All I could wonder as I finished watching The Curse of Lizzie Borden was, “Is the Lizzie Borden House still haunted?”
That wasn’t Dave Schrader, Chris Fleming, Sam Baltrusis, or Luann Joly’s goal. Their aim was to investigate whether a dark family curse led to the most infamous ax murders of all time.
Before I proceed any further, however, it’s fair to warn you this post does contain some spoilers. Stop reading here if you want to remain in the dark until you can watch the Shock Docs for yourself.
Now back to our regularly scheduled post…
Pretty much the group went in with the preconceived notion that something dark lurks there, so it’s no surprise that’s pretty much what they ascertained they found evidence of.
However, at the same time, they also attempted to guide the tormented restless spirits to a more peaceful beyond by way of a seance.
The Seance
In addition to Lizzie herself, among the spirits the group tried to contact during the seance were Eliza Darling Borden and her children. Many believe they are the ghost children who haunt the Lizzie Borden house.
The children didn’t die there, though. They met their untimely demise at the house next door —24 years before Andrew Borden moved into his house. However, the children’s father was one of Andrew Borden’s uncles.
Did their mother Eliza succumb to a Borden family curse and kill them? Or is the explanation less sensational but equally sad and she instead succumbed to postpartum depression? (A curse unto itself.)
And, if there is a curse, did Lizzie also fall under its influence and that’s why she killed her father and stepmother? Which, of course, is assuming she did it. She was acquitted of the crime after all.
Just as the Borden murders have remained unsolved, so too may the mystery of whether a curse or demonic entity played any part in Andrew and Abby Bordens’ murders.
But during the seance, Schrader, Fleming, Baltrusis, and Joly contend they made contact with Eliza, as well as Lizzie. The women, along with the children, were urged to move on and find peace.
Did it cleanse the house?
So what will happen now? Like I said before, as I watched the end of the seance, all I could wonder was, “Is the house still haunted?”
I also thought about how US Ghost Adventures just bought the house this year. They were even looking to hire a paranormal investigator to conduct ghost hunts in the house.
But will there be any more paranormal activity to hunt? Will anybody who stays there from here on out experience ghost children? Or dark energy?
Or did Schrader and team “cure” the house? Did they successfully usher tormented spirits to a peaceful beyond at the conclusion of the seance?
The cast certainly wanted to believe they had “helped.”
I guess we’ll find out when others stay there and ghost hunt.
Regardless, it doesn’t erase the house’s haunting true crime history. I’m sure people will still want to stay in one of America’s most infamous murder houses, whether it continues to have paranormal activity or not.
Check-In
Do you believe in seances?
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.
I do believe seances work, but only if there’s someone there who can typically connect with the other side. I know a woman who sees and hears ghosts ALL THE TIME. If she participated in a seance with a bunch of unbelievers, the seance would work not because of the seance itself, but because she was there.
Wait…it wouldn’t work if she was there? Or did you mean it would? I really want to participate in a seance with someone “legit” because even with all I’ve seen and the “visions” I get, I remain a skeptic at heart. NOT that I’m a medium though. Prescient perhaps. But I’m in the Houdini camp when it comes to seances…always on the lookout for fakes and frauds. YET…I still hold out hope someday, someone will prove me wrong! lol SO I remain ever open to that!
I mean a seance would have to have SOMEone there who is sensitive (a medium or anybody) and can draw from the energies of the spirit world (or the spirits draw from her?? I dunno how it works). If a group of non-believers do their own seance, I don’t think it’d work.
Okay now I see what you were saying. It’s such an interesting theory. One I want to put to the test!!!! I now need to find other skeptics and die-hard nonbelievers. But also believers. And then have a seance. I don’t know how I make this happen, but I WILL find a way! THANK YOU AGAIN for inspiring a new idea!