Lizzie Borden Story
Did you watch Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story?
The Netflix series is entertaining but… it’s not based on real facts.
Let’s look at the 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.
Right at the start, this is historically inaccurate.
For one, while an axe-like tool or a hatchet was used, a traditional large axe was not the murder weapon.
The Mother, who was the first victim, was actually her stepmother, Abby Borden.
The Number of Blows is interesting. The number of hits was heavily exaggerated for the rhyme because forensic evidence showed that Abby Borden was struck 18 or 19 times, and her father, Andrew Borden, was struck 10 or 11 times.
The rhyme was used by children to count jumps while skipping rope and helped cement the case into American folklore, despite Lizzie being acquitted of the crimes in 1893.
Kids back then did not need trigger warnings.
Now, let’s look at the show.
It takes major fictional liberties and doesn't strictly tell the true story.
What is True is:
Andrew and Abby Borden were brutally hacked to death with a hatchet in their Fall River, Massachusetts home on August 4, 1892.
Lizzie Borden was arrested, charged, and ultimately acquitted by an all-male jury in 1893. The crime remains officially unsolved.
Bridget Sullivan, whom the family called "Maggie," was working in the house during the murders and became a key witness.
Just as a footnote to that, the Irish were heavily discriminated against at that time in America. Women were called Maggie, and men were called Paddy as nicknames regardless of their true names.
What is False is:
The show depicts a romantic and sexual affair between Lizzie and the maid, Bridget. This is entirely fictional, originating from a 1984 novel rather than historical fact.
The series portrays Lizzie's stepmother as an abusive alcoholic who drank paint thinner. Historical records show no evidence of this.
It also implicates Lizzie in the separate murder of a neighbour, Bertha Manchester, used as a "test run" in the show. In reality, Manchester's murder was unrelated and happened ten months later.
I think the most disturbing thing for me is how the show portrays the women. They portrayed them as something they were not.
After the murders, it portrays Lizzie Borden as a big supporter of the women's rights or suffrage movements. But there is no historical evidence to support that.
The show claims that Nance O’Neil, an actress, coached Lizzie when she took the stand. O’Neil was a real person and a real part of Lizzie Borden’s later life, though she did not meet Lizzie until more than a decade after the murders and became friends. Their close bond sparked heavy local gossip and rumours that they might be romantic partners.
But everything about Lizzie did.
Regarding her sister, newspapers and biographers noted that Lizzie's devotion to the glamorous actress contributed to a permanent falling-out between Lizzie and her sister, Emma, who moved out of Maplecroft in 1905.
The show portrays Mr. Borden as an abusive drunk. He was actually a respected businessman. He did make coffins, but he did not cut people's legs off to fit in them.
He also sent Lizzie on an extended 19-week European grand tour as a gift for her 30th birthday.
After her acquittal, Lizzie did buy a large mansion named Maplecroft and lived a mostly isolated life. She poured her energy and inheritance into animal welfare. When she died in 1927, she left a massive portion of her wealth to animal rescue organizations.
But… did she do it? We will never know.
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