Morbid - Lizzie Borden Part 1

Episode Date: October 20, 2019

In this extra special Morbid, we are recording in the Lizzie Borden house in Fall River, Ma. Yup, we are sitting on the couch that Andrew Borden was murdered on and we are not okay. In part one, we discuss the family dynamic a bit as well as the horrific murders of Andrew and Abby Borden in the home that we are currently sitting in. There is a lot more to this case and this family than meets the eye. So come in and have a decent alibi figured out, would ya? Check out our sponsors, guys! Download the puzzle game Best Fiends. Discover your latest puzzle game obsession with Best Fiends. Check out Lola: A Modern Approach to Feminine Care. Visit MyLola.com and use promo code MORBID for 30% off your first month's subscription! Get down with Simplisafe. The best choice for home security. Visit Simplisafe.com/ MORBID to get FREE shipping and a 60-day risk free trial for yourself. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey weirdos, I'm terrified. And I'm real afraid. And this is morbid. Reporting live from the Lizzie Borden house. Only nice things to say, Liz. That's right. We are coming to you right now from the spookiest place on planet Earth, in my opinion right now. To be honest with you, I don't think I've ever felt more on edge in my fucking life. Yeah, this is pretty terrible. And the fact that we're going to be talking about the case in the house that it happened, is making me feel some type of way. I feel like people are going to get mad and by people I mean ghosts and by ghosts they mean please don't come out to play. Yeah, please.

We're trying to be real respectful here. So what we are going to do is I am going to try my hardest to call Lizzie Lisbeth because that's what she like. Because when she moved out of this house after a spoiler alert she got acquitted, she went to another house which we'll talk about in part two because this is a two-parter guys. A. Because there's a lot to cover in the second half.

So once she moved out, went to her own house. She didn't want kids coming over and singing that damn nursery rhyme again. Which we're not going to sing. Nope, definitely not. And so she changed her name to Lizabeth. And that's what is on her gravestone right now. Fun fact. So I'm going to try to be respectful of Lizabeth and call her Lizabeth.

Because I'm not trying to get eaten alive today. I am not trying to fucking piss off any spirits up in here. It's like really cold in this room. It's freezing in here. I'm really not liking this to be perfectly honest. I feel scared. Shit's going down. Okay, guys.

Shit has gone awry. So what we, so we just wanted to quickly just go over a few things like how, you know, how we felt in this house, what we've seen in the house. I felt spooked. I've seen spook. First of all, we are staying in like the least, well, it's the room with the least history in it. Straight up used to be a storage closet, which is how we like it. But right now, we are sitting in the sitting room of the Lizzie Borden house where Andrew Borden, I feel weird saying this because it's exactly where it happened. And I am currently sitting where he got got.

Andrew Borden got his face smashed in with a hatchet in this room in this very seat that we are recording in. So that's awesome, but not at all. Yeah, not awesome at all. So far, I got to say, in the downstairs of this place, I'm not feeling, only in this sitting room I'm feeling like somewhat a little bit like, oh, hey, Andrew, what's going on? everywhere else I'm kind of like yeah I'm okay here but I don't like that room over there yeah I just like keep I don't like it I know every now and then and I thought it was just me I kept seeing something out of the corner of my eye and I kept looking over into that sitting room but then I kept seeing ash look over into that sitting room too and now I'm realizing that we're

both seeing something out of the corner of our eye if you're in the sitting room we come in peace please don't touch us if you're in the sitting room please stand up With the real... No, never mind. Oh, I just got like whole ass chills. Because I think they knew that you were about to sing M&M to them. They were pissed about it. I would be too.

Actually, no, if somebody sang Eminem to me in the afterlife, I'd be like, that's my bro. These are my people. We are kin. So basically what we've seen is, you know, Lizzie and Emma's room has some type of vibe to it, for sure. I got to say the room where Abby was murdered in, the guest room, while it's spooky, it didn't give me like super dark vibes, which I was very surprised. No, you know where the darkest vibes are? I do. Where nothing happened in the master bedroom, I walked into that room and I don't want to go back up there.

I was absolutely freezing and I hated it. That's how I felt. You and I were both like, what is going on in this room? It's Andrew and Abby's bedroom. Like nothing happened there. Nobody was attacked. Nothing. But I'm starting to feel like, and I feel weird saying this out loud.

But I'm starting to feel like it's Andrew who has the darkest vibes here. What it has to do with Andrew. I don't want you to say that. No, it's true though. Like he's given me some. And you know what? I think he knows he's given dark vibes. So he's probably happy that I'm acknowledging this.

He got like wicked got like Goth in the afterlife. He did. He painted his nails black. He's metal as fuck. He is metal as fuck. I'm trying not to swear in here. Oh yeah, because it's Victorian times. Yeah, they'd be like, who is this trash bag in my living room?

Who is this tart? This woman is trashed. So, yeah, so we definitely felt the worst. What the fuck was that? Dude, what the... What was that? Oh, I want to go home. Did that pick up on the...

thing i don't know i don't see the if you guys just i don't know if you guys heard that but it was really loud i don't uh something literally it's in it's in it's in that fucking sitting room i don't like i can we leave you guys didn't hear that it was a legit distinct knock right yes what the fuck no i don't want it and we keep here and that oh fuck that i'm not into that i don't want to be here Maybe I said too much about Andrew. I'm sorry, Andrew. I told you not to say. I'm sorry, Andrew.

