Sands, a UK baby loss charity, has warned viewers about a graphic infant death scene in Netflix’s Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story.
The charity posted a “trigger warning / spoiler alert” on its Facebook page last week, flagging episode four of the Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan anthology series. The show, which dropped on the streamer earlier this month, stars Ella Beatty, 24, as Lizzie Borden, the Massachusetts woman tried and acquitted for the 1892 axe murders of her father Andrew and stepmother Abby.
The flagged sequence intercuts with Lizzie and maid Bridget Sullivan reading about Hungarian noblewoman Elizabeth Báthory, who was accused of torturing and killing hundreds of women. The episode flashes back to depict a woman giving birth before her newborn baby is drowned in a bowl of water.
“They drowned her baby before she’d even had a chance to name her,” Lizzie reads in the scene.
The charity’s Facebook post addressed the episode directly.
“We wanted to let you know that the Netflix series, Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, features the death of a baby in episode 4, which some of you may find upsetting,” Sands wrote. “Please remember that we are here for you if this has affected you.”
The post linked followers to Sands’ support services.
One viewer thanked the charity for the heads-up in a comment on the post.
“I just want to say thank you for these trigger warnings you post, they help me (and I’m sure others) approach content differently and let me judge if I want to watch it or not [love heart emoji] keep up the good work,” they wrote.
The episode has also drawn warnings from viewers on Reddit, where one user described the scene’s visceral impact.
“There’s a very graphic scene involving the murder of a newborn immediately after birth in front of the baby’s horrified mother,” they wrote. “It made me throw up in my mouth and I’m usually good with violence and dark topics.”
The same user added that motherhood had shifted their tolerance for such material.
“Motherhood changed me and I’m still remembering that,” they continued. “However, I do wish there had been a trigger warning because it leaves nothing to the imagination. Viewer discretion advised, especially for all you mamas and mamas-to-be. I wish I could unsee it but I’m happy to help spare others.”
The baby death warning follows separate viewer concern over an episode two dinner sequence flagged by people with emetophobia, a fear of vomiting.
The Lizzie Borden installment is the latest in Murphy and Brennan’s Monster franchise, which previously examined the lives of serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez brothers. The series mixes real case elements with fictionalized events and characters, with Charlie Hunnam, 44, playing Andrew Borden and Rebecca Hall, 41, portraying Abby.
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is streaming on Netflix now.