Guests booked at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast receive a night tour with their stay, and it includes the basement. Day tours don’t go down there.
However the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast/Museum is now offering a new night tour that does take guests to the basement, no overnight stay needed.
Unless you have 10 or more guests, you don’t need reservations for day tours. However, you will for night ones.
Night tours will take place Monday and/or Tuesday nights. According to the site, they’ll vary from month to month, so they kindly request you check back to their tour site to make reservations.
What can you expect on a night tour?
Pretty much the same as on a day tour, except with a few differences, such as:
- The most obvious being, it’s at night.
- Day tours last about 50 minutes. Night tours start at 6:30 p.m. and end at 8:30 p.m. (And in case you’re interested, overnight guest nighttime tours take about an hour and a half.)
- Guides lead guests through the rooms by candlelight, including a jaunt down to the basement. Along the way they weave history with tales of the house’s restless spirits.
What’s so special about the basement?
Is this where Lizzie cleaned her ax after she murdered her father and step-mother? If she committed the murders, that is. Lizzie was found not guilty and the murders remain unsolved.
However, the basement is where two hatchets, two axes, and a hatchet head were found. The hatchet head is what some believed was the murder weapon.
As far as paranormal activity, yes. The basement seems to have some. According to Try to Scare Me, some have reported seeing Lizzie Borden’s ghost in the basement.
Also, the ghost of the maid’s cat.
When I interviewed my friend Chris Verstraete about her book, Lizzie Borden: Zombie Hunter, I came across info on HauntedHouses.com about the cat. Namely, Lizzie’s step-mom had discovered the cat’s head in the basement. It had been hacked off shortly before she met her demise.
So, yeah. It’s got some interest to true crime and supernatural enthusiasts alike.
For More Info
To see about reserving a spot on the night tour at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast/Museum, visit their website: https://lizzie-borden.com/index.php/tours/.
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.