Yikes, the disgusting Lizzie Borden dinner scene in Monster is based on a true story

If you thought Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story couldn’t get any more disgusting, episode two said: Hold my oysters.

One of the most stomach-churning scenes in the Netflix series sees Andrew and Abby Borden become violently ill after eating oysters, with the whole thing quickly descending into projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhoea. Grim.

Via Netflix

But while the show takes plenty of creative liberties with Lizzie Borden’s story, this particular plot point does have a basis in real life.

The real Borden family really did suffer a mysterious bout of violent illness just days before Andrew and Abby were murdered. However, there is no established evidence that Lizzie deliberately poisoned them, and the actual story is slightly different from what we see on screen.

In Monster, Lizzie and the family’s maid, Bridget Sullivan, are shown deliberately serving Andrew and Abby deadly oysters as an attempt to kill them.

The scene gets increasingly grim as the pair become violently sick, with the show going all in on the bodily fluids. It’s very much played as Lizzie’s first attempt at murdering her father and stepmother.

Via Netflix

In real life, Andrew and Abby did become seriously ill shortly before their deaths. Andrew’s brother-in-law, John V. Morse, and the family’s live-in maid, Bridget Sullivan, were also affected. Abby was sufficiently alarmed by what happened that she went to see a doctor the following morning because she feared the family had been poisoned.

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According to historical accounts, the family had eaten leftover swordfish and mutton broth, with the food later being linked to the illness after it had been stored improperly. So, unlike in Monster, oysters weren’t the suspected culprit.

The real-life illness became relevant to the case because Lizzie herself reportedly did not suffer from it in the same way as the others.

Via Netflix

During the investigation and trial, questions were raised about whether the illness could have been an attempt to poison the family, particularly because of another suspicious detail involving Lizzie.

A pharmacist claimed that Lizzie had attempted to buy prussic acid, a highly poisonous substance, from his store shortly before the murders. She reportedly told him that she wanted it to clean a sealskin cape.

The claim was ultimately ruled irrelevant to her trial, so it was not established that Lizzie had actually been trying to poison anyone.

Lizzie was eventually acquitted of murdering Andrew and Abby in 1893, and the case remains unresolved.

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Featured image via Netflix