Lizzie Borden Podcast: Recent Episodes
lizziebordengirldetective
In this episode we interview Steven Cheslik-deMeyer, who, along with Alan Stevens Hewett and Tim Maner, created the rock opera Lizzie, which is enjoying a world-wide production life, from its humble beginnings as a 45 minute, 4-song experimental musical, created for the tiny mythic theatre company in the 1990s. LIZZIE has grown to be a nearly two-hour, four-woman show, with a six-piece rock band, that has quite the cult following.
Steven is a lyricist, musician, author, and artist who is currently writing a book that combines memoir, family lore, and twentieth century queer history. He lives in New York City with his husband. You can read his blog at stevencheslikdemeyer.com
In this episode we interview with Derrick and Brian Belanger, publishers of Belanger Books, one of the world’s most prominent Sherlock Holmes publishers. Founded in 2015, they have an ever-expanding library of anthologies and novels. Derrick and Brian discuss their publishing house and areas of interest, as well as how Lizzie Borden fits into the Sherlock Holmes world.
In this episode we once again interview with Dennis Binette, co-author of many books published by the Fall River Historical Society, including The Knowlton Papers, Women at Work, the Fall River Discourses series, The Knowlton-Pearson Correspondence, The Jennings Journals, and Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A Borden and Her Fall River.
Dennis discusses the stories of the people who helped make Parallel Lives the classic history of Lizzie Borden’s world. These anecdotes are priceless stories told by one of the preeminent authorities on the case and now the life of Lizzie Borden.
In today’s episode we explore where the archive and the imagination meet—sometimes in productive dialogue, sometimes in open confrontation. This is a place where documents matter, facts matter, but so does the question of what history feels like once it has passed through the human mind.
Our guest is Ric Rebelo, author and filmmaker, whose recent work spans an intense, prolific engagement with horror—particularly short fiction—alongside the release of three new books centered on one of the most relentlessly interpreted figures in American history: Lizzie Borden.
I’m joined today by Dr. C. Michael Hiam, author of Murder Aboard: The Herbert Fuller Tragedy and the Ordeal of Thomas Bram, a gripping new work of historical true crime.
This maritime mystery unfolded off the coast of Massachusetts, just three years after the trial of Lizzie Borden, and invoked startling parallels to the Borden case.
I’m joined today by the brilliant Anna Behrens, a devoted Sherlockian and fellow Lizzie Borden aficionado, for a conversation that explores an intriguing literary crossover: what happens when the world’s most famous fictional detective steps into one of America’s most infamous real-life murder cases?
We’re diving into four imaginative works that bring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to Fall River, Massachusetts, to investigate the 1892 Borden murders. We’ll look at Sherlock Holmes and the Incident in Fall River by D.A. Joy, Holmes and Watson by David Ruffle, Sherlock Holmes and the Fall River Tragedy by Owen Haskell, and Sherlock Holmes: The Maplecroft Message by Joe DeSantis.
You can purchase the books through the links below:
Sherlock Holmes and the Incident in Fall River by D.A. Joy
Holmes and Watson by David Ruffle
Sherlock Holmes and the Fall River Tragedy by Owen Haskell (out of print/ebay)
Sherlock Holmes: The Maplecroft Message by Joe DeSantis
In this episode, we interview Dr. Tracy J. Revels, Sherlockian, author, historian, and professor of humanities at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, about her unique approach to teaching freshmen to consider how Sherlock Holmes would have investigated the Lizzie Borden case.
In this episode, we're turning our attention to the town of Webster, Massachusetts, and a truly immersive museum experience that brings the past to life in a remarkable way. We talk with Barbara Van Reed who is the executive director of the Samuel Slater Experience and Nicole Gaudette, the museum’s program coordinator.
In this episode, we interview Bruce Dorsey, author of the book Murder in a Mill Town: Sex, Faith, and the Crime that Captivated a Nation, the story of the Sarah Maria Cornell case and its societal ramifications, including social change, the birth of a new religion, popular culture, and jurisprudence.
On this episode of the Lizzie Borden Podcast, we are pleased to bring you a reading of "The Purloined Curio" by author Richard Behrens. It is one of the earlier stories in the Lizzie Borden Girl Detective mysteries. The title is no doubt an homage to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Purloined Letter." The story includes a nefarious medium who is hired by a bereft widow in the hope that she may make contact with her departed husband. All is not as it seems, and it is up to Lizzie Borden, Girl Detective, to put things right. The story explores the spiritualism movement in late nineteenth century New England, which was of particular interest to the author. Richard Behrens also includes his usual wry humor and comic characters that make his stories so unique and enjoyable. The story is read by a voice conjured by artificial intelligence.
