Whispers at Maplecroft: Lizzie Borden’s Ghostly Requiem

Welcome to the Shadow Signal, The Frequency of the Unknown. I'm Josh Rutledge. And I'm Stephan Gearhart. Together we dive deep into high strangeness, UFOs, cryptids, the paranormal psychic phenomenon, and the hidden truths that echo just. Beneath the surface, somewhere between reality and myth lies The Signal. Can you hear it? Tune in?

The Shadow Signal is live. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen to another spooky edition of The Shadow Signal. I am your host, Stephan Gearhart, joined as always by the voluptuous Josh Rutledge. How are you, sir. I'm doing fantastic, man, It's a great day. We're into November. We're next, you know, knee deep, neck deep and don't

temple deep whatever, necked into the into the Veil, the then in the Veil, which you know, a lot of people, I think, think that it only happens on Halloween night. But it's a period of time. It runs a. Period of time, and it's kind of like the moon. It wanes and waxes, yeah, as does the veil.

Yeah. So but yeah, I love your I love your waning and waxing little dance. There that you did. Yeah, that's that's exactly right. If I do it fast en up, it really messes up the background. Yeah, your camera can't keep up. I gave you know.

That reminds me. I gave my family a cuddlefish hug. Have you ever given a cuddlefish hug? No, that's when you you you put your arms out like this and you just flop against them. Later the love that. So anyways, Uh, yeah, it's a it's a great time

of the year. You know, the days get shorter, which means there's more opportunity. Is good to go out at nighttime, not when it's you know, the wee hours of the night and actually experience a lot that the night has to offer. So, and it's cold out here, brother, it's it's in

the forties today. It's going to be the high of thirty six tomorrow here in Wow, Kentucky. So wow, it is seventy one on Saturday. Yep, it was sixty one last night when I went out for a SkyWatch out in the desert. I had my long jeans on in my hoodie because I've adjusted

to the desert temperatures. But yeah, I had I have to bust out my winter coat for tomorrow morning. It's going to be twenty four in the morning when I take my daughter to day care. So I do not miss those I do not miss

those mornings at all. Nope me AnyWho. Anyways, Yeah, we got a fantastic episode. We're gonna be talking about Lizzie boarding. I'm super excited. But before we get to all of that, the haunting and all of that stuff, let's get into a little bit of interrupted transmissions. Interrupted transmissions, all right.

So I bring this up because I only have a really small thing. But I know you had some really cool stuff happen to you last night, So if you want to talk about that, yeap. So last night went out for the Phoenix Mofon put on a SkyWatch event just kind of east into Superstition Mountains,

and I went out for that and I led the meditation. We did like a CE five type type, you know, contact experience, and we saw some stuff. There was in the northwest, about maybe sixty or so degrees off the horizon. There was like bright bursts of light like it would be It was very random. It like it would burst

and then a few seconds went by and it would burst again, and then like a little further over in the night sky where it was it would burst again. So we observed it three times in three different parts of the night sky, but always in that same direction, and then you know, towards the sixty degree mark. So

that was one. We also recorded actually some light orbs moving around again towards the northwest, and these would you know, would get really bright and then they would just kind of fade away and you and what's really interesting is you can't see them on night vision. So usually like if their satellites, for example, you know, they flare up

to the naked eye, but then on night vision you can still see the satellite as it's moving across the sky. These even disappear for night vision. So that was pretty crazy. Then the entire night even after so I led the meditation, which means that oftentimes I'm not participating in the meditation. I do the grounding exercises that I lead all meditation

participants through, and then I you know, start them on the the exploratory path, if you will. But during that entire sequence, I kept feeling like, out of the corner of my eye, I was seeing something standing beside me, and it actually you know, even after everybody got done with the meditation, I still like I would see something

walk up and stand next to me, and I would turn to talk to someone who was standing there, only to find no one was standing there. Wow. So then fast forward probably about three hours we were out there, so this is around ten fifteen or so. We were wrapping up the last little group of people that were there.

There were about seven of us, and someone requested for there to be a kind of a group photo taken, so I gave them my phone to take a long exposure photo with. So it took four seconds to take the photo. Like the old days.

Yep. And when we went back and reviewed the image that was taken, there is an entity standing in the shot with a photo bombed are our group photo? Yeah, it's pretty wild. Showed me that that was wild. Yeah, I'm gonna do I'm gonna do a little video about it later and put it up on my YouTube channels,

so I everybody's listening to this wants to see that. You can check out my channel, it's Mystic Journey's forty four on YouTube, and you can see that picture as well as the other one that I captured in my backyard, not too long ago. But in that video that I'm gonna do, I'm gonna tell you how to take photos

like that where you can capture the same thing. So anyways, because I feel like that's what I'm supposed to do, you know, share, share with the people, let the people do so. So is that it? Do you got any more? That was pretty much it for last night, And then

the only other thing is I continue to see our cat, Kitty Whiskers that passed, you know, if you know, almost a month or a month and a half ago. Now, he's still kind of active in the house, so you know, that's pretty cool. He's hanging around. So yeah, that's that's basically mine. Last night, when I

was doing laundry, was coming up the basement stairs and the door was cracked and he would always have his nose. Kenobi, my dog, would have his nose poking through to see me because he didn't like going downstairs, but he would wait for me, and I swear I saw him like just there waiting for me to come up the stairs.

Totally felt that. But aside from that, these aren't really interrupted transmissions, but they're two cool things I wanted to touch on that I thought was really cool. Is I just watched the new Frankenstein movie. I wouldn't watch it if I were you, because it's got a lot of gore in it. But it's an excellent film, Giermo del Toro.

