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The tale of Lizzie Borden is one of history's most chilling unsolved mysteries. Join us as we dig into the shocking true story behind "Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story," exploring the real-life murders, the controversial trial, key suspects like Bridget Sullivan, and the haunting legacy of a woman acquitted but never truly cleared in the court of public opinion.
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00:00You're like a puzzle to me.
00:04I've never met anyone like you.
00:06Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're looking at the shocking true story behind Monster, the Lizzie Borden story.
00:13Time and popular culture has forever cast Lizzie as one of America's most notorious killers.
00:20So did she do it? Or not?
00:25Monster is far from the first dramatization of Lizzie Borden's life that more than likely takes some creative liberties.
00:32Arguably, the first depiction of Lizzie Borden in pop culture wasn't a TV show, movie, play, or even radio drama,
00:38but rather a folk rhyme.
00:40Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother 40 whacks.
00:46Anyone who has skipped rope has surely heard Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks.
00:51When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41.
00:56Supposedly, the rhyme originated years after the trial through vaudeville doggerel, eventually making its way to papers and playgrounds.
01:03No, I know how we're going to kill them.
01:05Yet the rhyme doesn't reflect the true story.
01:08Not only is the number of whacks inaccurate, but it's still contested whether Lizzie Borden wielded an axe.
01:15Just let me have the first whack.
01:17The rhyme gets at least one thing right.
01:20Lizzie's father, Andrew, was the second of two victims in a grisly murder.
01:24Yet the first victim wasn't her biological mother, Sarah, who died when Lizzie was still a toddler.
01:29It was Lizzie's stepmother, Abby, who Andrew married three years after Sarah's death.
01:33Abby Borden, she's often cast in this story as the evil stepmother.
01:39But in fact, she may well have been the nicest person in the house.
01:43Lizzie was raised alongside her only surviving older sister, Emma.
01:46Reports suggest that Lizzie had a difficult relationship with her father and stepmother, calling the latter Mrs. Borden.
01:53The theater's my only respite from this place.
01:56You're a Borden. You can't turn up there on your own.
01:59The whole town will be there.
02:01Yes, they will, and so will I.
02:02While there are various theories about Lizzie's upbringing, there's little evidence that Andrew or Abby abused her.
02:09The closest thing to reported abuse would be Andrew killing some pigeons Lizzie built a roost for with a hatchet.
02:15And even that story might not be entirely accurate.
02:17You will not speak to me like this.
02:22You would apologize to your mother and to your Uncle John.
02:25Don't you dare call her my mother.
02:29Apologize.
02:30You're a coward father.
02:33Even so, there was likely emotional distance, as Lizzie and Emma generally didn't eat meals with Andrew and Abby.
02:40At least, that's what Bridget Sullivan, the family's live-in maid, testified.
02:44I said you will eat.
02:47She doesn't have to eat if she's not hungry, Andrew.
02:52Yes, maybe your wife would like mine. She looks hungry.
02:55Lizzie seemingly resented Abby, believing she married her father for his money.
03:00Although Andrew was wealthy, casket manufacturing eerily being one source of income, he was something of a miser.
03:06This was reflected in the Borden family's Massachusetts home, which lacked then-luxuries like indoor plumbing.
03:12If Andrew died, Abby might have been in a position to inherit everything.
03:16Lizzie and her sister, Emma, both really desired to live a way better life, and they really resented their father
03:24for not providing that for them.
03:26With Andrew and Abby out of the way, nobody would be standing between the Borden sisters and their father's fortune.
03:32This is the most probable motive if Lizzie was behind the double homicide that occurred on August 4th, 1892.
03:39Clearly, Lizzie was not happy that that house was going to go to her stepmother's sister.
03:48What exactly happened that fateful day remains debatable over a century later, but we know these facts.
03:53Earlier that morning, Abby's brother John Morse, who was visiting, left the house to attend to some matters.
03:59Andrew left shortly after.
04:01Bring this to Mrs. Borden at exactly 9 a.m.
04:06Tell her it came from the Churchills.
04:08Emma was visiting someone at Fairhaven about 15 miles away.
