 The Mercer House in Savannah, Georgia is another home that has a curse on it. Locals believe that anybody who buys or owns the Mercer House will end up being a murderer. And before we go any further, please remember to hit that subscribe button and give us a like. Welcome to Esso Teric Atlanta. My name is Bryce and today we're going to be talking about midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. 60 for a General Hugh Mercer. Now General Hugh Mercer is the great grandfather of legendary songwriter Johnny Mercer. However, construction of the Mercer House came to a halt during the American Civil War. As we know from almost every single historical story, the American Civil War changed the lives of many people in the South. The house was completed in 1868 and unfortunately by the time the house was completed, Hugh Mercer couldn't afford the house. So ironically the Mercer House never had a Mercer live in it. But because of this, this is where locals believe the house became cursed. Because of General Mercer's inability to pay for his own house, a man by the name of John R. Wilder ended up buying the Mercer House for his family. Now as time went on, the Wilders continued to spend their life there and then one morning, seemingly out of nowhere, Mr. Wilder woke up, walked into his wife's bedroom because in those times people did have separate wings and apartments in the house and took a pillow and suffocated her. I guess he just had enough. But then after he murdered his wife, locals say he walked out on his balcony, sipping his coffee, smiling at the neighbors. And the next thing they knew, Mr. Wilder had jumped off the balcony, apparently killing himself as well. So was this a murder, suicide or part of the curse? Who knows? After the death of the Wilders, the Shriners bought Mercer House to be their headquarters. The Shriners would keep the house open Monday through Saturday but would close the house down on Sundays. And so sometimes kids would break into the house, they would get on top of the roof and they would play. Now this was the year of 1969 and an 11-year-old little boy named Tommy Downs and his friend Richard decided to do just that. They were going to go on top of the Mercer House and hunt pigeons with their slingshots. The next thing we know, little Tommy Downs had fallen off the roof and had impaled himself from the head in the wrought iron fence that go around the Mercer House. In fact, the fall was almost perfect. And still today, apparently, the two spikes that killed him are not on the fence. Like you can actually see the area. And apparently they had to cut the spikes off because when they went to collect his body, they couldn't get his head off unless they decapitated him so they cut the spikes instead. Now a lot of people will tell you that this was just a freak accident, unfortunate as it was. However, his friend Richard, who apparently is still a taxi driver in Savannah, will not take fares near the Mercer House. You see, Richard told people that when they were on the roof playing, he saw Tommy being pushed towards the edge of the roof. He says at first he believed that Tommy was just messing with them, but then he realized seeing the horror on Tommy's face that he was being pushed by something neither of them could see. And in fact, the way that Tommy fell so perfectly onto the fence is a little inexplainable. You see, the fence is so close to the house. And you have to remember at this point, the trees on the street were not there that if Tommy had fallen, he would not just naturally have fallen near the fence. It was almost like he was placed there on purpose. And then in 1969, again, soon after Tommy's death, the Mercer House was purchased from the Shriners by a man named Jim Williams. Now Jim Williams is one of the main characters in the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. You see, Jim Williams was born right outside of Macon, Georgia in 1930. He made his way to Savannah because he was an antique dealer and an art restore. In fact, a lot of the homes in Savannah are beautiful now because of Jim Williams. Jim Williams took Savannah, that back in that time, let's be honest, Savannah was a dump. And he took these houses and he fixed them and made Savannah the beautiful restored city that it is today. For example, in 1969, Mr. Williams purchased the Mercer House for only $55,000. Upon his death in 1990, which we'll get into, his house was a praise to be around $9 million. This is how much work Mr. Williams did to bring the city of Savannah up to its old glory. At the Mercer House, there is a carriage house out back, which we spoke about a lot in the Surrell House. The carriage house was oftentimes a place where the slaves would live back in slavery times. Now for Mr. Williams living at the Mercer House, making that his permanent home, he used the carriage house as his shop. And you see, here's another thing about Mr. Williams. Now of course for us today, this might sound confusing because we live in a much freer world. People are generally accepted for how they are now. But back in this time, Mr. Williams was very eccentric and not exactly straight. Like again, I said, nowadays that doesn't matter. But back then it did matter. Mr. Williams was very wealthy. He created his own wealth. He was new money. He was not old money. But society looked over the little fact that he wasn't straight because he was such an important part of the Savannah cultural scene. In fact, he had extravagant parties all the