Lizzie Borden Society Forum

NancyDrew wrote:Interesting. My house is almost the same...its 1700 square feet, looks deceptively small from the outside, and has no hallways. It was built in 1927 and is comprised of a bunch of small rooms. No stairway though. My front door opens into my living room, then the dining room, then the kitchen. We are constantly yelling across the house and the other person cannot hear what we are saying. I guess houses were built solidly "back in the day." And like you, Aamartin, I can hear footsteps because the wood creaks, but I cannot hear voices.

I've often kidded with my husband that I could be fending off an attacker in one end of the house, screaming for my life and he wouldn't hear me. And to be honest, we've learned to ignore the creaking sounds--even the ones that sound like footsteps---because the house is so old, its ALWAYS making weird sounds. No central air. WE are forever open and closing windows in the summer to minimize the heat and maximize the shade.

Could this happen in my own home and I would not hear it? I hate to admit this...but probably YES.

PossumPie wrote:

NancyDrew wrote:Interesting. My house is almost the same...its 1700 square feet, looks deceptively small from the outside, and has no hallways. It was built in 1927 and is comprised of a bunch of small rooms. No stairway though. My front door opens into my living room, then the dining room, then the kitchen. We are constantly yelling across the house and the other person cannot hear what we are saying. I guess houses were built solidly "back in the day." And like you, Aamartin, I can hear footsteps because the wood creaks, but I cannot hear voices.

I've often kidded with my husband that I could be fending off an attacker in one end of the house, screaming for my life and he wouldn't hear me. And to be honest, we've learned to ignore the creaking sounds--even the ones that sound like footsteps---because the house is so old, its ALWAYS making weird sounds. No central air. WE are forever open and closing windows in the summer to minimize the heat and maximize the shade.

Could this happen in my own home and I would not hear it? I hate to admit this...but probably YES.

BUT here is my point Nancy Drew. BY DEFINITION, Lizzie yelled up to Bridget from the back door in the kitchen up to the 3rd floor to come quickly. Bridget DID indeed hear her. If Mrs. Borden was in her room on the second floor she surely would have heard also. If she had been in the front room, she may not have understood the words, but she would have heard Lizzie screaming up to the third floor. Lizzie kept insisting from the beginning that she HAD HEARD Mrs. Borden "come back" so Lizzie must have known that after that Yell for Bridget didn't also produce Mrs. Borden, that she must be 'incapacitated' somehow.

That interests me-- because I thought the consensus was no one heard a fall from the guest room while recreating it.....
As for hearing Mrs. Borden fall to the floor? perhaps not as evidenced by your and Aamartin's accounts of your own homes, though I know several people who have said that they experimented in the actual Borden home and heard various degrees of sounds when someone fell, and heard someone call out from the kitchen very clearly in the guest bedroom.

Allen wrote:Thank you for the alert PattiG. I like your enthusiasm about the case. I agree and think it's very possible no sounds could be heard outside during the murders for the simple fact that no sounds were heard during the murders. If sounds could be heard the Kelly maid was also outside washing windows as well and I'm sure she would have heard something. There were men working in the yard just behind the Borden house who also heard nothing. Not to mention all those people passing by on the street that morning. I have seen this show and was a bit disappointed in it. Using a doll house when you have the actual Borden house at your disposal to conduct experiments in seemed a little lack luster. It's like building a model of the Eiffel tower to show it's grandeur when you are standing next to the real thing. The experiments with the hatchet blows to the melon I found to be less than scientific also. The human head doesn't roll about like that because it's anchored down by the neck and the rest of the body. But I hope you enjoy the show and I will probably tune in as well. I usually watch any shows that have to do with the Borden murders.