FALL RIVER — Over 129 years, the Lizzie Borden story— straitlacedVictorian lady is acquittedof brutally butchering her father and stepmother with a hatchet— has grown from local gossip to Americanfolktale.
It's a story that's made Fall River famous the world over. It may be unfair to the memories of the real peoplewho had their lives overturned, orended, in thebrutal unsolvedcrime, but those with a taste for the macabre have latched ontoLizzie's story and won’t let go.The real people belong to history — but the legendsthey inspiredare limited onlytoour imaginations.
More:Here's why Fall River's infamous legend Lizzie Borden will never die
More:How the new owners of the Lizzie Borden House will mark the murder anniversary
Hereare11unusual waysLizzie Bordenhas popped up in the pop culture:
Lizzie Borden: Headbanger?
Founded inL.A. in1983, theatrical glam-metal band Lizzy (with a Y) Bordenput out its first EP the next year, the pointedly-named "Give ‘Emthe Axe.” They have several albums to the Bordenname, most recently 2018's "My Midnight Things."They seem to havebeen lumped in with‘80s hair-metal, but Lizzy Borden is more of a shock-rock bandthat revels in horror tropes, with songs like “Love You to Pieces,” “Bloody Tears,” “Catch Your Death” and “Lovin’ You is Murder.” Lizzy Borden is still touring today.
‘Miss Lizzie B was a problemkindakid’
They’re not the only ones to pay tribute to Lizzie in song. In 1961, folk group the Chad Mitchell Trio released thenoveltysong“Lizzie Borden”as a single and on the album “Mighty Day on Campus,”telling their version of thestorywithwicked wordplay and black humor.“You can’t chop your papa up in Massachusetts,” they sing, “you know how neighbors love to criticize.”
Double dose of Lizzie on “The Simpsons”
Early onthe fifth season of“The Simpsons,” Lizzie appeared in the episode “Treehouse of Horror IV”from 1993, not long after the centennial of the murders.Instead of being on trial herself,Lizzie is a member of the Jury of the Damned(the only female member, actually), deciding whether Homerhaslegallysold his sold to the Devil for a doughnut.It’s nother only mention on the show —a few episodes earlier, Bart’s nerdy classmate Martin Prince portrays Lizzie ina school dramatization of the story, promising Bart “40 whacks with a wet noodle.”
Lizzie on the ballet stage
Lizzie has had a home on the legitimate stage for a while, thanks tothe1948ballet “Fall River Legend”by choreographer Agnes de Mille (niece of blockbuster filmmaker Cecil B. de Mille).This retelling of the Lizzie story isknown as de Mille’s masterpiece, though not known for its accuracy — among other things, it ends with Lizzie being found guilty. The Dance Theatre of Harlem has restaged the ballet, and the American Ballet Theatre has revived it a couple of times.
More:Watch a production of "Fall River Legend" by the Dance Theatre of Harlem
Thoroughly modern Lizzie
For amore raucous time at the theater, there’s “Lizzie” the musical –first staged in 2009,"Lizzie”isa four-womanmusicalpunctuated by punk rocksongsand a riotgirlattitudethatThe New York Times called “an eerie hybrid of rock club and a turn-of-the-century New England parlor.”It’sbeen well-reviewed and still being performed today.
More:Listen to the whole "Lizzie" musical soundtrack
Wake up with Lizzie
TheLizzie Borden House’s gift shop sells bags of their official coffee: Axed, Lizzie Borden Blend(“It’s to die for”). Made by Virginia coffee roasterKing of Clubs,Axedisdescribed as “a medium roast blend of Mexican and Brazilian coffees” infused with CBD. It’s unclearhowexactlythose things relate to Lizzie Borden, but it sounds like a delightful way to perk up in the morning nonetheless.
Lizzie Borden took an ax, and a knife, and a pitchfork...
Everyone knows that Lizzie Borden spent her post-trial years living quietly without further incident atMaplecroft. What 2015’s “The Lizzie Borden Chronicles” TV series presupposes is: Maybe she didn’t?The show follows up on Christina Ricci’s well-receivedturn asa snarkyLizzie in “Lizzie Borden Took an Ax,” with the murder,mayhemandridiculousgallows humoramped way up. In the eight-episode limited series, Lizzieshoots, stabs, slices, poisons, hangs, pitchforks, strangles, electrocutes, burns and beheads over a dozen more people— which was simply not done by ladies inLizzie’s day. It’s not on any streaming service, but isavailable to buy at Amazon or Google Play.
More:Watch a compilation of Christina Ricci's kills as Lizzie Borden
Hollywood comes to Fall River
A year laterin 2016, actor Chloe Sevignydropped by the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfastfor research into a film version of Lizzie’s story she was making. It was her third visit to the B&B, and she spent time in the arearesearching other aspects of Lizzie’s life — as well as holding a séance in the murder house, she told Vice. The movie she was working on materialized as 2018’s“Lizzie,” a decidedly more naturalistic, highbrow take on the story than Ricci’s.
Low-budget Borden
Besides thosebig-starversions of Lizzie’s story,filmmakershavemadea handful oflow-budgethorrorcheapies.There's“The Curse of Lizzie Borden” (2006),its sequel “The Curse of Lizzie Borden II: Prom Night” (2008), “American Poltergeist” (2015), "Lizzie" (2012), and “Lizzie Borden’s Revenge” (2013).Except for those first two, none are related but all share a similar plot, more or less:peopleaccidentallysummon thevengefulspirit of Lizzie Bordenandshekillsa bunchofpeople,includingladies who often aren't wearing shirts for whatever reason.“Revenge” also has some local cred: it starsFall River nativeactor and model Mindy Robinson.
Lizzie Borden goes for the head
Ina similar vein are thebooks of C.A. Verstraete, who wrote the horror mashupnovels “LizzieBorden, Zombie Hunter” and “Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter 2: The Axe Will Fall.”In these, Lizzie doesn't kill because she’s abused, or wants to protect her father’s property, or because she’s repressed or whatever — but because Andrew and Abby have become infected with a zombie virus ravaging Fall River.That may explainwhy the killer went for the heads...
Lizzie Borden: Girl Detective
Lizzie is a different kind of crusader for justice in the "Lizzie Borden: Girl Detective” series by Richard Behrens.The stories imagine Lizzie in her youth as a crimefighter and sleuth taking on “the criminal underworld in late 19th century New England.”They’rea bit of Nancy Drew and local history combined with wit and charm, andquite a bit more wholesome than the usual Lizzie Borden fare.
Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.
