Hanging on Pennsylvania Halloween Ad Upsets Black Residents

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Some Black residents of a Pittsburgh community have complained that an image of a hanged man on a billboard advertising a Halloween attraction is offensive.

The billboard is for the Haunted Hayloft in Somerset, about 70 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. A portion of the ad on the city's north side depicts a man hanging from a tree by a noose.

Residents of the Pittsburgh neighborhood tell station WPXI (http://bit.ly/o4qbvC ) the hanging figure is too prominent.

But Haunted Hayloft owner Elizabeth Svonavec says that she never meant to offend anyone and that there's a story behind the picture: Two white men were hanged in Somerset in 1893 for killing a farmer.

Svonavec says she contacted the ad agency and the billboard will be taken down, but she's not sure when.

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Information from: WPXI-TV, http://www.wpxi.com

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