When thinking up the various themes for our contributors to choose from for this year’s series, one idea that seemed like it might provide some entertainment is films based on a true story, or films that at least make the claim of being based on a true story. The last part of that sentence is vitally important because, as many (but, frighteningly, not all) of us know, those claims are usually bullshit or, at minimum contain elements of bullshit. That’s fine! The “bullshit” is often the most fun aspect. Hell, there’s a generation of gullible kids that grew up believing The Texas Chainsaw Massacre actually happened. Shine on, you crazy diamonds!

Today’s tale is more grounded in reality. Like, “it actually happened”-type “grounded in reality”… and we’ve got the pictures to prove it! Well, today’s contributor does. I, personally, have nothing for you. 

Making their Halloween Horrors series debut today is Laura Monteiro, our second debuting contributor in this year’s line-up of contributors. I first crossed paths with Laura a couple of years back, either through the chat feature during Drive-In Asylum Double Features or through mutual acquaintances. Probably both. During last Halloween’s season, Laura (like many others) took on a 31-day horror movie challenge, posting thoughtful and often humorous mini-reviews for each film she watched. As I personally enjoyed reading them, I invited Laura to join us for this year’s series. I’m thankful that she accepted that offer. 

Laura is now the creator and host of the YouTube channel Southern New England Creeps, where she visits famous gravesites, filming locations, haunted houses, and other spooky locales. Recent episodes include stops at filming locations for Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, the grave of H.P. Lovecraft, and the Satanic Temple in Salem, Massachusetts. Today, however, she takes us to her hometown for…

The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975)

“Mrs. Churchill, do come in. Someone has killed father.”

With an opener like that – paired with Elizabeth Montgomery’s dead eyes staring blankly through a screen door – there’s no wondering why this made for TV gem was nominated for a Golden Globe.

A Tale of Two Lizzies – Montgomery (L) and Borden (R)

Based on a true story in my hometown of Fall River, MA, a jaunty tune by composer Billy Goldenberg kicks us off while the opening credits roll. Sepia-toned photographs of late 19th century life scroll by as viewers settle in to find out just what happened to Andrew and Abby Borden on that hot August day in 1892.

Lizzie (Montgomery) is being tended to by friends Adelaide Churchill (Amzie Strickland) and Alice Russell (Gail Kobe) while the authorities examine the body of her father, who had been bludgeoned with a hatchet in the sitting room.  Dr. Bowen (John Beal) announces that Andrew (Fritz Weaver) has been dead for approximately a half hour, and Lizzie was one of only two people in the home at the time of the murder.  The other person was Bridget “Maggie” Sullivan (Fionnula Flanagan), the Bordens’ family maid.  Lizzie’s sister Emma (Katherine Helmond) was visiting friends in a nearby town, and stepmother Abby (Helen Craig) had left the home earlier but allegedly returned, according to Lizzie.  At Lizzie’s request, Bridget climbs the staircase to look for Abby and discovers her corpse lying on the floor of the guest bedroom.  Like Andrew, Abby has also been murdered with a hatchet.


Andrew Borden Crime Scene Photo


Abby Borden Crime Scene Photo

When Emma arrives home, both Andrew and Abby have been laid out in the parlor.  Blood from their gaping head wounds seep through the thin sheets that cover their bodies.  Emma asks Lizzie straight out – “Did you kill father?”  Lizzie denies it, and the spinster sisters embrace. Emma gives Lizzie a shot of morphine to “quiet her nerves” per the doctor’s order, and we get a scene of Lizzie creeping downstairs to peek at the mutilated corpses of her parents.  Director Paul Wendkos does this throughout the film; there are several “flashbacks” to both Lizzie and Andrew acting strangely at different times in their lives, but it’s unclear whether those events occurred, or were simply part of a morphine-induced hallucination.

Two days later, as the caskets are loaded into a horse drawn carriage, neighbors remark at how unemotional Lizzie seems, and how she didn’t even bother to wear black to the funeral. Lizzie is encouraged to stay indoors to avoid unwanted attention from the crowd that has gathered outside of her home.  It is then that Lizzie is told there would be a coroner’s inquest, and that she is a suspect in the murder of Andrew and Abby.  Lizzie does not seem phased.

