The Garden of Good and Evil

Ever wondered what secrets lie beneath the cobblestone streets of Savannah? Join me, Carole Townsend, as I unravel the ghostly allure and historical intrigue of this Southern city, with tales that will leave you questioning the line between myth and reality. Our journey takes us first to the Mercer House, where the echoes of a dramatic event from May 2, 1981, continue to haunt Savannah's storied past. Inspired by John Barrett's "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," we'll peel back the layers of Southern charm to discover a city where history, mystery, and idiosyncratic characters create an irresistible tapestry.

In this episode, prepare to be captivated by the vibrant personalities that have shaped Savannah's narrative. From Jim Williams' infamous trial to the spellbinding presence of Lady Chablis and the enigmatic Gullah Hoodoo priestess Minerva, these characters bring the city to life in unexpected ways. As we explore Savannah's awe-inspiring antebellum architecture and lush parks, I'll reveal how this coastal gem's past is interwoven with tales of hedonism and high society. So, find a cozy spot, perhaps with a mint julep in hand, and let these stories transport you to a place where every corner whispers its own secrets of the past.

Chapters

• 0:09 Midnight in the Garden of Evil
• 18:18 The Eccentric Characters of Savannah
• 28:08 Mystical Savannah

Transcript

Carole Townsend: 0:09

Savannah, georgia, is a fascinating deep south coastal city, hypnotic in its charms, sobering in its rich history and breathtaking in its beauty. Taking in its beauty, antebellum architecture, cobblestone streets, shaded parks and somber yet exquisite cemeteries combine with the culture and a people that, in my experience at least, are not duplicated anywhere else in this country. The city of Savannah is nothing less than magical in its charm and its grace. In the wee hours of the morning of May 2, 1981, savannah slept. Oh, of course there was the occasional barking of a dog, the incidental tete-a-tete, and, of course, the clandestine intertwining of couples not meant to be together in the light of day. But at 429 Bull Street, in a house famously known as the Mercer House, a couple's heated discussion was escalating. Voices were raised, accusations thrown, threats made, and in a split second, savannah history changed forever. Lives were changed forever. One life was lost forever, for in that split second, in Mercer House, one lover took the life of the other.

Carole Townsend: 1:45

This story sounds like a best-selling novel or a thrilling box office smash, doesn't it? Well, in fact, it was a best-selling novel, sitting atop the New York Times bestseller list for a record 216 weeks, and it was in fact a movie directed by none other than the great Clint Eastwood. But what if I told you that it was also true here in the South?

Carole Townsend: 2:17

We love our stories. We begin in childhood huddled around campfires, whispering of things best spoken in the dark, confiding in our small trusting circles. Why is that, do you suppose? I have researched and investigated Southern history for more than 20 years and I believe it has to do with this region itself. There's a lot that hangs in the ether here and much that is buried deep in the soil. There's beauty here in the South and shame and courage. And, make no mistake, there is evil. There's always been the element of the unexplained, the just out of reachreach that we can all feel but can never quite describe. And the best place for telling tales about such things is the comfort and safety of an old front porch. So I invite you tonight to come up here with me, settle back into a chair and get comfortable, pour yourself a drink if you like, and I'll share with you some of the tales best told in the company of friends, tales that prove that truth really is stranger than fiction, and I'll turn on the light. You're going to want that. I'm Carole Townsend. Welcome to my front porch.

Carole Townsend: 3:51

The following podcast contains material that may be disturbing. Listener discretion is advised.

Carole Townsend: 4:16

Military leader James Oglethorpe designed the prosperous port city of Savannah, choosing an area located high on a bluff overlooking the Savannah River. One must imagine that the mighty river and the stately old oak trees gracefully draped with Spanish moss had something to do with his concept. Oglethorpe laid out spacious grids dotted with shaded parks, and that design was carried throughout Savannah's development over the years. This unique design is but one of many reasons Savannah, Georgia's oldest city, is set apart from all other southern cities. In fact, her beauty has long been credited with being the reason General Sherman didn't burn the city during the Civil War as he did so many others as he marched through Georgia. Instead, he spared the city and offered it to President Abraham Lincoln as a Christmas gift. The gesture delighted the president. Now some say Savannah was spared because the city's mayor and General Sherman worked out a surrender before the city was to be burned. And others say that Sherman spared Savannah because he had a lover who lived there. In any event, sherman left the city intact for future generations, and for that we're fortunate.

