PRPG:

Hope Your Friday the 13th is Better Than These

April 12, 2018

According to superstition and modern folklore, “Friday the 13th” is a day where weird stuff is destined to happen. There’s no truth to that, of course…or is there?

Lighting Strikes

On Friday, August 13, 2010, a boy was at  the Lowestoft Seafront Air Festival in England. That’s when lightning struck him. He was hospitalized with minor burns and recovered fully. What’s truly weird is that the boy in question was 13 years old, and he got zapped at 1:13 p.m. (or 13:13).

Hernan Cortes captured Cuauhtémoc

On Friday, August 13, 1521, Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes captured Cuauhtémoc. As the leader of the massive Aztec metropolis of Tenochtitlan, this meant the de facto end of the Aztec Empire in North America. Cortes made himself the new leader of the area, which today is known as Mexico City.

A Freak Accident

Daz Baxter of New York City was a superstitious guy—so much so that he didn’t take any chances on Friday, August 13, 1976. Rather than go out into the world and risk something bad happening, he chose to stay home where nothing could go wrong. Except that in a freak accident that day, the floor of his apartment gave way, and Baxter plummeted six stories and died.

The 1989 New York Stock Exchange Crash

On Friday, October 13, 1989, the New York Stock Exchange crashed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 190 points. At the time, it was the second-biggest fall in history.

Alfred Hitchcock

On Friday, August 13, 1999, Alfred Hitchcock, the master director of films depicting terrifying suspense and misfortune, would have turned 100 years old. (The only thing stopping him was that he died in 1980.)

A Massive Blizzard

While upstate New York certainly gets hit with a lot of snow, October is a bit early for a massive blizzard. But on Friday, October 13, 2006, 22 inches of snow fell on the city of Buffalo, which knocked out power to more than a million people.

The Luck of Twins

Twins being born on Friday the 13th just can’t be lucky. But a pair of the world’s most famous—and wealthiest—came into the world on that fateful day. On June 13, 1986, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were born.