It's just absolutely beautiful. I had to get that off my chest because it's really good. The second thing is, I'm reading Joe Hill's new book. Who is Stephen King's son. He's writing a book called King Sorrow, and it talks a lot about the Philip experiment in it, and in fact, that's what they do, is they conjure up a dragon

essentially out of thin air. Like I'm using the whole idea of the Philip aram and things like that. Like it's it's wild, it's cool stuff. And it was great to read that. Knowing about it already. Was kind of cool, you know. And we just we just talked about it, mm hmm, Like in the in

the last episode, we had just talked about the Philip. So we were reading the book. Yeah, this one guy's granddad was in like MK Ultra and all kinds of stuff like that, and got all these old videos and they conjure, uh, they conjure up a Japanese war criminal or something that they created because

they thought the darker the better name like Hondo. I can't remember what it was, a general Hondo or something like that, you know, like that's what they did. But the main protagonists they conjure a dragon and it's really cool. Okay. Yeah, well actually using a Philip experiment. Yeah, well, thanks for ruining the book for Everyboddy.

It's this is this is a stance and I'm only in like the first twenty chapters. Okay, okay, okay, it's not a good weight. It's on the back, Okay. But I thought it was cool because they used the experiment. No, it's really cool for that, you know. And along

the same vein, I was picking up my kids from school last week and there was a person wearing a hell Fire Club shirt and I was like, hey, cool shirt, and he's like, oh yeah, are you digging the new season? And I'm like I just said yeah because I like. But I started looking and I've noticed a lot of

people wearing hell Fire clubs. So it comes to stranger things, right, So I bet you people don't even realize that there was a hell Fire Club in Ireland. You know that that shirt is really based off. Of That's funny that that's what you thought of. Yeah, it's their Dungeons and Dragons club.

Yeah club. I thought everybody was just all of a sudden really into the Hellfire Club from the Ireland. You know that's that's hilarious, or the Healthfire Club from X Men one or the other. Yeah. So but anyways, Interrupted Transmissions is popping off then for a little bit. Yeah, and I'm looking forward to see,

you know what the next couple months we'll bring in so yeah. Yeah, me too, me too. All right, well let's move on then to our psychic word of the week. The psychic. Oh oh, all right. Psychic word of the week comes from the encycle you

can't see it Encyclopedic Dictionary. Encyclopedic Psychic Dictionary from JUNEJ. Bletzer, PhD. Rest in peace, honey bear, I love you, even though I know you're behind me. I've never met you. This week, I went back to flipping through the pages again. Yeah, and I landed in page five and eighty one and looked down and I saw a term called spirit drapery

spirit rapery. I thought that was really interesting. In parentheses, it says ectoplasm materialization. That's for the first definition. First definition says a cloth effect that covers and protects the unformed parts of a materializing person used to satisfy the modesty of this person, drawn from the actual clothing of the medium. In ectoplasmic substance disintegrates rapidly in the air

when the session is over. So it almost makes you wonder if this is where we get that idea of a sheet being a ghost. Yeah. Maybe, Well, let's see what number two says. Number two simple flowing garment or robe worn by an etheric world

intelligence when clairvoyantly showing him or herself to the medium. The intelligence feels more graceful and comfortable in the simple attire. As earthplane clothing has long ago been discarded. It takes less senergy to show him or herself in simple plain clothing than in garments with collars, buttons, belts, trousers or shoes, et cetera, and this energy can be put to a

more practical use. Interesting. Really, it's interesting because when you think about how often you know ghosts in movies and things are portrayed, they're usually wearing whatever they were wearing at the time of their death, and I know, like you and I have talked about the possibility that spirits appear to people

different ways, Like we could both see the same spirit, but I may see it as a child and you may see it as an elderly person. Right. It's just however, the spirit wants to portray themselves. So especially an intelligent haunting.

Right. So it just makes me also the the notion or idea that there is it kind of the idea that there has to be a cloak worn because to be to be naked or raw is somehow, you. Know, socially unacceptable. You know it really it kind of harkens back to

the concept of why do we why do we wear it clothes to hide our shameful nakedness? I mean, just you know, so that whole definition really kind of I think pulls a lot of that religious undertone. Especially the first one, because the first one even says that it's the medium's clothing, like, so it's the medium

that's saying, hey, you better put some clothes on because nobody wants to see your jibli bits. Right or you know, And in the first definition they also use the word modest, like like they're somehow ashamed of being there standing naked. So I don't know, it's it's an interesting concept, and you're right, maybe it is

where we get the use of sheets to display. That's what I think. I think that for sure, you know, because anything dealing with that old school mediumship harkens back to, you know, the the late eighteen hundreds and twenties, the spiritualist movements and stuff like that. So well, and speaking of spiritualist movements, there's some spiritualist

activity in the Bordon case. Ooo. I figured as much because that was what then late eighteen hundreds, early nineteen hundreds, So not surprised at all. Well, then let's go ahead, let's move on. Let's move on to the main topic. All right. So you had come to me about or

whether I came to you and said, hey, what are we going to talk about next? Because we've had a couple of really good shows lately, but you know, let's let's start pushing the boundaries a little bit. And so you thought maybe looking at the Bordon murders might be an interesting topic that folks would be interested in, as

well as the you know, the subsequent hauntings as well. Right, because people do people go to the Lizzie Bordon house. My my ex girlfriend, Lizzie, who has her name spelled the same way l I z z I E. Obsessed with Lizzie Borden went and stayed in the house because she wanted, you know, to see if she could see

the ghost of Lizzie Bordon. So so let's let's let's back up a little bit. So I spent I spent a couple of days researching, you know, I basically put together some profiles of who the Burdons were. So let's see if we can build you know, the people that we're going to be talking about,

you know, the untimely death of Yeah. So Andrew Jackson Bordon was the father. He was born in eighteen twenty two. He was very very demanding. He demanded order, obedient. Uh. He was very wealthy, but demanded frugality. He you know, one of the things their house that they lived in didn't have running water, didn't have electricity, didn't have indoor plumbing. Uh.

