'she gave her mother 40 whacks': the lasting fascination with lizzie borden

Here in Britain if we know Lizzie Borden at all it's probably as the gruesome subject of an infuriatingly catchy children's rhyme: "Lizzie Borden took an axe/And gave her

mother forty whacks/When she saw what she had done/She gave her father forty one". But that is all set to change as a host of new projects including a film, _Lizzie Borden_, starring

Chloe Sevigny and Kristen Stewart, a highly anticipated debut novel, _See What I Have Done_, and a revival of a cult US rock musical, _Lizzie_, place America's most famous probable

parricide back in the spotlight again. The new projects mark the culmination of a recent surge of interest in Borden's story almost 125 years after she first hit the headlines. In 2014

US cable channel Lifetime showed a television film, _Lizzie Borden Took An Ax,_ and followed that up with a 2015 series _The Lizzie Borden Chronicles_, both of which received a mixed

response. Earlier this year author Sarah Miller received considerably better reviews for her non-fiction work _The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden and The Trial of the Century,_ while the

crime scene itself has been rebranded as the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast Museum since the mid 1990s and does a roaring trade enticing true crime fans, ghost hunters and even the odd

would-be author through its doors. "There's definitely been a revival of interest in her story," says Richard Behrens who runs the popular Lizzie Borden podcast in addition to

writing a series of books featuring a young pre-murders Lizzie as an eager beaver girl detective. "In part I think its that there's a revival of interest in the Victorian era in

general – look at something like _Penny Dreadful_ – but it's also the case that the Lizzie Borden story has always been part of American mythology, probably because her trial for murder

happened at a time when mass media in the form of newspapers exploded so there was just that bit more coverage. Plus, of course, she got off." Leah Woodburn, the editor of Sarah

Schmidt's disturbing and visceral take on the murders, _See What I Have Done_, agrees that the Borden murders resonate because we will never really know how the tragic events played

out. The basic facts are as follows: on 4 August 1892 Lizzie Borden alerted the family maid, Bridget Sullivan, to her father's mutilated body. He had been hit 10 or 11 times with

"a hatchet-like weapon" while sleeping on the sofa. The body of Abby Borden, Lizzie's stepmother, was found similarly mutilated in the family guest room. She had been struck

18 times. Lizzie's sister, Emma, was out of town at the time of the murders and Bridget was apparently recovering from a bout of food poisoning. Another possible suspect, house guest

John Morse, the brother of Lizzie's deceased mother, produced a strong alibi placing him away from the scene. The police subsequently arrested 32-year-old Lizzie. Her trial the

following year was a media sensation and ended in acquittal. Lizzie returned to Fall River to a new home, Maplecroft, where she would live for the rest of her life, dying in 1927 aged 67.

"It's a classic whodunnit, locked-room story," says Woodburn. "Lizzie might have been the main suspect but she was acquitted and because no one else was ever charged that

leaves the door open for endless speculation and new ideas. In that sense it's like Jack the Ripper – everyone has their own theories of who committed the crime." And the Borden

case is not the only true-crime story attracting attention. There is a growing fascination with fictionalised takes on the genre from the BBC1 hit _Rillington Place_, about the John Christie

murders in London, to America's _The People v OJ Simpson_. Novels too are increasing looking to put a fresh spin on past misdeeds. Anna Mazzola's _The Unseeing_, published this

summer, covers the real-life tale of Sarah Gale, accused of helping the 1830s Edgware Road murderer James Greenacre cover up his crime. Jake Arnott's _The Fatal Tree_, out in February,

delves deep into the life of the Georgian criminal Edgworth Bess denounced by her former lover Jack Sheppard with the damning words "a more wicked, deceitful and lascivious wretch is

not known in England". Emma Flint's _Little Deaths_, published in January, finds inspiration in the notorious case of Alice Crimmins, who was tried for the murder of her two

children in New York in the 1960s. So what is driving this sudden interest in long-buried crimes? "People have long been fascinated by fiction and drama with their roots in real crimes

