A history of unfortunate events

More stories from Duke Jenkins

A day of fandom fun
March 19, 2018
From Google

From Google

Thirteen has been an unlucky number since the days of Jesus Christ, where there were 13 people present at The Last Supper, the meal Jesus had before his betrayal and death. The fear of the number has only risen since then, even spreading to any day that falls on a 13, especially Friday the 13th.

One of the earliest examples of 13 being an unlucky number is the day that many of the Knights Templar were abducted, tortured and even killed due to discrepancies and much scandal in the organization. The Knights Templar was an organization that participated in the Crusades, active from 1129 to 1312. It functioned as a type of police until corruption in the Catholic church caused its downfall.

A more modern example of the unlucky 13 is the Apollo 13, the third U.S. spacecraft intending to land on the moon. The mission was regarded as a “successful failure” because the craft made it to the far side of the moon, making it 248,655 miles from Earth, the farthest humans have ever traveled into space. The mission hit an unlucky curve when an oxygen tank exploded, causing complications with the carbon dioxide removal system, the cabin heating system, and a shortage of potable water. Fortunately, all three astronauts inside the spacecraft made it safely back to Earth.

Perhaps what drives the fear of Friday the 13th the most is the movie of the same name starring Alice, the lone survivor of the murders in the movie. Alice, along with several other teens, is employed at a rundown camp, the site of a double homicide years earlier that lead to the camp’s closing. When the camp began getting ready to reopen 21 years later, the counselors were picked off one by one by an anonymous killer. The now-classic movie was inspired by the 1978 movie Halloween starring Jamie lee Curtis that began a trend of “slasher” movies, including the Friday the 13th franchise and the Nightmare on Elm Street series.

With the slaughter of once-great knights to the movie that helped establish a genre, Friday the 13th is a day that causes millions of Americans to not do daily business like flying or even getting out of bed, according to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute.

So, anyone who wear a white surcoat with a red cross like the Knights Templar or a Camp Crystal Lake counselor shirt. Beware, it is Friday the 13th once more.