About Friday the 13th

5/12/2016 (Permalink)

Boo

Watch out! Tomorrow is Friday the 13^th, known by many as the unluckiest day of the year.

An estimated 17 to 21 million people suffer from a fear of Friday the 13^th, according to a study by the North Carolina Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute.

The origin of fears surrounding Friday the 13^th is unclear. There is reportedly no written evidence of Friday the 13^th superstition before the 19^th century, but superstitions surrounding the number 13 date back to at least 1700 BC.

Wall Street has fostered a fear of Friday the 13^th for decades. On Oct. 13, 1989, Wall Street saw, what was at the time, the second largest drop of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in history. The day was nicknamed the Friday-the-13^th mini-crash.

Many studies have been conducted to investigate the risk of accidents on Friday the 13^th. According to research completed at the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) in 2008, there were fewer accidents and reports of theft or fire on Friday the 13^th than on other Fridays.

I find it hard to believe that it is because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home, but statistically speaking, driving is a little bit safer on Friday 13th, CVS statistician Alex Hoen told the Verzekerd insurance magazine.

For those of you that believe in this superstition, today is the only Friday the 13th in 2016.