Carole Townsend: 5:42

Savannah boasts many other claims to fame. She was known for being a favorite respite for swashbuckling pirates who preyed on passengers and crews on ships that came and went on the river and into the port. The cotton gin was invented in Savannah, and the city has also been praised for its historic significance with respect to its African American community. Martin Luther King, on more than one occasion, praised the city for its nonviolent protests and sit-ins, as well as its commitment to positive change. Beauty, grace, war and peace all somehow dance together in this charming, gracious, stately city.

Carole Townsend: 6:34

In 1994, a talented writer named John Barrett wrote a book titled Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The book was a smashing success. Barrett's prose, combined with the subject matter, are simply irresistible. Where else but in the South could a hoodoo priestess, a transvestite, a wealthy historic preservationist, a lawyer famous for the lineage of the University of Georgia's bulldog mascot Ugga and an uneducated drug and alcohol addict come together in such a story?

Carole Townsend: 7:16

There is something else that sets Savannah apart, and that is her socialites, the elite echelon of Savannah society. There's money in this city, both very old and relatively new. Keep in mind, of course, that first-generation money, no matter how much there is, is considered new money. Old money is revered and highly respected, and new money, well, it's highly sought after. If a member of Savannah's society is wealthy enough, his new variche status can be overlooked and can even buy his way into the uppermost inner circles. Such was the case with James Arthur Williams who, in the early hours of May 2, 1981, shot his lover to death in his elegant, immaculately appointed historic home known as Mercer House. Known as Mercer House In 1930, james Arthur Williams was born in Gordon, georgia.

Carole Townsend: 8:32

He moved to Savannah in 1952 at age 21. Jim was a young, handsome, somewhat closeted gay man without, as some have described, a dime to his name. But within three years of moving to Savannah he had bought and restored his first three houses. He went on to make a fortune in historic home restoration, antiques and in real estate, and he used his resources to preserve the magnificent history of one of the South's oldest cities.

Carole Townsend: 9:05

Williams moved effortlessly among the city's elite and he was known for being one of Savannah's most gracious hosts. An invitation to one of his parties was always a highly sought-after prize. It was at one of these parties that Jim met a 21-year-old man named Danny Hansford, a skilled, street-smart hustler and known drug dealer and addict. Danny was also, shall we say, a lover for hire, for both male and female clients. It was on this basis that Williams and Hansford launched their torrid relationship. They were an unlikely pair, these two Williams a wealthy and respected restorationist and preserver of history, and Hansford an uneducated by the description of some of those who knew him best dirty and disheveled drug addict. Still, there was something about the young man that Williams simply couldn't resist, and he didn't. Interestingly, hansford had a girlfriend, despite his profession of choice and his affair with Williams.

Carole Townsend: 10:23

It was that girlfriend that became a bone of contention between the two men, as Hansford refused to give her up, though Williams made it clear that he expected exactly that. That, to Danny's appearance, his habits and mannerisms stood in sharp contrast to William's lifestyle and his social circle. So the elder lover made attempts, however fruitless, to keep the two separate. Williams explained Hansford's constant presence as being the result of his desire to help the young man and keep him safely off the streets. Polite society, of course, accepted this explanation publicly and at face value, but privately, let's say, savannah's salacious gossip would often center on the odd couple, and center on the odd couple. Tensions between the clandestine lovers would often erupt into loud, violent altercations, with Danny storming out of the mansion only to return a few days later, sulking but contrite. Williams would shower him with gifts and attention when he'd return, and this cycle repeated for about two years.

