Happy Friday the 13th!

Although people are far less superstitious now than they were in the past, the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in North Carolina estimates that 17 to 21 million people in the U.S. have a diagnosable phobia of Friday the 13th. This illness is called ""friggatriskaidekaphobia -WOW right!-it is estimated that the U.S. economy loses up to 900 million dollars every time there’s a Friday the 13th—many people avoid business deals, or even work altogether, on this "doomed" date. Some of our nation’s most famous 20th-century luminaries feared the day. Henry Ford declined to do any business, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt avoided travel. Rumor has it that FDR refused to roam not only on Friday the 13th, but also on the 13th day of every month.  Part of the reason the number 13 is considered so treacherous, is simply because it’s right after 12. Numerologists consider 12 a “complete” number: 12 months complete a year, 12 signs complete the zodiac and 12 inches complete a foot.

I think the only way to conquer ones fear is to run into it head on. And for me that means .... watching movies! YEEEAAA-MOVIES!!!! Of course I have my old stand-bys: Friday the 13th (original) 1 &2, The Shining, and Nightmare On Elm Street (original). Mixed with some new ones: Scream, Vacancy, and The Strangers. But however you decide to "celebrate" this eerie day, PLEASE...PLEASE do it safely.