Lizzie Borden House

The site of the infamous 1892 double murder of Andrew and Abby Borden. Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the axe murders despite remaining the prime suspect. The house now operates as a bed and breakfast and museum.

The Greek Revival house at 230 Second Street was built in 1845 and became home to Andrew Jackson Borden, a wealthy but notoriously frugal businessman who chose to live in this modest downtown neighborhood despite assets worth over $500,000. On the sweltering morning of August 4, 1892, Andrew and his second wife Abby were found brutally murdered—Abby struck 19 times with a hatchet in the upstairs guest room, Andrew 11 times while napping on the parlor sofa. Investigators determined Abby died at least 90 minutes before her husband, her body cold while his was still warm.

Suspicion immediately fell on Andrew's 32-year-old daughter Lizzie, who was home that morning with only the maid, Bridget Sullivan. The family had been plagued by tensions over money and Lizzie's open contempt for her stepmother. Police found two hatchets in the basement, one with a freshly broken handle deliberately covered in ash. Lizzie was arrested on August 11 and charged with double murder, but after a sensational 13-day trial, a jury acquitted her on June 20, 1893, citing insufficient evidence. No one else was ever charged, and the case remains officially unsolved—though the consensus among historians is that Lizzie almost certainly killed her parents.

The house opened as a bed and breakfast in 1996, and paranormal activity has been reported from the very beginning. The most commonly seen apparition is Abby Borden herself, witnessed as an older woman in Victorian dress wandering the second-floor hallway. Guests often mistake her for a maid or staff member, rising to greet her only to find themselves alone. Those who sleep in the room where Abby was murdered—now the most requested guest accommodation—report feeling bedsheets tighten around them and hearing the unsettling sound of hands brushing across the covers.

Andrew Borden's spirit is far more aggressive. Tour guides claim he has physically punched them in the back, and guests are advised to leave a monetary tribute in his room to appease his money-hungry ghost. Photos of misty human forms have been captured in the parlor where he was killed. Most disturbing are the sounds of children laughing and running on the third floor—believed to be the ghosts of two children killed by a previous resident of the house, a relative of the Bordens whose wife murdered them before taking her own life.

The house has been investigated by numerous paranormal teams with compelling results. On an episode of Ghost Lab, investigators captured an EVP responding to the question "Did Lizzie kill you for your money?" with a male voice clearly stating "You got that right!" Other documented EVPs include the voices of both Lizzie and maid Bridget Sullivan on digital recorders, and a Class A recording of a woman's voice saying "Help me" in the guest bedroom. When investigator Al Rauber asked "Who made the mirror move?" he received the response "Asa"—later discovering an Asa Gifford had lived in the house in the late 1800s.

Paranormal investigator Amy Bruni from Kindred Spirits has visited multiple times and concluded the activity represents a powerful residual haunting—energy imprinted on the space rather than interactive spirits. "The energy of the Borden House is fed often, and fed well, by one of the most notorious true crime cases in American history," she observed. Over 25 years, investigators have documented more than 100 EVPs and anomalous photographs, with 70% of overnight guests reporting unexplained noises or being touched. There have been 134 documented reports of physical sensations and 162 accounts of unexplained sounds.

Today the Lizzie Borden House operates as both a museum and bed and breakfast, owned since 2021 by US Ghost Adventures. Guests can take daytime tours of the crime scene, book overnight ghost hunts in the basement, or sleep in the very rooms where the murders occurred—including Abby's murder room, still decorated with period furniture and framed crime scene photographs. The house serves breakfast that includes items similar to what the Bordens ate on their final morning. It remains one of America's most investigated haunted locations, drawing thousands of visitors annually who hope to encounter the spirits of one of history's most infamous unsolved crimes.