Heart racing, freshman Joe Patterson cowers in fear, screaming for his little brother to come rescue him. The threat before him is tiny and most likely harmless, but the thought of the creature being alive in his house terrifies him.

Patterson’s fear of spiders may be more extreme than most, but almost everyone has something that makes them shiver. October, already a spooky month, had the added thrill of Friday the 13th this year. With so many frightful events this month, many students’ fears and superstitions are becoming a reality.  

Friday the 13th originated from Biblical times and many historically significant dates have happened on the date. Although the events can be considered coincidences, some people believe in bad luck that the day brings.This day is so well known that psychologists have created the term paraskavedekatriaphobia, the fear of Friday the 13th.

Junior Emerald Lightner has an aversion to being recorded. She does not mind her opinion being on record, but she strongly dislikes being videotaped or tape recorded. Due to the aversion she refused to be interviewed.

Freshman Connor Messenger is afraid he is being watched and judged by someone. If he gets that feeling, he will begin to twitch and look around him.

Balancing his life is also important to Messenger. For example, if he flicks his left hand, he has to flick his right as well. Or if Messenger rolls his pencil one way, he has to roll it back the other way. This superstition began when Messenger was 10 years old when things became unsettling if they were not balanced, which he thought would bring bad luck.

“If things aren’t even, it’s considered bad luck,” Messenger said.

While the next Friday the 13th is not until April 2018, a more common fear of bad luck comes from superstitions that almost every person has. While bad luck sounds may like a fantasy, many people are superstitious when it comes to sports or daily life. These superstitions can lead into a life of fear, or they can bring confidence and joy.

An example of this positivity is when freshman Paige Simmons’s cheer team, two years ago, bonded over an exercise where they made a line of yarn, while saying their goals for the season. In order to remember her personal goals, Simmons keeps a piece of that yarn tied around her cheer shoes as a nostalgia.  

“It gives me luck to help me do the best I can during games and competitions,” Simmons said.

Sport superstitions are the most common, from lucky jerseys to game day rituals, the majority of players and fans have their lucky routines.

Once when Schmitt was preparing for a game, he put on his cleats before he got to the field, and that night he played terribly. Ever since, Schmitt has waited until he was on the field to put on his cleats.

“I cannot put on my cleats before I get to the field or else I play like crap. It’s annoying,” Schmitt said.

One of the more well known superstitions, opening an umbrella inside, is one of freshman Izzy Pacheco’s biggest fears, after her dad explained the idea when she was a child. According to the superstition, bad luck will ‘rain’ on the person who opens the umbrella.

“Things will go bad, like I’ll fail my test,” Pacheco said. “Life just won’t work out.”

As conversation turns increasingly towards the darker topic of Halloween, superstitions that are usually hidden away are brought to the forefront, and we begin to understand the fear that shapes the human race.