Carole Townsend: 11:46

At around 2.30 am on May 2, 1981, williams and Hansford were embroiled in another one of their clashes, this one particularly heated. This account of what happened is this one particularly heated. This account of what happened is, of course, secondhand and it came from Williams himself, it seems. Hansford was sitting on a sofa playing a video game in the stately home and he had convinced Williams to join him. When Williams quickly lost interest, hansford smashed the game in a petulant tirade. From there the confrontation escalated, with Williams retiring to the study, telling Hansford that he had to leave his house the next day. The young man stormed out, but not before pushing over an 18th century English grandfather clock, destroying it. Williams, according to his own testimony, remained in the study calmly attempting to ride out the storm until it subsided. But just a few moments after smashing the clock, according to Williams, hansford stormed into the study, pointing a gun at his lover and stating I may be leaving tomorrow, but you're leaving tonight. He fired at Williams, but the gun jammed, giving Williams time to open the desk drawer and produce a 9mm Luger pistol In self-defense. He said he shot Hansford in the head, chest and back, killing him. Thirty minutes later Jim Williams calmly called the police to report a shooting at his residence. Williams was shortly taken into custody and charged with murder.

Carole Townsend: 13:41

The investigation that followed led prosecutors to accuse Williams of killing Hansford in cold blood and then staging the crime scene. Without getting us bogged down into tedious details, detectives found Hansford's body on the floor with a chair leg pinning the hem of Hansford's pants to the floor. How could this have happened? If events had unfolded as Williams claimed, the chair had to have been moved after the shooting. Two blood smears on Hansford's hands didn't line up with the way the body fell and no gunshot residue was found on the young man's hands. And of course, the obvious couldn't be ignored. Hansford's death solved an ugly and embarrassing problem for the respected preservationist, didn't it?

Carole Townsend: 14:42

Jim Williams was tried an astounding four times for shooting his lover. At the first trial, williams was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. That verdict was overturned in January 1983 by the Georgia Supreme Court because of contradicting statements made by the arresting officer. At the second trial in September 1983, attorney Sonny Seeler defended Williams Seeler, you may know, was not only an accomplished Savannah attorney, he was also the owner of the University of Georgia's live mascots named Ugga, a series of successively numbered English Bulldogs. He decided to have Williams openly bring up his sexuality during this trial, but little else differed in his defense and on October 8th Williams was again convicted and sentenced to life in prison. However, in June 1985, the Georgia Supreme Court overturned the conviction, stating that the sheriff should not have been allowed to testify as an expert and that the prosecutor waited until his closing argument to demonstrate some crucial evidence. The third trial resulted in a mistrial and the fourth, this time held in Augusta, georgia, in May 1989, resulted in Williams acquittal.

Carole Townsend: 16:09

Eight years, four trials and ultimately an acquittal. But misfortune and heartbreak are patient hunters. On January 14th 1990, after just eight months of being a free man, 59-year-old Jim Williams collapsed and died at his beloved Mercer House. He is said to have died in his study, the scene of the shooting of his young, unlikely lover, earlier.

Carole Townsend: 16:41

I said that this tragic tale reads like a best-selling novel and in fact it is just that the book, brilliantly and colorfully written by New Yorker John Behrendt, is titled Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and it refers to the half hour before and the half hour after midnight. The title refers to the hoodoo notion of midnight, the period between the time for good magic 11 30 pm to midnight and the time for evil magic night and the time for evil magic midnight to 1230 am. Elites and wealthy eccentrics often find footing in both, don't they? Incidentally, in the book, barron claims that Jim Williams did in fact confess to him before the third trial that he shot Danny Hansford, not in self-defense but with clear intent, and then staged the scene to look otherwise. That confession is said to have been recorded on a dictaphone. Berent, who cleverly wrote himself into the book as a main character, is in fact, the only surviving character in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Sonny Seeler died Monday, august 28, 2023, after living an accomplished 90-year life. In fact, he played the judge Samuel L White in Clint Eastwood's film.