Bridget is the first to be interviewed.  By all accounts, the day of the murders was excruciatingly hot.  Bridget hadn’t been feeling well because she had eaten five-day-old mutton broth the night before, which had been left sitting out in the heat.  Despite the broth having gone bad, Andrew refused to have any of Bridget’s “johnnycakes and cookies” and opted for another bowl of the putrid stew because he was a stingy SOB who refused to waste food.  After breakfast, Andrew left the home to run an errand, and Abby instructed Bridget to wash the windows.  When Andrew returned, Bridget opened the door for him and spotted Lizzie laughing at the top of the stairs.  Andrew asked for Abby, and was told by Lizzie that she had received a note from a sick friend and went to visit them.  Meanwhile, Bridget went upstairs to rest before the noon meal, and Andrew decided to nap on the couch in the sitting room.

When Lizzie is questioned, she has trouble remembering where she was at the time of the murders.  Lizzie has a flashback of Andrew and Abby loudly slurping the vile broth, which would have been reason enough to kill them both right then and there.  Lizzie describes her relationship with Abby as pleasant, despite only referring to her as “Mrs. Borden.”  Lizzie reported last seeing Abby on her way to change the bedding in the spare room.  When asked again where she was at the time of the murders, Lizzie said she had been up in the loft of the barn, eating pears and looking for a sinker for her fishing trip.  Clearly that sounded like a load of BS, because she was found “probably guilty” and committed until the case went to superior court.

While awaiting trial, Lizzie pimps out her cell at the asylum with everything a proper Victorian-era lady would need – including a full-length mirror, dressing screen, and dining room set.  She seemed to be more concerned about wearing her six-button black gloves to court than she was about the possibility of being hanged.  Lizzie meets with her council who asks questions about her relationship with her wealthy father, and if she held animosity toward him for being such a penny-pincher who refused to allow the modern convenience of indoor plumbing.  She defends her daddy, but in later flashbacks, she is seen arguing with Andrew and Abby about their family being a “laughing stock” because of his obstinate frugality.  Meanwhile, Prosecuting Attorney Hosea Knowlton (Ed Flanders) is growing angry at the amount of media attention and “feminist” support that the public has for Lizzie.

Surrounded by an onslaught of supporters outside of the courtroom, the trial begins.  During a cross-examination, Dr. Bowen admits that he gave Lizzie morphine the day of the murders, and has continued to administer the drug to her every day since. Hotshot Defense Attorney George Robinson (Don Porter) informs the court that any conflicting testimony that Lizzie gave could have been caused by a side effect of being heavily medicated, and should be considered inadmissible.  As the testimonies continue, Lizzie – who has been dubbed the “Sphynx of Coldness” – has several flashbacks including one disturbing scene where Andrew Borden took an axe and gave her pigeons forty whacks.  There was also much discussion about the blue Bedford Cord dress that Lizzie suspiciously burned the day after the murders because of “paint stains,” the hatchet handle found in the cellar with a fresh break, and the cyanide she attempted to buy from a local apothecary without a prescription.  In other words, everything Lizzie did in the days surrounding the murders made her seem one hundred percent guilty, but her defense team had an answer for everything.

The prosecution decides to pull their trump card – the boiled skulls of Andrew and Abby Borden.  When the wounds are being matched against the blade of a hatchet found at the scene, Lizzie faints from shock.  Later, when Emma is questioned, she defends her baby sister despite the look of doubt behind her eyes.  Finally, the verdict was read, and Lizzie was found not guilty.  As her attorneys celebrated their victory, Lizzie looked for Emma in the crowd, but she was nowhere to be found.  When Lizzie returned home, Emma asked Lizzie one final time if she had killed their father.  Lizzie did not respond.


