The latest season of the Monster anthology lands on Netflix with a fresh focus: the infamous New England murder case of Lizzie Borden. Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, the series marks the first time the franchise centers on a female perpetrator. While the show delivers a stylized, suspense-filled narrative, it also intertwines a considerable amount of genuine 1890s history, prompting viewers to separate documented facts from dramatic invention.
What really happened in Fall River in 1892?
On a chilly August night in 1892, Andrew Borden and his second wife, Abby, were found dead in their Fall River home, each bearing multiple axe wounds. Contemporary reports recorded eleven blows on Andrew and nineteen on Abby, a figure far lower than the wildly popular rhyme that claims “forty-one” and “forty” strikes. The murder shocked the local community and led to a sensational trial the following year. Lizzie Borden then twenty-seven, was arrested, tried, and ultimately acquitted in 1893 after a highly publicized inquest.
Among the witnesses was Bridget Sullivan, an Irish-born maid often referred to as “Maggie” – a nickname borrowed from a previous household employee. Sullivan, in her mid-twenties, testified that Lizzie was the first to discover the bodies and that she had shouted for help. Her statement included the line, “Maggie, come down! Come down quick; Father’s dead; somebody came in and killed him.” Importantly, Sullivan never reported seeing a weapon, blood on Lizzie, or any sign of an intruder, leaving the case largely circumstantial.
How Netflix reshapes the narrative
In Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story Vicky Krieps portrays Bridget “Maggie” Sullivan as a bold, confidante-like figure who becomes Lizzie’s mentor, supplying her with literature, sexual toys, and even an intimate partnership. The series also insinuates a transactional sexual relationship between Maggie and the patriarch, Andrew Borden. These plotlines, while dramatically compelling, lack any historical documentation. Records indicate that Bridget’s role remained strictly that of employee; she stayed with the Borden household for almost three years before moving west after the murders, where she later raised a family.
Similarly, the show dramatizes Lizzie’s personality as a repressed Victorian dreamer who discovers agency through Maggie’s influence. In reality, Lizzie’s upbringing was indeed constrained by strict New England mores, but her motivations for the alleged crime remain ambiguous. The series amplifies her rebellious streak by adding scenes of her purchasing prussic acid, a detail rooted in historical evidence, yet it reimagines a failed poisoning attempt that never occurred.
Bridget Sullivan: Maid, witness, and myth
The real Bridget Sullivan’s testimony is one of the few solid pieces of evidence from the 1893 trial. She recounted hearing Lizzie’s frantic call for help and subsequently alerting neighbors and a doctor. No court records suggest any romantic or sexual involvement with either Lizzie or Andrew Borden. After the trial, Bridget left the Borden residence, settled on the West Coast, and married, disappearing from the public eye.
Netflix’s decision to elevate Bridget to a central, quasi-equal character serves a narrative purpose: it provides a lens through which to explore themes of female oppression and empowerment. Yet, historians caution that this artistic liberty risks conflating fiction with fact, especially when the audience may not be familiar with the sparse archival material. By presenting Bridget as a mentor and lover, the series offers a modern, emotionally resonant storyline at the expense of historical accuracy.
Beyond the core Borden family, the series weaves in other notorious women—Elizabeth Báthory and Aileen Wuornos—to construct a lineage of “feminine monstrosity.” While these connections are thematically intriguing, they are speculative and designed for dramatic effect rather than scholarly analysis.
In sum, Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story delivers an atmospheric, stylized retelling of a true-crime saga, peppered with creative embellishments. Viewers seeking an authentic glimpse into 1890s New England should keep in mind that the series blends verified testimony—such as Bridget Sullivan’s courtroom words—with fictionalized relationships and motivations that serve the show’s contemporary narrative goals.
