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13 May 2011
Welcome to WTF Friday! 
It's Friday, May 13th. That's right Friday the 13th. If you are superstitious, this was totally not your day! But no fear, it's almost over.
Since I was a little girl, I've heard about the mystery and overall bad, sometimes tragic, luck of Friday the 13th. And every year I wonder - why is Friday the 13th any different from Friday the 9th or Friday the 23rd?
My first run-in with the date was renting the original movie from 1980 with the title Friday the 13th, but I can't imagine the title was a coincidence or invented the lore of this day:
Victor Miller was playing Pac-Man in Ron Kurz's basement. He was 200 points from beating his all-time high score. As he jolted the joystick left and up, guiding the yellow, chomping hero through the maze and away from Blinky, Pinky and Clyde, the two friends came up with the perfect plot for a horror movie.
"Ron, this is going to be great!" Victor said, looking away from the screen only long enough to make eye contact. "But what should we call it? We need something catchy."
Silence filled the room. Moments later, both men turned their heads toward the calendar. The date read Friday 13.
"That'll do," they said in unison.
Um... like I said, probably not a coincidence.
So for today's WTF Friday post, which is ironically being written on a dark and scary night complete with a booming thunderstorm, I thought I'd share a little about Friday the 13th that you may not know.
The fear of Friday the 13th is known as "paraskevidekatriaphobia" and "friggatriskaidekaphobia." Both terms mean an irrational fear of Friday the 13th. There is no popular phobia of Friday, but there is a phobia of the number 13 in general known as "triskaidekaphobia."
There are a lot of theories of the origin of this mysterious day.
Some credit it to the Bible, Friday being unlucky because it's scriptural day Jesus was crucified on and 13 being unlucky because that's how many people were sitting at the table during the last supper.
Another theory comes from Norse mythology. Legend says the goddess Frigga was banished after the Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity. Mythology says Frigga met with 11 witches and the devil every Friday to plan the following week's evil deeds. Frigga, the 11 witches and the devli brings the total number of people at the meeting to 13.
Still others credit the superstitious date to the legendary Knights Templar. King Philip ordered all the knights to be arrested for heresy on Friday, October 13, 1307. This theory made into the plot of DaVinci Code.
Regardless of how it started, a fortune has been made on the Friday the 13th movies. Here's an exclusive interview with Jason, the star of the film. Maybe he will have more insight on the origins of this unlucky day:
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