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Let's Take an Ax to the Lizzie Borden Case · Pinky Boo Hauntings

0:00
Speaker 1: Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks.
0:06
Speaker 1: When she saw what she had done, she gave her
0:09
Speaker 1: father forty-one. Hi, and welcome back to Pinky Boo Hauntings.
0:41
Speaker 1: I'll be your witchy host, Shy, and I'll be your
0:43
Speaker 1: guide to all things paranormal, weird, and spooky. And yes,
0:49
Speaker 1: if it wasn't obvious by the rhyme and the title
0:52
Speaker 1: if you saw it before clicking this episode, we're doing
0:55
Speaker 1: a deep dive into Lizzie Borden. I know, it seems
1:00
Speaker 1: like a kind of random pick for the Halloween episode,
1:03
Speaker 1: but I swear, I have a reason. It might not
1:07
Speaker 1: be a great reason, but it is a reason. See,
1:13
Speaker 1: as I've stated in the past, I was a huge
1:16
Speaker 1: scaredy cat as a kid, but I also truly loved Halloween.
1:22
Speaker 1: So I'd watch all of the Halloween specials and episodes
1:26
Speaker 1: that were playing on Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney, and even
1:30
Speaker 1: the 13 Nights of Halloween on ABC Family. I watched
1:34
Speaker 1: it all throughout October. And one of these, for some
1:39
Speaker 1: weird reason, has always stuck with me. I don't remember
1:44
Speaker 1: much about it other than someone was in the house
1:47
Speaker 1: with the mask on, maybe? And saying the rhyme as
1:51
Speaker 1: they got ready to chase someone. Maybe it was That's
1:55
Speaker 1: So Raven? I'm not sure. All I know is for
1:59
Speaker 1: some weird reason, it stuck with me and I remember
2:03
Speaker 1: that episode scaring the crap out of me. I also
2:08
Speaker 1: kind of remember them putting it in the promo stuff
2:10
Speaker 1: for the Halloween episodes on Disney. But maybe I'm wrong
2:15
Speaker 1: about that. It was so long ago. Okay, so I
2:20
Speaker 1: had to look it up real quick, because it was
2:22
Speaker 1: driving me crazy. Turns out, it wasn't that Sir Raven
2:26
Speaker 1: at all. I don't know why I thought it was that,
2:29
Speaker 1: other than it was one of my favorites to watch
2:31
Speaker 1: on Disney. Anyways, it was apparently from Smart Guy, and
2:36
Speaker 1: it wasn't even originally a Halloween episode. It was aired
2:40
Speaker 1: in December. They must have played reruns of it during Halloween,
2:45
Speaker 1: because I swear, I remember it being a Halloween episode.
2:50
Speaker 1: But then again, maybe it just scared me so much,
2:53
Speaker 1: I started placing it with all of the other scary
2:56
Speaker 1: episodes I watched at the time. Either way, for some reason,
3:01
Speaker 1: I have always thought of this episode when it comes
3:04
Speaker 1: to the Halloween season. And with that, the Lizzie Borden rhyme.
3:10
Speaker 1: I know, that is such a random and weird explanation,
3:14
Speaker 1: but hopefully it does help you understand why I decided
3:17
Speaker 1: to pick Lizzie Borden, of all people, for this Halloween episode. Alright,
3:23
Speaker 1: that's enough of my long-winded explanation. Let's actually get into
3:28
Speaker 1: this deep dive, shall we? When it comes to unsolved
3:34
Speaker 1: murders and the paranormal, there is one name that you've
3:39
Speaker 1: probably heard, If you're interested in either topic, Lizzie Borden.
3:46
Speaker 1: There are so many unknowns when it comes to the
3:49
Speaker 1: axe murders of the Bordens that even after almost 135 years,
3:55
Speaker 1: people are still trying to solve the murders. But wait,
4:00
Speaker 1: everyone knows it was Lizzie Borden, right? There's even a
4:04
Speaker 1: whole rhyme saying how she did it. Why is this
4:08
Speaker 1: still considered an unsolved murder? Well, besides some of the
4:13
Speaker 1: things we'll get into later, we'll also see if we
4:17
Speaker 1: can't solve this murder ourselves. And don't worry, we'll talk
4:22
Speaker 1: about the paranormal side of this too. But to get
4:26
Speaker 1: to that, we must first talk about the history of
4:29
Speaker 1: the family and everything that happened leading up to the
4:33
Speaker 1: tragic day. Lizzie Andrew Borden was the third daughter born
4:40
Speaker 1: to Sarah Anthony, and Andrew Jackson Borden on July 19, 1890.
4:47
Speaker 1: Her older sisters were Emma Lenora and Alice Esther. Unfortunately,
4:55
Speaker 1: she never got to meet Alice as she died at
4:58
Speaker 1: 22 months of hydrocephalus. Maybe this had something to do
5:03
Speaker 1: with Emma and Lizzie's relationship, but whatever the reason, The
5:08
Speaker 1: two sisters were very close for most of their lives.