And that was really uncommon for people of their statue stature at the time that they were living. And most people had had you know, indoor plumbing at least put in so they didn't have to continue to use outhouses. Right, this was in Fall River, Massachusetts. Correct, Yep, that's right. So he uh, he was emotionally distant. Uh,

he valued control over connection. He was wealthy, uh like I said, but you know, refuse basic comforts. So that kind of made him like, you know, status conscious or miserly type individual. I mean with a name like Andrew Jackson. I mean yeah, So. He was a moral absolution ab solutists, so rigid religious

and social code. He saw thrift as a virtue. Oh god, patriarchal, he expected complete dependence from his wife and daughters. You know, it's funny. I often describe or Christen even will describe my deceased grandfather as the patriarch of the family. But if you think about patriarchal in this definition or this context, I would not consider him a patriot. So just you know,

be careful of the labels you put on people. So he likely was I had obsessive compulsive disorder that you know, kind of underlying need to control, you know, fear of waste. Likely had a lot of anxiety over maybe losing his status or moral respectability, or the ability to keep his family, you know, in line. And he basically ruled, creating kind

of this atmosphere of fear, silence, and emotional deprivation. So in that way, in modern terms, would we would call that an abusive relationship. Right, Yeah. So next up we have the girl's original birth mother. So her name is Sarah Anthony Morse Borden. She was

born in eighteen twenty three and she died in eighteen sixty three, so she died, you know, long before the murders took place, a. Couple of years after Lizzie was born. Right, so she was the deceased biological mother of Emma and Lizzie. She had frail health and uh people people

think that she actually probably had some genetic conditions, and they most people were surprised that she was actually able to have children at all. She was constantly though, sick when she wasn't pregnant, and this probably also goes back to a time when that was kind of the main role the expected role of women or wives, you know,

is to they're there to give birth to offspring, to further the lineage of the great Father and all this kind of stuff. So but she's often i think equated to being kind of like the holy ghost of the household where she was that you know, motherly figure that remained for Emma and Lizzie, although she died when Lizzie

was very young, but her death probably created, you know, kind of that original trauma, that maternal void that really helped us shape the daughter's you know, entire psychology. So Emma apparently made a promise to her mother right before her mother's death that she would take care of Lizzie. And this is often talked about in the reflection of

why Emma stayed with Lizzie during the entire ordeal that we're going to get to in a moment is because of that sense of being the protector for Lizzie. All right, So a few years after so if you recall, the mother died in eighteen sixty three, so a few years after Andrew remarried in doctorally didn't capture when they were married,

and so this profile is just of people. We'll get to the remarriage in just a moment. So remarried a woman named Abby Durfy Gray and then she took on the name Bordon Dirfy and she was born in eighteen twenty eight, and she was compliant, almost treated as more like a domestic caretaker than a partner in a marriage.

She was kind of the anxious peacemaker, trying to keep the peace between you know, her husband and her stepdaughters, but really lacked in a type of emotional, you know, influence on either one of those individuals. Right. Neighbors said that she walked softly to avoid Andrew's displeasure. So again, probably an abusive you know, ye a shock yep. So

you know, she likely internalized that powerlessness and kind of exhibited that in kind of avoidant coping, just keeping quiet rather than confronting tension. So we move on to Emma Leonora Borden, the oldest daughter. She was born in eighteen fifty one. She was the caretaker, also a moral conscious. Her kind of core traits were that she was duty

bound and obedient, promised her dying mother to protect Lizzie, reserved and devouted. She was deeply religious and socially proper. She avoided confrontation and preferred to withdraw as opposed to and she was really ultimately torn between loyalty to her father and compassion for her sister. She probably developed some dependent and preferred perfectionistic tendencies, not having trouble talking today

where you know, compliance became the methodology of survival. Right, and who knows she may have picked up that OCD. Yeah, father, it is. Very very very possible. She was, though, considered kind of the stabilizing force of the household, even though she was, you know, perpetually silent. She was that constant, if he will,

in the household. Yeah, all right, So moving on just a little bit to now talking about the time period leading up to the murders. So in eighteen eighty seven, Andrew gave Abby's half sister, Sarah Whitehead, a home on four Street, and Lizzie and Emma were both furious that he was giving away their inheritance. To try to equalize

the gift, Andrew gave ownership of their mother's home on Ferry Street to the sisters, but the sisters said that wasn't good enough, and he ultimately bought that home back from them for five thousand dollars when they just wouldn't let it go, right, And five grand at that time was you know, that was quite a bit of money.

So in eighteen ninety one, the family just continued to grow increasingly divided. Lizzie and Emma rarely take meals with Andrew and Abbey. Their sisters actually locked their bedroom doors even during the day, and neighbors and friends note that there was just a strained household relation. Yeah.

