Monster in Muslin: Lizzie Borden, American Myth-Making

CRITICAL Issues Of Our Time

Volume 7

Monster in Muslin: Lizzie Borden, American Myth-Making,

and the Regeneration of the New England Spinster

Paula Uruburu

Editorial TeamDirector: DonAbelson Chair,DepartmentofPoliticalScience

Associate Directors: MondaHalpern

AssistantProfessor,DepartmentofHistory

RobMacDougall

AssistantProfessor,DepartmentofHistory

BryceTraister

AssociateProfessor,DepartmentofEnglish

Managing Editor:

AnnaZuschlag

Administrative Assistant:

ChristineWall

Designandprint-GraphicServices,Western

©2011

Critical Issues of our Time

Monster in Muslin: Lizzie Borden, American Myth-Making, and the Regeneration of the New England SpinsterBy: Paula Uruburu


The totality of beliefs and sentimentscommon to the average members of asocietyformsadeterminatesystemwithalifeofitsown.Itcanbetermedthecollectiveorcommonconsciousness. EmileDurkheim1

The first colonists saw in America anopportunity to regenerate their fortunes,their spirits, and the power of theirchurch and nation; but the means to thatregenerationultimatelybecamethemeansof violence, and the myth of regenerationthrough violence became the structuringmetaphoroftheAmericanexperience. RichardSlotkin2

History is the present. That’s why everygeneration writes it anew. But what mostpeoplethinkofashistoryisitsend-product,myth. E.L.Doctorow3

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Introduction

The process of inventing and telling stories or ‘myth-making’isnatural.Itissomethingthatthehumanmindisdisposedtodo.4Aswellthe“naturalnarrative”formulathatwritersengagein(asdescribedbylinguistsWilliamLabov and Mary Louise Pratt) shares either consciouslyor unconsciously in the patterns of myth-making, somuchsothatwemustbeconstantlymindfulofthewaysinwhichwritersas“myth-artists”canmanipulatefactstomake a more compelling story, since it is also the casethat the construction of social myths gradually takeson the quality of plausible explanation or ‘truth’ untileventuallythemythsthemselvescreatetheillusionthatsomecollectiveunderstandinghasbeenattained–evenwhenitisafiction.5

In creating narratives rooted in their own experience,humanbeingshavecometorelyonclearly identifiableculturalimagesandsymbols,metaphorsandmodels,tomakesenseoftheirworld.CharacterizedbyclassicistG.S.Kirkasa“culturalstorehouse,”myths,whilebasedonfact,areoftenstronglyreminiscentofdreams,whichsuspendor distort common reasoning and normal relationshipsandproducetheirown“specialkindoflogic.”6

In America, myth-making has been a national pastimesince the first English settlers arrived in the virginwildernessontheir‘errand’toestablishaNewJerusalem– their new world ‘City upon a Hill’ – even if they didnot actually land on Plymouth Rock and that virginwilderness was already inhabited.7 Since then, larger-than-life and often uncanny figures have emergedfromthoseprimevalwoods,transformedovertimeintospectres both fierce and instructive. Some are fiercesimply for their ability to endure, often beyond easyor reasonable explanation, even when they have beenproven false or are highly suspect.The story of youngGeorgeWashington comes to mind, who‘fessed up tohis father after he chopped down a cherry tree withhis new hatchet that he could not “tell a lie.”8 Othersare instructive in terms of what they reveal about thezeitgeist of a particular period and often the specificregion where they took shape, such as the“Moonlightand Magnolias” myth which romanticized the‘peculiarinstitution’ of slavery for Southern apologists after theCivil War.9 Then there are those figures whose storiestranscendbothtimeandplace.Theyaresimultaneouslyfamiliar and strange, evoking primal fears and desires,andoccupyeveryshelfinthestorehouseofmyth.Suchis the case with Miss Lizzie A. Borden, who hacked her


way into history and myth on a blazing hot AugustafternooninFallRiver,Massachusettsin1892.

Although it is more than a century since AndrewBordenandhissecondwife,AbbyDurfeeBorden,werebutchered in their overheated home on 92 SecondStreet on what began as an ordinary summer morningin an ordinary New England mill town, the burningquestionsof‘whodoneit?’and‘why?’–coupledwiththegrislytellingandretellingofthedetailssurroundingthemurders–continuetoinviteanalysis.10

TherearesometodaywhomightbesurprisedtodiscoverthatLizzieBordenisarealperson,sooverpoweringhasthe fictive become in the telling of her tale. There arealso probably more than a few people who would besurprisedtolearnthatburiedbeneathacenturyofmyth-making and suppositions is the fact that Lizzie Bordenwasfoundnotguilty.Yetdespitethatverdict,inmostofthenarrativesthathaveemergedovertime,thereatthetopofawindingstaircasestandsLizzieBorden,laughinginthefaceofDeath,axeinhand,hauntingthehouseofAmerican popular culture.11 She was then and remainstoday a subject of fascination and speculation, eventhough (unlike the hero-protagonists of ancient myth)she was routinely and repeatedly described to be asunremarkable as Fall River itself. But that is one reasonwhy,unlikeherfatherandstepmother,Lizziehasrefusedtodie.

Ononelevel,LizzieBorden’sstoryisnearlyacompleteinversionofthedream-mythofthecommonman,oneof themostbeloved inthestorehouseof thenationalmythology. Lizzie Borden, a middle-aged womanfrom a typical New England town, rises from nothingto fame (and ultimately fortune), not through goodworks or exceptional talent, but through violence. Ifwebelievethemajorityofmyth-artistswhohavetoldherstory,shewastheauthorofherownfateand‘self-made’ intheworstway.Butthis,too, isafiction,sinceher culture made her and continues to shape her inits own likeness.The continuous interest in the LizzieBordenstory,thepopularityofLizzieherselfasculturalicon(whetherVictorianvillainessormodernanti-hero,spinster-victimorlesbian-feminist),thevarioususestowhichherstoryhasbeenputbycriticsandpurveyorsofpopculture,andthenatureofthesymbolismemployedbythemythologythathasgrownuparoundher,areallfueled by continuing cultural anxieties that cut rightto the heart (pardon the pun) of some of the mostsacredAmericanmyths.Manyofthesemythshavetheirroots in the same New England soil as Lizzie Borden,

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and may help explain her longevity in the collectiveconsciousness.

