For any paranormal enthusiast, Mansfield, Ohio is a city that evokes paranormal excitement. This is the home of the Ohio State Reformatory– a structure that was a local celebrity even before it played the titular role in the 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption. This property has been on a preservation journey since the 1990s and it doesn’t just extend to the Reformatory, but to properties across the road – known as Hancock Heights. These buildings were used to house builders, workers, and employees and their families over the years that they were available. Now, they are rented out by OSR (Ohio State Reformatory Preservation Society). There is an amazing history behind these properties, as well as a peek into the history of Mansfield itself, and much of it can be found in the unraveling of a single thread– the remarkable life of a fascinating woman.
What I find fascinating when I look into the history of towns that I visit are the nuggets of lore that reveal themselves. The land for the Ohio State Reformatory and Hancock Heights came from the family lands of one Reverend Christian Wise (1810-1887). Wise, and his wife Julia Ann Riegel (1814-1891), were very educated and cultured individuals who valued knowledge and raised their family with that value as a central pillar of their upbringing. Wise was also a very wealthy man due to his family back home on the East Coast. He came to Ohio in 1833 and purchased 80 acres of farm land in Mansfield. According to a newspaper article titled “A Glimpse of the Mansfield that Was”, he left that farm shortly after purchasing it and bought another large farm that “encompassed the present site of the Ohio State Reformatory on the Olivesburg Road extending from Longview Avenue.”
Reverend Wise was a civil engineer, reverend at the Dunkard Church (Church of Brethren), school master of the local “University”, and was a land surveyor for the state of Ohio and Richland County which Mansfield is part of. “The University” was a grades 5-12 schoolhouse and Wise taught most of the families of Mansfield, if they were a family that expected an education. He also educated members of the community in order for them to leave the area to pursue higher status. This allowed for Reverend Wise to be known and connected far beyond Mansfield. His ten children also grew up with an education provided to them by their father and mother. Some went on to work at “The University” and beyond as educators. Phoebe, their youngest daughter, was known to teach classes and lead by example.
Phoebe Wise (1851-1933) was and still is a legendary figure in Mansfield, Ohio. She was also known to be a shrewd and frugal individual which was only enhanced by her education from her parents and siblings. In Mark S. Jordan’s book The Witch of Mansfield: The Tetched Life of Phebe Wise (2023), he describes her as being someone who enjoyed spending money and her parents kept her on a tight leash, but her history of being able to manage her own home and take care of herself without ever holding a job reveals someone who knew how to navigate her finances. For having solely taken care of herself without a husband or family for over forty years at the turn of the century, it speaks volumes to her understanding of the running of a household.
Reverend Christian Wise passed on in 1887 and his wife followed in 1891. Each of the living Wise children, of which there were only four at the time, inherited “just over a thousand dollars” (“Phoebe Wise Treasure?”, 2008). Phoebe, who was the youngest living of the Wise children, opted to stay in the family home as she had spent her life caring for her parents and her other siblings had gone on to make lives of their own. The “Phoebe Wise Treasure?” write-up also mentions that after the death of Julia Wise, Phoebe sold 26 1/2 of the 58 1/2 acres of the existing Wise estate. A sum was not provided by this source, but the land was sold at a Sheriff’s Sale so that Phoebe could appease the inheritance requirements left by the passing of her parents. It is said by a member of the Mansfield Historical Society, that Phoebe, not her father, sold an additional 34 acres of Wise land to the State in 1885 for use in the construction of the Ohio State Reformatory.
In the years after this sale, certain aspects of Phoebe’s character and certain events unfolded that made Phoebe Wise even more famous in Mansfield. First was just her general demeanor, dress, and participation in the community. She was a woman devoid of meekness who would speak her mind vociferously. She always wore fancy Victorian clothing, often in bright colors. I read that sometimes she would go out with multiple dresses on top of each other and would often wear gloves. Phoebe still held to the traditions taught to her as a young girl, even into the early 1900s. There even came a point where she was referred to as a witch for merely being outside of society. Author Mark S. Jordan used the term “tetched” in the title of his book about her and describes Phoebe’s (or Phebe as she wrote her name and is honored by Jordan) existence as tetched – meaning a little “touched” or “insane.” The concept of insane as defined by today’s standards differs from how it was viewed in her day. We view the term with a harshness that did not necessarily apply to its turn of the century use, where it erred more on the softer side of outsiderly behavior and eccentricity. I read many resources that spoke in a kindly way about Phoebe and even how, in her final years, many neighbors came to help take care of her.
forward Phoebe was in the community. Defined as an “interesting woman.”
