Savannah, Georgia: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

We had just landed at Savannah airport in Georgia and the taxi driver who was bringing us to the Bed & Breakfast we had booked for the week-end welcomed us by singing « Georgia on my Mind », Ray Charles’ famous song. The singer, a son of the state, had refused in 1960 to perform in front of an audience from which African Americans were excluded. Since then, a testimony of progress made, the song is the official hymn of Georgia.

Savannah, one of the rare Southern cities which was not destroyed by General Sherman’s Union troops after the Civil War, has kept its old-fashioned charm. Its avenues, shaded by trees with hanging Spanish moss, lead to squares dominated by stately patrician mansions.  

One of these houses, the Mercer Williams House, is at the center of John Berendt’s book « Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil ». The book is

Beyond the anecdotes of the four trials which will be concluded by an acquittal, it’s the entire world of Savannah, sometimes burlesque, sometimes tragic, that John Berendt depicts in his book : the parties organized by Jim Williams in his mansion, highly prized by the high society, even if some look down on this nouveau riche who was not even born in the city, Emma Kelly’s tours, a pianist who knew 6000 songs, the fantasque eccentricities of “The Lady Chablis », a flamboyant transgender performer or the nightly encounters with Minerva, the root doctor preparing concoctions inspired the Hoodoo spirituality, coming from West Africa and transmitted by the descendants of slaves.

In the Hoodoo, the half-hour before midnight is for the good magic, while the half-hour after is reserved for evil magic. Jim Williams used Minerva’s services to try to influence the witnesses and the jury during his trial.  This balance between Good and Evil gives its title and its cover to this fascinating book adapted for the big screen by Clint Eastwood in a brilliant movie with John Cusack and Kevin Spacey.