The striking visual contrast of Victorian societal dress stained in blood emphasizes the show's stylized true-crime approach. Image courtesy of Netflix via YouTube.Netflix’s new Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story has reignited worldwide fascination with one of America’s most notorious unsolved murders. The August 2026 teaser puts Ella Beatty’s Lizzie at the center of the 1892 axe killings. But the historical record is far more complicated than the famous nursery rhyme suggests.
Highlights
What Was the Real Story Behind Lizzie Borden?
Lizzie Borden was accused of killing her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1892, but she was acquitted after a highly publicized trial. Today, the murders remain officially unsolved, and no historical evidence conclusively proves her guilt.
The distinction matters.
Lizzie Borden became synonymous with murder.
The court never declared her a murderer.
She was tried for the deaths of Andrew and Abby Borden. She was found not guilty on every count. No other person was ultimately convicted for the killings. The case therefore occupies an unusual place in true crime.
The cultural story says certainty.
The historical record says suspicion.
Ryan Murphy’s Monster sits between those two versions. Netflix’s fourth Monster installment dramatizes Lizzie as a psychologically complex figure. The series also explores repression, sexuality, family control, and female rage. Those themes are dramatically useful. They are not all established historical facts.
Debunking the Nursery Rhyme: The Actual Murder Facts
The trailer relies heavily on surreal, bright dreamscapes to contrast the dark physical realities of the Fall River household. Image courtesy of Netflix via YouTube.The famous nursery rhyme created a version of the case that is far easier to remember than the actual court evidence.
“Lizzie Borden took an axe…”
However, its core claims are factually wrong. The historical record does not support the famous ‘forty-and-forty-one’ whacks assertion.
Medical testimony presented at trial described numerous injuries, but the exact counting is more complicated than the rhyme suggests. Dr. William Dolan testified that he identified 18 separate marks on Abby’s head. He also described another cutting injury to her back. Andrew suffered 11 wounds.
| The Pop-Culture Myth | The Historical Reality | The Real Court Case Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Lizzie gave Abby 40 whacks. | Abby suffered 18 identifiable head injuries, plus another cutting injury to her back. | Dr. William Dolan testified about 18 head marks and an additional back wound. |
| Lizzie gave Andrew 41 whacks. | Andrew suffered 11 blows or wounds. | Medical testimony established 11 wounds to Andrew’s head. |
| Police found a blood-covered murder axe. | The suspected hatchet did not test positive for blood. | Dr. Edward Wood testified that apparent stains tested negative for blood. |
| The murder weapon was conclusively identified. | No weapon was conclusively established at trial. | Several hatchets were examined, but testing failed to establish blood on them. |
| Lizzie was convicted and became a famous killer. | She was acquitted. | The jury found her not guilty after the 1893 trial. |
| The case was solved by proving Lizzie’s guilt. | The murders remain unsolved. | No person was ultimately convicted for the Borden murders. |
| The murders happened in one continuous attack. | Abby died at least about an hour before Andrew. | Medical evidence placed Abby’s death before Andrew’s. |
| Lizzie was the only possible suspect. | Investigators considered other possibilities and Andrew had enemies. | The prosecution focused on Lizzie, while the defense highlighted alternative theories and an unidentified man. |
The hatchet evidence is especially important.
Popular retellings often show a definitive weapon.
The trial record does not provide that certainty.
Dr. Edward Wood examined hatchets collected from the Borden basement. Some contained stains that looked suspicious. Chemical and microscopic testing produced negative results for blood. The rough areas around the handles also complicated the theory that the weapons had been washed.
That does not prove Lizzie was innocent.
It does show why the prosecution faced a serious evidentiary problem.
The case was largely circumstantial.
There was no eyewitness to either killing.
There was no surviving confession.
There was no definitive murder weapon.
There was no forensic test connecting Lizzie to the killings.
Yet suspicion accumulated around her.
The Real Motive: Frugality, Spinsters, and Family Dysfunction
Ryan Murphy's casting of Ella Beatty brings an intense psychological focus to the infamous historical trial. Image courtesy of Netflix via YouTube.The Borden household was wealthy.
It was also deeply restrictive.
Andrew Jackson Borden had built substantial wealth through business, banking, real estate, and investments. He held prominent financial positions in Fall River. His estate was considerable by nineteenth-century standards.
Yet his family did not live like the city’s richest residents.
Andrew preferred Second Street.
