1. In 2009, we had three Friday the 13ths. One in February, one in March, and one today. In any given year, we have at least one.
2. Experts don't know the exact origins of this superstition. However, they suggest it comes from two separate superstitions about Friday being unlucky and the number 13 being unlucky, giving Friday the 13th a particular doomsday feel.
3. In the Tarot Card deck, the number 13 card is called the Death Card.
4. The earliest known documented English reference to this superstition is in the 1869 biography of Gioachino Rossini. It says, "[Rossini] was surrounded to the last by admiring and affectionate friends; and if it be true that, like so many other Italians, he regarded Friday as an unlucky day, and thirteen as an unlucky number, it is remarkable that on Friday, the 13th of November, he died."
5. Some trace the origins of Friday the 13th back to Jesus, who was crucified on a Friday after a Last Supper attended by 13 people.
6. In the United States, it is estimated that $800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day due to people not wanting to fly airplanes and conduct business as they normally would.
7. Stock markets tend to perform slightly worse on Friday the 13ths relative to other Fridays.
8. On the streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half and the number 13 is omitted from the Italian national lottery.
9. In the U.S., more than 80 percent of high-rises lack a 13th floor; many airports skip the 13th gate; airplanes the 13th aisle; hospitals and hotels room number 13.
10. Every Friday the 13th thousands of motorcyclists ride to the small town of Port Dover Ontario, Canada to marvel at each other bikes and be served refreshments and food.
11. If you have 13 letters in your name, you're said to have the devil's luck. Charles Manson has 13 letters in his name.
12. Henry Ford refused to do business on Friday the 13ths.
13. U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt would not depart on a trip on any Friday the 13th or host 13 guests at a meal.
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.)..I lived at house number 13. Had a happy time there and must say that any little problems I have had in my life came AFTER I left there...mmm.....not sure what to make of that...
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is."
