13 Facts About Friday the 13th

LiveScience Staff, LiveScience.com

If you fear Friday the 13th, then batten down the hatches.

This week's unlucky day is the first of three this year.

The next Friday the 13th comes in March, followed by

Nov. 13. Such a triple whammy comes around only every

11 years, said Thomas Fernsler, a math specialist at the

University of Delaware who has studied the number 13 for

more than 20 years.

By the numbers

Here are 13 more facts about the infamous day, courtesy

of Fernsler and some of our own research:

1. The British Navy built a ship named Friday the 13th. On

its maiden voyage, the vessel left dock on a Friday the

13th, and was never heard from again.

2. The ill-fated Apollo 13 launched at 13:13 CST on Apr.

11, 1970. The sum of the date's digits (4-11-70) is 13 (as

in 4+1+1+7+0 = 13). And the explosion that crippled the

spacecraft occurred on April 13 (not a Friday). The crew

did make it back to Earth safely, however.

3. Many hospitals have no room 13, while some tall

buildings skip the 13th floor.

4. Fear of Friday the 13th - one of the most popular myths

in science - is called paraskavedekatriaphobia as well as

friggatriskaidekaphobia. Triskaidekaphobia is fear of the

number 13.

5. Quarterback Dan Marino wore No. 13 throughout his

career with the Miami Dolphins. Despite being a superb

quarterback (some call him one of the best ever), he got

to the Super Bowl just once, in 1985, and was trounced

38-16 by the San Francisco 49ers and Joe Montana (who

wore No. 16 and won all four Super Bowls he played in).

6. Butch Cassidy, notorious American train and bank

robber, was born on Friday, April 13, 1866.

7. Fidel Castro was born on Friday, Aug. 13, 1926.

8. President Franklin D. Roosevelt would not travel on the

13th day of any month and would never host 13 guests at

a meal. Napoleon and Herbert Hoover were also

triskaidekaphobic, with an abnormal fear of the number

13.

9. Superstitious diners in Paris can hire a quatorzieme, or

professional 14th guest.

10. Mark Twain once was the 13th guest at a dinner

party. A friend warned him not to go. "It was bad luck,"

Twain later told the friend. "They only had food for 12."

11. Woodrow Wilson considered 13 his lucky number,

though his experience didn't support such faith. He arrived

in Normandy, France on Friday, Dec. 13, 1918, for peace

talks, only to return with a treaty he couldn't get Congress

to sign. (The ship's crew wanted to dock the next day due

to superstitions, Fernsler said.) He toured the United

States to rally support for the treaty, and while traveling,

suffered a near-fatal stroke.

12. The number 13 suffers from its position after 12,

according to numerologists who consider the latter to be a

complete number - 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the

zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12

tribes of Israel, 12 apostles of Jesus, 12 days of

Christmas and 12 eggs in a dozen.

13. The seals on the back of a dollar bill include 13 steps

on the pyramid, 13 stars above the eagle's head, 13 war

arrows in the eagle's claw and 13 leaves on the olive

branch. So far there's been no evidence tying these long-

ago design decisions to the present economic situation.

Origins of Friday the 13th

Where's all this superstition come from? Nobody knows

for sure. But it may date back to Biblical times (the 13th

guest at the Last Supper betrayed Jesus). By the Middle

Ages, both Friday and 13 were considered bearers of bad

fortune.

Meanwhile the belief that numbers are connected to life

and physical things - called numerology - has a long

history.

"You can trace it all the way from the followers of

Pythagoras, whose maxim to describe the universe was

'all is number,'" says Mario Livio, an astrophysicist and

author of "The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved" (Simon

& Schuster, 2005). Thinkers who studied under the

famous Greek mathematician combined numbers in

different ways to explain everything around them, Livio

said.

In modern times, numerology has become a type of para-

science, much like the meaningless predictions of

astrology, scientists say.

"People are subconsciously drawn towards specific

numbers because they know that they need the

experiences, attributes or lessons, associated with them,

that are contained within their potential," says

professional numerologist Sonia Ducie. "Numerology can

'make sense' of an individual's life (health, career,

relationships, situations and issues) by recognizing which

number cycle they are in, and by giving them clarity."

Mathematicians dismiss numerology as having no

scientific merit, however.

"I don't endorse this at all," Livio said, when asked to

comment on the popularity of commercial numerology for

a story prior to the date 06/06/06. Seemingly coincidental 

connections between numbers will always appear if you

look hard enough, he said.

News and Information about Superstitions 

The Most Popular Myths in Science 

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