On Friday, Sept. 13 students were invited to slap superstition in the face on a day when superstition often reigns supreme.

The Carolina Skeptics held its Friday the 13th Bash from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. next to Pizza Hut in the Benson Center. Members of the organization encouraged passersby to "show your freedom from superstition" by participating in activities often deemed unlucky. Those who encountered the Skeptics were invited to spill salt, walk under a ladder and open an umbrella indoors. The group even supplied a hammer and mirrors for breaking, a cracked tile to step on and a fake black cat to cross paths.

Perhaps the most unlucky moment of the day occurred at 13:13:13 (1:13 and 13 seconds p.m.) when club president Eric Carlson, an associate professor of physics, attempted to perform all the unlucky rituals simultaneously.

"We believe people should use critical thinking rather than just accept extraordinary claims, and the claim that Friday the 13th brings bad luck is certainly extraordinary," Carlson said.

Carlson is the founding member of the Carolina Skeptics and also club's president. Another founding member, Terry Blumenthal, a professor of psychology, is the treasurer and membership chair of the organization.

The Carolina Skeptics is a non-profit organization that encourages education and critical thinking in response to paranormal and extraordinary claims. The organization was started four years ago at this university and currently claims around 100 members in North and South Carolina.

The Carolina Skeptics includes people from all walks of life, from scientists and engineers to insurance salesmen and homemakers. The club schedules talks every few months and publishes a quarterly newsletter, Skeptically Speaking. This was the club's fifth Friday the 13th Bash; the sixth is scheduled for Friday, December 13, 2002.

Members of the club are currently or have previously conducted investigations pertaining to such topics as Benny Hinn, the psychic transmission of images of playing cards and reincarnation.