160 free Friday the 13th trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
42 free Friday the 13th trivia questions with answers. These Friday the 13th trivia questions cover both halves of the phenomenon. The superstition side takes in the Knights Templar arrests of 1307, the Last Supper, the phobia with the unpronounceable name, how many Fridays the 13th a year can hold, buildings that skip the 13th floor, the countries that fear Tuesday the 13th or Friday the 17th instead, and the events that really did happen on the date. The movie side runs through all twelve films, from Sean Cunningham's 1980 original and Betsy Palmer's Mrs. Voorhees to the burlap sack, the hockey mask, Jason in space and Freddy vs. Jason. It works as a party round for the next unlucky Friday, a horror-night warm-up or a quick self-test, with easy openers for everyone and hard questions for people who know how many seconds were cut from Part 2. Every answer has been checked against a reliable source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 160 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The fear of Friday the 13th has a specific name. Which of these is it?
Paraskevidekatriaphobia
It is also called friggatriskaidekaphobia, after Frigg, the Norse goddess Friday is named for; fear of the number 13 alone is triskaidekaphobia.
Q 02One origin story for the superstition points to the mass arrest of which order on Friday the 13th, 1307?
The Knights Templar
King Philip IV of France, in debt to them, had Jacques de Molay and scores of Templars seized at dawn; de Molay was burned at the stake in 1314.
Q 03Which pope formally dissolved the order arrested in 1307, at the Council of Vienne in 1312?
Clement V
He did it at the Council of Vienne with the bull Vox in excelso; most Templar assets passed to the Hospitallers.
Q 04Christian superstition holds that which disciple was the 13th to sit down at the Last Supper?
Judas
The Bible actually says nothing about the seating order, but the idea stuck.
Q 05An early English reference to Friday the 13th appears in an 1869 biography of which composer, who died that day in 1868?
Gioachino Rossini
The composer of The Barber of Seville reportedly regarded both Fridays and the number 13 as unlucky.
Q 06Which stockbroker-author wrote the 1907 novel 'Friday, the Thirteenth', credited with spreading the superstition?
Thomas W. Lawson
In the book a broker picks the date to engineer a Wall Street panic.
Q 07What is the maximum number of Fridays the 13th that can occur in a single calendar year?
Three
There is always at least one, and any month that begins on a Sunday will contain one.
Q 08A month contains a Friday the 13th whenever it starts on which day of the week?
Sunday
On average one comes around every 212.35 days, and the longest possible gap between them is 14 months.
Q 09In the Gregorian calendar, the 13th of the month is very slightly more likely to fall on which weekday?
Friday
The 400-year Gregorian cycle contains exactly 20,871 weeks, and the maths works out fractionally in the unlucky day's favour.
Q 10The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute estimates US businesses lose roughly how much every Friday the 13th?
$800-900 million
The same source estimates 17 to 21 million Americans are affected, though Delta and Continental said their bookings showed no dip.
Q 11In Spanish-speaking countries and Greece, the unlucky 13th falls on which day of the week?
Tuesday
For the Greeks the day belongs to Ares, god of war; the Spanish saying is 'martes trece'.
Q 12In Italy, 13 is generally considered lucky. Which date is the unlucky one there instead?
The 17th
The Roman numeral XVII can be rearranged to VIXI, Latin for 'I have lived', which is to say 'I am dead'.
Q 13A 2002 Otis Elevators review found what share of tall buildings using its lifts had no floor labelled 13?
85%
A 2007 Gallup poll found 13 percent of American adults would be bothered by a hotel room on a 13th floor.
Q 21Who directed the original Friday the 13th film in 1980?
Sean S. Cunningham
He had produced Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left, and rushed a Variety ad using the title before the script was even finished.
Q 22The killer in the original 1980 Friday the 13th is not Jason at all. Who is it?
Pamela Voorhees
Betsy Palmer took the part because she needed money for a new car, despite thinking the script was 'a piece of shit'.
Q 23Composer Harry Manfredini created the whispered 'ki ki ki, ma ma ma' motif from which line of dialogue?
"Kill her, Mommy"
He took the first syllables of 'kill' and 'mommy' and ran them through an echo effect.
Q 14The word 'triskaidekaphobia' was first used in print in 1910 by which psychiatrist?
Isador Coriat
It appeared in his book Abnormal Psychology; Franklin D. Roosevelt and Arnold Schoenberg are among the famous sufferers.
Q 15Which country holds a road-safety 'National Accident Day' that always falls on a Friday the 13th?
Finland
Dutch insurers, by contrast, found slightly fewer accidents, fires and thefts on Fridays the 13th than on other Fridays.
Q 16Which businesses treat Friday the 13th as an unofficial holiday, offering cheap 'flash' designs featuring 13?
Tattoo parlours
A 1993 British Medical Journal study, meanwhile, suggested transport-accident admissions rose by as much as 52 percent on the date.
Q 17Which heavy metal band released its self-titled debut album on Friday, February 13, 1970?
Black Sabbath
The record reached number eight on the UK chart and is widely treated as the birth of the genre.
Q 18On Friday the 13th of which month in 1972 did the Uruguayan rugby team's plane crash in the Andes?
October
Sixteen survivors were finally rescued on December 23 after two of them trekked out over the mountains.
Q 19Which rapper died on Friday, September 13, 1996, six days after being shot in Las Vegas?
Tupac Shakur
He was 25, and the shooter has never been officially identified.
Q 20Apollo 13, launched in April 1970, suffered its oxygen tank explosion on which day of the month?
The 13th
It lifted off on the 11th at 13:13 Houston time, and all three crew still made it home safely.
Q 24Which future star played Jack, killed by an arrow through the throat, in the 1980 original?
Kevin Bacon
Tom Savini rigged the effect from beneath the bed; the picture cost about $550,000 and grossed nearly $60 million.
Q 25Tom Savini suggested the 1980 film's lake-lunge ending after seeing which movie?
Carrie
He wanted a 'chair jumper' like the hand from the grave, and it gave the sequels their monster.
Q 26The original film was shot at a real Boy Scout camp, Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, in which state?
New Jersey
Filming began in September 1979, and the camp still hosts occasional fan tours.
Q 27Which studio paid $1.5m for the domestic distribution rights to the original Friday the 13th?
Paramount
Warner Bros. took the international rights, and New Line acquired the franchise much later.
Q 28Screenwriter Victor Miller took 'Jason' from his sons' names. Where did 'Voorhees' come from?
A girl he knew at high school
The sons were Josh and Ian.
Q 29In Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981), what does Jason wear over his face?
A burlap sack
Forty-eight seconds had to be cut from the film to avoid an X rating, and heroine Ginny fools him briefly by putting on his dead mother's sweater.
Q 30Friday the 13th Part III (1982), where Jason first dons the hockey mask, was the only entry released in what format?
3-D
The idea came up during a lighting check on set, and the film briefly knocked E.T. off the top of the US box office.