"cuz"
Posted on 09/13/2013 2:48:11 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The combination of sixth day of the week and the number 13 have foreboding reputation worldwide
Friday the 13th is a special day that is tied to numerous myths and superstitions. This phenomenon happens at least once a year. But never more than three times a year, according to various reports.
For people afflicted with a morbid, irrational fear of Friday-the-13th, or friggatriskaidekaphobiacs as they are clinically known as, this 'day of apocalypse' is a difficult one to get through.
For those who fear this day, simply look out for months that start on a Sunday. There will be a Friday the 13th 12 days later.
It is still not known exactly how this fear started. But a lot of theories exist. One such theory suggests it's a simple matter of mathematics: bad luck Friday added in conjunction with the unlucky number 13 equals doubly unlucky.
This phobia is also found to be deeply rooted in ancient world history. There is a biblical reference to the unlucky number 13. Judas was the 13th guest at the Last Supper, informs Nationalgeographic.com. Numerologists consider 12 a "complete" number and exceeding by 1 it simply goes a little beyond completeness and the number becomes restless or squirmy, reports Nationalgeographic.com.
Even if the masses are not scared of the 'fearsome' combo, people don't like to take risks. If reports are to be believed, more than 80 per cent of high-rises lack the 13th floor. Anxiety related to the number 13 is further evidenced by numerous airports that skip the 13th gate, most hospitals and hotels throughout the world have no room number 13 and some even skip the 13th floor altogether.
In fact on streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and-a-half. In France, socialites known as the quatorziens (fourteeners) once made themselves available as 14th guests to keep a dinner party from an unlucky fate, reveals Nationalgeographic.com.
According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in North Carolina, about 17-21 million people in the US are affected by the fear of Friday the 13th. "It's been estimated that $800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day because people decide not to fly or do business they would normally do," Donald Dossey, founder of the institute was quoted by Vancouversun.com.
Many triskaidekaphobes, as those who fear the unlucky integer are known, point to the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13.
There seems to be further evidence to support the fear.
One 1993 study, published in the British Medical Journal, found that the traffic accident risk increases by as much as 52 per cent on Friday the 13th, compared to a normal Friday.
Here's a list of other less scientific data that shows some odd findings related to the day, courtesy a report on Vancouversun.com.
- The shooting death of rapper Tupac Shakur on Friday, September 13, 1996
- The Uphaar Cinema fire in Delhi, which killed 59 people and injured 103 who were trapped behind locked doors on Friday, June 13, 1997
- The crash of Uruguayan Air Force flight 571 on Friday, October 13, 1972, which led to the immediate deaths of a quarter of the passengers, plus deaths in the days that followed as survivors succumbed to cold, injury and an avalanche that killed eight
But there are ways to ward off bad luck on this day. Have confidence in your own luck and stay positive throughout the day.
Friday is the sixth day of the week?
uhh . . . yes? Did I miss something?
We took a vote. You’d slipped out for a smoke.
Darnit.
"cuz"
Thought the whole Friday the 13th. thing came about when the Templar’s were wiped out during the Middle Ages. Happened on a Friday the 13th. From then it was considered an unlucky day.
I’m watching to see if this building they’re demolishing in Jackson Mich is going to fall on this 1860s church.
http://www.wilx.com/home/headlines/Highrise-Demolition-Threatening-Downtown-Jackson-223660311.html
I personally think the taxpayers are fixin to buy a very expensive church.
I always thought it stemmed from the Nights Templar being condemned and/or executed by the church on a Friday the 13th. Who knows?
bflr cuz that kitten looks like our l’il boy Petey, and I want to show the picture to Mrs. RQSR when she gets home.
Friday the 13th is only scary when the Chevy’s odometer turns over from 100,665 to 100,666 or any variation thereof:)
I didn’t know that today is the 13th, until about 60 seconds ago, seeing this thread.
You’re safe enough but the poor sod who posts the 13th posting to this thread is in a world of hurt.
Q: What is the word for the fear of long words made up to describe irrational fear?
A: Journalism.
-PJ
We’ve had 4.5 years of Friday the 13ths.
In 1942, the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal took place on Friday, October 13th. Two American Admirals (Scott and Callahan) were killed on that night.
Halsey was a very superstitious man, as was the navy in general. Ships, as a rule, would not set sail on Friday the 13th, and would often wait until after midnight to set sail.
That early morning of Friday, 10/13/1942, Callaghan’s force comprised two heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and eight destroyers, going up against a heavier Japanese force containing battleships.
From Wikipedia: “Around 01:30 on 13 November, Callaghan’s force intercepted Abe’s bombardment group between Guadalcanal and Savo Island. In addition to the two battleships, Abe’s force included one light cruiser and 11 destroyers. In the pitch darkness,the two warship forces intermingled before opening fire at unusually close quarters. In the resulting mêlée, Abe’s warships sank or severely damaged all but one cruiser and one destroyer in Callaghan’s force and both Callaghan and Scott were killed.”
There were so many plays on the number 13, the Captain of one of the ships graduated from the Naval Academy in 1913, the hull number of a ship added up to 13 and so on.
Ships were so close they were firing point blank into each other, it turned out to be a great equalizer of the lighter US ships because at that range (less than 400 yards in many cases) even a battlship’s heavier armor was no good against the six or eight inch shells.
It was a night battle, and they said when they fired the guns, they could see the impact on the enemy ships nearly instantaneously. It sounded like an old time battle between two sailing ships of the line with their cannons.
hahaha...I read today where, on Friday the 13th, flight 666 was leaving the USA for HEL (Helsinki)
How’d ya like to be on that plane???
LOL...I meant NOVEMBER 13th, 1942, not October...
Scott survived being on a hip sunk by a German submarine in World War I.
Great coincidence there, huh. Somewhere either in the Book of Daniel or Revelation that there was another number for the anti-Christ other than 666 (which is an infinite number shortened to 666) but anyway 616 has been used, 666 being the Hebrew interpretation of the name and 616 the Latin. Supposedly Nero’s name came out as 666.
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