Downtown Is A Bit More Spooky

By Jeffrey Smith, News On 6

TULSA, OK -- Bringing a new business to downtown Tulsa shouldn't make people scream in fear except in this case. A new haunted house has opened its doors on Friday night.

It's a fright fest with a little twist from the pages of history.

If you're in the business of Halloween horror, Tulsa's a great place to be. But until Friday, there's never been a downtown haunted house. It's based on a true story.

Downtown businesses are a dying breed and that's good news for Rhett Holmes. He runs Hex House, Tulsa's only haunted house of its kind.

"I never understood why in a city this big and this cool there wasn't something in Tulsa proper," said Rhett Holmes.

It's a familiar set-up, visitors walk through a mock house with all sorts of props. But there's a twist.

"We tried to theme it around a real Tulsa story, something that's local unique and you wouldn't find anywhere else," said Holmes.

The real Hex House is Tulsa legend. It was torn down 30 years ago, but the story lives on. A middle-aged woman kept two women locked in her basement for seven years. Police at the time say they were under her hypnotic spell.

"What better material can you ask for to theme a haunted house around?" said Holmes.

Another thing that makes the haunted house so unique is that all of the frights are generated from actors coming out to scare you.

"Just being able to get really close to people, and hearing them scream, you know, is music to everybody's ears," said Melanie Antry.

"They can come, they can touch you, they can do a lot of things they couldn't do otherwise. It's the only way to scare people," said Holmes.

And he says scaring people is the best way he knows to bring people downtown.

Hex House at 415 North Main is open Thursday through Sunday and every night during Halloween week. Tickets cost $10.