Video: A Look at the History of Friday the 13th

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NORTHEAST Miss. (WCBI)- Friday the 13th, one of the scariest days of the year. And with a full moon, it’s a double blow.

“It’s suppose to bring bad luck, people are scared, it doesn’t really bother me,” said Amory resident Brad Bynum.

Brad and his pregnant wife Alisa say the only bad luck they’ve had is a streak of sleepless nights because they are waiting for their son’s arrival.

“I’m not due until July 4th but my grandmother told me that I was going to have my baby on the full moon, so we’ll see. Crazy things have happened on a full moon,” said Alisa Bynum.

So when did Friday the 13th, become so scary?

“One origin says it grew out of the last supper. When there were 13 people present there and then on Friday came the crucifixion. So Friday the 13th was not the date, but the number of people who were there with one of them being a traitor,” Dr. Robert Wolverton, Professor of Classics at Mississippi State University.

And what about those scary werewolf films? Greek legend has it that a King named Lycaon tried to serve Zeus a human for dinner. Zeus punished him, turning the King into a wolf-man creature. As for the full moon connection…

” That was a later addition because it was thought then that later people who had these “tendencies” were turned into a wolf,only at the time of the full moon,” said Dr. Wolverton.

Do people really believe the Friday the 13th, full moon superstitions?

“Oh I just love the full moon any time of the year. And I just think it’s wonderful, it was so pretty last night. It’s just a coincidence, I’m not superstitious,” said Louisville native Fran Eiland Carr.

“I never had anything happen to me. And hopefully I won’t. Hopefully I’ll make it to midnight and have a good day,” said Brad Bynum.

Many hotels don’t have a 13th floor. Also several superstitious believers won’t fly on the 13th because they consider it a bad omen.