You have light and fluffy vibes. Now he's going to absolutely slaughter you. He's going to be like, oh, you think I'm light and fluffy. You trumpet. You flute. You flusy. Yes. Okay.

We should probably get into the case so that we can get the fuck out of here. There I go swearing again. What a chart. What a tart. All right. I'm a full. Pop-Tart. What?

Did you hear that? No. I'm not even kidding you. I swear I just heard somebody walking around. Like, where? Like in the kitchen. Oh. No.

Maybe, I think that guy upstairs came down a minute ago. But he would come down these stairs. Okay, guys, I'm not even going to. Okay, no. You didn't, it's fine. Oh, fuck. I don't like this. We didn't hear a damn thing.

I think it's because they know we're about to pod. about their lives and afterlives and their no no no no all right we're going to get into this because we want to sit and stare at the wall until dawn so that we know that we survive you're not going to sleep right i'm not going to sleep no i'm not going to sleep i'm actually not asking you that question you're just not fucking going to sleep yeah we're not going to see yeah we're not going to see that happening all right so liz beth beth andrew boardin was born on july 19th 1860 in fall river Massachusetts. Now, a lot of people think the nursery, as the nursery rhyme goes, I'm just going to say a quick one because it's part of the story. I'm sorry, Liz Beth. No, I got to do it. A lot of people think

she gave her mother 40 wax. Well, Abby Borden was not actually her biological mother. She was her stepmother. Her biological mother was a woman named Sarah, and her father was 70-year-old Andrew Jackson Borden. She had one older sister named Emma Linaura Borden. I love that middle name. Lenora. That's pretty. It is pretty. Unfortunately, Sarah Borden died early in Lizzie's life in 19, or excuse me, 1862. In 1862, when Lizabeth was only two years old and her sister Emma was only 12. That's sad. That's really sad. Andrew Borden remarried only two or three years later to 65-year-old.

Abby Durfie Gray. Wait. Later to be Abby Duffy Gray Borden. Did you say 65 year old? Yeah. She was 65 when they got married? She was 65 when they died. Oh, I was like, what the fuck?

Sorry. So she was 65 when she died. Lisbeth was 32 years old at the time of the murders, and her sister Emma was 42, which a lot of people don't know. A lot of people think she was younger. Yeah. From what I've heard. So the Borden name was huge in Fall River.

And Liz Beth's family in particular was very well off. Andrew was a pretty badass real estate developer. You were a badass real estate developer. Claps to you, snaps to you, all of the above. All of it. He was also a manufacturer, an investor, and just like a savvy businessman in general. He could also claim dissent from one of the founding families of Fall River. Whoa, George Washington?

So fancy. Hey-o. I don't think George Washington founded Fall River. River, but I think he did, personally. Paul Revere? You know, all those. Paul Revere was here in Boston. Paul Revere was here.

He wrote that on the bathroom stall everywhere. This is our historical wrap. So apparently, however, he had begun as an undertaker, and according to an American Heritage article, he was said to have cut the feet off of dead people to squeeze them into smaller coffins to say to cut costs. Andrew was? Yeah. Oh, wow.

Yeah, that's fine, Andrew. Everything's cool. Don't worry about it. That's very savvy, Andrew. What's that, what's that man's doing? He's, he's being savvy, Ash. That's what he's doing. You're so savvy, Andy.

So savvy. So he was very, let's say frugal with his money. Because we're not allowed to say, C-H-E-A-P in this. house. No. And actually, side note, we took a really great tour of the Lizzie Borden house. Shout out to Sue. Sue, our tour guide was phenomenal. It's like a two-hour tour and you think that's going to be a long time, but holy shit. You end up at the end of it being like, can you give me more though?

Because she is, the tour guides are engaging. They know literally every single bit of history about this house, this family, this crime, everything. And they take you through every little detail. And they also show you any paranormal things that happen in all the rooms, which is spook, spooktacular. We haven't got to go to the basement. We did. That was a trip. And so we want to say we recommend highly coming to the Lizzie Borden House in Fall River because they do an amazing job here.

They really do. And it's not even expensive. It's not. And it's worth it because this place is awesome. I mean, you're in a crime scene. It's one of the most famous crime scenes in the United States history. So do it. You guys need to come here.

That's our little, we're not getting paid for this. We just love the place. Do it, you won't. So the reason I wanted to talk about the tour really quick was that our tour guide, Sue, said that they like to refer to Andrew as frugal, because calling him anything else may make him angry. So we don't want to do that. So he's just frugal, guys. Peace and blessings.

Exactly. So frugal old Andrew, he just liked to cut corners a lot in areas of his life to squirrel away his fortune, let's say, because he was worth millions. Also, at the time of the murders, the family had a 26-year-old Irish servant named Bridget Sullivan, and at the time she had worked for the family for about three years and lived in the home. Fun fact about what Spirited young ladies Liz Beth and Emma could be at times They had a previous maid named Maggie And they didn't feel like it was important to learn Bridget's name So they just called her Maggie

And she was expected to respond to it I'm going to go ahead and say it That's a dick move Oh God I thought you were going to be light about that No that's a dick move And I think Liz Beth and Emma both knows that. I think, yep, bye.

