If you’re looking for a story that makes you smile and fills your heart with happiness, quickly close out of this one and subscribe to this newsletter. This story doesn’t have happy endings – just bad luck.
March 15: The day that strikes fear in the hearts of superstitious people. Although almost every month has an ides, the Ides of March has had a history of unfortunate events.
An ides refers to days that land in the middle of the month, which in months with 31 days means March 15. It’s known as the deadline for settling debts in Roman times and the day William Shakespeare warned you about.
And if you’re superstitious, don’t worry, you’re not alone. About 25% of Americans consider themselves superstitious.
Here’s the history of March 15 and why it’s considered a day full of bad luck.
Days of bad luck
The date is best known as the day in 44 BC when Julius Caesar was stabbed in the back, front and practically everywhere else on the body in one of ancient Rome’s most gruesome assassinations.
And Shakespeare created the play “Julius Caesar,” so you wouldn’t forget that moment from history. In the play, a prophet warns Caesar to beware of the Ides of March; he ignored the advice and the Roman leader was done in by a group of senators.
But the bad omens don’t stop there.
A cyclone destroyed six warships – three US and three German ships – and killed more than 200 sailors in the waters of Apia, Samoa, on March 15, 1889, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command.
And Adolf Hitler ignored the Munich Pact – an agreement between Germany, Great Britain and France that gave Germany the Sudetenland, in western Czechoslovakia – and invaded other parts of Czechoslovakia on March 15, 1939. That marked the end of appeasement and further escalated tension leading toward World War II.
Without warning, the most severe blizzard in modern history ripped through North Dakota and Minnesota, killing 71 people on March 15, 1941.
Has the bad luck creeped you out yet?
No? Well, more recently, the Syrian Civil War began on March 15, 2011, when protesters took to the streets of Daraa after a group of teens and children were arrested for writing political graffiti. This leads to an estimated 400,000 Syrians being killed and more than 6.1 million internally displaced.
But it’s all coincidental, right? (*nervously smiling*)