Michael: 00:01:23

Welcome back to History's Greatest Crimes, where we dissect the most interesting and at times, most baffling crimes of the past. I'm Michael.

Alana: 00:01:30

And I'm Alana.

Today we're stepping into the stifling heat and rigid social structures of America's Gilded Age to confront a crime that became an instant and enduring legend.

Michael: 00:01:42

It's a case immortalized in a chilling children's rhyme known across the nation, though famously inaccurate. Lizzie Borden took an ax and gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41.

Alana: 00:01:57

The reality, Michael, was less rhythmic, but no less horrifying. Abby Borden, Lizzie's stepmother, was struck 18 or 19 times with a hatchet, not an axe. Her father, Andrew, 10 or 11 times.

But the core facts remain stark.

sweltering August morning in: 1892

Michael: 00:02:24

And the prime suspect, the name forever linked to this gruesome act, was Andrew Borden's younger daughter, Lizzie, a 32 year old unmarried woman active in her church from one of the town's most prominent, albeit peculiar families.

Alana: 00:02:39

The case became a national sensation, a courtroom drama played out against the backdrop of late 19th century America, an era of dramatic industrial growth, stark social divisions, and deeply ingrained Victorian values about class and, crucially, about women.

Michael: 00:02:56

Join us as we unpack the Borden murders. We'll examine the crime itself, the investigation, the trial that captivated the nation and a long shadow that it has cast ever since.

But more than that, we'll explore the world that produced this tragedy. The Gilded Age, the specific pressures of Fall river society, and the complex family dynamics simmering within the Borden household.

Was Lizzie Borden a cold blooded killer or a victim of her time?

Alana: 00:03:42

Michael to really grasp the Borden case, we need to understand the specific time and place.

Late 19th century America, the period Mark Twain famously dubbed the Gilded Age, was an era of explosive transformation, particularly in the Northeast after the Civil War. The victorious north had a vigorous industrial economy due to wartime spending.

Investors and bankers began to build railroads all over the Northeast and the west, and immigrants streamed in from Europe that provided cheap labor.

This rapid industrialization created immense wealth for a few, but also led to stark social inequalities, harsh working conditions, low pay, and a lack of workplace safety.

Michael: 00:04:26

Fall River, Massachusetts, was a perfect microcosm of this Gilded Age dynamism and tension.

Located on the border between Rhode island and Massachusetts, the town of Fall river had become the Leading textile manufacturing center in the United states.

By the: 1870

Alana: 00:05:02

This industrial boom created a sharply stratified society.

You had the mill owners and financiers, often descendants of old Yankee families, living in grand mansions on the hill, as they called it, the affluent part of town.

Michael: 00:05:17

And then you had the vast workforce that thousands of immigrants pouring in from Ireland, French Canada, Portugal, seeking grueling work in the mills.

In the years: 1871

Alana: 00:05:45

These workers, many of the immigrants, often lived in crowded company owned tenements. Over the years, about 12,000 tenement buildings, known as triple deckers, were built in the town and the areas surrounding the factories.

ed with flammable framing. In: 1911

Michael: 00:06:16

So Fall river was a town defined by its wealth, its industry, and the inherent friction between the established elite and the newly arrived working class. And into this Fall river society stepped Andrew Jackson Borden. He's fascinating because he embodied some of the contradictions of the age.

Alana: 00:06:34

Born in: 1822

erty development, banking. By: 1892

Michael: 00:06:58

But crucially, Andrew Borden was famously, almost pathologically, frugal and cheap. Despite his wealth, the family lived at 92nd 2nd Street.

It was a two story house with a third floor attic, built in the Greek Revival style almost 50 years before. Originally, it was two apartments, one on each floor, meant for lower class families.

But Andrew Borden remodeled it to become one home for him and his family. But despite the effort to remodel, Andrew still refused to install the newest technologies like indoor plumbing and electricity.

He Instead put a two stall privy in the basement and a chamber pot under every bed.

Alana: 00:07:39

The Borden house was a far cry from the miserable triple deckers down the road.