Phoebe was also very much in love with nature and connected with the animals she lived with. She had a horse named Scotty that she let live in the house with her, acting as a sort of guard dog against robbers or simply unwelcome visitors. Phoebe is also noted to have had a curly haired, black dog that she spoke to like a person regularly. Having chummy conversations with your pupper may be common in 2026, but back in those days talking to any animal in a way akin to speaking with a human was a sure sign of witchcraft and being in the company of a familiar. Did you know a dog was actually put to death during the Salem Witch Trials, because the owner had such a heartfelt spiritual relationship with it? Introverts with a low opinion of the human race often find companionship outside their own species and Phoebe did not have a high opinion of people, in general. Despite the town rallying to take care of her in her old age, Phoebe had seen her fair share of greed and genuine insanity that not only colored her opinion on mankind, but also disfigured her and threatened her life.
Aside from her eccentric and witch-like existence, Phoebe survived two harrowing experiences as a woman living alone at the turn of the century in Mansfield that helped cement her iconic status in the community.
The first event took place after her mother passed away in August of 1891. Phoebe was at home on an evening in December, 1891. She had been baking pies and was preparing to leave to stay at a neighbor’s for the night. It was well known in the community that Phoebe was being harassed by a local man by the name of Jacob “Jake” Kastanowitz (also published as Kastinowitz). He would come by and bang on her door and yell rude and crude things at her, all while trying to convince her to marry him.
This evening Phoebe wanted to avoid his harassment and intended to leave after the pies were finished. After having pulled a pie out of the oven, she heard a noise from the front door. Thinking it was Jacob beginning his habitual terrorizing, she headed towards the front door only to have it burst open in front of her and three men rush in at her.
Covered in hoods, the men demanded to know where her money and treasure was. Now, the Wise family was a notable family in Mansfield, but notable and rich were not necessarily the same thing. It had been circulated through the penitentiary and the local taverns that there was money hidden away at the Wise house. One source even said someone overheard Christian Wise telling Phoebe to “guard the springs, because there’s thousands of dollars there.” In reality, the springs in question helped produce a modest income for Phoebe during her lifetime, because she was able to sell the spring water for a decent profit and it is assumed this is probably what her father meant when he alluded to it being a valuable treasure. Being a professional surveyor, he would have understood the importance of a natural spring on his property. As is wont to happen, though, rumors of hidden treasure spread like wildfire, so it’s no surprise that a man, not from Mansfield, would pick up on it and plan a burglary.
Upon breaking in, the burglars found Phoebe to be unhelpful and, when she did offer to take them to the treasure, realized she was leading them towards where she had probably stashed a weapon (her pistol). The men grabbed her and set her in a chair, tied her up, then ransacked the house looking for anything they could find of value. After exhausting their search, they threatened to torture her and one of the men held a candle to her feet. Phoebe refused to show weakness and also simply didn’t have the answers they wanted. Finally, though, she told them she had a few items of value (a diamond ring and a watch from her father) and some cash upstairs. The men stopped burning her feet, but not without having already done lifelong damage, and went to get the items. It was hardly treasure, but noted to have been a total value of potentially $500 (equivalent to nearly $20k today).
The men realized there wasn’t much left to find here, despite the stories they had heard, and they prepared to go. Before they left, they noticed the fresh pies and started eating them, but it was noted by Phoebe that the younger of the men asked her for permission before digging into them. Once satisfied, they made further threats about her staying put and not following them, even warning that they would be just outside watching for her, and then they escaped.
Worming her way out of the ties and pushing through the searing pain of her burned and charred feet, Phoebe made her way to the Erie Railroad telegraph office to wire the police. It is said she waited several hours after they left, scared that they would actually be waiting for her. That amount of time gave these men ample opportunity to get out of Mansfield, but reports state that they men instead went diving into and partying at the local taverns with their cash spoils.
