BuzzFeed Unsolved has investigated a lot of terrifying shit in the past. This week, as part of an ongoing investigation into ghosts, we took on the Lizzie Borden House.
The Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, Massachusetts, is said to be one of the most haunted sites in the United States.
Early on the morning of Aug. 4, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were found dead in their home. Both had been killed by ax wounds to the skull. To this day, the murderer is still unconfirmed.
Since the time of these murders, however, there have been reports of ghostly activity in the home. Many suspect that the home is haunted by the spirits of those murdered — and perhaps, by those who may have committed the murders.
The first, and perhaps most notorious, suspect in the case is Andrew's daughter and Abby's stepdaughter, Lizzie Borden.
Apparently, Lizzie could have been motivated to murder her father and stepmother because of the fact that she and her sister would have inherited their father's wealth.
Additionally, Lizzie was upset with her father for buying Abby's half-sister a home rather than one for her and her sister, Emma.
Moving on from the potential motive, during her testimony, Lizzie's answers were often inconsistent, and it was revealed that Lizzie had actually burned a dress of hers after the murders.
This was not the dress that she was wearing on the day of the murders, though. That day, the housemaid, Maggie, reported seeing Lizzie wearing an "unstained blue dress," and the dress that Lizzie burned had been red.
Another instance of damning testimony against Lizzie came from a pharmacist who claimed that Lizzie had tried to buy a poison called prussic acid the day before her father and stepmother were killed. This testimony was dismissed, however.
Other than a possible motive and circumstantial evidence, there was no physical evidence that directly linked Lizzie to the murders. So she was found not guilty.
In an effort to interact with Lizzie's ghost, the Unsolved team went into her room.
While in there, they recited a creepy rhyme about Lizzie to try and contact her. Strangely, when they finished reciting the rhyme, the audio recorder began to pick up interference, which freaked them both out enough to leave the room.
The next possible suspect was Lizzie's uncle, John Vinnicum Morse. The theory that Morse was the murderer was recently popularized by a Massachusetts math teacher named Richard Little.
According to Lizzie in the case timeline, Morse was not seen from 9 a.m. until noon the day of the murders.
Morse claimed that he had been visiting a sick relative down the road with the town doctor. BUT the same town doctor was also looking over the dead bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Borden at the time, a bizarre contradiction in Morse's story.
The guys went to the room Morse had stayed in to try and talk to him next.
After trying to contact Morse, nothing really happened, so the guys moved on.
As far as motive goes for Morse, Lizzie claimed that her uncle knew of his brother-in-law's will. Morse also shared a failing livestock business with Mr. Borden. It's been suggested that Morse used a meat clever to murder Mr. and Mrs. Borden, but the evidence against Morse is no more circumstantial than it is against Lizzie, and he was never tried.
A third suspect is the family housemaid, Maggie.
At the time of the murders, Maggie went upstairs to sleep in her bedroom, a floor above the guest room where Mrs. Borden was murdered. In her own testimony, Maggie claimed that she may not have been fully asleep when the murders happened.
Shane and Ryan spent some time in Maggie's room next. They even tried testing whether or not Maggie would have been able to hear anything while she was in her room by making noise in the guest room.
Finally, the fourth theory is that Lizzie and Maggie conspired as a team to kill Mr. and Mrs. Borden.
This theory is unsubstantiated, but it has been suggested that Lizzie and Maggie may have been romantically involved. Some versions suggest that Lizzie's stepmother discovered the romance, so they killed her and Mr. Borden to cover it up.
Other than that, there is no concrete evidence backing up this theory.
The final phase of the investigation involved sleeping in the house. That's right, sleeping in Lizzie Borden's house.
Ultimately, Shane does not think the Lizzie Borden House is haunted. But, over a century later, we are still trying to crack the Lizzie Borden cold case. For now, this mystery will remain unsolved.