– many Victorian-era novelists were inspired by real murders," says Mazzola. "But there's definitely something of a resurgence, partly because we are drawn to what we believe

to be genuine and partly because we are fascinated and horrified by the peculiarities of other people's lives – in particular by what would lead someone to commit a terrible crime. And

in novels we get the satisfying conclusion we don't get with real-life crime. It constructs order from the chaos." Francesca Main, editorial director at Picador, agrees, adding

that the phenomenon has been boosted by the continued success of the psychological or domestic thriller. "The boom in psychological thrillers means that readers have gone from

characters we sympathise with or relate to complicated, difficult and not necessarily likeable heroines and this interest is now starting to merge with a continued enthusiasm for historical

fiction," she explains. It's also the case that events such as the Borden murders resonate because we find their echo in our own recent past. "When I read _Little Deaths _I

didn't know the story it was based on but reading about the lead character, Ruth Malone, reminded me of other recent cases where women were torn apart in the media," Main says.

"It might be set in a very specific place and time but what it says about women and mothers and how they're expected to behave rang true today." That's certainly the case

with the Borden murders: when Lizzie Borden went to trial much was made of her odd behaviour after her father's death, her failure to grieve in "normal" or

"acceptable" ways, her inability to grasp the situation she was in. There are parallels with recent cases, such as that of Amanda Knox. "There's a line that Amanda Knox

says in the recent documentary about her that summed up the reaction about her: "Either I'm a psychopath or I'm you'," says Sarah Weinman, editor of _Women Crime

Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940s and 50s_. "Women like her make people very uncomfortable because they don't behave 'normally' even though there is no such

thing as 'normal' after traumatic events. And because there is ambiguity, legal, morally, in the media, or otherwise, about what happened that discomfort increases." Flint,

author of _Little Deaths_, agrees. "There's definitely a sense with these cases of women being judged because they don't behave in the ways in which women are supposed to

behave," she says. "We have no idea if they're guilty or not guilty but we judge them on whether they look right or whether we think their behaviour is fundamentally wrong. In

the case of Alice Crimmins it became all about not only how she wasn't grieving in the way a mother should but also that, prior to that, she didn't look how a mother should look.

She didn't dress or act the way she was supposed to and the police, her neighbours and the court judged her for that." It is also the case that each generation views these cases

afresh, filtering them through a new set of feelings and fears. "It's interesting that although the real Lizzie is fascinating enough people still project their own darkness or

worst impulses on to the story," says Behrens. "Or alternatively they try and make her more sympathetic. Each person who comes to her story views her through their eyes." And

perhaps the most primal and immediate thrill from following these cases in today's era is the fact that you can read the Lizzie Borden novel or watch the Lizzie Borden film and then

head straight online to try to sift fact from fiction. "I do think the true crime element brings an extra dimension to readers," admits Woodburn. "If I'm honest my first

reaction to _See What I Have Done_ was to read it and then Google the bejesus out of it. I had to find out more." _See What I Have Done is published on 4 May. Lizzie The Musical is at

the Greenwich Theatre, London, from 22 February. Little Deaths is published on 1 January. The Unseeing is out now._ LIZZIE BORDEN'S LIFE 19 JULY 1860 Lizzie Borden is born 26 MARCH 1863

Her mother dies 6 JUNE 1865 Mr Borden marries Abby Durfee Gray 3 AUGUST 1892 John Morse, Lizzie's uncle, arrives to stay at the family home 4 AUGUST 1892 Andrew and Abby Borden are

murdered 11 AUGUST 1892 Lizzie is arrested and charged 5 JUNE 1893 Lizzie is tried for the murder of her father and stepmother 20 JUNE 1893 Lizzie is acquitted due to lack of evidence. She

returns to home town of Fall River and buys a house, where she lives with her sister until the latter moves out in 1904 1 JUNE 1927 Lizzie dies