The sinister power of Friday 13th: how this maligned date affects our lives

Property sales that complete on this day have a lower median price. Air fares are cheaper. Weddings are non-existent. And motor collisions increase. How did it become so mired in superstition?

“I have only worked one Friday 13th wedding in my 14 years in business,” says Caroline Smyth, a photographer and celebrant based in Larne, Northern Ireland. “I definitely think it is down to the fact that it’s a date surrounded by superstition. People are maybe afraid it’s a bad omen for their marriage.”

Smyth’s sole Friday 13th wedding, in September 2013, was the first she ever photographed – and it kickstarted her career. But for many businesses, the date is not so auspicious. From weddings to flights, job interviews to elective surgeries, many people avoid booking anything of significance on this date, believing it to be bad luck.

Today is the third Friday 13th in 2026 – the maximum number of times this date can occur in any year in the Gregorian calendar, and the only such year this decade. The last year with three Friday 13ths was 2015. But where does western wariness of this date come from – and is there any evidence that it does bring bad luck?

The origins of the superstition are not entirely clear. Some believe the number 13 to be unlucky in itself, thanks to a mix of religious, folkloric and cultural traditions. In Norse mythology, for example, triskaidekaphobia – fear or avoidance of the number 13 – can be traced back to the story of Loki, a “trickster” or god of mischief, who crashed a banquet in Valhalla, becoming the 13th guest and then murdering the host’s popular servant, Fimafeng.

In Christianity, there is also the idea that Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th to sit at the table for the Last Supper, with Jesus’s crucifixion the following day (and which is itself believed to have taken place on a Friday).

Others attribute Friday 13th’s supposed bad luck to the Knights Templar, hundreds of whom were arrested for heresy on Friday 13 October 1307. Superstitions around the date seem to have become particularly prevalent in 19th-century France: in 1834, literary magazine Revue de Paris published a piece referring to a Sicilian count who killed his daughter on Friday 13th. The article reportedly stated: “It is always Fridays and the number 13 that bring bad luck!” The same year, the French play Les Finesses des Gribouilles (The Finesse of the Scribble), by Edmond Rochefort and Philippe François Pinel Dumanoir, included the line: “I was born on a Friday, 13 December 1813, from which come all of my misfortunes.”

More recently, there was Black Friday – a stock market crash that occurred on Friday 13 October 1989, and is sometimes referred to as “the Friday 13th mini-crash”. Friday the 13th has also become widely associated with the American horror franchise featuring fictional serial killer Jason Voorhees.

“I don’t think Friday 13th is the biggest superstition but it definitely is still prevalent and reflected in the commercial world,” says Stuart Vyse, psychologist and author of Superstition: A Very Short Introduction. “Many airports skip gate 13 – they don’t want people sitting at gate 13 waiting to board their plane. In the US, almost 80% of buildings that could have a 13th floor don’t have one. That may actually be one of the reasons the superstition continues,” he says. “People are not forced to confront their fear and thereby get over it.”

The wedding industry appears to be particularly affected by such nervousness. A survey in 2015 found that nearly a third (31%) of respondents would avoid getting married on a Friday 13th, reducing bookings for venues, florists and photographers, among others.

“We’ve had zero weddings booked for a Friday 13th this year, next year, 2028 or 2029!” says Sky McGuire, wedding and event coordinator at Burnham Beeches hotel in Buckinghamshire. “I remember a couple earlier this year who wanted to get married on a Friday in August that was during the same week as their anniversary … However, it fell on the 13th, so they booked for the 14th instead.”

Wedding cake vendors, too, are among those who have noticed a hesitancy. “After months or even years of planning, it’s understandable that even those who aren’t usually superstitious might think twice about tempting fate, whether that’s unexpected rain or the dreaded thought of the wedding cake taking a tumble!” says Tara Cunningham, head of marketing at bakery chain Cake Box. And when Friday 13th comes around, there is even a shift, she says, “in how customers choose to shop, particularly when it comes to wedding cakes. Some couples may prefer the convenience of ordering online rather than venturing out on a supposedly unlucky day.”

