A WORD ON FRIDAY THE 13TH
RYAN
MULLANEY
Copyright ©
2017 by Ryan Mullaney
As we plunge deeper into autumn and approach the ghostly
holiday of Halloween, I'd like to take a moment to ruminate on another recent
day of spooky significance.
Friday the 13th has come and gone as it does every year,
but why does the superstition of bad luck on this day persist? Let’s take a
look.
Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13. Couple
that with Friday and you get paraskevidekatriaphobia - fear of Friday the 13th,
which affects as many as 21 million people in the United States. While the
sources of this fear’s origin remain in dispute (some believe it to be Friday,
the 13th of October 1307, the date Philip IV of France arrested hundreds of the
Knights Templar), it is indeed possible that Thomas W. Lawson’s novel Friday,
The Thirteenth, published in 1907, aided in popularizing the superstition for
modern day America.
But what about the rest of the world? In Italy, the date
of superstition is not the 13th, but Friday the 17th (in Italy, 13 is generally
considered a lucky number). In Greece and many Spanish-speaking countries,
Tuesday the 13th is considered a day of bad luck. Many Greeks consider Tuesday
in general particularly unlucky, as Tuesday is considered dominated by the
influence of Ares, the Greek god of war. The fall of Constantinople to the
Fourth Crusade occurred on Tuesday, April 13th in 1204. The fall of Constantinople
to the Ottomans happened on Tuesday the 29th of May in 1453. Additionally, the
Greek name for the day, Triti, means the third (day of the week), and bad luck
is said to come in threes.
The common belief in Western culture is that Friday the
13th leads to an increase in accidents and fatalities (as much is mentioned in
the popular 1980 horror film Friday the 13th). However, as research from the
British Medical Journal and the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics
concluded, the rate of accidents and fatalities is actually lower on Friday the
13th than other Fridays - most likely due to a heightened awareness of
potentially dangerous situations, as well as folks simply staying home that day
to avoid whatever influence they believe the date may have.
So, paraskevidekatriaphobia (it just rolls off the
tongue!) is a good thing, right? People are safer, crime rates drop, there are
fewer traffic accidents, etc. Well, not necessarily. In the United States
alone, businesses collectively lose an estimated $900 million dollars each
Friday the 13th from people staying home instead of going out and spending
money. Such a large swing can have far-reaching influence on other areas of the
economy.
What does this all mean at the end of the day? Friday the
13th has whatever meaning we attach to it. If you view it as an unlucky day,
you’ll find yourself spotting more moments of bad luck because that’s what’s on
your mind. But good and bad things happen every day. When I ran my car into a
curb last week, it happened on Wednesday the 11th. Should I start thinking
Wednesday the 11th is an unlucky day? Instead of dwelling on the negative, I
encourage you to be on the lookout for the good moments of your day - every
day, including Friday the 13th.
GIVEAWAY
October 23rd
and another GIVEAWAY!!!! Ryan is giving away one paperback copy of his
thriller-diller THE CALM BEFORE THE
STORM!!!! By
now you know the drill, but for those who don’t, just click on back, find today’s
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Can you outlast the storm?
A cross-country road trip and a week at the beach is just what Samantha
needs. To get away and relax with friends, forget everything happened, get her
life back on track, and start being happy again.
A stop to seek shelter from a passing storm changes everything. With the
weather too intense to continue travel, they pull their Jeep up to the only home
around in hopes that the farmhouse's owner would let them rest awhile until the
tornado warning passes and the winds and rain have settled. But when the owner
of the property answers the door with a shotgun aimed to fire and orders them
inside, Samantha can only watch, unseen, as her friends are taken inside to
meet an unknown fate.
As the only hope for her friends getting out alive, Samantha must figure
out what to do, and do it soon. The storm is only getting worse.
CALM BEFORE THE STORM is a suspense thriller, a
fast-paced journey of horror for a dark and stormy night.
AUTHOR BIO
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Ryan Mullaney is a
photographer, and a writer of fiction. He currently resides in coal region of
north-eastern Pennsylvania.
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