Was Aileen Wuornos in the Lizzie Borden House? Real History Behind ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story,’ Explained

Sarah Paulson’s surprise turn as Aileen Wuornos in ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story‘ has left Netflix subscribers with a burning question. Did the real life serial killer actually visit the infamous Borden house, and was she truly inspired by Lizzie’s story before committing her own crimes.

The answer according to multiple reports is more complicated than the show suggests, and untangling fact from dramatization has become one of the season’s biggest talking points.

The Real Aileen Wuornos and Lizzie Borden Connection

There is no reliable historical evidence that Aileen Wuornos ever visited Lizzie Borden’s home or was personally inspired by her and while that does not mean it is possible to prove she never set foot inside the property, there is no surviving photograph, interview, biography or credible historical account placing her there or suggesting she traveled there because of Lizzie Borden. The house itself is very real and still standing in Fall River, Massachusetts, though its purpose has changed dramatically since the Victorian era murders it’s known for.

The real Borden house does exist in Fall River, Massachusetts, and it is now operating as a bed and breakfast, but there is no evidence that the real Wuornos ever stayed there or visited the property because of an interest in Lizzie Borden. Netflix itself has specifically noted that this part of the story was created for the series, confirming what historians had already suspected. In other words, the crossover that has captivated viewers this week never happened in real life.

Why Netflix Chose To Link Two Different ‘Monster’ Stories

The connection between Aileen Wuornos and Lizzie Borden is entirely fictional, with the two women never having met and no historical evidence suggesting the real Wuornos was particularly fascinated by the Borden murders. Instead, the season builds a connection between them through the idea of female rage and violence, even though Lizzie lived in the restrictive Victorian era while Wuornos lived almost a century later under completely different circumstances. The show uses that gap in time as a storytelling device rather than a factual link.

Ella Beatty, who plays Lizzie Borden in the series, has said the season is exploring a legacy of female rage and the circumstances that push women toward violence. That framing helps explain why the writers folded in a killer from an entirely different era and region of the country. It also mirrors a pattern fans of the anthology have seen before.

Notably, this is not the first time the Monster franchise has featured a serial killer crossover that never actually happened in real life, since the first season centered on Jeffrey Dahmer included an appearance from John Wayne Gacy despite the two never meeting. That precedent seems to have given the creative team confidence to try something similar with Wuornos and Borden.

What Happens in the Fictional Borden House Visit

One of the show’s biggest fictional additions involves Wuornos staying at the former Borden home with her partner, turning the house into a physical link between the two women’s stories. In the series, Wuornos visits the property, becomes increasingly immersed in Lizzie’s story, and begins experiencing visions connected to the Borden murders. It is a haunting sequence that blurs the line between historical drama and psychological horror.

The scene plays out with Wuornos and her girlfriend Shelby arriving at the door asking if this is the Lizzie Borden house, informing the woman who answers that they have a reservation, and being welcomed inside before making their way into the living room where Andrew Borden was killed.

The homeowner mentions that no one really knows what happened that day, prompting Wuornos to interject that she knows exactly what happened because she has lived through something similar herself. The moment ties directly into the show’s larger thesis about generational trauma among women labeled monsters by society.

The series depicts Wuornos grappling with Borden’s history, portraying the 19th century figure as a kind of precursor to her own actions, and in her final moments the show gives her a vision of Borden that reinforces its preoccupation with how monsters are made. Wuornos’s storyline returns later in the season including during the finale, which depicts her arrest, trial and eventual execution before shifting into a more surreal closing sequence. After her execution, the fictional Wuornos wakes up to see both Lizzie Borden and Bridget Maggie Sullivan waiting for her.

Sarah Paulson’s Role and the Ryan Murphy Connection

Sarah Paulson plays Aileen Wuornos in ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’, appearing as a surprise addition in the fourth episode of the season from showrunner Ian Brennan and producer Ryan Murphy. Her casting immediately sparked chatter among longtime fans of the anthology given her extensive history working with Murphy across multiple projects.

For Paulson, the role marks another collaboration with Murphy following her previous appearances in Ratched and American Horror Story, and Brennan described her performance as breathtaking while noting her involvement felt seamless given her established history with the production team.

Ella Beatty, who had already worked with Paulson on the stage play Appropriate, emphasized that Paulson’s contribution was integral to developing the season’s psychological depth. That prior creative partnership appears to have made her unexpected casting feel natural rather than gimmicky to those involved.

Wuornos was a real life serial killer who murdered seven men in Florida between 1989 and 1990, and the show ultimately explores the psychology of female violence rather than suggesting the two women ever actually crossed paths in real life. That distinction has become central to how critics and viewers are processing the season, since the emotional weight of the storyline rests entirely on thematic resonance rather than documented history.

Now that the truth behind the Borden house visit is out in the open, how do you feel about Netflix bending history to connect Aileen Wuornos and Lizzie Borden in this season of ‘Monster’?