Spiering's book

[Angel]

I just finished reading Frank Spiering's book and found it to be very interesting. What do you all feel about his book and his theory? I tried to look up what has been written about him in the archives, but I didn't find too much, although maybe I'm not looking in the right places. What I thought was really weird was Emma having a back staircase made in her last home with a hidden cupboard, a switch she had installed to illuminate the downstairs with one flip, and an axe hidden in the secret cupboard. That's just creepy. He suggests that she may have dressed as a man, got into the house, killed Abby, hid in the guest room, and then offed her father. He says there was a carriage sitting on the street near the Borden house for over an hour that morning. And he is surprised that no one checked where she said she was while she was away.

Also, I had asked about Billy Borden having been used by the sisters to do their deed (in a previous post), but I didn't get any response. Is it too off the wall to approach that theory, or has it been covered too much that no one wants to discuss it any further?

[Tina-Kate]

Some time ago, I *think* it was Bill Pavao, posted that he and another man had gone to see the house where Emma lived in Newmarket, NH. The owner showed them around. There was no such electrical panel as Spiering had claimed. Spiering was the first book I read on the case & it was a long time before I read another one, so I was misled by it for years. He makes a lot of errors. I recently found he had made even more errors when I was doing research for an article on Nance O'Neil that I wrote for *The Hatchet*. Spiering and another author had used some of the same sources for Nance research & Spiering STILL made errors. I'm not sure if he just wasn't very careful in his research or if he simply used it as a base & made up his own version of things as he saw fit. I don't believe that carriage was in front of the Borden house for over an hour -- that comes from Mark Chase's testimony in the trial. I believe, in fact, the carriage was sitting in front of the Kelly house & it was not as long as an hour. As for the Arnold R. Brown book (which was in fact the 2nd one I read on the case) it has as many errors as Spiering & a lot of it is just plain fiction. Apparently A R Brown himself confessed it as a hoax shortly before he passed away. Even before he died, he admitted he had no proof William Borden was in fact Andrew Borden's son. I think a lot of the books aren't discussed here in general because of so many errors & just plain fictions (even when the books were written as non-fiction). I *really* started to learn about this case when I read Rebello's *Lizzie Borden Past & Present*, and then all the source documents. Rebello is pure research with no misleading errors or fictions.

[Allen]

I have started to read the book by Spiering many times. I have it, but I have never finished reading it. I get disgusted with it and have never made it very far into the book. The errors are so glaring and you start running into them almost as soon as you start reading. I do not think I'll ever be able to finish reading it. I'll keep the book, not sure why, but I'll probably never read it all. I really start getting disgusted somewhere around the time that he implies that Abby's head was completely severed from her body. How far into the book is that? I haven't made it that much further.

[Angel]

I'm glad to hear your take on these ideas.

[Kat]

I had heard that the light panel was simply a set of switches like we have now. Nothing extraordinary - something we would find common- maybe not extremely commom in 1927.
I recall something about no real secret back stairway.
Was this in the LBQ?
What I find in Lincoln et. al., is exaggeration.
Something which might seem everyday is blown out of proportion and made to seem bigger and wierder.
It's certainly not history, tho it could have been.
That cheats us and is frustrating.

I would keep Spiering for the pictures.

[Angel]

It certainly does cheat us. That's outragious that he would change the story so much.
In the meantime, I just got Lincoln's book from Amazon and will read that so I can look back on what you all thought about that one.

[Kat]

I have this funny relationship with the books by Lincoln, Brown and Spiering.
When Stefani started the magazine, I took a few advertising brochures to my local libray to ask if they could be provided to patrons in their lobby area where they pose the pamphlets for display.
The ladies there are getting to know me since I was incorporated, and their site became my new free library.
Anyway, the bottom line was that only not-for-profit information was allowed to be posted there in the foyer. That was fine.
Then I checked their Lizzie selection and there was only Brown, Lincoln and Spiering!
I half-jokingly told the ladies that under fairness our magazine should be considered anyway, due to it's dissemination of the proper facts of the case to balance these "Fictional" items which are in a non-fiction section!
They appreciated the subtlety of thought, but could not accomodate me, per rules.
Which was fine.
But now whever I go there I approach the shelf where the Borden material is and look to see if the books are still there.
I don't know why.
I growl at them.
Once I gave them a Bronx Cheer.
I think I am just satisfied that there are always there, hiding on the shelf, and no one is checking them out.
That's terrible, isn't it?

[Fargo]

I think Spierings book is a good book, along with all the other "Fictional Books" because thats what it is, fiction. It was the second large book that I read on the case. It even says that Andrew's skull is at the FRHS. Mabe it was written as a work of fiction and they put in the reality catagory by mistake. All you have to do is think of it as a Fictional Book and you will enjoy reading it.

[Audrey]

I own and have read all the books and I do have to be careful not to "remember" things from them as fact....

But I do think they are worth reading.

[Liz Crouthers]

Spierings is my fave Lizzie book just b/c we think alike on the murders and he has nice photos.

[Fargo]

That's why I am glad I read the real story before I read any of the fictional stories. One thing about the fiction books is that they have some conversations in them that are similar to conversations that likely took place.

[augusta]

Oh, poor Tina-Kate - reading two of the crappiest Lizzie books first!
Did Arnold Brown admit his book was a hoax? Can you cite your source? He was so adamant and defensive about his book, I'm surprised to hear he might have done that.

I won't read Lincoln's, Brown's, or Spiering's again. They are full of errors and today I am appalled that these books were classified as non-fiction. They only confuse me - I'll remember something they said and forget where I read it and start believing some junk that isn't true.

Abby's head was severed - if the book was talking about at the second autopsies. Both her and Andrew's heads were removed. But not during the murderous attack. I have read that Abby's head at one part was almost severed. (Forgot my source.)

I've read that Andrew's skull was on display at the FR courthouse in the 1980's. Their heads were both buried when they were done with them (I should clarify that with 'when the doctors were done with them'). I thought well, maybe it was the casting of the skull that was on exhibit. But no one seems to remember it ever being on display there.

There were huge, blown-up framed black and white photos of the bare skulls hanging in the FRHS Lizzie room in the 1980's. This was before a photo of one of the skulls was published (that I knew of at the time). I remember being shocked at the photos - how horrible it was; the massive piece missing and how horrific it was. (They might have just had one photo up there; I can't remember if it was just one of the victims or both.) But that's the day it really hit home with me how terrible these crimes were.

I think Spiering's book was very well-written. I had read it twice years ago. It made me feel like I was there. But even back then, I had a hard time believing in 'How Emma Died'. And her paranoia - although she did suffer from dementia. But I thought it might have been made up that she was saying, "Oh, they're coming to get me!" and stuff like that.

It is strange that Lizzie and Emma died so closely together time-wise.

I did an article for The Hatchet that speaks out against one of the biggest lies Spiering told. And I'll use the word "lie", because I believe he knew he was misleading readers with it. Because The Hatchet is by subscription only, I won't go into detail about the article. I hope you guys all have a subscription.

[Kat]

I've heard it around Fall River that Brown admitted he took liberties with facts in his book. Was it when he was visiting the house?