Of course, as most of us are aware, even scholars whoaddress themselves to the problem of “the myth ofAmerica” have “a marked tendency to engage in themanufacture of the myth they pretend to analyze …,”and Iclaimnospecial immunity.12Asaresult,however,manyfindthemselvesstrugglingwith“thedeadhandofthepast,”eventhough,asthegreatestSouthern‘myth-artist,’William Faulkner, said,“The past isnotdead. It isnoteventhepast.”13Inspiteofwidespreaduncertainty,misinformation,half-truthsspun fromwholecloth,anda“peculiarlyambivalent”attitudemanyAmericanshavein regard to their national mythology, there is a greatdealtobelearnedfromtheconstructionofthesemythsthat draw heavily on the unconscious and the deepestlevels of the psyche, even from the dead hand of thepast,especiallyifthereisanaxe(ortobemoreaccurate,ahatchet)inthathand.14

Why has Lizzie Borden (or her ghost) survived in thepopular mind when so many others have vanishedfrom the hazy cultural landscape? Are there specificelementsofherstorythatareessentialtoitspersistenceinAmerica’scollectivememory?Whatisitaboutherthatresonatedwithherowncontemporariesandhauntsusstill?

On the surface, it is easy to see why the “Fall RiverTragedy” (as it was initially referred to by the first ofmanyLizzieBordenmyth-artists)continuestoprickourcollective consciousness.15 In the vein of current popculturecurrents,itisperfectmaterialforso-calledrealitytelevision,aconceptthatisitselfamyth,especiallyifwekeep in mind Nabokov’s admonition that “reality” is awordwhichshouldalwaysbeinquotationmarks.16ButLizzieBorden’sisatruestory.Itconcernsaprominentandwealthyfamilywhosefortunewashardwon,theresultof that familiar American dream-mixture of puritanicalstoicism and Yankee stubbornness, yet mired in thewaking nightmare of family dysfunction and rooted indeathevenbeforethemurders(AndrewBordenstartedout as Fall River’s undertaker.) The persons killed werean elderly man and his unsuspecting wife.The personcharged in the killings was not the usual suspect butratherawoman,theyoungerdaughterinthehousehold,andsupposedlyherfather’sfavourite.Asthestorygoes,the weapon of choice was not the poison typicallyassociated with that rarer genteel breed known as theVictorianmurderess(althoughtheprospectofpoisoningis also part of the story), but the more masculine and


emasculating axe.17 The ghastly murders were clearlyfueledbyanincomprehensiblerageinanagethathadnotyetcoinedthetermoverkill.18And,mostimportantly,thecaseremainsunsolved.At least, that iswhat itsays‘onthebooks.’

The persistent desire to solve the crime, invest it withmeaning, or cash in on its iconography, has led to aprofusion of high and low culture expressions over

the years, including a ballet(choreographed by AgnesDeMille), two operas, severalplays, more than a dozenworks of fiction and non-fiction,agraphicnovel,apulppaperback, a comic book,short stories, poems, bobblehead dolls, jewelry, outsiderart, Halloween costumes, aninfamous made-for-TV movie,an off-Broadway musical, acable television mini-series (inthe works,) and, my particularfavourite, the folkie song“You Can’t Chop Your PapaUp in Massachusetts.”19 Thesheet music for that song sitscheekily on the piano in theparlor of the Borden house,which still stands almostexactly as it did in 1892 andwhich, true to the proteannature of American myth-making, keeps reinventingitself. Business is happily and

morbidly brisk at the house-turned-infamous crimescene-turned-Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast. Guestscan eat the same fateful last meal of johnnycakes withmolasses(thankfully,minusthemuttonbroth).20Stayingin the guest room where Abby Borden was slashed todeathoftenmeansawaitinglistforthoseeagertosharevicariouslyintheblood-spatteredmythologyoftheGirlintheHouseofHate(1953).21

WecanalsoaddtothepopculturelistofvariationsontheLizzieBordenthemetherecentspateoftelevisionseriesconcerned with the supernatural and the paranormal(Ghost Hunters, Ghost Watch, etc.), all of which want to makethecasethattheBordenhouseishauntedandproveitis one of“America’s creepiest destinations.” Ghosts, likemyths,areespeciallyhardtolaytorest.And,ofcourse,aswithallgoodghoststories,theartisinthetelling.

Why has Lizzie Borden (or her ghost) survived in the popuLar mind When so many others have vanished from the hazy cuLturaL Landscape?

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Into the Woods and Out

In turning our attention first to the New England-centered “creation-myth” of the national character, anidentitydescribedashavingbeentornviolentlyfromthe“implacable and opulent wilderness,”22 we can employhistorianRichardSlotkin’sidentificationandinterrogationofthatmyth(wherehedistinguishesbetweenarchetype,folk legend, and artistic mythopoesis), to help explainwhythestoryofLizzieBordencontinuestoresonateinthepopularmind,becausehersisalsoamythinextricablylinkedtolong-buriedbutfrequentlyunearthedculturalperceptions about home and captivity, Puritanism,sexualidentity,andviolence.“Almostfromthemomentofitsliterarygenesis,theNewEnglandcaptivitynarrativefunctionedasamyth,reducingthePuritanstateofmindandworldview…intoarchetypaldrama.”23

Themythicdramaof theNewEngland Indiancaptivitynarrative, and what it ultimately came to represent totheearlywhitesettlersintermsofacutelyfeltguiltoverrace,gender,class, isolation,andreligiousdoctrine,hasbeen replayed and reworked countless times in theconstructionofournationalmythology.Weseeitinthe“historically-allegorical” works of Nathaniel Hawthorne,another inspired myth-artist, who is himself intimatelytied to the guilty Puritan conscience of 17th centurySalem and its witch hysteria. Through stories such as“Young Goodman Brown” (1835) and “Roger Malvin’sBurial” (1832), Hawthorne forces us to recognize thatthepathintoandoutofthedevilishwoodsisaperilouspsychological journey that shapes self-perception andoftenendssomewherebetweendreamandnightmare.24WhatwecanalsoseeinreconfiguringSlotkin’sanalysisofthemythofregenerationthroughviolenceasdelineatedin the captivity genre, is that Lizzie Borden’s house isa “home in the heart of darkness,” even though it isneither the heathen wilderness of colonial Americanor some untamed pantheistic western frontier, but


rather a supposed civilized and Christian-centred east.Nonetheless, hers is a “darkened and inverted mirrorimage” of the familiar New England home and what itrepresented to a traumatized post-Civil War Americaattemptingto“reconstruct”itself–andiscertainlycentraltothefoundationofLizzieBorden’sstoryastransformedintoarchetypaldrama.25