In this episode, we interview George Schwartz, the curator-at-large for the new exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, titled, Conjuring the Spirit World: Art, Magic, and Mediums. Over the past twenty years, at PEM, George contributed to many of the institution’s most successful exhibitions. He has lectured internationally and teaches courses on material culture at Tufts University in the Museum Studies program.
Just in time for Halloween, the exhibit and the accompanying book elaborately detail the origins of the Spiritualist movement in America and its locus in the belief in life after death. We explore the history, controversy, personalities, and symbolism of spirit photography, the public exhibitions of mediumship, magicians like Harry Houdini, Thurston the Great, Kellar and his Amazing Cabinet Mysteries, among others, as well as the makers of objects used to conjure spirits.
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In this episode we interview the curator of the Fall River Historical Society, Michael Martins, about the past few years of work at the Society and the changes yet in store. It is a fascinating look at what goes on behind the scenes at the oldest cultural institution in Fall River, now celebrating its one hundred and third year.
Michael’s long tenure as the curator affords him deep insight into the history of Fall River, the building in which more than half a million items are archived, and the operational day to day programs that make the Society the gem of the SouthCoast of Massachusetts. Today, he has graciously agreed to be interviewed about the recent progress made in major structural projects at the organization and tell us what is in store for the foreseeable future, including the remainder of this year.
In this episode we interview Fall River historian and professor emeritus of history at Bridgewater State University, Dr. Philip T. Silvia Jr. He has edited three books on the Victorian history of Fall River, Titled Victorian Vistas, which are considered important sources not only of the history of the region but of labor and immigration. He has also published numerous articles in journals such as Spinner, Labor History and Catholic Historical Review. An avid baseball fan, he is also quite well known as the historian of Fall River’s professional baseballists, lecturing on the subject many times. You can watch those recorded lectures on baseball as well as all of the other public lectures given by Dr. Silvia by going to the website of the Fall River historical Society.
Phil’s expertise in these subjects cannot be understated. Today, he has graciously agreed to be interviewed on a subject near and dear to his heart: early immigration in Fall River, the news media in the city, and how this may have impacted not only the course of Fall River’s future, but also the life of one Lizzie Borden.
In this episode we present part 3 of our interview with Dennis Binette, co-author of many books published by the Fall River Historical Society, including The Knowlton Papers, Women at Work, the Fall River Discourses series, The Knowlton-Pearson Correspondence, The Jennings Journals, and Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A Borden and Her Fall River.
From his many years as assistant Curator of the Fall River Historical Society, Dennis is an acclaimed expert at research and sourcing information relating to Fall River history and the life of Lizzie Borden and the Borden murders. Dennis shares his tips, techniques, stories of working on the books, and research tools with us today.
In this episode we present part two of our interview with Dennis Binette, co-author of many books published by the Fall River Historical Society, including The Knowlton Papers, Women at Work, the Fall River Discourses series, The Knowlton-Pearson Correspondence, The Jennings Journals, and Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A Borden and Her Fall River.
From his many years as assistant Curator of the Fall River Historical Society, Dennis is an acclaimed expert at research and sourcing information relating to Fall River history and the life of Lizzie Borden and the Borden murders. Dennis shares his tips, techniques, stories of working on the books, and research tools with us today.
In this episode we interview Dennis Binette, co-author of many books published by the Fall River Historical Society, including The Knowlton Papers, Women at Work, the Fall River Discourses series, The Knowlton-Pearson Correspondence, The Jennings Journals, and Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A Borden and Her Fall River.
From his many years as assistant Curator of the Fall River Historical Society, Dennis is an acclaimed expert at research and sourcing information relating to Fall River history and the life of Lizzie Borden and the Borden murders. Dennis shares his tips, techniques, stories of working on the books, and research tools with us today.
In this episode we interview Bill Spencer, author of the new book The Other Fall River Tragedy: The Murder of Bertha Manchester. Out now on Amazon in hard copy and Kindle, as well as the online store for the Fall River Historical Society.
Bertha Manchester was murdered by multiple blows with an ax in her home in Fall River, in the north part of the city, on Memorial Day, 1893, almost exactly 10 months after the Borden murders and one week before the jury was chosen and sequestered for Lizzie Borden’s trial. Did the knowledge of this crime affect the verdict in Lizzie’s case? Let’s investigate.
In this episode we are delighted to have PeggyRae Johnson, award winning director and actor, and member of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association. She has multiple voice-overs to her credit, including recordings for Simon and Schuster Publishers. She will perform a dramatic reading of The Melancholy Scion. This story was first published in The Hatchet: A Journal of Lizzie Borden and Victorian Studies in 2007 and is now a part of The Audible Amnesiac and Other Lizzie Borden Girl Detective Mysteries, published in 2018.