But quite frankly, Andrew Borden could easily have afforded more and lived in a better location, like on the hill where the other elite families lived. But Mr. Borden appears to have simply bought the house because of its proximity to his business on Main Street.

Michael: 00:08:00

Quite simply, Andrew Borden was known around town as dour and tight fisted, a man who boasted he never borrowed a penny.

Alana: 00:08:08

This wasn't just personal eccentricity. It had real consequences. His daughters, Emma and Lizzie, were denied the social standing and comforts that their peers from wealthy families enjoyed.

They lived with the knowledge of their father's wealth, but without its visible benefits, creating a pressure cooker of resentment within the home that likely went far deeper than simple, greedy.

Michael: 00:08:30

's first wife, Sarah, died in: 1863

Alana: 00:08:46

His second wife was Abby Durfee Gray. She was 37, unmarried, a quote, old maid in the parlance of the time.

And perhaps Andrew saw her more as a practical necessity, a housekeeper and stepmother, than a romantic partner. Abby reportedly craved social respectability, but came from a less prominent background and seems to have been viewed somewhat dismissively.

Michael: 00:09:09

The relationship between Abby and her stepdaughters, particularly Lizzie, was notoriously cold. Lizzie made a point of never calling Abby mother, referring to her as only Mrs. Borden.

Alana: 00:09:21

A dressmaker later recalled a time when she accidentally referred to Abby as Lizzie's mother. Lizzie apparently snarled, quote, don't call her that to me. She is a mean thing and we hate her, end quote.

Michael: 00:09:33

Both Emma and Lizzie reportedly believed Abby had only married their father for his money and security. Financial matters were a constant source of friction.

In: 1887

Alana: 00:09:58

Itself reflected this division. Doors between family members, sections of the house were often kept locked.

According to the records, in: 1891

When persons were found using the tickets in Question. They explained that, quote, lizzie Borden gave the tickets to them, end quote.

Michael: 00:10:30

That sort of action does suggest a personal conflict.

But what's really curious is that of a few years later, after the murders, after Lizzie Borden already had possession of her late father's inheritance, she was charged with stealing two porcelain pictures from a department store in Providence, Rhode Island.

Alana: 00:10:47

Some historians have pointed out that in the second part of the 19th century, Western society was undergoing tremendous leaps, not just in technology, but also science, including medicine and psychology. This was around the same time that Sigmund Freud was developing psychoanalysis and identifying mental stages and disorders like the Oedipus complex.

People were beginning to understand that a person's subconscious was much more complex and much more troubled than previously thought.

Michael: 00:11:14

And it's within this context that doctors began reporting a spike among middle and upper class women of the disorder that was now named kleptomania. These women appeared not to be tempted by the items that they stole, but by the action of taking them in the first place. Dr.

Wilhelm Steckel, a psychoanalyst like Freud, suggested that the thefts were expressions of disturbed states that arose from frustrated sexual desires. Newspapers also covered the rising cases of kleptomania vividly.

In: 1884

Kleptomania, they call it, where fashionable women are caught with bolts of ice, handkerchiefs, collars and the like smuggled under their wraps. End quote.

Alana: 00:12:03

So was Lizzie Borden an unfulfilled woman looking for some thrills by stealing? Or. Or was she acting out in response to family conflict and dysfunction?

Michael: 00:12:12

t's probably both. Lizzie, by: 1892

In Victorian society, this made her a spinster, a woman potentially seen as unfulfilled and dependent. Why she remained single is unclear.

Perhaps her father's controlling nature scared off suitors, or maybe his miserliness limited her social opportunities.

Alana: 00:12:36

Despite these constraints, Lizzie maintained a public image of propriety. She was active in the Central Congregational Church, taught Sunday school, and belonged to groups like the Women's Christian Temperance Union.

She presented a respectable face to Fall river society. Yet beneath this surface, there were hints of trouble.

Michael: 00:12:55

So you have this respectable, churchgoing woman living in a house dominated by a frugal, unpopular father and a disliked stepmother, simmering with financial resentments and unspoken conflicts, all within the rigid social hierarchy of industrial Fall River. It's a potent mix for dangerous times.

