1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:09,880 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam. Here, let's look at this 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: objectively for a second. In order to organize time, human 4 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: beings created calendars. As part of today's dominant calendar system, 5 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,800 Speaker 1: every year is divided into twelve periods called months, consisting 6 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:25,000 Speaker 1: of roughly thirty days each. All days are also grouped 7 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: in two sets of seven called weeks, and in Europe. 8 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 1: In the America's a significant chunk of the population suspects 9 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:34,440 Speaker 1: that bad things will happen whenever the thirteenth day of 10 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:38,560 Speaker 1: a month occurs on the day of the week called Friday. 11 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:42,400 Speaker 1: Like many human beliefs, the fear of the number thirteen, 12 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:46,599 Speaker 1: which is triskyde decaphobia, or of Friday the thirteenth, known 13 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:51,640 Speaker 1: as paris kevi decca triophobia, isn't exactly grounded in scientific logic. 14 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 1: But the really strange thing is that most people who 15 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: believe the day is unlucky offered no explanation at all, 16 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: logical or illogical. As with most superstitions, people fear Friday 17 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:05,440 Speaker 1: the thirteenth for its own sake, without any need for 18 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:10,759 Speaker 1: background information. The superstition does have deep compelling roots, though 19 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: and those origins help explain why the belief is so 20 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:18,240 Speaker 1: widespread today. The fear of Friday the thirteenth stems from 21 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 1: two separate fears, the fear of the number thirteen and 22 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: the fear of Fridays. Both have deep roots in Western culture, 23 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 1: and most notably in Christian theology. The number thirteen is 24 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:31,920 Speaker 1: significant therein because it's the number of people who were 25 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 1: present at the Last Supper Jesus and his twelve apostles. Judas, 26 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:38,959 Speaker 1: the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the thirteenth member of 27 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 1: the party to arrive. Friday has had a negative connotation 28 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:47,039 Speaker 1: because Jesus was crucified on a Friday. Additionally, some theologians 29 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:49,400 Speaker 1: hold that Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden Fruit 30 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: on a Friday, and that the Great Flood began on 31 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: a Friday. In the past, some Christians would avoid beginning 32 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: any new project or trip on a Friday, fearing that 33 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:00,240 Speaker 1: they would be doomed from the start. The sailors were 34 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 1: particularly superstitious in this regard, often refusing to ship out 35 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 1: on a Friday, and supposedly President Franklin D. Roosevelt was 36 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: among these ranks. Some historians suggest that The Christian distrust 37 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:15,240 Speaker 1: of Friday's is actually linked to the early Catholic Church's 38 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:19,320 Speaker 1: overall suppression of pagan religions and of women. In the 39 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: Roman calendar, Friday was devoted to Venus, the goddess of love. 40 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 1: When the Norse adapted the calendar, they named the day 41 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: after Frigg or Freya, Norse goddesses connected to love and sex. 42 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:32,880 Speaker 1: The story goes that both of these strong female figures 43 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:36,359 Speaker 1: once posed a threat to male dominated Christianity, so the 44 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:41,040 Speaker 1: Christian Church vilified the day named after them. This characterization 45 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:42,919 Speaker 1: may also have played a part in the fear of 46 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:45,839 Speaker 1: the number thirteen. It was said that Frigg would often 47 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: join a coven of witches, normally a group of twelve, 48 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: bringing the total to thirteen. This idea may have originated 49 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: with the Christian Church itself, it's impossible to verify the 50 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: exact origins of most folklore. A similar Christian legend holds 51 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:02,919 Speaker 1: thirteen is unholy because it signifies the gathering of twelve 52 00:03:02,919 --> 00:03:06,600 Speaker 1: witches and the devil. The number thirteen could also have 53 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:09,240 Speaker 1: been considered pagan because they're thirteen months in the pagan 54 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 1: Lunar calendar. The Lunar calendar also corresponds to the human 55 00:03:12,919 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: menstrual cycle, connecting the number again to women. But there 56 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:19,919 Speaker 1: are other traditions that link the number thirteen and Friday 57 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:24,640 Speaker 1: thirteenth to unluckiness. In Norse mythology, the beloved hero Balder 58 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 1: was killed at a banquet by the mischievous god Loki, 59 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:30,639 Speaker 1: who crashed the party of twelve, bringing the group to thirteen. 