The date is not treated as unlucky everywhere, and some people have turned it into a private good omen. Smyth’s youngest daughter was born at 13:13 in 2005, and she later put 13 on her car number plate. In 2009, a guest told Jay Leno that every award win had come from the 13th seat, row, section or from row M, the 13th letter.
Friday the 13th fell again on Friday, the third time in 2026, and the date was still shaping weddings, house sales, flights and everyday caution.
It is the maximum number of times the date can occur in any year under the Gregorian calendar, and 2026 is the only year this decade with three. The last such year was 2015.
From weddings to flights, job interviews to elective surgery, many people still avoid booking anything they consider significant, treating the date as bad luck. For businesses that depend on those bookings, the day is often quieter than the calendar alone would suggest.
Property sales that complete on the date have a lower median price, according to new research from Homebuyer.Agency, an independent residential buying agency. Homes at number 13 also sell below the wider median.
So far in 2026, properties completing on Friday the 13th have sold for a median of £275,000, 5.2% below the wider annual median of £290,000.
Weddings show a similar hesitation. A 2015 survey found that nearly a third of respondents, 31%, would avoid marrying on a Friday the 13th, cutting work for venues, florists and photographers.
Wedding photographer Smyth has photographed only one Friday the 13th wedding, in September 2013. It was the first wedding she ever shot, and she said it launched her career. She said couples may fear the date is a bad omen for a marriage.
Wedding-cake sellers have noticed the same pause. When the date comes around, customers change how they shop, one seller said, and less superstitious buyers have picked up savings of about £66.
Air fares can move the other way. Prices largely follow demand, so fewer willing passengers can mean cheaper tickets. Some couples, the research noted, may also prefer to order online rather than go out on a day they regard as unlucky.
The fear is not matched by a clear rise in air crashes. A 2013 analysis by the Aviation Safety Network found an average of 0.067 fatal accidents on Friday the 13th, against 0.091 on any other date, a very slight statistical edge toward safety.
On the roads, the picture is less reassuring and still disputed. In 2014, Aviva reviewed a decade of data and found motor collision claims rose by an average of 13% on Friday the 13th compared with other days in the same month.
A specialist said an anxious driver may find it harder than usual to concentrate in traffic that day. Research linking anxiety to crash risk, however, offers only small-to-moderate and inconsistent evidence of a higher danger.
The fear has a clinical name, paraskevidekatriaphobia. Many adults who hold the superstition grew up with it as family lore. Confirmation bias then does the rest: people remember the times a belief seems to work and forget the times it does not. The tension is familiar. People tell themselves the worry is silly, then act on it anyway because they feel better if they do.