In this episode we interview Dr. Stefani Koorey on her endeavor to raise funds to erect a marker on the grave of Edwin H. Porter, the author of The Borden Tragedy: A History of the Borden Murders, published in 1893.
GOFUNDME
In this episode we interview Bill Pavao, history teacher, author, former curator of the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast, and close personal friend of the late Leonard Rebello.
This episode is talk about Len Rebello, a remembrance of sorts, an honor for those who knew him. Len passed away on February 13th of this year. His fame in the Lizzie Borden world was tied to his monumental research book Lizzie Borden: Past and Present, a bible of Borden studies. But Len was much more than this.
In this episode we are pleased to interview award winning filmmaker and professor of Media Studies and Screenwriting Ricardo Rebelo. Ric directed the PBS documentary Lizbeth a Victorian Nightmare and grew up in Fall River, MA, one block away from the Lizzie Borden house. He offers us his unique perspective on the case and the people involved in telling the story of the crimes.
In this episode we are delighted to have PeggyRae Johnson, award winning director and actor, and member of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association. She has multiple voice-overs to her credit, including recordings for Simon and Schuster Publishers. She will perform a dramatic reading of "The Forlorn Maggie." This is the first Lizzie Borden, Girl Detective Mystery written by Richard Behrens, and it was first published in The Hatchet: A Journal of Lizzie Borden and Victorian Studies in 2008.
In this episode we interview Rory Raven, author of Wicked Conduct, about the Sarah Cornell murder in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1832.
In this episode we interview Tom Mauriello, retired US special agent, professor of criminal justice and forensic science at the University of Maryland, and accomplished author. Tom has a unique expertise on crime investigation and offers his own theories and thoughts on the Borden case.
In this episode we interview Karen Roggenkamp, professor of American Literature and Children’s literature at Texas A&M University (Commerce). She is the author of two books, Narrating the News: New Journalism and Literary Genre in Late Nineteenth Century American Newspapers and Fiction, and Sympathy, Madness, and Crime: How Four Nineteenth Century Journalists Made the Newspaper Women’s Business, both published by Kent State University Press. Each book, in part, highlights the Lizzie Borden case through the lens of two renowned journalists: Julian Ralph and Elizabeth Jordan.
In this episode we interview Anna Behrens, author, publisher, speech pathologist, producer, editor, and widow of the late Richard Behrens, the creator of this podcast.
Anna’s company is Nine Muses Books and her most recent publication is the Monadnock Sherlockian Anthology, comprised of essays, poetry, plays and fiction about Sherlock Holmes, another interest she shared with Richard.
The Lizzie Borden Podcast is the only podcast entirely devoted to the study of the Borden murders of 1892, Lizzie Borden, and (sometimes) the history of her hometown, Fall River, Massachusetts. Produced by Nine Muses Books and Anna Behrens. Each episode explores some aspect of the mystery that is Lizzie Borden, from the origins of the doggerel “Lizzie Borden Took an Axe,” to a primer on the case by noted authors and experts, including dramatic readings of Richard Berhens’ Lizzie Borden Girl Detective mystery series. Please subscribe to us on Youtube so we can meet the magic number they have set for us to be able to remove advertisements, from which we see no revenue.
In this episode we interview Rory Raven about the Spiritualism movement in the 19th century.
Rory is the author of three books of nonfiction: The Dorr War, Burning the Gaspee, and Wicked Conduct, about the Sarah Cornell murder in Fall River in 1832, as well as three works of fiction, Gallows Hill, Summerland, and most recently Senor Lugosi & Other Stories.
Rory is also a tour guide in Salem giving talks on various topics, including the witch trials.
The Lizzie Borden Podcast is the only podcast entirely devoted to the study of the Borden murders of 1892, Lizzie Borden, and (sometimes) the history of her hometown, Fall River, Massachusetts. Produced by Nine Muses Books and Anna Behrens. Each episode explores some aspect of the mystery that is Lizzie Borden, from the origins of the doggerel “Lizzie Borden Took an Axe,” to a primer on the case by noted authors and experts, including dramatic readings of Richard Berhens’ Lizzie Borden Girl Detective mystery series.
In this episode we interview William Spencer, author of two books on the case. His first one, THE CASE AGAINST LIZZIE BORDEN, examines the legal proceedings (inquest, preliminary, grand jury, and trial) on a day by day basis.