The summer of: 1892

Alana: 00:13:46

First, there was a sudden, violent illness. On Tuesday, August 2, both Andrew and Abby suffered severe bouts of vomiting throughout the night.

Abby was so alarmed, she went across the street to see the family physician, Dr. Seabury Bowen. Confiding her fear that they had been.

Michael: 00:14:04

Poisoned, Dr. Bowen dismissed her fears, attributing the sickness to food poisoning from mutton or fish left unrefrigerated in the heat wave.

But the fear of poisoning clearly lingered. Lizzie later claimed she felt nauseous the next day, and the maid, Maggie Sullivan, was also ill, vomiting in the yard on the morning of the murders.

Alana: 00:14:24

Then, on Wednesday, August 3rd, the day after Abby voiced her poisoning fears, Lizzie allegedly walked into Eli Bentz's drugstore and attempted to buy prussic acid, a deadly poison. She claimed she needed it to clean a sealskin cape. Benz refused to sell it to her without a prescription.

Lizzie would later deny that this incident ever occurred. But as we'll see, Benz's testimony later became crucial for the prosecution, suggesting premeditation.

Michael: 00:14:54

Also on Wednesday, an unexpected visitor arrived. John Morse, the brother of Andrew's deceased first wife, Sarah, and Lizzie's maternal uncle. He stayed overnight.

Lizzie later testified she overheard a heated argument between Morse and her father, possibly about some sort of business. Morse's presence added another layer of unexplained tension just hours before the murders.

Alana: 00:15:17

And that same Wednesday evening, Lizzie paid a visit to her friend Alice Russell.

According to Russell's later testimony, Lizzie seemed agitated, speaking ominously about feeling unsafe, mentioning fears of poisoning and seeing strangers lurking around the property. She reportedly said, quote, I'm afraid sometimes that somebody will do something, end quote.

Michael: 00:15:40

Was this genuine fear, perhaps stemming from the recent illness? Or, as the prosecution would later suggest, was Lizzie deliberately planting the idea of an outside threat, preparing a future alibi?

Well, we can't know for sure, but the timing is undeniably chilling.

Alana: 00:15:57

Add to this the family's habit of locking internal doors, possibly stemming from the earlier theft by Lizzie herself. And then there was also the incident during which Andrew killed Lizzie's pigeons in the barn. Pigeon keeping was a popular hobby in the 19th century.

During the inquest for the crime, Lizzie Borden was questioned regarding any killing of an animal that may have taken place at the property. Lizzie replied that her father had, quote, killed some pigeons in the barn last May or June, end quote.

Michael: 00:16:28

Some popular films have played up that aspect to suggest that the pigeons were Lizzie's beloved pets that her father spitefully killed. But in reality, it seems more likely that the birds were being kept for meat and Lizzie didn't appear upset by the event at all.

So it's possible that that particular event isn't actually evidence of anything. But it's also another possible reason for Lizzie to resent her fault. Father.

Alana: 00:16:50

Looking back, the atmosphere in the days leading up to August 4th feel thick with foreboding.

Michael: 00:16:55

Absolutely, Alana. And on Thursday, August 4th, the day began early for the Borden.

Maggie Sullivan, the maid, got up around 6:15am Andrew, Abby and their guest John Morse ate breakfast around 7. They ate mutton stew, Johnny cakes, coffee, bananas, cookies. But Lizzy apparently didn't join them.

Alana: 00:17:15

John Morse left the Borden House around 8:45am to visit relatives.

Planning to return for lunch, Andrew Borden then went out for his morning business downtown around 9am Lizzie came downstairs from her bedroom around 9am, had coffee and noted that she wasn't feeling well.

Michael: 00:17:33

Around the same time Abby told Maggie to wash the outside windows. Abby herself went upstairs saying she needed to make the bed in the guest room. And that's the last time Maggie saw Abby Borden alive.

