As a seasoned gamer and horror enthusiast with a deep-rooted fascination for the origins of popular cultural phenomena, I find Friday the 13th to be a peculiar yet intriguing day in our collective calendar. The superstitions surrounding it have persisted through the ages, and as someone who’s spent countless hours exploring haunted mansions and slasher-filled campsites in video games, I can’t help but appreciate the historical significance behind this seemingly unlucky date.
On the occasions when Friday the 13th arrives, many individuals tend to experience a sense of unease, even if they can’t pinpoint why they feel this way. It’s challenging to identify another date on the calendar that stirs up such feelings of apprehension, considering it happens approximately three times a year. Just like stepping under a ladder, shattering a mirror, or encountering a black cat, people often don’t understand the reasoning behind these superstitions other than they were told they exist. As for Friday the 13th, its association with bad luck can be traced back centuries, dating as far back as references to Jesus Christ.
At Christ’s final meal, there were thirteen people present, including Jesus and his twelve disciples, with Judas Iscariot making up the thirteenth individual. Since Judas betrayed Christ, leading to his crucifixion on Good Friday, the number 13 has been viewed as incomplete or unlucky ever since. This perception is reflected in the Gregorian calendar, which only consists of twelve months. Although Friday the 13th may not have initially sparked superstition due to Christ’s death, the combination of Judas’ actions and Christ’s death on a Friday contributed to the development of such beliefs. Furthermore, it is not just Christian beliefs that link the number 13 with bad luck; Norse mythology also associates it with misfortune, as a dinner party of the gods was disrupted by the thirteenth guest, Loki, resulting in tragedy and darkness.
A chilling example of misfortunes coinciding with prophetic signs took place when Philip IV of France ordered the arrest of hundreds of Knights Templar on a fateful Friday, October 13, 1307. In the 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer’s renowned work, “The Canterbury Tales,” suggested that Fridays were an unpropitious day to embark on a journey, further emphasizing the apprehension associated with this particular day of the week. Furthermore, Friday was widely known in Britain as “Executioner’s Day,” for it was the day when those condemned to death were hanged.
It wasn’t until the 19th century that the phobia of Friday the 13th, called “paraskevidekatriaphobia,” became more well-known. However, it was in 1980 that this unlucky day truly became ingrained in popular culture.
1978 saw the debut of “Halloween” in cinemas, earning significant acclaim and paving the way for filmmaker Sean S. Cunningham to create a movie based on the eerie concept of “Friday the 13th.” To bring this project to life, he enlisted Victor Miller to pen the script. Initially, the story was known as “A Long Night at Camp Blood,” but given that “Halloween” seemed to boost the success of its namesake film, Cunningham thought adopting another foreboding title might yield similar results. The narrative unfolds on a fateful Friday the 13th, as a group of camp counselors meet their untimely end at the hands of a woman whose son tragically drowned at the camp years ago due to careless supervision.
Originally, Friday the 13th didn’t receive the critical acclaim that Halloween did, but when it debuted in 1980, it proved financially successful enough to prompt a quick sequel release in 1981. By 1989, the franchise had churned out seven movies, starting from its inception. Although the plotlines of these films may not have been inherently connected to the superstition of Friday the 13th, they certainly contributed to spreading the fear associated with that day even more.
On Friday the 13th, several significant events have taken place throughout history. For instance, during World War II on September 13, 1940, Buckingham Palace was bombed. In October of 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed in the Andes mountains; this disaster was later chronicled in the film Alive, where it was revealed that the survivors resorted to cannibalism due to their dire circumstances. Another notable event occurred on October 13, 1989, when there was a stock market crash. Tragically, Tupac Shakur passed away on September 13, 1996. Additionally, numerous plane and ship accidents have transpired on this date, along with various unusual weather events affecting different regions.
If Friday the 13th makes you uneasy, reach out to Patrick Cavanaugh on Twitter or Instagram for a chat about everything related to Star Wars and horror!
Header image courtesy iStock/ Getty Images Plus
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2024-09-13 18:40