Lizzie Borden | The Woman Who Did It..Or Did She?

🎃 Welcome, girlies — or should I say… ghoulies. For the month of October, History for the Girlies is becoming History for the Ghoulies, and we’re starting with one of the most infamous names in American true crime: Lizzie Borden. Lizzie Borden took an axe, and gave her mother forty whacks… Except, that’s not actually what happened. On the morning of August 4, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were brutally murdered inside their home in Fall River, Massachusetts. Andrew was discovered downstairs on the sitting-room sofa. Abby was found upstairs in a guest bedroom. And inside the house that morning was Andrew’s thirty-two-year-old daughter, Lizzie Borden. What followed was a murder investigation, an arrest and one of the most sensational trials of the nineteenth century. But here’s where things get interesting. Because Lizzie was acquitted. No one was ever convicted of the murders. And more than 130 years later, we’re still asking the same question: Did Lizzie Borden actually do it? This week, we’re going inside the Borden house to look at what happened before, during and after the murders. We’re talking family tensions, money, suspicious behaviour, contradictory testimony, a mysteriously burned dress, the infamous alleged murder weapon and the evidence prosecutors believed pointed directly towards Lizzie. But we’re also looking at the evidence that wasn’t there, and asking whether the case against her was ever as straightforward as popular culture has made it seem. Because somewhere between the real woman who stood trial in 1893 and the axe-wielding murderer of legend, Lizzie Borden became a character. And girlies, we need to separate the gossip from the history. We’ll also talk about how Lizzie’s story has continued to be reinvented more than a century later, including its latest trip into pop culture with Netflix — and what modern adaptations get right, embellish or completely transform about the historical case. So dim the lights, grab your drink of choice, pull up a chair and maybe double-check that nobody is lurking upstairs, because we’re heading back to 1892 to investigate the murders that turned Lizzie Borden into one of the most infamous women in American history. 🕯️🪓 Welcome to History for the Ghoulies, where women’s history gets the gossip session it deserves… just a little spookier. 🎃✨ 🪓 This episode: Lizzie Borden 🕯️ Also known as: The woman accused — and acquitted — of murdering her father and stepmother in one of America’s most notorious unsolved murder cases. 🍺 Best enjoyed with: your beverage of choice, the lights turned slightly lower than usual, and a completely unnecessary but deeply held opinion about whether Lizzie did it. And when you’ve finished listening, I want to know: Do YOU think Lizzie Borden was guilty?👀 Leave your verdict in the comments: guilty, innocent, or girl, I genuinely have no idea. If you enjoyed the episode, please like, subscribe and join us throughout October as History for the Ghoulies continues with women connected to murder, witchcraft, accusations, folklore and some seriously spooky reputations. And next week, we’re travelling much further back in time for a story where the line between history and legend becomes even harder to untangle. We’re talking witchcraft accusations. 🕯️🌙 See you next time, ghoulies. 🎃✨ Music by Watermelon Beats from Pixabay #HistoryForTheGhoulies #HistoryForTheGirlies #LizzieBorden #TrueCrimeHistory #WomensHistory #HistoryPodcast #UnsolvedMysteries #VictorianHistory #LizzieBordenCase