Alana: 00:17:45

The window washing is key. While Maggie was outside, occupied with this task for over an hour, Abby Borden was murdered upstairs in the guest room.

and: 10:45

Michael: 00:18:11

Around: 10:45

Maggie had to unlock the triple locked front door for him and as she did, she heard a noise upstairs and she later described it as sounding like a stifled laugh which she assumed belonged to Lizzie.

Alana: 00:18:28

Inside, Lizzie told her father that Abby had received a note summoning her to visit a sick friend and had gone out. This note was never found and no messenger was ever identified. The statement was critical.

It explained Abby's absence to Andrew and delayed the discovery of her body. Andrew seemed to accept it and went into the sitting room and lay down on the sofa, apparently for a nap.

Michael: 00:18:51

Around 11am Maggie, feeling unwell from the heat and her earlier sickness, went up to her room in the third floor attic to rest.

Alana: 00:19:00

Shortly after 11am While Maggie was in her attic room, Andrew Borden was attacked as he rested on the sofa. He received 10 or 11 savage blows to the head and face with a hatchet Rendering him unrecognizable.

Like Abby's murder, There were no signs of a struggle.

Michael: 00:19:17

Minutes later, around 11.10am, Lizzie called up the backstairs. Maggie come down. And when Maggie came down, Lizzie met her saying, father's dead. Somebody came in and killed him. End quote.

Alana: 00:19:29

Lizzie told Maggie not to go into the sitting room, but to run and get Dr. Bowen, the family physician who lived across the road. And others began. Other neighbors began to arrive quickly.

Someone else called the police from a call box a couple of blocks away.

Michael: 00:19:45

One neighbor, Mrs. Adelaide Churchill, asked Lizzie where Mrs. Borden was. Lizzie then repeated her story about the note, adding uncertainty, I don't know. It was Mrs.

Churchill and Maggie who would then go upstairs and discover Abby's dead body.

Alana: 00:20:01

When Dr. Bowen arrived and examined the bodies, Andrew Borden's body was still warm, the blood fresh. Abby's body was cold, the blood congealed.

This confirmed that Abby was killed significantly earlier, likely 60 to 90 minutes before Andrew.

Michael: 00:20:17

That time gap is one of the most perplexing elements of this crime. It suggests the killer remained in the house undetected between the two murders, waiting for Andrew.

That implies incredible nerve and argues against a spontaneous rage filled outburst. Given the locked doors and the known occupants, an outside intruder seems almost impossible. The killer was almost certainly already inside.

The scene at 92 Second street quickly descended into chaos. Neighbors, doctors, police, reporters. The house was overrun by people. And right from the start, the police investigation was highly criticized.

The crime scene wasn't secured properly, raising concerns about contamination.

Alana: 00:21:17

That's right, Michael. Among other issues, both Lizzie Borden and Maggie the maid were allowed to stay in the house during the investigation.

When Uncle John Morse arrived back home, he was also allowed to view the bodies. Lizzie's sister Emma also returned home later in the day.

And as members of the family arrived, police questioned them and Lizzie inside the house, a practice very different from today's standards.

Michael: 00:21:40

And when a police officer first arrived on the scene, he actually left a painter who would be working nearby to guard the door while the police officer went to get backup. And the actual search of the Borden residence was delayed and went on over several days.

This seemed due to a deference to the Borden's social standing, but it left plenty of time to hide and or destroy evidence.

Alana: 00:22:03

Initially fueled by Lizzie's own comments about her father having enemies, police explored theories of an outside attacker. Perhaps a disgruntled laborer Andrew had argued with, or someone seeking revenge for his business dealings.

Michael: 00:22:16

But inevitably, the focus narrowed.

Emma Borden was confirmed to Be miles away in Fairhaven, John Morris had a solid alibi across town, that left Lizzie Borden and Maggie Sullivan as the only known people in the house. During the critical time frames.

Alana: 00:22:32

Lizzie's demeanor struck many as oddly calm, almost detached. Her accounts of her movements that morning were vague and shifted under questioning.

