Dies Infaustus

I was already aware of an old superstition regarding the ‘unluckiness’ of Fridays, particularly in the maritime industry.

It was once common for sailors to believe that voyages should never begin on a Friday, and should this superstition be ignored, the belief was that the voyage would be cursed with bad luck throughout its duration.

This superstition was so common that in one maritime book from the 19th Century, Friday was given the unofficial Latin name, “Dies Infaustus”, or “unlucky day”.

Ignore At Your Own Peril

What I wasn’t aware of – until I chanced upon it while reading about maritime superstitions – was an early Urban Legend that exploited this dire fear of Fridays.

According to the Legend, the Royal Navy, incensed that sailors considered Friday to be such an unlucky day, decided to categorically prove that a ‘Friday’ vessel would be no more unlucky than any other ship.

To do this they commissioned a ship to be built – it’s keel was laid on a Friday, it was named HMS Friday, it’s launch took place on a Friday, and it departed on its maiden voyage on a Friday. In one version, the Royal Navy even went so far as to put a Captain James Friday in charge of the ship for its maiden voyage.

As you might expect of such a Legend, HMS Friday set sail on its maiden voyage… and was never seen again…

Mysteries of the Deep?

Of course, tales of mysterious events at sea were common for the time in which this superstition would have been at its height, and it should come as no surprise that a tale would be spun to ‘prove’ the truth of the unlucky Friday superstition.

Thankfully, this Urban Legend can be laid to rest at the bottom of the ocean, since the Royal Navy has no record of a ship ever being commissioned with the name of HMS Friday.

Having said which, a true believer would probably argue that all the records of the vessel’s existence would have been destroyed by the Royal Navy to hide the scandal…

Further reading:

• HMS Friday, Wikipedia
• Naval Friday 13th myth unfounded, BBC News

While we can’t take incidences of domestic violence seriously enough, it’s surprising to see it pop up in the context of a potential Urban Legend.

According to an article on the NationalReviewOnline site, authorities in the UK have tied World Cup matches to an approximate (and appalling!) 30% rise in domestic violence in the UK.

However, the article explains that all is not as it might seem with this statistic, or the public awareness campaign that accompanied it. It also explores a similar possible legend surrounding the popular belief that domestic violence skyrockets in the US during Super Bowl Sunday.

For more from the article: The World Cup Abuse Nightmare, NationalReviewOnline.

If you are concerned about domestic violence in your situation, please do a search for local resources that can help you. There are also many online communities you can reach out to for support and advice.

Urban Legends are fascinating things – they can spread across the globe like wildfire, or they can occupy a small but important place in the culture of a local community.

At Drury University in Springfield, Missouri, there’s a story that is told to explain why the University cancelled its football program many years ago.

According to Dr Bill Garvin, a popular version goes something like this:

A persistent “campus legend” here at Drury is that Drury’s football program was canceled after a student was killed playing in a game.  One common variation of the story is that a rich alumnus was so horrified by the death of the student that she gave a million dollars to the college on the condition that Drury’s football program would be shut down.

Read the rest of this entry »

When you think about dangerous jobs, you probably think of someone who defuses bombs, or astronauts, or perhaps even accountants [1].

You might not, however, immediately think of dentists.

And yet, according to a popular piece of ‘common knowledge’, dentists apparently suffer a suicide rate several times higher than any other profession, making dentistry one of the most dangerous professions out there, and not just because you spend all day with your hands in the mouths of people with questionable oral hygiene.

But is there any truth to it?

Read the rest of this entry »

Footnotes:

1.	Obviously I’m not being completely serious here. After all, what’s dangerous about being an astronaut?
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Arthur Black over at Parksville Qualicum Beach News has written an amusing article about the common gangster movie concept of fitting a victim out with ‘cement shoes,’ for the purposes of not only disposing of the victim, but also of disposing of his or her body in a convenient way as well.

His take on whether or not it has ever happened in real life is that he hasn’t been able to find a credible reference for any historical examples, and he puts this down to a belief that gangland assassins simply don’t want to mess around with complexities of convincing someone to hold still while you pour cement over their feet. So much simpler to kill them in a more direct way, and dispose of the body [1] when convenient, right?

Interestingly enough, Mark ‘Chopper’ Read [2] – a self-proclaimed ex-gangland enforcer in Melbourne, Australia – once appeared on Australian television making the claim that he had, in fact, murdered a man using pretty much this method.

His quote (you can see it extracted here), was:

‘It took us hours to get him in [3], the bastard. He kept climbing out.’

Of course, Chopper Read has been accused more than once of embellishing his gangland experiences, and since no-one (at least publicly) followed up on this claim it’s anybody’s guess whether or not it truly happened.

To read Arthur Black’s article, visit: Two feet equals six feet under, and other urban legends

Photo courtesy of julianrod

Footnotes:

1.	Perhaps by weighing the body down with cement weights.
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2.	Sometimes credited as ‘Reid’ instead of ‘Read’.
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3.	…to the cement mixer.
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