Did Killer Aileen Wuornos Visit Victorian “Murderer” Lizzie Borden’s House in Real Life?

Sarah Paulson’s appearance as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story has left viewers with one burning question: did the real-life killer ever visit the infamous scene of the Borden family murders—and was she inspired by Lizzie’s story to go on and commit her own crimes?To recap—and in case you haven’t watched yet—the new Netflix drama centers on Lizzie Borden, a 32-year-old woman from Fall River, Massachusetts, who was accused of murdering her father, Andrew Jackson Borden, and her stepmother, Abby Durfee Gray Borden, with a hatchet on August 4, 1892.Andrew was a wealthy businessman, while Abby was his second wife and Lizzie’s stepmother—not her biological mother, as the famous nursery rhyme suggests. Both were found dead inside the family home, in a case that became one of America’s most notorious unsolved murders. Lizzie was arrested, tried in 1893, and ultimately acquitted, meaning she was never legally found responsible for the killings.Wuornos, meanwhile, was born in 1956 and became notorious almost a century later, after killing seven men in Florida between 1989 and 1990. She was convicted of six of the murders and executed by lethal injection in 2002.The two women were never connected in real life. So why has Ryan Murphy’s series brought them together—and what, exactly, is the significance of Wuornos’s appearance?In a nutshell: there’s no reliable historical evidence that Aileen Wuornos ever visited Lizzie Borden’s home or was personally inspired by her.That does not mean it is possible to prove that Wuornos never set foot inside the property, particularly as the house is now a museum and bed and breakfast. But there is no surviving photograph, interview, biography, or credible historical account placing Wuornos at the house or suggesting that she travelled there because of Lizzie Borden.Boston Globe Why is Aileen Wuornos in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story?Wuornos’s inclusion is a creative decision rather than a historical one—her scenes take place decades after the Borden murders and Wuornos is used as a thematic link between two infamous women who were both branded “monsters” by the public and the media.Ella Beatty, who plays Lizzie, said that the series is exploring “a legacy of female rage and reaction to the set of circumstances that they are presented with.”“I think there’s a connection that Ryan and Ian [Monster creators Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan] were interested in mapping and exploring,” she added. “I think the story of Aileen Wuornos also served that question and that exploration of why women kill.”NetflixAileen Wuornos pictured in prisonThat connection is also significant because this is the first season of Monster to focus on female killers. Lizzie was accused but acquitted, while Wuornos was convicted of six murders and executed in 2002.The show appears to be asking whether women who commit—or are accused of committing—violence are understood differently from male killers. Its official synopsis frames Lizzie’s story around repression, female rage, sex, power and revenge.So, while the series may suggest that Lizzie’s story had a symbolic influence on Wuornos, there is no evidence that the real Wuornos ever visited the Borden house or cited Lizzie as an inspiration.