So I'm just saying. Next subject. I'm just saying. Now, like I said, Andrew was known to be somewhat of a miser. He was super rich, but he didn't like to spend it. He kept them in a nice but modest home, where we sit right now, at 92 Second Street, and was, again, frugal.

Their home that we are in right now didn't even have electricity or a bath. Any bath? Any No bathrooms, no bathrooms, no electricity, no running water, which at the time, people had running water and electricity. It was becoming a thing. And he had plenty of resources to have that in his home. But he was like, nah, chop your feet off instead. Exactly.

Chop your feet off instead of going to the bathroom. It works exactly the same. Little side note. They do have bathrooms running water and electricity in the home right now. So if you come here, you will have a bathroom. you will have electricity and you will have running water. I'm afraid to go to the bathroom. Yes. Ash and I have decided that we are not going to the bathroom by ourselves.

Do you want to go to the girls room with me? Yeah, it's going to be one of those joint, you know, field trips together. Hey, oh. Hey, I'm drinking lots of water, so be it ready. I'm not. So the whole, this infuriated Liz Beth and Emma. The fact that their father had tons of money and was not willing to spend it on the luxuries of life. Lizabeth,

Lizbeth especially, was really obsessed with living on the hill, which was the upper class neighborhood in Fall River. That's where all the parties were had, the upper crust parties, that's where all the fancy houses were. That's where all the well-to-do

were living. But Andrew wanted to live in the downtown area, which is where this house is right now, because that's where it was right near all his businesses, so he could walk out his front door, like our tour guide said, and he could be right in front of everything he needed to be in to check up on all his businesses. Smart.

Very smart, Andrew. As for their relationship with Abby, they were concerned. I think it began fine enough. I don't know if they ever had a super close relationship. The tour guide said that they used to call her mother. Yeah, so I think it was just like, that's our mom. That's our stepmother. We call her mother.

It was like copacetic. Yeah, like everything was fine. but then they kind of became a little concerned that she was maybe with their father for money and that her family was going to step in and inherit his cash before them. This was because of one big incident. Abby's half-sister fell on hard times and Andrew decided to give her a rental property. This pissed Emma and Lizabeth off because they were like, bitch, if you give her that, then you better give us something better.

And I think that's literally what they said. I kind of don't blame them though. Yeah. Like we don't have a bathroom and you're giving someone a whole ass rental property. Yeah, I mean, I get it. So he did decide to give them a rental property of their own. So nice of you, Andrew. But they soon realized that all the rent money they were getting from the rental property was having to be funneled back into the rental property to fix all the disrepair that was happening.

Which is just what having a rental property is, but I guess they didn't know that. And they were like, yeah, we don't want this anymore. because we're just using all the rent money to fucking fix it up and we're bored of this. So Andrew bought the property back from his two daughters at double the cost. He bought it, yeah, he bought it back for $5,000, which I guess it was worth $2,000. Oh. So after this whole thing, they were super cold about Abby. And this is actually when Lizabeth started referring to her as Mrs. Borden as a poorst mother.

That's kind of savage. That's super savage. Elizabeth is pretty savage. Lizabeth was actually so bold about her hatred for her stepmother at that point in life that even after the police showed up to investigate the bodies of Andrew and Abby later, Lisbeth corrected a police officer and said, She is not my mother when they referred to her as her mother. Yikes.

Especially in that situation, it's like, girl, just swallow that. Don't just hand them a motive. No. that is not my mama That is not my mama She said it just like that She did Although both the sisters had

Kind of given up the idea Of getting married at this point I know That's odd Because this was different times It was all about Yeah if you were 30 You were a spinster

Yeah they were both considered spinsters Emma seemed more kind of like The spinster In the traditional sense of the word In that she kind of was isolated Kind of plain Wasn't very interested in going to parties And social events

Liz Beth was actually pretty active socially. She was well known as a member of the Center Congressional Church. She taught Sunday school classes. She volunteered. She cooked dinners for the church, like the whole nine yards. And according to the same American Heritage article that I mentioned earlier, she was also active in the Ladies' Fruit and Flower Mission, the Women's Christian Temperance Union,

and the Good Samaritan Charity Hospital. Aren't we all? So she was actually, in Ladies'Uraud. in her life, she continued being like huge philanthropist. Yeah, super into charity. Very into charity. And she did a lot of it anonymously.

Mm-hmm. Because they were probably like rude about it. Yeah. Well, and that's, honestly, isn't that the real charity when you do it without trying to get your name on the building? I wouldn't know. So, and not only was she into all these charity things, but she was also, she was, she was ready to find some good,

you know, upper crest dude. Aren't we all? Or lady. Because there has been rumblings that possibly the reason she was not married at 32 was maybe because she was into ladies. That's what they say about everybody. I think so too. I think it's bullshit.

