The Lizzie Borden Podcast

Nine Muses Books is proud to present: Episode 11: The Agitated Elocutionist: A Lizzie Borden, Girl Detective Radio Play.  In this episode we bring you something completely different: an old-fashioned radio play adapted from The Agitated Elocutionist, one of Richard Behrens’ Lizzie Borden Girl Detective Mysteries. Although set in an authentic 1870s Fall River, MA, with a teenage Lizzie Borden and her real family members,  the rest is pure quirky fiction wrapped around an intriguing mystery. In the world of the girl detective, and many years before her infamous arrest and trial for the murders of her father and stepmother, Lizzie Borden pursued a career as a private consulting detective, and as you are about to hear, in The Agitated Elocutionist, she matches wits with a pompous elocutionist and her devoted man-servant. You have met Lizzie Borden before, but never like this!  This radio play is a departure from our usual history-based podcasts, and it is just plain FUN! The quirky characters of Richard Behrens’ imagination come to life right from the pages of his delightful and intriguing mysteries. The actors are superb and hilarious, and the sound effects beautifully capture the Victorian-era flavor of the story. The e-book version of The Agitated Elocutionist is available as a free download at Amazon.com CAST The talented cast of The Agitated Elocutionist as pictured left to right in group photo above: Aaron Potter-Rychwa as Police Officers Beck, Bence and Oxnard Wendy Almeida as Madame Arbuthnot Christopher Pratt as Banters the Valet Heather Herring as Sarah Borden and the narrator Tara Sabino-Potter as Lizzie Borden Ian Hefele as Arthur Tinge Tyler Strickland as The City Marshal Richard Behrens as Gerard Gumley and writer/director Mason Amadeus,  audio engineer Catherine Behrens as Abby Borden (not pictured)

Welcome to a special episode of the Lizzie Borden Podcast. Today we will be talking with the Fall River Historical Society curators Michael Martins and Dennis Binette who will discuss the story behind their phenomenal book Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River, published by the Fall River Historical Society in 2011. The Fall River Historical Society is located at 451 Rock Street in Fall River, MA. Information about the Society can be found on their Facebook page or on their website lizzieborden.org. They are a public charity organization charged with collecting and archiving historical artifacts and material related to the multi-cultural history and heritage of the City of Fall River. A part of that mission is to preserve and protect the legacy of the Borden Family, Lizzie Borden and the historical impact of the Borden Murders of 1892. Their Lizzie Borden exhibit includes rare photographs, crime scene artIfacts, and personal items that belonged to the Bordens. They also have a research library with a large collection of primary source material on both the Borden tragedy and Fall River history. The Fall River Historical Society should be part of any historically minded tourist’s visit to the City. Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River is a ground-breaking work and arguably the only professional biography of Lizzie Borden. Michael and Dennis worked on this book for approximately ten years, tracking down material related to Lizzie and the Borden family, cultivating relationships with owners of private collections and descendants of those who knew Lizzie, and piecing together a vast puzzle: a portrait of Lizzie Borden, Fall River’s most notorious resident and historical mystery. The book is filled with one revelation after another. It opens a window onto Lizzie Borden’s childhood through the diaries and letters of her friends. The details of her 1890 European Tour are revealed through Lizzie’s personal scrapbooks filled with hundreds of postcards and annotations. Because of this book, we can now read her prison letters, and gain profound insight into her private thoughts during the long ordeal of her incarceration and trial. New revelations about Lizzie’s Maplecroft years including light shed on her relationships with actress Nance O’Neil, her sister Emma, and a small but loyal group of servants and friends who maintained their silence about Lizzie for decades. And then there are the new photographs of Lizzie, published in this book for the first time, from the private collections of families that knew her best and had gained her trust. Most of all, Parallel Lives teaches us all we need to know about Fall River society during Lizzie’s lifetime so we can put her tragic life into historical and cultural context. The book has as much material about Fall River’s golden age when Cotton as King as it does about Lizzie Borden, and the entire story is held in a delicate balance where the social fabric of the city helps us understand Lizzie on a deeper level. Parallel Lives received a starred review from Kirkus Review, one of publishing’s highest honors, and Kirkus declared it one of the best books of that year. It is certainly one of the best books for a hard core Lizzie Borden enthusiast. Here to help us gain some insight into Parallel Lives are the