Police officers were able to easily find the group of men: Henry Zweifel, William “Zip” Tyler, and Tom Bloor. After a great deal of detaining, escaping, denials, acceptance, rolling over, and finally pressing charges, then men were held accountable to some degree. Zip escaped prison through a cell door being mistakenly left often. He was never seen from again. Bloor got off easy with one year of hard labor, for having cooperated with law enforcement. It was also revealed that Zweifel had been casing Phoebe’s house for a while and that the men hadn’t expected her to be home that night, as they had witnessed her staying with neighbors in the evening. Zweifel was given eight years of hard labor at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus. Despite the long sentence, Zweifel continued on with his career as a criminal, supposedly until the end of his days. My research left gaps, which is what convinced me he was a career criminal who probably floated around the country using the railway system.
Despite catching and incarcerating two of the criminals, Zip eluded police, which left Phoebe in a somewhat distressed state. Would he come back for her? This fear, though, probably dwindled as years passed only to be replaced with intensifying stress over the advances from Jacob Kastanowitz. Things with him gradually escalated to a level that numerous townspeople claim to have “seen coming.” Everyone knew that Phoebe kept a pistol and her 0.32-caliber Winchester rifle at hand and was ready to use it to defend herself against those who violated the security of her homestead.
On Sunday, May 22, 1898, Phoebe was awoken to noises of an intruder downstairs. She armed herself and went to see what it was. Much to her shock, there was a man standing in her kitchen window drilling holes with a hand crank into her windowsill. Her kitchen window was much higher than any person could look into, so it almost appeared as if he was floating in her window. It was, not to her surprise, Jacob. She warned him to go away, that she had no interest in marrying him, and that she would shoot if he tried to come in. Jacob replied, according to newspapers, “You’ll either marry me or kill me!” Then he started to attack the window frame and a shot rang out.
Jacob disappeared from view and Phoebe, too terrified over the situation, went back upstairs.
The next morning, a tax assessor by the name of Elmer Terman stopped by to do some tax work and was shocked to find Miss Phoebe not answering the door and even more shocked to find the body of Jacob Kastanowitz dead on the ground under the broken kitchen window and next to the stack of bricks he had made to stand on. Terman rallied authorities who came to Phoebe and charged her with murder. Everyone in town knew the inevitable had happened: “She’s either going to marry him or kill him.”
A court date was set and it was found that Phoebe’s actions were “justifiable homicide.” Townspeople shared their own evidence of her harassment by Kastanowitz and the court saw a multi-year litany of charges and complaints brought to the police and court regarding his actions. What started out as a shared love of piano music turned into an aggressive obsession that neither mental institutions nor prison seemed able to cure in him.
A historical assumptive sidestep: As I read and created a timeline of Jacob Kastanowitz’s behaviors, I realized that something quite obvious had probably happened to him. First of all, Jacob’s advances become more and more intense over time. He is labeled insane several times, but also discharged from the asylum. His vulgarities towards Phoebe increase over time. Clearly something is wrong with his mind. While one author immediately assumed masturbatory obsession and genital mutilation for “habits tending toward softness of the brain” (attributed to Kastanowitz by the County Coroner) it seems more likely for the era that he might have had a night out, having been rebuffed by the woman he wanted most, and spent some time with local painted ladies. As I looked up the type of phrasing used on the coroner report, my suspicions were confirmed: the reference to softening of the brain likely refers to having had sex with a woman and contracted syphilis. As years went by, the effects of the disease on his mental state became more pronounced. Due to the lack of understanding regarding mental health and the brain, it is no wonder that this assumption potentially went unspoken and he wasn’t able to get the help he needed, because others were driving the narrative.
As for Phoebe, she lived as a maiden in Mansfield until her death in 1933. A reporter once claimed that she told him if she got married, she “wouldn’t be Wise.” Phoebe was found home alone by a neighbor who was conducting a wellness check. Soon after she was declared dead, treasure hunters ravaged the remains of her house looking for the treasure they had heard was hidden. No one has come forward claiming to have found it. As the years went on, the house was torn down and the land turned into homes and other usable spaces. She, herself, lives in infamy through her distant cousin and Pulitzer Prize winning author Louis Bromfield. He immortalizes Phoebe indirectly through characters in three of his stories, including “The Wedding Gown.” Louis Bromfield also owned Malabar Farms – now a State Park – which is reportedly haunted due to a triple homicide and had a cottage on the property that was used in the filming of Shawshank Redemption. Bromfield spent much time on the Wise property as it neighbored his own and truly cared for the unique woman that is Phoebe Wise.