Bill’s newest book is titled LIZZIE BORDEN UNCUT A CASE BOOK OF THEORIES. It is the book every Bordenite wished someone would write. It is a critique of all the major books and legal articles on the Borden murders and covers five main areas, the books and essays about the legal aspects, those authors who believe an intruder did it, those authors who rely on conspiracy for their solution, those who believe Lizzie did it, and those who write that Bridget Sullivan was the killer. Only after all of this does Bill examine Motive and Means and gives his take on the crimes. It is an excellent read and highly recommended.
The Lizzie Borden Podcast is the only podcast entirely devoted to the study of the Borden murders of 1892, Lizzie Borden, and (sometimes) the history of her hometown, Fall River, Massachusetts. Produced by Nine Muses Books and Anna Behrens. Each episode explores some aspect of the mystery that is Lizzie Borden, from the origins of the doggerel “Lizzie Borden Took an Axe,” to a primer on the case by noted authors and experts, including dramatic readings of Richard Berhens’ Lizzie Borden Girl Detective mystery series.
In this episode we interview Dr. Patricia L. Bryan, co author of Midnight Assassin: a Murder in America’s Heartland, published by the University of Iowa Press.
The Lizzie Borden Podcast is the only podcast entirely devoted to the study of the Borden murders of 1892, Lizzie Borden, and (sometimes) the history of her hometown, Fall River, Massachusetts. Produced by Nine Muses Books and Anna Behrens. Each episode explores some aspect of the mystery that is Lizzie Borden, from the origins of the doggerel “Lizzie Borden Took an Axe,” to a primer on the case by noted authors and experts, including dramatic readings of Richard Berhens’ Lizzie Borden Girl Detective mystery series.
In this episode, we bring you an interview with Michael Martins, curator of the Fall River Historical Society. We discuss the recently released, long-awaited book, "The Jennings Journals 1892: The Unpublished Notes and Documents from the Files of Lizzie Borden's Defense Attorney, Andrew Jackson Jennings". Edited by Michael Martins, Dennis A. Binette, and Stefani Koorey.
In this episode, we bring you a reading of “The Scrooge of Second Street, a Lizzie Borden Girl Detective Christmas Story,” performed by Stefani Koorey.
Many years before her infamous arrest and trial for the murders of her father and stepmother, Richard's Lizzie Borden pursued a career as a private consulting detective, and her beloved cousin Sarah Borden, served as a chronicler of her adventures. In this story we meet Homer Thesinger, boy inventor, Lizzie's stingy father Andrew, her jealous and ineffectual sister Emma, and Abby, her dour and stern stepmother. You have met Lizzie Borden before, but never like this.
In this episode we bring you a reading of "The Audible Amnesiac," one of the Lizzie Borden Girl Detective mysteries, performed by Wendy Almeida.
Many years before her infamous arrest and trial for the murders of her father and stepmother, Richard's Lizzie Borden pursued a career as a private consulting detective, and her beloved cousin Sarah Borden, served as a chronicler of her adventures. In this story we meet Homer Thesinger, boy inventor, Lizzie's stingy father Andrew, her jealous and ineffectual sister Emma, and Abby, her dour and stern stepmother. You have met Lizzie Borden before, but never like this.
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.
CAST
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
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.
We conclude our Lizzie Borden Primer with Sarah Miller, the author of The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century. We cover Lizzie Borden’s life at her home Maplecroft after her controversial acquittal. Guest: Sarah Miller
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.
In this episode we continue our Lizzie Borden Primer with Sarah Miller, the author of The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century. We cover the Preliminary Hearing, the Grand Jury Proceedings, and the Borden murder trial. Guest: Sarah Miller
Part 2 of A Lizzie Borden Primer, a three-part series that presents the life and times of Lizzie Borden. This episode covers the day of the Borden murders on August 4, 1892, the police investigation, and the arrest of Lizzie Borden. Guest: Sarah Miller
We visit Fall River to attend the 124th Anniversary Dramatizations at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast at 92 Second Street and talk to Joey Radza, who each year plays Uncle John Vinnicum Morse in the dramatization. We chat about the events at the house and the role that John V. Morse played in the Borden Murders.
Episode one of a Lizzie Borden Primer, a three-part series that will present the life and times of Lizzie Borden. This episode covers the founding of Fall River, Lizzie Borden's childhood, and the strange events leading up to the murders on August 4, 1892, with guest Sarah Miller.
Guest Sarah Miller, author of The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century, discusses the case with host Richard Behrens, author of the Lizzie Borden Girl Detective series.
Episode One: The Doggerel (recorded in 2011) provides an insight into the famous "jump rope" song about Lizzie Borden ("Lizzie Borden took an ax, etc."), its history, its mystery and its legacy in our cultural imagination. Fall River historian and Lizzie Borden scholar Dr. Stefani Koorey and actress/playwright Jill Dalton join us to discuss this naughtily inaccurate ditty.