Lizzie Borden House

Lizzie Borden took an ax
And gave her mother forty whacks,
And when she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one

Ahh, but did she? Or did she have help? Or was she innocent, and became caught up the hysteria of the brutal murders which claimed the lives of her father, and stepmother?

It all unfolded on the morning of August 4, 1892. Between 9am and 11:10am, Abby and Andrew Borden were the victims of violent axe murders that are thought to have been perpetrated by Andrew’s 32-year-old daughter, Lizzie. Her stepmother, Abby, was hit 18 times, and Andrew was hit 11.

According to numerous news reports of the time, it all unfolded like this … on the morning of August 4, 1892, Andrew Borden went out on business, leaving his wife, Abby,  an Irish maid named Bridget Sullivan and Lizzie at home. Lizzie’s sister Emma was away visiting. Lizzie and Emma’s uncle John Morse had also stayed the night prior to the murders, and was known to have had issues with Andrew.

On Andrew’s return from town (he wasn’t feeling well as the entire family has eaten spoiled mutton for breakfast), he went to the downstairs couch for a nap and, according to her testimony, Lizzie discovered her father dead around 11.15am, repeatedly struck in the head with a sharp instrument.

Upstairs Abby’s body was found, even more brutally mutilated with suggestions that she was murdered about an hour before her husband.
Apparently Lizzie had tried to purchase a type of poison on August 3, and a few days later she allegedly burned a dress in a stove.
Sullivan, who was also a suspect at different times (there’s speculation the pair had been in a relationship of sorts), had reportedly left the house carrying an unexamined parcel.

No weapon was found, though a hatchet found in the basement was suspected to be the murder weapon. Lizzie was arrested and tried for both murders in June 1893 but was acquitted, given the circumstantial evidence.

Not surprisingly, she was ostracised by the people of Fall River despite her many philanthropic efforts, and refusing to be run out of town, she continued  to live in Fall River in a nearby mansion called Maplecroft until her death in 1927.

Despite the accusations, Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the crimes but  her innocence remains in question: Did Lizzie Borden brutally murder her father and stepmother?
Following in the footsteps of many a paranormal investigator before me, I decided to conduct a series of investigations at the unassuming weatherboard house, located in a fairly quiet street in the sweet city of Fall River.

But I wasn’t just going to do a ghost tour … noooo, I was going to stay in the very room where Abby was brutally slain, and sleep in the bed riiiiiiiight next to where her bloodied and lifeless body was found.

I could have chosen any room in the house, but I chose to spend the night in the John V Morse room. This room is on the second floor, and the place where Lizzie and her sister Emma’s uncle had slept in the night before. Abby Borden was making up the bedroom after John Morse’s unexpected overnight stay when she was brutally murdered.

You can buy a variety of Lizzie Borden Museum merch from the adjoining shop … and why wouldn’t you? There’s bloody axes, t-shirts, bobble heads, vials of brick dust from the basement (it’s where the alleged murder weapon, the hatchet was found), loads of books and other trinkets such as bookmarks, charms, cards, caps, earrings, coins and even a Lizzie Borden board game!
Even though I did wonder what Lizzie would make of all these, I MAY have bought a few things, you know, just as mementos.