Friday The 13th

The superstition surrounding the date Friday The 13th originates far back in time, many people believe that the superstition started on Friday, October 13th, 1307, when King Philip the sixth ordered De Molay and many other Templars (soliders) to be arrested for fraud, corruption, and secrecy.

Others also believe that the number 13 and the date Friday the 13th is unlucky because it is related to Jesus Christ and his death. Jesus had a total of 13 disciples but one of them betrayed him, making the number 13 bad. The day Friday is said to be bad because the next day after Jesus’s supper he was killed. Making Friday the 13th a bad date.

Many people believe in this superstition, many buildings and places avoid having a 13th floor and many people avoid getting married, or doing things on this day. Some people have even gone as far as to create clubs around the number 13 and the bad luck that comes with it. William Fowler created the Thirteen Club completely surrounding Friday the 13th.

Fowler had fought in 13 Civil War battles, built 13 buildings, and was apart of 13 different clubs. He would always try doing significant and important things on Friday the 13th. In 1882 he created his club, and the first meeting took place Friday, January, 13th, at 8:13. The meeting took place on the 13th floor or his building the “Knickerbocker Cottage”. The whole meeting was about different superstitions and if they actually had bad luck around them.

I asked Thorin Byrd and Roman Rios if they believed in the bad luck surrounding Friday the 13th and both of them had different answers. When I asked Thorin he said “I do believe in bad luck, Friday the 13th is the day when people pay their dues for all the wrong they’ve done. However Roman thought otherwise, he didn’t believe in the bad luck until I told him the back story surrounding it and he then thought it was a lot more believable.

Black Cats

The superstition around Black Cats started in the middle ages, many people during that time believed that the black guy was a sign that someone who was sick was soon to die or that if you came across one you would face bad luck or even death. This superstition traveled across Europe and then to America.

During the Salem Witch Trials many people associated black cats and their bad luck to be connected to witches. It was ordered that black cats around America, but mostly around Salem should be killed and people who were assumed to be witches should also be killed.  Many People thought that the devil lived in black cats and that witches could transform themselves into black cats so that they could lurk in the shadows.

To this day the superstition still lives on, especially during Halloween when everyone brings out witch costumes and black cat inflatables. However, many people also find the black cat as a sign of good luck, many believe that if their is a white hair on a black cat that it means good luck and that if a black cat walks toward you then you have even more good luck.

Breaking A Mirror

Breaking a mirror supposedly means seven years of black luck. No one knows where this superstition started, some believe it started during times when the first humans saw themselves in water and ruined their reflection by splashing it. Many others believe though that this superstition started during the Roman times when mirrors first started coming out and becoming popular. People didn’t want mirrors to shatter or break so they told people it gave seven years of bad luck if you broke it.

If you leave the pieces of the broken mirror on the ground for seven hours and then clean it up, it’s supposed to take away the bad luck. It is also supposed to take away the bad luck if you light seven candles then blow them out after midnight.

I asked Carah-Grace Arnold if she believes in this superstition and she said that she doesn’t because she’s broke mirrors before and nothing bad has ever happened.