Bridget's Sudden Bout of Bravery

[dalcanton]

Does anyone else find it strange that Bridget – who was so terrified to check for Mrs. Borden on her own – suddenly found the courage to be the first one to run into the guest room to look at her bloodied, hacked-up corpse? What if the killer was still in the darkened guest room?

[irina]

I find a lot of what Bridget did, a bit odd. My take on this is the same argument I make for Lizzie staying in the house alone, although by the back door. In the moment of panic and horror our minds make decisions, right or wrong. I believe Bridget was totally innocent and have to admit Lizzie's innocence is in question though I believe she didn't commit the murders. The way I see it Bridget reasoned that the killer had fled. Lizzie said she came back from the barn and the screen door was "open" or "wide open". To me this says the killer left through the side door and didn't even close the door. Undoubtedly Bridget had gotten this idea before she went upstairs. Plus people were all over the place. Folks wouldn't have considered the possibility of being take hostage in those days. It wouldn't make sense that a killer would jump out and kill another, at the time Bridget went upstairs. A crowd or group builds courage.

Possibly there was more conversation between Bridget and Lizzie that was never reported. Did Lizzie ever say the killer surely ran out the door and left the door wide open, for example? If Lizzie said, "Someone came in and killed father", it would make sense to a sensible person of the time that the killer did the deed and left. This was before the wide reporting of motiveless crimes and creepy crawling through homes. All that probably happened back then but it wasn't publicized.

[Curryong]

Yes, I think there is courage in numbers. Remember, Dr Bowen wasn't too keen to go up there himself! The two women only went upstairs on Lizzie's urging, if you will remember. Mrs Churchill hung back, but Bridget, fortified by the number of males in the house, and perhaps anxious to help, bravely went to see what was in the room. In a way there may have been a feeling of horrified anticipation, maybe a 'something terrible must have happened, now we shall see what' about Bridget's actions.

I've been a fan of horror films (though not slash movies) and ghost stories all my life. It could well have been the sort of ' tingling creepy terror' you get from watching/reading those, that Bridget experienced. I don't believe either, that there would have been thoughts of being taken hostage or anything.

Who knows, once away from Fall River, as a central figure in a mystery that had gripped the nation, Bridget may have grown to quite enjoy discussing it all with relatives and close friends in later life.

[debbiediablo]

My guess is Bridget's Victorian sensibilities were less well developed than any of the other women present.

[irina]

I don't think Bridget ever discussed the case with anyone throughout her life. That is the maddening thing~people involved never talked or confided secrets, etc. Conspiracies fall apart because people eventually talk. Apparently Fall River of 1892 would be the perfect place to hatch a conspiracy. NOBODY would have talked~~EVER. Gosh, maybe Jimmy Hoffa's body was discarded in modern Fall River and the folks there are still as close mouthed as in Lizzie's time.

I'm not suggesting the Borden murders were a conspiracy by the way.