In this Episode of The Lizzie Borden Podcast we conclude our Lizzie Borden Primer with Sarah Miller, the author of The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century.  For those listeners who are unfamiliar with the details of Lizzie Borden’s life and the Borden Murders of 1892, this Primer will help orient them and give them important contexts for future episodes. This part of the Primer covers Lizzie Borden’s life at her home Maplecroft after her controversial acquittal.  Previous to the publication of Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River by the Fall River Historical Society, little was known about Lizzie’s private life in her beloved home on the Hill.  She moved into the French Street house with her sister Emma shortly after her murder trial and lived there until her death in 1927.  Over the years, urban legends have accumulated about the infamous recluse who led a lonely and besieged existence.  Rumors of scandalous affairs and forced confessions to the murders have dominated our narrative of the Maplecroft years, but Parallel Lives recasted Lizzie as a woman leading a very composed life behind her wall of privacy.  A Lizzie Borden Primer Part 4 explores that private life, attempting to separate the mythic Lizzie from the very real woman who maintained her dignity in the face of great odds. Guest: Sarah Miller is the author of two historical fiction novels, Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, which was called “an accomplished debut” in a starred review from Booklist and was named an ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book, and The Lost Crown, about the Romanovs, hailed as “fascinating” in a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and named an ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults. The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century is her first non-fiction book and has been hailed by Kirkus and the New York Times as a perfectly concise and lively historical account of the Borden Murders of 1892. Visit Sarah’s website for more information.     Credits: Producer: Nine Muses Books Engineer: Mason Amadeus Writer/Director: Richard Behrens Music: Melora Creager Richard Behrens is the author of the Lizzie Borden Girl Detective mystery series and the co-founder of Nine Muses Books, and host of The Lizzie Borden Podcast. Melora Creager is an American cellist, singer-songwriter, performing artist and founder of the cello rock group Rasputina. Mason Amadeus is an on-air p

Fall River, MA  has been described as  “a city built to burn.”  In this episode Dr. Stefani Koorey takes the listener through the major conflagrations that destroyed large swathes of Fall River throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.  This episode also takes the Lizzie Borden Podcast on its first detour away from Lizzie Borden’s personal story, however it remains in Lizzie Borden’s city of Fall River, which has its own richly textured and fascinating history. Fall River’s nineteenth century textile boom brought with it a series of fiery disasters. The Big Fire of 1843 left more than one thousand people homeless and destroyed two hundred buildings, as well as more than twenty acres of land. After the Steiger Store Fire of 1916, mill owners pressured the city to replace its horse-drawn brigades with more modern fire engines. The intense heat from the Kerr Mill Thread Fire of 1987 melted hoses as first responders battled the blaze. Author Stefani Koorey chronicles these and other  historic infernos of the Spindle City and celebrates the community’s resilience in the face of adversity. Purchase the book here. GUEST: Dr. Stefani Koorey holds a PhD in Theatre History and Dramatic Criticism and an MS in Library Science. She lives in Fall River, and has been featured in the Discovery Channel’s documentary “Lizzie Borden Had an Axe.” and lectures far and wide on the subject Lizzie Borden. Her most recent discoveries of the portraits of Lizzie’s father Andrew Borden and his first wife Sarah, as well as the image of Lizzie Borden as a child, has helped to renew interest in this fascinating unsolved mystery. Dr. Koorey was the indexer and an editor of the award-winning history of Lizzie Borden and Fall River published by the Fall River Historical Society—Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River. She is also the editor and publisher of The Literary Hatchet, as well as the publisher/editor at PearTree Press, which specializes in Borden titles, true crime, Fall River history, gothic poetry and short stories. Credits: Producer: Nine Muses Books Engineer: Mason Amadeus Writer/Director: Richard Behrens Music: Melora Creager Richard Behrens is the author of the Lizzie Borden Girl Detective mystery series and the co-founder of Nine Muses Books and host of The Lizzie Borden Podcast. Mason Amadeus is an on-air personality for 103.7 KNE-FM and Sunny 97.7.  In his spare time he makes music and short films