It doesn't matter. I think it just like adds something to the story. So people are like, she killed her parents and she was a lesbian. That's exactly what I think. I think they were like, oh, you know, let's make this. like sound salacious. And I think it's rude of people to judge Lizbeth. That's what I'm saying, Liz Beth.

At most respect, Lizbeth. Whatever you were doing, do you. Boo. Just don't kill people. Or, yeah, bye. But I think it's too late for that. So it's fine. Everything's fine.

Don't pass judgment. I'm totally passing judgment. So Andrew was not a really super popular dude around Fall River? No? No. He wasn't like this jolly guy that came like tooting out of his house and was just like, hello. I was just like whistling and like tipping his hat at people.

I was literally just going to say tip in his head and everybody and just be like, how to ho in the morning. Good morrow, sir. Good morrow. No, he wasn't that. No. So on August 2nd, 1892, only two days before the murders, the entire family except for Lizabeth and Emma, who was out of town at the time, got violently ill.

Hmm. Hmm. Abby and Andrew feared that they had been poisoned. Obviously, it's a little odd to assume that you were poisoned instead of being like, maybe we have a stomach bug. But maybe they had reason to believe that they had been poisoned. Exactly. So nobody knows whether they were suspecting anybody in their home of doing this

or if they were suspecting people outside of the home to do this. One person said that they, one thing I read said that they thought, that the milk they were getting delivered was possibly being poisoned. Now, one morning after being sick, like, violently ill all night, Abby went across the street to the doctor's home and told him the situation. She was like, yo, we're all sick. I think someone's poisoning us. He was like, yeah, dude, you're just eating bad food.

Like, chill. That's literally, that's verbatim what he said. It's like historical transcripts. I was literally going to say it's in the transcripts. It is. So he was like, just fucking. And stop being so frugal and stop, you know, letting your food go nasty and then still eating it. Like, that's pretty much why you're sick probably.

You're rich. Eat some good shit. Yeah. Because I think it was like warmed over fish or something that she said that they had had the night before. Okay, sis. Come on. And he was like, yeah, that's probably it. Well, and I think that's, he was like, I don't even have to use my medical degree for this.

Pretty sure you're eating bad food. Like, go home and rest. So he sent her home. August 3rd the next day Liz Beth visited her friend Miss Alice Russell She was a very good friend of Emmis In the end she was not

Just putting that out there Alice Russell later said during a testimony At Liz Beth's trial That Lizzie had told her that she felt something bad Was going to happen to the family I keep seeing shadows in that room I know I do too My eyes keep flicking over there.

I don't want to be here. I don't love it. So she was already premonitioning the day before the murders that something bad might happen to this family, which I'm like, Liz Beth. If you're going to, you know, get some people got. Don't go around just being like, I think something bad's going to happen here. He just reminded me of John Malaney. I always do John Malaney. I don't know why my body goes into John Malaney mode.

Maybe you're possessing him. Like, do you think John Malini goes into full Elena mode? John Malini, that'd be boring. Right in, tell us. Just kidding. Now I want John Malady to tell us if he goes into full Alana mode. He doesn't.

He does. So she told Alice Russell, you know, something bad's going to happen to the family. she said there was burglary attempts on their home she said quote I feel as if something was hanging over me that I cannot throw off father has so much trouble

I am afraid somebody will do something um no it's not good Lesba that's not good not a good murder plan it's really not you're not covering your tracks very well so far girl

you should be like saying how much you love your daddy I love my daddy. I would never dispatch of my daddy. I would never do that. My daddy is the nicest man in town, and I know we live in Fall River, but I'm just saying he's so nice. And suddenly, I have a southern bail. I said, even though I live in Fall River, Massachusetts. Nothing makes sense around here.

It's just my fragile constitution. Okay, so. When you can't stop speaking like that. Okay. We're slap happy. What time is it? I don't even know what time is it. It's like 2 a.m. Yeah, it's a time in the middle of the night, guys. So on Thursday morning, August 4th, shit went down in this house.

Down, diggy, down, down, all the way down. So Sarah Borden's brother. Now Sarah Borden is Emma and Lizabeth's biological mother. So their uncle. Their uncle. John Morris had shown up for like a business visit. with Andrew randomly, I believe August 3rd, and he had stayed in the guest room. So on August 4th, he had breakfast with them, and then he pieced out to visit

relatives in town. Bye? He left before Andrew even left for work before, you know, he was early. Early riser out of there. Liz Beth was being lazy as fuck that morning. Girl! I'm not saying as bad.

I'm just saying she's being lazy. Damn. I mean, she's just living her life. I mean, she was a lady of leisure. at that point. So, you know, I would be lazy as fuck as well. Oh my God, I can't wait to be a lady of leisure and just be lazy. See, having kids, you can't be a lazy of leisure. Perhaps I will not do that. Yeah, maybe I'll be a fucking spinster.

There you go. I could chill. Dream big. Thank you. So she didn't make an appearance downstairs until like 9 a.m. Which like good for her. That's not even that late. That's super late for me. She told Bridget the maid that she was

feeling kind of crappy because she was thinking that she was like, you know, contracting that whole shitty illness everybody had. And she wasn't very hungry for breakfast, but she just hung around downstairs. I think she said she was ironing handkerchiefs in the dining room. Okay.

