Does Friday the 13th Have You Freaked Out?

Phobic fact of the week:

Did you know that if you're afraid of Friday the 13th, you have something called friggatriskaidekaphobia?

Do you get a little spooked on the superstitious day or do you celebrate with a scary movie (or 12)? 

That's right. There are 12 "Friday the 13th" movies. The movie website imdb reported that Paramount acquired full rights to the "Friday the 13th" movie franchise, which means there could be a 13th "Friday the 13th." Can you imagine the pressure?!

How Did Friday the 13th Become a Thing? 

Apparently, we can blame this all on Loki, that mischievous Norse god.

According to Donald Dossey, who founded the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, N.C. and is quoted in this National Geographic article, it all stems from a Norse myth.

Picture this. Twelve gods are at a dinner party and in walks Loki, who was most definitely not on the invite list. He convinced the god of darkness to shoot the god of joy and when the god of joy died, everything went dark.

So that's how the number 13 got a bad rep. Do you know why Friday got an unlucky connotation? 

Not Scared?

If you're not scared of Friday the 13th, perhaps you have one of these unique phobias.

• Arachibutyrophobia- Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth

• Bufonophobia- Fear of toads

• Cathisophobia- Fear of sitting

• Deipnophobia- Fear of dining or dinner conversations

• Ephebiphobia- Fear of teenagers

• Felinophobia- Fear of cats

• Geniophobia- Fear of chins

• Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia- Fear of long words [How mean is it to give this phobia such a long name?]

• Isopterophobia- Fear of termites

• Kosmikophobia- Fear of cosmic phenomenon

• Linonophobia- Fear of string

• Mageirocophobia- Fear of cooking

• Nephophobia- Fear of clouds

• Oenophobia- Fear of wines

• Pentheraphobia- Fear of mother-in-law

• Phobophobia- Fear of phobias

• Syngenesophobia- Fear of relatives

• Triskaidekaphobia- Fear of the number 13

• Venustraphobia- Fear of beautiful women

• Xanthophobia- Fear of the color yellow or the word yellow

• Zemmiphobia- Fear of the great mole rat