All Treats-No Tricks!

Lizzie 101 UMASS tours the Borden cellar 

It was a mild evening for the trick or treaters.  The temps were in the low 60’s, a balmy breeze, with puffy white clouds scudding across a dark grey sky furnished the ideal backdrop to a perfect Halloween.  At Second Street the table in the diningroom (where once Mr. and Mrs. Borden were laid out on undertakers’ boards for two and a half days) was now the scene for a table decorated in festive holiday style.  Crows and bats, skulls and rats, cupcakes with mummy faces, popcorn balls and cookies, spider cakes and candy corn, cider and other treats awaited the ten guests planning to try to stay the whole night.

Vampires and cats, the Bride of Frankenstein and Frankie too called at the house as well as pirates, super heroes, witches, ghosties, and one very tired little 3 year old pumpkin dared to cross the threshold in search of treats.  It had been an exciting day with segments on both the Today Show and the Montel Williams Show about the Borden house.  Dr. Betty Mitchell also brought her class from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth for a special tour of the house by author and historian, Leonard Rebello. The class was all freshman girls – with lots of questions to ask.  Dr. Mitchell teaches a class in “Lizzie 101” and is a well-respected authority often seen in documentaries about the case.

 Guests from Ohio, Vermont, Connecticut, Michigan, and New Jersey enjoyed a tour of the house at 8 p.m. followed by a midnight seance in the sitting room in front of the sofa where Mr. Borden met his untimely end.  Next to August 4th, the anniversary of the Borden crime, Halloween is the most popular time of year to come to visit the scene of the crime.