Allison Bruning - Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th

By Allison Bruning

Published by Marfa House at Smashwords

Copyright 2017 AllisonBruning

Marfa House

Marfa, Texas

Friday the 13th

Published by Marfa House

Smashwords Edition

All Rights Reserved

Copyright 2017 by AllisonBruning

1st Edition

In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976,the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of thisbook without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawfulpiracy and theft of the authors intellectual property. If youwould like permission to use this authors material work other thanfor reviews, prior written permission must be obtained bycontacting the publisher. Thank you for your support of theauthors rights.

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ISBN: XXX-X-XXXXXX-XX-X

Alsoby Allison Bruning

Historical Paranormal Romance

Calico (Children of the Shawnee #1)

Historical Romance

Elsa (The Secret Heritage #1)

Poetry

Reflections

Short Fiction

Lady of Wild Rose Pass (Paisano Paranormal Patrol#1)

The Legacy

The Lost Camper

Short Non-Fiction

The Jew Behind the Revolutionary Money: HaymSalomon

Who is the Real John Wilkes Booth

Sequoyah: The Man Behind the Legend

Daniel Boone in Love

Father's Day

Gifted Education

The Course of the Corset

The Gibson Girl

Who Are the Shawnee (We Are Shawnee #1)

Dedication

To my students - keeplearning and keep asking why.

Table of Contents

Friday the 13th

Beware of Friday the 13th!

Cue the mysterious, eerie, haunting music of theforbidden. Chills running up and down your spine. Friday the 13this soon upon us Run for you lives!

Why are we afraid of Friday the 13th?

It all has to do with the number 13, Friday and ourancient origins.

Friday... that auspicious day

Societies around the world never had a seven-dayweek until the Babylonians discovered the moon cycle wastwenty-eight days long. Babylonian astrologers divided thetwenty-eight days into a time span of four periods with seven dayseach. They even had leap years to keep their calculations of themoon cycle in line with their calendar. It wouldnt be until a fewhundred years later, when the Romans developed their calendar, thatthe days would be named. The Romans had known of the Babyloniancalendar and expanded upon it to meet their needs. They named eachof the days after one of their pagan gods. Friday was named Venus,after the Roman goddess for love and fertility. The Greeks knew heras Aphrodite and named it, the day of Aphrodite.

Friday maintained the name of Venus after the fallof Rome until the 5th century AD. At this time, Old Englishspeakers started calling it Friggs Day. Frigg was the Norsegoddess of love and fertility. Frigg possessed the ability toforesee the future, thus she knew everything, but she was verysecretive with the hidden knowledge she possessed. Perhaps, hersecretive nature led to people believing Fridays were mystical.

Of all the days of the week, Fridays have beenviewed as the most unlucky of days since antiquity. It was widelyheld that Fridays were the day that evil did its work upon man.

Christian mythology records these following biblicalevents happened on Fridays:

1. Eve gave the forbidden fruit to Adam and he atefrom it.

2. God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden ofEden.

3. Adam and Eve died.

4. Cain murdered Abel.

5. Noah's flood began.

6. God destroyed the Tower of Babel and multiplelanguages came to be.

7. The Temple of Solomon was destroyed by fire.

8. The crucifixion of Jesus.

Christians werent the only people to believeFridays were unlucky. Fridays were execution days in ancient Romeand hanging days in Great Britain (there were even 13 steps leadingup to the noose).

Superstitions surrounding this ill-fated day of theweek were first recorded in the late 14th century when GeoffreyChaucer wrote in The Canterbury Tales, "and on a Friday fell allthis misfortune". In the mid 17th century, references of thegeneralized fear of Fridays began to make an appearance in WesternLiterature. One reference to the day written in 1656 reads, "NowFriday came, you old wives say, of all the week's unluckiestdays."

From the beginning of the 1800s to today, there aremany widespread superstitions concerning Fridays. Theseinclude:

1. Clothing made on a Friday will never fitproperly.

2. Most accidents will happen on a Friday.

3. Visiting your doctor on Friday will not have agood result.

4. Never change your bed sheets on a Friday, as itwill result in nightmares and bad dreams.

5. One should not move their residence or marry on aFriday, if they expect any good to come of it.

6. Dont cut your nails on Fridays or sorrow willcome your way.

7 Friday is an inauspicious day to start a trip as"misfortune will be bound to follow".

8. Ships that set sail on Friday will have badluck.

Don't believe me? Ever heard of the Urban legend ofthe H.M.S. Friday? Story goes, in an attempt to debunk the manysailors' superstitions centered around Fridays, the Britishgovernment commissioned a special ship: H.M.S. Friday. The crew wasselected on a Friday and the keel was set on a Friday. They evenwent so far as to hire a man named Friday to captain her. The shipwas launched for her maiden voyage, and as the story goes, wasnever heard of again.

9. Never move or start anything new on a Friday.

The Dreaded Number 13

Whos afraid of the number 13?

People who suffer from Triskaidekaphobia.Triskaideka...huh? Triskaidekaphobia is a phobia of the number 13.There are many people who suffer from this phobia. The avoidance ofthe number has even seeped through the American consumer culture.Here are some little-known facts surrounding how people and societyhave avoided the number 13:

1. Industrialist Henry Ford wouldn't do business onFriday the 13th.

2. Multimillionaire Paul Getty once stated, "Iwouldn't care to be one of thirteen at a table."

3. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt would notdine in a group of 13 people.

4. Many hotel guests refuse to stay in Room 13, sorooms are frequently numbered 12, 12A and 14.

5. Many tall buildings have no floor numbered as"13".

6. Some passenger airplanes skip 13 when numberingthe rows of seating to avoid apprehension for thesuperstitious.

7. In Formula One and many other racing categories,no vehicle carries the number 13.

9. Hospitals routinely have no room number 13.

10. There is no sound stage numbered 13 at UniversalStudios in California.

The fear of the number 13 is a worldwide phenomenon,so where does our fear of this number come from? Paranoia alwayscauses people to act out an intense fear. The paranoia of whatdisaster could occur if someone is associated with the number 13caused many people in ancient times to avoid certain activities andcircumstances.

1. Early man could only count up to ten on hisfingers and add two with his feet. Any number beyond twelve wasunknown so was viewed with suspicion.