Numbers in Western cultures have considered meanings, both good and bad. For example, the number 12 is considered to mean completeness as in the twelve days of Christmas, twelve months in a year, and twelve zodiac signs. The successor of twelve, the number 13, is considered to be extremely unlucky. Two terms, “paraskavedekatriaphobia” and “friggatriskaidekaphobia”, describe this number and its weekday, Friday, being one of the unluckiest days in Western cultures.

In Christianity, the seating arrangement of the last supper of the thirteen guests, Jesus and his twelve apostles (one of whom is Judas who betrayed him), created the superstition that having thirteen guests at a table was bad luck. Also, even though Friday’s negative associations are weaker, it has suggested roots in Christianity such as; Jesus, after the last supper, was crucified on a Friday, it was said that Eve gave the Adam the apple from the Tree of Knowledge on a Friday, and it was a Friday whenever Cain killed his brother, Abel.

Founded by Captain William Fowler in the late 19th century, the Thirteen Club was meant to remove the superstition of having thirteen guests at table is unlucky. The club would regularly dine of the thirteenth day of the month in room thirteen of the Knickerbocker Cottage, a popular watering hole which Fowler owned from 1863 to 1883. The members, before having their thirteen course dinner, would pass under a ladder with hanging banner reading “Morituri te Salutamus”. The phrase meant “Those of us who are about to die salute you”. Overtime, the Thirteen Club would gain over 400 members including former presidents Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt.

However, terrible events of Friday the 13th can not be excused. Friday, October 13, 1307, there were mass arrests of hundreds Knights Templar in France by officials of King Philip IV of France. They were charged with false accusations of heresy and other illegal behaviors made by Philip to gain their financial resources to improve the economy in France. The captured Templars were tortured and killed afterwards. Friday, September 13, 1940, a German bombing occurred upon Buckingham Palace, destroying the interior of the Royal Chapel, rupturing the water main, and injuring three people, one fatally. Friday, January 13, 1939, a bushfire in Australia’s Victoria province started, killing 36 people in one day. Friday, November 13, 1970, the deadliest cyclone in history, the Bhola Cyclone, struck Bangladesh, killing approximately 300,000 people. More events had occurred on this day of bad luck with the worst of circumstances. The Friday the 13th continues its infamous legacy of being the unluckiest day ever in history.