Folklore research
Worth Revisiting: How Friday the 13th got its reputation
A Library of Congress folklorist follows the unlucky date through French plays and American newspapers.
Briefed November 11, 2026 · Aliens in the Clouds
Worth Revisiting · Archival interpretation
With Friday the 13th approaching this week, Stephen Winick’s Library of Congress essay is a useful read. Winick distinguishes older beliefs about Friday and the number 13 from the later idea that putting the two together makes a particular date unlucky. He finds early written examples in nineteenth-century France.
Winick traces the belief through translated plays and American newspapers. He also examines popular origin stories, including the claim that the superstition comes from the arrest of the Knights Templar. The essay finds no historical trail connecting those arrests to the later belief.
Why it matters
There are stories about bad luck and stories about where those stories came from. The essay gives readers a practical way to tell the two apart.
Published by Aliens in the Clouds. These AI-assisted summaries link to their sources and distinguish reported claims from established findings. Skinny Ed is a fictional mascot; High Thoughts are comedy. Send a correction with its source.