You see, Jason was my son, and today is his birthday…”

-     The fear of Friday the 13th is called friggatriskaidekaphobia or paraskevidekatriaphobia

-   Any month’s 13th day will fall on a Friday if the month starts on a Sunday.

-   According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the United States are affected by a fear of this day. Some people are so paralyzed by fear that they avoid their normal routines in doing business, taking flights or even getting out of bed. “It’s been estimated that [US]$800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day”.

-   As a majority, in countries that speak German, French and English, Friday the 13 is considered a bad luck day.  Yet in Greece, Romania and Spanish speaking countries, it is Tuesday the 13th that is considered unlucky. Italy comes in with its own day of bad luck, as Friday the 17th.

-    When the 400-year calendar is laid out; the 13th falls on Friday more often than any other day of the week.

Events on Friday the 13th

• The renowned rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur was pronounced dead on Friday, September 13, 1996.
• Hurricane Charley made landfall in south Florida on Friday, August 13, 2004.
• The “Friday the 13th Storm” struck Buffalo, New York on Friday, October 13, 2006.
• The asteroid 99942 Apophis will make a close encounter with Earth, closer than the orbits of communication satellites, on Friday, April 13, 2029.
• The Andes Plane Crash of 1972 occurred on Friday, October 13, 1972.
• A London Underground Engineering train on the Northern Line became uncoupled and Went on the 13 minute journey southbound from Archway and halted at Warren Street tube station. The train in front has been forced to skip several stations and been diverted to the city branch.
• At the 2010 Lowestoft Airshow in Suffolk, a 13 year old boy was struck by lightning at 13:13 BST on Friday 13th August 2010.

NUMBER 13

“Thirteen at a table is unlucky only when the hostess has only twelve chops.” – Groucho Marx.
-    Hotels rarely have a room number 13. Usually it is called 12a or 14. Same with floors of high rise buildings. Many elevators are without a #13 button. Highways sometimes will skip exit 13 altogether.

-    The deadliest associations with number 13 are the facts that there are 13 stairs leading to the gallows, the blade in a guillotine fell from a height of 13 feet and a hangman has 13 knots in a hangman’s noose.

-    Ancient Romans regarded the number 13 as a symbol of death, destruction and misfortune.

-    The coinage ‘baker’s dozen’ came into existence as a baker generally adds a 13th loaf to a dozen, offering it to the devil, in an attempt to keep him from marring the rest of the basket.

-    In numerology, the number 12 symbolizes completeness, whereas 13 is an irregular number that ruins the completeness.

-     It is believed that walking around the house 13 times on this day helps keep the evils away.

-     In ancient Rome, witches reportedly gathered in groups of 12. The 13th was believed to be the devil.

FRIDAY

“Now Friday came, you old wives say, Of all the week’s the unluckiest day.”

-   In Roman mythology, Friday or the 6th day of the week was allotted to the beautiful, yet vain Goddess of Passion, Venus. When the Scandinavians started to follow the Roman way of naming days, Venus, was translated to Frigga or Freya, as per author Charles Panati. ‘Friday’ is an obvious derivation of the name of this Goddess. But with the adoption of Christianity by the Norse-Germanic tribes, Frigga was ostracized and forced to live on a lonely mountain summit. She was also declared a witch as her pet was a black cat. Belief has it that the scorned Goddess convoked a gathering every Friday, with 11 other witches and the Devil to disrupt human life for the coming week. Due to this theory of the meeting of the witches’ coven with 13 members, Scandinavians referred to Friday as ‘Witches’ Sabbath’ for centuries afterward.

-    Friday has been considered an unlucky day at least since the 14th century’s

-   In some cultures, Friday is considered unlucky. This is particularly so in maritime circles; perhaps the most enduring sailing superstition is that it is unlucky to begin a voyage on a Friday

-   In the Hebrides it is supposed that it is a lucky day for sowing the seed. Good Friday in particular is a favorite day for potato planting—even strict Roman Catholics make a point of planting a bucketful on that day. Probably the idea is that as the Resurrection followed the Crucifixion, and Burial so too in the case of the seed, and after death will come life.

