In this horror movie of a year, did we really need another Friday the 13th? It figures that 2020 would have two Friday the 13th’s, and the first one was awful enough that we don’t need a sequel that usually winds up being worse. The first one was March 13, when a national emergency was declared for the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, as that same pandemic hits another wave, we brace ourselves for what bad omen today brings after the eight months in-between have been full of murder hornets, wildfires and divisive politics.
C’mon, a blue moon on Halloween with Mercury in retrograde? Yeah, we don’t know what that means either, but it’s supposed to be ominous.
How is your triskaidekaphobia (extreme superstition regarding the number 13) or paraskevidekatriaphobia (the fear of Friday the 13th)? Will you walk under a ladder or freak out at the sight of a black cat or a broken mirror? America doesn’t need this after such a stressful election season compounded by a spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths.
Jason Voorhees in a hockey mask is not nearly as scary as real life these days. Friday the 13th wasn’t even a thing until 1907, when the novel “Friday the Thirteenth” created a trepidation that built with the 12-series movies that began in 1980.
But it is a thing to as many as 21 million Americans who suffer from the fear of the date, according to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute. It not only has been linked to $800 million to $900 million in losses for the U.S., but the British Medical Journal said there is a 52% increase in transport accidents on Friday the 13th’s.
So it’s no different than any other day of the pandemic. Stay home. Or use common sense, play it smart, and go have fun.
This is still America, right?
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