Some say today is an unlucky one...

With his sceptic’s hat firmly in place, Mark Evans looks at the myth of Friday the 13th, and meets some truly scared believers

WHEN asked about his fear of the number 13, Michael, an elderly gentleman from Kilworth, in North Cork, says, “I tell people that I suffer from triskadekaphobia. Triska is three, deka is 10 and phobia is mad.”

Of course, he also hates Friday the 13th and, while you won’t find him out and about on that date, he doesn’t go to the extremes that he used to just to avoid bad luck.

“I’ve had several incidents of bad luck on Friday the 13th. I had a nasty accident in my car on that date. My phobia got so bad that I didn’t go to work on that date for about three or four years. I literally wouldn’t get up out of bed at that stage. The kids knew it was happening and they laugh about it now, slagging me off.”

As with most phobias, there was a trigger to Michael’s irrational reaction. For him, it started with a robbery in Australia in the ’80s.

“I went to Australia years ago with just a week’s wages in my pocket after losing my job. I had just got digs and a job driving a truck over there. I had £29 — less than a week’s wages in Australia at the time — in my wallet. I stopped at this place to ask for directions and noticed a fella walking towards my truck but thought nothing of it. When I came out my wallet was stolen. You can imagine how I felt being so far from home, just starting a job and no money. That day was Friday the 13th.”

It’s not a good year for Michael and the estimated 5% of the population who try to avoid the number 13. While 2011 had just one Friday the 13th, this year has three — in January, April and July. That could mean up to 230,000 people missing three working days this year because of their phobia.

Jan 13 saw 16 people die in the Costa Concordia disaster. Triska-dekaphobes and parakavedekatriaphobes — people who fear Friday the 13th — use such incidents as evidence of an unlucky date. Fans of Tupac Shakur would agree (he was shot dead on that date in 1996); as would the millions of Americans who witnessed Hurricane Charlie (it came ashore in 2004); and they may all brace themselves for the Earth’s close encounter with the asteroid Apophis (it will pass closer than our satellites on Friday the 13th, 2029).

However, statistics simply don’t back up the idea that a particular date is more unlucky than any other. When the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics trawled through insurance claims in 2008 it found the opposite to be true. They found a dip in the number of road and fire accidents on Friday the 13th. That could mean it is actually a lucky day or, more rationally, that everybody is aware of the date and acts more safely.

However, the statistics will never be enough for the triska-dekaphobes among us. Michael is not going to step foot outside.

“On Friday the 13th, I’ll just potter about. I won’t do anything big or go anywhere. I’m a firm believer that the brain only does what you tell it to do and I’ve been telling mine that I hate Friday the 13th.”

Unlike Michael’s robbery in Oz, there is no one date that triggered the idea of misfortune occurring on Friday the 13th. However, there are suspects:

* 13 has been considered unlucky since the time of the Vikings.

* Fridays were executions days for the Roman and British empires.

* Apr 13, 1204 — the city of Constantinople was sacked during the Fourth Crusade.

* Oct 13, 1307 — the Knights Templar were rounded up in France, charged with heresy and hundreds died.

Many skyscrapers around the world do not have a 13th floor. Here in Ireland, we may not have too many tall buildings but some check calls reveal the highest ones do not suffer from superstition.

The Republic’s tallest building, the Elysian in Cork, has apartments on its 13th floor. The next tallest, Cork County Hall, houses the county council’s policy planning department on its 13th floor, while the third highest, Dublin’s Liberty Hall, has Siptu’s finance division on the 13th floor. None of the employees in the County and Liberty towers have qualms about working on floor 13.

One sector bracing itself for the fallout from triskadekaphobia is car dealers. They fear vehicles with ‘13’ on the number plate will be enough to halt sales from those who have a phobia. The Society of the Irish Motor Industry wants the system scrapped to prevent any slump.

A spokeswoman told this newspaper: “Our main concern is the seasonality of the business which is partly fuelled by the way cars are registered but there is also a concern about the potential of the 13 on next year’s plates to impact the industry so it would be a good time to look at changing the system.”

You can imagine the concerns of someone with the phobia buying a ‘13 D’ or ‘13 C’ reg car. Now imagine a triskadekaphobe who has to live in a house numbered 13. That’s what happened to Michael.

“What’s funny is that when I moved here the number on my door was 13. I didn’t know it until the last minute. Before I moved in, I took down the number and put up a name instead.

“I’ve been lucky here ever since.”

Picture: One reason Friday the 13th is thought to be unlucky is because Friday (a traditional execution day for the Roman empire) was the day Jesus was crucified, while Judas was the 13th, and last, guest to arrive at the Last Supper.