It amazes me the lengths people will go to in order to get a good scare on Halloween.

When you’re a kid, it’s enough to get dressed up like your favorite cartoon character and beg strangers for candy. But as years progress, young adults worldwide delight in the one day out of the year where they can justify being chased through rows of corn in the dark by a high schooler wielding a plastic axe.

I wonder: Where does it end?

Pretty soon a haunted maze and a bowlful of peeled grapes just won’t cut it anymore. Eventually those in search of spine-tingling thrills will venture toward real life horror stories to get their kicks. And what do you know? There’s a small home in Massachusetts that’s willing to give as much as you can take, and its former resident, a spinster by the name of Lizzie Borden, is the one who’s gonna give it to you.

On Aug. 14, 1892, the middle-aged Lizzie Borden removed a hatchet from her basement and proceeded up the stairs. Entering a guest bedroom, Lizzie watched from behind as her stepmother made the bed with fresh sheets. Before the dust ruffle could even hit the floor, Lizzie raised the hatchet above her head and let it fall on the unsuspecting woman’s back – 40 times.

As a pool of blood collected around the dead body of her stepmother, Lizzie took the short trip back down the stairs to the living room where her father was taking a nap. Sealing her place in history with one thick thud, Lizzie buried the hatchet into her father’s head and ran out the door.

Nice story, huh? It would make for a good scary movie for sure, but how would you like to sleep in the very house where it all took place?

The infamous Borden home, 92 Second St., in Fall River, Mass., has been turned into a bed and breakfast by current owners Martha McGinn and Simone Evans. For a price (not listed on the Web site), visitors can spend the night in Lizzie Borden’s bedroom, the room where her stepmother was killed or a few other rooms where nothing much exciting ever happened.

McGinn and Evans used photos and accounts of the interior design of the home at the time of the murders to recreate the scene as closely as possible. A few actual artifacts, including Mrs. Borden’s sewing machine and a few of Lizzie’s dresses, are available to gawk at as well.

The morning after a stay at the home, guests are treated to a homemade breakfast similar to the one the Borden’s ate on the morning of their murders: Johnny cakes, eggs, bacon and a sugar cookie shaped like an axe – somehow I think that was added in later.

Isn’t this going a bit far? Is it possible that the Halloween envelope has been pushed to its limit? What person in his or her right mind would want to spend the night next to crusty blood stains left by innocent people?

I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I’ve already reserved my stay.