On this day, millions of Americans are nervous, and some will even stay home. Others will laugh it off. It’s just another day on the calendar – or is it?
This Friday is Friday the 13th, the best-known superstition of all, which evokes a range of emotions. Commonly associated with bad luck, the day drives many to distraction – if they notice it at all.
“I pay absolutely no attention to it, whatsoever,” said Lynn Armstrong, 71, a library worker and volunteer. “I don’t believe in any of that stuff. It’s a day like any other.”
Many disagree. The North Carolina-based Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute reports that between 17 and 21 million Americans harbor a fear of Friday the 13th. Since many of them stay home, refuse to fly, or otherwise change their plans, an estimated $800 to $900 million in business is lost nationwide each time the 13th falls on a Friday.
This is the second time that Friday the 13th will occur in 2024 (the first was in September). The date also fell just once in both 2021 and 2022. There were two occurrences each year from 2017-20, as well as in 2023. The maximum number of times that the 13th is a Friday in any given year is three, but it is guaranteed to come up at least once a year.
Fourteen months is the longest stretch possible between any Friday the 13th, which is still enough to make many shudder.
Part of the reason is the simple fear of the number 13, or triskaidekaphobia. Enough people carry this fear that the number is routinely omitted from parts of daily life. Many hotels do not number rooms ending in 13, and less than 5% percent of residential condos in Manhattan and Brooklyn are said to have a 13th floor.
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Similarly, the two top elevator manufacturers in the world, Otis and Moline-based Kone, offer plans for building owners to leave out the number 13 button in their elevators. In 2014, Irish carrier Ryanair announced it would remove row 13 from their aircraft, while the number is also omitted from many aisles, flights and gates in air travel.
Fear of Friday the 13th adds a few letters to the name, creating the unwieldy friggatriskaidekaphobia. The prefix is from Frigg, the Norse goddess of wisdom that gives Friday its name and may be a clue to the origins of the discomfort of Friday the 13th.
Some believe the fear is rooted in Norse myth, while others point to the Bible, arguing that Judas was the 13th guest at the Last Supper, and Jesus was crucified on a Friday. Still others cite a 1907 novel by stockbroker Thomas Lawson, “Friday the 13th,” which opens with those same three words.
Whatever the case, Friday the 13th has found its place in pop culture. The movie franchise of the same name has grossed $464 million at the box office since its introduction in 1980.
Many, however, scoff at any notion of the dastardly day.
“For me, Friday the 13th is like a horoscope,” said Peter Oswald, 70, a public relations expert and graphic designer. “I look at it the day after, to see if any of it came true.
“On Saturday the 14th, I think back and ask, was the 13th really that bad of a day?” pondered Oswald, with a wry smile. “And usually, it wasn’t.”
Believers, though, point to odd occurrences. On Friday, the 13th of August in 2010, newspapers in Great Britain reported that a boy was treated after being struck by lightning at 1:13 p.m., or 13:13 military time. The age of the boy? Thirteen.
A few unlucky events in history have happened on Friday the 13th. On Sept. 13, 1940, Nazi planes dropped five bombs on Buckingham Palace. A cyclone that devastated Bangladesh was at its worst on Nov. 13, 1970, and eventually killed over 500,000 people.
Less deadly was the shipwreck of the luxury liner Costa Concordia off Italy on Jan. 13, 2012, which claimed 30 lives and cost an estimated $2 billion.
Notable events in American history on Friday the 13th include a Civil War milestone. On June 13, 1862, Confederate Gen. Jeb Stuart humiliated the North by riding his cavalry force completely around the Union Army of the Potomac.
So Friday the 13th lives on, at least in the minds of the fearful. Many others, though, just don’t care.
“I don’t get anxious about it, because I’m not superstitious,” said Mikayla Rodgers, 20, a junior at the University of Illinois-Springfield. “I don’t dislike it at all. I think it’s actually kind of fun.”
• Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Illinois. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.