April 9, 2019 ▸ History, True Crime

Episode 380: Lizzie Borden: Lesbian Revenge Murder?

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we go back in time and visit the Grandmother of all true crime cases: the story of Lizzie Borden. Most people know the dark nursery rhyme, “Lizzie Borden took and axe and gave her mother forty whacks…” However, the truth isn’t anywhere as clear cut as the rhyme. Did Lizzie kill her father and step-mother? If so, why? Was there poison involved, suggesting premeditation? We do our best to find answers.

Borden was born to her father Andrew Borden and her mother Sarah, who died when she Lizzie young. Andrew was raised middle class but became wealthy by the time he had Lizzie and her sister, and eventually, he married a woman named Abby.

They were a religious family who lived below their means, but it seemed that underneath it all, there was some darkness. Let’s start with the pigeons. Lizzie loved her some pigeons and went all Mike Tyson on them (meaning she built them a habitat like he did with his birds, not that she bit their ears off). However, Andrew Borden killed them all with a hatchet. Also, Lizzie and Abby were allegedly not on the best of terms. Ever. Then, Lizzie Borden’s dad did some strange things giving away property to his wife’s family, and there were even brief allegations that came up later about sexual abuse. Whatever it was, they all didn’t get along.

In fact, a few weeks before the murders, Lizzie and her sister went on a so-called vacation after intense fighting had broken out in the household. They returned a week before the murders, but stayed in a rental for four of those days, only returning a few nights before the deaths.

In that time, Lizzie allegedly tried to buy poison from a pharmacist, and the entire household fell ill with some sort of stomach ailment. And then Lizzie Borden’s uncle arrived and stayed in the guest room, where he may have been having an affair with Abby Borden. It gets all soap opera here.

So, on the day of days, Abby and Andrew Borden were both killed with what the police assumed was an axe. Forensics indicted it came from a male taller than they were, but Lizzie’s odd behavior and responses to the cops made the newspapers pin the blame on her, and the court of public opinion can be a bear.

So, why did Lizzie burn a dress the day after the murders? Why couldn’t the cops find any blood or evidence Lizzie did it? Who was the Portugese laborer, and why might he have done it? Was Lizzie Borden having a secret lesbian affair with their maid? Was there motive for Lizzie to kill her folks? What happened with the District Attorney threw the skull of Lizzie’s father on the table in the court room? Listen, laugh, learn.

Trial Details: https://famous-trials.com/lizzieborden/1437-home