India, Sept. 18 -- The Lizzie Borden Story on Netflix plays a little part of the famous doggerel, "Lizzie Borden took an axe, and gave her mother forty whacks."

The Lizzie Borden case is one of America's most enduring true crime legends, bringing in the eerie verse that has followed Lizzie Borden for more than a century. Despite becoming one of the most well-known bits of American folklore, historians think the rhyme's roots are unknown.

The most plausible theory is that it was established by media reporters covering Borden's dramatic 1893 murder trial. Here's what the song means and what could have led to the famous camping doggerel.

The most widely known version reads:

According to Smithsonian Magazine, the verse is factually inaccu...