He also stays true to believe the certificate is a forgery. Most books and other reportable sources confirm that he was indeed born in 1930 but the dates do range from 1925-1931 (Bekris, 10). Andy was raised in a coal mining town in Philadelphia. It was a dark musty town were the sky stayed black. The town was overrun with poverty and crime. (Bekris, 10) Being raised in an environment as such would greatly affect a person"s personality in their later years. This might explain Andy"s later fascination with death related topics. In 1930 Andy"s father got a steady job laying roads and moving houses. This was a high paying job at the time because of the mass rate of growth in the cities. Ondrej saved his money and one-year later moved his family into a larger house on Beelan Street. Shortly after moving into the house Ondrej lost his job and was forced to move into a two-bedroom apartment. The rent was six dollars a week and Andy"s father had to work odd jobs to just barley pay the rent. It was not just Andy and his parents. Andy had two other brothers, one older and one younger. All three of the children were said to be afraid of their father. "Dad didn"t like us to start commotion because he was so exhausted and he would get emotionally upset. Usually all he had to do was look at you." (Beckris 12) .

             Andy always had a problem with grammar school. He was not a social child and preferred to keep to himself. As most children do, they saw this in Andy and picked on him frequently. (Bekris, 18) Andy"s brother Paul stated, "At age four Andy cried a lot at school and one day a little black girl slapped him" (Beckris 15) He was very traumatized by this incident and asked his mother if she could keep him home from school. As the loving mother she was, she took Andy out of school and kept him home for two years. Over this time he became very close to his mother. When it was time for him to return to school he threw a temper tantrum.