This week, for her Terrifying Travels column, rock singer and paranormal expert Brocarde is invited to investigate one of America’s most infamous double murders
I spent the night inside the Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, Massachusetts, one of America’s most notorious murder homes, and came away convinced that Lizzie Borden did not act alone.
The murders of Andrew and Abby Borden have fascinated the public for more than a century. On August 4, 1892, the wealthy couple were found dead inside their family home after suffering multiple blows to the head with a hatchet. Andrew was the father of Lizzie Borden, while Abby was her stepmother. Lizzie was ultimately tried for both murders, but was acquitted and walked free from court.
The case has never been officially solved, and the circumstances surrounding Lizzie’s acquittal have continued to fuel theories about what really happened inside the Borden home that August morning. I was given the opportunity to spend a night at the property with one goal in mind: to delve into the evidence, investigate the story for myself and see whether I could reach my own conclusion about who was responsible. Using my own killer instinct and a little help from the dearly departed.
When I first arrived, the house immediately lived up to its reputation. The dark grey and green building stands prominently on a street corner just a block from the centre of Fall River, and its imposing appearance makes it difficult to ignore. It certainly isn’t in keeping (or rather, “inn keeping”) with the rest of the block, but it was instantly right up my street. The “Ded and Breakfast” sign outside, complete with a swinging axe, gave me an unmistakable reminder of the terrible events that took place inside. Luckily, the establishment didn’t deliver on the death promise. Well, if they do, I don’t remember it. Maybe they slipped me a Corpse Reviver as a nightcap; either way, I appear to have lived to tell the tale.
Although, by breakfast, I was a little dead behind the eyes. I had a spiritual awakening, naturally, and the unspoken expectation of a lingering corpse watching me dig into my un-Lucky Charms at the breakfast table.
The property has been carefully restored to recreate the atmosphere of the 19th century, allowing guests to experience the rooms and surroundings much as they would have appeared during the Borden era. There is certainly a theatrical quality to the experience, but the history behind it is very real. The house has also become a destination for paranormal investigators, with visitors reporting ghostly encounters and unexplained activity throughout the property.
My room was the John Morse Room, which is regarded as one of the most haunted rooms in the house. I am quite accustomed to investigating haunted locations, but nothing really prepared me for the life-sized replica of Abby Borden’s body lying just inches from my pillow.
The replica has been positioned on the floor in the same place where Abby was found after her murder, complete with a blood stain around the neck. Abby was struck 19 times in the head with a hatchet before being left face down on the floor. Knowing that I was about to spend the night beside the exact location of her death certainly made the experience more intense.
Andrew’s death is also recreated inside the house. A life-sized replica of his body lies on the downstairs sofa where he was murdered, meaning that visitors exploring the property after dark can find themselves standing beside representations of both victims.
Although the paranormal history of the house was fascinating, I quickly found myself more interested in the murder investigation itself. The deeper I looked into the details, the more questions began to emerge. The investigation took place in 1892, when forensic science was still in its early stages, and the methods used to collect evidence were very different from those used today.
Five people woke up in the Borden household that morning. By the end of the day, only three remained.
One of those people to rise at the Borden’s was John Morse, Lizzie’s uncle and the brother of Andrew Borden’s former wife. Morse was staying in the guest room and reportedly left early in the morning to visit family members elsewhere in Fall River. This gave him what police regarded as an alibi.
But the circumstances surrounding his movements caught my attention. I couldn’t help wondering whether his trip away from the house was simply an innocent visit or whether it could have provided him with a convenient explanation for his whereabouts. According to accounts of the case, Morse was also able to remember every person he encountered on the carriage journey back to the Borden home after the murders, an unusually detailed recollection that stood out to me.
Lizzie was inside the house at the time of the murders, and naturally became the prime suspect. The only other person home was Bridget Sullivan, the family’s maid. Bridget said she had been outside washing windows before going upstairs to her attic room to rest, and maintained that she had neither seen nor heard anything.
The timing of Bridget’s movements has nevertheless remained interesting. It has been suggested that she returned to the house between the two murders, which would potentially have placed her inside when Andrew was attacked.
Another detail is difficult to overlook: the walls of the Borden House are remarkably thin. Considering the violence of the attacks, it is hard to imagine that nobody heard anything. Being inside the house myself made that even more apparent. A bludgeoning involving a hatchet would surely have created an enormous amount of noise, and the thought of blood curlding screams travelling through those rooms is chilling.
Abby was murdered first in the first-floor bedroom, which is now known as the John Morse Room. Andrew was away from the property at the time and returned at around 10am. He then lay down on the downstairs sofa and fell asleep, he awoke from his nap with an axe to the face. Andrew was struck 11 times with a hatchet. Reports from the time described the injuries as horrific (no sheet Sherlock!), he suffered from damage to his eye that left it hanging from its socket and resting against his cheek. It’s quite clear that him and his murderer didn’t see eye to eye! By approximately 10.30am, both Andrew and Abby were dead.
