Locals weigh in on 'unlucky' Friday the 13th

For some, it evokes images of black cats and cracked mirrors; for others, a machete-wielding maniac in a hockey mask. For several High Plains residents, though, Friday the 13th is just another self-fulfilling prophecy.

Though it is difficult to determine how the date was cemented as unlucky, a 2017 article by Live Science found that author Thomas William Lawson tied together Friday and 13 — both previously viewed as unlucky — in his 1907 novel “Friday the 13th.”

For Portales resident Ose Alli, however, bad luck on Friday the 13th is only as prevalent is one allows it to be. To illustrate, he recalled a day in high school where he walked under a ladder shortly before a track meet.

“I remember running the 100 meters later that day, and I remember literally false starting and being disqualified. I was like, ‘Was it because of that?’” he said.

After making an effort not to think about the incident during future competitions, Alli had no more strange occurrences. While he credited his bad luck to dedicating too much energy to superstition, he didn’t discount the notion altogether.

“People believe that, let’s say in a football game, if they put on their right cleat before their left cleat and they win, they’re just gonna keep doing that over and over again,” he said. “What suits you suits you. I feel that if you give it it’s power and if you allow it to sap your energy, it will overwhelm and overcome you, but if you just allow it to be, it will be what it will be.”

Clovis resident Lonzo Lassiter said he also subscribes to this theory.

“If you’re superstitious, and you think it could bring bad luck, again, you might have that self-fulfilling prophecy of, ‘I’m gonna do everything exactly the right way so it can’t get me,’” he said.

Lassiter added that “half the time, I never even know it’s Friday the 13th.”

Some people, like Portales resident Tricia Stafford, take the disregard of Friday the 13th’s inauspicious reputation to new lengths, claiming that the day actually brings them good luck.

“I won a scratch off, I got like 50 bucks on Friday the 13th one time. I always find great deals in the store on those days, too,” she said, while noting that superstition has never had an impact on life choices.

“I’ve even owned four different black cats and never had any bad luck,” she said.

This is the first Friday the 13th of 2018, and another falls in July. Every calendar year contains at least one, but no more than three.