To this day, there have been claims that people see Miss Wise walking the Olivesburg Road around the prison, waiting for the trolley, or seeking help for the many people who have harassed her in life. If anything, Miss Wise would be around due to the love of her forever home and the land that she was charged with caring for.
Or maybe she was going to check on the land she sold after the passing of her mother in 1892. Robert J. Hancock purchased this 26 1/2 acre parcel of land Phoebe had portioned out for purchase at the Sheriff’s auction, which became the site of the 10 brick houses across the street from the Ohio State Reformatory. Robert J. Hancock is notable in the history of the Ohio State Reformatory, these additional properties, and is part of the Mansfield city history. His father, Robert G. Hancock, emigrated to the United States in 1870 and settled in Mansfield to start his business as a stonemason. He opened up a company called Hancock and Dow, that he partnered with William Dow to create. The Hancock and Dow company won the contract to build the stonework-laden Reformatory. Robert J. Hancock followed in his father’s footsteps as a contractor and this allowed for the creation of Hancock Heights.
According to the Richland Source, families of prison guards likely rented the houses to provide a faster means to work. A notable occupant of the homes was Henry Clinton Castor (H.C. Castor) – best known as the assistant superintendent at the reformatory and the superintendent of the farm. I wasn’t able to turn up official sources, but according to his Findagrave.com writeup, supplied by ohiogenweb, he was the captain and chief of police in Dayton, Ohio for 20 years and worked with the Ohio State Reformatory in various capacities from 1893 until his death in 1911.
The home I stayed in at 413 Annadale Ave belonged to a Nicholas Bucci. I found very little when learning about his connection to the home. All recent information came from a news article published in 2020 by the Richland Source after the purchase of four of the properties that were part of Hancock Heights. The Ohio State Reformatory Preservation Society, at the time, wasn’t sure what they would do with the properties, as they wanted to also respect the neighborhood and those who still lived in the other homes. Now they have turned the four homes into rentable spaces, especially for those who intend to visit the Reformatory or participate in events being held at the Reformatory. Their future outlook is to one day acquire all 10 properties and help create more historically informative spaces for visitors to Mansfield, Ohio.
Read about my experience staying at the retro themed house at Hancock Heights in Mansfield, Ohio.
Resources
Numerous primary sources on the names listed here can be found on Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com
Gypsy Heart. “Phoebe Wise Treasure?” Treasurenet.com. August 29, 2008. https://www.treasurenet.com/threads/phoebe-wise-treasure.96238/.
Hunnell, Carl. “Ohio State Reformatory working to preserve historic nearby neighborhood.” Richland Source, December 11, 2020. https://www.richlandsource.com/2020/12/11/ohio-state-reformatory-working-to-preserve-historic-nearby-neighborhood/.
“Interesting Woman Tells Why She Thinks She Should Vote.” The Mansfield News. News Journal. Tuesday, October 27, 1914.
Jordan, Mark S. The Witch of Mansfield: The Tetched Life of Phebe Wise. The History Press, Charleston, SC. 2023.
“Julia Anna Riegel Wise.” Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/145148393/julia-anna-wise. Date Visited March 18. 2026.
McKee, Timothy Brian. “Phoebe Wise in Mansfield’s Family Album.” Richland County History, https://richlandcountyhistory.com/2019/08/04/phoebe-wise-in-mansfields-family-album/. Date Visited March 18, 2026.
“The Ohio State Reformatory.” AncentralFindings.com. https://ancestralfindings.com/the-ohio-state-reformatory/. Date Visited March 18, 2026.
“Rev Christian Wise.” Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/145148362/christian-wise. Date Visited March 18, 2026.
White, Paul L. “A Glimpse of the Mansfield That Was.” Mansfield, Ohio News Journal. Sunday, June 09, 1968.
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