And Life and Island Times May 1 2016

Bradley’s Lock and Key

As W took Marlow around a corner on afternoon walking tour, he spotted an old worn down building on State Street that immediately captured his attention. It was starkly painted, grimy and exuded a smell of stale oil. You could tell it had been there for a very long time. It reeked of ghosts.

As they approached the shop’s dirty windows, the smells became pronounced and varied. Inside they saw that the entire store was filled with all sorts of old, some might say nostalgic, objects. Locks, keys, work benches, tools, and clocks. Seated inside was a waif of an old man with neat almost too perfect brown hair, sitting a large wooden chair looking at shadowy creatures working on various projects. There was a frail, older man sitting in a large wooden backed chair who silently watched the workers doing their jobs.

Chills ran up Marlow’s spine.

He backed off, took pictures of the outside and proceeded on with their walk.

Later the next night, as they walked back from dinner to the Ballastone, they came upon this scene. Creeped out once again.

Some say, when dealing with ghosts and spirits, they can attach themselves to objects, with the thing perhaps retaining the person’s energy.

Research by Savannahnians says the building which houses Bradley’s Lock and Key was built in 1855 for Patrick Duffy. After transferring hands for the decades, the building became home to Bradley’s Lock and Key.

Over the years, some of the Bradley people have come forward to report all sorts of strange phenomena. Objects moving by themselves, strange scents and sounds, ghostly figures and so on.

Before departing Savannah, Marlow screwed up enough courage to go inside, while W stayed in the car with the engine running. Inside he asked about their service.

“Same day” was their reply to lock changes, etc.

He met old man Dini Bradley, who was still sitting in his throne. His hair was almost too perfect and brown for a man of his advanced age. Wizened 70ish African Americans with soft knowing eyes slowly moved about doing locksmithy and knifey things.

Marlow asked the senior locksmith for their card just in case. He gave him an empty invoice. It boasted that they could fix anything – including umbrellas, dull knives and scissors, and locked safes without combinations. They admitted only two things that were impossible for them:

fixing a broken heart and

sharpening the dull witted.

One of the stories of this place involves the current owner’s first name, which is a shortened version of his middle name, Houdini.

“My granddad’s dad,” said Andrew Bradley – Dini’s grandson, “was a hypnotist and him and Houdini would go back and forth with tricks and shows, they’d do shows together.”

The magic – both white and black – now seems to be inside the key-covered walls where Savannah’s past abides.

Copyright © 2016 From My Isle Seat