After decades of being away from the scene, London's Eccentric Club is bringing back Friday the 13th with the "Annual Friday the 13th Dinner," allegedly held since 1780s--the traditional superstition-defying bad-luck-omen-denying Annual Dinner of men of reason and science. The Club intends to follow most of the traditions of the dinner, where all guests arriving would have to go under a ladder, look into a broken mirror, spill salt, open a black umbrella indoors, etc.
This Friday the 13th tradition has also been carried over the ocean, as can be seen from this scene at the 2007 Hollywood Friday the 13th Club dinner. Now, there is certainly a superstition about black cats and "opening an umbrella indoors" is considered bad luck, but I am not sure why we have to break the curse by using just black umbrellas?! Now, another superstition is new to me: "Dropping an umbrella on the floor means that there will be a murder in the house." So be extra careful out there when you open your umbrellas indoors on Friday!
And here are more superstitions about umbrellas:
- It is bad luck to give an umbrella as a gift.
- If you drop an umbrella, do not pick it up. Instead, have someone else do it for you, or you will be the recipient of bad luck.
- If a single woman drops an umbrella, she will never marry.
- If an umbrella is opened outside when it is not needed, rain, and other bad weather, will follow.
by Bill Buckner, Dave "Umbrella" Watson (1851-1938) got his nickname because he always carried an umbrella, rain or shine. Even better, 
by John M. Levinson and Somers G. Headley reports that he said:
