Given today's date, I thought that I'd take a look at some old newspapers and see what folks from back in the day thought about this whole Friday the 13th thing, and whether they were more or less superstitous about it....
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From the Daily Dayton News, dated Friday 13th November, 1925....
SUPERSTITIOUS IN CITY DODGE "EVILS" ON FRIDAY, 13th
Dayton has its quota of superstitious. This was very evident Friday as the people fought off the "jinx" of the day which was not only Friday, but also the 13th of the month, which makes two superstitions grow where only one grew before.
Now, if you are a bootlegger and your customer who has been buying perfectly good benzine mixed with a little wood alcohol for over a year, and he refused to buy Friday, you know he is superstitious. He might drink on the thirteenth of the month, and Friday may have no special meaning to him as far as bad luck is concerned, but when it is"Friday the thirteenth," it is too much.
Reports have it that a man strutting along N. Main St, Friday noon stopped suddenly and reaching for a five-dollar bill on the sidewalk was bragging about his "Friday the thirteenth" luck, when he was "crowned" by a falling paint can.
That old gag about the visiting mother-in-law would not go so good if it were not for the usual surroundings. But here is the dope right from the old earthstone. Six months of peace and quiet had come to a certain residence of Dayton View. His mother-in-law had contented herself in writing "wifey" and had not visited them.
The son-in-law was, and still is, very superstitious. He remained home from work Friday, because he was afraid to venture out on such an unlucky day. And then did the bad luck find him.
It certainly did. "Wifey" got a letter in the morning mail from mother with the glad tidings that she was coming in a few days for a visit.
Then there is the groom who found himself at the alter with his blushing bride only to recall the date. But he was game and being a student of history recalled the fact that this grand old country owes much to the thirteenth of the month and to Friday.
Here are some of the facts he uncovered.
Gen John Pershing was born on Friday, the13th.
The great American victory at St. Mihiel in the World War was won on Friday the 13th.
The cornerstone of the White House was laid on this day.
It was on June 13th that France decided to come to the aid of America in the Revolutionary War.
Then the number 13 figures much in the history of the United States for the original American flag had 13 stripes for the same number of original colonies, there are 13 leters in our national motto, "E Pluribus Unum" and the eagle which appears in the escutcheon of the country's great seal has 13 feathers in each wing. Friday is also a notable day for the United States for it was the day Cornwallis surrendered and the declaration of Independence was introduced on that day.
Going back into biblical history, this bridegroom who found himself at the altar, Friday the 13th, found that the superstition of the number 13 was funded on the fact that the word in Hebrew meant the same as the word death.
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Questioning various Daytonians on how they prepared to beat the Friday the 13th "jink" that was supposed to hold sway during the day, brought out the fact that all do not believe in the superstition. Several declared that Friday was always their lucky day and that 13 represented a lucky number for them.
Assistant Postmaster Henry Pleasant said that he was more or less neutral on the subject, but that he thought it best to be prepared so he looked up "Jim" Brown, coloured janitor of the federal building, to get a lucky "rabbit foot" to carry around during the day. What was his surprise to find that Jim was figuring Friday to be his lucky day. Jim was born on Friday the 12th, during the afternoon, and it was raining, too, and friday the 13th has always been his lucky day, Jim said. So Jim had left his "rabbit foot" at home.
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Joseph Dowling also spoke in defense of the day. Dowling said that his wedding date had been set on a Friday and when he mentioned the unlucky angle of the day to the late Archbishop Purcell, who was to perform the ceremony, the archbishop said that it would bring good luck to the couple.
Dowling says the good luck did come and now he delights on taking a chance on the second to last day in the week.
* * *
Among those who figure the day unlucky as attested by W. L. Der, proprietor of the Y.M.C.A. barber shop. Derr reports that 10 men and three women mounted his chair Friday and warned him to be careful with the razor and shears for they expected much bad luck because of the combination of unlucky date and day.
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From The Winnipeg Tribune, Friday 13th March, 1936.....
Friday the 13th Unlucky?
"Poof," says Calendar Man
Moses B. Cotsworth Fights Desperately Against "Dismal Notion"
Today is Friday the thirteenth. "So what?" says Moses B. Cotsworth, the eminent calendar reformer, writing all the way from Regent Street in London.
More in sorrow than in anger, he appeals to newspapers to drop their "misleading Friday the 13th notes" which perpetuate the "dismal notion" that the day is specially unlucky.
