Paraskevidekatriaphobia, Anyone?

Yes, today is Friday the 13th. All day long. Are you afraid? Should you be afraid? If you are afraid of Friday the 13th, you are said to have "paraskevidekatriaphobia". No, I cannot even pronounce it.

I got to wondering where this superstition came from and did some googling and came up with some interesting reading. I just thought it was "Friday the 13th" as a bad day, but it turns out that (supposedly) all Fridays are bad, and every 13th of the month is bad, but the conjunction of the two is really bad. Hey, it's not my rule -- these beliefs have been around for quite a while .... or have they? Check it out yourself. It's interesting reading.

• Snopes
  
• National Geographic
  
• Brownielocks
  
• Valley Skeptic
  
• Rosslyn Templars