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Updated 6.30pm
SOME OF YOU may be taking a little bit of extra care this evening knowing that this is the second Friday the 13th we’ve had to face in as many months.
Such an event does not happen too often – with the most recent taking place in 2009, when it fell on three dates in the one year (how we made it through that one, we’ll never know).
Successive Friday the 13ths can only take place in specific non-leap years, and can only happen in a February/March combination.
Where did this all come from?
There is some confusion as to where superstitions relating to Friday the 13th come from. It seems that it was the 19th century before the connection between the number 13 and the day Friday was thought to have any significance.
It is thought the first time the two were put together was in a biography of Italian composer Giocachino Rossini who died on the day.
For a long time however there has been superstition regarding the day Friday and the number 13 in a variety of cultures.
The number 13 has been viewed with superstition in a number of cultures due to it being a counterpoint to the number 12.
Where 12 has been viewed as a round, complete figure – 13 has been seen as the opposite.
Should you be worried?
Quite a bit of research has been completed into whether the day actually has a real life impact beyond simple superstition.
A study in the British Medical Journal from 1993 found that on Friday the 13th there was a particular spike in traffic-related accidents on the day. It was found that hospital admissions were up by as much as 52% and even went as far as to say, “staying home is recommended”.
These findings can be taken with a pinch of salt. A different study carried out in the Netherlands in 2008 found Friday the 13th to actually be safer than the average Friday. The company found less reports of fires and thefts on this particular day.
In their study they found just 7,500 accidents on Friday the 13th compared with 7,800 on an average day.
Over to you
So given all that… are you at all concerned? Or is it all nonsense?
- Additional reporting by Paul Hosford
Originally published 6.56am
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I flew with Malaysia Airlines today and both planes were half empty!
It’s been accepted that Friday 13th stems from the date that King Philip IV of France issued an order to round up, torture and kill the Knights Templar.
I love this kind of stuff! The truth is so often more interesting than myth
LUCKY 13
I was born on friday the 13th.
My daughter was born on Friday 13th. Best day of my life
Not worried because I’m not a moron.
There’s a 1 in 7 chance a month will have Friday 13th, which averages out at slightly less than 2 months per year. Giving the odds of it landing on a feb each year (which is what you need to have 2 in a row) 2/12. So roughly every 6 years. Exactly keeping width the average.
SPOOKY!!!!
I got a cold today. Okay, that one is a bit pathetic.
That would have made a lot of the anti Catholics on this site very happy
It didn’t go too well for Terence Flanagan of RENUA on his radio interview. It isn’t as if they had months to prepare for today’s launch.
I thought it came from the last supper was on a Friday and there were 13 people at it (including Jesus) so when both fell on the same day it was deemed to be unlucky! Bizarre!
Pretty sure the last supper was on a Thursday..
I still getting over that it’s Friday already. What happened to Tuesday Wednesday Thursday.
note to self:
Take a dam day off.
Friday 13th February 1987 I fractured my spine!
Superstitious nonsense and it’s worrying that people still give this attention like horoscopes,mediums,psychics,tarot cards. Some people probably believe in magic beans! No it’s all garbage and routed in irrationality and stupidity.
If you are a follower of psychics, tarot and mediums then Friday 13th is a very powerful, lucky day, so your cheap jibe is totally spurious…
Yet the Randi challenge for 1 million dollars for psychic or supernatural ability performed under scientific conditions has never been claimed since 1964.
But hey the “Mediums” happily charge a room of gullible people make a few hundred, why not go for the big one? Strange that!
The old saying is true “A sucker born every minute”.
If someone doesn’t value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn’t value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?
Number 13 is the number of the divine feminine – feared by patriarchs, so demonised.
Once people believe what they are brainwashed with- they give it power.
1997 13 sphere stones removed from Bru Na Boinne new center for fear of the number 13.
Thirteen is the number that bonds multiplicity into oneness. Its simply the law of One as illustrated at Newgrange.
Took a flight to Budapest today and sat in row 13. Superstitious nonsense!
Aw, where’s the chap Frank (I think…) with the numbers conspiracy theories on everything? Come back, we miss you, all is forgiven…..
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