They Call Her Sybil: The Case of Shirley Ardell Mason

Written By: Shawn Logan, M.Sc.

It was a case that captivated the nation in the 1960s and 1970s. Dr. Cornelia B. Wilbur, a medical doctor and psychiatrist at the University of Kentucky, presented the case of Sybil Isabel Dorsett to the public. The case of young Sybil inspired a book by author Flora Rheta Schreiber and a TV movie simply titled Sybil, starring Sally Field. So, who was Sybil? Sybil, born Shirley Ardell Mason, was born in 1923 in Dodge Center, Minnesota. Shirley’s father was Mr. Walter W. Mason, and her mother was Mrs. Martha Alice Atkinson. Martha was better known as Mattie, but in Schreiber’s book she was simply referred to as “Hattie.” For the sake of brevity, Martha will be referred to as “Mattie” hereafter. Mattie was often described as strange or peculiar when she lived in Minnesota. Her neighbors remarked on her bizarre laugh and reported that she would walk at night and peek into windows. Moreover, it was reported that Mattie had been diagnosed as schizophrenic, though it remains unclear whether she was ever formally diagnosed. Shirley went on to graduate from Dodge Center High School in the early 1940s and then attend Mankato State College. Later, Shirley became a substitute teacher in the 1950s and even attended Columbia University.

From a young age, it was alleged that Shirley Mason had suffered extensive abuse at the hands of her parents. Schreiber’s book would highlight many instances of abuse; one of those details was Mattie’s alleged breaks from reality. “We don’t want anyone looking in, spying on us,” were the words of Mattie, Shirley’s mother. According to Shirley, her mother did not always do the same things to her, though they were all usually terrible. It was Dr. Cornelia Wilbur who discovered these atrocities during her therapy sessions with Shirley. Though Shirley sought help, her young age left her at a disadvantage compared with her parents. Thus, it was theorized that Shirley stopped looking outside for help and began looking within. Around this time, Shirley’s alters, or personalities, began making presences. In the early stages of her pathology, Shirley attempted to create a fantasy world in which she had a caring and loving mother. In time, she allegedly fragmented into 16 alters to help her cope with and survive her abuse. Shirley’s father, Willard, was noted as being passive; he largely ignored the abuse and the signs, including the burns and the scars. He never responded to Shirley’s screams.

As time progressed, Shirley reported experiencing periods of blackouts and emotional breakdowns. These recurring breakdowns led Shirley to seek therapy to resolve her issues. She sought treatment from Freudian psychoanalyst Dr. Cornelia B. Wilbur, who, at the time, was located in Minnesota. Shirley was under Dr. Wilbur’s care for approximately 11 years, and her case would spark a psychiatric and cultural phenomenon. Throughout her career, Dr. Wilbur practiced and taught across the country and lectured around the world before settling in Lexington, Kentucky, and calling it home. In 1967, Dr. Wilbur became a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. Shirley followed Dr. Wilbur and moved to Lexington so she could be closer to Dr. Wilbur and complete her treatment.

Multiple Personality Disorder (now known diagnostically as Dissociative Identity Disorder) is a severe mental condition caused by overwhelming childhood trauma. To cope, the mind fragments into two or more distinct personality states (or ‘alters’). This separation triggers significant gaps in memory, identity, and daily awareness, as the brain fails to integrate a single, unified self.

Shirley’s Alters

(Note: these are listed in Flora Rheta Schreiber’s book, and the alters’ names were also changed as Shirley was still alive at the time of publication of the book.)

1. Sybil Isabel Dorsett – Served as Shirley’s primary alter

2. Victoria “Vicky” Antoinette Scharleau – A young, but enthusiastic French girl

3. Peggy Lou Baldwin – Was often angry

4. Peggy Ann Baldwin – Was the opposite of Peggy Lou in that she was often fearful instead of being angry

5. Mary Lucinda Saunders Dorsett – Maternal figure

6. Marcia Lynn Dorsett – Prolific writer and artist

7. Vanessa Gail Dorsett – Happy, upbeat, and a musician

8. Mike Dorsett – The first of two male alters, was also a builder

9. Sid Dorsett – The second of Sybil’s two male alters, was a carpenter

10. Nancy Lou Ann Baldwin – Evangelical and also very political

11. Sybil Ann Dorsett – A largely lifeless alter

12. Ruthie Dorsett – Infant alter

13. Clara Dorsett – Constantly critical of Sybil and quite religious

14. Helen Dorsett – Consistently afraid to set or achieve goals

15. Marjorie Dorsett – Easy- going, loved to laugh

16. The Blonde – A teenage alter that was upbeat

It was not until Shirley was 42 years of age, in 1965, that all of her 16 alters integrated into one and marked the birth of the “new” Shirley. To reach that point, Shirley had to endure 11 years of therapy with a total of 2,354 office sessions. These sessions varied, but some included the use of Sodium Pentothal and hypnosis to help delve into Shirley’s abusive experiences. The integration of all of Shirley’s alters was a slow and sometimes grueling process. Dr. Wilbur believed that each of Shirley’s traumas had to be “uprooted and analyzed” to integrate, and consequently Shirley would no longer need any of the alters. Shirley, according to Dr. Wilbur, often struggled against meeting her various alters. In the aftermath of her treatment, Shirley would report that some people had a difficult time believing that her mother and father would do the things she alleged. In the post-war era of the nuclear family, it was difficult to imagine that parents would make a child endure such abuse and trauma. Dr. Wilbur was convinced that [the abuse] happened, and Shirley’s response, though rare, helped her cope with the nightmare she suffered.

