Friday The 13th By The Numbers
Do you have paraskevidekatriaphobia?
If you have a fear of today’s date, you do.
Below are 13 facts about Friday the 13th as a date, a superstition and a statistic.
1) 17 to 21 million people in the US suffer from paraskevidekatriaphobia.
2) The US economy loses $800 million on Friday the 13th due to people avoiding traveling, making big decisions like getting married, and, in some cases, going to work.
3) 80% of all high rises in the US do not have a 13th floor.
4) 57% of the last 145 Friday the 13ths have been positive days for trades.
5) In the UK, houses that have the number 13 sell for £6,500 less than comparable houses.
6) 12 – The number of sequels in the “Friday the 13th” horror film franchise.
7) 0 – The amount of data that exists confirming that the number 13 is an unlucky number.
8) 1 – The minimum number of Friday the 13ths per year.
9) 1907 – The year Thomas Lawson published “Friday, the Thirteenth,” a novel about a broker who uses the superstition about Friday the 13th to his advantage by creating a panic on Wall Street on Friday the 13th.
10) 6.9% – What the Dow Jones lost by closing bell on Friday the 13th Mini-Crash in October of 1989.
11) 300 – The average number of fewer traffic accidents occurs on Friday the 13th compared to other Fridays, according to Dutch insurers.
12) 03-33-39-47-53 – The winning numbers in a $27 million lottery won in Michigan on Friday the 13th.
13) 606% – TheGlobe.com’s record setting first-day share price gain when it listed on the NASDAQ on Friday the 13th in 1998. It was delisted four years later.
Should you be having a rough day, don’t worry this is the last Friday the 13th until May of next year.
Sources:
The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina
http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/friday-13th-money-myths-superstitions/
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/kykl.12085/full
http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/06/12/us-luck-odd idUSHER25778420080612#V9FXbsx7Kx5bzFxK.97