time. He really took care and hobnob with the social elite of Savannah. Around 1980, Jim Williams hired a young man named Danny Hansford to be a handyman at his house. Danny was a rough around the edges kind of guy, a local kid from the wrong end of the railroad tracks. Danny Hansford was 21 at the time of his death born in 1960. Well, apparently Danny Hansford and Mr. Williams had a bit of a relationship. Now for those who have seen the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, you know that Jim Williams was played by Kevin Spacey. And Danny Hansford, who I think is called Billy in the movie, was played by Jude Law, a very young Jude Law. Now it is assumed that even though Danny Hansford was doing work for Jim Williams, that Jim Williams did become a bit of a sugar daddy for Danny Hansford. Well, one day, Danny Hansford was shot at point blank and killed in Mr. Williams' house. Mr. Williams called the police and claimed that he had killed Danny Hansford in self-defense, that he had gone a little crazy on him. Although from the evidence, it didn't look like self-defense. So therefore, Mr. Williams was arrested and charged with first degree murder. Because of Mr. Williams' prominence in the city of Savannah and his wealth, he was able to put together a pretty powerful legal team. In fact, his first lawyer was Bobby Lee Cook. I have personal connections to Bobby Lee Cook. I have family friends of his and it is said that the show Matlock was based on Bobby Lee Cook, very powerful attorney. Another part of Mr. Williams' legal team was a local root doctor. This root doctor's name was Valerie Fennell Boyles. Now, I've done a video on the gull of people of the low country, so I'm not going to go into a lot of detail. In fact, I'll link below the video where I talk more about their heritage. But Valerie Fennell Boyles was part of his legal team. And in the book, this is where we get the title Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. You see his root doctor would go into the cemeteries at night in which she called a garden and would do her magic. It is said that magic, root magic done between 11.30 p.m. and 12 a.m. is for the good. Magic done between 12 a.m. and 12.30 a.m. is for the evil. So here we have it, midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Now, for her part in his defense, she concocted roots to chew on while he was in the process of being tried, which she did. You actually see this scene play out in the movie adaptation of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, where this doctor roots is given the name Minerva. Now, in the movie of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, you see only one trial happen. But in reality, there were four different trials lasting from 1981 when Danny was first killed all the way up to 1990. By the fourth trial, Mr. Williams was acquitted of all charges. The jury believed that he had murdered Danny in self-defense. Again, even though the evidence did not support that theory. Unfortunately, only a few months after Mr. Williams was acquitted, he had a heart attack. Some people say he had a heart attack on his front stairs. Other people say he had a heart attack in the exact room and landed in the exact place that Danny Hansford was killed all those years before. And in fact, in the movie adaptation, they do show Jim Williams dying in the same room. Now, his death came as a bit of surprise. Here's the thing. He had been working with his root doctor for a very long time. And over the course of these years, some people say that he started to see himself as a bit of a root doctor too. This is common. We talked about this in the Gullah video. A lot of white people in the South who are from the Low Country do start to understand root magic and become practitioners themselves sometimes. However, because of Jim Williams' arrogance, he decided he didn't need to pay his root doctor, Valerie. He just started to ignore her. And so, legend states that Valerie ended up breaking into his house and performing a ceremony for three days in the house. And that is what killed him. Now, they say that if you die by root magic, then you will be damned to spend your whole eternity in between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Does Mr. Williams still haunt the Mercer house, which is now called the Mercer Williams house? Well, I don't know. You see, after his death, his sister inherited the property. And as far as I know, she has maintained the property all these years. The house is now a museum and the carriage shop is now a shop. Nobody lives there. Now, Valerie only passed away a few years ago. She lived a very long life. And locals did say that after his death, Valerie would be seen sitting outside on the park square, seemingly having conversations with Mr. Williams. Was she taunting him? Was she trying to make amends with him? From where he was stuck? Or was his death the payback from Danny Hansford from the other side? In fact, today, if you go to Danny Hansford's grave, you can leave beer cans out for him. In fact, many people do. Whatever the case may be, the Jim Williams story at the Mercer house became talk of the town. Meanwhile, a man named John Barrett had moved to Savannah from upstate New York. He was a true Yankee. Now, in the movie, you remember that he was played by John Cousack. And there are some changes in the movie from the actual story. No, Mr. Barrett never wrote for town and country. But he was a writer from interviews I listened to to