It was thought to be a simple contraction of 'is' and 'that'. But when it began creeping into the language, it was noted that it is invariably preceeded BY 'is'. Example: The thing is isth't she went to the store and didn't tell me!
ISTH'T
Meaning of ISTH'T in English
Slang English vocab. Английский сленговый словарь. 2012