There is nothing in it, says Mr. Cotsworth. To prove his point, he refers to Dec. 13th, 1935, which happened to fall on a Friday. For many it was a pay day. Many got their Christmas saving club money on that day. Ships sailed, travellers travelled, and the world went serenely on with its Christmas Shopping.
If Mr. Cotsworth is to be believed, "Neither the day of the week nor its monthly date have any influence on 'unlucky' happenings." Summoning up his vast knowledge of the calendar for further proof, Mr. Cotsworth adds that Friday the 13th is more common than other day-and-date combinations. Friday the 13th recurs 688 times in each 400 years. The next most frequent combination is Sunday the 13th and Wednesday the 13th. Even if the calendar is changed to the perpetual brand he advocates, Friday the 13th ill always be the most frequent.
Then Mr. Cotsworth, warming up to his subject, makes so bold as to say that "no day of the week is 'unlucky.'" A calendar reformer apparently has no Blue Mondays.
Whatever the dire meaning of Friday the 13th, it passed uneventfully in Winnipeg. But in London, delegates trying to unravel the mess in Europe caused by Hitler's march into the Rhineland had their fingers crossed.
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From The Victoria Daily Times, dated Friday 13th May, 1938...
Friday the 13th Unlucky? Myth!
Monkey Bites Boy, Otherwise Jinx Day Seems Passing Quietly Here
Except for one young Victorian today might just as well have been Friday the 14th, or Thursday the 13th as far as this city is concerned. Up to the time this paper went to press the traditionally explosive combination of Friday and the 13th seemed to be fizzling out like a wet firecracker.
Around the rest of the world the story seemed to be much the same. Two cabinets resigned - in Belgium and in Hungary - but European cabinet collapses are a dime a dozen these days anyway. Five Polish fliers cocked a figurative snoot at the calendar and started off on the first leg ofa flight from Los Angeles to Warsaw by way of the South Atlantic. But perhaps the legend does not apply to Poles.
JINXED BY MONKEY
The one Victorian for whom the day turned out unlucky was 15-year-old Leslie Warden of 233 Langford Street. Young Leslie has a pet monkey. Today young Leslie is in the Jubilee Hospital. The pet monkey chose the morning of Friday the 13th to bite his master.
Perhaps the city's lack of bad luck has something to do with the lotus-eating quality of the place. Perhaps Victorians, looking at the sunshine and saying "Tomorrow is also a day," did not get the jitters and drive their cars into lamp-posts or burn themselves on their electric irons.
THIRTEEN AT TABLE
Members of the Victoria Real Estate Board looked superstition right in the eyeat their regular luncheon in Spencer's dining room. There were exactly thirteen present.
UNBELIEVING TACOMANS
By way of disproof of the Friday the 13th legend, the Associated Press brings the story of the Schmidt family of Tacoma. In 1888, they - John Schmidt and his bride-to-be - flew in the face of tradition and were married on May 13th.
Today they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and reported no more bad luck than anybody else. Three children, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild agreed the Schmidt marriage was successful.
LEARNED TREATISE
From Washington, D.C., also by way of the Associated Press, comes a learned treatise on the subject of the combination of Friday and 13. After considerable research Eddy Gilmore of the AP Staff lists some of the things which should and should not be done on this day.
You should :
Let a wagon of loose hay pass you.
Tip your hat to bob-eared dogs.
Wink at solid white horses.
Whistle as you pass a graveyard.
Leave your hat on in elevators.
You should not :
Pick up safety pins in the street.
Eat bananas with catsup.
Stir your coffee with your knife.
Open an umbrella in the house.
Take a rake through the living room.
Mr. Gilmore looked into the question of why Friday the 13th is considered unlucky by so many. He found the Library of the United States Congress - which has a staggering amount of information on the subject - says two ladies have had a lot to do with the belief. They are the goddess Freya and Mrs. Isaac Harvey of Wilmington, Del.
Legend has it that Freya picked Friday as her festive day and believed everybody should sit around and think about her. She put the evil eye on those who didn't.
Mrs. Harvey helped the superstition along in early America, although she probably never heard of Freya. She had dreams.
Her husband Isaac laid the keel of a brig on Friday. She told him it was unlucky, but he even named the ship Friday and launched her on Friday the 13th.
Two Fridays later the vessel sank, and everybody in colonnial America, except Isacc, nodded and said that Friday the 13th was really unlucky. Isaac was lucky, however - he didn't go with the vessel.
