Friday the 13th has been a fearful thing for the US ever since the first movie in 1980, then repeatedly etching its reputation movie after movie for years, until the last one in 2009. According to RTE news, the US economy loses money annually due to people scared to leave their house. “…as much as $800m was lost to the US every Friday the 13th, as superstitious consumers avoided travel or put off major purchases.” People do not have weddings on Friday the 13th, they don’t fly on Friday the 13th and they don’t make big purchases on Friday the 13th. Some don’t even leave their home. “Though it’s uncertain exactly when this particular tradition began, negative superstitions have swirled around the number 13 for centuries.” History.com.
People are fearful of the date costing the US millions, but are the average high schoolers scared of the date? As Lucas Nester, a freshman at DHS, said, like many others I asked about the date “I think Friday the 13th is a normal day like any other and superstitions are not real.” Friday the 13th, considering how old the movies are, seems to be losing its fearful effect on younger generations.. Younger generations haven’t seen any of the movies and have rarely ever heard of anything scary enough to affect their lives in any way.
One might even argue that superstitions are not prominent anymore. When was the last time there was a new superstition like don’t walk under a ladder, don’t crack or a mirror or let a black cat run across in front of you. The fact is, superstitions are just not getting as much attention and not passed along as much as it always has been in the past. Someone can just search it up on Google and depose any claim anyone has that is not fact based and purely superstition. But back in the 1900s, people did not have the same access to information so if they were told something, it was fact in their mind and it was passed on for generations, unlike nowadays with easily available information and facts.
To the new generation, superstitions are silly, which means we just might be seeing the end of the fear of Friday the 13th.
