Some terrible things have happened on Friday the 13th, and not just Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan.
In fact, over the past 100 years, there have been some disturbing and unsettling events to have transpired on this date.
Friday the 13th is so dreaded that it has even caused a phobia in people known as friggatriskaidekaphobia – yes, really.
Contrary to popular belief, the Friday The 13th movies did not cause the date to be so infamous as its origins date back to much earlier.
In fact, the number 13 has been considered unlucky for centuries, with many tracing this back to the Bible itself.
There were 13 guests who attended the Last Supper, including Jesus, and the following day was Good Friday, the date of his crucifixion.
Here is a list of nine awful events that happened on Friday the 13th… and one that is yet to come.
Tupac’s death
After being shot four times on September 7 1996, Tupac Shakur died in hospital six days later on September 13.
This is still considered one of the most shocking unsolved murders in recent history.
There have been countless conspiracy theories on what happened and who killed Tupac, but still to this day the truth hasn’t come out.
Struck by lightning
According to the Daily Mail, on August 13 2010, a British boy was struck by lightning during an air show.
However, this only resulted in light injuries with slight burn marks on the shoulder.
Miraculously, it was reported that the boy was due to make a full recovery.
Costa Concordia sank
This is a more recent one, with the Costa Concordia sinking on January 13, 2012.
It immediately made global headlines, as it was the largest passenger ship to crash since the sinking of the Titanic.
More than 4,200 passengers were rescued, but 32 people died and the captain was later convicted of manslaughter.
1989 stock market crash
On October 13 1989, a buyout of United Airlines fell through, leading to a ‘mini-crash’ in the market.
This specifically hit the USA, with CNBC reporting that it resulted in a seven per cent sell-off in the Dow, and the S&P 500 lost 6%.
Many people lost a lot of money on what came to be known as 'Black Friday', which is pinpointed as the start of the early 1990s recession.
Cannibalistic plane crash
On October 13 1972, Uruguayan Flight 571 crash-landed in the Andes on the way to Chile.
Despite a frantic rescue mission, no trace of the passengers could be found and the official search ended after 10 days.
But several people had survived, and spent the next 72 days trying to live in the freezing mountain temperatures.
They even resorted to cannibalism, making a pact that if they died, their fellow survivors could eat their flesh to survive.
Two passengers decided to hike over the mountains to seek help. They ended up hiking for 10 days and alerted the first people they saw. All the remaining 16 surviving passengers were eventually saved.
On the very same day as that crash, Aeroflot 217 came down – the worst plane crash in Russian history.
The cause of the crash has never been confirmed, but all 174 members on board died when the plane tried to land in bad weather.
The birth of a white supremacist
On July 13 1821, the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan was born.
Nathan Bedford Forrest was a confederate general and led the infamous Fort Pillow Massacre, killing more than 200 unarmed Union soldiers during the Civil War.
It is widely believe he is the first Grand Wizard of the KKK, but Forrest later denounced the group and called for its end.
UK computer virus
This is one the UK suffered with alone.
On January 13 1989, a computer virus ripped through UK computers and hundreds were affected.
This may not seem like a lot now, but back in 1989 this was crippling for the few who owned a personal computer.
It slowed machines down and even deleted entire files – nightmare!
Missing Swedish flight
National Geographic reports that on June 13 1952, a Swedish flight completely disappeared without a trace.
All signal was lost while the plane was travelling over the Baltic Sea, and despite the Swedish government painstakingly searching for any sign of the aircraft, nothing was found for 40 years.
The site claimed that in the 1990s it was revealed the plane was actually spying on the Soviet Union for NATO, even though Sweden was officially neutral during the Cold War.
Australian bushfires
On January 13 1939, the Black Friday bushfires devastated Victoria in Australia.
Some 71 people died from the fires directly, while another 438 died from the heatwaves that proceeded them.
575,000 hectares of land were completed burned to ash, with plumes of smoke that could be seen as far away as New Zealand.
Don’t look up
This one comes straight from NASA, not Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence.
The space agency states an asteroid known as 99942 Apophis will come within 20,000 miles of the Earth on Friday April 13, 2029.
In terms of space itself, this is hair-raisingly close to our big blue marble, so it’s probably best to ignore this just like the movie.
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