As we all do. So Bridget woke up sick like the rest of the family. And she had been fixing breakfast that morning and all that shit. Lisbeth saw that she wasn't feeling well and told her that she should lay down after fixing breakfast.

That was nice. Very nice of Lisbeth. She probably called her Maggie when she did it, but you know, you win some you lose some. Nonetheless. Yes. So Bridget did go upstairs and lie down in her third floor bedroom in the attic, which is where our bedroom is, after breakfast was served. So a bit after that, around 9 o'clock when Lizzie had woken up, Andrew left for work downtown. When he left, Abby went upstairs to the guest room.

to change the betting now that Uncle John Morris was gone. Bridget woke up after a little nap, and Abby asked her to wash all the windows downstairs inside and out. Sounds like a shitty job. Especially, I'm like feeling for poor Bridget, because she woke up feeling like shit, like sick, puking. And she's like, wash all the windows. Inside and out.

I'd be like, can I just have a day off? Can it just rain? Yeah. So Bridget went outside to begin washing the downstairs windows. She was also sick and puked outside. Oh. Yeah, like she was that sick. So there are corroborating witnesses for her alibi here because she also chatted with the maid

next door over the fence for a bit during this whole situation. Mm-hmm. So she was also outside. She was outside the whole time. So now at this time, Abby and Lizabeth are inside the house. Abby's in the guest room changing the linens. And Lizzie says she's in the dining room ironing handkerchiefs, as one does. But she also says she never heard.

heard a sound and Abby Borden was over 200 pounds. So when she was murdered in the room right above the dining room, if she fell, which she did, it would have shook the dining room. You would have heard something like a thud. Our tour guides

confirmed this because they said they dropped something over 200 pounds in that room and it literally shook the dining room. Oh damn. And I think she said it shook every other room unless you were like in the basement. Literally. So you would have heard it all over the house, especially in the dining room. Direct. Yeah, they're directly underneath.

So Andrew came home from lunch at a quarter of 11. Early lunch. Early lunch. You think he was mimosaing it up? I think he probably came home more to like check up on a shit and then was going back. Who knows if he had lunch? I think he had mimosa. Maybe he did.

Can you confirm Andrew? He crosses the dowsing round. I'm like, has someone who died here enjoyed a nice mimosa on the morning of their death? So Bridget later testified that she had just began scrubbing the inside of the windows when she heard him struggling to open the front door. Because we, as we saw earlier today, there were three locks on the door. There still is those three locks, those three original locks. And usually they only had one locked so he could let himself in early.

But for some reason today, on this day that everybody was murdered in this house, all three were locked. So Bridget also said that she heard Lizabeth laughing at the top of the stairs. Yes, as she walked up to the second floor, which is where the guest room was, which is where Abby Borden was found. Now, according to Bridget, Lizzie was coming down the stairs from the second floor at this point, laughing. And Abby was already dead at this point. So her body was already laying on the floor in the guest room that is at the top of the staircase. she, Lizabeth admits that she came down those stairs. We, now, we, so during the trial, you know, one side argued that she wouldn't have been able to see her stepmother's body.

The other side was like, oh no, she would have. And she definitely would have. We can definitely confirm that she would have seen her body under that bed. There's no, you would see it. So, strike one for Lisbeth. Do you know what I'm so confused about, though? if she did do Abby's murder, wouldn't she be, like, fucking covered in blood, head to toe?

And, like, did Bridget ever see her again after that? Well, that's the thing. So I think she, I mean, because think about it, the way that the guest room is set up is you can go through another bedroom and get to Lizzie and Emma's room. So she could have changed real quick. Yep. And Bridget doesn't say that she saw her, like, clearly.

Okay. Or anything like that. So, just saying. Well, because she, like, got her dad comfy, supposedly. Yeah. In this next sequence of events. Exactly. So when she came downstairs, Andrew asked Lizabeth where Abby was.

And Bridget told the court later during the trial that Lizabeth said Abby had got a note from a sick friend was off visiting said sick friend. Now, no sick friend existed and no note was ever found. because Abby did not receive a note. Why did Liz Beth say this? To cover her tracks. I'm so sorry. So sorry, Lizabeth, but you were. Now, Andrew laid down on the sofa in the living room where we are sitting right now.

Spook, spook. And his intention was to take a nap. Bridget finished cleaning all the windows, and she decided to go back into the attic to her room to rest again because she was still not feeling well. At this point, Abby is dead upstairs and has been, for a while. Coagulation. Woof.

So only minutes later, so Bridget had just put her head on the pillow, and she said she heard Lizabeth calling up the stairs, quote, come down quick, father's dead, somebody came in and killed him. Whoa. It's a little weird to already be saying that somebody came in. Exactly. And if they did, why didn't they also kill you? Exactly.

And why didn't they steal anything? Exactly. That's all she wrote. So she immediately sent Bridget to the doctor across the street. And when he was in home, she sent her to a neighbor and close friend, Alice Russell, to get help. Now, there was a French doctor and an Irish doctor within Stones Throw Distance from the house, one right next door. I think the Irish doctor was right next door. They weren't fucking around with them Irish docs.

