The Lizzie Borden House was one of my absolute favorites covered by Ryan and Shane for BuzzFeed Unsolved: True Crime. The house and Lizzie are best known for the axe murders of her father and stepmother that Lizzie was behind.
Born in July 1860 in Fall River, Massachusetts to Sarah and Andrew Borden. But after the birth of Lizzie, Sarah passed away. Andrew remarried to Abby Durfee Gray. Lizzie and her sister Emma did not share a good relationship with their stepmother Abby. The two sisters felt as if Abby's family was after their father's money.
But come August 4th, 1982 Andrew and Abby Borden were found dead, hacked to death by an axe. Abby's head was smashed into pieces upstairs, leading police to believe she was killed first. The father was found in a pool of blood on the living room couch with his face nearly split in two.
Bridget, who was the family's maid found the bodies and alerted local authorities.
Lizzie soon fell under speculation by local authorities that she was the one to cause the murders while her sister was visiting friends out of town. Supposedly, she burned one of her dresses a few days after the murder due to having red "paint" (more like blood is what I believe here) on the dress.
But, since the police were wary of fingerprint testing, they refused to test for prints on the potential murder weapon- an axe- found in the family's basement. And the fact that no blood was ever found on Lizzie and her Christian persona convinced the all-male jury that she was not capable of the murders and found her not guilty.
The infamous rhyme "Lizzie Borden took an axe, And gave her mother forty whacks; When she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty-one" became a famous song to taunt Lizzie due to her continuous portrayal by the media and others as the axe-murder.
The Lizzie Borden house is now used as a Bed and Breakfast but many who have stayed feel as if it is haunted by the ghosts of Andrew and Abby Borden. The proprietor of the B&B, Lee-Ann hasn't encountered full-on ghosts but has experienced unexplained happenings during the nine years she owned it.
Wilbur has heard floor-creaks above her when no one is upstairs, or notice doors opening and closing on their own accord and has even smelt faint floral scents from time to time. But, right after she bought that house, she did have a spooky experience.
Wilbur had fallen asleep on the couch in the parlor room and around 3 am woke up to see shadows cast in the front entryway around an old chandelier that is always lit and can only be turned off by someone removing the lightbulbs with a ladder.
She was able to make sense of the shadows except for one where it started walking up the staircase as she was looking at it. And as she processed what she saw the chandelier experienced a power surge and then everything went black.
She ended up sleeping in her car that night.
Tour guides have experienced being touched by unknown hands, feeling of being tugged on their shirts or whispers spoken in their ear and giggling in the attic. It's also believed that if you leave a few coins for Andrew Borden or toys for the giggling attic children the spirits might leave you alone for the night.
According to the photos on their facebook page, they seem to have done a reenactment of the murder on the anniversary, so you know there's that fun activity to experience. Or you could just do your own for the fun of it.
And lastly, coming out later this year is a film called "Lizzie" based on the murders of the Bordens.
So get your learning on and enjoy this wild story from start to finish.