My last few columns have been about as pop culture oriented as you can get, exploring the supposed “curses” of the 1960-70s sitcoms Family Affair and Bewitched. As it happens, last week I found myself in a couple far away places with gossamer connections to the star of Bewitched, Elizabeth Montgomery. My wife Rhonda and I celebrated our 25th anniversary by visiting a few east coast destinations on our bucket list: Washington Irving’s Sleepy Hollow, Salem, Massachusetts and the Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, Massachusetts. Sounds romantic huh? Well, keep in mind that our 10th anniversary was spent on a trip of haunted California: the Queen Mary, Alcatraz, Brookdale Lodge and the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. I’ll share the details of our east coast trip with you over the next few columns just in case you ever decide to visit them.
For this week, I’ll begin where we ended at the Lizzie Borden bed and breakfast in Fall River, Massachusetts. Located roughly an hour south of Boston and just minutes from Newport and Providence, Rhode Island, it is the tenth largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount Hope Bay at the mouth of the Taunton River, the city is well known for its Portuguese culture, its numerous 19th century textile mills and Battleship Cove, the world’s largest collection of World War II naval vessels. Fall River is the hometown of celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse and journalist George Stephanopoulos, but undoubtedly the city’s most famous former resident is Lizzie Borden.
The Borden house is located at 92 Second Street. It was in this house that Abby and Andrew Borden were murdered on the morning of Thursday, August 4, 1892. To say they were murdered might be an understatement — they were hacked to pieces by persons unknown. Suspicion was immediately cast upon the youngest daughter Lizzie after it was determined that she was home alone (except for the family maid Bridget who was outside washing windows) at the time of both murders. Lizzie would ultimately be charged with both murders; a woman on trial for murder was unheard of in Victorian America.
But first, some background on the Bordens. Lizzie’s father, Andrew Jackson Borden, grew up poor and never forgot it. He worked hard and became wealthy through the sales of furniture and caskets, real estate development, and as director of several textile mills and banks. At the time of his death, his estate was valued at $300,000 (Nearly $8 million in today’s money). But Andrew Jackson Borden was cheap. For instance, although the Borden home had running water, it lacked indoor plumbing and the family used a two-seater outhouse located in the basement. Andrew preferred instead that the family use chamber pots, which he regularly emptied on the fruit trees in the backyard. He was a stern disciplinarian, often causing hard feelings at home and in business. It would seem that Mr. Borden had many enemies.
Tension had been growing in the family in the months before the murders, especially over Andrew’s gifts of real estate to various branches of Abby’s family. Lizzie went from calling Abby “mother” to “Mrs. Borden” after it was revealed that their stepmother’s sister received a house from Andrew Borden. The night before the murders, John Vinnicum Morse, the brother of Lizzie and Emma’s deceased mother, Sarah Anthony (Morse) Borden (1823–1863), visited and was invited to stay for a few days to discuss business matters with Andrew. Some believe that this visit induced a conversation about property transfer to his nieces that precipitated the murders.
One of the great things about the Lizzie Borden case that there is plenty of room for speculation. The first thing you learn when you visit the house, the cemetery, or the Fall River Historical Society where the relics and records from the crime are on display, is that everyone has their own opinion about the crime. Depending on who you talk to, Lizzie did it alone, with her sister Emma, with the maid Bridget or in concert with other family members. Or the Bordens were killed by a drifter, a handyman or a disgruntled business associate. The motive is easy: money.
During his visit, “Uncle John” stayed in the second floor guest bedroom. It was here that Abby Borden was hacked to death and where her body was found on the floor between the dresser and the bed. According to the forensic investigation, Abby was facing her killer at the time of the attack. She was struck on the side of the head with a hatchet which cut her just above the ear, causing her to turn and fall facedown on the floor, which created contusions on her nose and forehead. Her killer then sat on her back and delivered 19 direct hits to the back of her head. Abby’s death came early that morning, although the exact time has never been established.
After breakfast, Andrew and Morse went to the sitting room where they chatted for an hour. Morse left to visit a relative at 8:45 a.m. and Andrew left for his morning walk sometime after 9 a.m. He went for a shave, stopped at the post office, did some business at three banks on North Main Street, and then went up to inspect a property on South Main that he was having renovated. He conversed briefly with the construction workers there, and while at the site, picked up from the ground a broken lock and slipped it into his pocket (did I mention he was cheap?). He returned at around 10:30 a.m. and went to read his papers in the sitting room. He was joined by Lizzie who encouraged him to take a nap on the sofa, offering to open some windows to help him get comfortable. What happened at that point is unclear, but someone on the premises delivered ten deadly hatchet blows to Andrew Borden’s head and face as he slept.
