Bats, spiders and other creatures of the night are usually enough to send people running, especially on Friday the 13th. But on Nov. 13, Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary guided families through the night on the post-Halloween Night Hike.

Property Manager and naturalist Lauren Miller-Donnelly treated families to a nighttime tour of the trail surrounding Stone Barn Farm. The walk highlighted some of the creepier critters of the night – a fitting mission considering the date.

Across many cultures, screech owls, big brown bats and spiders have been tied to bad luck and misfortune, though none more than the number 13.

It was pitch black by the time attendants arrived, so Miller-Donnelly utilized the callback technique to lure nearby owls closer while walking down the trails. Additionally, most nocturnal creatures have luminescent eyes that glow when light is shined at them. By shining a faint light against the grass, the eyes of spiders could be illuminated even in the dark.

Little brown and big brown bats are local species that haunt the area. According to Miller-Donnelly, bats account for one in five of Earth's mammals. Their huge numbers worldwide are due, in part, to the fact that they likely existed at the same time that dinosaurs walked the earth.

However, little browns are plummeting due to the presence of white-nose syndrome. Bats contract this white fungus that spreads on their nose, ears and wings from caves that are inhabited by other animals and is responsible for the deaths of millions of bats.

Though they were historically maligned, spiders and owls have been on the upswing. Owls are typically seen as symbols of wisdom while spiders permeate childhood through stories like “Charlotte’s Web” and nursery rhymes like “Itsy Bitsy Spider.”

“If you look back on the cultures of animals like owls and spiders and bats, they go back millenniums. Really, the 13th is a western, Catholic Christian belief,” Miller-Donnelly said. “Jesus was crucified on the 13th, and at the Last Supper, there were 12 people at the supper and Judas was the 13th person, and he was a traitor.”

Though most superstitions abated over time with the advancement of science, the fear of the number 13 persists even today. From hotel rooms to building floors, superstition is still so powerful that people often opt to omit the number and skip to 14.

“Mark Twain once wrote about [the number 13]… ‘Somebody invited me to a dinner party and I was the 13th.’ They only planned for 12 people,” Miller-Donnelly said.

The slasher film icon Jason Vorhees of the Friday the 13th series is sure to keep superstition alive and well.

“I was a ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ person,” Miller-Donnelly added jokingly.

The littlest guest on the trail was Barron Barclay. He was unfazed by the things the go bump in the night. Rather, the young adventurer was more than ready to go out and explore the local wildlife.