Courtesy: Sify

Friday, April 13, 2007

Today is trouble time for "friggatriskaidekaphobiologists” -- people with a morbid fear of Friday the 13th. For, they believe that it is a day of potential doom, gloom and disaster as it mixes two of the strongest superstitions – the Fear of Friday and the fear of the number thirteen.

When Friday, the 13th was released first, it sported the tagline: “You may only see it once. But that will be enough…” Horror ruled, and many a sequel followed. Friday the 13th may not be the first ever horror flick, but it had something in it that made an entire generation scream with fright.

Fears about the day probably began because Jesus was believed to be killed on a Friday, and there were thirteen people, including Judas Iscariot, at the Last Supper. Both Friday and the number 13 were once closely associated with capital punishment.

That the biblical Eve offered the fruit to Adam on a Friday, and that the slaying of Abel happened on a Friday.

Tradition also has it that the Flood in the Bible, the confusion at the Tower of Babel, and the death of Jesus Christ all took place on Friday. For centuries, many Christians would never begin any new project or trip on a Friday, fearing they would be doomed from the start.

Written by Victor Miller and directed by Sean Cunningham, Friday the 13th continues to haunt masses. The story, which starts on Friday, June 13th of 1958, narrates how an unseen assailant murders two Camp Crystal Lake counsellors. A series of frightening incidents have been triggered off since then. The killings continue. Make sure you don’t fall prey to the whims of the zombies…

But not all is unlucky about the number. Its lucky stint is associated with the birth of the United States of America when a group of thirteen colonies formed a new nation on a Friday. And of course, for people born on this day, this combination would only be lucky.