Her alibi for the time of her father's murder, that she was in the Barn loft for 15 to 20 minutes looking for fishing sinkers for a trip that she hadn't even prepared for. That seemed highly improbable. Investigators noted the undisturbed dust in the loft and the intense heat, making a prolonged search unlikely.

Michael: 00:23:00

Maggie Sullivan's story remained consistent throughout. Outside washing windows during Abby's murder, resting upstairs during Andrews.

While some later speculated about her potential involvement, police actually never seriously considered her as a suspect.

Alana: 00:23:15

The search for the murder weapon turned up several axes and hatchets in the cellar. The most suspicious was a hatchet head with a broken handle.

The handle appeared newly broken off and had been discarded in some way, possibly due to the fact that bloodstains on wood can be impossible to remove.

Furthermore, the head of the hatchet seemed unusually clean, possibly washed, and the blade of that particular hatchet was covered with ash, while other hatchets in the same spot were covered with dust. It's possible that once cleaned, the killer dipped the blade in ash to simulate disuse, similar to the others.

Michael: 00:23:53

Tests by Harvard professor Edward Wood were inconclusive. The hatchet was consistent with the wounds, but no definitive blood traces were found.

This handleless hatchet became key prosecution evidence, but it remained circumstantial at best. The lack of significant blood on Lizzie or her clothes and given the horrific close contact nature of the attacks was also a major puzzle.

Alana: 00:24:17

Furthermore, that same Harvard professor tested the stomach contents of Abby and Andrew Borden and found no evidence of poisoning. Similarly, he tested the milk delivered to the Borden home on the day of the killings and the previous day.

And he also found no poison in either specimen.

Michael: 00:24:33

There just wasn't a lot of evidence. But then something happened that made Lizzie look incredibly guilty.

Lizzie's friend Alice Russell told the authorities that three days after the murders, on Sunday, August 7, she saw Lizzie burning a blue dress in the kitchen stove. Lizzie claimed it was stained with old paint, plausible as painting had occurred.

But Maggie Sullivan had testified Lizzie wore that very dress on the morning of the murders. Burning it looked like destroying evidence and heavily influenced the decision to indict her.

Alana: 00:25:06

The closed door inquest held from August 9th to the 11th sealed Lizzie's fate Her testimony was contradictory and evasive, lacking the expected grief or emotion. However, we should note that the neighbor, Dr.

Bowen, later testified that he found Lizzie Borden upset enough in the hours and days following the murders to give her a mild sedative, which may have affected her behavior. Regardless, immediately following the inquest, on August 11, Lizzie Borden was arrested and charged with the murders of her father and stepmother.

Michael: 00:25:38

She was taken to Taunton Jail. In the prison records, Lizzie Borden is described as 5ft 4 inches of light complexion with light hair and gray eyes.

Interestingly, the same records, someone wrote, quote, probably guilty.

Alana: 00:25:53

But despite the clear suspicion, Lizzie Borden was treated quite pleasantly as a prisoner over the next year while she waited for her trial. Soon after she was imprisoned, the records reveal that Lizzie was diagnosed with bronchitis.

As a result, the county sheriff and his wife allowed Lizzie to stay in their home while she recuperated. Apparently, Lizzie had been friends with their daughter when they were children.

Michael: 00:26:16

When Lizzie returned to her jail cell, she was allowed to use china dishes brought to her by her sister Emma. She grew strawberry plants on her windowsill. And she was apparently quite fond of the prison cat, Daisy, a yellow and white male cat.

Alana: 00:26:30

Finally, In June of: 1893

Newspapers across the country provided sensational daily coverage, and crowds thronged the courthouse.

Michael: 00:26:47

The prosecution, led by District Attorney Jose Knowlton and William Moody, faced a huge challenge. Proving guilt with purely circumstantial evidence.

They built their case on Lizzie's alleged motive, including hatred for stepmother Abby and and her desire for inheritance.

They talked about her suspicious actions, including the alleged earlier poisoning attempt, Lizzie's, of course, shifting alibis and her burning of the dress.

