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By the Numbers: Friday the 13th

Greeks feel Tuesday the 13th is unlucky. Italians consider Friday the 17th an unlucky day. But in America and some other European countries, it’s Friday the 13th that causes anxiety for some superstitious folks who may be suffering from triskaidekaphobia (the irrational fear of the number 13). The day has spawned a slasher-film franchise that twice has lied to us by including the word “Final” in the title. 

3

The maximum number of Friday the 13ths that can occur in a single year (2015 is the last time it happened). It happens in any month that begins on a Sunday.

12

The number of Friday the 13th movies. They are: Friday the 13th (1980); Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981); Friday the 13th Part III (1982); Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984); Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985); Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986); Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988); Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989); Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993); Jason X (2002); Freddy vs. Jason (2003); Friday the 13th (2009). There was also a TV series that ran from 1987 to 1990.

13

The number of original U.S. colonies.

1907

The year Thomas W. Lawson’s novel Friday, the Thirteenth was published, which helped to popularize the superstition. It’s a dated financial thriller in which a broker takes revenge on Wall Street on that day. Lawson had the only seven-masted schooner built and named it after himself. It was wrecked on Friday the 13th, 1907.

21 million

The estimated number of people who suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia (fear of Friday the 13th). Symptoms range from a nagging sense of doom to full-blown panic attacks.

$750 million

The estimated amount that people who fear the day do not spend shopping or traveling.

Sources: Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute, imdb.com, numerologysecrets.net, cosimobooks.com