Because of Andrew Borden’s well-known miserliness,evenin1892,thesomber,narrow,andclaustrophobicallyconstructed clapboard house at the wrong end of thehillthatdefinedFallRiver’sclassstructurewasnotonlymore than forty years out of fashion, but hopelesslyout of step with the times – with no electricity, notelephone, and no indoor plumbing that served as theusualbathroomforthemoretypicalfamilyoftheperiod.Asloppailintowhichallthemembersofthehouseholdemptiedtheirchamberpotseverymorning(keptinthekitchennexttothestovewithnoapparentconsiderationforeitheraestheticsorhygiene)served,alongwithacoldwaterpumpinadirtfloorcellarandoneinthebarn,forwashingofanykind.Thehouseitself,asdesignedbyitsprevious owner, was a virtual prison: a double‘railroadflat’withbarsonallthecellarwindowsandnohallways,whichmeantthateveryroomencroacheduponthenextwith little expectation of privacy or ease of escape, aswellasafenced-inyardwithbarbedwireatthetop–andbottom.

ItwasalsocommonfortheBordenstosit likeConrad’sKurtzin“heavymutesilence”andliteraldarknessbecauseAndrewBorden,whorefusedtopayforgaslight,wantedto save on kerosene. The fact that he was a bankpresident who also sat on the board of directors ofseveral prosperous factories only served to make hisskinflint ways appear more unreasonable to his fellowcitizens, and torturous, particularly, so the story goes,tohisyoungerdaughter,Lizzie,whosesocialaspirationswere thwarted by her father’s obsessively anti-socialandavariciousbehaviourateveryturn.Herlife,likeherhouse,wasfullofdeadends.

Ifweaddtothisthefactthatshehadbeen‘abandoned’byherbiologicalmother(whodiedwhenshewasthree),that her stern and distant father, who had severedhis ties with the church (for financial not doctrinalreasons, out of anger over taxes), had also killed “herchildren” a few months before the murders (when hebeheaded all of Lizzie’s pet pigeons), all coupled withthe now“legendary”accountsof the typical fare in theBorden house – which often consisted of (and whichwasdocumentedasthemenutheweekofthemurders)

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meals of stale bread, overripe bananas, rancid milk,rotting fish, and three-day-old mutton – we again findourselveswithintheconfinesofthecaptivitymythandcertainlya‘houseintheheartofdarkness.’26

Although not the primitive or extreme ordeals aswitnessed in the earliest New England narratives likeMary Rowlandson’s27 or the dime novels popular inLizzie’s day which described the perils of captivity inthewildwest,inagenrewhoseplotsandthemesweredictatedbythedemandsofmythandthefearsofbeingexiles in a strange land, the parallels with Lizzie’s mythare unmistakable.28 Just as the didactic formula of thecaptivitynarrativedescribes invividdetailexamplesofunrelentingmentalandphysicalabuse,near-starvationor unpalatable meals, spiritual trials, isolation, a senseof abandonment, the threat of sexual violation, andthe dehumanization of the captives by their captors(andviceversa),tohercontemporariesandsubsequentgenerations, the myth of Lizzie’s home life as a sourceof constant misery, suspected sexual abuse, alienation,social deprivation, utter dependence on an oppressivecaptor, and confinement from which there was littlechance of liberation, serves the collective culturalmemory as a painful reminder of darker times.29 Andperhapsevenasamotiveformurder.

Another dynamic of the Indian captivity narratives, theeffectsofalengthycaptivityonagoodChristianwomanwhosurvived(eventuallyfreedbyforceorsavedthroughnegotiatedransoming)aswellasthecollectivereactionof the community to that woman after her release, isplayedoutinLizzieBorden’sstoryaswell.

In the original mythology, the rescue of a whitewoman from heathen captivity was initially a cause forcelebration.Itrepresentedarestorationofsocialorder,avictoryoverhellishexternalforces,anditreinforcedthepromiseofsalvationforaGod-fearingcommunitywhichregularly compared its story to that of the Israelites inthedesert.Thesameculturalassumptionsandimpulsesare at work in Lizzie’s story, where the plain and piousChristian daughter of a respectable family representsthedominantculturewhosesocialorderisperceivedtobeunderattack,notbygodlessredskins,butbylow-lifepapists (Irish Catholics) and strange-tongued swarthyPortuguese, who comprised the two largest groupswithin the ethnic immigrant population in Fall River,and who were initially highest on the list of potentialsuspects for the vicious Borden killings (followed in noparticularorderbyblacks,ItaliansandtheChinese.)


In the often paradoxical resolution of the traditionalcaptivity narrative, despite the genre’s insistence onthe captive’s exemplary behavior and unwaveringdefense of her innocence as defined by her whiteness,which reinforced her community’s system of beliefs,thenewly-freedcaptivealsoquicklyelicitedanadversereaction from that same community. She had beentransformedbyhertimeinthewoodsintoadisturbingOther, an object of pity, fear, and at times, revulsion.Having undoubtedly suffered irreparable damage byexposure to acts of unspeakable and inhuman cruelty,manyconsideredthatshewasbeyondredemption,andher return to the bosom of family and friends raisedsuspicions that the spiritual and physical catastropheshehadexperiencedwould inevitably infectthewholecommunity like smallpox.30 In a number of cases, thecommunitydidnotneedtoworryfor long,sincesomecaptives chose to go back to the wilderness they hadbecome accustomed to, many also having embracedtheCatholicismoftheFrenchJesuitswhohadconvertedthemalongwiththeircaptors.