     When Dr. Wilbur started treatment with Shirley, she was charged between $15 and $25 per visit, but primarily averaged $15 per visit. Over the course of her 11 years of treatment, Shirley stacked up a bill of more than $35,000. By 1973, just before the book was published, Shirley had paid over one-third of the total bill. The Sodium Pentothal treatments were more expensive and, over time, Dr. Wilbur had to discontinue these treatments as Shirley began exhibiting signs of becoming addicted to it. Dr. Wilbur said that royalties from the book would be shared by Shirley, Dr. Wilbur, and Schreiber.

Aftermath

After Shirley integrated, she went on to live a quiet but successful life, according to most reports. Shirley taught art at Lexington Community College, later Bluegrass Community & Technical College, and was a painter herself, even hosting her own art gallery on Henry Clay Boulevard. In the 1990s, however, researchers, academics, and clinicians, after the deaths of Shirley and Dr. Wilbur, began suspecting that the case of “Sybil” was not as it appeared. A psychologist in San Francisco reported that he found tape recordings of sessions of Shirley and Dr. Wilbur that cast doubt on Dr. Wilbur’s diagnosis of multiple personality disorder (today known as dissociative identity disorder). Psychologist Dr. Robert Rieber of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York reported that, based on the found tape recordings, it was suggested that the alters Shirley developed were created during therapy through suggestions to a highly pliable young woman. Additionally, Dr. Rieber believed that the conversations between Dr. Wilbur and the author of the book were “not totally unaware” that the story was wrong, yet they wished to believe it, irrespective of the evidence. Others, like the clinical professor of psychiatry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Dr. Richard Gottlieb, noted that Dr. Rieber’s report failed to show that the book was a conscious misrepresentation. Yet there was still no consensus as to whether or not the diagnosis was fabricated or misrepresented. Dr. Leah Dickstein at the University of Louisville in Kentucky stayed in touch with Shirley after Dr. Wilbur died. Dr. Dickstein reported that Shirley told her, “Tell people every word in the book is true.” Dr. Dickstein, who personally knew Dr. Wilbur, was steadfast in her belief that Dr. Wilbur did not need to make up the events of “Sybil.” 

Dr. Wilbur diagnosed Shirley with breast cancer in early 1990; however, she went into remission without treatment. A year later, Dr. Wilbur was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and at that time, Shirley moved in to help care for Dr. Wilbur until she died in 1992 in Lexington from a transient ischemic attack at age 83. By early 1997, Shirley's breast cancer had returned, and she once again declined treatment. Shirley donated her house and paintings to the Seventh-day Adventist church and died in late February of 1998 at age 75 in Lexington. A few years later, in Shirley's Lexington, Kentucky house, a horde of approximately 100 paintings were found in the basement. Some of the paintings were signed by Shirley, some were unsigned, and some even included the signatures of her alters. Shirley's paintings sold at auction in 1999 for between $30,000 and $100,000 to an unidentified collector from Leawood, Kansas. Though some have viewed the case of "Sybil" as a novelty of sorts, Shirley Mason was a human being who ceaselessly and steadfastly claimed abuse and trauma during her formative years - a fate no child should have to endure. Upon the respective deaths of Dr. Wilbur and Shirley, they were cremated in Kentucky; their cremains were not interred in a cemetery or columbarium, and their final resting places are unknown.

Special thanks to Professor Mary Kinney and Phil Tkacz for assisting the author with the article.

Works Referenced

Schreiber, Flora Rheta. 1973. Sybil. New York: Warner.

Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minnesota, p. 69, June 1999.

The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, North Carolina, p. 39, 15 July 1973.

Johnson City Press, Johnson City, Tennessee, p. 5, 17 August 1998.

The Miami Herald, Miami, Florida, p. 100, 20 April 1973.

Detroit Free Press, Detroit, Michigan, p. 31, 25 May 1973.

NPR: https://www.npr.org/2011/10/20/141514464/real-sybil-admits-multiple-personalities-were-fake

Shirley Mason, Center, in 1943

Photo from the Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 6 June 1999  

Shirley Mason, Painting

Photo from the Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 6 June 1999  

Dr. Cornelia B. Wilbur

The Boston Globe, Boston, Massachusetts, 14 June 1973   

Flora Rheta Schreiber. 

The Boston Globe, Boston, Massachusetts, 14 June 1973  

From the Charlotte Observer, 15 July 1973

A drawing by one of Shirley’s alters, “Marcia,” depicts the town of Willow Corners. Marcia is in the lower left corner, separated from the townspeople. Sketch also depicts a neighbor’s garden, the scene of Mattie’s embarrassing activities during Shirley’s early childhood. Shirley was nine years old when “Marcia” did this sketch. From the Charlotte Observer, 15 July 1973 

Doves in Flight, by Shirley Ardell Mason

From the Courier-Journal, 11 March 2011 

Home of Dr. Wilbur, Lexington, Kentucky. This is where Dr. Wilbur also practiced psychiatry.

Photo courtesy of Prof. Mary Kinney

Home of Shirley Mason, Lexington, Kentucky

Photo courtesy of Prof. Mary Kinney

Shirley A. Mason

Image from NPR