04:12Lizzie and Bridget Sullivan were apparently the only others home when Abby went upstairs, where she was murdered with a
04:18hatchet.
04:19This right over here is where Abby Borden was found dead, face down.
04:25That scene is, if anything, more horrible.
04:27She wasn't whacked 40 times, but it was more than 17.
04:31Although Abby's body wasn't discovered until later that day, Sullivan claims that she heard someone, most likely Lizzie, laughing upstairs
04:39after the murder would have occurred.
04:41Around this time, Andrew returned home, briefly interacting with Sullivan before lying down on a sofa.
04:47Any mail for me today, Father?
04:50No, not today.
04:54Would you like some soda water?
04:56Kind of.
04:57Less than an hour later, Sullivan recalled Lizzie alerting her of Andrew's murder.
05:02Andrew's face was practically gone, although he was whacked fewer times than Abby, whose body was found shortly after.
05:20Lizzie told the police that she assumed Abby was out attending to a sick friend based on a note, although
05:25no such message was found.
05:26Lizzie further aroused suspicion with contradictory statements, saying she heard noises from outside, only to later claim she heard nothing.
05:34She gave inconsistent answers as to her whereabouts that day.
05:39She couldn't remember if she was upstairs, if she was in the barn.
05:42She had different answers depending on when the question was asked.
05:45Authorities found it curious that Lizzie insisted they call Abby her stepmother, not her mother.
05:50As for her whereabouts, Lizzie said she was in the backyard barn loft, despite the lack of footprints.
05:56The loft also seemed too hot for anyone to stay in there for 15 to 20 minutes.
06:00There were details of her story that didn't add up.
06:02Her alibi was thin.
06:04There were no signs of a break-in or robbery.
06:07And Lizzie was later observed burning a blue dress that she claimed was stained with paint.
06:14Although Lizzie struggled to give a credible alibi, the police weren't quick to arrest her.
06:19Being the late 19th century, many refused to believe that a woman was capable of such heinous crimes.
06:24No way a woman could do this.
06:27This is the work of a man.
06:28It didn't help that the authorities failed to properly search the house until 32 hours after the murders occurred.
06:34During their investigation, a drop of blood was found on Lizzie's underskirt.
06:38They also uncovered what appeared to be bloody cloths in the basement, which Lizzie attributed to menstruation.
06:44I think that was such a personal issue that, let's face it, who's going to challenge that?
06:50If we were to have that today, could we show, okay, is this Lizzie's blood or is it Andrew and
06:55Abby's blood?
06:56The authorities thus ignored that piece of evidence, although they also found axes, hatchets, and a hatchet head in the
07:02basement.
07:03In addition to these red flags, Lizzie was suspected of buying poison before the murders.
07:07While no poison was discovered, the timing was suspicious.
07:11And then because she was unable to get the poison, she turned instead to a readily available household implement.
07:20The hatchet.
07:21That's right.
07:23With few other credible suspects and her story growing more inconsistent, the police arrested Lizzie after almost a week on
07:29August 11th, 1892.
07:31Regardless, much of the evidence was circumstantial rather than physical.
07:35In the absence of modern forensics and with plenty of unanswered questions, there was no shortage of what today might
07:43be referred to as fake news.
07:46Although the prosecution pointed to the hatchet head, they didn't have an irrefutable murder weapon linked to Lizzie.
07:51That might not have been the case if the authorities had moved quicker and searched more thoroughly.
07:56Brushing off the bloody cloths may have been the biggest blow to securing a conviction.
07:59Police searched the house and only found two instances of blood evidence.
08:05A minute spot on one of Lizzie's undergarments and a bucket of bloody cloths in the cellar washroom.
08:12Perhaps the most damning testimony against Lizzie was from her neighbor, Alice Russell.
08:16After the murders, Russell claims she saw Lizzie in the kitchen with a dress.
08:20Lizzie says she was going to burn the dress because it was covered in paint.
08:24For me, the most valuable piece of evidence is the dress that Lizzie burned.
08:29If she's responsible for this, it would have blood from the victims on it, and that would be very difficult
08:34for Lizzie to explain.
