Inside Lizzie Borden home labeled 'America's most haunted' which makes over $1 million a year
Thousands of visitors reportedly flock to the home where Lizzie Borden allegedly bludgeoned her entire family back in 1892, making a whopping amount of tourism profits every year.
Fall River is the location of one of America's most mysterious cases that has been dramatized on screen and Netflix, alike– the Borden killings.
From films, to documentaries, books, shows and even a song or two, the tale of the murders have been somewhat of a ghost story for some.
Because of the way the case ended – in an acquittal of Lizzie, the story has remained unsolved and clearly interesting for all who pay good money to visit the home.
Advert
However, it's not just a little money the monetization of the Borden home rakes in.
In fact, it's over $1 million per year.
“The Lizzie Borden house attracts about 50 to 300 visitors a day on average,” according to Robert A. Mellion, president, CEO and general counsel for the Fall River Chamber of Commerce, who spoke with the Seattle Times about the case.
He added: “On average they anticipate about 54,000 visitors annually. Consequently, its economic impact is tangible.”
Per the official museum, it's $30 per visitor.
However, if you wanted to really get a feel for the life of Lizzie before her father, Andrew Borden and his wife, Abby's, deaths, you could spend $259.99 minimum to stay the night in what's been dubbed one of the most haunted places in the US.
All you have to do is book through the Lizzie Borden House website.
That's $14 million per annum if every visitor stayed just one night in the house.
Anyway, if you don't know about the Borden case, buckle up.
It all began on the morning of August 4, 1892, when businessman Andrew and wife, Abby, were murdered with an axe at their home on Second Street.
Because there was only Lizzie, Andrew’s daughter by his first marriage, and the maid, Bridget Sullivan, around the home at the time, Lizzie was charged.
Sullivan was decidedly not guilty because she was allegedly washing windows on the other side of the home.
However, when the murders couldn't be connected to Lizzie, and her sister Emma was outspoken in her defense of her, the case was dismissed.
Tours have since been created so viewers can get a sense of what it was like at that time, be it at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast Museum; which is the home she bought with Emma, or the family burial plot at Oak Grove Cemetery, where Lizzie, Emma, her parents and other relatives were buried.
“If you really want to experience it fully, you have to spend the night,” said Rick Bertoldo, a tour guide who spoke with the Seattle Times. “It’s fun, especially when there are a lot of people.”
Since the murders, several theories have come to fruition.
From Lizzie doing it herself, to the maid, then perhaps her uncle, John, or even an alleged illegitimate child of her father, called William.
However, even after all this time, the case has never been solved.
Which could be why people are so interested in it.
Topics: True crime, History, US News
Britt Jones