60 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:33,760 Speaker 1: This story, as well as the story of the Last Supper, 61 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: led to one of the most entrenched thirteen related beliefs 62 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: that you should never sit down to a meal in 63 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:43,320 Speaker 1: a group of thirteen. Another significant piece of the legend 64 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: is a particularly bad Friday the thirteenth that occurred in 65 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 1: the Middle Ages. On a Friday the thirteenth in thirteen 66 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:51,600 Speaker 1: o six, King Philip of France arrested some of the 67 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: revered knights Templar and began torturing them, marking the occasion 68 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 1: as a day of evil. Both Friday and the number 69 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 1: thirteen were one closely associated with capital punishment. In British tradition, 70 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there 71 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 1: were supposedly thirteen steps leading up to the noose. There 72 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: are rumors of a secret society starting in the late 73 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:16,920 Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds at William and Mary called the thirteens, said 74 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: to be groups of thirteen students who would meet in 75 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:22,719 Speaker 1: defiance of the superstition. The date was first enshrined in 76 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: pop culture in nineteen o seven, when one Thomas Lawson 77 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:28,920 Speaker 1: wrote a novel called Friday Thirteenth about a stockbroker who 78 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:33,159 Speaker 1: purposefully crashes the stock market on that day. Around the 79 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:36,839 Speaker 1: same time, skyscrapers going up would often omit a thirteenth floor, 80 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: of practice that continues today. People point to the trials 81 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: and tribulations faced by the astronauts of the Apollo thirteen mission, 82 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: and of course, the wildly popular Friday the Thirteenth horror 83 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: franchise about sometimes villain Jason Vorhees and Camp Crystal Lake 84 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: further spread this ancient meme. Ultimately, the complex folklore of 85 00:04:56,920 --> 00:04:59,680 Speaker 1: Friday the thirteenth doesn't have much to do with people's 86 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:02,240 Speaker 1: fears today. The fear has much more to do with 87 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 1: personal experience. People learn at a young age that Friday 88 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: the thirteenth is supposed to be unlucky for whatever reason, 89 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 1: and then they look for evidence that the legend is true. 90 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: Evidence isn't hard to come by. Of course, if you 91 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:16,680 Speaker 1: get in a car wreck on one Friday thirteenth, or 92 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: lose your wallet or even spill your coffee, that day 93 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: will probably stay with you. But if you think about it, 94 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: bad things, big and small happen all the time. If 95 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:29,840 Speaker 1: you're looking for bad luck on Friday, you'll probably find it, 96 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,200 Speaker 1: And perhaps unluckily, the thirteenth of a month falling on 97 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,839 Speaker 1: a Friday isn't particularly uncommon. It's actually one of the 98 00:05:37,839 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: twenty eight most common dates on the calendar. Even if 99 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:46,320 Speaker 1: you don't take drastic precautions every Friday, are you totally 100 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:50,279 Speaker 1: immune to the superstition? Given the choice, would you get married, 101 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 1: start a new job, or close on a house on 102 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:56,200 Speaker 1: a Friday thirteenth? Most Americans wouldn't, even though they don't 103 00:05:56,200 --> 00:06:03,960 Speaker 1: put much stock in the idea. Today's episode was written 104 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:06,600 Speaker 1: by Tom Harris and produced by Tyler Clang. For more 105 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: on this and lots of other curious topics, visit how 106 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:11,280 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of I 107 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:13,960 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit 108 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 1: the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 109 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:17,640 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.