Italianate mansion on Monterey Square where antiques dealer Jim Williams shot Danny Hansford in 1981 — a case made famous by 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.' Williams died in the same room in 1990.
429 Bull Street, Savannah, GA 31401
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Admission charged for guided tours. Check venue website for current pricing.
Access
Limited Access
Multi-story historic mansion with stairs; access is limited to the first floor on public tours.
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1868 · Designed by John S. Norris; Italianate architecture on Monterey Square · Site of the 1981 Williams-Hansford shooting · Subject of 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil' (1994) · One of Savannah's significant private preservation projects (1969)
The mansion on the southwestern civic block of Monterey Square was commissioned in 1860 by General Hugh Weedon Mercer (great-grandfather of the singer-songwriter Johnny Mercer). Designed by John S. Norris with subsequent drawings by Muller and Bruyn, construction was interrupted by the Civil War and not completed until 1868, after Mercer had already sold the unfinished property. Despite the family name, no Mercer ever actually lived in the house.
The Italianate residence passed through several owners over the next century before falling into disrepair. In 1969, antiques dealer and preservationist Jim Williams (1930-1990) purchased the empty, deteriorated home and undertook one of the most significant private restorations in Savannah's preservation history. Williams furnished the mansion with his collection of European and American antiques and used the home both as a private residence and as a setting for his celebrated annual Christmas parties.
In the early morning of May 2, 1981, Williams shot his 21-year-old assistant Danny Hansford in the study on the first floor. Hansford was struck in the head, chest, and back; Williams called police at approximately 3:00 a.m. and claimed self-defense, telling officers that Hansford had fired first and that he had returned fire from his desk. Williams was tried four separate times for Hansford's death — a record for the state of Georgia — and ultimately acquitted at his fourth trial in May 1989.
Williams returned to the Mercer House after his acquittal but died on January 14, 1990, at age 59, of pneumonia and heart-related causes. He was found in or near the study where the shooting had occurred. His sister, Dr. Dorothy Williams Kingery, inherited the property and opened it to the public as the Mercer Williams House Museum in 2004. The upper floors remain her private residence.
The case was the subject of John Berendt's 1994 nonfiction bestseller Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, the 1997 Clint Eastwood film adaptation, and a 2024 musical stage adaptation.
Sources
According to Ghost City Tours and Savannah Ghost Tours, the most frequently reported phenomena at the Mercer-Williams House concern the figure of Jim Williams himself. Visitors and staff describe seeing the apparition of a well-dressed man matching Williams's description walking the first-floor halls near the study, and report footsteps on the upper floors when no one is in residence.
The study where Hansford was shot on May 2, 1981 — and where Williams was found dead on January 14, 1990 — is the most commonly cited location for paranormal reports. Visitors describe sudden cold spots, the persistent sensation of being watched, and equipment malfunction. Several tour-operator accounts also mention a young man matching descriptions of Danny Hansford, though these reports are less consistently documented across sources.
A separate strand of lore, reported by Ghost City Tours, predates the Williams era: stories of a young child who reportedly fell from an upper-floor balcony in the early twentieth century, with intermittent reports of a child's voice or running footsteps. The historical record for this earlier incident is thin, and Hauntbound presents it as part of the ghost-tour folklore tradition rather than as documented fact.
The museum itself, operated by the Williams family, does not market the property as a haunted attraction; tour guides focus on architecture, antiques, and the documented history of the house. All paranormal accounts presented here come through the city's commercial ghost-tour ecosystem and visitor anecdote.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Guided 30-40 minute tour of the principal first-floor rooms, including Jim Williams's antiques collection and the study where Danny Hansford was shot in 1981. Tours interpret the architecture, Williams's preservation work, and the cultural impact of 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.'
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Savannah, GA
The Federal-style brick mansion at 324 East State Street was built in 1820 by Rhode Island-born master-builder Isaiah Davenport (1784-1827). Davenport, who also served Savannah as alderman, fire master, constable, and a member of the board of health, died of yellow fever on September 16, 1827, at age 43. The 1955 effort to save the deteriorating house from demolition launched the Historic Savannah Foundation and Savannah's modern historic-preservation movement; the museum opened in 1963.
Savannah, GA
Construction of the Regency-style brick townhouse at 10 East Oglethorpe Avenue began in 1818 for James Moore Wayne, a Savannah mayor and later U.S. Supreme Court Justice; the home was completed in 1821. In 1831 the Gordon family acquired the property, and on October 31, 1860, Juliette Magill Kinzie 'Daisy' Gordon was born there. She founded Girl Scouts of the USA in 1912. The Girl Scouts purchased the property in 1953 and opened it as a museum in 1956; the home was designated Savannah's first National Historic Landmark in 1965.
Savannah, GA
The English Regency mansion at 124 Abercorn Street was designed by English-born architect William Jay (1792-1837) — one of the first professionally trained architects to practice in the United States — and completed in 1819 for cotton merchant Richard Richardson. After Richardson's financial collapse, the home was purchased in 1830 by attorney George Welshman Owens. The Marquis de Lafayette addressed Savannah from the south-facing cast-iron veranda on March 19, 1825. Margaret Thomas, Owens's granddaughter, bequeathed the property to the Telfair Academy in 1951. The mansion is a National Historic Landmark and operates as the Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters under Telfair Museums.