OliveOatman,freedIndiancaptivewithtribalchintattoo

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However, those who stayed in their communities aftertheir release bore both real and psychic scars and aheavy cultural burden, whether colonial victims of thedivinemissionintothewildernessorthoserescuedfroma ‘fate worse than death’ on the frontier who becamethe‘collateral damage’ of divine Manifest Destiny. One

of the latter exampleswas Olive Oatman, anArizona girl (originallyfromIllinois)ransomedafter several yearswith the MojaveIndians. Oatman’sritual dark-inked, andalmost beard-like, chintattoo marked herindelibly as an Other.31

Transformed into adisturbing hybrid,she had survived herfamily’s massacre andfive years in captivity,butatwhatprice?Eventhoughshedeclaredin

her own narrative, “to the honor of these savages letit be said, they never offered the least unchaste abuseto me,” echoing Mary Rowlandson and other femalecaptives, neither the perceived threat nor the realityof rape as expressed in the captivity narrative was ascollectivelyfrighteningtothecommunityastheideaoflivingwiththeOther.Thetruehorrorofmiscegenationand assimilation was not in a violation of individualinnocence/whiteness,butinthepotentialobliterationofthepreciousandfragilenationalidentity.Similarly in Lizzie’s case, her story of captivity,imprisonment,andliberationwasminedforits“polemicaland theological potential.”32 Beginning the day of themurders, Lizzie’s pastor championed her innocence.He visited her every day in prison and sat by her sidethroughoutthetrialinavisibleshowofsupport,offeringSunday sermons to his congregation on the subject ofher victimization, piety, and the belief, certainly sharedand sustained in the popular consciousness, that nodecent Christian woman from a respectable family(who also taught Sunday School) could be capable ofcommittingsuchaviolentcrime.

Yet, even though she too was ‘saved,’ acquitted bya jury of twelve men and the Commonwealth ofMassachusetts, the community which had supported

she had Been transformed By her time in the Woods into a disturBing other, an oBject of pity, fear, and at times, revuLsion.


Lizzie throughout her persecution and trial (imageswith their own Biblical resonance), and celebratedherreleasefromjail,quicklyturnedonher.Soonaftershe was declared not guilty, in an uncanny parallel,the pattern of the captivity myth was re-enacted, asuneasy and disquieting psychological tension beganto surface in the congregation regarding the amountofirreparableharmLizziehaddonetotheirreputationand Fall River. This, together with suspicions that shemightactuallybeguilty (evokingvestigial fearsaboutsavagemurderousimpulsesanddreadfulthingslurkingjustbeneathafacadeofcivilizationandnormalcy),ledtoLizziebeingostracizedandshunned.

In what must have been a troubling ‘revision’ of theearlier captivity narratives for the citizens of Fall River(in light of the shift implied between the empoweredand the dispossessed), Lizzie Borden, in essence, paidherownransom,havingengagedasherlawyeraformergovernor of Massachusetts, George Robinson, for awhopping $25,000. And, in a much more frighteninginversionoftheoriginalmyth(especiallytothegrowingnumberofthosewhobelievedthatherlawyer’sfeewas‘blood-money’), Lizzie had effected her own releasethroughviolence,specifically,inanactofunspeakablebrutality visited upon her own family members –and with a hatchet! The newspapers contributedsignificantly to the construction of this myth. Theyprinted and embellished upon every gruesome detailof the attack as they imagined it (even if based onforensicevidence),includingthefactthatAbbyBordenwas nearly scalped (the false braid she usually worewas lopped off ), while one of Andrew Borden’s eyeshad been cut loose from its socket, his face virtuallyobliterated.EvenmoresensationalwasthefactthattheBordens’actualskullswerebroughtintothecourtroomand put on display, recalling not only ghastly sceneslike those depicted in the captivity narratives, butcertainlyall-too-familiarandmorerecentimagesfromthebattlefieldsofAntietamandGettsyburg.33

As the popular belief that she had gotten away withmurder filtered into the collective consciousness, herincreasingunpopularityandmarginalizationinFallRiverwasexacerbatedbyLizzie’sowninexplicablebehavior.Contrary to some of her captive sister-ancestors, notonly did Lizzie choose not to leave a community nowstained with her own family’s blood (even though noblood evidence was ever found on her), she stayed inFallRiver,theonlyplaceonearthwhereshewouldbea ‘marked’ woman, easily identified and living underconstantscrutinyandacloudofsuspicion.

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InLizzie’sinvertedPuritanmyth,thecaptive’sultimateredemptionprovesspurious,andhersalvationtakesadecidedlyprofaneandmenacingturn,because inthisstory,itistheenterprisingYankeebusinessmanwhoisbrutally murdered. Rather than reaffirm the Calvinistbeliefthathardworkisacrucialcomponentofaperson’sworldlysuccessandavisiblesignofpersonalsalvation(resultingineternalhappinessinGod’s‘houseonhigh’),what is usually a liberating and inspiring dream-mythbecomes an American nightmare. Not only is AndrewBorden’s storied rise to financial success and lifetimeof sober-living rendered meaningless, earning him (inthepopularversion)anaxeinthebrain,hisdaughter-murderer goes free. Adding insult to fatal injury, theoffending daughter not only goes unpunished, she isrewarded with her father’s considerable fortune oncethe dust settles on the headless Andrew and AbbyBorden. After her acquittal, when Lizzie moved withher sister, Emma, into an earthly mansion (which shechristened Maplecroft) situated on a literal hill, sheoutragedherfellowcitizens,whofeltshewasflauntinghernew-foundfreedomandnewly-inheritedwealth.34

As with the immensely popular genre of the captivitynarrative, Lizzie’s story “became very flexible” almostspontaneously,servingawiderangeofculturalneedsand agendas.35 As mentioned earlier, the murdershelpedinflamepre-existingandsimmeringprejudicesabout the ‘criminal tendencies’ of certain races andethnicgroupsatthebottomoftheclassstructurewhohad appropriately settled at the bottom of the hillwheretheBordensalsolived.InkeepingwiththefearsofaforeignOtherinvadingtheirnativesoil,theBordenmurders followedcloselyenoughontheheelsofJacktheRipper’swell-publicizedkillingsinLondon’sEastEndtoconvincesomethat the facelessphantomJackhadcometoAmerica.Lizzie’sstorywasalsoprimematerialacrossthecountryforsermonsandcautionarylecturesas well as fodder for the yellow press. She became acause célèbre for the fledgling women’s movement,especially the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.Spiritualists and psychics had a field day, as did bothprofessional and amateur criminologists. It was suchasensationalcasethat,amongother things, ithelpedinspireanationalinterestintheareaofforensicscience.Stillinrelativeinfancyatthetime,certaininvestigativetechniques and methods (for example, the use offingerprinting in criminal investigations, which onlystarted to be used in America the year of the Bordenmurders,andthetakingofcrimescenephotos)begantoenterthepublicconsciousnessinlargepartbecauseoftheLizzieBordencase.36


The Angel in the House and the Cult of Spinsterhood

There is another fundamental parallel and importantmythic function at work when we compare the “pic-ture inourheads”of the17thand18thcenturycaptivewoman to that of another female archetype, the 19thcenturyNewEnglandspinster.Thearchetypalimageof

thespinsterandwhatshemeant to the culture ofher time mirrors assump-tions about the Indiancaptives and also helpsaccount for the persis-tence of Lizzie’s narrativeand iconic status, trans-formed in the popularmind into both social ar-chetypeandrecognizablestereotype. In order forus to understand Lizzie’smyth in the context ofthe spinster in mid-19thcentury popular culture,we must also comparethe spinster to the othersocial archetype that washer counterpart, the onethat was held up as therole model for women ofthemiddleclassaboveall–theangelinthehouse.

