Friday the 13th of June —  — will see businesses lose up to $900 million, according to The Independent, because as many as 21 million Americans are freaked out by the day and refuse to fly on airplanes, go to work, purchase a house or buy stock on the market.
But why, in this day and age, does the supposition persist that the date is unlucky?
If you answered that the 13th is considered unlucky because of history, some fairly recent, you would be correct.
Several major catastrophes back that assertion, including ties of the number 13 to Jesus, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, the Knights Templar, astronauts, notorious American killers, Friday itself, the numeral 13, a novel written in 1907, an old Norse myth, ancient Rome and events in Babylon around 1700 BC.
But while the fear may be rooted in history, the apprehension is very much alive today.
Donald Dossey, founder of the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in North Carolina, told the National Geographic that more than 80 percent of high-rises lack a 13th floor, many airports skip the 13th gate and hospitals and hotels in America often do not have rooms numbered 13.
Take a read and see why many suffer from Friggatriskaidekaphobia and Paraskevidekatriaphobia – both terms for the fear of Friday the 13th.

1. The most prevalent tie to 13 and Friday as unlucky is Jesus. The Last Supper had 13 at the table, with the 13th being the turncoat Judas. Jesus was also crucified on a Friday.
2. Eve, according to some biblical scholars, tempted Adam with the apple in the Garden of Eden on a Friday, and we all know how that turned out.
3. There is also a belief that in the Old Testament, Abel was killed by his brother, Cain, on Friday the 13th.
4. As mentioned in the immensely popular book, “The Da Vinci Code,” the all-powerful Christian warrior-monks, the Knights Templar, were ordered arrested by Philip IV of France on Oct. 13, 1307 (a Friday). The Knights were the richest organization on earth and the king owed them a lot of money. Goodbye, Knights.
5. Astronauts? Remember the ill-fated moon mission, Apollo 13?
6. There’s a superstition that if you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil’s luck – Charles Manson [Unlink], Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy, and Albert De Salvo, all notorious killers. Oh yes, and one famous Englishman, Jack the Ripper.
7. Friday itself. See 1, 2 and 3.
8. The number 12 is considered by numerologists as a “complete” number – 12 Apostles of Jesus, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 months in a year, 12 Zodiac signs. By exceeding 12 by 1, 13 becomes a little beyond and is considered restless.
9. A popular novel written in 1907, “Friday, the Thirteenth” by Thomas W. Lawson tells the tale of a crooked stockbroker who picks that day to crash Wall Street. Coincidentally, a ship named “Lawson” was wrecked on Friday the 13th in December 1907.
10. There’s the Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, their heaven, when in walks the mischievous Loki, making 13. He managed to get one of the other gods killed. Overtones of the Last Supper coincide with the Norse myth.
11. In ancient Rome, witches were said to gather in groups of 12, with the 13th believed to be the devil.
12. One of the earliest references to 13 is in Babylonian history 1,700 years before the birth of Christ. An early law code, the Code of Hammurabi, has laws numbered 12 to 14, skipping 13.
13. Are you crazy! There is no 13th reason for Friday the 13th being unlucky. I am not pushing my luck.

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