PRESIDENTIAL SUPERSTITIONS

I think everyone has some superstition that they relate to, even if it's nothing more than saying "knock on wood" or making it a point to not walk under a ladder just in case. And then there's that moment's pause when they realize it's Friday the 13th.

The office of President of the United States does not make the occupant immune to adhering to the call of a superstition. I recently came across a list of some of the U.S. Presidents and their superstitious beliefs.

George Washington

On his deathbed in 1799, George Washington expressed his fear of being buried alive. He insisted his body be untouched for two days after his death. Common during the 18th century, this fear came due to the dead being buried very quickly as bodies weren't embalmed.

William Henry Harrison

The Curse of Tippecanoe, also known as the 20-year curse, is attributed to Harrison—elected in 1840 and died in 1841 after serving only 31 days as president. A dispute between President Harrison and Tecumseh, a Shawnee Indian leader, is said to be the reason presidents who were elected or re-elected in years ending in zero died in office—Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Harding, Franklin Roosevelt, and Kennedy. Reagan, elected in 1980, survived an assassination attempt which seems to have broken the curse.

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln claimed to have visions of the future and accurately predicted his own death. He dreamed he saw his dead body and a soldier told him he had been assassinated. He also saw two versions of himself in a mirror which he interpreted to mean he would be elected to a second term but would not survive it.

Ulysses S. Grant

President Grant had an unusual superstition that probably served him well as president. Grant is quoted as saying, "Everyone has his superstitions. One of mine has always been when I started to go anywhere, or to do anything, never to turn back or to stop until the thing intended was accomplished."

William McKinley

President McKinley always wore a red carnation on his lapel. He gave away his lucky carnation if he thought someone needed luck and would replace it with a new carnation. He gave away his good luck charm at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. During the event, Leon Czolgosz shot McKinley who died on September 14, 1901.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

President Franklin Roosevelt feared the number 13—an affliction called triskaidekaphobia—and avoided traveling on Fridays and the 13th day of each month. President Herbert Hoover also had the same affliction.

Harry S. Truman

Upon becoming president, Harry Truman put a horseshoe over the door to his office in the White House. He also installed a horseshoe pit on the White House lawn. Horseshoes are a symbol of good luck. They are typically hung over the entrance to a home.

Gerald Ford

President Ford believed the election would be won by whichever candidate's wife won the Family Circle baking contest. His wife, Betty Ford, won the contest with her double chocolate chip cookie recipe. Although her husband eventually became president, it wasn't until after Richard Nixon resigned. Rosalyn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Laura Bush all won the contest and their husbands were elected president.

Ronald Reagan

Nancy Reagan hired astrologer Joan Quigley to plan her husband's schedule following an assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. Quigley guided the agenda concerning the president's cancer surgery as well as diplomacy issues and Cold War meetings. When the press revealed Nancy's involvement in astrology, she quickly downplayed it.

James Earl Carter

In 1969, Jimmy Carter saw a red and green orb. He was convinced he saw a UFO and filed a report with the International UFO Bureau in Oklahoma. A decade later, while serving as president, he claimed to see a vicious rabbit on a solo fishing trip, but his staff brushed it off.

George W. Bush

As a young boy, George W. Bush supposedly saw ghosts coming out of the walls near the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House. He described the White House as "creepy." During his presidency, the White House's website detailed the historic White House ghosts.

Barack Obama

In 2008 Obama said, "We realized that we had played basketball before Iowa and before South Carolina. We didn't play basketball before New Hampshire and Nevada. And so now, we've made a clear rule that on Election Day I have to play basketball."

Donald J. Trump

Donald Trump has been known to throw salt over his left shoulder after a meal and has described himself as a "very superstitious person." The superstition itself originated from the believe that the devil lurked behind you. The salt supposedly distracted the devil from causing harm. 

It's Friday the 13th —Does it make you stop and think?

Triskaidekaphobia:  Fear of the number thirteen.

Paraskevidekatriaphobia:  Fear of Friday the 13^th.

An obviously irrational concept that a mere number can bring bad luck to someone.  Or that a specific day of the week can be unlucky.  But that doesn't stop us from dwelling on the possibility.

This upcoming Friday is the dreaded Friday the 13^th.  The tradition of Friday being a day of bad luck dates back centuries with some of the more common theories linking it to significant events in the Bible believed to have taken place on Friday such as the Crucifixion of Christ, Eve offering Adam the apple in the Garden of Eden, the beginning of the great flood.

Many sources for the superstition surrounding the number thirteen and its association with bad luck also derive from Christianity with the Last Supper being cited as the origin—Judas was the thirteenth person to be seated at the table.

And when you put the two bad luck symbols together you get Friday the 13^th—the day associated with misfortune.

One legend of the origin of Friday the 13^th as unlucky comes from the persecution of the Knights Templar. Philip IV of France borrowed enormous sums of money from the very wealthy Templars to finance a war with England. An ineffectual king and an even worse military commander, Philip was easily defeated. He saw a way of both currying favor with the Pope and eliminating his huge debt. On that fateful day of Friday, October 13, 1307, he ordered all Templars arrested and their property seized. Jacques DeMolay, the Grandmaster of the order, was thrown in prison along with several other high-ranking members of the order. The Knights Templar, which had dominated medieval life for two centuries, were no more. Unfortunately for Philip, the Templars had learned of his planned treachery beforehand. Many of them escaped and their vast stores of treasure were hidden from the King's soldiers. Jacques DeMolay was burned alive after being tortured when he refused to admit to any wrongdoing. Another legend that has also persisted is that Jacques DeMolay cursed both Philip IV and Pope Clement V, as he died. Philip and Clement died within months of DeMolay's death.

Superstition is a belief or notion not based on reason or knowledge.  An irrational belief.  Lots of superstitions came into being during the Dark Ages, a time when living conditions were so severe that people reached out to anything that might bring them help and solace with the results being explanations for what seemed unexplainable at the time.  Religious beliefs and lack of scientific knowledge helped to spawn many superstitions.

Superstitions differ from culture to culture, but we all have them even if it's only paying surface homage to the concept.  We don't believe in the good luck vs. bad luck of chain letters/chain e-mails/chain texts, yet it often comes down to saying what's the harm, then sending them on to avoid breaking the chain.

We often follow the tradition of the superstition without really knowing why it's the traditional thing to do.  If we blow out all the candles on our birthday cake with one breath while making a silent wish, then the wish will come true.  When expressing a desire for good luck (we'll be able to go on the picnic if it doesn't rain), we grin, then we knock on wood as we emit an embarrassed chuckle.

In Western folklore, many superstitions are associated with bad luck.  In addition to Friday the 13^th, there's walking under a ladder, having a black cat cross your path, spilling salt, stepping on a crack, and breaking a mirror among others.

In addition to cultural superstitions, there's also certain occupations that evoke various rituals to bring on good luck.  It seems to me that gamblers and sports figures have the most superstitions and rituals to insure good luck.

Do you have any superstitions that you hold dear?  Are they more of a traditional situation handed down through your family or are they superstitions that have come down through history?

And I'm sure there won't be any unpleasantries or bizarre accidents on Friday the 13^th this month. (knock on wood).