Can I Axe You a Question: Lizzie Borden House
- etickle1
- Apr 5, 2021
- 4 min read
Lizzie Borden took an axe,
Gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
Gave her father forty-one.
You remember this little diddy don’t you? Little girls jumping rope at recess or in the park, singing to themselves about the murderous ways of one woman in a happy little tune. No? Well this little diddy was one of my personal favorites as a young child, though I had no idea what it meant. My teachers, however, were not too thrilled with this little tune. So I had to resort to the good old Cinderella Dressed In Yella. I had never figured out why the teachers never liked this rhyme until I got older. Now I understand their concerns. This charming little tune told a dark tale of the young Lizzie Borden killing her stepmother with an axe. Repeatedly beating her head in the skull with an axe. Then doing the same to her father.
For those who are not aware of the Lizzie Borden murder case, allow me to shed some light on the subject. The Borden family consisted of Lizzie, her sister Emma, and their father Andrew. Andrew Borden was quite the wealthy man dealing in manufacturing and real estate. Unfortunately, the matriarch of the Borden family had died earlier than anyone had expected. Only three years after the death of his wife, Mr. Borden remarried. The reasoning behind his remarriage is unknown. Perhaps he felt his daughters still needed guidance as they entered their twenties. Perhaps he was filled with an overwhelming amount of loneliness due to the loss of his wife. Regardless of his reasoning, he was happy once again. Lizzie, on the other hand, was not.
Lizzie and her new stepmother, Abby, were constantly at odds with each other. Though neither one of the sisters liked her much. They worried that Abby and her family were only after their father’s money. They disliked her so much that they would even refer to her as “Mrs. Borden” and never as their mother. Tensions were running high in the Borden house upon Abby’s arrival.That’s probably why things ended the way they did for the family.
August 4th, 1892. Abby and Andrew Borden were found murdered in their own home. Heads beaten in by a hatchet 18 and 19 times respectfully.
Not as intense as the little rhyme would have you believe, but still horrifying in its own right. The only other people in the house at the time were Lizzie and the maid. Emma was away on business at the time of the murder. So the only true culprit police had was Lizzie. She was taken into custody, tried, but acquitted. Some say it was because she was a woman that they didn’t believe she could have been capable of doing such a thing. The maid even claimed that there was not a spot of blood anywhere to be seen on Lizzie. However, during her questioning, not a single bit of remorse or grief showed on Lizzie’s face. Not a tear shed for the death of her father.
There is one player, however, that most places online don’t discuss. Jonathan Morse or Uncle John as Emma and Lizzie called him. John was the brother of their biological mother and was visiting Fall River the day of the murder. From what I’ve been able to find, nobody questioned John in regards to the murder. I think it was the missing piece to crack this whole case wide open. I think that Lizzie knew she would be acquitted, so she took the blame and conspired with John to have Abby and Andrew murdered. Afterall, I don’t think John remained in town too long after the trial of his niece was over.
I hear what you’re saying though. How does this story relate to monsters or the supernatural? The answer lies in what remains. The Borden house has since been turned into a museum/ bed and breakfast. They offer tours of the facilities and you can even stay in the room in which Abby’s body was found. You’ll be treated to a lovely crime photo at your bedside to soothe you to sleep. Though it seems like few people who visit get a good night’s sleep.
Many paranormal actions have happened in the Borden house. Written in the guestbook are accounts of terror. Some guests supposedly being choked by the ghost of Andrew, others too terrified to even mention what happened but insisted they will not be coming back. There was even a Ouija board in the house that one of the guests had stolen. It was promptly mailed back to the house with a single note. “Please make it stop”. Though my favorite account to date remains the Glam and Gore paranormal investigation of the Borden house. Mykie (aka Glam and Gore) is a ghost skeptic. While she cares for the horror genre as a whole, she does not believe in the existence of spirits or ghosts. In this series, she had investigated some of the most haunted places in America. And the Borden house is one of the top places that scared her the most. It's a longer video but it's definitely worth a watch.
I hope to someday visit the Borden household and do my own investigation on the subject. And if ever you want to, I’ve taken it upon myself to leave the link to the bed and breakfast’s website below. If you have visited this house, did anything happen to you? Share your experiences here. I’d love to hear them. Then perhaps we may know for sure if this house is still haunted by the spirits of Abby and Andrew Borden.
Sources:
https://lizzie-borden.com/ (Book your stay at the Borden house here)
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