Lizzie Borden had an axe, and gave her mother 40 whacks.When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41….
Everyone knows the rhyme made famous by such gruesome murders.Nearly 116 years later the murders of Andrew J. Borden and Mrs. Abby Dufree Borden are as much of an interest to the public eye as they were in 1892.Lizzie was acquitted at her trial and the actual reason why, or how, remains a great assumption.Speculation if Lizzie is the true murderer continues with stories circulating of hatred toward her step-Mother, and anger toward her Father relating to jealousy due to greedy financial concerns within the family.Lizzie felt her step-family was receiving the money from her extremely wealthy father when she and her older sister, Emma, should have been presented with the Borden cash.
Is jealousy, anger and envy toward her parents enough to cause a 32-year old unmarried woman to carry out two identical, brutal murders?People take vacations to the small historical mill town south of Boston called Fall River, Massachusetts, only to tour the exact home in which the Borden murders took place.It is even open as a bed and breakfast for those who want to spend more than a couple of hours to place themselves in Lizzie’s mindset and try to solve the murder mystery.
Hans and I spent the first night of our honeymoon at the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast on October 10, 2007.The Greek revival style home was actually quite clean, comfortable and rather interesting.We arrived around 3:00pm and met with Lee Ann Wilbur, manager of the B&B.After Lee Ann showed us to our room, the John Morse guest room where Abby was murdered, we spent a few minutes with her discussing the ghosts of the Borden house and her personal opinion of the idea of it being a haunted house.
Lee Ann was delightful, sharing her beliefs that the house is indeed haunted.She has had experiences in which no explanations could be found.Her intuition has led her to believe that she has been one of the many to be accompanied by a Borden family member.Hans and I then roamed the house, taking photos and allowing myself the time to open up and sense, or “see” any of the alleged ghosts that haunt the house.
We walked through downtown Fall River to eat dinner at the Abbey Grill, which was at one time the Borden family’s church and now houses the International Institute of Culinary Arts. Doug Tweedy, the host of the IICA gave us special treatment along with a behind the scenes tour of the church and some great history lessons.
We would like to thank Doug for the time he and his staff spent with us that afternoon. The atmosphere was so warm, welcoming and friendly, and the tour was phenomenal and interesting! Before departing Fall River the following day, we also took a tour of the Fall River Historical Society, another great suggestion from Doug, and learned much more about the town, the people and the history.
The International Institute of Culinary Arts now housed in what was once the Borden family church: www.iicaculinary.com/
After walking up the hill a couple blocks further per Doug's suggestion to see more historical sites, we returned to the Borden house for our private tour at 8pm.I spent some time talking to our tour guide and was able to describe some of the entities Hans and I had come across in the house since we arrived.She was pleasantly surprised at my descriptions.The tour began and ended, and we then isolated ourselves in the John Morse room located directly at the top of the stairwell and we began our own private investigation.
At approximately 10pm we had a knock on our door.Opening it, Hans welcomed our tour guide into our room to show her what we discovered during our investigation.She invited us to participate in the “Lizzie Borden house séance” conducted by their “very own psychic”.It was a fun experience to watch the performance and see the other people’s reactions to her production.
When the séance ended, Hans and I completed the short investigation in our guest room, and then with one camcorder and EMF sensor in hand, we conducted a short investigation of the cellar.We opened communication with a male spirit and were both very pleasantly surprised with the result of our actions.After spending almost an hour investigating the cellar it was after 1:00am, and with an early rise the next day Hans and I decided to end communication with this spirit to get some sleep.Because of our participation in the more fun, less-serious activities of the night, we were unable to complete the full investigation we had hoped to accomplish.We will be returning to the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast for another tour in May 2008, but we will not be spending the night.A plan for a future more in-depth investigation is in the works and will most likely take place later in 2008.
Seen through the eyes of a clairvoyant…
The first question I am asked when one learns that we spent the night at the Borden house is, “is Lizzie there?”Personally, I did not see her.I did not even sense her, but my intuition lead me to believe that Lizzie’s spirit may pass through occasionally.I believe that if Lizzie is haunting anywhere, she would be found in Maplecroft, the house that she and her sister, Emma, purchased weeks after Mr. and Mrs. Borden’s’ murders.Maplecroft is “up on the hill” where those with exorbitant amounts of money resided, and where Lizzie yearned to live while Andrew and Abby were still alive.