And then in June eighteen ninety two, Lizzie has some pet pigeons that she keeps out at the barn. Right, so she's got like a. A pigeon coup, right, a roost roost yeah, yeah, coop not the four door, the coop, not the deville. Yeah. So Andrew thinks though that by Lizzie keeping these pigeons

that she's inviting boys to come and spend time with her. So he gets mad about that, and he takes a hatchet and kills all her pigeons, like brutally, brutally kills. All her Yeah, with a hatchet that'll yep. Lizzia Chorus is enraged and doesn't speak for him to him for weeks. Then in July eighteen ninety two, the

sisters spend two weeks in New Bedford visiting friends, trying to distance themselves from the household tensions. So there's just a lot of I would imagine you know that the old addage you can cut the tension with a knife. Maybe you can cut up with a hatchet. I don't know, but it was definitely there in the house.

So at this point she's about thirty two, yep. And it is not uncommon right for women of this era to stay in their home until they are married married, and then they go off and begin their their life of servitude in that period of time to their husband. So, but and then Emma I think was like nine years

older than Lizzie, so she's around forty at this time as well. So the week of the murders Monday, August one, August first, eighteen ninety two, Andrew and Abby fall ill. After dinner, all family members, including Bridget who was the living maid, complain of stomach distress. Abbey fears poisoning, but the attending physician later attributes it to spoiled mutton left

on the stove for multiple meals. Right Wednesday, August third, eighteen ninety two, Lizzie allegedly visits the druggist Eli Bentz at Smith's Pharmacy, attempting to buy prusick acid as hydrogen cyanide, claiming it is for cleaning a seal skin cape. The pharmacist refuses to sell it without a prescription, and his testimony later becomes part of the prosecution's circumstantial case. That evening,

John Morse, Lizzie and Emma's maternal uncle, arrives unannounced and stays overnight in the guest room. Bridget is ordered to wash the exterior windows. The next morning, a heavy chore in the August heat, Emma leaves for fair Haven to visit friends, and she was not in the house during the murders. On Thursday, August fourth, this is the day

that the murders took place. At around six am, Bridget wakes up and begins preparing breakfast. The meal includes mutton because apparently they hadn't had enough after getting sick two days, Johnny cakes and coffee Johnny cakes left overs from the previous day. Andrew, Abbey and John Morse eat together. Lizzie declines breakfast, saying she isn't hungry. At around eight forty

five am, John Morris leaves the house to visit relatives that are nearby, promising to return for lunch. Abby begins upstairs chores and Bridget begins washing windows outside. At around nine am to nine thirty am, Abby goes upstairs to make the guest bed in the room where Morse had slept. According to forensics the blood splatter analysis as reconstructed decades later,

she faces her killer near the bed. The first blow strikes the side of her head, She turns and falls face down. The attacker then delivers nineteen more blows with a sharp edged weapon. Her blood begins to coagulate before Andrew's murder can, confirming she was killed earlier. Geez Bridget is outside washing windows. Lizzie's whereabouts are unverified for twenty

to thirty minutes, then around ten forty five. Somewhere around ten forty five to eleven ten am, Andrew returns from his morning errands. He'd gone to the bank and post office, and Bridget lets him in. The front door locks jam briefly, causing her to mutter an Irish curse overheard by Liza. Lizzie offers to remove Andrew's boots, claiming Abby has gone

out to visit a sick friend. And benient. Andrew lies on the parlor sofa, still in his suit coat. Bridget goes upstairs to rest in her attic room. Within fifteen or twenty minutes, Andrew is stuck struck ten or eleven times in the face and head with a sharp object.

The first blow likely killed him instantly, but the other the times I just were due diligence yep. Crimes of passion yep. So At around eleven ten am, Lizzie calls from downstairs, Maggie, come quick, father's dead. Somebody came in and killed him. Bridget rushes down and finds Andrew's body on the sofa.

Lizzie appears calm, claims she heard a groan and found him dead. When neighbor Missus Churchill arrives to help, Lizzie says she fears Missus Borden has also been killed. Abby's body is found upstairs, face down, between the bed and the wall. So the immediate aftermath. This is from alund eleven fifteen am until the evening so the neighbors summoned

Doctor Bowen, the family physician, who pronounces both dead. The police arrives soon after. Kind of initial observations, there are no signs of fourth century, no blood trails leading outside blood confined to the victim's immediate surroundings. A hatchet head without a handle is found in the basement, cleaned and dust covered, Lizzie's demeanor noted as oddly calm.

One of the things that I read that was interesting about Andrew's attack was that one of his eyes had been split cleanly in two. Suggested he might have been asleep when he was attacked, but just still gross. Yeah, I mean he did lay down on the sofa, so that would make sense. The investigator's impressions is that

Abby had been dead longer, like I said, Browns around ninety minutes or so before Andrew, and only Lizzie and Bridget were home. So then the evening of Thursday, August fourth, the police remain on site and Lizzie gives conflicting statements. First, she says she was in the barn loft looking for lead sinkers. Later, she says she was in the kitchen

ironing handkerchiefs because everybody irons handkerchiefs. Also claims she thought her stepmother had gone out Friday. Did say that earlier she did. Friday, August fifth. Autopsies performed on both victims in the dining room, stomachs preserved for analysis, No poison found. Lizzie officially becomes a suspect, though not arrested. On Sunday, August seventh,

