If you finished Netflix’s Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story and immediately searched, “Wait… did that really happen?” you are definitely not alone.
The series uses one of America’s most famous unsolved murder cases — but it takes major creative liberties with what happened.
So where does history end and Netflix begin?
The basic crime is real. In 1892, Lizzie Borden’s father Andrew and stepmother Abby were brutally murdered in their Massachusetts home. Lizzie was charged with the murders and went on trial.
But here is the crucial fact:
Lizzie Borden was acquitted.
No one else was ever convicted, and more than 130 years later, nobody can say with certainty who committed the murders.
Netflix therefore has a huge historical blank space to fill — and Monster fills it aggressively.
The series presents an intimate relationship between Lizzie and housemaid Bridget “Maggie” Sullivan and gives Maggie a major role in the murders. But this is not an established historical fact.
Lizzie’s sexuality has been the subject of speculation, particularly because of her later relationship with actress Nance O’Neil, but the series turns uncertainty and rumor into a much more definite story.
Then there is Aileen Wuornos.
Sarah Paulson’s appearance has left many viewers wondering whether the real Wuornos was obsessed with Lizzie Borden.
According to Netflix’s own explanation, there is no evidence that she was.
The writers deliberately connect the two women as part of a larger theme about female rage across generations. It is a storytelling device, not established history.
That distinction has become one of the biggest arguments among viewers.
Some Reddit users say Monster goes too far, turning a real murder case into something closer to historical fan fiction.
Others argue that the series never promised to be a documentary. Because so much about the Borden murders remains unknown, they see the show as one possible fictional interpretation rather than a reconstruction of the truth.
And perhaps that is the best way to watch it.
The murders were real.
The trial was real.
Lizzie Borden was real.
But much of the story connecting those facts is Netflix imagining what might have happened.
So if you finished Monster believing you finally knew the truth about Lizzie Borden, there is one final twist:
More than a century later, we still don’t know the truth.