Whether you think it’s unlucky or not, cross your fingers and check out these 13 fun facts about Friday the 13th and our collective aversion to the number 13.
1. From the cradle to the grave
Celebrities born on Friday the 13th include Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Julia Louis Dreyfus, Steve Buscemi, Max Weinberg and Peter Tork. Tupac Shakur died on Friday, September 13,1996.
Taylor Swift thinks of 13 as her lucky number and has some connections with Friday the 13th: „I was born on the 13th. I turned 13 on Friday the 13th. My first album went gold in 13 weeks. My first #1 song had a 13-second intro,“ she told MTV in 2009.
2. Mildly superstitious
Mark Twain was allegedly once invited to be the 13th guest at a dinner party. As the story goes, he went to the dinner despite a superstitious friend’s warning. Twain reportedly said, „It was bad luck. They only had food for 12.“
3. Very superstitious
In his No. 1 hit song „Superstition,“ Stevie Wonder sings: „Thirteen-month-old baby, broke the lookin‘ glass. Seven years of bad luck, good things in your past. When you believe in things that you don’t understand, then you suffer. Superstition ain’t the way.“
4. Frighteningly entertaining
The 13th film in the „Friday the 13th“ franchise is being developed by Paramount Pictures, with a 2017 release date. The CW network has a TV series inspired by the movies in the works. A new Friday the 13th video game is being funded via Kickstarter.
5. Heavy, dude
The band Black Sabbath released its debut album on Friday, February 13,1970.
6. Bad things can happen
The movie „Alive“ is based on the true story of a plane crash in South America on Friday, October 13,1972. Fourteen survivors were found in the mountains more than two months after the plane went down.
7. Even outer space isn’t safe
On Friday April 13,2029, a large asteroid will fly close enough to the Earth to be visible without a telescope in Africa, Europe and Asia, according to NASA.
8. No, seriously
Don’t look now but the sky is set to fall on Friday morning. A batch of „space junk“ is expected to fall in Sri Lanka, prompting the government to institute a no-fly zone in the potential landing area, according to the CBC.
9. What could go wrong?
The Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel offers special zombie, vampire and „Rocky Horror“-themed ceremonies on Friday the 13th.
10. Hell on wheels
In Ontario, Canada, motorcyclists gather every Friday the 13th for rallies that draw thousands of participants. The tradition dates back to 1981.
11. Spellbound by fear
The word for fear of Friday the 13th is „paraskavedekatriaphobia.“ The word for fear of the number 13 is „triskaidekaphobia.“ Located near Philadelphia is the Friggatriskaidekaphobia Treatment Center, an organization that hosts parties centered on confronting common phobias like walking under a ladder and opening an umbrella indoors.
12. Tuesday is also terrifying
In some Spanish-speaking countries, Tuesday (Martes) the 13th is considered bad luck. Tuesday is feared because it is the day of the week associated with the Roman god of war, Mars. There is a cautionary saying: „On Tuesdays, don’t get married, don’t take a trip and don’t leave your home.“
13. Throwing caution to the wind
Founded in 1882 by Capt. William Fowler, The Thirteen Club of New York was a group of skeptics who defied superstitions by hosting dinner parties on Friday the 13th. At the first dinner, the 13 members performed such unlucky feats as passing under a ladder. They dined on 13 courses, the first by the light of 13 candles. The devil-may-care group tipped over salt containers on the table but were forbidden from tossing any of the spilled granules over their shoulders. The small club evolved into a national organization that boasted such members Grover Cleveland and Theodore Roosevelt, according to the New York Historical Society.

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Hurricane Maria hit a team of scientists studying monkeys and could delay their work by a year.
„We really don’t want to lose this. I think this could prove bad for human health and researching human health in general,“ he said, „if we’re not able to save this vulnerable and extremely valuable population of rhesus macaques that have led to numerous discoveries and have led to understanding human health (and) the human brain.“
Scientists believe that most, if not all, of the monkeys have survived, but Snyder-Mackler said the research will be delayed for many months.
„It destroyed all of the infrastructure now, so it really hampered our ability to collect data,“ he said. „We’re delayed in that aspect for at least one year, which is quite frustrating and upsetting.“
Researchers study the psychological behavior of the rhesus macaque monkey, which are the island’s sole inhabitants. Some of the monkeys have genetic similarities to humans with autism, and this may provide us with more understanding of autistic social behaviors and how individuals interact in communities. Scientists believe one out of eight monkeys possess the same SHANK3 gene seen in about 1% of autistic humans. As in people, this gene affects the monkeys‘ social interaction. The researchers study the primates‘ DNA and community behaviors but don’t kill them.
