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Friday The 13th

forget the date, it's FFFFFFFRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIDDDDAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!

ehem. Yes well, .... mumble ..... keyboard stuck ... mumble
 
siriuss said:
forget the date, it's FFFFFFFRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIDDDDAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!
[/B]

Isn't Friday 13th always on a Friday?
 
The stigma of Friday 13th is thought to have originated with the rounding up and execution of leaders of the Knights Templars (whose names escape me at the moment, but I'm sure will be furnished by someone) - on Friday 13th October 1307.

More interesting really is how the date has impacted the collective psyche. On a fairly recent analysis of the drawn numbers to date on the UK Lotto, I noticed that no. 13 was second to bottom for no. occurrences (I think 43 came in last). It was at one point bottom. A case of the collective mind affecting the longterm probability?
 
taras said:
[/B]

Isn't Friday 13th always on a Friday?

When it isn't, then's the time to worry
but it's the weekend, and it'll take a lot to worry me now!!
 
Traiskadekaphobia (sp?).
I remember reading a while back about some guy who tried to test it out. He held some huge party and had 13 of all sorts of things. (I wish I could find the book, I know this makes little sense from what I remember of it!) Anyway, bad luck came the way of him and everyone involved. Spooky? Or just chance?
 
Re: Friday 13th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

escargot said:
Anyone of a spiritual persuasion might like to do the same- send some healing vibes his way please? His name is Brydon.

I'm firmly glued to my fence as far as spiritual matters go, but I will send my thoughts and love to Brydon anyway - it can't do any harm and just may do some good.

Jane.
 
Aww ta all you kind peeps. I love my sons so much, I can't imagine the pain of losing them.
 
Bump! Threads merged. (Thanks Jane - my earlier Bump of this thread as a reminder seems to have been missed! :rolleyes: )
 
Wot? No new Friday 13th stories? :eek!!!!:
 
I've got a Thursday the 12th story, if that helps...

I fainted on the way to the doctor yesterday afternoon and ended up at the hosptital instead, despite my protestations (I've had enough of hositals to last me a life-time). This morning they told me I have a kidney infection and if the antibiotics don't work may have to go on dialysis for a while :(

Jane.
 
Oh, Jane, well let's hope those antibiotics do work! :likee:

Carole
 
People who think no harm will overtake them will go on speeding
with the mobile clamped to the ear. Those who think God hates them
will notice the date and take a little extra care.

They will try not to feel too smug when they see the phone and the
ear in the road minus the car at the next sharp corner.

All that and King Oliver on Radio 3 at hometime!

Yes it was a moderately pleasant Friday 13th for me. :p
 
13: the people at the last supper. that satisfies me.
plus: friday: the day jesus died.


as for yesterday, friday 13th, yes, bad luck although widely announced: the notorious tycoon that rules my country has probably officially taken over the place i work in.
 
My Friday 13th started well and I became all blase. Ended up missing my bus and being shut in my friends flat with a very overtired, grumpy baby and no food, while everyone else had beautiful meals ordered for them which they ate by the riverside. It's not even my baby! I didn't get to bed 'til 11.15pm and I have to be up at 4.30am.

hmmmm...methinks that this should be on the whinge thread.
 
I usually have a dodgy Saturday 14 if Friday the 13 goes well but I spent both days geting drunk and having fun with a group of pals. No accidents, no sunburn. Plenty drinking, flirting and playing pool, frizby and air hocky.

roll on the next Friday 13th
 
I walked round london and got sore feet and watched drunken idiots :hmph:
 
i had a really fun friday the 13th. met a friend for lunch in glasgow, got a job and then got extreamly drunk.
i always have really good friday the 13th's, i think it's because i'm not onto superstitions so subconsciously i must go out of my way to make it a good day.
does this happen to anyone else?
 
It was actually better than most other days, I suppose. Nothing really bad happened.
 
It was my birthday. We had cake, and I got a singing giraffe in the post. A very good day.
 
Paraskevidekatriaphobics- a phobia of friday 13th.

13 has always been an unlucky number through many cultures (who knows why)..

has many origins of which i can't say which are real or not

1) something about a chess game
2) the date the knights templar were killed
 
phitran said:
.....13 has always been an unlucky number through many cultures ....has many origins of which i can't say which are real or not

1) something about a chess game
2) the date the knights templar were killed

Also the number of people at the Last Supper, Jesus plus 12 apostles
 
It was lucky for him !

