friday the 13th — the unluckiest day on the calendar — so try not to crash your car, fall down a flight of stairs, set yourself on fire or do anything else that might compromise your well-being. And for goodness sake, stay away from men in hockey masks. (Read "What Happens When We Die?")

The number 13 has been unlucky for centuries. Some historians peg the superstition to the 13 people who attended the Last Supper (neither Jesus nor Judas came out of that one O.K.), but ancient Babylon's Code of Hammurabi omits the number 13 in its list of laws, so the superstition dates back to at least 1700 BC. Thirteen is so unlucky, in fact, that in 1881 an organization called the Thirteen Club attempted to improve the number's reputation. At the first meeting, the members (all 13 of them) walked under ladders to enter a room covered with spilled salt. The club lasted for many years and grew to more than 400 members, including five U.S. Presidents: Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Despite the club's efforts, triskaidekaphobia (that's fear of the number 13) flourished; even today, most tall buildings don't have a 13th Floor.

The number's association with Friday, however, didn't take hold until the 20th century. In 1907, eccentric Boston stockbroker Thomas Lawson published a book called Friday the Thirteenth, which told of an evil businessman's attempt to crash the stock market on the unluckiest day of the month. Thanks to an extensive ad campaign, the book sold well: nearly 28,000 copies within the first week. In 1916 the book was turned into a feature-length silent film.

Wall Street's superstitions about Friday the 13th continued through 1925, when the New York Times noted that people "would no more buy or sell a share of stock today than they would walk under a ladder or kick a black cat out of their path." Some stock traders also blamed Black Monday — Oct. 19, 1987 — on the fact that three Fridays fell on the 13th that year. The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute estimates that $700-$800 million dollars are lost every Friday the 13th because of people's refusal to travel, purchase major items or conduct business.

Then came Jason. In 1980, Paramount Pictures released Friday the 13th (tagline: "Fridays will never be the same again"), a slasher flick about a series of murders at a summer camp. Apparently Jason, born on Friday the 13th, chooses that date to take revenge on oversexed campers much like the ones who allowed him to drown in Crystal Lake. So much for trust falls and lanyard-making.

Friday the 13th grossed almost $40 million at the box office and inspired a long-running franchise: Friday the 13th Part II; Friday the 13th Part III; Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (it was not); Friday the 13th: Jason Lives; Friday the 13th: The New Blood; Friday the 13th: Jason Takes Manhattan (he left the summer camp?); Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday; Jason X; and 2003's Freddy vs. Jason. Maybe the number 13 isn't so bad after all.

Friday the 13th Myths:

• If you cut your hair on Friday the 13th, someone in your family will die.

• A child born on Friday the 13th will be unlucky for life.

• If a funeral procession passes you on Friday the 13th, you will be the next to die.

Friday the 13th Anecdotes:

• In 1913, a New York pastor tried to assuage couples' fears by offering to marry them for free on Friday the 13th.

• In 1939, a small town in Indiana forced all black cats to wear bells on Friday, Oct. 13. When the measure seemed to work (nothing bad happened, at any rate), the town continued the practice for the next three years.

• At the time, Oct. 13, 1989, was the second largest drop of the Dow in history. Nicknamed the Friday-the-13th mini-crash, these days it's not even in the top 10. That might be the scariest fact of all.

Read more:

Happy Friday the 13th!The year 2012 is one of the rare years in which there are three Friday the 13ths – January, April and July. That combination of a year where Friday the 13th happens three times in January, April and July only happens on leap years, and has only happened seven times since 1860, and not at all since 1984. The other three-month combination in which Friday the 13th can happen in three different months is February, March and November of a given year (non-leap years). Friday the 13th cannot happen more than three times in a Gregorian calendar year. In a 400 year Gregorian calendar cycle, the odds of the 13th falling on a Friday is slightly more likely than any other day of the week (it will happen 688 times in those 400 years, slightly more frequent than Sundays or Wednesdays).

Friday the 13th of any month, of course, is considered to be unlucky but it is just another ordinary day. Some years, not much happens on a month that has a Friday the 13th. Other years, history is made, for better or worse.

Why this day happens to draw unusual events, we are uncertain. But here is a series of events that have added to Friday the 13th’s reputation for bad luck, and horror:

• Friday the 13th traces back to a Dutch holiday where mischievous children would sneak into graveyards at night and defecate on tombstones.

• In France, Friday the 13th often fell on the day after the Feast of Saint Imbibecus. Thus the day was often associated with terrible hangovers and poor choices made the night before.