Alice Russell, which is Lizzie's friend who stayed to help, witnesses Lizzie burning a light blue Bedford core dress in the kitchen stove. Lizzie claims it was ruined by paint during housework. Alice later reports this to police, suspecting evident and it's destruction. The police had already failed to catalog all of Lizzie's clothing, so this burning permanently removed a

key piece of physical evidence. So Monday August she hit it. She hit it somewhere. Oh yeah, well, yeah, I found testimony. I found the original testimony from Bridget Uh and she talked about how when Lizzie came down for breakfast, she was wearing one blueprint dress, and when she came down or when she

uh when she reported, when she called out that someone had killed her dad, she was wearing a different blue dress. It was similar but different. Yeah. So on Monday, August eighth, Lizzy gives her first formal statements. She does so without council present. She contradicts herself multiple times regarding her location, when she last saw

her stepmother, and whether she heard noises or saw anyone enter her odd composure, memory lapses and shifting story, heightened suspicion, excuse me. So then during that initial investigation, they decide that based on all this information, there's enough to indict or not indict, indicce oth work to charge Lizzie with the murder of her father and stepmother. Let's see scroll

down here. A little bit conducts a request. Okay, August eleventh, eighteen ninety two. Lizzie is arrested. After that August eleven, August. Eleventh, eighteen ninety two. Yep, that's my birth well, I was born in eighteen years old, the old this young guy. Ever, So, after that initial inquest concludes, the district attorney orders lose

the arrest. She spends one night in Fall River Jail, then transferred to the Taunton Tonton Sorry it is it's t a U N t o N the Tonton Jail. Yeah. Nice. I wonder if I bet is she liked being in jail though, and yes, it's probably warmer, the lukewarm. Yeah, I bet she was probably excited though, because they probably

had running water and yeah, plumbing and three squares, three hots and a cot. And three hots and a cut yea, and that is a woman's facility, and she remains there for nine months while awaiting trial. Bail Yeah, bail was denied due to the severity of the charges. Right, okay, So in the

fall of eighteen ninety two. In the spring of eighteen ninety three, there were pre trial developments. A grand jury was convenied in November of eighteen ninety two to review evidence. They hear about the burn dress, the broken hatchet, and the drug store poison attempt, as well as the pharmacist testimony, and on December two, eighteen ninety two, the grand jury

inditts Lizzie for two counts the first degree murder. June fifth through the twentieth of eighteen ninety three, the trial is in New Bedford. This is in Bristol County Superior Court, New Bedford, Massachusetts. I've got all the judge and prosecution at events, but i won't read all those names off for now. The trial lasted for two weeks. It drew

national attention, one of the first medius and centralized murder trials in US history. Over seventy seventy witnesses testified and the courthouse was packed daily with spectators and reporters. So the key evidence presented was the hatchet head that was found in the basement, no blood or tissue residues, It was inconclusive. Lizzie burned the light blue Bedford core dress

admitted as evidence, but unproven to be the same dress or warrendering murders attempted to buy poison. So druggist Eli Benz's testimony it was actually ruled inadmissible because it wasn't corroborated. The alibi inconsistency so Lizzie gave three different versions. It damaged her credibility, but it was not proof. There was no visible blood on Lizzie, so that strengthened the defense's case,

and her calm detached demeanor after the murders was interpreted as innocence or shock. So give you go ahead, go ahead. I'll just say, I don't know if you talk about this or not, but the other axe murder trial or the other axe murder that took place, did you talk about that?

No, I don't have that. Well, I'll tell you about it because it's interesting. So there was another axe murder that occurred in Fall River, five days before Lizzie Borden's trial. Began. This time. The victim was birth of Manchester, who was found hacked to death in her kitchen, and the similarities between the Bordon

murders and the Manchester murder were striking and noted by jurors. There was a Portuguese immigrant, Jose Corria de Melo, who was convicted of Manchester's murder, but he was determined not to have been in the vicinity of Fall River at the time of the Bordon murders. So just kind of interesting that a similar you know, murder takes place makes

you wonder, right well, and which it all adds to what the jury, the jurors are thinking, right. Well in Bridget and Bridget gave testimony though that so again Bridget is the the living made right and so in her testimony she, like I said, she got up, she made breakfast. Then after the uncle left, she went

outside to clean the windows. Because Andrew was so controlling, he required that the all the doors to the house be locked at all times and he kept the key. So while she was outside washing the windows, the doors were locked. When she went back inside, the doors were locked. She also talked about how the screen there was a

screen door over you know in front of the main door for both both entrances to the building. Her her room was in the attic above the kitchen area, and she would say that when that screen door would close, it would make a huge thunking noise as it you know, slammed against the case. She said she did not hear

any of that during her time that she was resting upstairs after cleaning the windows. So that also attributed to them kind of ruling out the possibility that it was a home invasion that in the lack of any type of fourth century So when Andrew came home, you know, Bridget opened the door for him, then she locked it back,

and then she gave him the key. So unless the killer had already entered the house somehow, it was just hiding out in the house. Yeah. The other thing I couldn't find, and this would have been interesting to know, Apparently Andrew kept the key on his person, and so what I couldn't find in any of the testimony or

stuff given was if they still found the key in his pocket, you know, right at the time, But that was probably not the key element to be looking for. Sorry, I didn't mean to do that, It just worked out that way. So ultimately, though the no physical evidence, no eyewitnesses, reliable police work, and the defense betraying Lizzie as a

dutiful Christian daughter incapable of such brutalty, she was found not guilty. It's crazy. The jury deliberated for ninety minutes and found not guilty. So wo now you know, so publicly she was legally free, but socially she was forever condemned.

