Mystery of Friday the 13th

I forgot to post this earlier, but hope it answers some of your questions concerning the myths about the date.

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The power of Friday the 13th is serious business! Whether you believe in superstitions or not, their power to affect innumerable aspects of every day life is undeniable.

For example, baseball, "America's game," is famous for its superstitions. In 1996 John Wetteland, closing pitcher for the New York Yankees, refused to change his cap for the entire regular and post baseball season. He ended up leading the Yankees to their first World Series win since 1978, broke an eighteen-year streak of bad luck, and was ultimately voted Most Valuable Player of the championship series.

Streets named by numbers often skip the number 13, and in high rise buildings, the twelfth floor is almost always followed immediately by the 14th floor. The 13th floor is simply "skipped" over or given a "safer" label.

Science itself has proven the power of superstitions in
general and of Friday the 13th in particular...

Every Friday the 13th coincides with a measurable economic downturn. On that day people tend to avoid travel, business transactions, and contact with the outside world. As a result the restaurant, vacation, and entertainment industries lose billions of dollars.

But there's more to it than just people's fears. Scientific studies performed in Britain proved that although fewer people drive on Friday the 13th, the number of collision-related hospital admissions is significantly greater than on normal Fridays.

Are people just driving "spooked" on Friday the 13th...so that they're jittery and more prone to foolish mistakes? Does the economy take a dip because nervous people simply stay home? Do superstitious practices just enhance a baseball player's sense of security and confidence and help him succeed?

Possibly, but I think it's something more than that, don't you?



The legend of the number 13 itself goes back to 600 B.C. and the philosophy of Pythagoras, who believed that 13 did not mean a cutoff, but rather a chance for evolution and change. It did not point to warnings of endings but rather to new beginnings. Thus, it was a number to be favored and a favorable date on which to enter this world.

Friday the 13th was also a holy day in the Church. A true miracle occurred at St. Paul's Cathedral, in London, on Friday the 13th in December, 1940. The lives of hundreds of people were saved when the famous church remained untouched during one of the worst air raids in the history of World War II.

This magical day has even made baseball history! On Friday, April 13, 1984, Pete Rose hit a double off Jerry Koosman in Olympic Stadium to become only the second player to reach the 4,000-hit level, after Ty Cobb.