In Savannah, they call it “the Book!” They are referring to the novel Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, which was first published in 1994. It was a bestseller for 216 weeks on the NY Times list. Many probably remember the story from the Clint Eastwood-directed movie, released in 1997, starring Kevin Spacey as Jim Williams.
Unfortunately, the book version is true! Williams, a local antique dealer, is tried four times and finally acquitted for the murder of a male prostitute. A voodoo priestess, a local drag queen, and a mad scientist threatening to poison the water system of Savannah are some of the quirkier characters who populated Savannah and are part of the backdrop for the non-fictional novel’s storyline. It’s a quirky, tawdry story, and I’m not trying to send you to see the film or buy the book.
Sherrylee and I are in Savannah for a few days, so we keep bumping into two dark elements that are a disturbing, and I am beginning to think that one may have led to the other. The term southern gothic is the literary genre to which Midnight belongs . Macabre , supernatural, and grotesque are words often used to describe the genre. Other well-known authors that have used this genre include William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Ann Rice, and Flannery O’Connor, who was born and raised in Savannah.
Southern gothic keeps coming to mind as you tour old homes in Savannah because you keep hearing stories of murder, spirits, and voodoo! The cemetery/ghost tours are among the most popular. We rode past one mansion that has been abandoned by its owner because he is convinced it is haunted.
This strong tradition of dark magic/religion came to America—especially to the southern slave states–with the early slaves from Africa, then blended with other religions and superstitions into a recognizable and now celebrated southern tradition. Have you been to New Orleans?? Much of Mardi Gras tradition comes from this dark and superstitious tradition.
It’s frightening! It’s the garden of evil side of Savannah!
On the opposite side of Savannah from the Bonaventure Cemetery is the First African Baptist Church, probably the first Black congregation in North America, dating back to 1773. The congregation was entirely slaves, including the first pastors. The current building was built by freed African Americans and slaves, brick by brick made and layed after their day’s work for their masters in Savannah.
If you look closely at the floors of the sanctuary, you find small holes—ventilation holes to the built-out crawl space under the floor. This church building was Stop Two on the Underground Railroad, used by thousands of slaves, attempting to escape to the north to gain their freedom. They would spend two or three days sometimes under the floor of the church in a four-foot high space, fed and watered through the holes in the floor by other slaves. At a safe moment in the middle of the night, someone would lead them through a tunnel from the church to the Savannah River, where they would be ferried in a small boat across to South Carolina for the next leg of their dangerous journey.
As I was thinking about the haunted houses, the voodoo, and the southern gothic on one side of this city, I started comparing it to the hallowed house, the Holy Spirit, and the Christian tradition on the other side. No one lives in the haunted house! The First African Baptist Church is still a living, thriving congregation of Christians—still serving, still loving, still sacrificing for the welfare of others.
When the clouds roll back and the Light comes on and all the deeds of darkness are exposed for what they are, I know which garden of this city I would want to be in!
The voodooists and believers in black majic are making the fundamental mistake of explaining phenomena by postulating the existence of evil. Religion makes the same mistake and depends on the myth of evil for its justification and existece.