Good true story to read

When i was a teenager years ago we would often make a trip down the road to see this fellow, we would take him some beer and some smokes and chat with him for awhile. We got to know him pretty good and always brought him some food and magazines also for him. This is a true story of Ray,,,,,,, also known as The Greenman The “Green Man” or “Charlie No Face”
By Betty Hoover DiRisio
Raymond Theodore Robinson was born October 29, 1910 in Beaver County. A son of Vasil R. Robinson aka Robert Van Robinson and his wife Lulu (Louise) Henrietta Winnail Robinson. His father died in 1917. His mother remarried her husband’s brother, Orin Newton Robinson in 1929, who was a widower. They raised at least 6 children. Mildred, Beatrice, Valda, Raymond T., Wilfred L. and Verner F.
On June 20, 1919 it was reported that Ray, then a boy of 8 years old, was electrocuted when he touched a high tension wire leading from the transformer that powered the Harmony route of the electric trolley system. Supposedly on a dare from his playmates, Ray climbed up to a bird’s nest. There were two voltage lines, one carrying 12,000 volts and one carrying 25,000 volts. Whichever he touched, his eyes were said to have been burned out and he was horribly burned about the face, hands, arms and body. His eyes and nose were gone, and his lips and ears, terribly disfigured. (Another boy, aged 10, had burned to death six months prior at the same location.) Ray was rushed to Providence Hospital and lingered near death, but within two months it was reported that he was alive and in good spirits, a trait that apparently stayed with him throughout life.
While severely disfigured, Ray would go on to learn braille and was said to have passed his time weaving rubber door mats and making wallets from used tires. He lived in isolation, not appearing in public until his later years. It was reported that he ate separately from his family, and when an adult, was provided an apartment in their garage. While blind, he loved to walk and as a man would wander along Route 351, (which worried his mother) with one leg on the pavement and the other alongside the road to guide him. He loved listening to the radio, especially to baseball games.
When he began to roam, sightings of him grew into rumors of a “green man” and “Charlie No Face.” Not knowing his tragic story, people talked of a monster-like character. Some even claiming he was deranged and institutionalized. These stories were sensationalized with inaccurate information and ghost-story like versions of his tale. Far from being a monster, Ray was a lonely human being. People speculated about how he met with his deformity. Some thought he had fallen in acid. Some thought the name “green man” was due to the hue given off by an often worn green shirt. Trisha York, who lived in Ellwood, interviewed hundreds of people who had met him. The grim reality was that since his nose was an open wound, it would often become infected, causing the area to turn green. Trisha holds Ray’s movie rights and had planned on doing a documentary that would do him and his family justice, but for various reasons the project is yet to be completed.
Teenagers, lacking entertainment venues, would seek him out. Young men would try to scare their dates with his appearance. Many would bring him beer and cigarettes, and provided Ray with a welcomed social connection he had lacked. Many posed with him for photographs. Some were also extremely cruel. It was reported that he had been given a beer in which the culprit had urinated. Then after, he would not drink from an open bottle. While he often hid from traffic, he would occasionally accept rides. But among the cruel deeds was leaving him out in the middle of nowhere to find his way back home. Ms. York said that during her interviews of people who met him, there were many who were ashamed of how they had treated him, many grown men breaking down in tears. His sister, wanting to maintain the family’s privacy, only told a reporter that she worried about him drinking and walking along that narrow road. His nephew was quoted as saying that Uncle Ray never discussed his injuries or his problems at all. “It was just a reality and there was nothing he could do about, so he never spoke about. He never complained about anything.” His family took care of him until the last few years of his life when he had to be moved into a nursing home.
Ray died June 11, 1985 at the age of 74 and is buried with his natural father Robert, at Grandview Cemetery in Beaver County. While not a resident of Lawrence County, Ray was a legend throughout the county and throughout Western Pennsylvania. This individual has been the subject of many articles, some in the Pittsburgh papers and even one appearing in the New York Times.

Here is a photo of him

Good read T, people can be very mean when they don’t understand!

I could never fiqure out why some would do that to him, he was one of the nicest persons i ever new. We always enjoyed talking with him.

Nice story Theo. thanks!

Good read indeed T-- He was a tough one.

Excellent piece...I was wondering how he found his way around...makes perfect sense how you explained it...amazing how a person can go through an event like that and overcome the barriers presented and adapt. Thanks for sharing