On the outskirts of Pittsburgh, you can find an abandoned train tunnel covered in graffiti and filled with technical salt. It was built in 1924 for the needs of the miners, and in 1962 it ceased to be used and was abandoned.
Terrifying urban legend
Locals still call it the Faceless Charlie Tunnel. Previously, teenagers often stopped by here at night, turned off the headlights and called the mysterious Faceless Charlie, who, in their opinion, could appear out of the pitch darkness and scare them to death. Sounds like a typical urban legend that emerged from the ruins of a declining industry. However, this story is, surprisingly, partially true.
It is believed that at night in the tunnel and on the nearby roads a mysterious person appears, completely devoid of his face. Many argue that this is a ghost, a walking dead man, a crazy maniac, or even a demon from the underworld. Teenagers whisper that Faceless Charlie seeks to catch up with everyone he meets at such a late hour, and that the most unenviable fate awaits the victim of the monster.
Thrill-seeking youths still occasionally come here at night hoping to meet Faceless Charlie, but they won't find him. A man without a face left this world more than three decades ago. He was not crazy, murderer, or ghost. This man with a sad fate was called Raymond Robinson.
The real story of Faceless Charlie
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Raymond was born in October 1910 in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and grew up as a perfectly normal child. The boy's father died when he was only seven, but the mother of our hero Lulu soon married the brother of her late husband. Two years later, Raymond's life has changed forever.
A boy and his friends, while playing on a tram bridge, noticed a bird's nest on a pole with high-voltage wires. Our hero decided to get it and climbed up. There, Raymond accidentally touched a 22,000-volt cable, receiving a colossal electric shock. The unfortunate man was thrown aside, and he fell on the bridge with terrible burns on his head and body.
Doctors believed that the boy would not survive, but a miracle happened. Nevertheless, the life of the little American could hardly be called wonderful now. He was scarred and lost his left arm. Robinson's face, struck by the electricity, was completely burned. Raymond lost both eyes and nose, and his lips were puffy and curved. Having turned into a hermit, the teenager began to make rugs, belts and wallets in order to financially help his mother and stepfather-uncle.
As a result, the family moved to live with relatives in Pittsburgh. Robinson refused to leave the house in the daytime, so as not to frighten his neighbors with his appearance. However, over time, he dared to go outside after sunset. Our hero began to take long night walks near the roads and often passed through the aforementioned tunnel. Being blind, he stepped on the roadway with one foot and on the side of the road with the other, so as not to get lost and not get hit by a car.
How Faceless Charlie was treated by others
One day, someone noticed Raymond, and most likely, the unfortunate man very much frightened a stranger.
So, probably, the terrible legend of the Faceless Charlie was born. However, soon some residents of Pittsburgh realized that a person without a face really exists, although it does not pose a danger to anyone. Moreover, the townspeople often stopped and talked with the man. He willingly talked with the inhabitants of the town, and also treated himself to beer and cigarettes, which they presented to him.
Those who knew Raymond described him as incredibly friendly and polite. Unfortunately, the acquired ugliness of Robinson scared many people away from him, and impressionable youth spread various unpleasant rumors about him. However, despite all the negative attention and ridicule, the man continued his nightly exercises. He was lonely and wanted to communicate with someone other than his family members.
The popularity of our hero reached its peak in the sixties of the last century, when whole traffic jams lined up on the local roads at night, people in which wanted to look at this semi-legendary personality, chat with her and treat her with something.
The last days of Faceless Charlie
As his old age approached, Raymond began to walk less and less at night, and many Pittsburgh residents again began to treat him as some kind of phantom that occasionally appears on dark roads and disappears from them without a trace.
In the 1980s, the man moved to a local home for the disabled. On June 11, 1985, he died there at the age of 74. Raymond was buried next to his father, just a few hundred meters from the bridge, where our hero met his tragic fate as a child.
Researchers of urban folklore note that Robinson's story is a good example of how real events become myths, overgrown with supernatural, frightening and overly exaggerated details. Practically - mysticism, which for some reason people adore her so much …