Witch of Mansfield

Meet one of Richland County's most colorful citizens. There are those who thought Phebe Wise was a witch. More thought that the cranky old lady was 'tetched,' meaning crazy. And she was crazy--like a fox. An eccentric who outwitted violent robbers, a mad stalker, and a society that expected her to marry and raise children, Phebe alternated between dressing up in men's clothes and strutting to town in an antique ball gown, the trail dragging behind her in the dirt. If anyone had the gall to stare, she'd cuss them out. She was in touch with a different world, and she used it to help launch the career of a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, Louis Bromfield. Local author and historian Mark Sebastian Jordan unravels the myth and history of Phebe Wise.