But Lizzie wouldn't send her there because they were immigrants. Which is rude. Exactly. And sign of the times here. that they were very into nativism back then. So they were sending them to the American doctor. We're not going to the French one. We're not going to the Irish one.

Meanwhile, she's sending her Irish immigrant maid over to the American doctor and being like, don't go to the Irish immigrant doctor. So if you have seen the black and white crime scene photos, then you know that Andrew's face was straight up demolished. De-malished. Yes. In fact, right across from us right now, is a photo of that crime scene photo

and it is unsettling. It looks like ground beef is on his face. Sure does. We also saw autopsy photos from the scene today at the home. They showed us in the dining room. And his face was caved the fuck in. Like you can barely tell

that his face is a face in those photos. They said half of his eyeball was hanging out of the socket when they got there. and that one hit from the axe would have likely killed him. He got 10 or 11, depending on what source you look at, hacks altogether. So he definitely got a lot of overkill. Woof. When the cops got there, Bridget and Alice went up to the second floor to get a sheet to put over Andrew,

as the cops instructed, which forensics blew back then. They would never do that now. I hope not. You never put a sheet over a dead body because that removes a lot of evidence. No matter how many times you see it on CSI or Hawaii 5O. Yeah, it's a bunch of bullshit. Now, this is when Abby was discovered. Abby was discovered face down on the floor to the left of the guest bed.

One hit, likely the first, was to the front of her head. And the rest had absolutely rained down on the back of her head and her neck. It was a fucking mess. Anger, anger, anger. Now, interesting note, I always thought that she was on her knees in the crime scene photo, which I'm sure a lot of people did. It looks like she is. Yeah. When she was discovered, her dress had written up, and that was an appropriate for Victorian times.

So the cop that found her had pulled her top skirt over the back of her shoes to cover her up. This bunched up part actually makes it look like she's on her knees. And the bunched up part is actually all the petticoats under her skirt that are still bunched up after being pulled, after the skirt on top was pulled down over her shoes. So she is face down on the floor She is not on her knees It's like a weird optical illusion That I didn't know existed

So that's a fun fact Fun fact about murder Yeah we love a fun fact Yeah Who doesn't So most people said that Lizzie was calm As a fucking cucumber during this whole thing And it's not good

And that not a tear was seen Oh In fact a lot of the police said that It was really bothersome to them Like how chill and stone cold she was Which we know now you can't totally judge people on how they react to the shit. I mean, I laugh at, I laugh in funerals because I have nervous.

You're like the Joker. So the New York Times did also appreciate the fact that Lizzie was not really showing a whole lot of signs of mourning for her parents. On August 6th in the New York Times, they said, quote, the police are acting slowly and carefully in the affair-giving way, no doubt to feelings of sentiment because of the high social standing of the parties involved. So they were basically like, the police are going to ignore some of these things because they fancy people. But they're dealing with.

So no search of the Borden House was conducted until 32 hours after the murders. That's no, boy, no? Yeah. It was a very quick search, but no, like, thorough search. which was done until then. And Lizabeth and Emma were not questioned very intensely for like three days after the murders. Now, Lisbeth changed her story several times, which is never good. I don't recommend doing that.

Stick to your story, but not so well that it sounds for Hearst. Yeah. But also like don't kill anyone. Yeah. No, don't. Yeah, don't do it so that you have to have a story. So Liz Beth said she had resumed her ironing of the handkerchiefs after her dad came home. But then she said she went outside of the barn and she said she was in there because she was looking to make a wait for a fishing line.

And she was looking for a piece of something to do that with, which she apparently did go fishing later or was, excuse me, was going to go fishing. so that does kind of check out as something she would be doing. She also said that she was in the barn looking for a piece of lead to fix a screen. Too many things. Then she just said she was lingering, picking pears from the trees outside. Is that why there's fucking pears all over this house? There is pairs everywhere in this house. Like the door handles in the kitchen are pairs.

And there's fake pairs in the dining room. Truth. And I think there's also a painting of pears somewhere. Probably. Pears. Pears. So none of this can be verified, none of her whereabouts, none of her movements. No one saw her doing any of these things.

The family doctor that lived across the street claimed that he prescribed her a double dose of morphine after the crimes. It was to help her calm down, sleep, you know, get through this whole thing. And he said that he thought that would contribute to her changing stories. Does make sense. I think it's just... Yeah, I think it's him... him trying to cover up for the family. Now, police also found it odd that she literally never cried.

Never once. Some of us just aren't criers. I'm not a crier at all. I said some of us like I'm not a crier. I literally was just going to say, I like how you said some of us. I didn't lump myself in with that. I'm not a crier at all, so I would hate for people to judge me based on whether I cry or not. I've seen Elena cry once in my entire life.

Yeah. And actually one of the few times I've like shed a tear out in the open was because of the James Boulder case, which is why we'll never cover it. I cried like yesterday. Well then another thing that made it made Liz Beth. Did she just hear that? You looked at me. I was hoping that you didn't hear that too. I was like, you know what?