Shortly after the Town Hall bells had rung the hour of 11:00 a.m., Bridget was startled by Lizzie calling for her “to come quickly because someone had hurt her father.” Andrew was found lying on the couch, his head cut open and unrecognizable. A few hours later, a police photographer snapped one of the most famous crime scene photographs in American history: Andrew Jackson Borden laying on his sitting-room sofa, his head resting on the couch arm, his feet sloping to the floor, his fists clenched on his lap, and his face obliterated. The bed and breakfast has faithfully recreated that parlor scene with an identical horsehair sofa complete with a very realistic looking prop hatchet resting on the arm where Mr. Borden’s head (or what was left of it) once rested.
Although the furniture is not original, the room, woodwork, doors, radiators and fireplaces were all there at the time and remain in place as silent witnesses to the horrors that this house experienced. It is very easy indeed to walk the halls of the Borden house and put yourself right back there on August 4, 1892. Ironically, above the fireplace a hand sewn vintage sampler rests upon the wall with the message “What is home without a Father?” In the corner of the bed and breakfast rests an old-fashioned wooden Ouija board and wooden planchette that our host told us is often used by guests. If it was used during our stay I cannot say; however I know that, if so, Rhonda and I did not participate. Apparently the Ouija board was stolen a couple of months ago and returned just recently in an unmarked Fed-Ex box along with an unsigned note reading simply, “Make it Stop.” True story.
During our visit my wife and I slept in the second floor “John V. Morse” room where Abby’s body was found on the floor near the bed. Although none of the furniture in the room belonged to the Borden family, the room has been meticulously recreated to appear as it did in 1892 based on photographs taken of the murder scene on the day of the crime. Some of those photos are displayed in the room, just in case you forget what happened there. The antiques are authentic to the Victorian era and the room layout is identical in every detail. One notable addition is a dress displayed on a mannequin that was actually worn by Elizabeth Montgomery in the movie The Legend Of Lizzie Borden in 1975. The photos on the wall near the dress show the pretty, perky Bewitched star wearing the costume in the movie and seem to somehow soften the dark mood of the room.
The guests at the B & B are treated to a special 2 1/2 hour private tour of the house. Our tour was led by Rick whose wife is also a tour guide there. The room-by-room tour explores every nook and cranny of the building and is accompanied by a very detailed account of the history of the home, the family and the crime. It was immediately apparent that Rick’s theory revolved heavily around John Vinnicum Morse, whose room we were sleeping in. Rick pretty much believed that everyone was in on it: Lizzie, Emma, Bridget and Uncle John, the whole lot of them. He went into meticulous detail and made a very convincing argument, but that’s what makes the crime so interesting. Anything’s possible.
Part of what makes the tour special is that while you listen to the stories, you are leaning on the door jambs, touching the doors and handrails, or standing on readily identifiable historic spots. The tours are certainly a “hands on” experience. The home has been featured on many of the ghost hunting shows and Rick seems to have been involved in all of them and shared stories of his adventures with cast and crew. The trivia about the place was what fascinated me most. Rick informed me that “Uncle John” was a “weird guy.” As proof, he told me that after Abby’s body had been removed from the upstairs room and the bloody carpet cut from the floor, Uncle John slept in the bed that night of the murder beneath the blood spattered covers now on display in the Fall River Historical Society museum.
The B & B does have some authentic relics on display including several books from Lizzie’s collection, all initialed “L.A.B.” (Lizzie Andrew Borden) by Lizzie herself. There are spots in the house where paranormal activity is most likely to occur, particularly in the basement where Andrew Jackson Borden’s bearded face appears on the back wall of the rubbish chute when photographed. I witnessed this myself as did other eight guests in attendance that night. Coins can be found in the containers in every room left by guests as offerings to the skinflint Andrew Borden. These coins are collected and donated every year to the local humane society, Lizzie Borden’s favorite charity. The B & B is pretty pricey and most importantly, it is NOT appropriate for children. But it is a great place for couples and empty nesters.
But what is my personal takeaway from our stay at the Lizzie Borden B & B? Our tour concluded near midnight and we retired to the Morse room to catch some much needed rest (we’d been up for 16 hours and driven some 200-plus miles that day). As with most B & B’s there was no television or radio. I slept on the left side of the bed mere inches away from where poor Abby Borden’s body was found some 122 years ago. Within minutes of turning off the lights, I felt a twitch or a poke on my upper right tricep. It lasted but a few moments, but I surely felt it. I immediately dismissed it as a muscle cramp brought on by the fatigue of a very eventful day. I’ve had hundreds of them over the years. I told myself that it wasn’t Abby Borden laying face down on the floor less than 2 feet below me clutching desperately for a life raft of mortality through an ocean of ethereal pain. No, it was a muscle cramp. Or was it?
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
