Whatever your deep, personal feelings are about Friday the 13th, there is one fact that can't be quibbled with: There is only one in 2016.
It didn't arrive in chilly, dark-afternoon'd January, and it won't show up in spooky October, which is kind of what Friday the 13th would be if Friday the 13th was a month.
You guessed it: The merry, flowery, sunshiny month of May is where the lore-filled, superstition-packed, slightly creepy day is making its single entry for the year.
So how to October-up this spritely, light-of-heart Friday the 13th?
Take heart that Los Angeles is already revving up its Halloween-oriented engines, with the recent auditions for "The Walking Dead" attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood, and tickets on sale for the two mondo/macabre Halloween conventions this summer (Midsummer Scream and ScareLA, eek).
But as for the date itself? There are terrifying to-dos, like...
The Great Horror Campout's movie night on Friday, May 13, and the date and the screening's location -- the Old Zoo at Griffith Park -- should clue you into what the film will be. (Hint: It's "Friday the 13th," but perhaps the group's very name, what with the "campout" part, gave that away.)
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If you're into that Camp Crystal Lake feel, but without the whole heading into the outdoors, L'Affaire Musicale & Ouija Entertainment are concocting a "Friday the 13th" treat at the Lyric Theatre on La Brea Avenue. Oh yeah: "Camp Attire Suggested."
Hmm. Rarely has a dress code seemed so dastardly.
And if you wend your way to San Jose on this Friday the 13th, or any Friday the 13th, you likely know what's afoot: an evening flashlight tour through the Winchester Mystery House. It's tradition, with a historic and atmospheric twist.
However you spend this fine May Friday, whether on the watch for superstitious doings or happily traipsing along, ponder this: 2017 will have two Friday the 13ths, and, indeed, one will happen in that most Friday-the-13th-ish of months, October.