In this Episode of The Lizzie Borden Podcast we continue our Lizzie Borden Primer with Sarah Miller, the author of The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century.  For those listeners who are unfamiliar with the details of Lizzie Borden’s life and the Borden Murders of 1892, this Primer will help orient them and give them important contexts for future episodes. This part of the Primer covers the Preliminary Hearing, the Grand Jury Proceedings and the Borden murder trial, which was held before the Superior Court in New Bedford in June 1893 and ended in her acquittal. The Lizzie Borden Primer series will give  the listener a grounding in the historical facts of the Borden Murders of 1892 which have become a part of the American imagination for 124 years, listen to find out why, and form your own informed opinion  about her guilt or innocence. Guests: Sarah Miller Sarah Miller is the author of two historical fiction novels, Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, which was called “an accomplished debut” in a starred review from Booklist and was named an ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book, and The Lost Crown, about the Romanovs, hailed as “fascinating” in a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and named an ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults. The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century is her first non-fiction book and has been hailed by Kirkus and the New York Times as a perfectly concise and lively historical account of the Borden Murders of 1892. Visit Sarah’s website for more information.   Credits: Producer: Nine Muses Books Engineer: Mason Amadeus Writer/Director: Richard Behrens Music: Melora Creager Richard Behrens is the author of the Lizzie Borden Girl Detective mystery series and the co-founder of Nine Muses Books, and host of The Lizzie Borden Podcast. Melora Creager is an American cellist, singer-songwriter, performing artist and founder of the cello rock group Rasputina. Mason Amadeus is an on-air personality for 103.7 KNE-FM and Sunny 97.7.  In his spare time he makes music and short films w

The Lizzie Borden Podcast is written and produced by Richard Behrens and Nine Muses Books, Episode Six: Lizzie Borden Live! with Jill Dalton Guest: JILL DALTON (Writer/Performer) Ms. Dalton’s current play, Whistle-blower, based on Pvt. Bradley (Chelsea) Manning, was a semi-finalist at the 2015 Eugene O’Neill Theatre Conference. Her play, Collateral Damage, was a semi-finalist at the 2014 Eugene O’Neill Theatre Conference. She’s written and performed 3 solo plays: My Life in the Trenches, Calling on God, and Lizzie Borden Live. Lizzie Borden Live, was commissioned by the East Lynne Theatre Company in Cape May, NJ, where it had a successful and critically acclaimed six-week run. Ms. Dalton won the 2007 Jacoby Award for her portrayal of Lizzie. The play subsequently toured: MA, RI, AZ and NYC. She spent 10 weeks working and consulting with William Hurt on his portrayal of Hank Paulson in the HBO film, Too Big to Fail. Acting credits include: Too Big to Fail, Law & Order, Criminal Intent, All My Children, As the World Turns, Another World, One Life to Live, Saturday Night Live, Wall Street, Rachel Getting Married, and Veronika Decides to Die. She spent 4 ½ years honing her skills as a stand-up comic, and was the recipient of the Mary Jo Comedy Show Award for most promising newcomer in NYC. Her eBook, Is It Fascism Yet? is available on Amazon.com and has a five star rating. Her articles have been published on blogs across the Internet and on her blog, recoveringarmybrat@wordpress.com. Ms. Dalton is a member of SAG/AFTRA, AEA, and the Dramatist Guild of America. Learn more about Lizzie Borden Live! Special Lizzie Borden Song by Karen Bennedetto http://karenbenedettosongs.com KAREN BENEDETTO, Songwriter (ASCAP, MAC, NAPM, NYSMS, PMA*), is both resident and native of Rockland County, with a home also in New York City. Grateful for the opportunity to create in both the quiet of the Hudson Valley and the high energy of Manhattan, Karen writes in a variety of musical styles, from pop ballads, country, folk, and crossover, to cabaret, inspirational/gospel, and specialty material. Credits: Producer: Nine Muses Books Engineer: Mason Amadeus Writer/Director/Host: Richard Behrens Music: Melora Creager Richard Behrens is the author of the Lizzie Borden Girl Detective mystery series and the co-founder of Nine Muses Books. Mason Amadeus is an on-air personality for 103.7 KNE-FM and Sunny 97.7. In his spare time he makes music and short films with his friend Tucker. You can find them at http://MasonAndTucker.Bandcamp.com and http://Facebook.com/MasonAndTucker. Mason runs an independent sound design group in Keene: Amadeus Ima