The phrase “Angel in the House,” which comes fromthe title of an immensely popular poem, written in1852, by a minor and otherwise forgettable Britishpoet, Coventry Patmore (who in the poem held uphisangel-wifeasamodel forallwomen),definedandperpetuatedanimagethatrestrictedtheboundariesofacceptable behaviour for women of the mid-Victorianperiod as unforgivingly as the whalebone corset. Thepervasive image of the‘angel in the house’ – an idealwoman who was expected to be devoted to husbandand children, submissive, passive, meek, charming,graceful,sympathetic,self-sacrificing,pious,pure–andutterly powerless – embedded itself in the Anglo-American Victorian consciousness and infected themiddle-class like the grippe. Becoming increasinglypopular through the rest of the 19th century, thatimage and what it represented lasted long enoughinto the 20th century to inspire another murder, albeitasymbolicone,byVirginiaWoolf.In1931Woolfwrotethat, “killing the Angel in the House was part of the

another significant aspect of the spinster, in spite of the term’s oBviousLy feminine cast, Was her Lack of sexuaL identity.

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occupationofawomanwriter”andclippingitsinfernalwings was necessary for her own professional andpsychicsurvival.37

Standing in stark contrast, while also resembling thewomanoftheIndiancaptivitymyth(and,dependingonone’sperspective,onlyslightlyworseoffthanthepliantand oppressed angel in the house), was the rigid andrepressedspinster,atermwhichcameintocommonuseduring the early 19th century, and which continued farlonger in terms of actual usage than that of the angel.Although it originated with her so-called occupation– when the mindless and repetitive task of spinningclothwasgiventounmarriedwomenasawayforthemtoearntheirkeepinthehomeandpreventthemfrombeingafinancialburdentoafamily–thestereotypeofthe loveless, childless and lonely spinster, incomplete,colourlessandsevere,relegatedtothefringesofsociety,financially dependent on a father or male relative, andexpected to be as selfless as the angel in the house,infiltrated the collective consciousness with the samepotency as her married angel-sister, even though thespinster’s uncomfortable unproductive middle-agedexistence paled in comparison to the glowing andelevated(andreproductive)angelofhearthandhome.

Unfortunately for the unmarried woman beyond acertain socially-determined acceptable age, there wasan historical uneasiness inspired by the single witch-like spinster, commonly depicted in the iconographyaslivingwithhercatsor“familiars,”somuchsothattheterm “became a scare-word;” and her very existenceviewedasabnormal,“…enoughtothrowintoquestiontherulesandpresumedprioritiesonwhichsocietywasfounded.”38 Controlled by a social order that feared heroutsider status (since she offered an alternative realityto the preferred model of marriage and motherhood),the stereotype of the spinster that was perpetuatedin the popular culture served to both intimidate anddiscourageotherwomenfromstraying fromthenorm,starting inearlychildhood.TheVictorian inventionandpopularityof thecardgameOldMaid,whichstillexiststoday as a children’s game, solidified the archetype inthe collective consciousness by depicting either plainor downright grotesque caricatures of what the typicalspinster looked like, and underscoring an ominousculturalmessage–tobeleftholdingtheoldmaidcardwastolosethegame.

Another significant aspect of the spinster, in spite ofthe term’s obviously feminine cast, was her lack ofsexual identity. The middle-aged unmarried woman


wasfrequentlypresentedasdisturbinglyasexualversusthe unmarried man, or bachelor, a label which did notholdthesamenegativeconnotationsandwhichdidnotindicateorimplyone’ssexualstatusoractivity.Tofurthersplit some cultural gray hairs, there was the generalperception that so-called‘old maids’ were to be pitied,since they had perhaps once loved and lost or lovehadpassedthemby(“alwaysthebridesmaid,neverthebride.”)Thesamewasnottrueofthespinster,perceivedof collectively as never having expressed an interestin men or sex, perhaps even to the point of suspected“unnatural affections” at times. Looking decidedlyunfeminine or asexual in many representations, thisonlyfurtherservedtomakeallspinstersathreattothesocial order. “Prolonged virginity” was one thing, but“prolongedsingleness[was]suspect.”39

Nowhere was the stereotype of the grim and barrenspinster, living in quiet desperation, more prevalent orhistoricallysignificantthan intheshell-shockedcultureofpost-CivilWarNewEngland,whereonceagaininthecollectivemindthemythofanationalidentityhadbeenat stake – and over which the Puritanical darkness ofunrelenting self-sacrifice still hung like widow’s weeds,feeding off deeply rooted cultural anxieties similar to(though not the same as) those that emerged duringthe Indian wars east and west. If the social and moralresponsibilities of angel-wife and mother were clearlyand carefully delineated for middle class women who‘kept’ the home and represented a return to domesticstability(howeversentimentalized),thespinsterexistedinaculturallimbooutsidethecharmedfamilycircle,hersocialpositionundefined,herpurposeinlifevagueandsubjecttosuspicionbecauseofit.Eventhoughspinsterswerealsoexpectedtobecaretakersforthesickanddyingwhen the situation required, they did so without thestatusofwifeormother.Theycouldbeschoolteachersorlibrarians,perhaps,buttheperceptionwasthatiftheydid not conform to certain social expectations withintheir communities, they would pay the price eitheremotionallyorpsychologically,andbeasdamagedanduseless (and potentially dangerous to the status quo)astherescuedorransomedcaptivesoftheIndianwars.Bothinhernarrativeandthepublicimageshepresentedat the time of the murders (and still presents), LizzieBordenwasthearchetypalspinster/captive,dependenton the whims of her father/captor “for the least littlenecessities” well into adulthood (or for as long as thatfather was alive).40 She was sexless, disempowered,and disengaged, merely existing on the margins of‘normal’society,andaneconomicburdenonbothfamily

17

and community with murky prospects for any futurehappiness,especiallyifleftwithlittleornoinheritance.Existingunder thecircumstances thatshediduntil theageofthirty-two–inahousewherealltheshutterswerefastenedtightexceptoncleaningdaysandwhosedoorswerealways tripled locked,with thekey toher father’sbedroomplaceddeliberatelyonthesittingroommantle(as a warning and a dare aimed specifically at Lizzie).41Literallylivingwiththedailyvisiblethreatofashrinkinginheritance as embodied by her increasingly corpulentstep-mother,42 Lizzie becomes the beleaguered andhapless woman of the captivity myth – long suffering,victimized, and waiting for salvation.43 Additionalsymbolicweightisaddedifweconsiderthatthehouseshe was trapped in, old-fashioned, plain-looking,uninviting, and always locked up tight, reflected herarchetypalsexualidentityaswell.