New research from independent residential buying agency Homebuyer.Agency also found that homes completing on Friday 13th consistently fetch less than the average median sale price (as do properties at number 13). So far in 2026, properties completing on Friday the 13th have sold for a median price of £275,000 – 5.2% below the wider annual median of £290,000.

What makes otherwise rational people heed such apprehensions when it comes to any kind of “big day”? “Superstitions may help reduce anxiety,” says Igor Radun, a researcher in the department of psychology at the University of Helsinki. “We have evolved to look for patterns and causes, and sometimes, perhaps too often, we perceive connections that are not really there. When people feel that events are beyond their control, rituals can provide comfort and a sense of predictability. Confirmation bias then strengthens these beliefs, because we tend to remember the occasions when a superstition appears to ‘work’ and forget the many times it does not.”

For some, the fear of Friday 13th becomes a phobia, known as paraskevidekatriaphobia. This also tends to be a learned behaviour, says Vyse: “No one is born superstitious; you have to be taught. Most people who are superstitious as adults were brought up in a family where this was part of the lore.”

It’s not all bad news, though. For those not put off by having an “unlucky” date on their boarding pass, flying on Friday 13th could mean a cheaper air fare. Flight prices are largely based on demand, so with fewer people willing to take to the skies, costs are likely to drop. “Last year, flights departing on Friday 13 June were 16% cheaper on average compared with the rest of June,” says Rachel Mumford, a travel expert for flight comparison website Kayak. Customers benefited, she says from, “savings of about £66, so less superstitious Britons may have secured a better deal”.

“That’s the thing about flying; we are not in charge,” says Vyse. “Exercising a superstition gives people an illusion of control. There’s a sort of double consciousness: one half is the rational mind that calculates and reasons, and then there’s the intuitive half which is quick-acting and sometimes emotional. The two can be in conflict with each other – you say to yourself: ‘I know this is silly, but I’ll just feel better if I do it.’ That’s a very common confession that people make.”

But could there be any truth to the idea that travelling on Friday 13th carries an increased risk? According to a 2013 analysis by the Aviation Safety Network, the average number of fatal accidents on Friday 13th was 0.067 compared with 0.091 on any other date – meaning that, statistically, it’s very slightly safer. But in 2014, Aviva looked at a decade’s data and found that motor collision claims increased by an average of 13% on Friday 13th, compared with other days in the same month. In terms of academic studies, however, the jury’s out. “A belief in bad luck can itself breed anxiety, even behind the wheel,” says Radun. “A driver who is anxious about driving on Friday 13th may experience more difficulty concentrating in traffic than usual on that day,” he says. “However, research on the relationship between anxiety and involvement in traffic accidents provides only small-to-moderate and inconsistent evidence of an increased risk.”

Friday 13th is not considered universally unlucky. In Spain and Greece, Tuesday 13th carries similar superstitions, whereas in Italy it’s Friday 17th that leaves people feeling anxious (due to the fact that the letters in the Roman numeral for 17 – XVII – can be reordered to spell the Latin word vixi, meaning “my life is over”). In Japan and China, it’s more specific: 4th April, or the fourth day of the fourth month, is thought to be unlucky because the word for the number four sounds like the Japanese and Chinese words for “death”; many hotels in these countries do not have a fourth floor.

Of course, some have found Friday 13th to be a particularly good omen. Pop star Taylor Swift cites having celebrated her 13th birthday on Friday 13th as one of the reasons for her affinity with the number 13. “My first album went gold in 13 weeks; my first No 1 song had a 13-second intro … Every time I’ve won an award I’ve been seated in either the 13th seat, the 13th row, the 13th section or row M, which is the 13th letter,” she told Jay Leno in 2009.

For Smyth, the wedding photographer, it’s also become something of a “lucky” number: in 2025, her youngest daughter was born at 13:13 and she has since personalised her car number plate to include the number 13, too.