Is Friday the 13th Really Unlucky?

How did Friday the thirteenth become such an unlucky day?
The fear of Friday the 13th dates back to the Bible. According to the Bible, Eve tempted Adam with the apple, Noah's Ark and the Great Flood and the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ all took place on Friday. The Last Supper included 13 guests, with the 13th guest being Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus.
It is no wonder that people have become obcessed with Friday the 13th. Keep reading for more cases of why this day is believed to be such a bad omen!!

According to arosebyname, witches gathered in groups of 12 with the devil being the 13th member of the Coven.The Norse myth tells of 12 gods at Valhalla, their heaven. An uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous Loki, arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Balder died and the Earth got dark. Scandinavians believed 13 was unlucky due to the mythological 12 demigods being joined by a 13th, an evil one, who brought misfortune upon humans.

According to www.corsinet.com, Friday and the number 13 are associated with death and torture from olden times. On Friday 13, 1306, King Philip of France arrested the revered Knights Templar and began torturing them. In Britian, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose.

In more recent years, we are still associating the number 13 with bad luck. Many people associate 13 with the ill-fated "Successful Failure" mission to the moon of the Apollo 13. What about the number of letters in your name? Have you ever thought about that? It is believed that if you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck. Some examples are Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo, who all have 13 letters in their names. Kind of scary, isn't it?

The fear of the number 13 and Friday is still common today, and avoided in many different ways. Many people avoid driving or going anywhere on Friday the 13th. Many parents dread the day their child turns 13 (he or she is now a TEENAGER)!

The following facts were taken from Urban Legends:
*More than 80 percent of buildings do not have a 13th floor.
*Many airports skip the 13th gate.
*Airplanes have no 13th aisle.
*Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13.
*Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery.
*On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half.
*Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue

If you are one of the many people that is superstitious about Friday the 13th, you are not alone. A reported one in 10 people are afflicted by triskaidekaphobia (the fear of the number 13).