5:14
Speaker 1: Lizzie and Emma also had a very comfortable life, thanks
5:19
Speaker 1: to their father's wealth. Andrew grew up in a modest
5:24
Speaker 1: life and struggled financially in his younger years, which might
5:30
Speaker 1: seem odd when you know he's a descendant of a
5:33
Speaker 1: wealthy and influential family. Maybe this family connection helped him
5:39
Speaker 1: later on, but whatever the case, he started to prosper
5:43
Speaker 1: in manufacture and sales of furniture and caskets. He grew
5:49
Speaker 1: his wealth even more when he got into property development,
5:53
Speaker 1: becoming director of several textile mills and owned many commercial properties.
6:01
Speaker 1: He was also director of the Durfee Safe Deposit and
6:05
Speaker 1: Trust Co. To say the least, they were more than
6:10
Speaker 1: well off with his estate valuing at $ 300, 000. which would
6:16
Speaker 1: be about $ 11 million in today's money. Despite this, he
6:21
Speaker 1: was well known for his frugality. The Borden house didn't
6:26
Speaker 1: even have indoor plumbing, something that was pretty common within
6:31
Speaker 1: other wealthy homes. And while the house stood in a
6:34
Speaker 1: prosperous area of the town, it was still not within
6:38
Speaker 1: the area most wealthy people in that area lived. This
6:43
Speaker 1: neighborhood was known as the Highlands and was further from
6:47
Speaker 1: the industrial areas. As for Lizzie and Emma, they were
6:53
Speaker 1: brought up relatively religious, attending central congregational church. Lizzie, as
7:01
Speaker 1: a young woman, was actually pretty involved in church activities,
7:06
Speaker 1: like teaching Sunday school to children of recent immigrants. She
7:11
Speaker 1: was also involved in religious organizations, such as serving as
7:16
Speaker 1: secretary-treasurer for the Christian Endeavor Society, Women's Church Temperance Union,
7:23
Speaker 1: a contemporary social movement, and the Ladies Fruit and Flower Mission.
7:29
Speaker 1: To say the least, Lizzie was pretty involved in her community,
7:34
Speaker 1: even seeming to be progressive for her time with her
7:38
Speaker 1: work with the WCTU. If you don't know, that organization
7:44
Speaker 1: helped with the women's suffrage movement. So, while I don't
7:49
Speaker 1: know for sure if she even was a part of
7:52
Speaker 1: that movement, her involvement with the organization could lead one
7:56
Speaker 1: to see her as progressive. But the sisters' world would
8:01
Speaker 1: change forever when their mother died and only three years later,
8:06
Speaker 1: their father married again, making Abby Durfee Gray their new stepmother,
8:13
Speaker 1: and it didn't seem like the girls cared for her much.
8:17
Speaker 1: Their live-in maid, Bridget Sullivan, later testified that the sisters
8:22
Speaker 1: rarely ate meals with their father and Abby. Lizzie herself
8:27
Speaker 1: wouldn't say whether she had a good relationship with her
8:30
Speaker 1: stepmother or not, though it is thought that she felt
8:34
Speaker 1: Abby married her father for his wealth. So maybe Lizzie
8:38
Speaker 1: and Emma were being overprotective of their father, and on
8:42
Speaker 1: top of that, losing their mother just three years earlier,
8:46
Speaker 1: I can maybe understand their strange behavior. It is a
8:53
Speaker 1: lot in just a few years. Whether it might have
8:58
Speaker 1: made sense or not, it probably put a strain on
9:01
Speaker 1: their relationship with their father, especially since they didn't seem
9:05
Speaker 1: to approve of his marriage. Something else that probably didn't
9:11
Speaker 1: help their fractured relationship was the incident that happened in
9:15
Speaker 1: May of 1892. Lizzie had built a roost for some
9:19
Speaker 1: pigeons not long before, possibly keeping them as pets. At most,
9:25
Speaker 1: she was taking care of them for sure. Sadly, Andrew
9:29
Speaker 1: thought pigeons carried infections and diseases. So, what did he
9:34
Speaker 1: do when he found out his daughter was keeping them?
9:37
Speaker 1: Did he realize that his child had a soft spot
9:40
Speaker 1: for these birds and let her keep them despite how
9:42
Speaker 1: he felt of them? Because his love for his child
9:46
Speaker 1: was more important, right? Of course not. He took them
9:51
Speaker 1: to the barn and killed them with a hatchet. It
9:54
Speaker 1: was calmly recounted that Lizzie was upset with her father
9:58
Speaker 1: over the killings of the pigeons. That and the hatchet,
10:03
Speaker 1: I know what you're thinking, but for me, I don't
10:06
Speaker 1: really think this is linked. It definitely doesn't help Lizzie's case, though.
10:11
Speaker 1: Things didn't seem to get better in the Borden house
10:15
Speaker 1: when in July of the same year, the family got
10:18
Speaker 1: in a huge argument. leading to the sisters taking extended
10:22
Speaker 1: vacations in New Bedford, only returning a week before the murders.
10:28
Speaker 1: Even then, Lizzie chose to stay in a local rooming
10:32
Speaker 1: house for four days before going back to the Borden residence.
