Watch out for black cats, leaning ladders and broken mirrors. It’s Friday the 13th.
As this issue of Centretown News hit the streets, a day arrived that people have believed for hundreds of years is unlucky. The origin of the superstition is not certain. Some think it began because the disciple Judas – the betrayer of Jesus, the Bible says — was the 13th person seated at the Last Supper.
Fear of Friday the 13th is an actual phobia for some people. It’s called “paraskevidekatriaphobia.”
But Darren McKee just doesn’t buy it.
“How does a particular Friday become very negative just because it falls on a number that humans use to keep track of days? It doesn’t make sense,” he says.
McKee is one of the hosts of “The Reality Check,” a weekly podcast that looks at a variety of issues through the lens of rationality. The podcast began five years ago and has more than 5,000 listeners each week.
The online radio show is produced by the Ottawa Skeptics, a group which seeks to debunk superstitions through reason and scientific method. The group has more than 400 members. In addition to the podcast, they host monthly talks and “Drinking Skeptically” social events.
Other groups have existed throughout history that sought to overthrow superstitious beliefs.
In 1882, civil war veteran Capt. William Fowler founded the Thirteen Club which tried to defy the belief that the number 13 is unlucky by meeting in groups of 13 on the 13th of the month. They walked under a ladder to get into the meeting and decorated the room with open umbrellas.
McKee says worrying about bad luck on Friday the 13th is silly.
“Why would the day of the week – Friday – matter at all? People generally seem to love Fridays,” he says.
Alex Campbell, a psychology student at the University of Ottawa, says superstitions are a form of self-fulfilling prophecy. People notice only the bad things that happen on the 13th because it reinforces their pre-existing belief that the day is unlucky. If good things happen, no one notices.
But even though Campbell knows the psychology behind superstitions, she says she still follows them.
“I know that I’m being silly, but I do it anyway,” she says.
She says she first became superstitious when she got involved in community theatre. Theatre people are notoriously superstitious, she says.
They think saying “good luck” will jinx a performance and instead say “break a leg.”
Even though it might not make a difference, she says: “Why not avoid it just in case?”
But superstitions are not only personal. They also affect the community at large.
Hotels and apartment buildings traditionally do not label a 13th floor because of the superstition.
Seventeen of the 20 tallest buildings in Ottawa are located in Centretown. These include three hotels – Minto Suite Hotel, Ottawa Marriot Hotel, and the Delta Ottawa City Centre – none of which label a 13th floor.
McKee believes this custom is illogical but also understandable.
“If enough customers prefer to stay in hotels without the number 13, then it is a wise business decisions to just skip the number."
However, Campbell says she wouldn’t even want to stay on the 14th floor.
“It’s just the 13th floor in disguise. It’s not fooling anyone,” she says.
New high-rise condominiums are being constructed in Centretown. Will they have a 13th floor?
Even if they do, according to the skeptics, nothing bad will happen.
Knock on wood.