Lizzie Borden

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

Borden, Lizzie (1860-1927), accused murderer, who allegedly killed her father and stepmother with an ax in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1892. The jury found her not guilty. Lizzie Borden was the youngest daughter of Andrew J. Borden, a prominent banker, and Sarah Morse Borden. Sarah died when Lizzie was 2 years old. Two years later, Borden married Abby Gray, whose father was a tin peddler. Lizzie grew up with an elder sister, Emma. Neither ever married. The sisters despised their stepmother, partly because of her families inferior social position. The bloody corpses of Andrew and Abby Borden were found on August 4, 1892. Suspicion fell on Lizzie, especially because she was in the house and had the best opportunity to commit the crime. The case attracted national attention. The trial began on June 6, 1893. Defense witnesses told of Lizzie's good reputation. The prosecution presented evidence that Lizzie hated her stepmother, resented her father's gifts to Abby's relatives, and she tried to buy a poisonous chemical the day before the murders. Lizzie Borden's case has been the subject of books, a ballet, a ballad, and numerous plays.

The Borden home is now a Bed & Breakfast - plus museum.
http://www.lizzie-borden.com/index.htm

Here is an email that prompted us here at Ghoststudy to write this article.
Some of you may know who Lizzie Borden is and I have a story to tell. My experience is that I believe I have seen her ghost?! My friends and I went to visit the Borden home & museum about a month ago and we started to wonder around in the house by ourselves. We were talking about the ax and things like that. About that time my friend ran over and stated that she had seen a woman walking around in a room we had just passed. I asked, Are you sure it was not just your imagination". She said NO that it wasn't and she wanted to go back and look. Well, we did and there was a woman right there, I really couldn't see her face but she was carrying an axe! She was walking around and then vanished. I then told my friend that we should go back with the group, which we did! I don't know what we saw for sure, but my friend and I both agree that there was a woman with an axe in that room.

If any of our viewers have the opportunity to visit or spend the night at the Borden Bed & Breakfast, please let us know how it goes!

     
From left to right, Lizzie, Borden home, father's body, and stepmother's body

__Written by Jim Eaton
.