• The Aztecs brutally killed 39,000 in one day on Friday the 13th of August, 1539. This was done at the request of the recently arrived Hernan Cortez, who claimed to be a god seeking tribute. The next day he overthrew their empire.

• One source says the number 13 has been unlucky since the Last Supper of Christ, where thirteen people were in attendance.

• Hammurabi’s Code, the first set of state initiated laws, omits the number 13, leading some to believe the superstition dates back to Babylon in 1700 BC. However archaeologists agree that there indeed was a thirteenth law that was scratched out. Studies of ancient tablets indicate the law condoned cross dressing of government officials, but was probably removed at the advice of Hammurabi’s aides.

• Genghis Khan is said to have tasted his first defeat on Friday the 13th. This fight between Genghis and five other larger children fueled the inferiority complex which drove him to conquer a continent.

• Most skyscrapers do not include a thirteenth floor. Gregory Johnson bravely included a thirteenth floor in his designs for the Empire State Building in New York. Three days after its completion, on a Friday, the weight of the building caused it to buckle and it crushed the thirteenth floor. It has been structurally sound ever since.

• In London’s summer of 1865, seven prostitutes, two flower sellers, three secretaries and a nun were assaulted on Friday July 13th by a crazy man wearing an athletic mask. The assailant would jump out of the shadows and present them with literature supporting the Conservative Party. As the women screamed and tried to run away, they were asked for donations repeatedly, up to 18 times in one case.

• In 1881, a group of New Yorkers started The 13 Club, aimed at removing the superstitious stigma from the number. At their first meeting on Friday the 13th, all thirteen members walked under a ladder into a room filled spilled salt and broken mirrors. They all died in a freak accident involving a runaway truck and a rabid wolverine on its way to be put down.

• On Friday June 13th of 1952, Massachusetts Governor Kyle McArthur banned all private automotive transportation on the unlucky day. Nine overcrowded city buses crashed into each other in downtown Boston.

• Billy Ray Cyrus, Bobby Brown, and Michael Bolton all released albums on Friday the 13th.

1. Nathan Bedford Forrest — Friday, July 13, 1821

One of America’s most loathsome historical figures, he was a Confederate general, slave trader, and Grand Wizard of the KKK

(Forrest Gump claimed to have been named after his ancestor General Nathan Bedford Forrest)

2. Butch Cassidy — Friday, April 13, 1866

Notorious train robber, bank robber and leader of the Hole in the Wall Gang

2. Samuel Beckett — Friday, April 13, 1906

Irish writer, dramatist and poet

4. Don Adams — Friday, April 13, 1923 Actor, best known for his role as Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) in the TV sitcom Get Smart

5. Fidel Castro — Friday, August 13, 1926 Former Prime Minister of Cuba

6. Bob Crane — Friday, July 13, 1928

Actor, best known for his role as Colonel Hogan in the TV sitcom Hogan's Heroes

[pic]

7. Christopher Plummer — Friday, December 13, 1929

Canadian actor, perhaps best known for playing Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music

8. Peter Tork — Friday, February 13, 1942 Musician, actor, and member of the pop group The Monkees

9. Didi Conn — Friday, Friday, July 13, 1951

Actress, best known for her role as Frenchy in Grease

10. Steve Buscemi — Friday, December 13, 1957

Actor, writer and film director

11. Julia Louis-Dreyfus — Friday, January 13, 1961

Actress, best known for her role as Elaine Benes on the TV sitcom Seinfeld

12. Darius Rucker — Friday, May 13, 1966

Lead singer for the rock band Hootie & the Blowfish

[pic]

13. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen — Friday, June 13, 1986

Actresses who have appeared in TV and films since infancy

How well did you scan this article?

1. What is today’s date?

2. How many copies of the book Friday the Thirteeth sold within the first week?

3. How many million dollars are lost every Friday the 13th on people’s refusal to travel?

4. How much money did the movie Friday the 13th gross at the box office?

5. How many Friday the 13th’s happen this year (2012)?

6. What months do the Friday the 13th’s happen in?

7. How many people did the Aztecs kill on the 13th in 1539?

8. What happened to the 13th floor of the Empire State Building in New York?

9. What happened to the members of the 13th Club in 1881?

10. Who all released albums on Friday the 13th?

11. Who was the train robber that has a birthday on Friday the 13th?

12. Don Adams was known for his role in what TV sitcom?

13. What former prime minister of Cuba has a Friday the 13th birthday?

14. What TV show was Bob Crane in?

15. What actor was in the Sound of Music?

16. What actor was in Grease?

17. When is Darius Rucker’s actual birthday?

18. What famous twins have a Friday the 13th birthday?

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