Police concluded that Abby had been killed first because her body was cold and her blood had congealed by the time investigators arrived, while Andrew’s blood was reportedly still warm.
Attention soon turned to Lizzie, whose behaviour after the murders became another part of the investigation. She was reportedly calm and detached despite the deaths of her father and stepmother, and investigators noted that she was remarkably clean. Only one speck of blood was reportedly found on her undergarments.
Elsewhere in the house, however, police discovered a bucket containing bloodied clothing. When Lizzie was questioned about it, she said she was menstruating, and the explanation apparently brought the matter to an end. In those days men squirmed at the mere mention of “women’s problems”, and personally I can’t think of any reason why a hormonal woman would ever want to murder anyone!!!
A handleless hatchet was also discovered in the basement. It had been dipped in ash, meaning that no blood was found on it. Also the day after the funeral, Lizzie and her sister Emma were reportedly found burning a dress on the stove. Their explanation was that it had paint on it, and again the matter did not lead to further questioning.
Lizzie’s acquittal has to be viewed against the attitudes of the period. The jury was entirely male, while Lizzie was presented as a respectable young Sunday school teacher. The idea that a woman of her background could have possessed the physical strength and aggression required to repeatedly attack two people with an axe was difficult for many to accept. The social expectations surrounding women at the time may therefore have worked strongly in Lizzie’s favour. Guess she couldn’t protest against a little sexism and misogyny if it meant getting away with murder!
There was also the question of motive. Andrew Borden was wealthy and successful, but he was known for being extremely frugal. Despite having the means, he reportedly refused to install basic conveniences such as electricity and running water in the family home. There was said to be considerable tension within the household, with arguments and disagreements between family members. Lizzie also had a potential financial motive. She reportedly feared losing her inheritance to her stepmother, and Abby’s death before Andrew could have altered the eventual distribution of the family’s wealth.
The money involved was substantial. After Andrew and Abby died, Lizzie and her sister Emma reportedly inherited approximately $500,000, which would be worth around $11 million today. Emma, meanwhile, was out of town during the week surrounding the murders, giving her a plausible alibi. However she did stick by Lizzie during the trial and said it was her idea to burn the dress.
After spending so much time looking at the case, I became convinced that Lizzie was responsible for Abby’s murder. But I could not shake the feeling that she had help. My theory is that there were two killers, with John Morse responsible for Andrew’s death. I also believe that other people may have become involved in the subsequent cover up. What happened during my paranormal investigation that night only strengthened that belief.
In the small hours, I struggled to sleep in the John Morse Room, so I decided to sit beside the replica of Abby’s body, in the same location where she was murdered and conduct a spirit rod session. The house was quiet, and there was something strangely fitting about asking its darkest questions while the rest of the world was asleep. I began asking questions, most of which received no response. Then I asked the question I had been thinking about throughout the investigation: “Did Lizzie Borden murder you?”
The response was an emphatic yes. I then asked whether there had been two murderers. Again, the answer was yes. When I asked specifically about John Morse, his name was confirmed as the second murderer. For me, the experience was a powerful confirmation of the theory I had developed while investigating the case. I believe Lizzie killed Abby, John Morse killed Andrew, and that Bridget and Emma were ultimately involved in the subsequent cover up.
There is another intriguing part of the story surrounding Bridget Sullivan. Following the trial, she reportedly became quite wealthy, leading to speculation that she may have received a reward for supporting Lizzie during the murder proceedings. Her change in circumstances was certainly striking. Bridget eventually moved to a mining town in Montana and spent the rest of her life largely separated from the Borden family. There were also rumours that Lizzie ordered her to return to Ireland and live on a secluded farm. She reportedly did return to Ireland for a time before eventually coming back to the United States.
By the end of my stay, I had arrived at the Borden House expecting the ghosts to be the main attraction. Instead, I became completely absorbed by the details of the murders and the unanswered questions surrounding them. Being inside the actual rooms where Andrew and Abby died gives the story an entirely different feeling.
There is also a much older tragedy connected to the area that adds another layer to the house’s sinister reputation. In 1848, on the plot next to the Borden House, Eliza Darling Borden reportedly took her two young children into the basement and drowned them both in a cistern before returning upstairs and slitting her own throat with a razor. Her two children are believed to haunt the Lizzie Borden House, adding to the property’s long history of death and tragedy.
After spending the night there, I could not help wondering whether something dark has remained attached to the property through the generations. Could the atmosphere and energy of the place be connected to the disturbing events that have taken place there? Thankfully, I did not stay long enough to discover the answer.
What I did discover was an extraordinary true crime experience. Walking through the Borden House, standing in the rooms where Andrew and Abby were killed and then spending the night surrounded by the history of the case brings the story remarkably close. For anyone fascinated by true crime, spending a night at the Lizzie Borden House is an experience unlike any other. And if you want to immerse yourself completely in the mystery, the John Morse Room is the one to choose.
Just be prepared for the possibility that you may not be alone, in more ways than one!
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