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

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 member of Fall River high society.[3] 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.[4][5]

Recent history

It has operated as a bed and breakfast since 1996 under the ownership of Martha McGinn 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.[6]

Tours of the house often make reference to the possibility of ghostly activity, and in their book The Ghost Chronicles,[7] 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.[5]

The house was listed for sale in 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.[8]

In popular culture

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Borden House (Fall River, Massachusetts).

See also

References

  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. ^ Cartwell, Mary (July 26, 1992). "Lizzie Borden Took an Ax". The New York Times. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  4. ^ "Chronology 1789–1892". The Lizzie Andrew Borden Virtual Museum & Library. 2015. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  5. ^ a b Nickell, Joe (April 2020). "Lizzie Borden's Eighty-One Whacks". Skeptical Inquirer. 44 (2): 22–25.
  6. ^ 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 6, 2015.
  7. ^ Wood, Maureen; Kolek, Ron (2009). The Ghost Chronicles. Naperville, IL: Sourcebook. ISBN 978-1402225116.
  8. ^ 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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