Friday The 13th. Relax! What could possibly go wrong?

Our ‘Night Creatures’ collection release date is imminent. The day it’s scheduled for is an auspicious one indeed: Friday the 13th of October, 2017. It seemed a pretty good day to have our creatures (all of whom are shrouded in various superstitions) crawl out into the world, what with all the superstitions associated with Friday the 13th.

Now, we all love a good superstition. We also love a good story, especially if it’s coupled with a good coincidence. However, is there actually something to this Friday the 13th stuff? Or is it just one of the longest running examples of confirmation bias in human history?

Without further ado, let’s get into a good list of the reasons why it might be an unlucky day and why it might be best to stay home and hide on Friday the 13th.

1. There were 13 individuals at the last supper, which was apparently held on the 13th day of the month. It was on a Thursday, which isn’t a Friday, but don’t let that stop you. Sure, everyone’s been sighting this example for nearly 2000 years and it didn’t stop them.

2. 13 witches is the ideal number needed to form a coven (A working group of witches). A coven can still work with less witches, but the optimum number is 13. Apparently what constitutes good working conditions for a coven of witches is a surprisingly contentious subject.

3. In 1314 on Friday the 13th of March, Phillip IV of France publicly burned Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay on an island in the Seine in front of Notre Dame cathedral. De Molay cursed the Pope and the French king, whose bad luck has travelled down the ages. His death is also recorded as being on the 18th of March though, so this one (unlike the first two i've already detailed above) might not actually be true.

4. 13 is an awkward number. Everything historically has been built around the number 12: 12 hours on a clock, 12 disciples (although that didn’t help Jesus, see number one above), 12 months in a year, 12 gods of Olympus… The examples go on and on. 13? Not so much. Apparently, having twelve plus an extra one is only a good thing when you’re talking about a bakery.

5. On Friday 13 October 1972, a Chilean Air force plane disappeared over the Andes. 16 survivors turned up two months later although they had been forced to eat their fellow passengers (already killed in the crash) in order to survive. Unlucky…

There are many reasons why this day is popularly regarded as an unlucky day, but in all my research I’ve think I’ve finally nailed why: Everyone thinks it is, so it is.

I know that seems woefully inadequate as an explanation, but various experts in such disparate disciplines as medicine, traffic control, law enforcement and history all seem to agree that people are their own worst enemy on any Friday the 13th.

Because people believe that something unlucky will happen, when they get in their car that morning their anxiety about what will happen that day has raised their blood pressure, distracted their attention away from the task at hand, and just generally heightened their sense of impending doom.  If that’s not a perfect recipe for disaster, I don’t know what is.

Our new collection of Night Creatures will be out of hiding on this Friday the 13th, no matter all the horrible things that could befall us on that day, because we're brave enough to take the risk.

Here's a sneak peak at some of the new designs below:

Looking forward to seeing you on Friday the 13th...

If we can make it through the day...