wilderness legends

A large upright shadowy creature standing among pine trees along Arizona’s Mogollon Rim, with broken branches and deep forest shadows suggesting its presence.

The Mogollon Rim Beast

by Elizabeth Fabowale

February 9, 2026

American Cryptids & Monsters·Regional American Creatures

The Mogollon Rim rises sharply across central Arizona, a massive escarpment where desert gives way to pine forest and high country cold. From below, it looks like a wall. From above, it feels endless. Thick stands of ponderosa pine stretch for miles, broken by deep canyons, lava rock, and narrow meadows where fog settles early and leaves late. It is

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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wilderness legends

The Mogollon Rim Beast

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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