Mondo Lizzie Borden

Well, I guess if you are just into ghosts, Kirsten’s blog on the haunting of 92 Second Street is something you might find interesting enough to read. If you are into the case, it won’t be a good experience. My favorite part is—well—all of it. Too funny!

Here is a snippet:

Abbey is sometimes seen making beds around the home and she climbs into the guests’ beds with them quite often as well. Most of the time, Abbey is seen in clear and plain view. Many people around the house claim to hear voices and the opening and closing of doors. Sometimes people hear two women arguing and other times women crying. Footsteps are quite frequently heard around the home and with it’s past, it’s a very likely place for such a haunting.

Isn’t hearing voices a sign of schizophrenia? Or is there a new diagnosis for this malady—LizzieSkhizein (the overwhelming urge to hear the voices of victims of hatchet murders).

From REPORT ON 2003 WORKSHOP ON GENDER ISSUES IN THE SCIENCES held June 11-13, 2003, at Colby College, Waterville, Maine.

“Successful Strategies for Advancement” by Dr. Emily Toth, Robert Penn Warren Professor of English, Louisiana State University.

I am not a scientist by background, though I have lived with a chemist for most of my adult life. But my first book, published in 1976, was one of the few at that time on the subject of menstruation. My first department head couldn’t mention it without blushing. My two co-authors were also literature scholars, and our book is called, The Curse: A Cultural History About Menstruation. It is not about medical, but cultural aspects, of what we call, “the friendly monthly nuisance.” Among other chapters, we had a chapter on the menstrual products industry, which we called “From Rags to Riches.” And we had one on menstruation jokes - “Red Humor” - and
we had one on famous menstruators in history, which we called “The Menstrual Hall of Fame.”

Now, I wouldn’t call these famous menstruators the role models that women need, because one of them was Lizzie Borden, who was probably the most famous New England menstruator of the 19th century. She killed her parents during PMS. She was our first known menstrual murderess. Lizzie Borden was, however, useful in other ways. We were looking for examples of the power of women, and the ability of women to make choices and be resourceful. In that case, Lizzie Borden was a role model. When Lizzie Borden went on trial in the 1890’s in Fall River Massachusetts, everyone in town knew she had killed her parents. The jury was all male, and the judges and lawyers were all men, so when they asked Lizzie Borden why there was blood on her skirt, she said, ”I have fleas,” which is an expression meaning, “I have my period.” The men were so embarrassed that they acquitted her. She spent the rest of her life living in Fall River, Massachusetts, trying to give candy to little kids who ran away screaming in horror.

Well cut off my legs and call me shorty. File this one in the dirty diaper pail.

Here is a PDF of the entire newsletter so you can read more!

Did you know there was a Morse Society? And did you know that their coat of arms is an axe? And that they have a quarterly newsletter and offer a free sample? And did you know that they are having a reunion this year in October in Fall River? And that one of the attractions that is on the schedule is a tour of the Lizzie Borden B&B? And did you know . . .

Well you can find out for yourself at the Morse Society web page. Happy Morsing!

From the New York Times, August 20, 1892:

I never thought about the Samuels’ book Girl in the House of Hate as being a part of a series of lurid tales, but El Postino did on his blog Paranoia Strikes Deep. Wow, look at what he found!

When you see them all in a row like that you really see the gratuitous and sensationalized nature of the product! They are all by the same artist and are truly 50s bookcover kitsch—well worth collecting in their own right.

Oooh, and look at the last one The Girl on the Gallows. It is by Q. Patrick. Where do I know that name from? Oh yeah, from my own Borden bibliography: Q. Patrick, (pseudonym). “The Case for Lizzie.” The Pocket Book of True Crime Stories. Ed. Anthony Boucher. NY: Pocket Books, 1943. According to the late Terence Duniho, “Patrick Q.” was a pseudonym for Richard Wilson Webb and Hugh Callingham Wheeler. They also wrote under the names Patrick Quentin and Jonathan Stagge.

She looks like Vivian Leigh from Gone with the Wind to me.