Separating Fact From Fiction In Netflix's Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story

The new series’ creators definitely applied some heavy artistic licence.

Ryan Murphy’s Monster anthology series has always taken artistic liberties when it comes to its central figures, but the Netflix show went even further with this than usual with The Lizzie Borden Story.

The fourth season is based on the infamous yet little-recorded tale of a 32-year-old woman in Massachusetts who, in 1982, was tried and acquitted for the gruesome axe murders of her father and stepmother.

Due to the era of the murders, and Lizzie’s conflicting statements, little is known about what really happened in the case that’s still being debated more than a century later.

What history didn’t record, creators Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan took creative licence to fill in, connecting women through history by their rage at society.

Here’s a quick guide to what’s fact and fiction in Monster’s latest iteration…

Lizzie Borden did suffer from health issues, but Monster fabricated exactly what these were

In Monster, Ella Beatty’s Lizzie is seen experiencing immense period pain. There is no evidence that this was the case for Lizzie Borden in real life, although she did mention menstrual blood to the police following the killing.

When the authorities found bloody clothes in a bucket in the basement, Lizzie told them it was period blood.

A family doctor confirmed this would have lined up with the timings of Lizzie’s cycle, so authorities didn’t investigate the blood further.

The show also portrayed Lizzie as suffering from a rare imperforate hymen, a detail which was completely invented for the Netflix series.

There is no evidence that Lizzie Borden and Bridget Sullivan were ever in a romantic relationship

Bridget Sullivan was a real person who worked as the Borden family maid for two years before Andrew and Abby were killed.

Historian Cara Robertson told Business Insider that the idea of a sexual relationship between Bridget and Lizzie can be traced back to fictional takes of the true crime case.

Other notable media to include this detail include Evan Hunter’s 1984 novel, Lizzie, and the 2018 movie of the same name, starring Chloë Sevigny and Kristen Stewart.

Meanwhile, it seems that the real-life Bridget was a world away from the version of the character created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan.

Her grandniece, Dianna Porter, told The Herald News in 2012 that family members recall the former maid as being strict, mean and having “no sense of humour” – a far cry from the dyed-hair-sporting, sex-toy-enthusiast Bridget we see on the show.

Apparently, it wasn’t Abby Borden who was responsible for Bridget being referred to as ‘Maggie’

Rebecca Hall’s character repeatedly refers to Bridget as “Maggie” in Monster, because it was the name of an old maid, and she........

© HuffPost