10:37
Speaker 1: Tensions within the family were growing for months. Lizzie's belief
10:42
Speaker 1: that Abby was a gold digger weren't helped with Andrew
10:45
Speaker 1: gifting her family with real estate. One of those that
10:49
Speaker 1: received said gift was Abby's sister with a house. I'm
10:53
Speaker 1: not sure, but this might have been what the argument
10:56
Speaker 1: was about. But after hearing the news of their stepfamily
11:00
Speaker 1: getting these gifts, the sisters demanded a rental property of
11:04
Speaker 1: their own, which I could see why they might have
11:07
Speaker 1: been angry about this. Thanks to their father's frugal ways,
11:13
Speaker 1: I'm sure the girls weren't just handed everything. So to
11:17
Speaker 1: now see him just giving away these properties to his
11:20
Speaker 1: new wife's family, I'm sure it made them feel a
11:23
Speaker 1: kind of way. Anyways, Lizzie and Emma told him that
11:29
Speaker 1: they wanted the home they lived in up until their
11:32
Speaker 1: mother's death, and their father agreed, selling the home to
11:36
Speaker 1: them for $ 1, which still might have upset them a bit.
11:43
Speaker 1: since he was giving away the other real estate, but
11:46
Speaker 1: there is no proof of any of this. Weeks before
11:50
Speaker 1: the murder, they sold the house back to their father
11:54
Speaker 1: for $ 5, 000, which is why I kind of wonder if
11:58
Speaker 1: they were upset with him for all of this, because
12:02
Speaker 1: this kind of feels like a spiteful move on their part.
12:06
Speaker 1: And yes, I know this doesn't help Lizzie's case, but
12:10
Speaker 1: I don't know if this would be enough for her
12:13
Speaker 1: to murder someone. Seems more like a child acting out
12:18
Speaker 1: to me. A strange thing that happened only several days
12:24
Speaker 1: before the murders was the entire family came down with
12:29
Speaker 1: a horrible illness. Abby feared it was poison as the
12:34
Speaker 1: Andrew wasn't very popular in Fall River. So, family friend
12:39
Speaker 1: speculated that it was caused by the mutton that had
12:42
Speaker 1: been left out on the stove to use in meals
12:45
Speaker 1: for several days. Which, if there is meat just sitting
12:50
Speaker 1: on the stove for days, I feel like that would
12:54
Speaker 1: make you pretty sick. So, I kind of believe this
12:58
Speaker 1: is over poison. It is something to point out that
13:02
Speaker 1: Abby would jump to that. It might prove that there
13:06
Speaker 1: was possibly other people that might have a motive. In
13:10
Speaker 1: the day before the Borden's lives changed forever, Lizzie and
13:14
Speaker 1: Emma's maternal uncle, John Morris, came for a visit. Andrew
13:20
Speaker 1: had asked him to come stay for a few days
13:23
Speaker 1: to discuss some business matters. The main theory for his
13:27
Speaker 1: visit was to discuss some property transfer. probably aggravating an
13:32
Speaker 1: already tense situation. Whatever the case, on August 4, 1892, Andrew, Abby,
13:42
Speaker 1: and John came together to have breakfast, after which Andrew
13:47
Speaker 1: and John went to the sitting room to chat for
13:50
Speaker 1: nearly an hour. And at 8.48 a.m., John left the
13:55
Speaker 1: house to go buy a pair of oxen and visit
13:59
Speaker 1: his niece. planning to return to the house by noon
14:02
Speaker 1: for lunch. Andrew was said to leave not long after
14:07
Speaker 1: him at around 9 a.m. to take his morning walk.
14:12
Speaker 1: With the men now both gone, Abby went upstairs to
14:16
Speaker 1: make the bed in the guest room between 9 and 10.30 a.m.
14:22
Speaker 1: It was actually supposed to be Izzy and Emma's chore
14:25
Speaker 1: to clean the guest room, which makes me wonder Are
14:30
Speaker 1: they not in the house right now? Where are they?
14:34
Speaker 1: Soon you will see things are kind of strange when
14:37
Speaker 1: it comes to the timeline of everything as well as
14:41
Speaker 1: where some of these people were during everything. It just
14:47
Speaker 1: doesn't add up. And that's why this straightforward looking case
14:51
Speaker 1: might not be so straightforward. There is a reason even now.
14:56
Speaker 1: People are trying to figure out what happened and finally
15:00
Speaker 1: solve the case. What we do know from the forensics
15:04
Speaker 1: investigation is that Abby was facing her killer at the
15:08
Speaker 1: time of the attack. And don't worry, I'll try not
15:13
Speaker 1: to get too graphic with the details, but be warned,
15:15
Speaker 1: we are going to talk about what happened in this murder.
15:18
Speaker 1: That means I gotta talk about the details a little. Anyways...
