Mark Kuhn and I are in Savannah this week to attend the BHMA spring meetings.  Along with working on changes to the BHMA A156 standards and lots of discussion about code changes, test methods, and other topics, we explored the neighborhood a bit.  When we passed a locksmith shop near the hotel, we both noticed the ooooooold signs – I love the one that says “We fix anything but a broken heart.”

I wanted to stop in and say hi, but sadly, it was about half an hour past closing time.  While we were peaking at the walls lined with old keys and memorabilia, someone came running and unlocked the door, welcoming us in.  It was Andrew Bradley, who told us that he was the 5th generation in his family to run the business, and chatted with us about the history.

What left me wordless about this shop was what I learned last night from articles about the history…stories about Henry Houdini, family tragedy, historic paraphernalia, paranormal activity…the shop is one of the oldest businesses in Savannah and has a very interesting past.

Check out the following sites for more photos and info:

Savannah Morning News: New generation at Bradley’s locksmith

There is a new look at Savannah’s iconic locksmith on State Street.  William Houdini Bradley, better known as Dini, longtime owner and face of Bradley’s Lock and Key shop, is now 85 and retired. He has handed the keys over to his grandson and new owner, 24-year-old Andrew Bradley.  He is the fifth generation of Bradley family members to own/operate the locksmith business, which has been at its present location at 24 E. State St. for some 90 years.

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Savannah Magazine: A Savannah landmark has the keys to success

Bradley is the grandson of the shop’s revered patri­arch, William Houdini Bradley, known as “Dini,” who was the face and personality of the lock business for decades. He earned his nickname from iconic escape artist, magician and locksmith Harry Houdini, a friend of Dini’s father, Aaron Bradley.  

Generations of Savannahians have stopped in at Bradley Lock and Key Shop, getting keys made for their home, or outfitting their businesses with new locks. If they didn’t have money to pay for their keys, Dini would just smile and tell them to come by the shop another day when they could settle up. “He was always willing to help anyone out,” Bradley recalls.

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Garden & Gun: Keys to the City of Savannah

Mornings from 8:00 to 11:00, Bradley mans a worn-wood counter, which doubles as a visual tour of key-cutting technology through the ages: more than a half-dozen different machines, tools and devices, some dating back to the days of his great, great grandfather Simon Bradley, who opened up shop in 1883, or to Simon’s son Aaron, friend of—and locksmith for—Harry Houdini. A plaque near the window reads, THERE IS NO OTHER PLACE / ANYWHERE NEAR THIS PLACE / THAT IS JUST LIKE THIS PLACE / SO THIS MUST BE THE PLACE.

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St. Joseph’s Candler:  The Keys to Success

“That part of our history has its share of both facts and rumors, and even we cannot always tell which is which,” Bradley laughs.

A signed photo of Houdini is just one of the many artifacts that make the shop feel a little like a museum, or a life-sized time capsule: there’s an 18^th century cannon, a large church bell and the bar stools used for sit-ins by civil rights activists protesting segregated lunch counters. There are also thousands and thousands of old keys, many of which can still open doors in downtown Savannah and older neighborhoods like Ardsley Park.

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WTOC 11: Bradley Lock and Key, a Savannah Institution

The expertise of Bradley’s key makers is one reason people visit the store, but it’s not the only reason.  “He’s always interacting with customers,” office manager Lisa Bedgood said of Bradley. “And all the small kids who come in, they always leave with keys. He’ll put them on a key ring and tell them, those are your keys to Disneyland or those are your keys to the Batmobile.”

“We can do anything, fix just about anything,” added Andrew Bradley, who has become a locksmith and hopes to keep the family tradition going by taking over the store from his grandfather someday. “We can make keys for the new cars and still fix the old Victorian houses, so we do both ends of the spectrum.”

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Wikipedia: Bradley Lock and Key

William Bradley died on December 9, 2019, aged 85, and was buried in Savannah’s historic Bonaventure Cemetery. He was survived by Riette, his wife of sixty years.

Bradley’s brother, Milton, who was often present at the shop, was murdered in Savannah in 1994 at the age of 72. A World War II Navy veteran, he was one of six people murdered by serial killer Gary Ray Bowles. Bowles confessed to the killings but was not convicted until 25 years later. He was given the death penalty and died by lethal injection in a Florida state prison in August 2019.

Another of Bradley’s brothers, Eddie, worked at the shop. He died in 2016, aged 89.

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Ghost City Tours: The Ghosts of Bradley’s Lock and Key

When you look inside the Shoppe while on your ghost tour you will notice that the entire store is filled with all sorts of nostalgic goodness. A prevailing theory when dealing with ghosts and spirits is that they can attach themselves to objects. Another way of seeing this is that if an object meant a lot to a person, it could retain the person’s energy, which sometimes exhibits itself as a spirit or ghost. Bradley’s Lock and Key would be a great setting for Attachment Hauntings to take place. Hauntings that occur because of attachment to objects tend to be residual hauntings. Residual hauntings are hauntings with no intelligence behind them. Events which happen over and over again are considered residual hauntings.

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Savannah Ghost Tour: Bradley’s Lock and Key

While the shop is a bit spooky at night, it’s child’s play compared to the apartments directly above the shop. Several former residents claim to have experienced a number of supernatural events during their stay. One resident reports that his personal belongings would often move around on their own, sometimes being randomly thrown on the ground.

Others have reported random spots of freezing cold air, which persisted even through the hot Savannah summers. There are also strange apparitions that are known to float around the building and pass through walls. The ghosts often visit the tenants in their rooms late at night, and a few residents have been scared straight through the front door.

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This post has a video of a door inside the shop closing in the middle of the night.  Spooky!

Reddit: Bradley Lock and Key, Savannah, Georgia – 2 a.m.

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