Virginia folklore

Claw-like footprints in a marsh leading into still water

The Green Claw of the Coastal Marsh

by Elizabeth Fabowale

March 23, 2026

American Cryptids & Monsters·Classic American Cryptids

Along the quiet wetlands of Virginia Coastal Marshes, where land and water meet in a shifting boundary of reeds and shallow pools, life moves in slow and careful patterns. The air carries the scent of salt and earth, and the ground beneath one’s feet often feels soft, marked by the natural impressions of birds and small animals. But among these

Parchment-style artwork of the Sun and Moon facing each other in the sky, Cherokee folktale scene.

The Sun and the Moon Are Man and Wife: Cherokee Folktale (United States)

In the ancient days, before the world found its rhythm of day and night, the Sun and the Moon lived together on

Parchment-style illustration of Rip Van Winkle waking on a Catskill Mountains slope, American folktale.

Rip Van Winkle, The Man Who Slept for Twenty Years: American Folktale of Time and Change

At the foot of the misty Catskill Mountains in colonial New York, there once lived a good-natured man named Rip Van Winkle.

Parchment-style illustration of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox in snowy woods, American folktale.

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox: An American Folktale that Teaches Lessons on Strength, Teamwork, and the Power of Legend

Long ago, in the rugged northern forests of America, where towering pines whispered to the wind and the snow stretched farther than

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Virginia folklore

The Green Claw of the Coastal Marsh

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The Sun and the Moon Are Man and Wife: Cherokee Folktale (United States)

Rip Van Winkle, The Man Who Slept for Twenty Years: American Folktale of Time and Change

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox: An American Folktale that Teaches Lessons on Strength, Teamwork, and the Power of Legend