Friday the 13th is back, and this time it’s personal. Well, your Mountain Times staff is making it personal. On this day, don’t open an umbrella in the house. Don’t walk under a ladder, lest you get seven years’ bad luck. Watch out for black cats crossing your path. Your more superstitious folk will say you shouldn’t do these things on any given day, let alone Friday the 13th. Your Mountain Times staff is less than superstitious, as long as you don’t whistle in the newsroom, and we’ll share our thoughts about Friday the 13th, as long as you don’t tear them out and place them in a black envelope while turning seven times in a counter clockwise circle.

Frank Ruggiero: Friday the Funteenth

When Friday the 13th rolls around, many people immediately recall that never-ending series of hackneyed

Friday the 13th — another occasion to dust off that gorilla costume.

horror films featuring some machete-wielding dude in a hockey mask. But enough about The Mighty Ducks. The film reference that comes to mind each occasion is that “Popeye” cartoon where our hero mumbles about foolish “stuperstitions,” only to finally pay them some credence after walking under a ladder.

Friday the 13th is met with mixed skepticism. People scoff at the notion, reluctant to acknowledge something so seemingly silly as superstition, but they’ll darn sure avoid breaking a mirror under a ladder with a black cat sitting atop. Practically speaking, and for the sake of fun, the pretense surrounding Friday the 13th should be replaced with celebration.

Jeff Eason: All Hail Friday!

Italian composer Gioachino Rossini considered Friday an unlucky day and 13 an unlucky number. He died on Friday, the 13th of November of 1868. His Barber of Seville, however, lives on.

I am a Taurus, and we Tauruses, or Taurans if you prefer, are by nature not very superstitious. In fact, we are the one sign of the zodiac that doesn’t even believe in astrology. We are very down to earth and not prone to taking any “bull.” That said, I’ve got a few superstitious quirks handed down to me by my ancestors, such as throwing salt over my shoulder if any is spilt. But I have no wariness at all when it comes to Friday falling on the 13th day of the month. Over the long haul, a Friday the 13th will occur during one out of every seven months. Because this week’s Friday the 13th falls during a 28-day February, we will have another one next month in March.

Did you know that fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia? Historians believe that the phenomenon comes from two separate superstitions: The belief that the number 13 is unlucky, and the belief that Friday is unlucky. They’re pretty sure that 13 is considered unlucky because it falls outside the traditional order of completeness. There are 12 months of the year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 apostles of Jesus, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 hours of the clock, and so on.

Friday has been considered unlucky in many western cultures since it was an unlucky day for Jesus. Any disaster associated with that day of the week is labeled “Black Friday.” And in Scandinavian mythology, Friday is known as “The Witches’ Sabbath.”

Personally, I follow the TGIF school of thought when it comes to Friday. For me, the day will always represent high school football games, staying up late watching scary movies on television, and the beginning of the weekend. All hail Friday! Even if it falls on the 13th!

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Jason Reagan: No, I do not wear a hockey mask

I know my Mountain Tops is not quite on topic but I have a bone to pick with Hollywood. When I saw the recent commercials for the 21st century revival of the Friday the 13th franchise, I literally laughed out loud at total lack of originality that passes for modern filmmaking. As a child of the ‘80s, the Friday series, which never seemed to end, became my generation’s template for slasher films.

Keep Jason buried. Bring back Freddie.

Personally, I never connected with the storyline. To me, if you’re going to be killed by a supernatural entity, there should be some accountability. You should have done something to personally hack off the spirit in question — not some lame “revenge” kick from 1957. Perhaps my disdain for the Friday movies stemmed from the monster’s name, Jason. I had the unfortunate luck of carrying the name of a hockey-mask wearing slasher and a sitting president. By the time I heard, “Heh, heh, are you related to Ronald?” or “Oooh, where’s your mask?” for the 499th time, I began to identify with Mr. Voorhees’s feelings of homicidal rage.

But, for my money, Freddie Krueger, the crispy, spike-gloved maniac from Nightmare on Elm Street, is my favorite ‘80s boogie man. Sure, Freddie killed innocent people in their sleep, but he always left us chuckling amid our horror with an apropos quip. Jason always struck as lacking in imagination — he exercised his ethereal right to remain silent. I mean, if you are a killer demon and you’re about to kill me — I know this is it. At least leave me with a laugh.

In the final analysis, the re-release of Friday just puts another nail in the coffin that is Hollywood’s originality. I don’t mind when my 13-year-old sings “Dead or Alive” along with his Rock Band video game. It doesn’t bother me that he knows all the words to REM’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It.” Songs are meant to transcend time and touch new generations. But slasher movies are already formulaic enough — can’t producers create a few new icons? How about the spirit of a dead person swindled by a Wall Street fraud seeking revenge in “Stimulus Package of Pain?” Or how about “Revenge of the Rejected Reality Show Contestants?” Or better yet, Hollywood could option some of the horror novels of Mountain Times writer Scott Nicholson.

Scott gets rich; I ride his coattails as a well-paid movie trivia consultant, and we can finally bury Jason Voorhees at the bottom of Crystal Lake.

Scott Nicholson: Fun with Calendars

Friday the 13th shouldn’t exist. It should be like the 13th floor of a hotel, where the number is changed to 14 and 13 is skipped altogether. It would be better to have no number that day, and we all shirk our responsibilities

The calendar’s days are numbered.

and devote the “free” time to peace, love and understanding.

But Fridays are usually paydays, so not many people want to miss them. And by bumping up the 14th, we are one day closer to the end of the recession. And it so happens this month that the day after is Valentine’s Day, which we can devote to peace, love and understanding anyway, unless your heart is a gooey chocolatey mess and you lament over bad relationships and inept infatuations and chronic loserness and, boy, do you wish it was the 15th instead, so we may as well skip two days, and I’m sure there’s some unfortunate horror awaiting there, as well, so let’s move on through the calendar as quickly as we can, preferably with our eyes closed.