FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH

Today is Friday and it's the 13th day of the month ... which means we will hear stories of scary occurrences on this particular combination of day of the week/date of the month.

And the perfect Bullis Collection book to accompany today's bad-luck stories is waiting for you in the Bullis Room:

Myths and Myth Makers: 

Old Tales and Superstitions Interpreted by

Comparative Mythology

By: John Fiske (1842-1901) 

Published by: Houghton Mifflin, Boston: 1885

There are chapters on: "The Origin of Folk Lore," "Werewolves and Swan-Maidens,"
"Light and Darkness,"  "Myths of the Barbaric World," and "The Primeval Ghost World."

So if you would like to learn more about the background of today's superstition, as well as other myths and superstitions,  well ... you know what to do!

And ... may your day be filled with good luck!!

BACON AND FRIDAY THE 13TH

Today is Friday the 13th.  We have been told by folklorists that this particular combination of the day of week and date can be unlucky.

Rather than dwell on the possibility of experiencing bad luck today, we challenged ourselves to find a connection between Friday the 13th and Bacon--the subject of last week's post. And we did!

Lord Francis Bacon's book entitled:

The Moral and Historical Works of Lord Bacon: Including His Essays, Apophthegms, 

Wisdom of the Ancients, New Atlantis, and Life of Henry the Seventh

(published in London by Bell & Daidy, 1873)

is part of the Bullis Collection and includes his essay "Of Superstition."

So if you'd like to know what Bacon thought about superstitions, this is the book for you.  It can be accessed online or, for those of you who like the feel and aroma of a classic book, it's here in the Bullis Room. Just give us a call if you'd like to stop by and take a look.