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Speaker 1: When Abby was first attacked, she was struck on the
15:27
Speaker 1: side of her head with a hatchet, cutting her just
15:32
Speaker 1: above the ear. This initial hit made her whole body
15:36
Speaker 1: turn around and fall face down on the floor, causing
15:40
Speaker 1: contusions to her nose and forehead. The killer then continued
15:45
Speaker 1: to hit her 17 more times. Not 40 like the rhyme,
15:51
Speaker 1: but still a lot. hitting her in the back of
15:55
Speaker 1: the head and killing her. Andrew returned back to the
15:59
Speaker 1: house at about 10.30 a.m., but found he couldn't get
16:04
Speaker 1: in with his key and knocked on the door, hoping
16:08
Speaker 1: someone would come let him in. Bridget came to unlock
16:12
Speaker 1: the door, only to find the lock was jammed. Around
16:17
Speaker 1: this time, she claimed to have heard Lizzie laughing upstairs,
16:22
Speaker 1: but never actually saw her up there. Lizzie would later
16:26
Speaker 1: deny all of this, and said her father asked where
16:30
Speaker 1: Abby was, telling him that a messenger sent her stepmother
16:35
Speaker 1: a summons to visit a sick friend. Bridget said she
16:41
Speaker 1: removed Andrew's boots and put his slippers on before he
16:45
Speaker 1: laid down on the sofa. She then went to rest
16:48
Speaker 1: herself around 10.58 a.m. after cleaning the windows, leaving Lizzie
16:56
Speaker 1: and Andrew downstairs. She wasn't able to actually get any
17:00
Speaker 1: rest because not long after going to her room at
17:05
Speaker 1: around 11.10 a.m., she heard Lizzie calling downstairs. Maggie, come quick!
17:15
Speaker 1: Father died! Someone came in and killed him! When she
17:22
Speaker 1: made it downstairs, she saw Andrew slumped on the couch,
17:26
Speaker 1: but wasn't able to get too close to him when
17:28
Speaker 1: Lizzie told her to hurry up and get the doctor.
17:34
Speaker 1: When their family doctor, Dr. Bowen, came to check on
17:38
Speaker 1: what was going on. He found Andrew had been struck
17:42
Speaker 1: 10 to 11 times with a hatchet. His wombs were
17:48
Speaker 1: still bleeding, suggesting the attack had just happened. His wombs
17:55
Speaker 1: also suggested that he was asleep when he was attacked. Later,
18:00
Speaker 1: the detectives estimated that Andrew's death was around 11 a.m.
18:07
Speaker 1: While the officers were there, they interviewed everyone. Lizzie's answers
18:13
Speaker 1: were reported to be strange and contradictory at times. Like
18:17
Speaker 1: at first, she reported hearing a groan or a scraping
18:22
Speaker 1: noise or a distress call before entering the home. Then
18:28
Speaker 1: two hours later, she said she heard nothing when entering
18:31
Speaker 1: the home, not realizing anything was wrong. Even when asked
18:38
Speaker 1: about Abby, her answers seemed to be weird, telling the
18:43
Speaker 1: police the same thing she told her father about Abby,
18:47
Speaker 1: being asked to visit her sick friend. But she also
18:52
Speaker 1: stated that she thought Abby had returned and asked if
18:56
Speaker 1: someone could go check for her upstairs. For some reason,
19:01
Speaker 1: instead of one of the police officers going to check
19:04
Speaker 1: on her stepmother, Bridget and a neighbor of theirs, Mrs. Churchill,
19:10
Speaker 1: went upstairs. They only made it halfway up the stairs
19:16
Speaker 1: before their eye level was even with the second story floor,
19:21
Speaker 1: letting them see yet another horrific scene. Abby's body was
19:26
Speaker 1: laying face down in the guest room. Now, with two
19:32
Speaker 1: murder victims, you'd think the investigators would work even harder
19:36
Speaker 1: to find the murderer, right? Turns out, no. The officers
19:42
Speaker 1: seemed to think Lizzie's demeanor was off, as they reported
19:48
Speaker 1: how calm and poised she was. as well as her
19:52
Speaker 1: changing alibi. And yet, they didn't check her for bloodstains
19:57
Speaker 1: and only did a courtesy inspection of her room, later
20:02
Speaker 1: even admitting to not doing a proper search because Lizzie
20:06
Speaker 1: said she wasn't feeling well. They didn't do much better
20:11
Speaker 1: with the rest of the house either. While searching the basement,
20:15
Speaker 1: they found two hatchets, two axes, and a hatchet head
20:19
Speaker 1: with a broken handle. The broken hatchet was believed to
20:24
Speaker 1: be the murder weapon. The handle looked freshly broken, and
20:29
Speaker 1: it seemed like ash and dust was deliberately applied to
20:33
Speaker 1: make it look like it was down there for a
20:35
Speaker 1: long time. And yet, they didn't think to take any
20:39
Speaker 1: of this in for evidence. At least not at first.
20:45
Speaker 1: there was an out-of-place pill in the basement as well.
20:49
Speaker 1: That's what Bridget testified at the time anyways, saying she
20:53
Speaker 1: didn't see it there when she did laundry earlier that week.
20:57
Speaker 1: Officers could tell there were bloody clothes or rags in
21:01
Speaker 1: the pill, but didn't actually investigate further once Lizzie told
21:05
Speaker 1: them she had started her period with a family doctor
21:09
Speaker 1: confirming it to be true. Which, sure, even if that
21:15
Speaker 1: is true, wouldn't you want to at least check it
21:17
Speaker 1: out a little? This is supposed to be a murder scene,
21:22
Speaker 1: where everyone should be seen as a suspect right now.
