Uncharted Lancaster

Meet Columbia's Little Bigfoot—the Albatwitch.

In the area around Chickies Rock, near the ancient Susquehanna River, stories of a 4-foot-tall hairy ape-man have circulated since Native Americans dominated the region. As recently as 2024, people have seen the hairy beast. Legend says this small, hairy creature would terrorize picnickers up at Chickies Rock in the 1800s by stealing their apples and pelting the cores back at them. This episode of the Uncharted Lancaster Podcast explores the story of Columbia's little bigfoot—the Albatwitch. Learn more when you visit UnchartedLancaster.com.

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Uncharted Lancaster’s Ghosts, Monsters, and Tales of Adventure takes readers on a 283-page spine-tingling journey through Lancaster County’s haunted history, eerie legends, and hidden treasures. From ghostly apparitions to outlaw loot, these 64 true local stories blend real history with gripping folklore.

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This episode explores the disturbing true story of Harry Clifford Zimmerly, a disgraced doctor whose rural farmhouse in southern Lancaster County became known as a 1930s “house of horror.” Plagued by alcoholism and illegal medical practices, Zimmerly operated a makeshift hospital under filthy and dangerous conditions during the Great Depression.

In 1935, the disappearance of Gladys Lawson exposed the full extent of his crimes. Investigators discovered that Zimmerly had dismembered and incinerated her remains to conceal a botched operation. The episode follows the sensational trial, the shocking testimony that sealed his fate, and the lingering questions about whether other victims were never found, leaving behind one of the region’s darkest criminal legacies. Read more at UnchartedLancaster.com

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Uncharted Lancaster’s Ghosts, Monsters, and Tales of Adventure takes readers on a 283-page spine-tingling journey through Lancaster County’s haunted history, eerie legends, and hidden treasures. From ghostly apparitions to outlaw loot, these 64 true local stories blend real history with gripping folklore.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

In this episode, we explore the extraordinary moment in September 1777 when Lancaster, Pennsylvania, briefly became the capital of the United States. As the British captured Philadelphia and the Continental Congress fled in the dark, the American government was forced into a desperate, improvised evacuation that sent delegates, public papers, and even the Liberty Bell scrambling westward. 

The episode follows the chaos that led to that moment, from General Howe’s campaign for Philadelphia to Alexander Hamilton’s urgent warning that triggered Congress’s midnight flight. It shows how Lancaster became a temporary refuge where exhausted delegates regrouped, confronted Washington’s grim reports from the field, and passed the emergency measures needed to keep the war effort alive before moving on to York. More than a story about one day in one courthouse, this is an episode about how fragile the American government really was in its earliest years, and how survival sometimes depended less on monuments than on motion, improvisation, and resolve.

This episode is based on Adam Zurn's new book, Capital Day: Lancaster and the Revolution, September 27, 1777, which tells the dramatic story of the day Lancaster became the capital of the United States. The book is available now on Amazon and in the Uncharted Lancaster store.

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In this episode, we explore the surprising story of the pawpaw, North America’s largest native fruit and one of its strangest. The transcript traces how this tropical-looking fruit came to thrive in Pennsylvania forests, from its prehistoric roots and likely relationship with extinct Ice Age megafauna to its long history as an important food source for Indigenous communities, early explorers, and freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad. 

The episode also looks at the pawpaw’s unusual biology, including its clonal colonies, odd pollination strategy, chemical defenses, and fragile fruit, which made it nearly impossible to commercialize in the modern supermarket system. At the same time, it highlights the fruit’s current revival through foraging, local agriculture, craft brewing, and regional food culture in Pennsylvania and beyond. 

At its core, this is a story about ecology, memory, and rediscovery. It shows how a fruit once central to life in eastern North America was nearly forgotten, and why it is now returning as both a culinary curiosity and a symbol of deeper local history.

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In this episode, we explore the Battle of Brandywine, the largest single-day battle of the American Revolution, and the chaotic campaign that led to the British capture of Philadelphia in September 1777. The transcript follows the battle from its grand strategic roots to the brutal reality on the ground, showing how flawed intelligence, missed warnings, and a massive British flanking maneuver nearly destroyed Washington’s army on the banks of Brandywine Creek. 