Skulls of Andrew and Abby Borden

According to the internet, this film comes closest to telling the real story of Lizzie Borden, including actual testimony from the trial.  Nominated for five Emmys – including Montgomery’s performance as the aloof Lizzie – the film won in two categories. Writer William Bast also won an Edgar Award for Best TV Feature/Miniseries.  The only part of the movie that deviates from fact is the scene where Lizzie “kills” her parents, which is my favorite part of the movie. Toward the end of the trial, Lizzie starts having a daydream – or a flashback, depending on whether you think she’s guilty. Stripping nude to avoid getting any blood on her clothing, she takes the hatchet that she shoplifted from a local merchant and bashes in the back of her stepmother’s skull.  After washing herself off, she hears Bridget letting Andrew into the house.  This connects with Bridget’s account of seeing Lizzie laughing at the top of the stairs.  After Bridget goes to her room to rest, and Andrew decides to take the world’s most poorly-timed nap, Lizzie strips off her clothes for the second time and murders her father.  All that pent-up rage she had against Daddy Dearest – marrying a woman who she wasn’t fond of, keeping his daughters “poor,” murdering the pigeons, making his family eat that mutton broth – came out on that scorching August day.  The filmmakers also alluded to the fact that Lizzie may have been sexually abused by her father.  Although American audiences only got to see 100 minutes of this movie, Europeans got to see four additional minutes of nudity.

Fun Fact – Years later, it was discovered that Elizabeth Montgomery and Lizzie Borden were distant cousins!

As far as my personal connection to Lizzie, I grew up in it.  Born and raised in Fall River, I’ve been singing that old nursery rhyme since I was a child: “Lizzie Borden took an axe, and gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.”  Years later, I started working for the very asylum (now referred to as an inpatient psychiatric facility) where Lizzie stayed while she awaited trial.  By the way, Abby only got 18-19 whacks, while Andrew got a mere 10-11.

The Lizzie Borden case is often compared with the OJ Simpson trial. In fact, here are some similarities between these two “Trials of the Century”:

  • Both Lizzie and OJ had enough money to hire a “dream team” for their defense
  • Both Lizzie and OJ had a well-respected lead attorney
  • Both Lizzie and OJ were minorities, and their cases sparked controversy regarding gender and race
  • Both trials had shocking evidence that “didn’t fit” – the hatchet didn’t quite fit into the skulls of Andrew and Abby, and we all know what happened with that bloody glove
  • Both trials were deemed sensational due to extensive media coverage
  • Both cases had two murder victims that were killed with sharp objects (knife/hatchet)
  • Both Lizzie and OJ were acquitted
  • Both cases remain unsolved
  • Both Lizzie and OJ probably did it, but circumstantial evidence alone was not enough to convict them

If you axe me, this is one of my favorite TV thrillers.  It may be a “slow burn” at times, but the story is true, the acting is stellar, and you’ll find yourself rooting for Lizzie even though she most likely murdered two people.  Eh, I don’t blame her.  My patience wears thin on hot days, so I totally get it.  Plus … MUTTON BROTH!

 

PICS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN

Lizzie’s grave (with Horror and Sons shoutout) – September 2025

 The murder house on Second Street, now a Bed & Breakfast Museum – September 2025

 Axe murderess crossing – September 2025

 Maplecroft: Lizzie’s home after the murders – September 2025

 Together forever: Lizzie and Emma are buried with Andrew, Abby, birth mother Sarah, and toddler sister Alice – September 2025

 Awesome sign for The Legend of Lizzie Borden hanging at Miss Lizzie’s Coffee – September 2025

 Abby Borden was here: My visit to the Lizzie Borden B&B – May 2010

Andrew Borden was here: My visit to the Lizzie Borden B&B – May 2010

The staircase where Lizzie was seen laughing after she allegedly murdered Abby – May 2010

The stove where Lizzie burned her “paint stained” dress – May 2010

 Abby’s bedroom in May 2010.  See the dress all the way to the far right of the photo?  That is the very dress that Elizabeth Montgomery wore in the last scene of the movie (the verdict and her homecoming).  Note the orb in the photo!  The full-length picture of the dress was found online.