Lizzie Borden Podcast

Lizzie Borden Podcast, Episode 40: Interview with Horror Writer Ric Rebelo

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.

Lizzie Borden Podcast, Episode 39: The Herbert Fuller Tragedy and the Lizzie Borden Connection

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.

Lizzie Borden Podcast, Episode 38: Sherlock Holmes and the Borden Murders

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

Lizzie Borden Podcast, Episode 37: Interview with Dr. Tracy J. Revels

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.

Lizzie Borden Podcast, Episode 36: Interview with Barbara Van Reed & Nicole Gaudette of the Samuel Slater Experience

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.

Lizzie Borden Podcast, Episode 35: Interview with Author Bruce Dorsey

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.

Lizzie Borden Podcast, Episode 34: The Purloined Curio by Richard Behrens

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.

Lizzie Borden Podcast, Episode 33: Interview with George Schwartz, Conjuring the Spirit World (PEM)

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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Lizzie Borden Podcast, Episode 32: Interview with Michael Martins

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.

Lizzie Borden Podcast, Episode 31: Interview with Fall River Historian Philip T. Silvia Jr.

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.

Lizzie Borden Podcast, Episode 30: Interview with Dennis Binette, Part Three

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.

Lizzie Borden Podcast, Episode 29: Interview with Dennis Binette, Part 2

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.