Witch Carole A. Smith Says TSA Fired Her After Co-Worker Accused Her of Evil Hex

Former Transportation Security Administration officer and practicing witch Carole A. Smith says she was fired from her job after co-worker Mary Bagnoli accused her of putting a hex on her car, MSNBC.com reports.

Smith, a follower of the pagan religion Wicca, worked at New York's Albany International Airport, where she had a reputation for her skill in finding weapons hidden in luggage and in aiding with pat-downs.

But in March 2009, Smith was investigated for a "threat of workplace violence," after Bagnoli said Smith scared her. Bagnoli said the witch had followed her after work one night and caused her car's heater to stop working.

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In her own defense, Smith explained to their supervisor, Matthew W. Lloyd, that Wiccans don't cast spells. Yes, she may keep a broomstick, a crystal ball and two black cats in her house, but she does not cast spells.

"That's not witchcraft. That's black magic or voodoo or something else. To put a spell on a heater of a car, if I had that kind of power, I wouldn't be working for TSA," Smith told MSNBC.com. "I would go buy lottery tickets and put a spell on the balls."

Lloyd decided to send the two employees to mediation, but in June 2009, Smith was fired. She filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, represented herself at a hearing in November 2010 and was ruled against a month later. She has filed an appeal and intends to have a lawyer with her at the next hearing.

Smith says her religion is closely tied to nature, comparing it to Native American beliefs. She says she celebrates the changing seasons and the full moon, and she has a small cauldron that she uses to burn incense.

"You don't try to harm anyone else," she told MSNBC.com. "It's not spell-casting. It's putting something out there in the universe that you desire, and if the time is right, and your heart is pure, and it's right for you, you may get it."

In which case, that would mean getting her job back -- at a different airport -- with back pay.