How Scared Are You Today?

Do you suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia (fear of Friday the 13th) or friggatriskaidekaphobia (morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13? Maybe it’s triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number 13. In any event, there are some things you should know.

• The British Navy built a ship named Friday the 13th. On its maiden voyage, the vessel left dock on a Friday the 13th, and was never heard from again.

• Butch Cassidy, notorious American train and bank robber, was born on Friday, April 13, 1866.

• Fidel Castro was born on Friday, Aug. 13, 1926.

• President Franklin D. Roosevelt would not travel on the 13th day of any month and would never host 13 guests at a meal. Napoleon and Herbert Hoover were also triskaidekaphobic, with an abnormal fear of the number 13.

• The number 13 suffers from its position after 12, according to numerologists who consider the latter to be a complete number – 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles of Jesus, 12 days of Christmas and 12 eggs in a dozen.

• The seals on the back of a dollar bill include 13 steps on the pyramid, 13 stars above the eagle’s head, 13 war arrows in the eagle’s claw and 13 leaves on the olive branch. So far there’s been no evidence tying these long-ago design decisions to the present economic situation.

Numerologist Sonia Ducie says we’re drawn subconsciously to specific numbers because we need the experiences, attributes and lessons associated with them .  Scientists, of course, say this is all hogwash.  But is it?

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.