“Lizzie Borden took an ax…” You know the rest. Or at least you should.
All the way back in 1992, my 6th grade class did a mock trial of Lizzie Borden at the Ocean County Courthouse. I played Dr. Bowen, who examined the bodies at the murder scene. Ever since, I was always interested in the case because it was never officially solved. Most think it’s pretty obvious Lizzie murdered her father & stepmother with an ax, but others think it could have been the maid. Some groups say they could solve the case using forensics, but the town likes the mystery and won’t allow the bodies to be dug up.
I’d wanted to visit the Borden House for a long time, but Fall River was always too out of the way to include in any of our previous trips. I made sure to include it in our ’06 outing to New England. We were lucky and arrived roughly 5 minutes before the final tour of the day. I was surprised to find out the woman giving our tour knew about my trial 14 years earlier.
The house is pretty much the same as it was in the Bordens’ day; it’s been updated a bit since it’s now a bed & breakfast, and none of the furniture is original, but overall it’s the same house. After having read and heard about the case so many times, it was pretty odd being in the same rooms where Abby and Andrew Borden were killed.
Again, the official Lizzie Borden House website is www.lizzie-borden.com. Tours are a half hour to an hour, depending on group size, and cost $10.
Click on the images to view them larger.
We were delighted to find out the Bordens are all buried together not far from the house. Arrows are painted in the cemetery to bring visitors directly to their graves.
Later in life, Lizzie changed her name to “Lizbeth.”
There’s also an impressive Civil War section in the cemetery
The way that she hit her stepmohter & her father dosent make no since.I understand that she was mad but she dosent have the write to take someones life no matter how mad u get u can go and punch the wall or something.To me she should have got thrown in prision for wat she did i dont care if they dont have eney evidence.She needs to get thrown in jail even thow she is dead.
My daughter and I just returned from Fall River where we spent the night at the Borden Bed and Breakfast. We actually spent last night in the John Morse room. The room in which Abby was murdered. It was a “fun” experience considering its reputation. The house itself is very nice and has been refurnished as closely as possible to its original condition. There are many lovely pieces of period furniture there. The tour conductor was very knowledgeable and made the tour very interesting. All of the staff were pleasant and accommodating. There were ten guests present last night and all were friendly and very interested in the Borden murders. Later in the evening a seance was held in the sitting room. The room in which Andrew was murdered. It was an interesting way to spend a weekend and well worth the trip to 92 Second Street, Fall River Massachusetts. I heartily recommend it.
Everybody says Lizzie did it, but the reports I’ve seen says the maid was in the house while it happened and she was taking a nap, was the maid drugged asleep during the screaming or lying about being asleep.
She was awake enough to hear Lizzie screaming for her when Lizzie found her dad, so I say she is lying.
If this happened today the maid would have been the first suspect.
Destiny finds this interesting. The way that Abby was hit she should be on her back but she is on her stomach. what Kerakio (i agree) said about the maid not hearing Abby scream had to be a total lie. Abby saw the attacker, Abby would have screamed. you would want someone to find evidence for or aganst you before you get thrown in jail. the part that confuses me the most is that lizzy didn’t cry she LAUGHED at her trial. that means in the very least that she was a very sick and twisted person. it dosn’t declare her guilty. before you deside if Lizzy is guilty or not PLEASE PLEASE DO RESEARCH!!!!!!!!!
MayCee: Kerakio has a good point. The maid might have been drugged or something in order to not have heard Abby sream. If u saw a murderer with an axe comming at u, would u scream? I would. She must be lying or had some sort of bond with Lizzy.
I just saw the Lizzie Borden episode of The Dead Files. In it, Amy the medium, finds a Ouija board under the couch (where Mr. Borden died) in the sitting room. On this show, supposedly no one knew where the Ouija board came from… After reading Claire Zeman’s post, it’s obvious that the owners of the bed and breakfast knew it was there because they are holding seances for guests… Either way, I really do believe that place is haunted or at least has a horrible energy. Part of me wants to go and check it out and a part of me wants to leave it alone. LOL!
Stu, thank you for the story and the photos. Thanks also to all for the comments that help add to the story. Stu, I can relate to your trial. When I was teaching and we would hold a recreated trial or scene from one of the books we had read I was always touched by how the recreation forever changed each one of us–even the spectators. The event came alive for each one of us and we were never the same and unlikely to ever forget the work we had read. It was definitely much better than just using a yellow highlighter.
Yes Jessica, I too saw that Dead Files episode and thought of it as I looked at Stu’s posting. One thing the show mentioned was Lizzie as an older woman. I guess for me she had stopped aging at the time of the murders so it was interesting to see photos and hear the discussion of Lizzie and her sister as older women.
A big point of the Dead Files episode as I recall was that there was that the father was a bit of a tyrant and it was also likely that the father molested the girls and that the two sisters enacted sexual acts with each other as a coping mechanism. Further the show’s conclusion suggested that it is likely that the two girls both took part in the murders. Regarding the paranormal, though the father’s ghost was very guarded of his sexual secrets, all the spirits there in the house were tired of being harassed and wanted some sort of peace. I agree. I just watched a new 2013 episode of Ghost Adventures who were also visiting the Borden house and wished the GA crew would have gone somewhere else as it just felt a bit tormenting.
Personally I find it interesting that if there were some sort of sexual acts occurring at the house it seems strange that the father’s sexual organs were not targeted. But I have also heard an expert say that it is typical to have the aggressor’s face be the target of the weapon so who knows. It also may have something to do with Victorian values carrying over even in a murderous rampage.
It was not until I saw this web site that I found out that the murdered woman was the STEP-mother. So possibly an abandonment issue there too.
Stu, what I found most interesting in your posting here was that your “ghost” image reflected in the glass as you took your photos made the scene very real. Further it was not the crime scene photos that bothered me, possibly because I had seen them before, but rather it was the cemetery photos that turned my stomach. I don’t know if it is the energy there from the Civil War section or the Borden plots but those photos were the hardest to look at for me.
Thanks for the education.
The solution to the murders IMO is relatively simple. Lizabeth was a Lesbian and a relationship between the maid and herself fostered to the point that the maid was going to disclose to Mr. and Mrs Borden that Lizabeth and she were in love with one another and perhaps some of Mr. Borden’s money would come her way. This angered Lisabeth and she threatened the maid not to tell her parents about this so in a fit of rage the maid killed Mr. and Mrs Borden and then realized that if either was found guilty the story would get out to the world and both agreed this was not in the best interest of either on of them so both pleaded innocence.