What ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’ gets right (and wrong) about the Borden murders

Lizzie Borden. The name instantly conjures images of axes (or more accurately, hatchets), that 19th-century Greek Revival-style Massachusetts home, and children singing that creepy rhyme: 

Lizzie Borden took an ax / And gave her mother 40 whacks. / When she saw what she had done / She gave her father 41.

Though Borden was acquitted of the murder of her father and stepmother in 1893, the case has attracted armchair detectives and adaptations for more than 100 years. They range from Elizabeth Montgomery’s Emmy-winning performance in 1975’s The Legend of Lizzie Borden to Christina Ricci’s Lifetime movie rendition in Lizzie Borden Took an Ax and its spinoff series The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, and most recently, Chloë Sevigny’s underrated turn in the 2018 sapphic thriller, Lizzie.

Now, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s Netflix series Monster, which previously explored the controversial representations of killers like Jeffrey Dahmer and Ed Gein, takes on Borden’s story. Here’s what you should know about Lizzie Borden, the grisly crimes she was accused of, and how the Netflix series portrays her.

Did Lizzie Borden kill her parents?

What actually happened the day of the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden? The timeline has had true crime enthusiasts obsessed for decades.

According to historians, on the morning of Aug. 4, 1892, at 92 Second Street in Fall River, Massachusetts, Andrew Borden and his second wife, Abby, were found murdered in their home. Though the murder weapon was never found, it was clear to investigators that an axe or hatchet was used.

Lizzie Borden, Andrew’s 32-year-old daughter, was tried for the murders. At the time, the only other person in the house was the Borden’s Irish maid Bridget Sullivan, called “Maggie” by the Bordens, who gave her the name of their previous maid.

In her testimony, Lizzie claimed she’d been in the barn, walked into the house, and found her father’s body in the living room. Then, she’s said to have called for Bridget, who was allegedly napping in her room on the third floor, and told her to fetch a doctor. Her stepmother was found dead in an upstairs guest bedroom (you can actually stay the night in this 134-year-old crime scene, as the Borden house is now a macabre bed and breakfast).

In 1893, Borden was acquitted of the murders, though nobody else was ever convicted. To say the trial was colossal at the time is an understatement, and Borden herself testified on the stand. As historian Joseph Conforti writes, “The inquest, preliminary hearing, and Superior Court trial generated over 3,000 pages of testimony on the Borden murders,” and news coverage was through the roof. Borden was not found guilty and was released (episode 7 of Monster follows Borden’s arrest, imprisonment, and trial).

How does Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story portray the parties involved?

Charlie Hunnam and Rebecca Hall as Andrew and Abby Borden in “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story.”
Credit: Netflix

For Monster, Murphy rallies go-to faces: Feud: Capote vs. The Swans‘ Ella Beatty portrays Borden, The Ed Gein Story‘s Vicky Krieps plays the Borden’s housemaid Bridget Sullivan, and The Beauty‘s Rebecca Hall and previous Monster star Charlie Hunnam play Borden’s parents.

Beatty’s Lizzie is a sweet, smart, socially awkward, sexually oppressed woman who endures her parents’ abuse while trying to maintain decorum. She’s portrayed as a true romantic, whimsically gathering flowers and twirling while feeding her birds in a style that can only be described as Disney princess-like. She’s also portrayed as a kleptomaniac, stealing her parents’ belongings, which has become a myth about Borden.

Hunnam’s Andrew Borden is an undertaker and woodworker (in real life Andrew Borden was also a wealthy banker and textile investor). Hall portrays Borden’s stepmother, Abby, as an immovably malicious person, treating her stepdaughter as inconvenient property and doling out hot liquid punishments on her maids. In Monster, the marriage is one of coldness, with Abby actually planning to leave Andrew in episode 4, a fabrication of the show.

Vicky Krieps as Bridget “Maggie” Sullivan and Ella Beatty as Lizzie Borden in “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story.”
Credit: Netflix

One of the major players in the case is the only other person at home during the time of the murders: Bridget “Maggie” Sullivan, played by Krieps. Bridget’s potential role in the Borden murders remains a historical question mark, yet in Monster, Bridget is extremely involved. Despite no historical evidence of it, Lizzie and Bridget’s relationship, like most screen interpretations of the story, is portrayed in Monster as an intimate lesbian love affair.

One of the only other suspects in the case, Joey Pollari plays Lizzie’s uncle, John Morse, who stayed at the Borden’s the night before the murders. Monster has John show up at the Bordens as a surprise brother of Andrew’s late first wife, Sarah. He’s portrayed as a money-seeking dirtbag, taking Andrew through his collection of knives, each named like Andrew’s axes, then asking him for money to start a business.

In Monster, Lizzie’s older sister Emma (played by American Horror Story‘s Billie Lourd) is portrayed as everything Lizzie isn’t — engaged, popular, liked by their parents. In the real case, Emma was out of town during the murders, and the same occurs in Monster.

Another who features in the Netflix series is famed actor Nance O’Neil (played by Jessica Barden), who was indeed friends with Lizzie. However, Monster has the pair meeting in Fall River before the Bordens were murdered — in history, they met in Boston after Lizzie was acquitted — and the series has her train Lizzie in acting to ready her for her murder trial (which didn’t happen).

How does Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story depict the Borden murders?

