“Lizzie Borden took an axe
and gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
she gave her father forty-one.“
The case of Lizzie Borden is an unsolved mystery that still has no answers. The truth has truly been lost to time. A small town was thrust into the spotlight thanks to one of the most brutal murders in history. This led to one of the most sensational murder trials of our time. We will never know what truly happened on August 4th, 1892. But it seems like those who lived at that time remain, and they are desperate to tell their story. The question is, are you willing to listen?
Lizzie Borden has become an American icon, and her story has become the center of one of the most interesting folklore in history. Who else has a creepy and grisly nursery rhyme about them?
The Murders
The Bordens were the ideal and model family. The family patriarch, Andrew Borden, was a wealthy businessman. The family matriarch, Abby Borden, was a devoted wife. The two Borden sisters, 32-year old Lizzie, and 41-year old Emma, were admired members of their church. Abby was the stepmother of Lizzie and Emma, as their mother, Sarah, had died in 1863. Three years after Sarah’s death, Andrew married Abby.
On August 4th, 1892, it was a sunny summer morning in this little town in Massachusetts. But there was a darkness that creeped over the town. Andrew and Abby Borden were found hacked to death in their home. Abby was hacked 18 times, and Andrew was hacked 11 times. At the time, their 32-year old daughter Lizzie, 41-year old daughter Emma, Bridget “Maggie” Sullivan, and John Vinnicum Morse were living in the house at the time. But, Emma Borden was out of town at a dress fitting, and John only stayed temporarily for a night.
The Timeline
So at the time of the murders, it was Lizzie, Bridget, and John in the house, along with Andrew and Abby Borden.
At 7am, John, Abby, and Andrew had breakfast. John left around 8:45 am to buy oxen and to visit his niece, and Andrew went to work around 9 am and 9:15 am. John’s alibi is somewhat solid. He said he took a streetcar with six priests. But the streetcar conductor didn’t remember John but remembered the priests. The police seemed to confirm his alibi.
As stated before, Emma was out of town for a dress fitting in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. The seamstress is a friend of Emma, and she stayed in town for several days before her fitting and was planning on staying for several more days after that.
While Lizzie and Emma usually cleaned the guest room, Abby went upstairs to make the bed. Sometime between 9 am and 10:30 am, Abby was hacked to death in the guest room, where John slept the night before. Bridget is sent outside to clean some windows.
Andrew returned home around 10:45am, and laid down on the couch in the sitting room to take a nap.
Bridget wasn’t feeling well, and also went upstairs to take a nap. Apparently, Lizzie gave her permission to go check on a sale at the nearby department store, but Bridget declined. Around this time, Lizzie leaves the house through the back door to go to the barn to prep for an upcoming fishing trip.
The Discovery of the Bodies
Around 11:15 am, Lizzie said she came back into the house and went to the sitting room. That was where she discovered her father’s bludgeoned corpse. She called Bridget and said that Andrew was dead and that someone came and killed him. She sent Bridget to go get the town doctor, who was a neighbor. Lizzie then sent Bridget and the neighbor upstairs to get Abby, but Abby was already dead. She too was hacked to death.
I’ve also found research that indicates it was the police who actually found Abby first. They did see that Abby’s blood had coagulated since it was dark and sticky. This means that her murder might have happened long before Andrew had been killed. Well, let’s just say Andrew was still dripping. That’s why it’s commonly believed that Abby was killed at least an hour before her husband. However, Abby was in a room that faced the sun, so the heat may have sped up the coagulation.
Andrew Jackson Borden was 69 years old when he died, and Abby Durfee Gray Borden was 63 years old.
The Suspects
This is your classic “Who done it?” mystery. There were two main suspects in the murders; Lizzie Borden and John Vinnicum Morse. Lizzie wasn’t fond of Abby, she even called her “Mrs. Borden.” She truly believed that Abby married Andrew for this money.
