Photo TR: Lizzie Borden crime scene and grave site.

[pete4winds]

Lizzie Borden took an axe,

and gave her father 40 whacks.

When she saw what she had done,

she gave her mother 41.

 

Everyone knows the rhyme, but I live less than half a mile from the scene of one of the most notorious unsolved crimes in American history. Like most nursery rhymes, there are a few inaccuracies. Abby was Lizzie's STEPmother, not her mother, and was actually killed first, with 19 hatchet strikes to the head and one to the shoulders. One head strike was delivered from the front, meaning she saw her killer. Andrew was killed with 10 strikes several hours later. Lizzie was ultimately acquitted, but general consensus is that she did it.

 

Yesterday was the 117th anniversary of the crime. I've lived within walking distance for six years, but I'd never been, so I decided to treat myself to the full tour of the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast and Museum, (the house where the crime occurred), the Fall River Historical Society (home of the largest collection of Borden crime scene artifacts), and the Oak Grove Cemetery, where the Bordens are all buried together.

 

The Historical Society (my second of three stops) doesn't allow photography, so I'll touch on it quickly before we get to the photos. Among the memorabilia are the blanket from the bed in the room where Abby was killed (with her blood still staining it), the lock of hair that was ripped from her head during the attack, microscope slides with stomach contents from both victims, crime scene photos, and the broken-handled hatchet assumed to be the murder weapon.

 

On with the photos! First stop, the scene of the crime. Because it was the anniversary, it wasn't just any tour. They staged a complete reenactment, and those of us with "those new-fangled photographic devices" were deputized on the spot to assist in taking "crime scene photos."

 

An interesting TPR side note: The investigation was badly botched because most of the Fall River Police Department was in and/or on the way Warwick RI for their annual clam bake. The location? Rocky Point, which would later become one of New England's most beloved traditional amusement parks.

The "souvenirs" from the tour.

Andrew J. and Abby D., the murder victims.

Alice was the middle sister, and she died at 2 years old. S.A.B. is Sarah, the girls' birth mother.

Lizzie's grave. She went by Lizbeth after the trial.

And here we are.

This last arrow points to the grave itself.

The Borden grave gets so much tourist traffic that the cemetery painted these arrows pointing the way.

Oak Grove cemetery, my final stop.

The hatchet cookies served after the tour.

One of the few modern conveniences in the house.

Oldest sister Emma (some say Lizzie's enabler) receives the news that Andrew and Abby were dead.

Bridget the maid, discussing tendering her resignation.

Abby's body.

Lizzie (seated) comforted by next door neighbor Mrs. Cunningham (left) and another family friend.

The "body" of Andrew...strange, he seems to still be breathing!

The portrait of Lizzie in the sitting room where Andrew was killed.

Dr. Dolan introduces Officer Mullaly to John Morse.

Dolan and "Uncle John" greet each other.

Medical examiner Dr. William Dolan explains the situation to us.

Bridget Sullivan, the Borden's maid, leaves the front parlor after telling us that Mr. Borden has been murdered.

Lizzie's uncle (birth mother's brother) John Morse invites us in the "conduct business" with Mr. Borden.

[FlyingScooter]

That looked cool!

i love historic stuff like that.

[Pirouettes907]

That was really neat! I also love historic stuff like that, even when it gives me the creeps like the Lizzie Borden story. Thanks for sharing!

 

~Megan

[KPfreak519]

This story always gives me the creeps, but it was cool seeing it from a more historical perspective rather than paranormal (I always see this on ghost shows and things like that). Nice TR.

[LBIJim]

Thanks for the interesting photos and report.

 

A significant factor in Lizzie Borden's acquittal is that during that era, the crime of patricide was literally unthinkable in the minds of upper middle class society and jurors. There was just no way Lizzie could have committed this crime.

[pete4winds]

^ True, that was the general mindset of the day, but retired FBI profiler John Douglas looked at it from his professional perspective for his book "The Cases That Haunt Us" (excellent forensic-profiling-POV case studies of this and several other unsolved American crimes), and from his standpoint she probably did do it.

 

Another MAJOR factor in her acquittal was that while she was in jail awaiting trial, a very similar crime was committed on the other side of town by a migrant worker against his employers (similar MO and weapon). Her attorney convinced the jury that she was "innocent" by proving she couldn't have committed this second, nearly identical crime. The problem was that he conveniently hid the fact that the perpetrator in the second crime wasn't even in the United States at the time of the Borden murders.

[testtrack321]

It was only a matter of time....

 

Who'd win in a fist fight between Lizzie Borden or Anne Frank?