Friday the 13th and the Templars

[Baker, John]

        How old is the bogus theory that Friday the thirteenth is
supposed to be unlucky because of the persecution of the Knights Templar
on that day?  It predates its major vector, The Da Vinci Code, but
surely it isn't terribly old.  The earliest I see on Westlaw is from the
Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 9/20/1991:  "Friday the 13th:  Bill
Anderson of Atlanta called to tell us that Friday the 13th became part
of Masonic lore as an unlucky day because, on that day in 1307, King
Philip IV of France had all the members of the Knights Templar
arrested."


John Baker

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