Get the garlic. Grab a stake. Don’t walk under any ladders. Throw salt over your left shoulder if you spill any. Avoid slinky, furry things glimpsed in the distance.
Better still, just hide under the duvet.
A full moon is rising on infamous Friday the 13th – the very same day a solar flare could send a shockwave to Earth’s surface.
It’s a triple whammy for superstitious folks, according to Stuart Vyse, a psychology professor at Connecticut College.
“People tend to try to read something into coincidences like these,” said Vyse, author of “Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition.”
“There will be a small group of people who are undoubtedly, predictably nervous about the day.”
Solar Flares Could Send Shockwave to Earth on Friday the 13th
The day also marks the first full moon on Friday the 13th since October 2000. The next one won’t happen until August of 2049, according to NASA.
In addition, the possibility of a solar flare shocking Earth’s atmosphere and disrupting communication signals adds another level to the tension.
“Astronomical events tend to be seen as very momentous and almost biblical in nature,” Vyse said. “It’s seen as being very powerful and something you can’t do anything about. It makes sense to me that it, too, would be connected to the general fears about Friday the 13th and the full moon.”
It’s a long-standing superstition that lunacy is connected the full moon, and that the lunar phase pushes people to act crazy and triggers more check-ins at mental institutions — theories that live on despite being proved wrong by research, Vyse said.
For people scared of the curse, staying home might be a solution.
“People afraid of these superstitions tend to restrict their activity,” Vyse said. “They tend to, for example, not schedule a doctor’s appointment or not travel on this day. In some rare cases, they stay home from work.”
Which is all very well, except the fruit of one’s loins has organised a new Variety night at Club Voltaire in Melbourne for tonight, and we are making a rare public appearance to read our poetry.
It’ll be a blast. Be there, or be scared. Your choice.
So come one, come all.
It’s after dark, so solar flares won’t affect you.#
Be careful of that great big confronting moon, though.
Cue howling in the distance.
Seats are strictly limited, so we suggest booking if you can, if not take pot luck and just rock up, we’ll find somewhere for you. And there’s a bar! Whoot!
A few drinks before listening to our poetry is always advisable.
#We are fully aware of the fact this is a nonsensical statement. Correspondence is not required.
Keep the conversation going. Tell others! Feel free to print the article, too.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Dear Reader, if you have enjoyed Well This Is What I Think in the last four years (Yeah, we know, four years! Crazy? Right?) we would ask you to show your appreciation by backing our Kickstarter fund with however much you can reasonably afford.
Well, This Is What I Think 