They also pointed out Lizzie's exclusive opportunity to carry out the crime at the time of the day and the ambiguous physical evidence, like the handleless hatchet.

Alana: 00:27:23

A truly shocking moment came when the prosecution actually presented the skulls of Andrew and Abby Borden to the jury, demonstrating the horrific nature of the wounds. Lizzie fainted upon seeing them, a reaction interpreted as everything from guilt to genuine shock to a calculator performance.

Michael: 00:27:43

Lizzie had a formidable defense team, her family lawyer, Andrew Jennings, and, significantly, George D. Robinson.

Robinson was a lawyer who became a popular governor of Massachusetts before returning back to the private practice of law, where he was much in demand. Lizzie Borden apparently paid Robinson $25,000 for his services, an extraordinarily large fee for an attorney in that era.

Alana: 00:28:09

But Apparently, Robinson was worth every penny. Together with the family lawyer, Andrew Jennings, George Robinson first hammered away at the circumstantial nature of the prosecution's case.

And Jennings famously declared in his closing quote, there is not one particle of direct evidence against Lizzie Andrew Borden. There's not a spot of blood. There's not a weapon they have connected with her. End quote.

Michael: 00:28:36

Second, they argued the timeline was impossible.

Could a woman alone commit two such brutal murders, clean herself completely, dispose of the weapon and appear calm, all within the narrow window that the prosecution suggested? Robinson ridiculed the idea she might have done it naked to avoid blood stains.

Alana: 00:28:55

Third, they presented witnesses suggesting suspicious strangers near the house, bolstering the intruder theory.

Michael: 00:29:02

And fourth, perhaps most powerfully, they appealed directly to the jury's Victorian sensibilities. They portrayed Lizzie as the epitome of respectable womanhood. She was pious, charitable, active in the church.

Emma testified to Lizzie's affection for their father. Could this woman, a so called Protestant nun, as one supporter called her, commit such savage acts of brutality?

eply with an all male jury in: 1893

Alana: 00:29:31

Similarly, Lizzie's lawyer played the gender card and cleverly manipulated the juror's expectations about the proper role and behavior of women, especially upper class ladies. At one point, her lawyer, George Robinson, cautioned jurors about concluding that Lizzie committed the murders since she was present on the property.

He noted the fact of opportunity should not be held against Lizzie since she was right where they all believed a woman should be. He stated, I don't know where I would want my daughter to be than to say that she was at home attending to the ordinary vocations of life.

Michael: 00:30:04

I also find Robinson's closing arguments about Lizzie Borden interesting. He said, to find her guilty, you must believe she is a fiend.

Does she look it as she sat there with these long weary days and moving in and out before you? Have you seen anything that shows the lack of human feeling and womanly bearing? End quote.

Such an argument can certainly be criticized as illogical, but legally beside the point and sexist. But there is no question that it was effective.

Alana: 00:30:34

The defense also scored two massive procedural victories. The judges ruled Lizzie's contradictory inquest testimony inadmissible because she hadn't been properly warned against self incrimination.

This kept her damaging inconsistencies from the jury. And crucially, the testimony about the alleged attempt to buy prussic acid was also excluded, gutting the prosecution's argument for premeditation.

Michael: 00:31:00

,: 1893

Lizzie Borden wept with relief, given the lack of direct evidence and the successful defense strategy playing on societal norms. And the acquittal, while perhaps surprising today, seemed almost preordained to many of the observers at the time.

Alana: 00:31:45

her and stepmother in June of: 1893

Lizzie Borden, though legally innocent, remained a pariah in the eyes of many. She and her sister Emma, now wealthy heiresses after inheriting their father's considerable fortune, quickly left the house on Second Street.

Michael: 00:32:08

In September: 1893

Alana: 00:32:27

But Maplecroft became something of a lonely fortress. Lizzie, who started going by Lisbeth Borden, found herself largely ostracized by the very society she aspired to join.

The notoriety of the trial was inescapable.

Michael: 00:32:42

While Emma lived quietly, Lizzie sought companionship elsewhere, developing a love for the theater and traveling often.

