Useless Friday the 13th Facts
Courtesy of Mental Floss magazine
Every year will have a Friday the 13th at least once, but no more than three times.
There is little rhyme to the pattern in which Friday the 13th appears. In 1997, it happened only once-in the month of June. The following year there were three Friday the 13ths, and if that weren't enough, two of them happened in consecutive months (February and March). But wait, there's more. On Friday, March 13, 1998 there was also a full moon and a lunar eclipse.
And Elvis was spotted at a KFC in Dubuque, ordering a Diet Coke.
The Gregorian calendar does repeat itself every 400 years, so some calculations have been worked out. As it turns out, because of the bump that leap years cause, the 13th of the month will fall on a Friday more often than it will any other day of the week. Over a 400-year span, the 13th will be a Friday 688 times. Thursday the 13th, by contrast, will only occur 684 times.
An easy way to tell if you're about to experience a Friday the 13th is to keep track of the first day of each month. If it falls on a Sunday, as it did back on December 1, then the second Friday in the month will be Friday the 13th.
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