21:27
Speaker 1: Even if there were period rags in there, couldn't someone
21:30
Speaker 1: else use that as an easy way to hide their
21:33
Speaker 1: bloody clothes? I mean, two things can be true at
21:37
Speaker 1: the same time, right? The one thing that the investigation
21:41
Speaker 1: did right was the test for poison during the autopsies,
21:47
Speaker 1: since Abby did think someone might have poisoned the family
21:50
Speaker 1: just a week before, but they didn't find any in
21:55
Speaker 1: their system. Despite this being ruled out, people began to
22:01
Speaker 1: gossip about Lizzie buying hydrocyanic acid in a diluted form
22:06
Speaker 1: from a local druggist. Lizzie later did confirm she went
22:11
Speaker 1: to inquire about it to help aid in cleaning her furs.
22:16
Speaker 1: I don't think it was ever actually found she bought any, though.
22:21
Speaker 1: But we can already see that people are quick to
22:24
Speaker 1: point the finger at Lizzie in these murders. I'm not
22:29
Speaker 1: going to say these people had any ill intent, necessarily.
22:33
Speaker 1: Maybe the first person that mentioned it was just talking
22:36
Speaker 1: about what they saw. After all, the Bordens were a
22:40
Speaker 1: very wealthy family in Fall River. And the news of
22:44
Speaker 1: their murders got around. So, of course, people are going
22:49
Speaker 1: to gossip. Whatever the case, this plus Lizzie's strange behavior
22:56
Speaker 1: put her as the prime suspect. And on the 8th
22:59
Speaker 1: of August, she appeared at an inquest hearing. During the hearing,
23:06
Speaker 1: she was denied her request to have her family attorney present,
23:10
Speaker 1: citing the state statute that inquests must be held in private.
23:16
Speaker 1: Which sounds super fishy to me. Private doesn't mean she
23:20
Speaker 1: can't have an attorney present. Just means it shouldn't be
23:24
Speaker 1: a public thing, right? Like the press shouldn't be aware
23:28
Speaker 1: of it, or the general public. But you're allowed to
23:31
Speaker 1: have a lawyer present when speaking to the cops. or
23:35
Speaker 1: really have one present for any legal matters. To make
23:41
Speaker 1: things sketchier, they also said they gave her regular doses
23:45
Speaker 1: of morphine to calm her nerves. Which, I know, morphine
23:50
Speaker 1: wasn't understood like it is today, and probably wasn't seen
23:54
Speaker 1: as a big red flag on the police's part. But
23:58
Speaker 1: between this and refusing her attorney, I'm starting to wonder
24:02
Speaker 1: if they were trying to force her to admit to
24:04
Speaker 1: the murders. They clearly didn't want to do their job
24:08
Speaker 1: so far, so why start now? Just pin it on
24:12
Speaker 1: the first easy person that the public has already decided
24:16
Speaker 1: is the murderer and be done with it, right? While
24:21
Speaker 1: questioning her, they said her behavior was erratic. often refusing
24:26
Speaker 1: to answer questions, even if they were beneficial to her.
24:32
Speaker 1: She also contradicted herself on her whereabouts, once saying she
24:37
Speaker 1: was in the kitchen reading a magazine, then telling them
24:41
Speaker 1: she was in the dining room ironing, and later saying
24:45
Speaker 1: that she was coming downstairs. All of this could have
24:49
Speaker 1: been easily explained away by the fact that she was
24:52
Speaker 1: probably high out of her mind at the time. Some
24:57
Speaker 1: of her neighbors did seem to confirm one of her alibis.
25:02
Speaker 1: Lizzie told several people she went to the barn and
25:05
Speaker 1: wasn't in the house for 20 to 30 minutes. Hyman
25:11
Speaker 1: Lubinsky said he saw her leaving the barn around 11.03
25:16
Speaker 1: and Charles Gardner agreed with him. seeing her leave the
25:21
Speaker 1: barn at the same time. So between all of the alibis,
25:25
Speaker 1: I feel like this might be the most accurate one.
25:29
Speaker 1: No matter the case, on August 11th, Lizzie was served
25:34
Speaker 1: a warrant of arrest and sent to jail. While in jail,
25:39
Speaker 1: another axe murder occurred just five days before her trial
25:44
Speaker 1: on June 5th, 1893. While strange another murder happened in
25:49
Speaker 1: Fall Rivers similar to the Borden's murders, it was later
25:53
Speaker 1: ruled out that the killer was not in town at
25:56
Speaker 1: the time of Andrew and Abby's murders. During the trial,
26:02
Speaker 1: the main point of discussion inside and outside of the
26:05
Speaker 1: courtroom was that of the hatchet head. Prosecutors argued that
26:11
Speaker 1: the killer removed the handle because it was covered in blood,
26:15
Speaker 1: but couldn't prove it as one officer testified that the
26:19
Speaker 1: hatchet handle was found near the head of the hatchet,
26:23
Speaker 1: while another contradicted this, and with no real evidence to show,
26:30
Speaker 1: they weren't able to prove this was the murder weapon.
26:35
Speaker 1: They also couldn't prove there were any bloody clothes at
26:39
Speaker 1: the scene of the crime, as they never checked the pail. Though,
26:44
Speaker 1: a family friend that stayed at the house with the
26:47
Speaker 1: sisters after the murders did state she saw Lizzie tearing
26:51
Speaker 1: up a dress in the kitchen and burning it the
26:54
Speaker 1: same day the police did a real search of the
26:57
Speaker 1: house and told Lizzie she was a suspect in the murders.
