Tailypo - [Fearsome Critter]

Tailypo - [Fearsome critter] - AKA: "Taileybo", "Taileybones", "Tailbones", "Tallie Tale", "Taily Po" ,"Taileypo", "Tailipoe"  "Teh-li Po" – Variations: "Hairy-Toe" etc*

• Story: To describe the creature in question off the get go is a likely disservice to the "ghost story" you're about to read; so this time I shall start with the story and give the creatures description a bit further down. There are of course a myriad of variations to the tale as it’s part of a rich history of similar 'spooky stories' usually told around the campfire. As such, details such as the characters names, as well as the location, ending as well as what the creature may be, will vary depending on where/whoever you heard it from first. It's also a performance tale, so embellishments are common, reading it aloud, versus in your head, might not give you the same vibe as listening or watching someone perform it live. (I've been told that I type like I speak, so hopefully its good enough!) - The version of the story I grew up with as I remember it, goes a lil' somethin' like this:

 

"An old hermit lived alone with his three big huntin' dogs in a tiny  rundown cabin deep in the middle of the woods in the very deepest part of the mountains. They lived a reclusive life, only coming into town once in a blue moon to sell herbs an' pelts that they had foraged. It was a quiet but happy life. 

One cold autumn evening a chill ran through the forest, food was scarce and their supplies where runnin' dangerously low. So the hermit called out to his dogs, Uno, Ino & Cumptico-Calico to go with him to hunt some small game- rabbits or really anything that might go well cooked in a soup or stew.

They hunted into the late evening looking for somethin' but neither a squirrel, nor pheasant, nor porkypine was to be found. It was oddly quiet and still, as if the woods where deserted. Just as they where about to turn home the man saw somethin' about the size of a deer with a tail twice as long dash out of the corner of his eye from behind a tree and into the thicket. He didn't get a very good look at whatever it was but the man fired his gun. The shot landed and the creature yowled out in pain! It scurried away before he or the dogs could even react. Disappointingly, it seems that his shot merely managed to shoot the creatures long, bony tail clean off.

But they where desperate for anything, so the man and his dogs returned home and cooked it up with some of the herbs he was planning to sell the next day. They enjoyed their shared stew and felt better than they had in days.

Satisfied & full, the lot of them settled in for the night...

Soon a dense storm fell over the woods. The wind howled and the clouds covered the moon causing a deeper darkness than usual. The hermit was soon startled awake by an odd sound, as if something was scratching at the steps on the porch outside of his cabin.

Worried, the hermit grasped for his lantern. "Uno! Ino! Cumptico-Calico!" he called out and all three dogs came a-rushin' to his side.

*Scratch Scritch Scratch!*

The scratching noise continued from his porch. The hermit nervously creaked open his front door and peered out, "Who goes there!?" he yelled out into the pitch black, windy night. A raspy ghost-like voice came across the wind in a whisper...

"Tailypo... Tailypo.. Give me back my Tailypo..."

Completely unnerved by this, the man cried out, "UNO! INO!! CALICO!!! - SIC 'EM!!"  The three loyal dogs charged out the door and into the woods, The old man listened out for a moment & the dogs seemed to give chase towards the swamp.

Satisfied and knowing that his brave pups could take most anythin' that the woods offered in a scuffle, he crawled back into bed and went to sleep. "That outta deal with that weird 'Tailypo.'" he thought to himself as he slowly drifted off...

The Hermit went back to bed, but was startled back awake when he heard the same scratching, this time it was much closer & clearer, as if it was right outside his door. He heard the same raspy voice, but louder,

 

"Tailypo... Tailypo... Give me back my Tailypo!"

Trembling, terrified, the man lit his lamp again and called out "UNO! CALICO! GIT 'EM!" He flung open the door. The dogs once more valiantly gave chase to the creature off into the deep woods & out towards the swamp.

This time the man waited for their return. Hoping to high heavens that he'd see the three return with the creature defeated and dead. Only one dog returned. Comptico-Calico limped out of the underbrush of the woods… alone.

The man cried out in a panic; 

"UNO? INO?? C'MERE!?"

But nobody came.

He thought about going out into the woods after them, but it was too stormy, too dark and most of all, he didn't want to lose his last dog and remaining companion. He decided that he would have to go out at first daylight. This time, when the hermit crawled back into to bed, he kept Comptico-Calico close by the foot.

A couple of hours passed, though it wasn't a very good rest. In the earliest hours of the morning as the patter of heavy rain hit the windowsill, when suddenly,

KER-CRACK!
KAH-BOOM!!

An intense thunderstorm clapped the side of the mountain, thunder & lightning lit up the entirety of the woods. The man jolted back awake in horror, as he reached for his lamp to get a better look into the darkness, he realized that it wasn't 'darkness' he was lookin' at.

