Monster missed out some key details about Lizzie Borden, including her community work

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story missed out some really important details about Lizzie that reveal a lot about her character, so here are some of the things you should know. 

Lizzie Borden was hugely involved in the local community

Monster makes Lizzie out to be a recluse who doesn’t leave the house, but this wasn’t true at all. She was actually a big churchwoman who was really active in the local Fall River community, teaching Sunday school and doing lots of charitable work for the Central Congressional Church. She was also an active member of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), a Christian movement that advocated for the prohibition of alcohol, was on the Fall River Hospital board and volunteered with the Good Samaritan Charity Hospital. On top of that, she was a member of the Ladies’ Fruit and Flower Mission, delivering fresh flowers and fruit to hospital patients and sick people. 

Credit: Netflix

Lizzie and her sister Emma were actually really close

In the show, Lizzie barely speaks to her sister Emma and they don’t seem close at all, but in real life, they were really close. Emma was nine years older than Lizzie and a hugely important figure in her life. She actually made a promise to their mother on her deathbed that she’d look after Lizzie, and they lived together for most of their lives. Emma stuck by her sister after the trial, and they bought and lived in their Maplecroft mansion together for over a decade. It wasn’t until 1905 that the pair had a huge falling out and lived the rest of their lives estranged. Monster also shows Emma finding a husband, but neither of them ever married in real life. 

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She tried to buy poison the day before the murders

Monster shows Lizzie attempt to poison her father and stepmother with the help of Bridget Sullivan, who makes up a concoction of various herbs. It doesn’t work, so they try to kill them with food poisoning from some bad oysters instead, which also fails. Andrew and Abby really were hit with a stomach bug days before the murders in real life, caused by a swordfish and mutton broth, but what Monster missed out is that Lizzie tried to buy poison. In the trial, a pharmacist claimed she tried to buy prussic acid to put an edge on a seal-skin cape, but they refused to sell it to her because of her strange reasoning. 

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Lizzie was accused of shoplifting years after the trial

A few years after the trial, Lizzie ran into trouble with the law once again as she was accused of shoplifting. The incident occurred in 1897 in Providence, Rhode Island, where she was accused of stealing some items from a jeweller, who noticed two painted porcelain pieces had gone missing. A woman brought one of the missing pieces back to the shop to be repaired and claimed she had received it as a gift from Lizzie. So, the police issued a warrant for her arrest and searched her home, where they found the other piece of porcelain. Lizzie claimed she paid for them, and the whole thing was dropped. She was never convicted, but it brought her even more unwanted attention. 

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