In this Episode Sarah Miller, the author of The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century, helps out with a Lizzie Borden Primer.  For those listeners who are unfamiliar with the details of Lizzie Borden’s life and the Borden Murders of 1892, this Primer will help orient them and give them important contexts for future episodes.  This part of the Primer covers the day of the murders and the events leading up to Lizzie Borden’s arrest.  This is a must-listen for anyone who wants to know what happened on August 4, 1892 and why Lizzie Borden was suspected and then arrested for the crime. The Lizzie Borden Primer series will give you a grounding in the historical facts.  We can’t answer the question of whether she was guilty or not, but we can give you the evidence available at the time of her arrest. The Borden Murders of 1892 have been a part of the American imagination for 124 years, listen to find out why, and form your own informed opinion  about her guilt or innocence. Listen now, as we mark the 124th anniversary of the August 4th 1892 unsolved murders.   Guests: Sarah Miller Sarah Miller is the author of two historical fiction novels, Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, which was called “an accomplished debut” in a starred review from Booklist and was named an ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book, and The Lost Crown, about the Romanovs, hailed as “fascinating” in a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and named an ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults. The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century is her first non-fiction book and has been hailed by Kirkus and the New York Times as a perfectly concise and lively historical account of the Borden Murders of 1892. Visit Sarah’s website for more information. Credits: Producer: Nine Muses Books Engineer: Mason Amadeus Writer/Director: Richard Behrens Music: Melora Creager Richard Behrens is the author of the Lizzie Borden Girl Detective mystery series and the co-founder of Nine Muses Books, and host of The Lizzie Borden Podcast. Melora Creager is an American cellist, singer-songwriter, performing artist and founder of the cello rock group Rasputina. Mason Amadeus is an on-air personality for 103.7 KNE-FM and Sunny 97.7.  In his spare time he makes music and short films with his friend Tucker. You can find them at 

Welcome to the fourth episode of The Lizzie Borden Podcast, produced and directed by Richard Behrens for Nine Muses Books. This episode was recorded on July 8, 2016.  In this Episode Joe Radza discusses the dramatizations at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast this August 4th and his role as John Vinnicum Morse. John Vinnicum Morse (1833-1912) was the brother of Sarah Anthony Morse Borden, who was the wife of Andrew Jackson Borden, and he was the biological uncle to Lizzie Andrew Borden.  Sarah died when Lizzie was very young,  but “Uncle” John stayed in touch with the family even after Andrew remarried a few years later, marrying Abigail Durfee Borden who then became Lizzie Borden’s step-mother. Morse was a guest in Andrew’s house on Second Street the morning the murders occurred, arriving the previous afternoon.  His alibi, however, was air-tight since he left early that morning to visit some relatives on Weybosset Street, who later corroborated his story.  He left Andrew and Abby Borden who had just finished breakfast and were preparing to perform their daily chores.  When Uncle John returned early that afternoon, both of his hosts were dead, brutally murdered with a hatchet.  For several days he remained confined to the house on Second Street.  When he ventured out to mail a letter, he was surrounded by a hostile crowd and had to be rescued by the police.  He testified at the Inquest, the Preliminary Hearing, and the Trial.  He was never seriously suspected to be the murderer but many researchers have doubted that he was entirely innocent. A full biography of John Vinnicum Morse will be published on this blog soon.   Guest:   Joe Radza lives in Warren, Ohio, and is a retired science and gifted education teacher. Every year he makes the trip to Fall River, MA in order to participate in the August 4th dramatization at the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast Museum. Below are some photos of Joe as a regular human being and also playing John Vinnicum Morse (a.k.a. Uncle John) at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast dramatizations.

