2012 has three Friday the 13ths, each 13 weeks apart

CLEVELAND - If you're at all superstitious, 2012 may not be your favorite year. We'll see two more Friday the 13ths this Leap Year -- in April and July -- all 13 weeks apart

Feeling paraskavedekatriaphobic (a fear of Friday the 13th) or triskaidekaphobic (a fear of the number 13) now?  

So just how did all the hype around Friday the 13th begin anyway? Bad luck associated with the number 13 and the day Friday date back to ancient times.

Some believe Friday the 13th's bad reputation goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, where Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit and he bit, thus sin was born.

Biblical tradition also has it that Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th guest to the Last Supper; the Great Flood began on a Friday; and of course Friday is the supposed day of the week on which Jesus Christ was crucified.

Back on a Friday the 13th in the year 1306, King Philip of France arrested the esteemed Knights Templar and began torturing them, marking the occasion as "a day of evil." 

British tradition once believed the number and day were closely associated with capital punishment: Friday was the day for public hangings and supposedly there were 13 steps leading up to the noose.

• Most high-rise buildings have no 13th floor. It jumps from 12 to 14.
• Many airports don't have a gate 13.
• Hospitals and hotels typically don't have a room 13.
• In Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half.
• Many cities do not have a 13th Street or 13th Avenue
• Triskaidekaphobics rationalize their fear, pointing to the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13.  

Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Anthony Sowell -- 13 letters make up each name.

So, is it all in your head? Or is Friday the 13th really the devil's luck?