Carole Townsend: 18:18

Jim Williams is buried in the Ramah Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery near Gordon, georgia, his hometown. Danny Hansford is buried in Greenwich Cemetery, which is next to Forest Lawn Cemetery, which is adjacent to the famous Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah. Although Bonaventure Cemetery is the focus in the book, the aforementioned Garden of Good and Evil refers principally to the cemetery off Congress Street in Beaufort, south Carolina. This case changed the course of an entire city, as the book fueled tourism and it pulled back the curtain on the city's moneyed society that had previously lived in a protected, even secret, parallel world. In fact, perhaps it's because Jim Williams had one foot behind that curtain and one foot in the world of the common man that the story came to light at all.

Carole Townsend: 19:20

In this surprise bestseller, author John Barrett masterfully weaves a colorful tapestry of both fiction and non-fiction. But the true beauty of this gem lies in the fact that the characters in the story, peculiar and eccentric as they are, are real people. They are are real people. John Barrett, jim Williams and Danny Hansford are central characters of the story, obviously, but this is Savannah and this story wouldn't be complete without introducing some of the other real characters, as they themselves are a study in Southern flair and intrigue and deserve to be treated as such. Let's take a moment to move in closer and examine the kaleidoscope of astonishing gems who swirl together in the garden of good and evil.

Carole Townsend: 20:16

It's difficult to pinpoint one single thing for which Jim Williams is remembered. Of course the book made him famous for shooting his lever, difficult to pinpoint. One single thing for which Jim Williams is remembered, of course the book made him famous for shooting his lever and for the ultimate acquittal that came after four trials and eight years. Kevin Spacey played the part in the movie directed by Clint Eastwood, and he did it very well. But we can't forget that Williams was also a self-made man who used his knowledge and resources to become a key player in the preservation of Savannah's remarkable history. Of course he was a gifted restorationist and I think the pièce de résistance in the totality of Jim Williams is the vast diversity of the people who moved in his eclectic circle. Danny Hansford, or Billy Hanson in the film played by a young Jude Law, was a bit of a diva. Williams was his meal ticket and he knew it. But he also knew that he had a powerful hold over his older lover and he tested it often, almost as though testing Williams was a sport. Savannah socialite Prentice Crow characterized Danny as a good time not yet had by all, and it was clear that his reputation was well known, no matter how Williams tried to explain his constant presence at Mercer House. Williams provided him with a place to live, with drugs and alcohol and with fine clothes and jewelry. He gave him a job and yet, it seemed, hansford taunted and provoked Williams at every turn. In fact he provoked him one time too many.

Carole Townsend: 22:05

In his book, john Barrett made the city of Savannah itself not just a setting but also a main character. It would have been a mistake not to. Savannah has a complicated relationship with Barrett's bestseller, more so 30 years ago than now. I suppose the sting of the revelations in the book has cooled, with Barrett being the only surviving primary character. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil boosted tourism in the city immensely and Savannah has surely prospered as a result. But yes, the book also revealed the seedy, sometimes shocking, underbelly of the gracious Southern city. In Savannah, quiet history and raw hedonism dance together and somehow it all works in a unique and fascinating waltz.

Carole Townsend: 23:00

Let's turn our gaze to the Lady Chablis, a transgender actress, author and performer who became very well known after the book was published, arguably one of the most iconic players in this shocking Savannah scandal. Lady Chablis was born Benjamin Knox in Florida in 1957. Lady Chablis was born Benjamin Knox in Florida in 1957. Knox took the name the Lady Chablis at age 16. Performing in gay bars and bathhouses at the age of 15, the Lady Chablis became one of the first Southern people to live openly transgender during the 70s, 80s and even 90s, transgender during the 70s, 80s and even 90s. In Savannah, lady Chablis was very much a part of the quirky socialite scene and in fact played the Lady Chablis character in the movie herself. She provides very real comic relief in the tragic story of Williams and Hansford, as she was a fountain of charm, blunt honesty and juicy gossip. Unlike the movie account of the trial, lady Chablis never testified at any of Williams' actual trials. She never quipped fashion tips and humorous observations from the witness stand as she did in the film. A haunting footnote to her life is this she died of pneumonia at age 59. So did Jim Williams, just eight months after being acquitted for the murder of his young lover.