27:03
Speaker 1: Lizzie told this friend before this that she was going
27:06
Speaker 1: to burn up an old dress because it had paint
27:09
Speaker 1: on it. During the trials, both victims' skulls were brought
27:16
Speaker 1: into the courtroom as evidence. Upon seeing them, Lizzie fainted.
27:24
Speaker 1: With no real evidence to prove her as the murderer,
27:28
Speaker 1: Lizzie was acquitted on June 20th. When leaving the courts,
27:33
Speaker 1: she told reporters she was the happiest woman in the world,
27:39
Speaker 1: which could be seen as her being happy she's not
27:42
Speaker 1: being pinned for murders she didn't do, or she's happy
27:47
Speaker 1: she got away with them. Because of things like this,
27:52
Speaker 1: it's no wonder she's still seen as a prime suspect.
27:58
Speaker 1: and why people still to this day theorize why and
28:02
Speaker 1: how she was able to do it. I myself am
28:08
Speaker 1: not so sure she is guilty. The cops, time and
28:12
Speaker 1: time again, seem to have dropped the ball on doing
28:16
Speaker 1: a real investigation, and all of Lizzie's strange actions might
28:21
Speaker 1: be easy to prove away. Well, most of them. Everything
28:26
Speaker 1: that happened with their questioning of her when they brought
28:30
Speaker 1: her in could easily be ruled out since they had
28:34
Speaker 1: her drugged the whole time and didn't have a lawyer present.
28:40
Speaker 1: What she said in that moment could have been seen
28:43
Speaker 1: as her saying anything under duress. The duress, while odd,
28:50
Speaker 1: could have been her scared or even angry that they
28:54
Speaker 1: were looking at her. and not actually trying to find
28:58
Speaker 1: the real murderer. Maybe there was just pain on it.
29:04
Speaker 1: It is kind of weird that the cops, when they
29:07
Speaker 1: finally did a detailed search of the house, didn't find
29:11
Speaker 1: the dress. Or, if they did, didn't find it to
29:15
Speaker 1: be covered in blood. But the thing that really makes
29:19
Speaker 1: me second guess all of this is the timeline of things.
29:23
Speaker 1: Two people saw her come out of the barn at 11.03,
29:26
Speaker 1: and she called out to Bridget at 11.08. I don't
29:33
Speaker 1: see how someone was able to brutally murder another person,
29:37
Speaker 1: change out of and hide bloody clothes, cause no one
29:42
Speaker 1: ever mentions Lizzie being covered in blood, clean the blood
29:46
Speaker 1: from their face and hands, again, I feel like she'd
29:49
Speaker 1: be covered in blood with how violent these murders were,
29:53
Speaker 1: and hide the murder weapon all within 5 minutes. Plus,
29:59
Speaker 1: something I kind of forgot while writing the script is
30:02
Speaker 1: that they put Andrew's death at 11 o'clock, which makes
30:07
Speaker 1: it even more sketchy about all of this. And I
30:12
Speaker 1: know we can't go off of just her word since
30:15
Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like anyone saw her go into the barn.
30:19
Speaker 1: But even if you add that into account, the timeline
30:24
Speaker 1: seems kind of tight. Because remember, Bridget said she went
30:28
Speaker 1: upstairs to her room at 1058. So that would mean
30:32
Speaker 1: Lizzie would have just went right into it seconds after
30:36
Speaker 1: she went upstairs. And don't forget, If we're going on
30:40
Speaker 1: the idea that she is the murderer, she'd also have
30:44
Speaker 1: to do the same thing just earlier because after Abby's death,
30:50
Speaker 1: no one seems worried about Lizzie's appearance. So, no blood
30:54
Speaker 1: on her, hair is probably in place, clothes are probably clean,
31:00
Speaker 1: and nothing else to say she was doing anything strenuous. Plus,
31:06
Speaker 1: if you do a tour of the house, they have
31:08
Speaker 1: one person go upstairs to the guest room, drop a weight,
31:12
Speaker 1: the equivalent of Abby's weight, and when they do, people
31:16
Speaker 1: report that it shakes the whole house. Telling me one
31:21
Speaker 1: of two things. The only other person that was in
31:24
Speaker 1: that house for both murders somehow didn't hear Abby hit
31:29
Speaker 1: the floor, which seems unlikely. Or was she the murderer?
31:35
Speaker 1: leading me to wonder, was she in on this or
31:40
Speaker 1: did she do it? This whole investigation was a huge mess,
31:46
Speaker 1: so maybe I'm wrong about this, but the facts I have,
31:52
Speaker 1: I don't see how she didn't hear Abby's death, first
31:55
Speaker 1: of all. But if you remember, she also said herself
32:00
Speaker 1: she went upstairs to her room and later when she
32:04
Speaker 1: and a neighbor went to check on Abby, the moment
32:07
Speaker 1: their eyes were level with the second floor, they could
32:10
Speaker 1: see her lying there. So how was she not able
32:14
Speaker 1: to see her earlier when she went to rest? And
32:20
Speaker 1: if Lizzie is to be believed, she might have been
32:24
Speaker 1: in the barn for 20 to 30 minutes. Giving Bridget
32:28
Speaker 1: plenty of time to kill Andrew, hide the clothes with
32:31
Speaker 1: Lizzie's period rags. I'm sure she knew Lizzie was on
32:34
Speaker 1: it as well. Hide the murder weapon and get back
32:38
Speaker 1: upstairs without being seen. Now, do I have a good
32:42
Speaker 1: motivation for why she did any of this? Not really.
