Lizzie Borden Took An Axe
I’m not actually from Boston; I just live here. I’m from Lizzie Borden territory, and on my way back from Southeastern Massachusetts today I stopped by the Lizzie Borden B&B and Museum for the half-hour tour.
It was a little pricey, but I found out a few things I’d either forgotten or never known. Does everyone know the words to Lizzie Borden took an axe? I always think of it as a local crime, but it was the crime of its century, and the sort of people who appreciate axe murderers come from all over the world to spend a night in the house, possibly in the very room, where Lizzie allegedly solved her inheritance problems.
Her father was a real piece of work, and though no one deserves ten whacks to the head with a axe, he came close. His wife, Lizzie’s stepmother, got eighteen, more passionate, whacks - or perhaps she had a softer head. So the children’s poem suffers from significant whack-inflation.
You’ll never find yourself in Fall River unless you’re on your way to Cape Cod on I-195, in which case it’s highly unlikely you’ll be there at a time the house is open (11:00am - 2:30pm daily in the summer, similar hours on weekends in spring and fall), or be willing to spot $7.50 a head for this glimpse into local history. The house is right across from the bus terminal, not that they mention that on the B&B flyer.
December 2nd, 2003 at 11:48 am
Lizzie Borden took an axe
she gave her father forty whacks
when she realised what she’d done
she gave her mother forthy-one
December 16th, 2003 at 1:43 pm
Who wrote “Lizzie Borden took an axe?”
December 16th, 2003 at 4:57 pm
It’s an anonymous children’s rhyme. The whack counts are incorrect and usually the parents are whacked in the wrong order - her stepmother died first.
April 26th, 2004 at 1:54 pm
ok i just had to say… Andrew, get a life!
April 17th, 2006 at 10:33 pm
If Lizzy did the dirty deed, was the motive really greed? Emma had the hardest heart, her and Moorse both played their part. Long time hates and jellous ire , two sisters denied just one desire, Of freedom from the tyrant beast to live and love and be at peace.