hanging.jpgPITTSBURGH (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  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.