32:47
Speaker 1: It's just something I started wondering and piecing together as
32:51
Speaker 1: I did the research. I know the changing answers and
32:55
Speaker 1: alibis Lizzie gave, even the way she was acting, makes
32:59
Speaker 1: her look crazy guilty. But when you start diving into it,
33:04
Speaker 1: it all seems to fall apart. Especially when you realize
33:09
Speaker 1: Bridget was in the house for both murders. but somehow
33:14
Speaker 1: didn't hear or see anything until after Lizzie caught her downstairs.
33:20
Speaker 1: She would have had to walk by Abby's dead body
33:23
Speaker 1: twice without seeing it. That just doesn't add up. I
33:28
Speaker 1: will say, one way that does make sense to me
33:31
Speaker 1: that Lizzie could have done it is if Bridget was
33:35
Speaker 1: in on it. Whether Lizzie promised her money or something
33:39
Speaker 1: else to help her out, Or she just cared for
33:42
Speaker 1: Lizzie that much, that she was willing to lie for her.
33:45
Speaker 1: I don't know, but that's the only way I believe
33:49
Speaker 1: Bridget managed to hear nothing during either of these murders.
33:56
Speaker 1: There are some theories on why Lizzie would have killed
33:59
Speaker 1: the two. Obviously, some believe she was doing it for
34:03
Speaker 1: the money and to be able to live the life
34:06
Speaker 1: she wanted. While she and her sister inherited the estate
34:10
Speaker 1: of both her stepmother and her father, and moved into
34:14
Speaker 1: a modern house in the Hills neighborhood, I don't know
34:18
Speaker 1: how I feel about this. I feel like if she
34:21
Speaker 1: truly did it, and did it for the money, she
34:25
Speaker 1: wouldn't stay in Fall River, where she was ostracized. Seems
34:31
Speaker 1: kinda stupid to not just take the money and leave
34:35
Speaker 1: at that point. Her staying there feels more like her
34:40
Speaker 1: way of saying, I know I didn't do it, and
34:44
Speaker 1: I won't be ran out of my hometown because you
34:47
Speaker 1: believe a lie about me. That's just the kind of
34:51
Speaker 1: person I feel like she was. Another theory is that
34:57
Speaker 1: Lizzie and her sister were physically and sexually abused by
35:01
Speaker 1: their father, driving her to kill him. While there wasn't
35:06
Speaker 1: any proof of the abuse, that doesn't really prove there wasn't.
35:10
Speaker 1: Things like that weren't really reported, so it could have
35:14
Speaker 1: easily been covered up. This theory was actually first posted
35:18
Speaker 1: in a local paper at the time of the murders. So,
35:23
Speaker 1: it's probably the longest running theory of them. It might
35:28
Speaker 1: even explain Bridget turning a blind eye to it. But
35:31
Speaker 1: it does kind of come into question why she would
35:34
Speaker 1: attack Abby first. And look her in the eyes whereas
35:38
Speaker 1: her father she attacked in his sleep. The first attack
35:43
Speaker 1: felt more personal than the second. And the last theory
35:49
Speaker 1: probably comes off the rumor that Lizzie was a lesbian.
35:54
Speaker 1: It is theorized that her and Bridget were in a
35:57
Speaker 1: relationship at the time, and when Abby found them together,
36:01
Speaker 1: she reacted in horror and disgust, leading Lizzie to kill
36:06
Speaker 1: her in anger. Then when she told her father about
36:10
Speaker 1: the relationship and what she did to Abby, he reacted
36:13
Speaker 1: the same, causing her to kill him as well. While
36:19
Speaker 1: the last two could explain why Bridget might have been involved,
36:22
Speaker 1: The first of these two seems a little unlikely. See,
36:27
Speaker 1: she had a trust to keep her father's grave maintained
36:30
Speaker 1: after her death. Which makes me think she was taking
36:35
Speaker 1: care of it while she was alive. So, while not
36:40
Speaker 1: always the case, if she killed them both because of abuse,
36:44
Speaker 1: I don't know why she would even want to take
36:46
Speaker 1: care of his grave even after her death. It just
36:50
Speaker 1: seems like a weird move to me. The last theory
36:55
Speaker 1: could make sense, except for why someone jammed the lock
36:59
Speaker 1: in the front door. That seems more like something you
37:02
Speaker 1: would do in a premeditated murder. Plus, it was determined
37:07
Speaker 1: that Andrew was asleep when he was killed. I doubt
37:11
Speaker 1: he'd take a nap after being told his wife was dead,
37:15
Speaker 1: and his daughter was the one who did it. While
37:20
Speaker 1: we'll probably never find out the full truth of what
37:23
Speaker 1: happened that day, we can always theorize and play detective,
37:28
Speaker 1: I guess. All I know is Bridget was more involved
37:33
Speaker 1: than she was letting on. Maybe that's why the place
37:37
Speaker 1: is so haunted to this day. Maybe the spirits are
37:41
Speaker 1: trying to clear Lizzie's name or get the full truth
37:45
Speaker 1: of what happened that day. Which, besides taking a ghost
37:50
Speaker 1: tour of the house, you can also stay there overnight
37:54
Speaker 1: because it was turned into a bed and breakfast. This
37:57
Speaker 1: B & B was first opened back in 1996. You
38:02
Speaker 1: can stay in Lizzie's room and the guest room where
38:05
Speaker 1: Abby lost her life. as well as stay in Andrew
38:10
Speaker 1: and Abby's room, Emma's room, and Bridget's room. But, of course,
38:14
Speaker 1: the first two are the most popular of the bunch.