Oh yeah. So, in the summer of eighteen ninety three, Lizzie and Emma returned to Fall River that couldnot bear to stay at ninety two Second Street, you know where the murders had taken place. They purchased the grand home on Frinch Street named Maplecroft, and Lizzie begins using the name Lizabeth A.

Bordon And she actually starts signing her any correspondence to anything as Miss Elizabeth A. Borden. The local press called the verdict of miscarriacter justice. Uh. Fall Rivers elite ostracize her uh and stores refuse her patronage. Neighbors cross the street to avoid her. Servants report harassment and vandalism at Maplecroft. Yeah.

Emma supports Lizzie initially, but withdraws over time as Lizzie grows more social and independent, and by nineteen oh five into moves out permanently after Lindsay's friendship with an actress draw scandal. Yeah, that I've. Heard, so, you know, moving on then a little bit

to the after after the trial stuff, So in the media, after night, after math, like I said in the acquittal, they buy this old, you know, kind of fashionable residence at three h six French Street in fall River, and this is in the city's affluent Hill district. Lizzy named the home Maplecroft and began signing letters like I said

as Miss Elizabeth A. Borden, symbolizing kind of symbolizing a rebirth of herself. They installed modern plumbing, a telephone, and electrical lighting, all luxuries that her father denied. Yeah. They employed several servants, including a living maid, chauffeur, and cook. They know and find furniture, art, jewelry, and custom clothing,

and attended theater, church, and social clubs, but was largely shunned by high society. Yeah, Fall River's elite ostracized her completely. Neighbors whispered that she was playing the lady with blood, money and children. Reportedly taunted her from the street with a little rhyme that I don't have the full rhyme of. It was like, Lizzie Bordon took an axe and then yes,

imagine where it goes from there. Yeah, I remember that Lizzie Bordon took an axe and gave her mother for wax. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty one, which. Is not accurate to the case at all. I mean, no, come on, kids, do better.

Apparently there's a second verse hold on. Okay, Andrew Borden now is dead. Lizzie hit him on the head up in heaven. He will sing on the gallows, she will swing. That's interesting. So while she was at the Maplecroft Estate from eighteen ninety five to nineteen oh five, Lizzie sought connection and stimulation outside of Fall Rivers ritual society. She

traveled frequency to Boston, Providence in New York. She developed friendships with artists and actresses, including Nance O'Neil, a prominent stage star, and she began hosting emminent gathering intimate intimate gatherings at Maplecroft, including dinners, music recitals, and small parties. Of those small parties. Nothing documented, but the local lore is that she also had many seances and hosted mediums

for you know, uh spiritualistic activity. Nice. Many say that the guests tried to contact the spirits of Andrew at Abbey during candlelit seances conducted by Lizzie herself. That's cool, I mean, like we talked about that was very popular at the time.

So yep. And then so we move on to the Nance O'Neil friendship. So the friendship was deep and controversial and possibly romantic. Lizzie hosted Nance and her theatrical friends at Maplecroft. The conservative Fall River community viewed this as scandalous. Rumors of improper companionships circulated, and this appears to have been the final straw for Emma, who moved out in

nineteen oh five, stating I cannot live with her people in her ways any longer. So after Emma left in nineteen oh five, Lizzie never reconciled with her sister. From nineteen oh five to her death in nineteen twenty seven, Lizzie lived alone at Maplecroft. She maintained close relationships with a few loyal servants pets, and kept a low profile.

She inherited substantial wealth from her father, she lived comfortably rather than lavishly. In her later years, she suffered from chronic gallbladder and heart problems. She occasionally appeared in the news for petty lawsuits over property lines and tax disputes, and despite her isolation, she made charitable contributions under pseudonyms, including donations to animal welfare causes, and on June first,

nineteen twenty seven, Lizzie died of pneumonia, aged sixty six, at Maplecroft. Her funeral was small, attended only by a few servants and distant cousins, and she was buried in the family plot at Oak Grove Cemetery, near her father and stepmother right her state. Sorry, go ahead, Oh, I. Just say, and I believe next to her sister.

Yeah, I haven't got her sister's stuff yet. Yes. Her estate was valued at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars then, which is the equivalent of four million dollars today. Shoe. She left money to friends, servants, and the Animal Rescue League of Boston, but she left nothing to Emma. Jeez. So Emma from that time, so, like I said, Emma

lived at Maplecroft. She handed most of the financial and domestic management, quietly avoiding public contact, while Lizzie experimented socially. Emma remained deeply religious and reclusive, occasionally attending church but rarely entertaining. She disapproved of Lizzie's growing independence, describing her sister's behavior as unseemly like I said. In nineteen eight five, the sisters deteriorated, the realship deteriorated, and Emma ultimately moved out,

and she moved out in May nineteen oh five. She told a friend the happenings at the house that caused me to leave. I cannot reveal it is too humiliating. She moved first to Providence, Rhode Island, and then later to Newmarket in New Hampshire. Living under a false name. Emma lived modestly but comfortably on her inheritance. She never

married or reconciled with Lizzie. She remained active in her local church, but refused all interviews about her sister. She reportedly continued to donate quietly to women's charities and religious causes in her final date. In her final years, she was nearly blind and in poor health. On June tenth, nineteen twenty seven, just nine days after Lizzie. Emma died.