One of the first spirits to manifest was a woman I thought to be the maid, Bridget Sullivan.This female attached herself to Hans, causing him to have a strong sensation of electrical currents as well having the impression of someone always standing right next to him and following him around the house.Hans experienced the phenomenon of a ghostly touch, an antagonistic touch that caused his emotions to grow into frustration.After seeing a photo of Bridget in her room, I realized that she was not the one disturbing Hans.When we walked through Emma’s room and noticed a photograph of her, it was surprising to discover that it was she who seemed to enjoy agitating Hans!
Also affixed to Hans, and sometimes to me as well, was the ghost of a black cat.We later learned that Abby Borden enjoyed cats and her favorite was a black feline she once owned.A story exists that Lizzie allegedly killed Abby’s cat in the basement of the Borden home.Regardless of why the feline’s spirit appears, the cat is always friendly and likes to make its presence known.The cat visited us during the night when we had an opportunity to get a couple hours of sleep, and made itself evident by walking right across our legs.
Two other obvious spirits were those of children.One was a boy, one was a girl.I saw both of them often throughout our stay, and at times noticed another little girl and boy.All kids ranged from the ages of approximately five to eight.During the tour we learned that when the Borden family was alive, their neighbors consisted of a family.The Kelly house still stands next to the Borden house making them the only two original houses on the street. Mrs. Kelly was mentally disturbed and drowned both of her children before the Andrew and Abby murders happened.We believe the Kelly children made friends with the spirits of other children and they play throughout the Borden home.
Abby Borden visually presented herself for a brief moment.When we were in the midst of investigating our room, I turned in time to see Abby as a full body, carrying what looked to be towels or folded sheets (white) across our room to the armoire located in the far corner.She looked at me, or at least in my direction, and as she walked by she disappeared.
Finally, Mr. Andrew J. Borden manifested more often than we expected of him.Though he was only seen in seconds-long glimpses, his image was clear and it was understood that he did not appreciate how people mock him in his own home.He is still very watchful over his abode and continues to portray himself as a proud, wealthy business man.
The Findings…
Regardless of the continuous arguments in reference to the public’s opinions of orbs, Hans and I captured the paranormal manifestations after I acknowledged feeling the presences of spirits in the room with us.We were able to follow Mr. Borden from the sitting room through the dining room before he vanished.In the first photo, note the orb in the middle of the two dust particles.
Seconds later, one energy disappeared while the other became as intererested in Hans and me as we were in him. We believed this orb to be Mr. Borden. His sense of pride, arrogance and stubborness was not to be contested:
We followed Mr. Borden into the adjoining dining room:
From the inside and outside of the house, this particular window located in the dining room caused intrigue:
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And it also causes intrigue from the outside.The photo below was taken moments after the photo above.Notice the middle window, which is the same window as above located in the dining room:
Some say they see the bust and waist of a woman facing the right.The lacy bell-sleeve of her Victorian dress is very noticeable.
I feel this presence is Emma Borden as she was quite strong and took a liking to Hans.We felt her numerous times within the house.The energy emanated caused us to believe the spirit we discovered while following Mr. Borden into the dining room is that of a woman, and the photo has proven our intuition.
When Hans and I first arrived to the Borden house and Lee Ann departed after showing us the John Morse room, we were told that we were the only people in the house until later in the evening.With the door open to the bright hallway and a clear view of the stairs leading down to the front door, we distinctly heard what sounded like footsteps coming up the stairs.Hans and I both witnessed this and could see from our room that no one in a physical form was walking up to our room.Hans took a photo from inside of our room to view the landing on the top of the steps and captured the paranormal energy of whom we believed to be Mr. Borden.
After watching Lee Ann’s appearance on the Montel Williams show on Halloween, she stated that they believe Mr. Borden does indeed walk up and down the stairs, and throughout the hallways of the house.I was relieved to hear that what my intuition established is also the belief of the homeowners.
The manifestations of who we believed to be Emma Borden include the following orbs captured at different times in the same location. In the front parlor, the couch where Hans and I sat to watch the séance performances:
While coming downstairs, we sensed Emma again, in the same location, and this time she was in motion:
While investigating our room, the John Morse Room, were Abby Borden was murdered, I sat on the edge of the bed leaning over where her body was found while Hans recorded my actions with an infrared video camera.
I rarely use my quartz pendulum and decided with the energy in this particular room, we may have a successful result.I held the quartz pendulum over where Abby’s feet would have been, roughly six inches from the floor.I slowly moved my hand up the length of “the body”.As I moved up to where Abby’s head was located, the quartz of the pendulum felt and looked as if I was pushing it through a wall of water.
