One of my favorite television series last summer was The Lizzie Borden Chronicles. I was super disappointed to find out there would not be a second season, but I also have to admit that my biggest complaint during season one was the excessive creative liberties taken with the story. I am all for fiction, but I also believe it has it’s place, and even if we do not have the actual truth in the Lizzie Borden case, there was no reason to make her out to be some cold-blooded, narcissistic female serial killer. There is no proof of that… nor is there any solid proof that the real Lizzie Borden actually killed Andrew and Abby Borden.

Oh, through the years, many people have tried to find some way to pin circumstantial evidence on Lizzie. Sure, she was acquitted of double homicide. But she still became a pariah in Fall River, Massachusetts and there was always a stigma around her. People still thought she did it and continued to try and find ways to justify their personal opinions. So, she burned a dress… big deal. So she tried to purchase a large quantity of arsenic prior to the murders… maybe they had a serious vermin issue; after a;. there was no indoor plumbing in the house. So, the family had been sick… I would say inadequate food storage given what I know about the times and Andrew Borden himself. I would not leap to poisoning as my immediate conclusion. After all, no one died from that… and arsenic would typically be a slow death if a huge amount was not immediately ingested, so why would someone intent on poisoning change their M.O. to ax murder? I just don’t buy the basic circumstantial evidence that has been loosely tossed about for years. Even finding blood on an ax a century later does little to convince me.

Now, let’s explore another theory. Before we do that, let me just say that A) I will not go into the “illegitimate son in the closet” theory and B) theories involving other family, or the maid. None of these ideas hold any water for me. However, I do what to discuss one theory that has been explored by others. Many paranormal investigators and other researchers believe they may have stumbled onto the motive: the sexual abuse of his own daughters by Andrew Borden. Ghost Adventures even claimed to have a psychic and EVP leading to this conclusion as well as Lizzie’s guilt when they visited the Lizzie Borden House, which is said to be very haunted. Again, I do not personally buy this motive. And here’s why…

If the murder had happened when Lizzie and her sister, Emma, were younger, like in their teens or early twenties, I would say maybe… but for two spinster women in their thirties… no way! They still lied in their father’s home. Had he been abusing them in this manner, surely they would have left of done something about the matter long before the murders, and I do not believe that a prim and proper woman like Abby Borden would have allowed such things to go on.

Another theory I do not buy is the one that says Lizzie did it for the inheritance. For one thing, I is rumored that the girls did not have such a bad relationship with Abby as reported. And they knew what a tightwad their father was, so why would they be surprised at his leaving them little in his will. Also, the laws back then would have favored a living spouse over female children. Some of this certainly makes a case for Lizzie’s guilt, but the skeptic in me still says no.

Now, I can subscribe to the theory that a disgruntled client or tenant chopped the Bordens up. After all, Andrew had made a lot of enemies by doing business the way he did and putting poor tenants out on the streets. His reputation was well-known. And while I think this is a probable theory, I also think there is another explanation no one has ever publicly explored. So did Lizzie do it? Yes and nooooooooooooooooooo!

If Lizzie Borden killed Andrew and Abby Borden, she did not do it of her own volition and probably had little recall of the incident afterward. This would explain her actions and emotions (or lack thereof) in the after math of the homicides. She was acting like nothing more than the innocent an naïve girl she had always been during her sheltered life. Lizzie Borden was a very religious woman living in a very strict and puritan household where negativity seemed to reign supreme and still seems to linger to this day. The answered to the whole situation is a demon. Lizzie was possessed, and I would bet that a thorough investigation would prove a demon still resides in that house in Fall River to this very day. Too bad there was no chance for a resolution before th murders took place. In that case, we probably would not even be discussing thie Bordens.