Now I’ve Got My Tailypo: A Tale of a Southern Tail
Aims and Purpose
My research of the story Tailypo will be fun.
These are the questions that will be addressed in my research:
- Where did the story of Tailypo come from?
- Where did most of my family members and friends first learn about Tailypo?
- Why is Tailypo so eerily fascinaiting?
- Are there major differences with the stories centering a black man and the stories centering around a white man?
- Is the man in Tailypo always alone with a few dogs?
Community Involvement and Benefits
My research will mainly take place with my family and friends I have that are from the South or that have lived in the South at one time. They will share with me the version of this story they grew up with, and how it resonated with them. Some people that will be interviewed are Anna Bogart, Katy Quinnelly, and Whitney Upton. I will share the information I have gathered in the form of a research report, to be turned in to Jill Rudy at the end of November.
My research will benefit the participants because they will be able to see how others viewed this story, and whether or not it was interpreted in the same way. They will be able to access my research in the Brigham Young Harold B. Lee Library or if desired, I will print them off a copy of my research and mail it to them.
Background and Importance of Project
I started researching Tailypo before I ever knew what research was. I may have heard the story before, but as I sat with my feet tucked under myself in Jinkle Eslava’s kindergarten classroom in Mobile, Alabama, I was fascinated. I loved the eerie feeling of the story, and I knew that it would give me goose bumps in the night. It scared me more than the story of Bloody Mary that my cousin had told me as we walked to our car from Mardi Gras parades, and it scared me more than the prospect of my older brother’s stealing my Little Mermaid Barbie. I was hooked, and I often sat with my mom asking her why the dogs ran away into the night when the Tailypo came and why the Tailypo got his tailypo back and why did the Tailypo call himself a tailypo. My mother did not know all the answers, which made the story even more rad. It was impenetrable and I loved it.
Sadly, it seems that many American Folklorists have not picked up on this tale. There are numerous scholarly sources regarding the story, but they do not just focus on Tailypo. They focus on “Appalachian Folklore” as a whole. Appalachian Folklore is cool, but Tailypo is better. By researching numerous aspects of the Tailypo story, I will be able to capture the feeling I felt as a young child, reading Tailypo while sitting outside in the warm autumn breeze.
This story is important to American folklore because it is important to thousands of young children living under the middle of the country. It is important because it is told with a deep southern accent, and it’s important because it is rad. Everyone in the United States should feel the wonder of being a child in the South, and if they cannot do it by laying in the sun, eating honeysuckle that grows on chain link fences or seeing drops of humidity in the sky, then they can do it by reading Tailypo. The main characters of Tailypo show a lot of gumption—and the South is all about gumption.
Main Proposal Body and Methods or Procedures
- Read differing accounts of Tailypo – Week of October 26th
- Read scholarly articles containing information about Tailypo or southern folklore – Week of October 26th
- Compare the stories to the one I grew up with—Week of October 26th
- Interview sources—Week of October 26th and November 2nd
- Answer research questions – Week of November 2nd
- Construct first draft of paper—Week of November 2nd
- Write cover sheet, make sure each interview is cited properly – Week of November 9th
- Proofread and perfect final draft—Week of November 9th
I will read books about Southern folklore for my project, and I will also draw from my own personal experiences growing up in Alabama. I will contact most of my research participants over the phone or through email since those participating in the research do not live near to me. I will record these conversations if they are over the phone and save them if they are conducted through the internet. Following the collection, I will then write down what was said on a collecting sheet. I will either have them mail me a consent form or ask if I can have permission to write their signature (which is legal).
When interviewing my research participants, I will ask them when they first learned of Tailypo, how old they were when they first heard it, and what kind of emotions it evoked to them. I will also ask why this story is applicable to southern culture, and why it matters. I want to know why it grabbed their attention, so that I can grab my own reader’s attention.
Preparing the oral presentation will be easy. I will tell the story to the class, and then present aspects of what I learned in my research. It will be way fun to present this story because, so far, none of my friends have ever heard it before. It is a great story and everyone will love it. While drafting my paper, I will rely on my notes, and then sit down and write the paper in one sitting. A few days later I will write it again, and maybe again after that, depending on how well I feel the paper flows. I will then finalize my draft, revising the most recent version of my draft.
Anticipated Academic Outcome
In all honesty, I probably won’t do anything more with this research than donate a copy to the archives and keep one for myself. It will be interesting to have once I have my own children, and it will be fun for them to have once they are old enough to care about folk tales. I don’t plan on submitting it to a conference, because I have never done anything of the sort and would not know how to do so. I will either keep my preliminary self for my own personal library, or donate them with my final project to the archives.
Qualifications
I am qualified to do this research because I grew up with this story and have passed it on to some of my roommates and some of my friends. I also have family members and old friends I can pull information from about this story, meaning that my research will be well rounded and interesting. It will also be different than anything anyone else is researching in our class.
Risk
I do not know anyone who would be vulnerable to this story, and I do not believe researching this content will put anyone at emotional risk.
Fit with Brigham Young University Aims
This project will uplift any Southerner’s spirit, will be intellectually enlarging to Yankees and westerners, and will lead to reflection whenever such a Southern story is told, leading to lifelong learning.
Annotated Scholarly Sources
Alexandra T. Fabius, Alex, wrote her American Folklore project on the study of American pets. Alex claims that animals act as humans. Their owners assign them human traits and take a lot of pride and joy in their accomplishments. Americans have come to love this about their dogs, and this is the exact reason why celebrity dogs like Lassie and Benji are important. This is important to my story because there is only one man in the story—the others are animals.
Citation: FA 1 2268: Fabius, T. Alexandra, “Folklore Collection and Study on Smart Pets:
America’s Obsession with Lassie,” 2000
In her project “The World of Folklore,” Megan Boden discusses various aspects of Folklore throughout the world. Though she also addresses myths, she heavily focuses on multiple types of urban legends. Reading these legends, the audience can feel a new appreciation for the sheer vast amount of territory urban legends cover. For many faithful story lovers, legends give us a sense of identity, and it is fun to remember the stories you knew as a child as you read them from a published text as an adult. This applies to my story because though for years I completely forgot about Tailypo, I remembered it in vivid detail as soon as it came back into the forefront of my memory. These legends, told so often, reflect certain cultures and can bring back memories for those who read them.
Citation: FA 1 2685: Boden, Megan, “The World of Folklore,” 2000
In Judy Teaford’s article, she discusses the importance of Tailypo’s appearance in picture books. Though it had been early passed down, she makes the claim that when Tailypo was put into a picture book it became more widespread, and that the picture booked helped with spread new versions of the tale rather than extinguish them.
Citation: Teaford, July. “The Unexamined Shadow? Not in Appalachian Picture Books!”
The Mardi Gras, Gumbo and Zydeco article give a window into Louisiana and Southern culture. It tells what kinds of values are attributed to the south, which helps with the understanding of Taliypo. This is essential to my research project. I want to be able to create a feeling around Tailypo – the feeling most Southern child feels when they first hear this eerie tale.
Citation: Mardi Gras, Gumbo, and Zydeco: Readings in Louisiana Culture. Edited by Marcia
