Hex House Scandal Riveted Tulsa

By Debbie Jackson

Originally Published in The Tulsa World on Sunday, October 26, 2014

The strange tale of Tulsa's Hex House - where a middle-aged woman named Carolann Smith kept two young women as virtual slaves - riveted Tulsa 70 years ago. When the case broke, both local newspapers breathlessly pursued every angle of the sensational story.

In 1944, Smith, 51, was living in a stately ivy-covered duplex at 10 E. 21st St. with Virginia Evans, 31, and Willetta Horner, 30, who were "hexed" into turning over every cent from their day jobs to her. Evans said she was "hypnotized and mesmerized" by the older woman, while Horner said she and Mrs. Smith had a "mother-daughter" relationship.

Characterized in The Tulsa Tribune as a "she-Svengali," Smith also bilked Evans' father out of $17,000 for fictitious nursing care for Virginia.

Mrs. Smith's other income came from insurance policies she took out on people - including her late husband, father and maid - all of whom conveniently died.

Officers inventoried the duplex and found that Smith lived luxuriously, buying expensive perfume, a $250 silverware set, a Packard car, 46 pairs of shoes, 18 pairs of gloves, 26 hats and enough makeup and beauty supplies "to stock a drugstore."

Meanwhile the two young women slept in a cold basement on orange crates, dressed in threadbare clothing and were denied makeup.

Neighbors reported a mysterious midnight burial in the yard, prompting police to dig up two small coffins containing the remains of dogs.

Extensive news coverage hinted at lurid details involving a shocking discovery made at the Hex House which "tends to bear out the sex angle," the Tulsa World reported. The discovery was never revealed.

In October 1944, Smith was found guilty of inducing the two younger women to testify falsely against a neighbor and sentenced to a year in prison following a three-day trial.

A month later, Smith pleaded guilty to federal charges of using the mail to defraud and making false statements to obtain a war-time ration book in the name of her bulldog, Bon Bon.

The Hex House was eventually sold and demolished. The site is now vacant, but the steps can still be seen on 21st Street.

And the tale lives on as one of the strangest in Tulsa history.

World news researcher Hilary Pittman contributed to this story.

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