She didn't even know about her sister's death when she died. Jeez. She was buried in the Borden family plot beside her parents and sister. Her estate was smaller, around two hundred thousand, which is still three point six million dollars in today's money. Much of it was left to charity at distant relatives,

So that is effectively their life and the trial and the murders. You know, I read all of the documented court transcripts, the testimonies. It's I'm a little conflicted because, you know, the murder of her pigeons by her dad with a hatchet, it really does feel like a you know, you got mine, I'm gonna get yours type situation. The

fact that they got sick from probably legitimately from food poisoning, and that you know, maybe a couple of days later, Lizzie saw that as an opportunity maybe to then poison them for real and have be blamed on food poisoning. So there's just there's a lot of but it's all circumstantial. So I'm up in the air on whether or not

Lizzie Borden actually killed her dad and stepmother. Yeah, I don't know. There's a lot of good movies and documentaries, and apparently next season's monster that right now they did ed Gean next season is supposed to be Lizzie Bordon so it'd be interesting to see.

So moving on then to the hauntings, Yeah, that occur. So the house today at ninety two Second Street in Fall River, Massachusetts, is has been titled the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast Museum. Was built in eighteen forty five, and of course it was the site of the double murders, and it has been restored to period accuracy and operated

as a museum and an overnight bed and breakfast since the nineteen nineties. Yep, the house has been investigated by hundreds of paranormal researchers, journalists in psychics since the nineteen seventies and my friend Lizzie I'm sure, and many many guests. So the kind of core categories of reported phenomena are residual manifestations. So these are just energy footprints, if you will.

These are experiences that appear to replay the events of August fourth, eighteen ninety two, almost like an emotional recording. That's stuck in a loop. Common reports are footsteps pacing the second floor above the parlor at the approximate time Abby was murdered, so around nine thirty am, the sound of a body collapsing in the guest room, followed by silence,

soft female crying heard from Lizzie's former bedroom, and then visitors waking at around three am, to the feeling of being watched or touched, particularly in the murder rooms. Then we have the intelligent or interactive activity. These accounts suggest responses to investigators communication through EVP, object manipulation, that sort of thing. So the notable claims are EVPs captured saying

help me upstairs or Abby, most often near the guest bedroom. Dowsing rods, spirit boxes, and or rimpods have responding to direct questions about the murders, often correctly identifying names or times associated with the event. Guests in the parlor where Andrew died reporting the sensation of a heavy male presence described as disapproving, cold, or controlling right, objects moving such

as doors closing on their own, lights flickering after questions about the murders, and silverware shifting audibly in the dining room during EVP sessions. So here's some of the apparitions that have been seen around from the nineteen forties onward. Off fit on the second floor, there's an an apparition of a female in nineteenth century clothing near the top

of the staircase or the guest bedroom. Thought, it's her spirit garment, to. Be abby, right, it's her. It's her spirit cloak. Yep, spirit garment. I like cloak better. Well that's not what juj Bletzer said.

Well she didn't know about cloak, then that's what it was. Yeah, but you know, if you wear your if you wear your cloak, are you cloaked in suspense? So Spence, oh. Or actually I think suspense is what goes where to keep their pants up?

Yeah, no, I'm sorry, no, no, Anyways, there is an elderly man in a dark suit seen sitting in the parlor chair where Andrew was killed, or walking towards the front door. This is from the nineteen fifties onward. And then a young woman or a shadow figure standing near Lizzie's old

room or basement stairs from the nineteen seventies onward. Some sensory experiences, so there's sudden drops in temperature local to the murder rooms often reported, a metallic or iron smell in the air, interpreted as kind of like the blood energy if you will, space gotcha. Perfume sense of like lavender or rose water near the second floor hallway, especially

after midnight, and then touches on the shoulder or hair, usually described as gentle and maternal rather than aggressive. Pets and service dogs brought on tours have been observed growling or avoiding the parlor and the second floor. Gast Cats reportedly fixate on the upper stairwell landing following an unseen presence. So some of the kind of we'll call him famous

investigations that have occurred, so the taps or you know, ghost hunters, they did investigations there in two thousand and five and two thousand and eight. They caught EVPs of a female voice, an unexplained temperature change, and footsteps on the second floor. Ghost adventures on the Travel Channel in twenty eleven, multiple EVPs strong EMF, Spikes and investigator reported

being choked in Andrew's room. Well, of course, because I'm sure they were antagonizing them. I'm sure they were as they do as they do. I mean That's why I refuse to even go to his museum in Las Vegas. I don't want to go either.

I don't want to support him in any way, shape or form. Nope, so morn he needs to take on his cloak anyways. Kindred Spirits on Travel Channel in twenty seventeen, they used a spirit box session suggesting female voice identified as E Lizabeth an emotional response near the guest room, and then just local historians and mediums from the nineteen

seventies to present consistent emotional impressions of sorrow, judgment, and unrest rather than violence. Right, I like Kindred Spirits. Man, that's the one with Chip coffee. Yeah, I like Chip often kind of you know, the kind of energetic interpretation is there's a male energy that

is authoritarian and heavy and controlling, often interpreted as Andrew. The female energies are kind of a layered emotional tones, like grief for Sarah, fear for Abby, and rebellion for Lizzie. The house's energy mirrors the living. Investigators entering with fear or antagonism experience aggression, those entering with curiosity feel sadness and right. So kind of a chronological account of haunting reports.

From eighteen ninety two to nineteen hundred, neighbors report strange noises after the house is vacated, and servants claim to hear footsteps. From the nineteen twenties to the nineteen fifties, private owners know restless nights and seen figures on the stairs. Nineteen seventies where renewed public interest paranormal groups begin formal investigations. Nineteen ninety six the houses reopened as a bed and breakfast.