Since 1938, nine generations of rhesus macaque monkeys have been studied there to further our understanding of primate behavior. The island was the brainchild of a scientist named Clarence Ray Carpenter, who brought the monkeys from India in an effort to study them in a controlled environment.
With its easy accessibility from Puerto Rico, the island is one of the best resources for studying primate behavior. The animals are tracked and analyzed by the scientists of the Caribbean Primate Research Center in nearby Punta Santiago, which was also devastated by the storm.
The scientists have traveled to Cayo Santiago every day since the storm and waded through the water with their equipment in order to keep the animals alive.
„What I think (is) more incredible is the resilience of these human primates, our staff and other Puerto Ricans,“ Snyder-Mackler said. „Despite the fact that they lost almost everything in the storm, (they) are still going out on a daily basis to the island to try to help these animals and make sure they survive and preserve this valuable scientific resource.“

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Trump has moved to wipe out some $7 billion in annual payments to insurance companies that the federal government makes. What are these cost-sharing reduction payments? What’s the impact of eliminating them? Why does Trump want to do this? Answers to some frequently asked questions.
The Trump administration announced Thursday night that it would stop making what are called cost-sharing reduction payments to health insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act. Trump says the payments were improper. Patient advocates, insurance regulators and lawmakers, including some Republicans, say the move will send premiums soaring and could destabilize insurance markets. “It’s going to hurt people, it’s going to hurt kids, it’s going to hurt families,” Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, a Republican, told the Nevada Independent.
The Affordable Care Act set up insurance marketplaces in which Americans who don’t get coverage through an employer can shop among health plans that must all cover a basic set of benefits.
Low- and moderate-income consumers — people with annual incomes between 100% and 400% of the poverty line, so about $12,000 to $48,000 for single people — qualify for subsidies that offset the cost of their monthly insurance premiums.
In addition to those subsidies, the law has another, less well-known, way of reducing costs. Consumers who make between 100% and 250% of the poverty line can get this additional assistance to reduce co-pays and deductibles if they select certain health plans on the Obamacare marketplaces.
Insurers lose money by reducing deductibles and co-pays. The government pays them to make up that cost. Those are the cost-sharing reduction payments.
This year, the CSR payments will cost the federal government about $7 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office .
Someone who might face an annual deductible of $2,000 or more would potentially have no deductible at all.
This additional assistance can be especially important because many health plans with low premiums require consumers to pay high deductibles before their medical care is covered.
The Obama administration initially sought congressional approval for the payments. After the Republican majority in Congress did not act, the administration determined that the healthcare law gave it the authority to make the payments without an explicit appropriation measure passed by Congress.
Starting in 2014, the government has made payments to insurers every month.
Republicans went to court saying this usurped Congress’ authority over spending. Last year, a federal judge agreed with them. The judge suspended her order while the case was being appealed. The appeal remains pending.
„It’s going to hurt people, it’s going to hurt kids, it’s going to hurt families.”
Nevada Gov Brian Sandoval
Health insurers and other experts have been warning for months that eliminating the payments could destabilize the Obamacare marketplaces and cause some insurers to stop offering health plans.
If the payments are stopped, insurers would still be required to give low-income consumers plans with small deductibles and co-payments. But insurers would no longer be able to get financial help for the costs they are bearing.
Some insurance companies would likely decide that it was no longer worth selling health plans on the marketplaces. Others might conclude that they have to raise premiums across-the-board to cover the additional losses.
Insurance regulators predict that premiums nationwide will go up an average of 12% to 15% because of Trump’s decision. But the increase in some areas could be much larger.
No. Remember, all this only applies to people who get insurance on the individual market, not to people who get coverage on the job or through a government program.
Even for those on the individual market, people whose incomes are low enough to qualify for subsidies wouldn’t feel much impact because their subsidy would go up as their premium does.
The people who would be hit hardest are those who get insurance on the individual market, but whose incomes are too high to receive subsidies. Ironically, that population tends to lean Republican.
No. Because subsidies go up as premiums rise, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the net impact of eliminating the cost-sharing subsidies would be to increase the cost to the taxpayers.
The cost would be almost $200 billion over 10 years, the budget office estimated in August.
The president and other administration officials have described Trump’s move as a way to put pressure on Congress to agree to some of Trump’s priorities.
“The Democrats ObamaCare is imploding. Massive subsidy payments to their pet insurance companies has stopped. Dems should call me to fix!” Trump wrote Friday in a message on Twitter.
Attorneys general from several Democratic states say they will challenge Trump’s move in court. Some insurers may as well.
In Congress, a bipartisan group of lawmakers already has been trying to negotiate a bill that would give explicit congressional approval for the payments. Whether Trump would sign such legislation remains unclear.
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