"I'm so very sorry. I never wanted this to be my life. You don't  

wake up and decide to become a serial killer." 

 —Gary Ray Bowles (final words) 

A Family History in Savannah: Bradley's Lock and Key 

The uses of key facilitated locking mechanisms have a long-storied history. Lock-and-key technology goes back around 4000 years, discovered simultaneously in Western and Eastern Civilizations. Despite little prior cultural exchange between them, both Egyptian and Chinese societies generated and developed the idea of placing something under the control of a lock and key around the same time. 

In ancient Persia, keys had significant spiritual and psychological significance. They were often found in religious temples and offered by grooms as love charms and unique gifts for their new brides. 

Whenever I need a new key made here in Savannah, I go to Bradley's Lock and Key, located at 24 East State Street in the Historic District of Savannah. I love the store so much I am delighted to include it in my Postcards from Savannah series of en Plein air paintings. 

The Bradley lock-and-key shop has been in continuous operation in Savannah since 1883 and has long since been a cornerstone business in downtown Savannah. 

Naturally, Bradley's Lock and Key has several Savannah stories to tell. When you stop by the store, you'll find plenty of local history to explore while waiting for your keys. For example, the shop owns what became known as the W.W. Law Bar Stools on which young Black activists were arrested doing civil rights sit-ins during the 1960s while protesting segregated lunch-counters in Savannah (see PFS-97) 

Andrew Bradley now runs the shop, the fifth generation named Bradley to do so. His grandfather, William Houdini Bradley — popularly known around Savannah as 'Dini' — became obsessed with collecting the memorabilia of his namesake that you can view throughout the shop.  

Interestingly, Dini's father was a hypnotist and often did shows with the World's Greatest Escape Artist and Illusionist, thereby providing Dini both his middle name and nickname. The shop has a fun collection of Savannah artifacts, including cannons used in wars, old church bells, and many historic photos. 

Of course, Savannah is famous for its Ghost Tours, and reports of supernatural events are surprisingly regular. As you know, it was the true story of murder that placed the city within the crosshairs of public interest, as recorded in John Berendt's popular bestseller: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. 

Tragically, in 1994, the same year John Berendt's book was released, the Bradley family endured the murder of one of its own. Milton Bradley was a 72-year-old World War II veteran who had the misfortune of offering a ride home from a local bar to a serial killer named Gary Ray Bowles.  

Bowles briefly visited Savannah that May. He had already murdered two other men along Interstate-95 and eventually committed six separate murders in three states over eight months. Bowles claimed, "…he wanted to kill as many people as possible before they caught me." One of those killings was in Savannah. 

Arrested in November 1994 in Jacksonville, Florida, Gary Ray Bowles plead guilty to three murders. The trial's sentencing phase brought delaying complications due to an error in the original sentencing. But Bowles ultimately received the death penalty and was finally executed by lethal injection in 2019.  

Rest in Peace, Milton Bradley, knowing Bradley's Lock and Key maintains its unique family legacy here in the Historic District of Savannah.