Whatever Happened to The Thirteen Club?

One bit of Friday the 13th trivia I came across that intrigued me the most was the Thirteen Club.

A People article that talked about the club explained:

“[I]ts stated mission was to improve the standing of the holiday and also flout all manner of superstitions. At its first meeting, all 13 members walked under ladders into a room filled with spilled salt. The group’s ranks swelled to 400 eventually, taking in five U.S. Presidents: Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.”

POTUSes were part of this thing? Say what?

So what was the Thirteen Club?

Origins

It started in the 1880s as a social supper club with only 13 members.

HJ’s own contributing writer, Lesia Schnur, wrote about the Thirteenth Club on her site, The Haunted Librarian, for the first Friday the 13th of 2018. She explained how Captain William Fowler “created The Thirteenth Club in an effort to remove the stigma attached to the date.”

Atlas Obscura reported that the first meeting of these superstition-bucking gents commenced on September 13, 1881 in room 13 of Manhattan’s Knickerbocker Cottage.

The table was set with 13 candles. Each of the 13 place settings sported lobster salad molded in the shape of a coffin surrounded by 13 crawfish.

Oh, and there was a banner with the inscription: “‘Nos Mortituri te Salutamus’—Latin for ‘We who are about to die salute you.'” (Did AC/DC’s “For Those About to Rock” pop into anyone else’s mind after reading that?)

What happened? Did anyone die?

Nope. All those fate-tempters survived after that inaugural meeting…and went on to have more!

Popularity

According to the Atlas Obscura article, supper clubs like the Thirteen Club were enormously popular in late nineteenth century New York City.

There were traditional “Union” clubs, but also specialized ones that were more fun. Such as the “‘Liar’s Club’ (for men who loved to trick each other) and the ‘Candor Club’ (for brutally honest ones).”

When Fowler took over the Knickerbocker Cottage, he decided it was time to found one himself. Its aim, he decided, would be to fight the fear of 13—and various other superstitions—by engaging in as many unlucky practices as possible.

The atmosphere was “funereal” and, before entering members, had to engage in superstition-thwarting activities like walking under ladders, smashing mirrors, and spilling salt.

What started out as 13 members having dinner quickly grew to over 400 by the later 1880s. Chapters in other cities, both in America and abroad, were started.

They started as men-only affairs, but in 1891 the first women were allowed to attend in New York.

I also loved this aside that Atlas Obscura mentioned: “(Each [woman] got a welcome gift: a tiny glass bottle of perfume, with a stopper shaped like a human skull.)” That’s my kind of gift!

Two years after that, 13 women in Iowa launched their own chapter.

It went strong for a while and then…what happened? Are there Thirteen Clubs that still meet these days?

Do Thirteen Clubs Still Exist?

All good things must come to an end.

As times will, they changed and social clubs like this ceased to exist.

Starting around the mid-1920s, searching for the Thirteen Club in newspaper archives brings up only obituaries of former members.

So that’s why I’ve never heard of the Thirteen Club until recently. It ended long before my time.

Thank goodness for the people who discover and resurrect random history, though. Neat stuff to know about.

However, people still like to get together on Friday the 13ths.

In April I wrote about 13 Ways to Spend April 2018’s Friday the 13th. One of the most popular Friday the 13th pastimes these days is visiting haunted attractions.

I had a list of haunted houses that would be open in that post. Most are again open for July’s Friday the 13th.

Just in case you want to get out and get social Twenty-First Century style.

Superstition Superbug?

The Atlas Obscura article is loaded with fascinating details, many of which I’ve noted above. But here’s a few other snippets that I found particularly intriguiing:

According to one contemporary reporter, the Thirteen Club may be inadvertently responsible for one of today’s most iconic bad luck charms: Friday the 13th. Although both Friday and the number 13 have both been considered unlucky for centuries, it’s possible that no one made a point of combining them until the Thirteen Club….

In their zeal to disprove each of them, the Club may have created a superstition superbug instead.

But the most surprising of all is how the Thirteen Club members may have been the catalyst for the weekend we all know and love:

That year [1887], Justice David McAdam, a Thirteen Club branch president and a member of the New York City Court, declared Saturday an official half-holiday, during which public offices must close after noon. He did this, he said, partially to restore more esteem to Friday—a Thirteen Club priority….

About four decades later, in 1929, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America successfully demanded a five-day work week.

How did you spend your Friday the 13th?