John Morse was the brother of Andrew’s first wife (and the mother of Lizzie and Emma Borden). There is even speculation that Lizzie and Bridget conspired the murders together because they were in a relationship. There is another theory that Lizzie, Emma, and John conspired the murders as well.
While she was never a suspect, Bridget Sullivan was in the house at the time of the murders, and it’s speculated that she may have helped Lizzie in some way. On the day of the murders, there were dozens of people coming in and out of the house, and rumor has it that Bridget was seen leaving the house with a bundle.
But Lizzie became the main suspect and became a news sensation.
You could say there’s a third suspect, an unknown assailant. In fact, neighbors reported seeing a stranger knocking on the door of the Borden house the morning of the murders. Back then, the mindset was that the intruder must have been an immigrant who went mad and decided to hack the Bordens to death. Ah…how we’ve evolved.
Yet given how much time was in between Abby and Andrew’s murders, the third suspect was the least likely. But, Andrew was a successful businessman who made a lot of enemies. So, this possibility wasn’t completely thrown out.
The Investigation
During their investigation, police found a handleless hatchet in the basement. The handle had apparently broken off very recently.
What is really interesting is that at the time of the Borden murders, forensic science and investigation was just beginning. In fact, those photos of Andrew and Abby’s corpses were some of the first crime scene investigation photos.
Yet, Victorian science still had a ways to go. Back then, crime scene photography wasn’t always seen as necessary because it was believed that the eyes of the victim would have an image of their murderer burned into the retinas, known as optography. This idea dates as far back as the 17th century. Murderers even started destroying their victim’s eyeballs, just in case. Even if true, that wouldn’t have worked in poor Andrew’s case since one of his eyeballs was cut in half, which means he was sleeping at the time of his murder.
Abby, however, was facing her attacker. The forensic investigation confirmed that she must have known her attacker because her wounds indicate that she was face-to-face, but there were no signs of a struggle. She also had bruise marks on her face from when she hit the floor, which means she was still alive. She had 18 blows to the head…which means this was a crime of passion.
It’s also noted that Lizzie was oddly calm during the investigation, even for someone who just lost her parents, let alone discovered her father’s corpse. Her calmness was seen as suspicious. Not to mention, her story was inconsistent when it came to her whereabouts at the time of the murders.
Lizzie was arrested and put in jail. This came as a shock to her community because people could not imagine that such a woman like her could have committed this heinous crime.
Question of the Dress
From the nature of the bodies, it’s clear that Lizzie would have been covered in blood from the murders. However, when police came to investigate, Lizzie was in a clean blue dress. Even Bridget confirmed that Lizzie’s dress was clean at the time Andrew’s body was discovered.
Family friend Alice Russell then tells the police and says that she saw Lizzie burn a dress in the stove on the same day as the murders while police were guarding outside. This was enough to get her charged with murder. However, her sister Emma confirmed that the family burned their old clothes often and confirmed that the dress was burned because it was stained with paint.
The Trial & Verdict
Lizzie’s trial started on June 5th, 1893, and she became an instant celebrity overnight. People would stand in line for hours at the courthouse in Ned Bedford, Massachusetts in hope of getting a seat in the small courtroom. The prosecution also started its opening statement with the skulls of Andrew and Abby Borden. Their actual skulls. This causes Lizzie to faint.
By the way, that famous rhymed that opened this blog started becoming popular during the trial.
While the skulls were used to demonstrate the gruesome matter of Andrew and Abby’s deaths, it backfires. Lizzie fainting in court actually drew sympathy for her. Also, Lizzie’s inconsistent alibi was thrown out because her lawyer wasn’t present. It was also revealed that she was taking morphine at the time of the investigation. By the way, morphine was commonly used by many women of that time. It was one of the earliest opioid pandemics of the Victorian century. Her dosage was large, and it was prescribed for pain, women’s issues, stress, and more.
The handleless hatchet had a hair on it, but it turns out it was bovine hair. Also, the wood part was tested for blood, but results showed none was present. The defense managed to cause everyone to question whether that was the actual murder weapon.