Guest report nearly nightly activity, and then two thousands to present there's are frequent EVPs, physical sensations, and unexplained noises captured by multiple independent teams. Man, we need to grab santosh, make that a nastros. We totally do. So that was the original, you know, where the murders took place. I also though, looked up

any type of activity that happens at Maplecroft, which. I was hoping you covered that because I was going to ask about it. Which happened, you know, which is the house they bought after the trial. So Maplecroft was built around eighteen eighty nine to eighteen ninety and it was purchased by the

board and sisters in eighteen ninety three. The architecture style is Queen Anne Victorian and has six bedrooms, ornate woodwork, bay windows, servants quarters, the whole kitten kooboodle, as they say, Lizzie considered it her freedom house. Excuse me naming it Maplecroft, and like we talked about before assigning correspondence is Miss Elizabeth Elizabeth A. Borton because no murders occurred here, Investigators

describe its energy as melancholy rather than violent. There have been reports though, of soft footsteps on the main staircase when the house is empty, faint piano music late at night, brief bursts of floral or rose water fragrance, often near Lizzie's former bedroom, sudden cool drafts or pressure on the chest when discussing the trial or murders. Recordings of a

woman's voice saying leave me or I'm home, rare but subtle, apparitions of a faint female silhouette in a light color dress near the bay windowed study. And there have been reports of books or doors found slightly shifted after tours. But part of me is like, is that just somebody in the tour group just messing with you know, just

messing with the next group, you know, right. Kind of the emotional tone of that house that's reported by visitors is it's a calm but heavy. There seems to be a protective feminine presence. Uh. Several sensitives claim to since a woman who guards her home, and there is occasional sadness reported, particularly in Lisie's bedroom, interpreted as lingering isolation.

So the local Fall River Historical Society from nineteen seventies to nineteen nineties, the staff noted cold spots and faint footsteps during restorations. The ghost hunters investigated this location in two thousand and eight and they found minor emf anomalies in subdued atmosphere compared to the murder House. Independent psychic mediums from two thousands to present president have consistently described

a single female energy, intelligent but withdrawn. No aggressive or malevolent manifestations have been substained substantiated. Yep, Well, she wouldn't be aggressive, you know, no, unless you were her stepmom or dad. Right. Well, And I've also heard that it could be it could be the spirit or energy of Sarah who

felt like she needed to reside with her girls to comfort them after the ordeal. So Sarah was you know, their birth mother, you know. So yeah, interesting, yeah, So if you think about it from the kind of the psychological aspect, you know, ninety two Second Street was a place of containment, all right. They weren't allowed to move freely.

They weren't allowed to have extra extravagant things like indoor plumbing. They were, you know, controlled in all aspects of their life, whereas Maple Crop was Maple Crop was like a rebirth, you know, and they could be free in how they expressed themselves, although it sounds like Emma was not on board with how much he wanted to express herself. So right,

but yeah, but yeah, I mean I think it would be interesting to you know, if we do make it a an astral strew out out out, you know, we'll go out there outing is the word I was looking for. We should definitely visit both locations. So but anyways, that absolutely I'd love to check out

both of those. So that's what I have for the board and murders and subsequent hauntings. And the subsequent hauntings. I love it because that's one thing you don't you don't get to see as much. They always just touch on the murders, and I'm glad

we were able to touch on the hauntings because I think that's a substantial part of the whole package. So yep, it's a cool man. Yeah, there's there's definitely a lot. There's definitely a lot of energy trapped in that house and you know, kind of reminds me of the astral Stree episode we did

where we talked about if you were a medium that wanted to release that energy from that house. Yeah, you know, what would you be stepping on the toes of the bed and breakfast? Who makes money off of the energy being there? So that was an interesting kind of ethical conversation on astral s If I hasn't watched that episode,

you should go check it out. It's pretty cool. Yeah, it is the ethics of ghost hunting and mediumship and all that from the spiritual side of things, right. Yeah, the unliving so awesome. Well thanks Josh Man. That was really good man, and I just even more makes me want to, you know, take deeper dives and go watch

the movies and documentaries and all that stuff and visit that place myself. If anybody else has had any experiences been to the bed and breakfast. Let us know, let us know in the comments. We're always curious to know what everybody's been through. Yep, and of course harken back to interrupted transmissions. If you guys have stories, not just

Lizzie Bordon, but anything you know, you can email us or drop us comments. We'd love to share those stories. We always have since the Fear Escape days. We love sharing those stories. What's the email they can send those. Two It's the Shadow Signal Podcast at gmail dot com. Easy, easy, So send us any ghost stories, any UFO sightings,

cryptid sightings or anything like that. Any spooky stories you may have heard of that are go back. One of my residents apparently had his great I think it's his great grandfather or whatever, was cursed by a witch and his cows died and all kinds of subsequent stuff. And there was an article in the Courier Journal about it

back in the you know, early nineteen hundreds, and he gave me the article. It was way too long to read on here. It's like three four pages longer, but it's pretty cool. But yeah, he was cursed by a witch. Like wow, it's really interesting. So even if your family has a story, let us know, we'd love to hear

stuff about that. It's it doesn't it. It doesn't just have to be witches and ghosts. We want to hear anything that fits and it doesn't fit. Let's say, anything that doesn't fit into a normal society. Yeah, we want to hear it. So all right, Josh,

let's go ahead and get out of here. Man, thank you all so much for tuning in and listening to the Shadow Signal podcast. Uh, we are out of here and we will see you guys next month. This has been Stefan. Stay close to the shadows and listen for the signal.

This has been Josh. The truth is now. Bye y'all. Bye,