Along the way, the episode highlights the human side of the battle, from frightened civilians and shattered Quaker communities to the dramatic battlefield moments involving figures like Lafayette, Pulaski, and Patrick Ferguson. More than a simple military defeat, this is a story about survival, miscalculation, and the strange way a devastating loss at Brandywine still helped set the stage for the American victory that followed. 

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In this episode, we offer a deep dive synopsis of Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz’s upcoming nonfiction book, The Ballad of the Fugitive William Parker: A True Tale of Love, Murder, Treason, and Ordinary Folks Who Saved America, to be published by Simon & Schuster on September 8, 2026. The story centers on the Christiana Resistance of September 11, 1851, when William Parker and a network of Black and white allies in rural Lancaster County stood their ground against a federal posse enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act.

The episode follows Parker’s journey from enslavement in Maryland to resistance leader in Pennsylvania, then traces the deadly standoff, the escape that followed, and the treason trial that turned a local clash into a national reckoning. More than a dramatic historical episode, this is a story about moral courage, community defense, and the growing national crisis over slavery that pushed the United States closer to Civil War.

 The book by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz is available on Amazon or wherever you buy your books. 

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In this episode, we follow the British invasion of Delaware in 1777 and the grueling campaign that led to the Battle of Brandywine and the fall of Philadelphia. What begins as a seemingly brilliant British flanking maneuver becomes a story of exhaustion, miscalculation, and brutal human endurance, as General Howe’s army endures a miserable month-long sea voyage, lands in the mud at Head of Elk, and fights its way north through Delaware while Washington struggles to predict where the real blow will fall. 

The episode also brings the campaign down to ground level, showing the chaos of scouting missions, plundering, local resistance, and the hard fighting at Cooch’s Bridge, where American riflemen and Hessian jägers clashed in Delaware’s woods. More than a story of maps and generals, this is an episode about how weather, terrain, logistics, and human suffering shaped one of the Revolution’s most consequential campaigns. 

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This episode centers on the life and legend of Ike Buzzard, one of the most infamous members of the Buzzard Gang, a band of brothers who operated out of the rugged Welsh Mountains from the late 19th into the early 20th century. While the gang’s name became synonymous with outlaw folklore, Ike’s story reveals a far more complicated—and often violent—reality.

Rising from deep poverty, Ike graduated from petty theft to safe-cracking, armed robbery, and bloody confrontations with local posses. His criminal career included repeated arrests and stints in prison, including time at Eastern State Penitentiary. Among the most legendary chapters of his life was a daring jailbreak in which a trained canary was used to pass secret messages between cells—an episode that helped cement his reputation as the so-called “Jesse James of the East Coast.” The gang’s hideouts, including the rocky refuge at Blue Rock, added to the aura of invincibility that surrounded them.

Yet this episode looks beyond the myth. It examines Ike Buzzard as a product of his environment—shaped by isolation, economic hardship, and limited opportunity—while also confronting the real violence and consequences of his actions. In the end, Ike’s notoriety faded not in glory, but through imprisonment, aging, and the slow erosion of outlaw legend into historical record. Click here to read more.

For those who want to read the full account as Ike wrote it, a carefully restored edition of his 1897 autobiography, The Criminal Life of Isaac M. Buzzard: A True and Complete History of His Life, from Boyhood to the Present Day, is now available. This volume is a faithful reproduction of the original public-domain work, reconstructed through modern digital restoration to improve readability while preserving historical integrity. Currently available on Amazon for only $9.99.

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Discover the story behind the shifter, a ham-and-cheese sandwich found almost exclusively in Columbia and Marietta. Born from the region’s railroad culture, this filling meal fed hardworking crews and became an enduring symbol of local identity. Explore how a steam locomotive inspired one of Lancaster County’s most distinctive culinary traditions. 

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Discover how the humble American shad became one of the most influential fish in American history. This episode explores its remarkable migration, its role in feeding early communities, the violent “Shad Wars,” its connections to the American Revolution and Civil War, and the dams that nearly erased it from the Susquehanna River. 

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