Friday 13th: 13 Facts About Friday 13th

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Dear dolls and devils, in honour of today being Friday 13th, today's entries will be filled with suitably themed posts! To start things off, 13 facts about this (un)lucky day:


1. The name for the fear of Friday 13th is paraskavedekatriaphobia (from Greek: Paraskevi = Friday, dekatreis = 13, phobia = fear) or friggatriskaidekaphobia (Frigga = Norse goddess after whom Friday is named, triskaidekaphobia = fear of the number 13).


2. There are always at least 1 and at most 3 Friday 13ths in each year.


3. Public figures born on Friday 13th include: Fidel Castro (August 1926), Butch Cassidy (April, 1866), Samuel Beckett (April 1906), and Margaret Thatcher (October, 1923) 


4. In some Spanish-speaking countries, and Greece, Tuesday 13th is an unlucky day.


5. In addition to today, there are two more Friday 13ths this year in April and July. 


6. Asteroid 99942 Apophis is expected to make a close approach to Earth on Friday 13th, 2029.


7. The Olympic Games in Athens opened on Friday 13th, August, 2004.


8. The British Medical Journal found that although less people drove on Friday 13th, more accidents and hospital admissions due to vehicular accidents occurred, when compared to other Fridays.


9. Due to the fears of their passengers, some ocean liners will not leave the dock until after midnight on Friday 13th.

10. There are never more than 14 months between each Friday 13th.

11. Four movies in the 'Friday the 13th' franchise ('Part III', 'The Final Chapter', 'Part VII: The New Blood', and 'Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday') were actually released on Friday 13th, as was the 2009 version of 'Friday the 13th'.

12. A year with 3 Friday 13ths occurs only once approximately every 11 years.

13. The superstitions surrounding Friday 13th are thought to exist because of the combination of 13 and Friday, both of which have negative connotations in their own right. However, in the 19th Century, a book called 'Friday the Thirteenth' was released and did much to popularise the bad luck superstitions surrounding this date.