10 Unlucky things that happened on 13th
Friday the 13th is a seriously unlucky day. It
even has a phobia named after it – friggatriskaidekaphobia. Part of it may stem
from religion – more specifically, The Last Supper when Judas Iscariot was the
13th diner. Also, Friday was the
standard day for public hangings throughout Britain, and it’s believed there
were 13 steps leading up to the gallows and 13 knots in the noose. Look at these
unluckly happenings in our list.
1. Hurricane Charley hit
south Florida on August 13th, 2004, battering the state for over six days and
causing over $11 billion in damages.
2. Justin Bartlett was
imprisoned in Texas and slated to be executed in 1992. This death row inmate
was given a reprieve on Wednesday the 11th of January just before his scheduled
execution. However, he unceremoniously died two days later on Friday the 13th
from poisoning during his last meal on that Wednesday.
3. November 13th, 1970
saw one of the worst natural disasters in all of history. In just one day,
500,000 people in Bangladesh were killed by the intense tropical Cyclone Bhola.
4. Some scary people have been born on Friday the
13th, including master of thriller film
director Alfred Hitchcock and former Cuban President Fidel Castro.
5. On Friday the 13th,
October 1972, a plane crashed in the Andes mountains. Of the people on board,
12 immediately died, more died in the ensuing avalanche, and the ones who
survived became cannibals. On the same day, a plane from Leningrad to Moscow
also crashed, killing all 160 people on board.
6. Bush-fires ravaged
the Australian state of Victoria on Friday the 13th, January 1939. The fires
killed 36 people on that day alone and destroyed 75% of the state.
7. Joshua Dudley’s uncle
died in late 1995. His lawyers called to tell him he inherited an estate worth
$3 million from his uncle. Dudley was at
the Fabergé egg exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art when he received the
call – his happy dance caused $4 million in damages.
8. New Yorker Daz Baxter
chose to stay in bed on Friday the 13th in August 1976 to keep away from
potensial bad luck. It seems bad luck came to him as his apartment block
collapsed, and he fell six stories to his death.
9. On Friday the 13th, 2010, a 13 year-old boy was struck by lightning at 13:13 p.m in England. He miraculously survived with only a small burn.
10. Since millions of
people are scared to travel or work on any given Friday the 13th, the world
loses an estimated $900 million every time this day comes around.
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