IfLizzie’sdepictioninthenewspapersasthestereotypicalspinstercarriedagreatdealofculturalweight,garneringsympathy from some corners, but not in others. Theimagepromotedbyherdefenseattorneyofanobedient,loving daughter and ordinary middle-class womanfrom a typical New England family, also had to havestruckachordwiththose fathersandhusbandswhoseworst fearswouldbe realized if theangel in thehousecouldturndevilwithoutwarning.Manymenmusthaveshuddered when they considered that in locking allhis doors to secure his property and prevent intruders,Andrew Borden apparently never gave a thought towhat he might be locking in. As personified by Lizzie,theNewEnglandspinsterandtheIndiancaptive,aswellastheangelinthehouseandthedevillurkingoutside,becomeindistinguishable.

Today,thequestionofLizzieBorden’sguiltorinnocenceremains the sticking point around which all otherspeculation still spins. Like all myths, understandingher story requires a ‘special kind of logic’ in orderto try to reconcile certain dualities and conflictingcultural assumptions. The freed women captives ofthe early Puritan narratives made sure to declare their‘innocence’publicly,lestanyonesuspecttheirloyaltytothe community or question their cultural (and sexual)identity. In retelling the story of their captivity, theyneededtoreassuretheirreadersthattheyhadnotbeenviolated, out of conscious self-preservation and forunconsciouspsychicsurvival.Whetheritwastrueornot,thecommunityneededtoaccepttheirstoryaswell, topreservetheirfaithinthestatusquo,andthestructuringmythoftheircollectiveidentity.


Ultimately, Lizzie’s picture-perfect representation as thestereotypical New England spinster – diffident, sociallyawkward,andvulnerable–notonly reinforcedVictorianbeliefsabout“thewholetribe”ofunfortunateunmarriedwomen,ironically,ithelpedsetherfree.44Itwasanimagethatcertainlyresonatedwiththejury.Soconvincedthat‘a woman like her’ was incapable of committing suchviolence, they came back with the verdict to acquit inless than an hour. The alternative, of course, for an allmale-jury – the idea that an axe-wielding monster inmuslin was living within their midst – was theVictorianmale’s ultimate Freudian nightmare. The image of thedisempoweredOtherrisingupandviolatingthepatriarchwithsavageblowsfromaprimitiveweapon,turningbothfatherandhome-sweet-homeintoabloodymess,hadtoberejected,andherinnocence,likethemyth,preserved.

In the final analysis, the persistence of myth or culturalmemoryisacuriousphenomenon.JustconsiderthefactthatAmericansinthe21stcenturyarestillfamiliarwiththemacabrelittlenarrativethatemergedduringLizzie’strial,eventhoughtheymaynotbecompletelysurehowitgoesandnooneknowsitsauthor:

LizzieBordentookanaxe,Gavehermotherfortywhacks,Whenshesawwhatshehaddone,Shegaveherfatherforty-one.

It does not matter that the facts are wrong. The actualnumber of total whacks was twenty-nine: eighteen forAbby(whodidnotcountenoughinitiallytobeincludedinthemurdercharge)andelevenforAndrew.Forpopular

it does not reaLLy matter that aBBy Was not Lizzie’s mother, But her stepmother (unLess you consider it a motive for murder.)

19

poets,therealnumbersjustdidnotscan,andforpopularmyth-artists,themorethegorier.Itdoesnotmatterthatit was a hatchet and not a long-handled axe that wasthe weapon of choice – again, poetic necessity and thecollectiveurgetoturnhernameintoa‘scare-word’tookprecedence. ItdoesnotreallymatterthatAbbywasnotLizzie’smother,butherstepmother(unlessyouconsider

it a motive for murder.) Andit does not matter that mostpeople today are not likely toknow that the deadly rhymewas meant to be sung to apopular tune of the day –“TaRaRaBoomDeAy”–whichhadits own scandalous story andwas certainly inappropriatefor such a dreadful crime.45

However, that was exactly thepointforstaidandsettledNewEnglanders,stilllivingwiththeghosts of their Puritan pastandreeling fromthestill-freshwounds of the Civil War. Eventhough Lizzie was found notguilty, that did not ultimatelytranslate into innocence, abelief that has persisted eversince, leaving those whohear the story today to alsowonder what black-heartedand unnatural instincts ormonstrous rage was at workthatdayintheBordenhouse.

What does matter is that the story of Lizzie Bordencontinues to be told and the rituals of analysis andthe assigning of meaning re-enacted, producing in thetraditionofAmericanmyth-making,apeculiarhybridoffactandfictionwithitsown‘speciallogic.’Hernarrativeisareflectionofongoingculturalresentmentsandambitionsrootedinourcollectivewilderness,andthemyth,liketheimageofLizzieherself,continuestoevolve.Butunlikethecentralheroicfiguresinmythsoftheancientpast,LizzieBorden does not mediate inherent, disturbing dualitiesor reconcile us to our collective reality. Instead, sheembodies troubling dualities in a much more modernway.46 Constructed, deconstructed, and reconstructedoveracentury,Lizzie’sstorycontinuessimultaneouslytoevoke and pervert the most cherished American myths.Shebringsthepastintothepresentinastorythathasnoending–unless,ofcourse,youwanttobelievethatshegotawaywithmurder.

21

EndNotes1 CollectiveconsciousnessisatermcoinedbytheFrenchsociologist

Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), which refers to the shared beliefsandmoralattitudesoperatingasaunifyingforcewithinsociety.