-    The old Romans called Friday nefastus, from the utter overthrow of their army at Gallia Narbonensis.

-    In the USA and the British Isles Friday was known as Hangman’s Day or Hanging Day as this was the day that most executions were performed.

-   An old England the proverb says “A Friday moon brings foul weather”

-    Black Friday has been associated with stock market crashes and other disasters since the 1800s. It has also been suggested that Friday has been considered an unlucky day because, according to Christian scripture and tradition, Jesus was crucified on a Friday

The  following months have a Friday the 13th:

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There’s an old saying: “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” But there are those who would disagree. Some have learned that “Hell hath no fury like a little girl scorned.”

Does that make you smile? Do you imagine the fussing of a petulant child? Think again. Do not underestimate the full-blown nightmares made real by the angry broken mind of Elizabeth Goodnight, a young pioneer girl who drank from a poisoned well. Imagine a scared little child unjustly condemned to the bowels of darkness where her most terrifying nightmares roamed free. A little girl forced to endure atrocities of the mind. Every day she begged, pleaded and prayed for release.

Poor little Elizabeth! She never gave up hope that someday someone would come to her rescue. But any lost souls who encountered her left her behind, despite her pleadings. Only the monstrous being known as Ngothal ever spent any time with the girl. The beast terrified her as much as the others but sometimes kept her safe from greater dangers.

Then came the time when Ngothal leaned in close enough for Elizabeth to gaze into his eyes and instead of her reflection, she saw events unfolding on the surface world that would alter her life forever.

*     *     *

Elizabeth’s skin itched and burned endlessly. Her bloody fingernails had snapped down to the quick from her useless scratching. The air burned her nostrils with an acrid mix of sulfur and rotten meat. A continuous metallic shriek rattled her eardrums and made her eyes water. But what is this reflected in the monster friend’s eyes?

Ornias!  Her older brother Ornias has made a deal with the Dark Stranger and has tricked him!  He’s sure to come for her now!  Ornias can save her!  He’s making the Dark Stranger free one of the souls… Her older brother will surely save his little sister first!

No.  NO!!!

He has chosen Thaddeus!  The twins run around the surface world as if this were a game!  I’m still here you idiots!  Why won’t anyone save me?

Elizabeth tries to get away. She tries so hard. She begs other lost souls to help her, to take her with them but no one does. No one helps. Not even her brothers, who are too caught up in their own selfish motives to come back and save her.

*     *     *

Elizabeth Goodnight’s sanity unraveled and all human kindness sizzled away like flesh drenched in acid. She seethed and raged for what seemed like an eternity.  Then Ngothal blinked and the vision disappeared. He knelt down and offered the little girl a deal.

She accepted immediately. Somewhere, lost at the place where the Hell’s Horizon intersects with places far worse, one might find a weathered parchment.  The bulk of the parchment’s wording will be incomprehensible to human eyes.  At the bottom, however, is the tragic scrawl of letters written in blood.

Elizadeth

The childlike misspelling is chillingly appropriate.

One month a year, Elizabeth gets to come out and play.  And Ngothal gets to come with her. You do not want to bear witness to their terrifying games.

In the Black Hills, one location south of Rapid City has already earned a sinister reputation.  Locals call it FORT FEAR and at one time it was the location of the Hell’s Horizon Saloon where a grieving cowboy name Ornias once struck up a deal with a Dark Stranger.  Tragedy seems to befall nearly everyone who sets foot on this blighted ground. Like flies caught in a web, one must struggle mightily to break free. Many never do. Specters of the past lay over one another like multiple slides on an old projector.

Elizabeth Goodnight and her hellish enforcer Ngothal have come out to play… And they will use your own fears and weaknesses against you. Little Elizabeth delights in bringing many of her childhood fears and nightmares to life. Ngothal knows humanity’s weakness for the Seven Deadly Sins, and has unleashed them in their most extreme forms.

If you have the distinct misfortune to happen across the Hell’s Horizon Saloon at Fort Fear, go back before it’s too late. Be warned:

Hell’s a-risin’ at the Hell’s Horizon!

View 2009′s story of Ornias Goodnight here.