38:18
Speaker 1: The house is also a host to a museum, dedicated
38:22
Speaker 1: to the Borden family and the murders. This, with everything else,
38:28
Speaker 1: seems to keep the energy up within the house, making
38:31
Speaker 1: it known as a good place to bring someone just
38:33
Speaker 1: starting out in paranormal investigation. Almost everyone that has come
38:39
Speaker 1: to check it out, either by staying the night or
38:42
Speaker 1: taking a tour, have had something happen. Some staying there
38:47
Speaker 1: have captured photos of anomalies floating by the beds. Others
38:52
Speaker 1: have heard noises coming from inside the wardrobes. And some
38:57
Speaker 1: have reported being touched by an unseen force in their sleep.
39:02
Speaker 1: So if you never had an experience but want one,
39:05
Speaker 1: it seems like this is the place to go. Just
39:09
Speaker 1: remember to be respectful. And hey, maybe you'll be the
39:13
Speaker 1: one that finally gets the missing puzzle piece we need
39:17
Speaker 1: to find out what really happened that day. Maybe if
39:21
Speaker 1: I ever get the money to do it, I'll even
39:24
Speaker 1: check this place out. So... I didn't really know how
39:31
Speaker 1: to fit this in seamlessly, but I really wanted to
39:35
Speaker 1: talk about this. Who knows, maybe you'll find it interesting too.
39:40
Speaker 1: But did you know the Lizzie Borden rhyme was originally
39:44
Speaker 1: a jump rope rhyme that kids would sing while jumping rope?
39:48
Speaker 1: Kind of like the Cinderella one we used to jump to.
39:51
Speaker 1: And there is a whole second verse to it. So
39:55
Speaker 1: the original rhyme went, Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave
40:00
Speaker 1: her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done,
40:04
Speaker 1: she gave her father 41. Andrew Borden now is dead,
40:09
Speaker 1: Lizzie hit him on the head. Up in heaven he
40:13
Speaker 1: will sing, on the gallows she will swing. Kind of
40:17
Speaker 1: understand why the second part lost favor over time, but still.
40:22
Speaker 1: Kind of crazy to think there was a kid around
40:25
Speaker 1: that time period jumping rope and singing this in full.
40:30
Speaker 1: But with that being said, tell me, do you still
40:33
Speaker 1: think Lizzie did it? Do you think Bridget killed the Bordens?
40:38
Speaker 1: Or could there have been an unknown murderer this whole time?
40:44
Speaker 1: I want to hear from you guys. Tell me all
40:46
Speaker 1: of your theories. Who you think it was, how they
40:50
Speaker 1: did it, and even why. I've always been fascinated with
40:54
Speaker 1: this mystery and the hauntings that came with it. Even
40:59
Speaker 1: if my introduction to it was through a not-so-Halloween episode
41:03
Speaker 1: of Smart Guy that scared the shit out of me.
41:06
Speaker 1: So let's theorize together, because the more you dig into it,
41:10
Speaker 1: the stranger this story gets. Probably why we still talk
41:13
Speaker 1: about it to this day. There is even a new
41:17
Speaker 1: Lizzie Borden documentary, or whatever it is, out on Netflix.
41:21
Speaker 1: Which I didn't know about until after I was pretty
41:24
Speaker 1: much done with the script. So I'll probably go watch
41:28
Speaker 1: that here soon. I'll definitely watch it before the episode
41:32
Speaker 1: comes out. Oh, also, if you have been to the
41:37
Speaker 1: Borden house, tell me all about it. You could even
41:41
Speaker 1: send in your encounters to PinkyBooHauntings at Gmail. I might
41:45
Speaker 1: even read it on the podcast. You can find the
41:48
Speaker 1: email in the show notes and the description below, if
41:51
Speaker 1: you need to visually see it. Trust me, I understand.
41:55
Speaker 1: I'm dyslexic, so I totally get it. But if you
41:58
Speaker 1: need it, it will be down there. Also, please rate
42:02
Speaker 1: and review wherever you're listening to this. And like and
42:06
Speaker 1: subscribe on YouTube. As well as tell everyone you know
42:10
Speaker 1: about us. Let's grow the coven together. I want us
42:13
Speaker 1: to rule the world one day. God knows this place
42:17
Speaker 1: could use some new rulers that don't suck and might
42:21
Speaker 1: actually help the people. And that's what we witches should
42:25
Speaker 1: be doing. Helping Mother Earth and those that live on her.
42:31
Speaker 1: But for now, the coven is adjourned. See you next time. Bye.