2 Richard Slotkin, Regeneration Through Violence: The Mythologyof the American Frontier, 1600-1860 (Middleton, CT: WesleyanUniversityPress,1973),5.

3 E. L. Doctorow, Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, 8thseries,ed.GeorgePlimpton(NewYork:Viking,1988),229-321.

4 Interview with Oliver Sacks, “Oliver Sacks on Human andMyth-Making,” Big Think, 7 October 2008. www.bigthink.com/ideas/11842.

5 In their studies of the way people generally tell stories, Labovand Pratt identified six elements that are common to most“natural narratives,” defined as narratives not manipulated ina premediated way. The six elements are constant and usuallyappear in this order: abstract – general purpose of telling thestory;orientation–who,what,when,where;complicatingaction– the event that breaks ‘stasis’ and therefore initiates the plotof the story; resolution – closure of the plot and return to stasis;evaluation (or reflection) – interpretation of the plot; coda –indicationthatnothingelseimportanttothestory,oritsmeaning,happened later. From Mary Louise Pratt’s summary in Toward aSpeechActTheoryofLiteraryDiscourse(1977)andWilliamLabov’sLanguage in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vernacular(1972), reprinted as “Natural Narrative” in Text Book: WritingThrough Literature, ed. Robert Scholes, Nancy R. Comley, andGregoryL.Ulmer(NewYork:St.Martin’sPress,1988),7-11.

6 G. S. Kirk, Myth: Its Meaning and Functions in Ancient and OtherCultures (Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,1973),24; JamesRobertson, American Myth, American Reality (New York: Hill andWang,1980),2.

7 See Perry Miller, Errand into the Wilderness (Boston: HarvardUniversity Press, 1984); Sargent Bush, “America’s Origin Myth:Remembering Plymouth Rock,” American Literary History 12:4(winter2000):746.

8 The genesis of the story of young George Washington’s mythichonestyhasbeenattributedtoMasonLockeWeems,HistoryoftheLifeandDeath,VirtuesandExploitsofGeneralGeorgeWashington:WithCuriousAnecdotes,EquallyHonorabletoHimselfandExemplarytoHisYoungCountrymen(Philadelphia:J.B.LippincottCo.,1918).

9 JuneO.Patton,“MoonlightandMagnoliasinSouthernEducation:TheBlackMammyMemorialInstitute,”TheJournalofNegroHistory65:2(spring1980),149-55.

10 Thelistofsuspects intheBordenmurdershas includedovertheyears not only Lizzie, but her older sister, Emma, the Borden’s‘kitchen girl’ Bridget Sullivan, their mother’s brother, Uncle JohnMorse, or some combination of the above. Also on the list, anersatzillegitimatesonofAndrewBordenwhonevermaterialized,a loitering transient, a Portuguese (or Swedish) farmhand, adisgruntledtenantorbusinesspartnerofAndrewBorden’s,andanimaginaryaxe-wieldingmaniacescapedfromanasylum.


11 According to her trial testimony, the Borden’s maid BridgetSullivansaidthatjustassheletMr.Bordenintothelockedhouseon the morning of the murders, she heard a sinister laugh fromthetopofthestairlanding.Althoughshecouldnotseewhowaslaughing,sheassumeditwas“MissLizzie,”who,accordingtothetimelineofthemurders,wouldhavealreadykilledAbbyBordenintheguestroom.

12 Slotkin,4.

13 Slotkin,3.

14 Slotkin, 8. Even though the image of an axe-wielding Lizziecontinues to serve the needs of myth, according to the forensictestimonyathertrial, themurderweaponwasasmaller,thoughjustasdeadly,hatchet.

15 Oneof theearliestbookson theBordencase isEdwinH.Porter,The Fall River Tragedy : A History of the Borden Murders (Fall River,MA:J.D.Munroe,1893).Accordingtomostaccounts,LizzieBordentried tobuy off theprinterandhaveall copiesdestroyed beforetheyreachedthepress,butfailed.

16 FromtheAfterwordofLolitafoundinmosteditionsafterthefirstprinting in 1955. Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (Paris: Olympia Press,1955).

17 TherehasbeenspeculationthatLizziefirstconsideredpoisoningasamethodformurderbecauseshewasidentifiedbypharmacistEli Bence during her trial as having come into his drugstore theday before the murders to buy prussic acid. She was denied therequestbecauseshedidnothavethenecessaryphysician’snotetosecuresuchalethalsubstance.

18 AccordingtoWebster’sDictionary,thefirstknownuseofthewordoverkilloccurredin1957.Itwascoinedtodescribetheobliterationofatargetwithmorenuclearforcethanrequired.

19 A renowned American choreographer, DeMille was the niece offameddirectorCecilB.DeMille.TheChadMitchellTrio’spopularsong,releasedin1961,alsoplaysfastandloosewiththefactsofLizzie’smyth.They refer toherasElizabethBorden,butshewaschristenedLizzieAndrewBorden.

20 ThelegendarybadmealsservedattheBordenhousehavebeenthesubjectofmuchdiscussion,especiallyamuttonthatmadeanappearanceoverseveraldaystheweekofthemurder.

21 ThetitleofCharlesandLouiseSamuels’pulppaperbackaccountoftheLizzieBordenCase(NewYork:FawcettPublication,1953).

22 From William Faulkner, Absalom! Absalom! (New York: ModernLibrary,1936).

23 Slotkin,94.

24 Some of Hawthorne’s best stories involve the mythic journeyinto or out of the woods. In “Young Goodman Brown,” the titlecharacter tests his faith by going into the devilish woods andresistsSatan(orsohebelieves)evenwheneveryoneinhisPuritancommunity(includinghiswife,theaptlynamedFaith)succumbstodarknessandtemptation.In“RogerMalvin’sBurial,”setduring

23

theIndianwars,weseetheterribleguiltimposedonayoungmanwholefthisfiancée’sfathertodieinthewoods,onlytomistakenlykillhisownsonyearslaterinthosesamewoods.BothshortstoriesappearinMossesfromanOldManse(NewYork:WileyandPutnam,1846).

25 Slotkin,57.

26 About two months before the murders, Lizzie Borden’s father,angryoversuspicionsshehadstoleninconsequential itemsfromhisbedroom,beheadedallofthepetpigeonsshekeptinthebarn.

