Most People Have No Idea This Unique Tunnel In Pittsburgh Exists
Nothing, in particular, really stands out when you first look at the abandoned tunnel in South Park Township. It looks like a fairly normal tunnel, neglected by time and people. Graffiti – some rather lewd – sprawls across the inner walls of the tunnel as greenery grows around the outer walls of one entrance and a thin chain link fence protects the entrance of the other side of this unique tunnel in Pittsburgh.
This tunnel doesn’t cause people to mysteriously slam on their breaks like the Squirrel Hill Tunnel. And, it doesn’t feature a 45 degree curve like the Armstrong Tunnel. What makes it so unique is the story behind what happened near – and now happens in, if you ask some people – that tunnel:
The Piney Fork Tunnel runs along Piney Fork Road in South Park Township. The tunnel, which first opened in 1924, was built to help the B&O Railroad transport coal. It remained in use until the mid-1960s.
But, something happened before the tunnel was even erected that forever made it part of local legend. Near the future site of the tunnel sat a bridge that supported trollies with electric cables. Locals knew it was a dangerous bridge, for a young boy had already been electrocuted there. A young boy of only eight named Raymond Robinson also climbed on that electrified bridge – curious to look inside a bird's nest he spotted and...
...slipped off the bridge, his face and upper body violently slamming against the live electric wires as he spiraled to the ground to what was a near certain death.
But, little Raymond survived that terrifying fall while sustaining life-altering injuries – the loss of his eyes, his nose, an ear, and an arm. His appearance, which frightened those who saw him, garnered him the nickname The Zombie and people who saw him claimed his skin glowed green.
Little Raymond grew up – and lived into his 70s – and left home only in the nighttime hours, when he would take long strolls in South Park Township and near the Piney Fork Tunnel. Locals began to tell his story over and over and, as usually happens, the real details of what happened to little Raymond blurred until they turned into an almost unrecognizable legend of Charlie No Face and The Green Man Tunnel.
Charlie No Face, so the legend goes, would walk down the streets late at night, often scaring those who came upon him, and as they watched him, he would simply be swallowed by the Piney Fork Tunnel. Drivers who stopped in the middle of the Green Man Tunnel, locals told, would often turn their vehicles and headlights off and yell for the mysterious green man to appear. And, appear he did – out of the darkness, his skin a bright green. As he reached his hand out to touch the vehicle, an electric charge would spark and the vehicle would stall.
So goes the tale (or at least one of them) of the Green Man Tunnel, a spooky destination many youngsters visited for generations and – at least for those who know about it – still do. That’s what makes this unique tunnel in Pittsburgh so, well, unique.
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