Wait, Did Lizzie Borden Go To Jail? Here’s What ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’ Got Right

Was the real Lizzie Borden acquitted IRL?

While I’d love to say that what actually happened to Lizzie Borden is wilder than the ending of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, that is unfortunately not really true. Let’s set aside Bridget the maid and the whole meeting Aileen Wuornos in the afterlife thing for a minute. We sing songs about how this woman killed her mother and stepmother, but how do we know that? Did the alleged axe murderer even, actually, go to jail?

In Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’s penultimate episode, the antiheroine is tried for murder. After a brief time in a cell before the trial, the privileged killer is put under house arrest instead. Her trial jury refuses to believe that a woman could have committed the crimes of which she is accused, and finds her not guilty. It does not hurt that she has esteemed stage actress Nance O’Neill as a friend and coach.

Yes! She was initially indicted and did go to jail for just under a year starting in 1892. She was not on house arrest during that time. The real Borden sat in a real cell for months. The following year, 1893, she was tried and actually acquitted. The jury really did reach a verdict quickly, and upon her release Borden did tell the reporters outside that she was "the happiest woman in the world."

Whether she was truly innocent or got away with two murders is still unknown. She moved to a different house, started going by Lizbeth instead of Lizzie, and was not very welcome in high society... but she was free. Borden died of pneumonia as a middle-aged woman and is buried next to her sister, Emma.

What jail did Lizzie Borden get sent to?

She was held in the Taunton Jail on Hodges Avenue in Taunton, Massachusetts for ten months. While awaiting her trial, she was moved to and detained at the Ash Street Jail in New Bedford, Massachusetts. There, she stayed in the matron’s quarters—so not house arrest but, still, pretty fancy for her position.

Was Nance O’Neill a real person?

Also yes! In fact, Lizzie threw her a party in 1905 that caused a life-altering argument between her and Emma. “Sisters Estranged Over Nance O’Neill,” read the headline. “Her Entertainment Causes Quarrel Between Lizzie and Emma Borden.”

However, the article claims that their “intimate friendship” began only a year prior. So it’s not likely that Nance coached her during her murder trial. It’s also not likely, as some historical theorists have posited and the series portrays, that they were lovers at that time. Maybe later, but Monster obviously made some leaps.