Town file
Phillips, Wisconsin
Phillips, Wisconsin (Price County, Wisconsin) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 483, "The Serial Killer Tapes" (11 April 2024). Phillips, Wisconsin, sits in the North Woods of Price County, about three hours from Green Bay and three hours and twenty minutes from Minneapolis.
- Town
- Phillips
- County
- Price County
- State
- Wisconsin
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 483
- Approximate location
- 45.694, -90.401
Episode 483 / 11 April 2024 / 168 min / full
The Serial Killer Tapes
"We're going way up north Wisconsin here into the North Woods this week ... Phillips, Wisconsin, the heart of Price County's North Woods." about 0:04:44
The case: Murder of Carla Lenz (November 12th, 1986); Kidnapping and torture of Emily Weber (September 3rd, 1988); Disappearance of Shelly Hansen (November 12th, 1987). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2024
- Population
- 1,569
- Median age
- about 40
- Median household income
- $40,982
- Median home value
- $162,000
- Two-bedroom rent
- $840 a month
- Religious
- 56%
- Property crime
- ▲ slightly above average
- Violent crime
- ▼ slightly below average
History, in brief
- Named after Elijah B. Phillips, general manager of the Wisconsin Central Railway. about 0:06:27
- In 1894 a dry summer and continued drought left the area tinder-dry, with thousands of cords of hemlock bark piled in the woods waiting to be hauled to the tannery. about 0:06:46
- A fire started in piles of hemlock bark ten miles west of town and ate its way in, igniting the cedar-shingled roofs. about 0:07:41
- The fire destroyed the town and it had to be rebuilt. about 0:08:23
- The Price County Fair has provided entertainment to area residents since 1885. about 0:14:28
The reviews read out
1 star
"Titled 'Worst City Ever': after three years there the writer is sorry she ever moved, calls the police force undesirable, the government corrupt and without integrity, and says the city has the compassion of a wet newspaper; the worst place she has lived in her fifty-one years, and visitors should stay away."about 0:08:23
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Colby, Wisconsin54 miles
- Crandon, Wisconsin73 miles
- Spring Brook, Wisconsin89 miles
- Menomonie, Wisconsin92 miles
- Ontonagon, Michigan96 miles
- Tomah, Wisconsin118 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.