Lizzie Borden House

Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her father 40 whacks

When she saw what she had done she gave her father 41.

Does anyone else think that is a really creepy nursery rhyme?

Okay you may think that wanting to visit a murder site is a bit macabre…and it is. But in my defense, the Lizzie Borden house is always listed as one of the most haunted places in America. That’s saying something. That makes it unique, and therefore worthy of being on my goal list.

Featured on just about any travel show or ghost hunting show you can imagine, the Lizzie Borden house is now a functioning bed and breakfast. That’s right, for about $200 a night you can sleep just steps away from where the axed body of Lizzie’s stepmother was found.

For those of you who don’t know the story, Lizzie was a spinster type who lived with her banker Dad, her spinster sister, and the stepmom…oh and a maid named Bridget. One day, Dad comes home from work early to take a nap. In the spot pictured here.

Next thing he knows he is whacked over the head with an ax. Lizzie supposedly discovers his body…next thing you know, the stepmom is discovered upstairs in a similarly mutilated (i.e. DEAD) condition. You can see pictures of all this on the internet…its pretty gruesome.

The suspects are pretty much 1) the maid (angry because the stepmom asked her to clean the house windows on a day she came down with a horrible cold?), 2) the Uncle (who shows up for a visit without any luggage…hmmm that seems a bit strange), and 3) Lizzie, who was supposedly ironing clothes downstairs when the stepmom was killed but didn’t hear anything suspicious going on upstairs. Oh, and she burned a dress the day after the bodies were discovered because it had paint stains on it. Oh and she kind of hated her stepmom and held a grudge against her Dad for constantly giving the stepmom money. Yeah.

After she was found innocent of murder, Lizzie lived the rest of her life in the same town as sort of a celebrity or tourist attraction. She moved out of that house…moved up the street a bit and lived with her sister (who by the way was out of town at the time of the murders so she was never considered a suspect) until her and her sister had a bit of a falling out. I guess the big sister wasn’t a fan of the somewhat interesting people that Lizzie started throwing parties with. Think your average bordello type. Meanwhile, the maid essentially disappears.

So, the most interesting part of the Lizzie Borden story is to decide for yourself…did she do it? Much like Casey Anthony or O.J. Simpson, it is a story where the people thought she did it, but she was acquitted.

As far as the ghosts go…the owners of the house seemed reluctant to comment.