Friday the 13th has long been considered a day of bad luck. People have come up with words such as paraskavedekatriaphobia and friggatriskaidekaphobia; these two words actually are used to describe the fear of this supposedly unlucky day.
There are many different beliefs about Friday the 13th and why it is so unlucky, but one of the most important milestones for the date and its unluckiness came when a novel was written back in 1907.
The novel was named “Friday the Thirteenth” and written by Thomas William Lawson. It was a story about a New York City stockbroker and how he plays on superstitions about the date to create chaos on Wall Street and then makes a killing on the market.
As if the book was not enough to get it all started, a movie was released in 1980 about the dreadful date. This horror film introduced a hockey mask-wearing killer to the superstitions. The film is often thought of when people refer to Friday the 13th, and the man in the mask most definitely comes to people's minds.
Since the release of the movie there has been sequels along with other things including: comic books, novels, video games, merchandise, and many other things that people can make money off of.
Another typical thing since the movie was released is halloween costumes. The holiday is already scary to many people with clowns and all that, but after the movie and still today people will often dress as the hockey mask wearing killer, scaring all the children and even parents.
At Kansas State University there are a few students who believe in the unluckiness and horror of the day. Caylynn Hartman, a freshman, says that she does indeed believe in the superstitions and will not attend murder mystery stuff on the day because “that is just asking to die.”
Miranda Ortiz, also a freshman, says that she is “lowkey” also afraid of the date. She says that her superstitions are just that it is a scary thing and she does not really like scary things.
Ortiz does say she is more paranoid about paranormal stuff rather than people running around killing other people, but both Ortiz and Hartman have watched the movie where the killer mask man goes around killing.
Hartman says that nothing creepy has ever happened to her that she can recall on Friday the thirteenth. She also claims that things like Friday the thirteenth or any horror things in general really just freaks her out and she tends to stay away from things like that.
Ortiz says that she has encountered a scary thing on Friday the 13th before. She said in sixth grade she went on a camping trip and someone on the trip had dressed up as a clown and scared everyone else on the trip. She said the whole night just felt “creepy.”
Who knew a novel and mainly a movie would start all these fears about just another Friday. Although many still may not believe in these superstitions, there are people who have very real experiences with the event and date.
