# Has anything really bad ever happened on Friday the 13th? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 1, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820 "2006-08-01T01:43:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/1 "2006-08-01T01:43:11Z")
I suppose something bad happens every day to someone, but have there been any historically really bad Friday the 13ths? ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/2 "2006-08-01T02:11:10Z")
I was born. And you know, I could be the antichrist. I’m still thinking about it. (As for as a real answer, I don’t know. I’ve heard a lot of storries about the origin of Friday the 13, christian and pagan, but none of them seem anything more then apocryphal) ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/3 "2006-08-01T02:32:32Z")
I too, was born on friday, the 13th of Jan. 1939. I’m sure there are a few people who would claim that to be a bad thing, but, of course, I strenuously disagree. I’m not particularly superstitious, but I will often choose 13 to be my “lucky” number. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/4 "2006-08-01T02:39:15Z")
[QUOTE=A.R. Cane] I too, was born on friday, the 13th of Jan. 1939. I’m sure there are a few people who would claim that to be a bad thing, but, of course, I strenuously disagree. I’m not particularly superstitious, but I will often choose 13 to be my “lucky” number. [/QUOTE] You should look at what happened to Australia on your [birthday](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(1939)) ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/5 "2006-08-01T02:45:21Z")
Knights Templar had a very bad Friday the 13th one October in 1307, or so I’m told. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/6 "2006-08-01T02:49:58Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] Knights Templar had a very bad Friday the 13th one October in 1307, or so I’m told. [/QUOTE] while I"ve only checked out one perpetual calendar site, the 13th of October, 1307 was a Thursday. I’ll keep checking. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/7 "2006-08-01T03:01:18Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] while I"ve only checked out one perpetual calendar site, the 13th of October, 1307 was a Thursday. I’ll keep checking. [/QUOTE] OMG! It should have been THURSDAY THE 13Th all along!!! ---
**Author:** ![xiix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d6d6ee/32.png) [@xiix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xiix)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/8 "2006-08-01T03:14:18Z")
> **[October 1307 Calendar – United States](https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/monthly.html?year=1307&month=10&country=1)** > > United States October 1307 – Calendar with American holidays. Monthly calendar for the month October in year 1307. Calendars – online and print friendly – for any year and month That site indicates the 13th of October was indeed a friday. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/9 "2006-08-01T03:36:54Z")
[QUOTE=xiix] > **[October 1307 Calendar – United States](https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/monthly.html?year=1307&month=10&country=1)** > > United States October 1307 – Calendar with American holidays. Monthly calendar for the month October in year 1307. Calendars – online and print friendly – for any year and month That site indicates the 13th of October was indeed a friday. [/QUOTE] You’re correct. I think I misread it based on the way the calendar was laid out…Sunday on the right. Not the way I in the US am used to seeing it. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/10 "2006-08-01T03:42:28Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] while I"ve only checked out one perpetual calendar site, the 13th of October, 1307 was a Thursday. I’ll keep checking. [/QUOTE] [Same site](http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/index.html?year=1307&country=5) but with French country code shows the week M-S, so the 13th looks like a Thursday. As far as I can tell this site takes into account the adjustment in 1752 (?). [This](http://www.wiskit.com/calendar.html) as well. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/11 "2006-08-01T03:45:28Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] You’re correct. I think I misread it based on the way the calendar was laid out…Sunday on the right. Not the way I in the US am used to seeing it. [/QUOTE] And I didn’t preview, sorry. So, besides maybe the Templars and the fire in Australia, anything bad happen lately? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/12 "2006-08-01T04:49:32Z")
Isn’t it traditionally held that it was on a Friday the 13th that Christ was crucified? Specifically, Friday, April 13, 0031, I believe. If you’re a Christian, you could certainly call that a bad thing. Or you could say it was the salvation of the world, so a good thing, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/13 "2006-08-01T05:07:58Z")
For the record, I just tried Wikipedia, with a link through to Snopes. Both list nuthin’, and I suspect that that’s the real answer to the OP. Unless we could come up with something for next Friday the 13th… bwahhaha! ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/14 "2006-08-01T05:39:00Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] You should look at what happened to Australia on your [birthday](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(1939)) [/QUOTE] Wow! Thanks Samclem, I never knew about that. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/15 "2006-08-01T06:30:41Z")
**Black Sabbath** ’s eponymous debut album was released on Friday the 13th, February, 1970. It may be an _evil_ event, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/16 "2006-08-01T07:31:56Z")
The 13th of the month falls on a Friday about once every 210 days (30 x 7). ---
**Author:** ![yelimS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/54ee81/32.png) [@yelimS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yelimS)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/17 "2006-08-01T07:42:59Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] [Same site](http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/index.html?year=1307&country=5) but with French country code shows the week M-S, so the 13th looks like a Thursday. As far as I can tell this site takes into account the adjustment in 1752 (?). [This](http://www.wiskit.com/calendar.html) as well. [/QUOTE] I think the adjustment’s got to do with leap years. The rules for this has been refined a couple of times, so while the 13th of October 1307 is a Friday by our calendar, it needn’t have been by its own. I think there were eleven days or so added at a point, don’t know if they changed weekdays, too doing that. I’ll check up on it, gotta run. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/18 "2006-08-01T12:09:28Z")
Four of the sequels to the movie **Friday the 13th** were released on Friday the 13th. ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/19 "2006-08-01T12:53:27Z")
August 13th 2004 Hurricane Charley killed 27 people in Florida, that’s gotta be a bad thing ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820/20 "2006-08-01T13:56:31Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] Knights Templar had a very bad Friday the 13th one October in 1307, or so I’m told. [/QUOTE] Yep. I have always heard that the Knights Templar getting it in the neck from King Phillip and Pope Clement was the origin of the modern day aversion to Friday the 13th. Combine that with a bunch of religous twaddle and you’ve got the makings for an evil day. Paraskevidekatriaphobics, I think, serve to make Friday the 13th a self-fulfilling prophecy. They expect something to go wrong; if it does, their superstition is reinforced. If it doesn’t, their superstition is not diminished, as they simply sigh and think, “Dodged a bullet today!”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anything-really-bad-ever-happened-on-friday-the-13th/366820.md?page=2)