I think my brain is just coming up with things. It might be the wind because it's a fucking cyclone outside. It is. So if you guys are hearing any like weird ambiance outside. it could be just the monsoon that's occurring outside. Or it could be us fucking dying. Also, the lights flickered several times, and they left us with a bunch of candles because they were like, whoops, the electricity might go out.

We were all like, uh, what? I was like, if the electricity goes out, I'm leaving Elena. I don't know what you're doing, but I'm leaving. Yeah, because lighting all these candles in the middle of the night. Nah, sis. Not feeling it. And she gave us like lanterns. I'm like, I literally looked her and I go, oh, no, no, I don't need those because if the power

goes out, I'm gone like the wind. Fabulous. Gone like the wind. So ignoring that sound that we just heard, then a pharmacist in the neighborhood said that the day before the murders, Lizzie had attempted to purchase

Prussic acid from him. That's hydrogen cyanide. Oh, chill. What you need that for, Lizabeth? Cooking. Just cooking. Three men at the pharmacy confirmed that they saw her doing I'm just making a new recipe.

And, you know, the pharmacist was like, no. Why? Like, she walked up and was like, hey, can I have hydrogen cyanide? And he was like, nah. And that was it. She was like, bummer. Gotta move on to plan B. Do you think she got it somewhere?

Because how else was she poisoning them if she, oh my God. Whoa. Potentially was. I don't think she was poisoning them. If she was poisoning them, I don't think she was poisoning them. I don't think she was doing it with hydrogen cyanide. I wonder what she was doing it with if she was. I don't think she was.

I think they were all just eating bad food. And they were like, oh, I think we're being poisoned. And then she was like, maybe that's how she got the idea. Oh, that's smart. She was like, oh, shit, I could poison your asses. Yeah, she was like, this could be easy as fuck. So then she was like, hey, can I have some hydrogen fucking cyanide? You were about to say peroxide.

I was. Got a lot of cuts to clean out around here. Oh, fuck. They did. They really did. I'm leaving now. Woof. But I think she was like, let me go get some prussic acid.

And she was like, I can just slip this in their food. And they'll just keep thinking that they're getting bad food. But then that didn't, they didn't give it to her. So she was like, plan B, hatch it to the face. Always does it. Always plan B. Does the trick. Now, there wasn't any blood on the clothing she gave to police.

But that didn't matter because her best friend, Alice, who later did not stay her best friend. I was going to say, not a good best friend. Partially because of this moment right here. Alice told investigators that she had pulled a dress out of the pantry, Lisbeth did, on Sunday morning. And she was like, oh, my God, Alice, this dress is covered in paint. What am I going to do? Oh, I know.

And she started burning it in the road stove. Jesus Christ. So Alice was like, you shouldn't do that because your parents, got murdered like four minutes ago and they don't know who did it and they might be looking at you and that's not going to look good and there was police like staking up like like like watching the house literally like right outside the door yeah like in the hallway so she was like maybe don't do that like elizabeth i don't know what to tell you now she just kept burning it lizzie was like yeah it's too late alice i already started well and after it was done alice was like yo you shouldn't have done that

Girl? Verbatim. Transcript. And Liz Beth was like, well, you should have stopped me. And Alice was like, I fucking tried. And Alice was like, are you trying to get me got too? Like, what are you trying to do here? You're trying to put me in this whole thing?

Because I'm not trying to be here. I'm not trying to be here. So the undertaker for her parents were, was Mr. James Winward. He and his assistant had prepared the bodies for embalming in the, the home, where we are right now. Awesome. They were prepared in the dining room where we will eat breakfast tomorrow morning. Oh, fook.

I didn't even think of that. There's these really cool old antique autopsy tables called cooling boards in here. They're hung on the wall in the dining room. I showed them in the live feed and I'll post a photo on the Instagram when we post the photos for this case. They're really cool guys. And they used to use these to autopsy in the home. I feel like if I look at your Amazon searches later, you're going to be looking for one.

Likely. Or like on an Etsy shop. I literally told John I want to find an antique cooling board and hang it on our wall. And you're worried about playdates with your children. I really am, guys. I'm really worried. That will definitely add to the spook factor of this place. Because my kids are starting to do playdates now.

And I was like, oh no. Parents are going to come over my house and be like, um, why don't we do playdates at our house? Elena literally has a Dexter poster hanging in her children's playroom. Sure do. You are who you are. I am who I am. And that's all that I am.

Popeye. Direct quote. Direct quote. So one of the things that they would definitely do back then is remove the stomachs straight away for toxicology. And they sent them off to Harvard Medical School for examination. Hey-oh. Shout out to Harvard. Now the following Saturday was the day of the funerals for Abby and Andrew Borden.

and it was five days after the murders. Liz Beth was not wearing the typical morning dress. Oh, would she wear? They didn't talk about this. Yeah, and I don't know. So basically a morning dress, I'll post a photo on the Instagram too, of like what a typical Victorian morning dress would be. It's like a high collar.

It's very like intricate, very intense. But Lizabeth was wearing a form fitting black lace dress. Get it, bitch. With a hat to match. But it was like very saucy. Yeah. Be saucy. Remember when I didn't know how to dress for events? When you didn't have someone to tell you how to dress or certain events.

