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If you venerate Friday the 13th , then batten down the hatches . This hebdomad ’s ill-starred twenty-four hour period is the first of three this year .
The next Friday the 13th hail in March , followed by Nov. 13 . Such a triple whammy comes around only every 11 years , say Thomas Fernsler , a math specializer at the University of Delaware who has study the number 13 for more than 20 years .
By the numbers
Here are 13 more facts about the infamous day , courtesy of Fernsler and some of our own inquiry :
2.Theill - fated Apollo 13launched at 13:13 CST on Apr. 11 , 1970 . The sum of the day of the month ’s digits ( 4 - 11 - 70 ) is 13 ( as in 4 + 1 + 1 + 7 + 0 = 13 ) . And the explosion that lame the ballistic capsule occurred on April 13 ( not a Friday ) . The crowd did make it back to Earth safely , however .
3.Many infirmary have no way 13 , while some grandiloquent building hop the 13th storey .
4.Fear of Friday the 13th — one of the most popular myths in science — is called paraskavedekatriaphobia as well as friggatriskaidekaphobia . Triskaidekaphobia is care of the number 13 .
5.Quarterback Dan Marino wore No . 13 throughout his career with the Miami Dolphins . Despite being a brilliant quarterback ( some call him one of the serious ever ) , he got to the Super Bowl just once , in 1985 , and was trounce 38 - 16 by the San Francisco 49ers and Joe Montana ( who wore No . 16 and acquire all four Super Bowls he diddle in ) .
6.Butch Cassidy , ill-famed American railroad train and depository financial institution robber , was born on Friday , April 13 , 1866 .
7.Fidel Castro was born on Friday , Aug. 13 , 1926 .
8.PresidentFranklin D. Rooseveltwould not go on the 13th Clarence Shepard Day Jr. of any calendar month and would never host 13 guests at a repast . Napoleon and Herbert Hoover were also triskaidekaphobic , with an abnormal fear of the numeral 13 .
9.Superstitious diners in Paris can hire a quatorzieme , or professional 14th guest .
10.Mark Twain once was the 13th Edgar Albert Guest at a dinner party . A ally warned him not to go . " It was risky hazard , " Twain afterwards told the ally . " They only had food for 12 . "
11.Woodrow Wilson considered 13 his lucky identification number , though his experience did n’t support such faith . He come in Normandy , France on Friday , Dec. 13 , 1918 , for repose talks , only to pass with a accord he could n’t get Congress to sign . ( The ship ’s crowd require to dock the next day due to superstitions , Fernsler said . ) He tour the United States to rally supporting for the treaty , and while travel , suffered a near - calamitous stroke .
12.The number 13 suffers from its position after 12 , according tonumerologistswho consider the latter to be a complete turn — 12 months in a yr , 12 signs of the zodiac , 12 gods of Olympus , 12 labors of Hercules , 12 tribes of Israel , 12 Apostelic Father of Jesus , 12 daylight of Christmas and 12 testis in a 12 .
13.The seals on the back of a dollar bill let in 13 step on the Great Pyramid , 13 stars above the bird of Jove ’s chief , 13 warfare arrows in the eagle ’s pincer and 13 leaves on the olive branch . So far there ’s been no grounds tying these long - ago design decision to the present economic situation .
Origins of Friday the 13th
Where ’s all this superstition total from ? Nobody knows for certain . But it may see back to Biblical times ( the 13th guest at the Last Supper betrayed Jesus ) . By the Middle Ages , both Friday and 13 were considered toter of defective fortune .
Meanwhile the belief that numbers are link to life story and physical things — call in numerology — has a foresighted story .
" you may trace it all the mode from the followers of Pythagoras , whose axiom to describe the cosmos was ' all is figure , ' " enounce Mario Livio , an astrophysicist and generator of " The Equation That Could n’t Be Solved " ( Simon & Schuster , 2005 ) . thinker who studied under the famous Greek mathematician combined numbers in different ways to explicate everything around them , Livio said .
In modern times , numerology has become a case of paratrooper - skill , much like themeaningless anticipation of astrology , scientists say .
" masses are subconsciously drawn towards specific numbers because they get it on that they need the experiences , attributes or moral , associated with them , that are contained within their potential , " says professional numerologist Sonia Ducie . " Numerology can ' make sense ' of an individual ’s life ( wellness , career , human relationship , situations and issues ) by recognise which identification number cycle they are in , and by giving them clearness . "
Mathematicians dismiss numerology as having no scientific meritoriousness , however .
" I do n’t endorse this at all , " Livio said , when ask to gloss on the popularity of commercial numerology for a story prior to the escort 06/06/06 . Seemingly coincidental connections between number will always seem if you look hard enough , he said .
