Haunted OKC: Carey Place

Photo from flickr.com
Photo from flickr.com

Macy Sliman, Staff Writer

   The air is getting crisp. Leaves are falling. Children are fighting over who will be the better Princess Cinderella. The smell of candy and desperation is in the air. It is Halloween again. While Halloween is a pagan holiday, it is still observed by most as a time for candy, costumes and–best of all–scary stories.

   While better known for costumes and trick or treating, Halloween can also be quite scary if that is what you are into. Not only are there the usual freaky stories but also the local ones that can be even worse.

   One of Oklahoma City’s local horror stories is the sad tale of Carey Place. Now, the story actually takes place on the corner of Carey Place and NW 18, in a quiet little suburban neighborhood. There is very little traffic near this neck of the woods, almost like Carey Place is in a different time completely. This particular neighborhood is home to quiant gardens and lovely houses. Even the “Hatchet House” is darling in the daylight.

   Hatchet House is one of those haunts that attract guys that take their girlfriends to see if they can scare them. They will walk by the school to see if Carey’s swing is still swinging and tell ghost stories in the moonlight. Carey Place is one of the most visited places in Oklahoma City on Halloween night due to the horrible story. The streets are packed with milling children and parents in costumes enough to have the police or fire department come and direct traffic. It can easily be assumed that the horrific story of little Carey will be told for years to come.

   The Hatchet House has a much more sinister past than the other shuttered places on this stretch. It is rumored that a girl named Carey lived in this house with the hatchets carved in the shutters in the early 1920’s. No one really knows what happened to her exactly, only that she was taken from the nearby school and murdered violently with a hatchet, like some twisted irony. It is said that a man went into a homicidal craze after seeing the hatchets on the shutters. Back then, hatchets were a symbol supposedly used by devil worshiping cults who brainwashed their followers into committing violent works.

   The driveway and front porch are painted red to hide the existence of the crime to this day since the blood from Carey’s head wound could not be cleaned up. The little girl is said to have been buried in one of the yards on the street, but no ones knows which. According to legend, she haunts the surrounding houses to this day. Since she was taken from the playground at the school, rumor has it that on some nights she can be seen swinging on the swings and sobbing uncontrollably.