Fall River’s wealthiest families increasingly favored the fashionable Hill neighborhood. Lizzie wanted that lifestyle. Her father’s spending habits frustrated her.
The house lacked indoor plumbing.
It also lacked modern electrical conveniences.
That detail became central to later Borden mythology.
Andrew’s frugality was real.
The household used chamber pots and basement privies. The contrast between Andrew’s wealth and his modest home was striking.
But historians should avoid turning inconvenience into proof of abuse.
The surviving record does not establish that Lizzie was trapped in an abusive household.
It does establish tension.
Lizzie and Emma were adults.
Neither was married.
Lizzie was 32.
Emma was 41 when the murders occurred.
Both still lived with their father and stepmother.
That situation carried social meaning in Victorian America.
Unmarried women faced expectations about domestic roles.
Their financial independence was limited compared with modern standards.
Family property therefore mattered enormously.
Lizzie also wanted a more fashionable social life.
She participated actively in church organizations.
She taught Sunday school.
She belonged to women’s organizations.
She was not a social recluse.
But she reportedly felt embarrassed by the family’s home.
The gap between her aspirations and Andrew’s habits created friction.
It provides context.
It does not provide a proven motive for murder.
The Property Dispute
The claustrophobic household environment of the 1892 Borden home serves as a central narrative pressure point. Image courtesy of Netflix via YouTube.Money became even more important shortly before the murders.
Andrew had given property or financial assistance to members of Abby’s family.
Lizzie and Emma objected.
Their resentment reportedly centered partly on perceived favoritism.
The sisters eventually received the former family property.
They later sold it back to Andrew for $5,000.
That transaction was significant.
It demonstrated that property disputes existed before the murders.
The prosecution later used family tensions to construct a possible motive.
The theory was straightforward.
Lizzie could resent Abby.
She could fear losing control of family wealth.
She could benefit financially if Abby died before Andrew.
But motive is not proof.
That distinction became one of the defining problems of the case.
What Happened on August 4, 1892?
The murders occurred on August 4, 1892.
Andrew left home during the morning.
He returned later.
He sat on the sitting-room sofa.
Someone attacked him repeatedly with a hatchet.
His face suffered devastating injuries.
Abby had already been killed upstairs.
Her body was discovered in the guest room.
Medical evidence suggested she had died considerably earlier than Andrew.
That timing created a major mystery.
Why would an attacker remain inside the house?
Why kill Abby first?
Why wait?
Why return downstairs?
And why did nobody clearly witness the killer?
Lizzie was home.
The family’s maid, Bridget Sullivan, was also there.
Emma was away.
John Morse, the sisters’ maternal uncle, had visited the previous evening. He was not in the house when the murders occurred.
Bridget later testified that she had been doing household work.
She was washing windows.
She did not see the murders.
She also testified that she had not witnessed family quarrels.
That testimony complicates modern portrayals of the Borden household as an openly violent home.
Why Did Police Suspect Lizzie Borden?
Lizzie’s behavior immediately became part of the investigation.
Her statements about Abby’s whereabouts raised questions.
She initially suggested that Abby had gone to visit a sick friend.
Investigators could not find evidence of such a visit.
Abby’s body was still upstairs.
The explanation became another problem for Lizzie.
There were other suspicious details.
Lizzie’s accounts changed.
Her relationship with Abby was reportedly strained.
She stood to inherit.
She had been involved in family property disputes.
She was home when the murders occurred.
And the killings seemed to require someone who understood the household.
None of those facts independently proves murder.
Together, they created a compelling prosecution narrative.
The investigation also produced another unusual episode.
Lizzie testified at the inquest before her criminal trial.
She did so without a defense lawyer.
The inquest was held over several days.
Her testimony later became important to the prosecution’s understanding of the case.
The investigation therefore became a battle over interpretation.
Was Lizzie behaving like a guilty woman?
Or was she behaving like a frightened daughter caught inside a chaotic investigation?
The evidence could support suspicion.
It could not eliminate reasonable doubt.
The Trial That Made Lizzie Borden Famous
Lizzie’s trial began in 1893.
The case attracted enormous public attention.
Newspapers transformed the proceedings into a national spectacle.
Lizzie was portrayed as either a calculating killer or an unfairly persecuted woman.
The prosecution relied heavily on circumstantial evidence.
The defense attacked the weakness of the physical evidence.
The suspected hatchets produced no confirmed blood evidence.
No eyewitness placed Lizzie at either murder.
The prosecution also struggled to establish a convincing motive beyond family conflict and financial interest.