08:35The accused never testified, but Emma Borden did, claiming that burning the dress was her idea rather than Lizzie's.
08:42The most powerful witness in her defense was her sister, Emma.
08:47Emma testified that it was her idea rather than Lizzie's to burn the dress, which makes it seem like it
08:56was a much more innocent thing to do.
08:58She also painted a more courteous portrait of her sister's relationship with their parents.
09:03Emma's testimony perhaps played the most substantial role in helping Lizzie's defense.
09:07That and the social misconception that women couldn't be murderers.
09:10Now, whether or not they thought it was not guilty or innocent, who knows, but they certainly didn't think she
09:17was guilty.
09:17And I think at the end of the day, they just didn't want to believe that such a terrible, horrific
09:22crime could have been done by somebody like Lizzie Borden.
09:24On June 20th, 1893, 15 days after Lizzie's trial commenced, the all-male jury spent less than two hours deliberating.
09:33Lizzie was acquitted, which came as a relief to some and a shock to others.
09:37It was likely a mix of both for Lizzie.
09:39And at that point, Lizzie Borden falls into her chair as if shot and puts her head on the rail.
09:47Meanwhile, the courtroom erupts into cheers, and there are cheers outside that could be heard a mile away.
09:54While the law had spoken, Lizzie predated O.J. Simpson, Casey Anthony, and numerous others who divided the court of
10:00public opinion.
10:01In the court of law, she was acquitted.
10:04But in the court of public opinion here in the city, many people thought she was guilty.
10:09With nobody ever convicted of Andrew and Abby's murders, more people came to pin the blame on Lizzie over time.
10:15Very soon, there are people who start to wonder if it wasn't Lizzie Borden, then who was it?
10:21Lizzie Borden finds herself unwelcome at the church where she had spent so much of her time,
10:28and which had provided the foundation of her support during the trial.
10:32Some believe John Morse, Emma Borden, or an unknown intruder might have been involved,
10:37although there's little backing this up.
10:39Perhaps the most popular conspiracy theory is that Bridget Sullivan was Lizzie's lover and accomplice.
10:44She was outside.
10:48All morning.
10:50All morning.
10:52It was very hot, if you remember.
10:54She was in the barn for a while, and after that, she was sat under a pear tree.
10:58Most historians agree this is more fan fiction than true crime, however.
11:03While Sullivan allegedly confessed on her deathbed that she lied on the stand,
11:07this remains nothing more than a rumor.
11:09The sexuality of these two women is also ambiguous, although Bridget took a husband in 1905.
11:15Lizzie never married, but she had a close relationship with actress Nance O'Neill.
11:19Whether it was more than friendship is unclear.
11:22Don't write to me.
11:27Don't look for me.
11:28No.
11:41In any case, Emma and Lizzie had a falling out not long after the latter held a party for O
11:46'Neill.
11:46Emma was deeply troubled by something that was going on in the house,
11:50such that she felt it was necessary to sever all ties with her sister.
11:55Whatever their argument was about, Emma moved away,
11:58and the sisters never saw each other alive again.
12:01Lizzie and Emma lived comfortably off their inheritance,
12:03roughly $300,000, which would be over $10 million today.
12:07Lizzie and her sister inherited everything.
12:11They moved to this mansion in a fancier neighborhood of Fall River.
12:15Despite her luxurious lifestyle, Lizzie grew isolated over the years
12:18as more people questioned the jury's verdict.
12:21Pneumonia claimed a 66-year-old Lizzie's life on June 1st, 1927.
12:26Emma died nine days later, being buried next to her sister.
12:29They were both laid to rest here, alongside their father and their stepmother.
12:34Whether or not a modern jury would have found her guilty,
12:38Lizzie Borden's notoriety has lived on in everything from jump rope rhymes to Netflix miniseries.
12:43I feel like we've solved the mystery of Lizzie Borden.
12:47We just haven't solved whether she should have been found guilty or not.
12:50Because it's a very different question.
12:52I think that that's the best way to say it.
12:55Are you watching Monster the Lizzie Borden Story?
12:57Let us know in the comments.
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