with him. He said that he was spending some time in Charleston, where my family is from, and decided to take the two and a half hour drive down to Savannah. And he immediately fell in love with the city. So he made Savannah his home. Now, part of what fascinated John about the city of Savannah wasn't just this trial. And this is evident in his book and in the movie. What fascinated Mr. Barrett about Savannah was the people. And frankly, all of these characters in the Midnight of Garden of Good and Evil, these real people, and their personalities, and their eccentric ways, are what make me proud of being Southern. No, it's not uncommon in places like Savannah or Charleston to see a man walking a ghost dog. I've told you before, when you're from those parts of the world, you believe in ghosts and you accept them as a reality. So there goes a man walking a ghost dog, nothing to see here. Also the obsession with the University of Georgia and the Bulldog Uggah. My parents went to the University of Georgia. They are so tried and true Bulldog fans. Now, I know up in New England from what I hear, people typically like the NFL, but down here in the South, people like college ball. Their alma mater is their life force. It is their soul. And everybody wants to take a picture with Uggah. Uggah is spelled UGA for those who don't know. And UGA is the University of Georgia. So therefore, Uggah, there's been many, many, many actual Uggahs, a Bulldog that people take care of. So you get what I mean. The eccentric way that people dress, the big, haughty outfits, flinging guns around, like that's normal in the South. We all have guns. People fling them around. That's just what they do. And a lot of the old Southern money, they're so wealthy and they've been so wealthy for such a long time. The eccentric personality and the exaggerated personalities are a part of the character that they play and can't afford to play. You have the debutante balls. You have tea clubs with wives all dressing up in their Sunday best, wearing hats and everything. When I was a little girl, we wore hats. I don't see that much anymore, but that was a big thing. You also had Lady Chablis. Now Lady Chablis is a Savannah icon. And she actually played herself in the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. You see, the book came out in 1994. And according to its author, John Barrett, he did not believe the book would be that special. He thought he might get a small little cult following and that would be it. Little did he know that this book would become the New York Times bestseller because apparently, everybody's interested in these characters that live down here in the South. There's a famous saying, and I'm totally going to mess it up in paraphrase, that in the South, we don't hide our crazy. We put it on the front porch for everyone to see. Social etiquette and social graces are a big part of the Southern culture as well, which you see that referenced in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. For example, when I was a little girl, my mama told me when I grew up, I shouldn't even go to the grocery store without lipstick and mascara on. And that going to the grocery store and yoga pants and a t-shirt like I typically do would horrify my grandmother Maxine. And my grandmother Maxine, who died around the same time Jim Williams died, she died of cancer though, she didn't murder anyone, was always in her Sunday best. She always had her dresses on, she always had her nails done, she always had high heels done, she had her pearls on everything because that was the Southern way. You even see the manners. In fact, when in the movie, when John Cusack playing, John Barrett goes to talk to Lady Shibley because apparently, Danny Hansford was renting a room for her, she gets really upset because he wasn't giving her time to mourn. Where are your manners, boy? You have to have manners. You're in the South now. And there's this awesome scene in the movie. It's been a long time since I read the book, but I did recently watch the movie again before doing this video where he's talking to his editor up in New York and he's talking about how the North had, New York has nothing on the characters of the South. And so that is basically the story of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and the Mercer House. You can still go to, like I said, it's a museum. Now you can go to the Mercer House when you are in Savannah. I know ghost tours go by the Mercer House as well. And perhaps there is a curse on the Mercer House. Perhaps that's why Jim Williams, a respectable member of Southern society, ended up murdering a young man. I don't know. Who knows really? But anyway, that's the story. Now I wasn't planning on doing Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I've referenced Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in many other videos. However, I just assumed that everybody knew that story. However, again, the older I get, the less I realize I'm getting older and a lot of my young viewers maybe don't know this story. And I really wanted to do a video on Bonaventure Cemetery and Lady Chaville. Now I can't do Bonaventure Cemetery or Lady Chaville without mentioning Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. So this is part one. This will be a three-part series. Tomorrow we'll talk about Bonaventure Cemetery and the Bird Girl statue that got so famous in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. So with that being said, I'll see you tomorrow.