The pendulum actually stopped in mid-air, while I moved my hand holding the ball of the change along the length of the floor.When tension was at its fullest, the quartz pendulum slowly followed the rest of my hand.This occurred numerous times, and was also experienced by one of the Borden house staff members.
My only assumption of this particular situation is the way the energy in the quartz reacted against the energy of death where Abby was found.I have never had this experience before when using quartz and hope to encounter it again in future investigations.It is now one of my top research topics of interest, conducting experiments and documenting the occurrences.
Later in the night Hans and I set our infrared vision video camera on a chair to film the area of the John Morse room where Abby’s body was found.He and I sat on the opposite side of the room and discussed the playful séance we participated in earlier in the night.While watching this footage upon our return home, the only paranormal anomaly we captured on video was an orb manifesting at the foot of the bed, and as it flew toward the dresser, it actually turned around the bed post.
Note: No bugs were in the room nor did any movement take place while recording this footage.
Very early in the morning I was awakened by a constant tapping on our door.Granted, the John Morse room is located right at the top of the stairs and in front of one of the bathrooms, but I did not hear footsteps nor did I see any shadows created by the living.I lay there quietly, watching under the 2-inch gap between the bottom of the door and the floor.I saw now shadows, I saw no movement, but I did sense paranormal energy.I finally sat and up and in a whisper asked whom I believed to be Abby checking up on us to please be quiet so we could get another hour of sleep.Remarkably the tapping discontinued, though I was unable to fall back to sleep due to the constant revving engines of the bus station traffic.
This photo was taken earlier in the night when I specifically saw Mrs. Abby Dufree Borden walk across the room to the armoire:
The EMF Sensor…
At approximately 1:00am, while the other couples were fast asleep in their rooms, Hans and I decided to head down to the cellar where the blood from Mr. Borden’s murder in the sitting room soaked through the floorboards.
Below, Mr. Borden’s autopsy photo (conducted in the dining room) and a photo of the blood-stained floorboards/ceiling of the cellar:
In this area, Hans noticed a shadow figure and I sensed a male spirit earlier in the night.At this time of the night, with no interruptions, we were guaranteed a successful investigation!
Unexpectedly, we captured nothing on video or film (digital camera) until we decided to use our EMF sensor that flashes a light based on the strength of the energy surrounding the sensor.We first took note of the wires and pipes throughout the ceiling and conducted experiments noting the readings and flashes (or non-flashing) of light from the EMF detector.When we were comfortable with our surroundings, realizing which wires and pipes triggered the meter, I began video taping Hans who held the EMF sensor.With all lights on, in “normal” recording conditions, I felt the presence of a man near me.I then began talking to him, verbally so my voice is heard on the video recording, and asked him to go near Hans so that the EMF sensor would reveal the paranormal energy by flashing the light.
This part of the investigation took place near the old, original basin where Lizzie allegedly washed herself and the hatchet after the murders:
To our amazement, after repeating some questions and guiding the spirit to Hans where he was holding the EMF sensor, the spirit began answering us through the number of flashes to our questions.We asked him to flash the sensor for yes.He obliged, causing the meter to flash only once upon answering certain questions.When asked to move closer to Hans, the sensor shot up, causing the light to flash repeatedly.Our video shows how this male spirit responded to us by reciprocating to each other through a method of science.The last request we asked of the spirit was for him to place his hand on the EMF sensor if he no longer wanted to talk with us. At this time we were not obtaining any readings on the EMF detector, yet I sensed that this spirit was ready to be left alone.I promised him if he would place his hand on Hans’ hand, we would end the discussion and not bother him anymore.Within seconds, the reading exhibited by the EMF sensor displayed a strong rise in energy while the sensor light flashed rapidly and continuously for roughly 5 seconds and then abruptly stopped. We thanked the spirit and ended our short investigation of the Lizzie Borden house.
Note:While using the EMF sensor, we located an area that did not emanate any electrical currents causing the tool to react in any way.Upon asking questions of the spirit we discovered in the cellar, Hans stood motionless in the non-electrical area.
The entire Borden family has been buried together at the OakGroveCemetery located only blocks from the Borden house.Upon her death in 1927, Lizzie requested that she be buried with the rest of her family.
While spending our night at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast, we met the couple who reserved the rooms adjacent to us; Lizzie's and Emma's bedrooms. We learned that Otis (our rather obvious nickname for the "boyfriend") and his girlfriend travel constantly to visit "odd" locations, and that Otis is author of a great website called Odd Things I've Seen. Please take some time to read over the articles he wrote based on their experience from a different perspective of the night we shared at the Borden home.
