Lizzie Borden: Murder and Mystery.

“Lizzie Borden took an axe,
And gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.”

A nursery rhyme that reads like a murder ballad. A name that lingers like a ghost. Lizzie Borden’s story is one of the most notorious in American criminal history—equal parts gruesome and enigmatic. But behind the rhyme and the headlines lies a tale of family dysfunction, class tension, a brutal double murder, and one of the most sensational trials of the 19th century.

Welcome to Once Upon A Crime, where we dig deep into the darkest corners of history.

This is the life, crime, and aftermath of Lizzie Borden

Before the Bloodshed: The Life of Lizzie Borden

Lizzie Andrew Borden was born on July 19, 1860, into a life of wealth — but not comfort. Her father, Andrew Borden, was a successful businessman known more for his stinginess than his generosity. Despite his fortune, the Borden family lived in a modest home without indoor plumbing — a decision that, to Lizzie and her older sister Emma, felt like an unnecessary humiliation.

When Lizzie was young, her mother died, and her father soon remarried Abby Durfee Gray — a woman Lizzie reportedly resented and refused to call “mother.” The Borden household was cold, divided, and full of unspoken tensions. Money, inheritance, and familial loyalty were the undercurrents that pulled at each family member in different ways.

By 1892, Lizzie — now 32 and still unmarried — was living a quiet but restless life in the shadow of her father’s strict control and her stepmother’s increasing hold over the family finances.

August 4, 1892: A Morning of Murder

It was a hot Thursday morning when everything fell apart.

Just after 11 a.m., Andrew Borden was found slumped on the couch in the parlor of the family home — his face nearly unrecognizable from the eleven blows of a hatchet. Less than an hour later, the body of Abby Borden was discovered upstairs, lying face down in a pool of blood. She had been struck multiple times — likely attacked from behind.

There were no signs of forced entry. No valuables missing. The only people known to be home that morning were Bridget Sullivan, the Borden family maid — and Lizzie.

Lizzie claimed she had been in the barn, looking for fishing sinkers. But the dust on the floor suggested no one had been there for some time. Bridget claimed she’d been resting in her room, recovering from the heat. And Lizzie’s behavior? Calm. Cold. Oddly composed for someone who had just discovered the mutilated body of her father.

A City Suspicious, A Daughter Accused

From the moment police arrived, Lizzie’s behavior raised eyebrows. She changed her story multiple times. She showed little emotion. And then there was the matter of the dress — the one she burned a few days after the murders, claiming it had paint on it.

The town was scandalized. The press descended. And within days, Lizzie Borden was arrested and charged with the murders of her father and stepmother.

The case captivated the nation — a wealthy, white, church-going woman accused of a gruesome double homicide? Unthinkable. And yet, the evidence — what little there was — pointed to Lizzie.

1893: The Trial of the Century

Lizzie’s trial began in June of 1893 and quickly became one of the first media-fueled legal spectacles in American history. The prosecution leaned heavily on circumstantial evidence — the burned dress, Lizzie’s inconsistent alibi, her odd demeanor.

But the defense struck back hard. They highlighted the lack of physical evidence — no blood on Lizzie, no murder weapon definitively tied to her. They argued that no “respectable woman” could commit such an act. And they played to the era’s ingrained beliefs about femininity, innocence, and class.

It worked.

After less than two hours of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict: Not guilty.

Lizzie Borden was a free woman — but her name would never be free of suspicion again.

After the Acquittal: A Life in Exile

Despite her legal victory, Lizzie was forever marked. She and her sister Emma inherited their father’s estate and moved to a new home — a grand house Lizzie named Maplecroft — in Fall River’s wealthy Hill neighborhood.

But the welcome was short-lived.

Whispers followed Lizzie everywhere. Neighbors crossed the street to avoid her. She was ostracized from her church. Even Emma eventually left — permanently — after a rumored falling-out in 1905, possibly over Lizzie’s friendship with actress Nance O’Neil, a relationship some speculate may have been more than platonic.

Lizzie lived out the rest of her life in relative solitude and died of pneumonia in 1927, at the age of 66. She was buried beside the family she was accused of destroying.

The Legacy of Lizzie Borden

Over a century later, the Borden murders remain unsolved. No one else was ever charged. Theories abound — from Bridget the maid, to a mysterious stranger, to Emma herself. But none have been proven.

The weapon? Never officially found. The motive? Speculated endlessly — inheritance, rage, a lifetime of repression finally snapping.

Lizzie became more than a suspect. She became an icon — a figure of mystery, horror, and unresolved tension. Her story became a cultural touchstone, inspiring books, films, and that infamous rhyme that haunts playgrounds to this day.

But here on Once Upon A Crime, we know there’s always more beneath the surface.

So… did Lizzie Borden kill her parents? Maybe. Maybe not. But the axe still hangs in the air — sharp, silent, and waiting.