LAST TIME UNLUCKY
The last time Friday fell on the 13th of the month was last August. The Times of that date had two fairly innocuous looking headlines in the main spots of its front page.
One read "Polar Plane's Arrival Awaited at Fairbanks, Alaska" and the other "Shanghai Fight Spreads on Wide Front."
The next day the Russian polar fliers were reported missing. they had not been heard from on Friday, August 13. They have not been heard from since.
In Shanghai, it was learned the next day, two bombs were jarred loose by anti-aircraft fire from Chinese planes. They fell in the middle of the most crowded parts of Shanghai at the busiest moment of the day. The result - the worst carnage that has ever been wrought by air bombs - it has been pictured in every newspaper and every illustrated magazine in the world.
At midnight tonight superstitious Victorians can heave a long sigh of relief. Friday does not fall again on the 13th until next January.
* * *
REVELSTOKE (CP) - Friday the 13th was lucky, and unlucky, for Constable Wing of the British Columbia police. His car was struck by a freight train and dragged 125 feet. They jacked up the freight car to retrieve the demolished car. They dragged out Wing - only bruised
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From the Greenville News, dated Friday 13th February 1959....
If Friday Frightens You, Count 13 And Pray - It's Here
By CHARLES HURST
If you're superstitious you can work up a good case of the screaming meemies this week since the first of this year's three Friday the 13ths occurs today.
Remember that anything that's unlucky on any old, plain garden-variety day is doubled in spades for bad luck on a Friday the 13th. After it;s over maybe you'll wish you had "stood in bed."
A lot of people think that 13 is their lucky number but when it's combined with a Friday it's a different story. Thirteen is unlucky, so superstition has it, and Friday is a dame of ill portent, disaster and general cussedness in her own right.
Just to cheer you up a little, research shows that back in ancient times Friday was known as "Hangman's Day." The custom in old Merrie England way back yonder was to hold all the executions on a Friday, hence the name.
According to the same research, Mohammedans believe that it was on a Friday when Adam was created, when he entered paradise and when he was expelled from Paradise. Adam's menfolk haven't had much luck since. The name Friday, by the way, derives from the Anglo-Saxon Frigeday - or the day of Friga, who was the godess of love. She must have been a femme fatale.
Here are some of the things you positively mustn't do on any day and especially on a Friday the 13th unless you wish to wander around chewing your tongue ever after :
Don't walk under a ladder - especially if there's a painter on top of it, (Ever try to get paint out of your clothes?)
Don't open an umbrella in the house. One good reason for that is, if you're inside you don't need an umbrella.
Don't break a mirror - that's seven years bad luck and you'd have to pay for the mirror too.
Don't lie down on a bed fully dressed. Moms don't look kindly on heel marks on clean bed-spreads.
Don't let a black cat cross your path. Why? Why, EVERYONE knows that's unlucky!
Don't sleep in the moonlight ; it will affect your mind and you'd probably get thrown in the clink if a cop found you that way.
Don't light three cigarettes from the same match - burned fingers are painful.
Don't accept two dollar bills, they're real unlucky. (All who want to get rid of unlucky two dollar bills please leave at this office.)
Don't get your hair cut during a new moon. (It's a good idea to stay out of clip joints anytime.) Fortunately there's no new moon scheduled this Friday the 13th, so get your hair cut.
Other unlucky things or something, are 13 at a table and a 13th floor. Many of the large office buildings and the hotels of the nation skip the 13th floor entirely, going from the 12th to the 14th just like that.
Don't take the last piece of bread from the bread plate or you'll never get married. (THAT'S unlucky?)
There are loads of other things that are unlucky and perhaps you have your own, so beware Friday the 13th.
There are many ideas of how all this superstition about Friday and the 13th originated. Some trace it back to the fact that Judas was the 13th disciple at the table and others to the fact that there used to be 13 steps to the gallows. There's nothing to these superstitions, of course, and sensible people pay them no mind - Hey' Who let that black cat in the office?
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From The Des Moines Register, dated Tuesday 17th February, 1970....
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So we have our answer....Nothing was really different at all! Still the same mix of those who are superstitious and those who aren't, although it has always seemed to lean less to the latter...
The only bad luck I've had so far (touch wood) is that I've given myself a sore arm and hand with all the typing, so I'm off to rest for a bit! In the meantime, you know what to do....go check out the other Cryptkeepers like Cheers With Chelsea are up to by clicking the badge below! And watch out for black cats, ladders, mirrors, etc.......
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