The defense presented another important argument.
Why would Lizzie commit such a spectacular crime in daylight?
Why would she remain nearby?
Why would she leave so little physical evidence?
Those questions mattered.
The prosecution had a suspicious defendant.
It did not have a conclusive chain of evidence.
After the trial, the jury acquitted Lizzie.
That verdict became permanent.
There was no second trial.
There was no later conviction.
Lizzie remained legally innocent of the murders for the rest of her life.
Was Lizzie Borden Actually Guilty?
History cannot answer that question with certainty.
The strongest responsible conclusion is narrower.
Lizzie was a plausible suspect.
She was never proven guilty.
The prosecution’s case contained troubling circumstantial evidence.
Her statements created suspicion.
Her family relationships created a possible motive.
Her financial position gave her something to gain.
But the physical evidence was weak.
The murder weapon was never conclusively established.
No eyewitness saw her commit either murder.
The jury heard the evidence.
The jury acquitted her.
That verdict should remain central to any historical account.
Calling Lizzie a confirmed killer goes beyond the surviving evidence.
Calling her definitively innocent also goes beyond the evidence.
The mystery survives because neither conclusion can be proved.
Ryan Murphy’s Monster vs. the Historical Record
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is not a courtroom transcript.
It is historical drama.
That distinction matters.
Netflix’s official premise frames Lizzie and her maid Bridget Sullivan as women trapped inside a household defined by humiliation and cruelty. It then moves toward themes of sex, power, revenge, and liberation.
Those themes give the series a strong dramatic engine.
But some are interpretive.
The historical record confirms family tensions.
It confirms financial disputes.
It confirms Lizzie’s unmarried status.
It confirms her presence at the house.
It confirms her arrest and trial.
It confirms her acquittal.
It does not establish every psychological motivation shown on screen.
The series can therefore ask questions that history cannot answer.
Was Lizzie angry?
Was she frightened?
Did she feel controlled?
Did she resent Abby?
Did she desire independence?
Did she kill them?
The first four questions involve interpretation.
The final question remains unresolved.
That ambiguity is exactly what makes the Borden case so durable.
The Forgotten Part of the Story: Lizzie’s Life After Acquittal
The acquittal did not restore Lizzie’s old life.
Fall River society largely rejected her.
She and Emma eventually left the old Borden home.
They bought a much larger property in the fashionable part of town.
Lizzie named it Maplecroft.
The move was symbolically important.
The woman who had supposedly been constrained by her father’s modest lifestyle now occupied a grander home.
She also enjoyed a substantially different social life.
She traveled.
She entertained.
She associated with theatrical figures.
But the murder case never disappeared.
Visitors came to Fall River because of the story.
Lizzie’s name remained attached to the killings.
In 1905, Emma left Maplecroft after a serious disagreement.
The sisters never fully reconciled.
Lizzie died in 1927.
She was 66.
She took the final answer to the Borden murders with her.
Why the Lizzie Borden Mystery Still Fascinates
The Borden murders contain nearly every ingredient of enduring true crime.
There is wealth.
There is family conflict.
There is inheritance.
There is social pressure.
There is a brutal double homicide.
There is a woman at the center.
There is a missing definitive weapon.
There is contradictory testimony.
There is a sensational trial.
And there is an acquittal.
Most importantly, there is uncertainty.
The nursery rhyme erased much of that uncertainty.
It turned a complicated legal case into a simple story.
Lizzie picked up an axe.
Lizzie killed her parents.
Lizzie received an acquittal.
But the historical record refuses that simplicity.
The real story is stranger.
Two people were brutally murdered inside their own home.
Lizzie Borden became the principal suspect.
The evidence never reached the level required for conviction.
A jury said she was not guilty.
No one else was convicted.
More than 130 years later, the murders remain officially unsolved.
That is the key difference between Monster and true history.
Ryan Murphy can dramatize the mystery.
The historical record cannot resolve it.
And that unresolved gap is why Lizzie Borden remains one of America’s most enduring true-crime figures.
Historical Bottom Line
The real Lizzie Borden story is not simply about an axe.
It is about evidence.
It is about suspicion.
It is about Victorian family life.
It is about wealth and inheritance.
It is about gender and reputation.
And it is about the enormous difference between being accused and being proven guilty.
Netflix’s Monster may give viewers a new Lizzie Borden.
The historical record gives us something more unsettling.
A murder mystery without a definitive answer.
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