Ultimately, there wasn’t enough physical evidence to convict her. We’re talking no fingerprints, footprints, nothing. She was found not guilty.
She was acquitted in 1893. Yet, many believe that Lizzie was guilty. If you look up the details of the case and timeline of events, it’s easy to see why. But the mindset of the jury was that a woman would never pick up such a masculine tool and brutally kill her parents.
The Ghost Stories
The location of the murders, the Borden House, which can be found at 230 2nd Street in Fall River, Massachusetts, still stands today as the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast Museum. You can sleep in the same room where Abby Borden was murdered, and sit on the couch located where Andrew Borden met his end. It’s a macabre lover’s dream come true. But there is more to this house than the murders.
It seems there are sinister spirits residing in the house. Guests at the Lizzie Borden House have reported hearing voices, especially a woman’s voice, hearing footsteps, bangings, the list goes on. There is even a room that reported to be haunted by children.
There is also a room with money and coins. Why? In life, Andrew Borden was a frugal man, even though he was wealthy. If you take his money, you might get scratched. Well, at least that is what is reported by people who have toyed with fate.
In case you’re wondering, yes, this location is on my ghost hunting wish list. I want to witness these occurrences for myself and ask questions to the specters that reside in the home. As you can imagine, multiple paranormal investigators have tried to solve the mystery of the murders. I doubt ghost testimony will ever give us the answers.
Paranormal Theories
While I haven’t investigated the Lizzie Borden House myself, I’ve done some research on the consistent activity and I have a few theories.
- Tulpas or Thoughtforms – I think, given how many people come in, and the legends that have been circulating over the years, that some of the haunting could be blamed on…us. Meaning, we’ve put so much energy into the stories we’ve heard, that we’ve given it a life of its own.
- Footsteps – I think this is all residual. Given how many people are at the house every day, and the number of guests coming in with the spooky stuff in mind, I think this is all replays of history.
- Scratches from Taking the Money – I don’t know what Andrew Borden was like in life, so I don’t know if he was someone that would either scratch people or grab them if they were taking his money. Depending on what the scratches look like, I wonder if it would look like what an arm looks like after it’s been grabbed and the assailant dug their nails in.
- Voices – This could also be residual, but I’ve read enough reports and watch quite a few investigation videos that lead me to believe that either Abby’s conscious spirit is still around, or the trauma of her murder still stays in that house, especially the guest room.
Preserving & Owning History
Many pieces of the murder and trial are still on display today at the Fall River Historical Society. They have the couch that Andrew Borden slept on when he died, as well as the handleless hatchet that was found in the basement. The museum has tons of artifacts from the murders. While this may seem dark, the historian and macabre lover in me is thrilled that these artifacts have been preserved.
Just a few months after her acquittal, Lizzie bought a house, where she lived until her death in 1927. What is truly interesting is that the house went up for sale in 2020. Lizzie herself named the house, Maplecroft. How exquisite!
The owners, Donald Woods and Leeann Wilbur, also own the murder house, now known as Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast. Truly, the house is spectacular and beautiful. The owners intended to open a second bed and breakfast, but COVID-19 was the nail on the coffin for that dream.
I have to wonder if there’s paranormal activity tied with this location as well. In reality, I suppose we will never know, unless someone with a paranormal business in mind ends up purchasing the house. Time will eventually reveal the answer to my curiosities.
Did Lizzie Do It?
Personally, I think she did. Andrew was incredibly frugal, and since he didn’t have a will, if he died, Abby would have inherited his estate. And if Abby got the estate, it would have been passed onto her sister when she died. This means that Lizzie and Emma would lose their inheritance. Andrew signed multiple properties over to Abby, so their fears were valid.
Also, before Andrew and Abby’s deaths, Lizzie often said that she was unhappy with where she lived and felt she needed to live in the more prestigious area, known as “The Hill.” That is exactly where her new house is located. Money can be quite a motivator. Plus, Andrew was very much a Victorian man, and often put a lot of restrictions onto his spinster daughters.