Lizzie Borden Society Forum

I went into a bookstore at the local mall to kill some time. I scanned the True Crime section but didn't see anything on Lizzie. I went to the assistant and asked her to do a subject search.

"What's the topic?" she asked.

"Lizzie Borden," I replied.

"What did she do?" she asked.

I was momentarily aghast, but then I remembered not everyone shares our interest in the past!

Hello, GotC!
It's a shame, with all the overqualified, knowledgeable people who would love to have that bookstore job, that someone a tad more cosmopolitan doesn't have it.
Lizzie was never mentioned in my high-school U.S. history class (year-long), and she was mentioned in one fleeting breath in a Survey of American History course taken in college, but only because the professor was from Massachusetts, I surmise. "The Movie" was first shown when I was in eighth grade, at a time when there were only four networks (counting PBS), and it drew an audience far greater than any that could be achieved today, because of cable. It was also repeated in late-night showings thereafter, while I was in high school.
Do scroll through the entirety of the "Borden Case in Popular Culture" topic that Bob G. commenced, as well as the other topics. I've learned and am learning lots therefrom. This Forum is regularly visited by experts of longstanding and by residents and historians of Fall River.
The History Channel and the Biography Channel both produced excellent programs on the case and on Lizzie, respectively. Also, the Borden house is featured at the top of the list of "The World's Creepiest Destinations" program, which has been shown at least one dozen times on the Travel Channel. Anyway, Lizzie's out there on TV, if anyone cares to channel surf-- and certainly if they care to read.

I think not knowing about Lizzie Borden is a sign of the lack of cultural literacy that exists today. I am a teacher, and just the other day I was telling my principal about the Lizzie case. She did not know who Lizzie killed or how (if you are one of those who believes she did it), but she knew that Lizzie was an infamous murderess. Our interest in everything Lizzie makes us unique individuals. We have something that we can share with others that is both fascinating and engrossing.

Yes indeed!
We should all go out into the world and convert people!

Usually younger folk who bag my groceries do not know who Lizzie is. But they also never heard of Attila The Hun.

There are plenty of intelligent, knowledgeable and successful people who have never heard of Lizzie. (I've met some.) After all, knowledge about the case is hardly essential except to crime buffs.

How many of you knew that "Attila" is accented on the first syllable, not the second? Do you care?

Lizzie who? Wasn't she the mascot of the Borden Company, you know, the cow on the label?

I can relate to that. I have had friends that that cute little lizzie borden rhyme is just that a cute little rhyme!

I wonder if it's due in part to geography.

I'm from the Northeast, and everyone I knew (both young and old) knew the legend and the the little ditty that went along with it. They discussed it in schools, and I was raised in a rural community outside Philadelphia.

But I've encountered many people my age and older, who grew up in different parts of the country, who've never heard of Lizzie Borden. Or if they've of the name before, they cannot recall why. It's interesting.