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Lizzie Borden House

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Coordinates: 41°41′56″N 71°09′22″W / 41.69894°N 71.15620°W / 41.69894; -71.15620
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41°41′56″N 71°09′22″W / 41.69894°N 71.15620°W / 41.69894; -71.15620

The Borden house at 230 Second Street in 2009

The Lizzie Borden House is notorious for being the home of Lizzie Borden and her family, and it is the location of the 1892 unsolved double murder of Lizzie's father and stepmother Andrew and Abby Borden.[1] It is located on 230 Second Street in the city of Fall River, Massachusetts.[2]

History

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The Borden house at 92 Second Street in the late 1800s

From 1872 to 1892, the house was the property of Andrew Borden, Lizzie's father, who was a bank president[3] and a member of Fall River high society.[4] After buying the house, Andrew Borden altered it so that instead of it being two apartments it would become one home for him and his family.[5] However, even after the remodeling, he still refused to install the newest technologies like indoor plumbing and electricity.[3] He put a two-stall privy in the basement and a chamber pot under every bed.[6] This house was considered middle class and was unusual for someone of his status to live in. Andrew Borden bought it because of its proximity to his business on Main St though. He moved his four-person family (his wife, Abby, and his two daughters, Emma and Lizzie) into the home as well as one maid who lived in the attic (Bridgett).[3]

Under the ownership of the Bordens, it was quiet with not a lot of parties from the socialite Lizzie who was too embarrassed to show her house to her wealthy friends.[3]

Abby and Andrew Borden relinquished their ownership upon their deaths to their daughter Lizzie in 1892.

After Lizzie's trial and acquittal for murdering her father and stepmother in the home, she bought another house located at 7 French Street that she named 'Maplecroft'. Lizzie lived there until her death on June 1, 1927.[2]

The house number of 92 Second Street was changed to 230 in 1896.[7][8]

Recent history

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It has operated as a bed and breakfast since 1996 under the ownership of Martha McGinn and Ronald Evans who inherited the house. Martha's grandparents purchased the house on August 4, 1948. According to Martha McGinn, the room where Lizzie's stepmother Abby Borden was found murdered is the "most requested room" of the bedrooms at the bed and breakfast. The Fall River Historical Society promotes the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast as a tourist attraction.[9]

Donald Woods and Lee-Ann Wilbers bought the house next and kept the house open for ninety-minute tours and bookings in 2004. With these tours, tour guides were only allowed to talk about the facts of the case and nothing else, but a Ouija board was available for use.[10]

Many of the murder paraphernalia was put into the house during this time, including a mannequin in the guest room where Abby Borden was killed and autopsy photographs on the dining room table. Even relics from media inspired by the murder case were put into the house like photographs of actresses from the movie The Legend of Lizzie Borden. It is not known for sure when they were installed, but there are bathrooms on the premises now.[6]

Ms. Wilber stayed on the property as a custodian. She died four days after the sale of the house.[10]

Tours of the house often refer to the possibility of ghostly activity, and in their book The Ghost Chronicles,[11] self-proclaimed "medium" Maureen Wood and self-proclaimed "paranormal scientist" Ron Kolek describe experiencing ghostly events in the house. However, investigator of claims of the paranormal Joe Nickell reports that these claims are based upon either unverifiable personal feelings of a ghostly presence or the use of well-known and well-understood techniques like table-tipping that, like Ouija board and dowsing rod effects, involve the ideomotor effect rather than the presence of a ghostly spirit.[8]

The house was listed for sale in May 2021 and was sold to Lance Zaal for $2 million. Zaal stated he would keep the property operating as a bed-and-breakfast and hoped to expand the business to include other Lizzie-Borden-themed activities in the future.[12] As the owner of the TV show Ghost Adventures, his goals are to introduce two ghost tours (one ninety minutes and the other two hours) as well as keep the historical tours going. He also plans to implement "[...] a podcast, virtual experiences, themed dinners, bedtime ghost tours of Fall River, murder mystery nights", a wedding venue and add a sixth bedroom to the property.[10]

Despite all this, Mr. Zaal has tried to keep the house "as is" with original furnishings, duplicated decor, and original hardware.[5] He does have plans to remove the iron stove and have it replaced due to the risk it poses to future residents.[10]

Mr. Zaal stays on the property like Ms. Wilber to keep an eye on the house.[10]

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  • "Thin Lizzie", a 2015 episode of The CW series Supernatural (season 11, episode 5) involved a series of murders centered on the Lizzie Borden House Bed & Breakfast. It, however, does not depict the actual outside of the house nor the people working inside it favorably.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Borden House (Fall River, Massachusetts).
  • Nuka World, an expansion pack for the 2015 post-apocalyptic video game Fallout 4 features a house that resembles the Winchester Mystery House where a narrator tells the story of a young girl named Lucy who murdered her parents.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ McCleary, Kelly (January 17, 2021). "Lizzie Borden house hits the market for $2 million". CNN Travel. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  2. ^ a b Douglas, John; Olshaker, Mark (January 23, 2001). The Cases That Haunt Us. Scribner. pp. 117–118. ISBN 978-0-7432-1239-7.
  3. ^ a b c d Lucitt, Emily Anne (2014). Ghosts of the Lizzie Borden House Tour: Hauntology, Historicity and Attention at Work. ProQuest, LLC. pp. 11–15.
  4. ^ Cantwell, Mary (July 26, 1992). "Lizzie Borden Took an Ax". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 29, 2017. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  5. ^ a b "History - Lizzie Borden". May 15, 2021. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
  6. ^ a b D’Imperio, Chuck (2018). Massachusetts Treasures: A Guide to Marvelous, Must-See Museums. University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 978-1-62534-371-0.
  7. ^ "Chronology 1789–1892". The Lizzie Andrew Borden Virtual Museum & Library. 2015. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  8. ^ a b Nickell, Joe (April 2020). "Lizzie Borden's Eighty-One Whacks". Skeptical Inquirer. 44 (2): 22–25.
  9. ^ Shea, Lois (October 29, 1995). "Lizzie Borden's house to be B&B Crime scene: Opening is set for next August, but fans of the Fall River ax murders are already reserving rooms". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  10. ^ a b c d e Mailman, Erika. "With the Borden Murder House in New Hands, Will Real History Get the Hatchet?". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on July 25, 2021. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
  11. ^ Wood, Maureen; Kolek, Ron (2009). The Ghost Chronicles. Naperville, IL: Sourcebook. ISBN 978-1402225116.
  12. ^ Jacob, Mary K. (April 5, 2021). "Lizzie Borden murder house sells for $2M, turned into tourist B&B". New York Post. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
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