{"id":2481,"slug":"mercer-williams-house-savannah-georgia","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Mercer is the '68 — the 'no Mercer' that's the lived, the 'Johnny' that's the great-grandson. The 'Williams' is the '69 — the '$55,000' that's the paid, the '50 buildings' that's the restored. The 'Hansford' is the '81 — the '4 trials' that's the record, the 'acquitted' that's the self-defense.","The 'Midnight' is the book — the Berendt that's the '94, the 'in/out box' that's the parties. The 'Christmas' is the party — the 'Cotillion' that's the eve, the 'talk of town' that's the social. Mercer is the preserved — the 'Italianate' that's the style, the 'Monterey Square' that's the site.","The file keeps Mercer: the 1868 house, the Jim Williams restoration, the Hansford killing, and the Midnight book.","Mercer-Williams is the archive's Savannah file — the murder house."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Mercer-Williams is the archive's Savannah file — the true crime's setting.","A house keeps its trial — the file's suggestion being that Mercer's hold is the juxtaposition: the 'no Mercer' that's the name, the '4 trials' that's the record, and the 'Midnight' that's the fame."]}],"name":"Mercer-Williams House","aliases":[],"type":"HOUSE","type_label":"House","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","LOCAL_FOLKLORE","HAUNTED_PLACE","HISTORIC_ESTATE"],"groups":["dark-history","hauntings","historic-sites","legends"],"desc":"The Midnight in the Garden house—where Jim Williams shot Danny Hansford.","full_desc":"A house in Savannah, Georgia, Mercer-Williams House is filed here for what the record attaches to it. The Midnight in the Garden house—where Jim Williams shot Danny Hansford. Its signature presence is Danny Hansford — the figure the file’s accounts keep returning to. The dossier holds 2 reported claims, 1 legend and 1 documented fact, with the verified spine filed separately from the lore. The site is open to visitors.","address":null,"city":"Savannah","county":null,"state":"Georgia","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":32.012457,"lon":-81.194157,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"ACTIVE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":"Restaurant/bar","research_notes":"Restaurants/bars batch; VERIFY task auto-queued.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":59.4,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.3999999999999999,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":1938,"type":"NAMED_GHOST_LEGEND","description":"Hansford is reportedly seen in the house where he died. The figure answers to Danny Hansford in the retellings. The house's rooms are where the accounts concentrate — old houses keep their stories in the walls they were built around. Local lore carries the account; no documentation has ever caught up with it. Sources including 'Mercer House' keep the claim in circulation. A ghost with a name outlasts a ghost without one; the reports keep it employed.","evidence":"LOCAL_FOLKLORE","evidence_label":"Local folklore","entity":"Danny Hansford","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Mercer House","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mercer_House","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":1939,"type":"APPARITION","description":"Reported a presence in the rooms. Mercer-Williams House in Savannah, Georgia is the kind of old house where every sound eventually gets a name. The reports are anecdotal — consistent enough to record, thin enough to stay unproven. 'Mercer House' carries the account. It is the sighting the place is known for, and it hasn't stopped.","evidence":"ANECDOTAL","evidence_label":"Anecdotal","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Mercer House","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mercer_House","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The 1981 shooting is documented; the book and film made it famous. Mercer-Williams House's documented history is the record the rest of the file stands on. This belongs to the verified spine of the entry, the layer everything else is measured against. The record appears in 'Mercer House'. It is the kind of fact the rest of the dossier leans on.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":"1981","confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Mercer House","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mercer_House","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"Hansford is reportedly seen in the house where he died. A house with Savannah's history behind it gives the reports a setting that needs no exaggeration. The claim is neighborhood knowledge — retold locally, verified nowhere. Every community keeps one story like this; this is theirs. It remains the site's standing claim.","earliest":null,"evidence":"LOCAL_FOLKLORE","source":{"name":"Mercer House","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mercer_House","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"Danny Hansford","claimed_identity":"Danny Hansford","verified":null,"summary":"Hansford is reportedly seen in the house where he died. The file calls it Danny Hansford. Mercer-Williams House in Savannah, Georgia is the kind of old house where every sound eventually gets a name. Sources including 'Mercer House' keep the claim in circulation. The named presence is what turns a haunting into a household.","behavior":"Hansford is reportedly seen in the house where he died.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Mercer House","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mercer_House","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Historic house; many are private residences—verify public access before visiting.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Mercer House","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mercer_House","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}