When I was in the middle of a neglect. In the middle of being neglected. And I was like, you can wear fish nuts to a funeral. Yep. There was a family funeral that when Ash was living with her mother. We used the term mother loosely. Yes, quote on quote. She showed up wearing. what I would imagine

Hugh Hefner's ladies would wear to his funeral. And at one point, I believe it was my dad, commented that You got to do it in his voice. She looks like the playboy bunny coming to the old man's funeral

waiting for her inheritance. But yeah, it was like full-blown, like, skin-tight black dress with fishnets. And at that point, I had bleach blonde hair. Bleach blonde hair down to her waist. And bright, uh, fucking red lipstick. Yeah.

I was like, I'm gonna show up. I'm gonna step out to this funeral. Who the fuck did I think I was? Still my favorite thing. Pa was probably rolling over in his grave. He was like, who the fuck sent this little girl to my funeral? Get out of here. So yeah, Lizzie was rolling with your vibes.

I get it. I get it. Uh, but she, she's not trying to end up on. worst trest list of us weekly fall river. She's a us weekly fall river. Oh boy. Well, in this time, during the death, when the death of a parent occurred, you would typically

wear a veil over your face. She was like, I'm not sad about anything. And she did not wear a veil. She was like, I'm smiling through this shit. Well, of course, people around and the newspaper journalists of the time, because they were very well-to-do and well-known family, they all took note of this. It was pretty So in all the newspapers afterwards

They were like hey What's Lizzie wearing That's what all of them were talking about She was seen in color A lot of times after the deaths Which you're supposed to be in mourning for a period of time Oh no I'm in mourning all the time

And actually At her own trial She wore bright cherry colored ribbons On her black hats Fuck yeah And this is like during the year after her parents' death and you're supposed to be fully in mourning. And she was wearing like bright red ribbons to the trial. She was like, I'm celebrating this shit.

She was like, I'm innocent. As fuck. Now, what's even weirder is even though both of them, both Abby and Andrew received insane wounds for their murders. I mean, again, Andrew didn't have a face. they had an open coffin funeral. Did they really? Yeah, and what they did was they just faced their faces to the other way. Jesus.

Like Abby, they just faced her to the part that wasn't as demolished. So that's crazy that they did. I don't know how they were able to pull that off, but good on them. Now, right after the funeral, they were brought to a, they were not immediately like put into the ground like they should have been. Maybe that's why the energy here is so bad because it's like they weren't laid to rest right away. Exactly. And they were brought to a holding tomb near the front entry of the cemetery. And they did another autopsy on the bodies in the ladies comfort station at the funeral, at the graveyard.

This was actually done, I believe the autopsy, the second autopsy was done like a week later. So they were like really not laid to rest. They were like left out. Yeah, that's not good. in that lady's comfort station during that autopsy, their heads were removed. Yikes. Because they wanted to keep them for trial evidence. So their heads were removed and they were boiled down so that you could see just the skull.

So you could see all the wounds into the skull so they could put the hatchet into it to to show that that was the murder weapon. I want to know what unlucky bastard had the job of boiling heads. It's a pretty rough job. I feel like you'd want it. I don't know if I'd want that one. You are fucked up. Boiling Head sounds past my pay grade.

Ooh, you fancy, huh? I am fancy. Now, unfortunately, both Emma and Lizabeth did not know that this was happening, which is kind of shitty. So, I just heard something. Oh, your face just fucking terrified me. I didn't hear anything. You didn't hear anything? No.

Fuck, man, I think I'm just going crazy. So around this time, Liz Beth's luck ran out. No. So in a New York Times article on August 11th, it said, Lizzie Borden is under arrest, charged with murdering her father and stepmother

last Thursday morning in their home on 2nd Street. She was brought into the second district courtroom about 3 o'clock this afternoon, presumably to give further evidence at the inquest. Miss Borden was accompanied by her sister and Mrs. Brigham. As was the case yesterday, all the proceedings were carried on behind locked doors. So this is where we are going to end. Oh shit.

Part one of Lisbeth Borden. And hopefully you get part two. Because we wanted to end at the arrest because the trial in the aftermath, there's just a lot to cover that I don't think enough people talk about. So part two will be coming in the next couple of years. of days. We will be recording that in my home, so it won't be as spooky in a green laundry room. It'll be... It'll be slightly spooky because my home is actually, was only built like 10 years after this one was. And we record in the maids quarters technically. Exactly. So it's going to be pretty spooky, but not nearly as spooky is here. No, I really miss the comfort of the laundry room

right now. Right? I feel like my house is like zen as fuck. Yeah, compared to this shit. So we're going to stop here because I want to get the fuck out of this whole thing and just sit here and pray that we live until morning. Me too. So stay tuned for part two of Lizabeth Borden and we will be posting our live stream when we can so that those of you who missed it can see it. So we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird. But not so whether you come to the Lizzie Borden house and you take the tour and you're really freaked out and then the tour guide is really great, but like you're still pretty scared and then you sit in the living room recording an episode about Lizzie Borden trying to be as respectful as you can. I'm meant to say Lizabeth.

And hopefully we make it out alive, so don't keep it that weird. Bye. Bye.