LANCASTER, Pa. — A small version of a Bigfoot-like creature with a talent for stealing apples from unsuspecting picnickers gets its name from the Pennsylvania Dutch term for "Apple snitch."
FOX43 looks into the lore of the Albatwitch in Lancaster County.
"We are the Halloween town of the state of Pennsylvania. I think this is the most haunted town around us, if not the state, the country, because of our history," said Chris Vera, the President of the Columbia Historic Preservation Society.
If it's haunted, it can be found in Columbia, Pennsylvania, but some legends have been around longer than others.
"Youth groups doing this over 100-120 years ago, they built up this history," claimed Vera. "Why did they build up this history? Why were they looking for this creature? And where did the creature come from?"
From the haunted dungeon built in 1836 below the now Columbia Market House, Vera and Rick Fisher try to explain what few have been able to do for over a century in Lancaster County; What is an Albatwitch?
"It's considered Pennsylvania's Little-Bigfoot, but I believe it's a cryptoid. I believe it's very nimble, fast, knows how to climb trees. I was up at Chickies after a heavy rain before the northwest trail system went in and I was walking the back path and found footprints going from one edge of the woods to the other edge of the woods, barefooted," recalled Vera. "Not too many people are going up there barefooted. And those feet were probably only size five, but the big toe was real large."
"The first sighting, myself, I had one," recalled Rick Fisher, who co-founded Albatwitch Day. "I can't tell you it was an Albatwitch. After I saw it I was doing research, and the best thing I could come up with for a description was an Albatwtich. I met a guy named Dwight who had a sighting of a creature. He said I picked my two buddies up going to work and as we were driving down Pinkerton Road by the golf course, we saw this thing. It was short. Maybe about 4-foot, 5-foot tall, and covered in hair,' and I thought he just told me what I had seen."
The more sightings of this mysterious and mythical creature come to light, the more others are willing to come forward.
"When they do put it in the newspaper, people do approach me and say, 'That thing you saw, I saw one, too.' So I've gotten at least 15 reports of the same thing I've seen in this area, along the Susquehanna," added Fisher.
"We do nighttime haunted trolly tours, we go up to the Zion Hill Cemetary and we pull in sideways and turn off all the lights. Rick Fisher and I start talking about stories of the sightings and about five years ago, this is about 50 yards back into the woods, this is where we see five sets of red glowing eyes out of the woods staring at us. You can see them blink. You can see them move from tree to tree. It terrified me cause I'm at the only open window, so if they come after me, I'm the first one to get yanked and eaten alive," said Vera.
While Albatwitch sightings are limited to a select few, the interest in the creature continues to grow. While at a festival in West Virginia, Fisher came up with an idea.
"I went to the Moth Man festival, I was the speaker down there and I thought, 'man, this is a cool event,' They have music, they have vendors, they have speakers. We could do this in Columbia."
That's how Albatwitch Day was born.
"We've become synonymous of all creature events across the United States and I think we're there and I just keep on pushing it and pushing it. Every year after the festival, we'll see videos of people out in the woods at night, looking for the Albatwitch. Just people who came to Albatwitch Day, they become the Albatwitch hunters and become groups and things, which is pretty cool," said Vera.
Every year, one day in October, all things Albatwitch take over this Lancaster County town.
"We have drinks at the bar called Albatwitch. People are naming sandwiches now," laughed Vera. "That's what we want. We want the town to grasp this piece of history. So, twenty years down the road, I may not be around, but they'll take hold of this and enjoy this festival because we get people from all over the northeast if not further."
"I just got a message from a gentleman who lives in Maui," added Fisher. "He says his parents and his wife are from Lancaster. He says, 'This sounds like a cool event. I'm probably going to be coming.'"
Saturday marks the 10th annual event, which has only grown over time. Last year's gathering brought six thousand people to Columbia. Like the sightings of the creature, word of mouth remains a big driver.
"Once they leave the festival, they say it's awesome. They tell their friends. The next year their friends come. When they leave, they go back and tell their friends," said Fisher.
"Say if your husband likes bigfoot and you're not a big bigfoot fan, I actually have a lot of vendors for the person who doesn't like bigfoot. Everyone goes home happy that day," added Vera.