Friday, August 13, 2010

Friday the 13th. Should I hide under my bed?

Today is Friday the 13Th. And since there's nothing really exciting going on in my life at the current moment, I thought Id share with you some superstitions pertaining to Friday the 13Th or just the number 13 in general. These are somethings I found on the web.
*If you feel it needed to add or correct anything you are more than welcome to.

-More than 80 percent of high-rises lack a 13Th floor.
-Many airports skip the 13Th gate.
-Airplanes have no 13Th aisle.
-Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13.
-Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery.
-On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half.
-Many cities do not have a 13Th Street or a 13Th Avenue.
-In France, socialites known as the quatorziens (fourteeners) once made themselves available as 14Th guests to keep a dinner party from an unlucky fate.
-Many say the No. 13 pointed to the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13.
-If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck (ie. Jack the Ripper)

Below is a list (hauntedbay.com) of some other unfortunate events that took place on Friday the 13Th.
•July 1951: The Great Flood killed 24 people, destroyed more than 2 million acres of land in Kansas and caused $760 million in damage.
•March 1964: The "Good Friday" earthquake wasn't actually so good. It remains the largest earthquake in North American history, killing 131 people near Prince William Sound.
•July 1987: An F4 tornado ripped through Edmonton, Alberta, killing 27 people and injuring at least 300.
•March 1992: An earthquake killed nearly 2,000 people and left 50,000 homeless in Turkey.

Fame and (Mis)Fortune (hauntedbay.com)
•Tupac Shakur was shot and killed in Las Vegas on a Friday the 13Th.
•Al Capone was sentenced to prison on a Friday the 13Th.
•Benny Goodman, the King of Swing, died on a Friday the 13Th.
•Hubert Humphrey, the 38Th Vice President of the United States, died on a Friday the 13Th.

More Friday The 13Th Facts (hauntedbay.com)
•In a traditional hangman's noose there are 13 twists of the rope and 13 steps to the gallows.
•Many buildings don't count their 13Th floors. You'll see on their elevators that the numbers skip from 12 to 14.
•There is no 13Th Avenue in San Francisco, instead Funston Avenue is between 12Th and 14Th Avenues.
•In Formula 1 racing, there is no car with the number 13. The number has been removed after two drivers were killed in crashes, both driving cars numbered 13.
•Killers Charles Manson, Saddam Hussein, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Theodore Bundy, and Jack The Ripper each have 13 letters in their names.

And since it's Friday, we have to keep it light and give you a YouTube clip to watch. This one is of a Nike commercial that uses "Friday the 13Th" killer Jason Voorhees' likeness. No Friday The 13Th Superstitions here.

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