Around: 1904

Alana: 00:33:06

The exact nature of the Lizzie Nance relationship is unknown, but it caused whispers and speculations, possibly hinting at a romantic connection which would have been deeply taboo at that time.

This association with the morally questionable world of acting, combined with the late night parties, proved too much for the conventional sister Emma.

Michael: 00:33:28

In: 1905

However, even in an interview years later, Emma expressed her perpetual belief that Lizzie did not commit the murders.

Alana: 00:33:45

,: 1927

Lizzie left substantial sums to charity, but nothing to Emma, stating her sister had enough. Both are buried in the family plot in Fall River's Oak Grove Cemetery.

Michael: 00:34:11

So, Elena, why are we still talking about Lizzie Borden over 130 years later? Why does this case continue to fascinate.

Alana: 00:34:19

I think the primary reason is that it remains officially unsolved. Lizzie was acquitted, but no one else was ever charged. That vacuum invites endless speculation. Did Lizzie do it? Was Emma involved?

What about Maggie the maid? Uncle John Morse? A mysterious outsider? The lack of definitive answers keeps this mystery alive.

Michael: 00:34:40

Absolutely.

And then there's the sheer brutality of the crime juxtaposed with the setting and the accused, a respectable Victorian woman, a churchgoer accused of hacking her family to death with a hatchet. It shattered 19th century assumptions about gender, class and the sanctity of the home.

It tapped into deep seated social anxieties and the morbid curiosity that hasn't faded all these years.

Alana: 00:35:07

The case almost immediately leapt from news headlines into American folklore. That infamous rhyme, inaccurate as it is, cemented her name in public memory.

And since then, the story has been endlessly retold and reinterpreted in books, plays, an opera, a ballet, TV movies and films exploring feminist or queer angles.

Michael: 00:35:29

And each generation seems to project its own concerns onto Lizzie, seeing her as a victim of patriarchy, a proto feminist rebel, a psychologically damaged individual, or simply a brutal monster. This constant cultural recycling keeps the legend potent.

Alana: 00:35:46

And unlike many historical crimes, this one has tangible anchors. The Borden house on Second street still stands, now a museum, and B and B, a site of dark tourism. Maplecroft, her later home, also draws attention.

And crucially, the Fall River Historical Society holds the world's largest collection of Borden artifacts. Trial exhibits like the hatchet head, crime scene photos, personal letters grounding the myth and verifiable history.

Michael: 00:36:13

It's this combination, then, the unsolved mystery, the shocking violence, the cultural myth making, and the physical remnants that ensures that Lizzie Borden remains a figure of enduring fascination 130 years later.

Borden and the crime she may or may not have committed represent a historical Rorschach test, reflecting our ongoing questions about family, gender, violence and the very nature of truth, injustice.

Alana: 00:36:41

So Lizzie Borden, acquitted by a jury of her peers, but convicted in the court of public opinion. For over a century, she lived out her life in Fall river, the town that defined her, yet ostracized her.

Michael: 00:36:54

But did she do it? The circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecution was strong. She had motive, opportunity, and those suspicious actions like burning the dress.

But the defense effectively highlighted the lack of direct proof and skillfully played on the jury's assumptions about Victorian womanhood. The exclusion of key evidence undoubtedly played.

Alana: 00:37:15

was far from perfect, even by: 1892

Michael: 00:37:29

What we're left with is a chilling snapshot of the Gilded Age. Its social pressures, its hidden tensions, its rigid societal codes. A story of horrific violence erupting within a supposedly respectable home.

Alana: 00:37:42

Was Lizzie Borden a victim of circumstance, trapped by her time and her family? Or was she a cunning killer who manipulated societal expectations to escape justice? The riddle remains unsolved.

Michael: 00:37:55

Lizzie Borden took an axe. Or did she? The question echoes down through history unanswered. Securing her place as one of history's greatest crimes. Until next time. I'm Michael.

Alana: 00:38:06

I'm Alana.

Michael: 00:38:07

Stay curious.