My son was born on Friday 13th 2001. The labour was difficult, and when he was born, he had inhaled some merconium and had to spend his first night in the Special Care unit.

Whilst there, it was noticed that he had a heart murmur, which turned out to be a serious congenital heart defect - cue mad dash to Guy's Hospital for open heart surgery. He's now 2 1/2, and apart from a scar on his chest, you wouldn't know he'd ever had anything wrong.

Babies born with his condition are often perfectly healthy when they're born, but as their circulation switches from fetal to neonate, they rapidly deteriorate, and it's not unknown for them to suffer cot death in their first week.

Had he not had the problems at birth, we would have taken him home the next day...
 
Triskaidekaphobia

Well it is another Friday the 13th - hows everyone hanging in?

The only odd thing I can report is that my mouth tastes of marshmallows which is rather good luck I'd opine :)

Anyway a good article:

Friday the 13th Phobia Rooted in Ancient History

John Roach
for National Geographic News
February 12, 2004

This Friday some people will be so paralyzed with fear they simply won't get out of bed. Others will steadfastly refuse to fly on an airplane, buy a house, or act on a hot stock tip. It's Friday the 13th, and they're freaked out.


"It's been estimated that [U.S] 0 or 0 million is lost in business on this day because people will not fly or do business they would normally do," said Donald Dossey, founder of the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina.

Among other services, Dossey's organization counsels clients on how to overcome fear of Friday the 13th, a phobia that he estimates afflicts 17 to 21 million people in the United States.

Symptoms range from mild anxiety to full-blown panic attacks. The latter may cause people to reshuffle schedules or miss an entire day's work.

When it comes to bad luck of any kind, Richard Wiseman—a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, England—found that people who consider themselves unlucky are more likely to believe in superstitions associated with bad luck.

"Their beliefs and behavior are likely to be part of a much bigger worldview," he said. "They will believe that luck is a magical force and that it can ruin their lives."

Wiseman found that one quarter of the 2,068 people questioned in a 2003 survey associate the number 13 with bad luck. People with such feelings, he found, are more likely to be anxious on days like Friday the 13th and thus more prone to have accidents. In other words, being afraid of Friday the 13th could be their undoing.

Ominous Number

So how did Friday the 13th become such an unlucky day?

Dossey, also a folklore historian and author of Holiday Folklore, Phobias and Fun, said fear of Friday the 13th is rooted in ancient, separate bad-luck associations with the number 13 and the day Friday. The two unlucky entities ultimately combined to make one super unlucky day.

Dossey traces the fear of 13 to a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, their heaven. In walked the uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous Loki. Once there, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow.

"Balder died and the whole Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned. It was a bad, unlucky day," said Dossey. From that moment on, the number 13 has been considered ominous and foreboding.

There is also a biblical reference to the unlucky number 13. Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th guest to the Last Supper.

Meanwhile, in ancient Rome, witches reportedly gathered in groups of 12. The 13th was believed to be the devil.

Thomas Fernsler, an associate policy scientist in the Mathematics and Science Education Resource Center at the University of Delaware in Newark, said the number 13 suffers because of its position after 12.

According to Fernsler, numerologists consider 12 a "complete" number. There are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 apostles of Jesus.

In exceeding 12 by 1, Fernsler said 13's association with bad luck "has to do with just being a little beyond completeness. The number becomes restless or squirmy."

This fear of 13 is strong in today's world. According to Dossey, more than 80 percent of high-rises lack a 13th floor. Many airports skip the 13th gate. Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13.

On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half. In France socialites known as the quatorziens (fourteeners) once made themselves available as 14th guests to keep a dinner party from an unlucky fate.

Many triskaidekaphobes, as those who fear the unlucky integer are known, point to the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13.

As for Friday, it is well known among Christians as the day Jesus was crucified. Some biblical scholars believe Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit on Friday. Perhaps most significant is a belief that Abel was slain by Cain on Friday the 13th.

Phobia Cures

So, what are triskaidekaphobes to do?

Dossey said "practical" cures are as simple as learning to refocus one's thoughts from negative feelings to positive. His mantra: "What you think about, you begin to feel. What you feel generates what you do. And what you do creates how you will become."

In other words, those stricken with negative thoughts about Friday the 13th need to learn how to focus on pleasant thoughts. Those, in turn, will create pleasant feelings that make one's fears less overwhelming, according to Dossey.

"They haven't lost their mind. They've lost control of their mind," Dossey said of triskaidekaphobes. "They are focused in the wrong direction. In their mind they have a big, large, looming picture of something horrible that could happen."

