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Few, if any, of us have never heard the old sing-song rhyme:

"Lizzie Borden took an ax,
And gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty one."

That fateful day occurred on August 4, 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts. It was stated later, in a court of law that:

Lizzie Borden silently crept upstairs to the guest room where her step mother was busy making the bed. She did not in fact give her 40 whacks, but in a furious rage, she struck the woman with an ax or hatchet 19 times in the head, leaving a five inch hole in her skull. Happy and satisfied with her spent rage she left her to lay dead and set about cleaning herself up. She then did usual household tasks such as laundry, sewing, ironing and even took time to peruse through a magazine.

An hour and a half later her father returned home and Lizzie stated that his wife had received a note and had left to go on a sick call. She then urged the elderly man to rest as he seemed tired due to the oppressive heat. He stretched out on his favorite sofa in the sitting room and began to nap. As he settled into sleep, Lizzie asked that the house maid go into town and check about a sale on cotton goods, but the maid instead went up to her attic room oblivious to all that had already occurred, and all that was about to occur. Lizzie returned to her sleeping father, again armed with an ax or hatchet. She hacked away at him ten times, slicing through his cheekbone and severing one of his eyes completely in half. Blood splattered on the walls as well as the ceiling of what had become her father's death room.

Lizzie very quickly set about to cleaning up herself and her weapon. Then she began screaming. Lizzie claimed to have found her father after returning from the barn where she had been eating pears. It is said that when the authorities arrived to investigate, she showed no emotion, or shed any tears.

She gave police a few reasons she had been in the barn. Stopping off to get out of the heat to eat a pear and hunting lead sinkers for fishing. Upon inspection of the barn an officer could find no evidence of her footprints, although his were clearly visible. She maintained that her step mother had received a note and left on a sick call, but no evidence of the note could be produced.

It was stated in court, that the day before the murders, Lizzie had tried to but a quick-acting poison, according to testimony from the druggist. It was also stated that she had visited the home of a friend the night before and had sadly predicted that something awful was about to happen in her home.

The prosecutor stated that motive was a longstanding hatred with her step mother over her father's wealth, and that she feared he was rewriting his will, leaving Lizzie out. The jury however acquitted her. But were they right in doing so?

Is it possible that this well bred young woman, never having been in any kind of trouble before, committed such violent acts against her family to ensure gaining her father's fortune? Only Lizzie Borden truly knows the answer.

With everything that transpired there, it is no wonder why many report this now Bed and Breakfast as being haunted. Cold spots are felt in many of the rooms. There have been reports of he sounds of a woman crying and two women arguing. Doors open on thier own accord, omly to later shut themselves. Are you brave enough to schedule a stay at Lizzie's old home?

Learn more about this author, Lori Cox.
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