  Welcome to the third episode of The Lizzie Borden Podcast, produced and directed by Richard Behrens for Nine Muses Books. This episode was recorded on June 5 and June 28, 2016.  In this Episode Sarah Miller, the author of The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century helps out with a Lizzie Borden Primer.  For those listeners who are unfamiliar with the details of Lizzie Borden’s life and the Borden Murders of 1892, this Primer will help orient them and give them important contexts for future episodes.  This part of the Primer covers the early history of Fall River and Lizzie Borden’s life up until the evening before the murders.                       Guests: Sarah Miller Sarah Miller is the author of two historical fiction novels, Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, which was called “an accomplished debut” in a starred review from Booklist and was named an ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book, and The Lost Crown, about the Romanovs, hailed as “fascinating” in a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and named an ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults. The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century is her first non-fiction book and has been hailed by Kirkus and the New York Times as a perfectly concise and lively historical account of the Borden Murders of 1892. Visit Sarah’s website for more information. Credits: Producer: Nine Muses Books Engineer: Mason Amadeus Writer/Director: Richard Behrens Music: Melora Creager Richard Behrens is the author of the Lizzie Borden Girl Detective mystery series and the co-founder of Nine Muses Books, and the host of The Lizzie Borden Podcast. Melora Creager is an American cellist, singer-songwriter, performing artist and founder of the cello rock group Rasputina. Mason Amadeus is an o

Welcome to the second episode of The Lizzie Borden Podcast, produced and directed by Richard Behrens for Nine Muses Books. This episode was recorded on June 5, 2016.  In this Episode we interview Sarah Miller, the author of The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century, published by Random House Children’s Books.  Sarah discusses the challenges of researching Lizzie Borden and the Borden Murders of 1892 and how she came to write a children’s book that has since been recognized to be one of the best general purpose book on Lizzie Borden for readers of all ages. Episode Two: Sarah Miller and The Borden Murders Guests: Sarah Miller Sarah Miller is the author of two historical fiction novels, Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, which was called “an accomplished debut” in a starred review from Booklist and was named an ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book, and The Lost Crown, about the Romanovs, hailed as “fascinating” in a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and named an ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults. The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century is her first non-fiction book and has been hailed by Kirkus and the New York Times as a perfectly concise and lively historical account of the Borden Murders of 1892. Visit Sarah’s website for more information. Credits: Producer: Nine Muses Books Engineer: Mason Amadeus Writer/Director: Richard Behrens Music: Melora Creager Richard Behrens is the author of the Lizzie Borden Girl Detective mystery series and the co-founder of Nine Muses Books, and host of The Lizzie Borden Podcast. Melora Creager is an American cellist, singer-songwriter, performing artist and founder of the cello rock group Rasputina. Mason Amadeus is an on-air personality for 103.7 KNE-FM and Sunny 97.7.  In his spare time he makes music and short films with his friend Tucker. You can find them at http://MasonAndTucker.Bandcamp.com and http://Facebook.com/MasonAndTucker. Mason runs an independent sound design group in Keene:  Amadeus Imaging. They offer reasonable rates for high-quality studio recording of voice and music, commissioned music from