Ella Beatty as Lizzie Borden in “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story.”
Credit: Netflix

Monster gives Borden multiple motives for murder: a life of emotional abuse by her parents (especially her stepmother), her father’s treatment of Bridget, Andrew leaving Lizzie out of his will (in real life, Andrew had no will, so Lizzie stood to inherit quite the fortune). When Abby kills her beloved birds (with an axe, of course), and her father doesn’t support her grief, Lizzie makes her decision to murder them both. Given the real Borden pled not guilty, perhaps we’ll never know if there was a motive or not.

The Netflix series actually shows the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden twice, as its opening scene and in episodes 4 (Abby’s murder) and 5 (Andrew’s murder). The opening sequence actually shows a closer version to what is theorised to have happened — Lizzie, working alone, descended from her bedroom, armed herself with an axe or hatchet, then first murdered Abby, who was straightening the guest room. Andrew arrived home downstairs, and is then murdered in the living room. We see this all play out without dialogue.

Later, in episodes 4 and 5, Monster stages the Borden murders in a more elaborate manner, all throughout the house, being liberal with the timeline and events for dramatic effect. Unlike the real murder, Abby’s death in Monster doesn’t solely occur in the upstairs guest room, instead playing out as a violent chase from the front door of the house. In episode 4, Abby and Lizzie have an argument as she is leaving the Bordens — for good. In a fabricated conversation, Lizzie gives her stepmother home truths before chopping off her nose with a hatchet.

Despite the question mark around Bridget’s involvement in the Borden murders, Monster has her play a crucial role. While historians say Bridget was seen washing windows during Abby’s murder, in Monster, Bridget appears during the attack holding an axe (in episode 5, the show depicts Lizzie instructing Bridget to be seen washing windows to provide this historical alibi). Putting the murder back into historical events, Monster has Lizzie letting Abby run upstairs into the guest bedroom, where she’s killed by Lizzie in a frenzy. Afterward, Lizzie and Bridget bury her dress in the forest (they don’t burn it yet, like a witness said Borden did, leaving this action to later in the series after Andrew’s death).

Ella Beatty as Lizzie Borden, in the upstairs guest bedroom, in “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story.”
Credit: Netflix

Andrew’s death is also portrayed differently to what historians believe happened, especially with how involved Bridget is in the scenes. 

In episode 5, Monster has Andrew returning to the house (whether it’s on the same day, as happened, is unclear) and finding his wife’s body upstairs — the latter of which did not happen in the real case. He’s attacked not by Lizzie but by Bridget with an axe in the bedroom, then Lizzie intervenes, and there’s a moment in which Andrew and Lizzie acknowledge her act. The pair then manage to shut Andrew in the basement, where he’s left with an axe embedded in his shoulder, all while Lizzie and Bridget clean up the crime scene. Then, Monster has Lizzie battling her father in an axe fight that never happened, Andrew is killed in the living room, which actually happened. After Lizzie’s attack, Monster then puts the hatchet in Bridget’s hands for the final blows.

The last three episodes of Monster follow Borden’s arrest, the police investigation, and the trial, which would take another article to unpack.

In the series finale, Monster has Borden at a dinner party recount all other theories and rumors around other suspects — from her uncle John to a random thief — as we see them played out on screen. Then, Lizzie describes the murders as “a random act of violence, no motive, someone just walked into my family’s house and killed my dear parents with an axe.”

Did Lizzie Borden try to poison her parents like Monster depicts?

Ella Beatty as Lizzie Borden in “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story.”
Credit: Netflix

The real Lizzie Borden was seen buying poison (prussic acid) the day before the murders, which led to her arrest on Aug. 11. Monster plays out the horrible fantasy of this decision in its early episodes. Bridget suggests to Lizzie they should use poison, with the series spending ample time showing how much Lizzie and Bridget know about the properties of plants.

Then, one of the series’ grossest scenes, in episode 2, Monster actually hypothesizes Lizzie poisoning her parents with Bridget’s help. Episode 2 sees the Bordens booting bouillabaisse all over their dining room, unknowingly purging the poison in their soup.

After their attempt fails, Monster has Bridget give Lizzie the idea of using an axe, not a knife or gun, to kill her parents — we literally see her training Lizzie to swing an enormous double-headed weapon. “An axe is the most personal way of killing someone,” she says. “Put all your feelings in the swing. Make it personal and give it your signature.”

Who was Bertha Manchester?

Ella Beatty as Lizzie Borden in “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story.”
Credit: Netflix

Controversially, Monster includes Bertha Manchester (played by Linda Reiter), a real Fall River woman who was murdered with an axe nine months after the Borden murders — and one week before Lizzie Borden’s jury was chosen. Shockingly, in episode 3, Monster changes the order of events to actually make Lizzie Bertha’s murderer, retaliating against Bertha’s hateful, homophobic cat-o-nine-tails attack on Bridget. “Bertha Manchester’s the first one we kill,” says Bridget. “We have to make sure we know what we’re doing, and that we have our courage.” Essentially, Monster positions Bertha Manchester as their test run, with Lizzie doing the deed and the pair washing the blood off in a waterfall as The Doors’ “The End” plays.

While Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story takes more than a few liberties with timelines and details, it wouldn’t be the first of Murphy’s Netflix anthology depicting famous true crime cases. And no, Aileen Wuornos never visited the Borden house.

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is now streaming on Netflix.