Carole Townsend: 24:33

Then there is the unforgettable character Minerva, whose real name was Valerie Bowles. Valerie was a Gullah Hoodoo priestess or a root doctor, suspicious of everyone, strong-willed and wildly foul-mouthed. Incidentally, some refer to her as being a voodoo priestess, but there is a difference between voodoo and hoodoo. While voodoo is recognized as an organized religion with defined rituals and even a priesthood, voodoo is a system of folk magic used primarily for personal gain and benefit. Bowles rarely allowed herself to be photographed or even touched, as she believed that doing so would expose her to the risk of being hexed. When someone gave her money, they had to first lay that money down on a table or on the floor. She never accepted cash or anything else from another person's hand. She didn't want to be touched because, as she put it, doing so would allow the other person to quote, work her hands and cast a spell on her.

Carole Townsend: 25:43

How did such a character play into the Savannah tragedy? Well, she was a friend of Jim Williams. She would give Jim information about what was going on in the community and in return Jim would give her money. According to Barrett, during a visit to see Bowles in her South Carolina home, she led him and Williams to her common-law husband's grave in Beaufort to cast a spell on former Chatham County District Attorney Spencer Lawton. Lawton is the prosecutor who filed murder charges against Williams in the fatal shooting of Danny Hansford. You see, jim Williams very much believed in hoodoo and in the powers of Bowles, so he enlisted the help of the priestess to derail Lawton's case one way or another. The hoodoo ceremony was performed at Bowles' husband's graveside, since immense power was said to emanate from that sight, though the powerful root doctor was long dead. Bowles' age at her death remains uncertain, though some sources cite her birth year as being 1932.

Carole Townsend: 26:56

And what about the character of Luther Driggers? Was he a real man? As it turns out, yes, he was. This character in Barron's book is loosely based on a real Savannah resident named Mo Fetzer, who was a government chemist. In the book, this character was painted as someone who was more than a little eccentric. He would often threaten to poison Chatham County's water supply using the mysterious contents in a vial that hung around his neck. Berent certainly painted Driggers as yet another eccentric writing that he walked around with flies hanging from his lapels on a string. In reality, fetzer was not homicidal and the flies, it seems, were simply an amusing parlor trick. As an aside, not only did Sonny Seeler play the presiding trial judge in the film, his English bulldog, ugga 5, played his real-life canine predecessor, ugga 4. In the movie, ugga 5 is seen several times walking with John Cusack, who played Barrett's character, through Beautiful Forsyth Park in Savannah.

Carole Townsend: 28:08

Hmm, there, my sharing of this spellbinding slice of Savannah history truly only scratches the top surface of the first of many layers. I'm not quite sure whether the story, the characters, the history and the scenery could have come together anywhere else as they did in Savannah more than 40 years ago, when gunshots split that May night in 1981 and an entire city was forever changed. The South is known for its quirky, eccentric characteristics, and Savannah doesn't disappoint, does it? If you've never visited this coastal gem. I hope that someday you get the chance to A word of caution, though. Be very careful in the midnight hour, especially if you're enjoying a stroll through the parks and cemeteries in the city, for in that hour the past melts into the present and good gives way to evil.

Carole Townsend: 29:15

I'm Carole Townsend, veteran newspaper journalist and six-time award-winning author. You can find me on social media and check out my website at www. caroletownsend. com. As always, thanks for listening, and if you're enjoying these tales of Southern history and lore, I hope you'll tell your friends. Subscribe to this podcast on Spotify, apple Play, iheart and anywhere you listen.

Carole Townsend: 29:47

My team and I based the retelling of this story on the following sources of information the Georgia Historical Society, the Coastal Heritage Society, new Georgia Encyclopedia and the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Barrett.