Wiseman, the University of Hertfordshire psychologist, offers similar advice to those stricken with the fear of Friday the 13th.

"They need to realize that they have the ability to create much of their own good and bad luck," he said. "And they should concentrate on being lucky by, for example, looking on the bright side of events in their lives, remembering the good things that have happened, and, most of all, be[ing] prepared to take control of their future."

Folklore offers other remedies, however. One recommendation is to climb to the top of a mountain or skyscraper and burn all the socks you own that have holes in them. Another is to stand on your head and eat a piece of gristle.

So if you fear the 13th, take your pick of remedies and let tomorrow bring its luck—good or bad.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0212_040212_friday13.html

Emps
 
my boss who is jewish (when he wants to be. he eats pork pies at work on a saturday sometimes! no joke!) told me today is a lucky day because the jews hold 13 as a lucky number.
 
Hello,

I can only think of three superstitions regarding friday the 13th:

1) The Serpent tempted eve in the Garden on the 13th day.
2) It takes 12 witches and 1 high witch to conjur powers of the North, south, east and west at the same time.
3) 13 is the original number of celestial bodies in the heavens at the beginning.

Also, this is old lore but, if a child is born with 13 fingers, he or she is a witch. If a 13th child is born on the 13th day, he or she is also ( you guessed it) a witch. And finally, 13 is the number of fallen angels who were spat out from the heavens originally, before their mates came following behind them some days later.


WW
 
This seems related to the UL that someone sinister (pos. skinheads) are coming over to our school (see recent letters in FT) and pos. the foiling of a school shooting plot:

http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=334233#post334233

Feb. 12, 2004, 12:58PM

Rumors of threat keep a third of students home from Dickinson High

By KEVIN MORAN and S.K. BARDWELL
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle


DICKINSON -Over 450 students stayed home from Dickinson High School today after rumors of a deadly Friday the 13th plot against "preppies" raced through this community just south of Houston. But the school's principal said today no one's been able to pin down any such threat.

Dickinson police had been investigating reports from students that a handwritten note was found earlier this week stating that "preppies" at the school would be shot Friday and that a group of about 30 students who call themselves "stoners" were behind the threat.

At a news conference this morning, however, Principal Michael LaTouche said there appears to be no such note and no evidence of any specific plot by any specific group of kids.

"We don't treat it as all rumor, but that's all we have," he said.

He confirmed, however, that five teens were suspended Wednesday for inappropriate joking about preppies. Also, he said, a girl who had a vulgar note in her book bag was suspended last Friday. He declined to reveal its contents but said it could have been written long ago.

He said about 60 students have been questioned so far, and eight to 12 Dickinson police officers are on campus today as a precaution.

Dickson Police Chief Ron Morales said the kids who showed up at school today are telling officers, "I don't know why you all are here. It's just a joke."

Authorities are not amused.

"Our policy for today is we're not going to tolerate any jokes," Morales said.

LaTouche said the rumors have been festering all week and peaked around lunchtime Wednesday, when students began calling their parents to take them home. Today about a third of the school's 1,550 students decided to stay away. On a typical day, about 3 percent of students are absent.

Some students -- or their parents -- may have been unnerved by a loudspeaker announcement at the school Wednesday assuring students the threats were being taken seriously and investigated but saying the school could not guarantee any student's absolute safety.

Today LaTouche elaborated.

"We will do everything we can to ensure a student's safety. But the 100 percent guarantee that they're safe? I can't do that . . . I can be in church on Sunday morning and my preacher cannot guarantee my safety sitting there."

Letters are being sent home today with students who did show up for classes informing parents of the threats. (Click here to read letter.)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory2/2399565

Emps
 
Another Friday the 13th coming up this August.

Just out of curiousity, how many F the 13ths is it possible to have in one year?
 
friday 13th

all this talk and type about friday 13th being a unlucky day due to old pagan/xtian tradition always make me wonder.
I grew up in Italy (i'm italian by the way) and i never heard of friday 13th being unlucky until the movie of the same name came out ...........but the unlucky day for us was friday the 17th.. but i don't know why:confused:
 
Leaferne said:
Another Friday the 13th coming up this August.

That'll be my sister's 34th Birthday.

Time to get her another woolworths voucher
 
My big son's first birthday was a Friday 13th. :eek:
He seems lucky enough though.

Well, he's had a few bad experiences, but they were all his own fault. Him and the booze. :rolleyes:
 
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