Friday the 13th: Scare Yourself Silly!

Paraskevidekatriaphobics - people afflicted with a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th

It's Freaky Friday! Cool. I love this stuff... Are you superstitious? Bad luck has been attributed to Friday the 13th for a long, long time. It comes from the assumption that the date carries EVIL in its wake. Some people won't go to work on Friday the 13th; some won't eat in restaurants; some won't set a wedding on the date. Many cities don't have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue. There is almost never a floor with the number 13 in it. 13 letters in your name- you have the devil's luck (serial killers: Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters). There are 13 witches in a coven. You get the point.

But why is Friday the 13th so unlucky???

Some people say Friday's bad reputation goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. It was on a Friday, supposedly, that Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit. The Bible also tells us there were exactly 13 present at the Last Supper. One of the disciples betrayed Jesus Christ, setting the stage for the Crucifixion. The Crucifixion happened to take place on a Friday... Nowadays, 13 people at a dinner party is just plain bad luck. Along with:

Breaking a mirror...
Stepping on a crack...
Walking under a ladder...
Crossing the path of a black cat...

Did you know that if you leave your calendar turned to Friday the 13th, a witch will claim you on the 14th??? Craziness! There ARE ways to protect yourself from the EVIL SPIRITS that prey on this unlucky day. Here's what you do:

- Carry a lump of bread in your pocket when walking in the dark. It will serve as an offering to ghosts.
- If you see a ghost, walk around it nine times and it will disappear.
- If you can't walk around the spook nine times, crow like a rooster. The theory is that ghosts don't wear watches and they'll flee if they think daylight is coming.
- When passing a graveyard or a house where someone has died, turn your pockets inside out to make sure you don't bring home ghost in your pocket.
- Never slam a door. You might hurt a ghost, who'll haunt you for the rest of your life.

* If you're convinced that WITCHES exist, here are some remedies:

- If a witch somehow infects you with a spell, drink water from a running creek, using a cup made of cypress wood, for nine days straight.
- Bury a knife under your doorstep to protect your home from witches, who supposedly cannot pass over cold iron.
- Put a witch's nail or hair clippings in a small glass bottle. Burying the bottle will break a witch's spell. Hanging the bottle in the fireplace will keep witches from flying into the room. And placing the bottle in a fire will kill the witch.

* I know a lot of people who are a little uneasy about GRAVES. This is what they claim:

- Don't point at a grave or your finger will rot off.
- Don't count the number of cars in a funeral procession or you¹ll have bad luck.
- Always pick a rainy day for a funeral so the deceased will go directly to heaven.

* Black cats are also a popular spook and many believe:

- Deadly diseases can be given to a child by a black cat sucking its breath.
- If a baby plays with a black cat, it will have worms. Every cat hair it swallows will become a worm.
- Kill a black cat on Halloween and you'll have seven years of bad luck.
- If a black cat meows on your porch or near a window, a death will soon occur in the family.

For me, Friday the 13th is just another excuse to rent some great horror movies and scare myself silly. Dawn Of The Dead, here I come! Happy Haunts everyone!