27 Mary Rowlandson was captured in 1676 near the end of KingPhilip’sWarbyagroupofNarragansettIndianswhoattackedhersettlement at Lancaster. She was ransomed after three monthsof captivity. Her account, published in 1682, was originally titledThe Soveraignty & Goodness of God, Together with the Faithfulnessof His Promises Displayed; Being a Narrative of the Captivity andRestaurationofMrs.MaryRowlandson,CommendedbyhertoallthatDesiretoKnowtheLord’sDoingsto,andDealingswithHer.EspeciallytoherDearChildrenandRelations.

28 Many of the dime novels popular in the 19th century, whichfeatured colourful cover illustrations of sensationalized stories,werewrittenbymenwhohadneverbeenwestoftheMississippi.

29 King Philip’s War, which pitted the colonists against a group ofNew England Indian tribes, began in the border settlement atSwansee,whichwasastone’sthrowfromFallRiverandtheplacewhere the Bordens spent their summer holidays during Lizzie’searlyyears.

30 Slotkin,98.

31 OliveOatmanwasabductedatagethirteenbyaNativeAmericantribe (most likely the Yavapai people), then sold to the Mojavetribe. She ultimately regained her freedom after five years incaptivity.Herstoryresonatedinthepress,ingreatpartbecauseoftheexoticandprominentbluetattooingofOatman’sfacebyhercaptors.

32 Slotkin,95.

33 One of the reasons the police came to realize that Abby Bordenhad been killed before her husband was due to the fact that afew veterans of the war knew that the state of her congealedblood indicated that Abby had been dead for several hours. Asfor bringing the skulls into the courtroom, in spite of its shockvalue, the tactic backfired. The appalling nature of the exhibitallowed the defendant to counteract the image the prosecutionhadbeentryingtocreateofherasacoldbloodedkiller. Instead,Lizziefollowedtheexpectedandsocially-prescribedresponseforawomantosuchhorror–shefainted.

34 Lizzie named her house on French Street Maplecroft, which shehadchiseledintothefrontsteps.

35 Slotkin,95.

36 These techniques included the use of fingerprinting in criminalinvestigations, which started in the U.S. the year of the Bordenmurders,andthetakingofcrimescenephotographs.


37 From “Professions for Women,” an abbreviated version of thespeech Virginia Woolf delivered before a branch of the NationalSocietyforWomen’sServiceon12January1931.ItwaspublishedposthumouslyinTheDeathoftheMothandOtherEssays(London:TheHogarthPress,1942).

38 Molly Haskell, “Paying Homage to the Spinster,” New York TimesMagazine,8May1988,18.

39 PatriciaO’Brien,TheWomanAlone (NewYork:Quadrangle,1973),74.ThesuspicionthatLizziewasalesbianalsoplaysapartintheLizzieBordenmythology.Itwasrumoredthatafterdiscoveringhersister’s shocking dalliance in 1905 with the stage actress, NanceO’Neil,EmmaBordenfledthehouse,leavingLizzietoinhabittherestofherspinsterhoodinsolitaryconfinement.

40 Ather Inquest,Lizziespokeofherdependenceonher father foreven the smallest necessities, implying that also meant female-relatedneeds.

41 AndrewBordenbeganthispracticeofplacingthekeytohisroominpublicviewtowarnLizzieandletherknowthathewasawareofherpettythievery.Thiswasbeforehekilledherpigeons.

42 One of the main reasons for the persistent belief in Lizzie’s guiltis rooted in the idea that she hated her fleshy stepmother. Thisisbasedonthe fact that in theyears leadinguptothemurders,AndrewBordenhadreducedpartofhisdaughters’inheritancebygivingsomepropertytohiswife’shalf-sister,incurringtheangerofbothdaughterswhofearedthatAbbywould‘eatup’theirfather’sestateandleavethemwithnothing.

43 Infact,Lizziedidfollowthecaptivitynarrative’spatterninseekingspiritual comfort during her prolonged ordeal, initially throughincreased attempts at participation in the First CongregationalChurch in Fall River, and then volunteering as a Sunday Schoolteacher,andtreasurerfortheMissionandFlowerSociety.

44 In Louisa May Alcott’s wonderfully subversive novella BehindA Mask, Or, A Woman’s Power (1866), the main character is aschemingactressnamedJeanMuirwhoposesasagovernessandplays the stereotypical plain and powerless spinster to insinuateherselfintothelifeofanaristocraticEnglishfamilyandgainaccesstotheirfortune.Oneofthesonscommentswithdisdainaboutherandher“wholetribe,”referringtounfortunateunmarriedwomenlikethegoverness.

45 “Ta Ra Ra Boom De Ay” was a vaudeville and music hall songintroduced in Boston, Massachusetts in Tuxedo (1891). Thesong was best known in the version sung by Lottie Collins inLondon music halls in 1892. According to reviews at the time,Collinsdeliveredtheactualandsuggestiveverseswithdeceptivedemureness, before launching into her celebrated “kick dance,”akindofcancan.NooneknowswhopairedtunewiththeLizzieBordenrhyme.

46 She is certainly not Joseph Campbell’s hero, unless you acceptthat“followingherbliss”resulted indoublehomicide.Campbell,American mythologist and writer, is best known for his workin comparative mythology and comparative religion, especiallyhis analysis of the role of the hero in myth. His philosophy isoften summarized by a phrase he made popular in his writing

25

and lectures, “follow your bliss,” derived from the Upanishads,philosophical texts considered to be an early source of Hindureligion(andmisinterpretedbysomeasarallyingcalltohedonism).

27

Abouttheauthor

Paula Uruburu, an Associate Professor of English andformer Chair of the English Department, is currentlythe Vice Dean of the School for University Studies atHofstra.ShereceivedherPh.D.fromSUNYStonyBrookin English in 1983 with specializations in Americanliterature,moderndrama,andfilmstudies.Herresearchand teaching interests include Poe, the Gothicand theGrotesque,women’sstudies(especiallyEmilyDickinsonand Flannery O’Connor), art history, the history ofphotography, and 19th and 20th century Americanpopular culture. She is the acknowledged expert on“American Eve” Evelyn Nesbit, an icon of the GildedAge.Dr.UruburuhasactedasaconsultanttoA&E,PBS,the History Channel, and the Smithsonian Channel. OfBasque-Irish descent, she is a native New Yorker wholives inherhaunted1890houseontheSouthShoreofLong Island and has always liked the fact that her lastnameisapalindrome.

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Monster in Muslin: Lizzie Borden, American Myth-Making

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