Lizzie Borden: The Fall River Tragedy
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“Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.”
Today, we decided to tour the Lizzie Borden house, located in Fall River, Massachusetts. The house is supposedly haunted, and thus, has attracted local ghost hunters, as well as media coverage on popular shows such as “Ghost Adventures.” In addition, numerous movies and specials chronicling the case have filmed at the actual house.
I love mystery, history, and the paranormal, so I was really excited to take this tour. Living in Fall River at the present time, the house was conveniently located just minutes from my place.
Fall River is a quick drive from both Providence and Boston, and thus, a worthwhile stop for any history buffs and paranormal researchers. As a longtime fan of ghost hunting shows and a lover of anything supernatural, it was tops on my list to tour this house while living in such close proximity.
Does Lizzie haunt the house?
Before the tour, our guide passed around a photo that a young girl had taken of one of the house’s windows. The ghost of Lizzie seems to be standing looking out Andrew Borden’s bedroom window. Below is a picture I took of the window where the ghost was supposedly seen. Make sure to take a picture during your visit to see if the ghost shows up for you! We didn’t see any ghostly evidence in our photo, but I did experience a supernatural event while touring the house.
Interestingly enough, I felt freezing cold standing by this exact window during the tour. What is crazy is that the air conditioning was not on at all despite the hot air outside (we were in a heat wave this week). I was standing right by the unit saying how good the cold air felt after just being outside in the 90 degree temps.
A super cold presence randomly could possibly indicate a ghostly presence (according to experts) so who knows if Lizzie or some other supernatural presence was lurking about! I am sure these spirits get sick of everyone touring their property. As anyone who watches supernatural movies and TV shows like me knows, most spirits just want to be left alone. They often haunt residences either to finish unfinished business or to protect their property.
History of the Borden case
For those of you who don’t know the background of the Borden case, here is a short synopsis based on what we learned during our tour. Don’t worry if you are not overly familiar with the case – our guide was super knowledgeable and we left with a big history lesson.
On August 4, 1892, Mr. and Mrs. Borden were found mangled in their house. Andrew Borden was found on the couch with 10 or 11 whacks to his head, performed with a hatchet. Here is a picture of what Andrew’s head looked like after the whacks. Shockingly, his eye socket was even split in half! Wow, how gruesome!
Bridget Sullivan, the Borden’s maid, found mother Abby Borden in the guest bedroom with 19 blows to her head. Although the popular rhyme I mentioned states that Lizzie gave 40 whacks, sources speculate the rhyme was made up to sell newspapers.
Thirty two year old daughter Lizzie was initially charged with double homicide. However, she was acquitted of the crimes after a 13 day trial. To this day the mystery of who killed the Bordens still lives on.
House Tours
On this tour, you will get to tour each room. Our tour guide provided some historical facts, reenacted some scenes, passed around photo evidence. We got to walk around and explore and take as many photos as we liked.
The living room is where Lizzie found out that she was a suspect.
The other side of the living room. They really did a great job restoring the house to look just like it did back in the day. Those old photos on the wall are so creepy. This room just gave me the creeps. I can feel where there is something odd in the air and I definitely felt an eerie, unwelcome presence.
The dining room was the site of the autopsies.
The guest room was where Abby Borden was found dead.
In the photo below, the tour guide replicates the position Abby Borden was found lying on the floor in the guest room. The tour guides are really so into it – I really love how passionate they are about the case.
Andrew Borden was found dead on the couch in this room.
A picture of the hatchet used in the murders. Our tour guide let us use a magnifying glass to get a better look at the Andrew Borden murder photo.
Lizzie’s original bedroom. She switched with her sister because she said she didn’t have enough room to hang her belongings.
Interesting Facts
Here are some interesting facts that our tour guide shared with us.
*The Museum and Bed and Breakfast opened on August 4, 1996, almost 105 years after the case. Although none of the original furnishings remain in the house, every effort has been made to replicate the original appearance of the Borden’s home. I have to say that they did a pretty good job as I definitely would guessed that it was all original.
*Elizabeth Montgomery played Lizzie in “The Legend of Lizzie Borden.” After the movie, she found out that she was her distant cousin – really, this is crazy! Elizabeth wore the dress pictured below in the movie.
*The Ouija Board located in the corner of the room was supposedly stolen and returned 2 years later with an odd message that said “Make it Stop.” If you know anything about the paranormal, Ouija boards are taken quite seriously and hold tons of spiritual powers. In fact, it is considered unsafe for the unexperienced to dabble with them as you could possibly open yourself up to demonic spirits! If you grew up in the 80’s/90’s like me, you know how popular these boards were at slumber parties!
*The Borden house was originally a 2 family residence. Mr. Borden transformed it into a single family residence.
*Mr. Borden only had access to his bedroom through the backstairs because the door to access his door from Lizzie’s room was locked. This is why he did not see his wife dead when he first got home.
Additional Details
Address: 92 Second Street Fall River, MA 02720
Tours & Bed and Breakfast Information Tours run daily from 10am-4pm and last about an hour. If you dare to stay overnight, you can book any of the 8 rooms in the house. While I loved the tour, I am a bit scared to stay overnight especially after watching the Ghost Adventures episode. Tours are $30 per person.
Overnight guests receive an extended tour, a full hot breakfast, and evening snacks. In addition, a library of books and movies relating to the case are available during your visit. Night ghost hunts tours available for an extra 10 bucks.
Update: They now offer ghost tours (7-9pm) and ghost hunts (10pm-Midnight). The ghost hunt sounds really cool – I would love to do this. It’s $40 and you get to ghost hunt on the first floor and in the basement, with the use of real ghost hunting equipment.
Visit the museum website for further details. You can book tickets on the site
Also check out my guide to exploring Battleship Cove – another great Fall River attraction for history buffs.
