People believe that Friday the 13th is unlucky. It wasn't always considered unlucky. It was only in the 19th century that Friday the 13th became a "thing" that people spoke about. However, the roots of the superstition go further back. Some hold that 12 is a complete number - 12 signs of the Zodiac, 12 tribes of Israel, etc. - so 13, one over, is unlucky. Some contemplate that if 13 people sit down to dinner, one will surely die, which stems from the Last Supper. It doesn't help that Jesus was crucified on a Friday, either.
If you really believe that any bad things that happen this day is really unlucky then you should know the 13 weird things that happened.
1. Friday, October 13th, 1307 - thousands of Crusades warriors were imprisoned. Members of the Knights Templar were accused of heresy, blasphemy and homosexuality.
2. On July 13th, 1821 - a Friday, of course - Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest was born. He also fought in the Civil War, and eventually distanced himself from the KKK later in his life.
3. On Friday, May 13th, 1925, the state of Tennessee declared it unlawful to teach the study of evolution. School kids were only allowed to be taught the biblical story of the creation of man.
4. Alfred Hitchcock was born on Friday the 13th. The film director with a seriously twisted mind who managed to come up with "Strangers on a Train" and "Psycho" was born on this day.
5. The Nazis dropped a bomb on Buckingham Palace on Friday the 13th of September 1940, as part of the Blitz during World War II. The Royal family was apparently taking tea at the time.
6. On Friday the 13th, October 1972, a plane crashed in the Andes. Twelve people died instantly and more were killed in an avalanche later.
7. Tupac died on the 13th, a few days after being shot several times in Las Vegas as he left a Mike Tyson boxing match. His death is the source of controversy among fans, some of whom maintain he's still alive.
8. A cyclone killed 500,000 people in Bangladesh on Friday, November 13th in 1970, one of the most catastrophic natural events the world had ever seen.
9. On Friday, October 13th, 1989, the stock exchange suffered a serious crash, the second most damaging in market history at the time. The recession blew these statistics away, but at the time, brokers were in a state of shock, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 190.58 points.
10. On Friday the 13th in 1989, a deadly virus crashed IBM computers in Britain, terrifying people and deleting lots of data that couldn't be redeemed. This was before backup systems, and adversely affected businesses.
11. In 2012, the cruise ship Costa Concordia partially sank on Friday the 13th. Over 30 people died.
12. Apparently, $900 million is lost every Friday the 13th because people are scared to work and travel on this date.
13. And a little preview for a Friday the 13th in 2029: Asteroid 99942 Apophis is forecasted to pass earth at a closer distance than any of our satellites. Not sure of the consequences, but does not sound promising
Today's Friday 13th even has a full moon, which is very rare that won't happen again until 2049.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