*SCRATCH SCRATCH SCRATCH* 

...At the foot of his bed he saw the beast's pitch black, matted fur, wild yellow eyes and dripping red fangs bent into an evil grin. The Old hermit flinched and dropped his lamp to the floor. The creature cried out, this time a shriek of rage, which matched the intensity of the storm: 

Utterly horrified & defenceless, the man fell out of bed, confused and unsure of what to do. He fumbled and grasped for anything eventually bumping into his stew pot. The toppled it over, the tail bones & scraps scattered & sloshed across the floor, "TAKE IT!!!!" he yelled, sobbing. 

The creature grinned widely. The hermit blinked.

The bones, the leftovers and the creature had completely vanished. it was over.

He wobbled towards the door and desperately cried out... 

"UNO!... INO!!... C-Calico!?!" 

...But tragically, none of them returned.

Today, some say that if you're out in the deepest part of the woods you may hear a faint, raspy, but joyful whisper on the wind:

"Taily~po! Taily~po!! I got back my Tailypo!!!" 

• History/Origin: What is likely the earliest written version of 'Taily-po' can be found in the form of a Brer Rabbit story in "Uncle Remus Returns" by Joel Chandler Harris [published in 1918]. Harris based his Uncle Remus books on stories told to him by African-American slaves while he was working on a plantation as a teen and retold them through the mouth of the fictional Uncle Remus talking to a fictional white child. His books preserved an oral tradition of an oppressed minority that would’ve other wise been completely erased, but the exact origins of the stories are likely lost to time. So, All we have are stories of stories being passed on by a black man to a white child written by a white man remembering the stories that were passed on to him by black people.

This version of the story starts with a man sicking his dogs on Brer Rabbit after a disagreement. Brer Rabbit seeks revenge by going to a witch living in a nearby swamp by the name of Mammy-Bammy Big-Money. After hearing what the man did to Brer Rabbit, Mammy-Bammy Big-Money casts a spell on an old animal skin to bring it to life and sends it after the man as he sleeps in his cabin. 

 

[The Brier Rabbit 'Taily-po' illustration as it appears in 1918]

The creature gets into the cabin and starts rummaging around the man’s kitchen. The man slams the door on the creature as it’s running out but the creatures tail gets cut off in the process. The detached tail wriggles around on its own so violently that the man has to shove it in the fireplace and burn it until it stops moving. After the man goes back to sleep, the creature returns to claw at the door and chants

“Taily-po! You know an I know
Dat I wants my Taily-po!
Over an under an thoo de do’,
I’m a-comin fer ter git my Taily-po!”

The man sends out his dogs to attack the creature. Confident that the dogs can return home on their own, the man goes back to sleep but is awakened by the creature again, clawing outside with a new chant,

“Yo’ name, I know, is Whaley-Joe,
An’ ‘fo’ I’m gwineter r’a’lly go,
I’m breeze ter have my Taily-po;
Gi’ me dat an’ I’ll gaily go-
Taily-po! my Taily-po!”

 Without his dogs, the man can only bar the door and hide under his covers. But the creature manages to claw its way into the house and starts digging through the fireplace to find its tail, tossing embers all over the cabin and the man’s bed as it does so. The creature runs off with its tail in its mouth while the cabin burns down with the man still in it just as day breaks. The locals smell the smoke but write it off as someone burning their new land. Brer Rabbit smugly sits back in his rocking chair and Mammy-Bammy Big-Money in her swamp raises her head and says, “I smells meat a-fryin’!”

Of course, The general story structure of 'Taily-po' dates back further still, following the classic ghost story trope catalogued in the Aarne–Thompson, as Type 366 "a corpse claims its property" - in which someone dies and either their spirit or their corpse comes back for what’s theirs. Other such stories include the English story Teeny-Tiny, “The Hairy Toe” made famous by the classic Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark book series by Alvin Schwartz, and “The Golden Arm." made famous by Mark Twain and later again by the Quibi series 50 States of Fright. 

In the 1940's; the taily-po story was re-told in B.A Botkins "Treasury of American Folklore." listed under "Nursery tales." – [below, as it appeared in newspapers]

Over the years, the story has been retold,pa embellished and been made into several childrens books, during the 70s & 80s, several of these where criticized (or outright banned) for being "too scary or just not suitable for children." - which I personally find to be quite funny, especially considering how tame it is compared to other more popular children's horror media in the modern day.

In a nutshell, this mysterious critter could most easily be classified as a type of 'Wampus cat' or perhaps as another 'undefinable critter' by any other name, Over the years the Taily-po has been variously described, interpreted and depicted as 'Bobcats, Cougars, Lynx, Wolves, Bears' or something else entirely, its often described as a 'demon', 'ghost' or something "half-human" as well. (Probably because it can speak?) Ultimately we don't know what it might be; the story leaves it vague on purpose, what makes it scary is this unknown factor there in lies the horror. The fact that you cannot define it; is why it is so nightmarish. -- I'd suppose that it all depends on the story teller & listeners imaginations. "

[Definition of a 'wampus cat' from dialect notes - 1890.] 

[Art Sticker by Samkalensky part of my Fearsome Critters collection of stickers, check my shop and follow for many more! - Shout out & HUGE Thanks go to my editor, Cattype as well as my friend Ryan for research suggestions and Blambot for the bloody font!]