“Tall Tales” has become one of the most popular columns in the Daily American Republic, running on each Saturday’s Lifestyles page. Now, a collection of those stories highlighting the history of Poplar Bluff can be found in book form.
“This is a perfect collection of short stories. As you look at it, it’s short-story snippets of history,” said author Michael Shane.
Each story is based on an exhibit which can be found inside the Poplar Bluff Museum, where Shane sits on the board of directors.
Originally created as a series of newspaper articles, the “Tall Tales” stories now are available as a book.
The stories and resulting book, Shane said, were “easy to do.”
“I went from room to room and exhibit to exhibit and said ‘Oh, that thing, I know this much about it,’ so I wrote it down,” he recalled.
“I knew this was going to be a long-term project for the paper, which meant I could probably write almost everything,” Shane added. “Everything in there has a story, and I’m trying to capture it.”
The book, now in its second edition, features more than 80 short stories, with topics ranging from the origins of Poplar Bluff’s name, its brick streets and the 1927 tornado to features on the city’s significant sports figures, its veterans and more.
The cover features a photograph of the old Butler County Railroad, which brought timber out of the swamps to the mills in Poplar Bluff.
“Poplar Bluff was built by the timber industry and the railroad, and that story is in here,” Shane said.
While writing his stories, Shane said, he draws a lot of information from John Standard, former Daily American Republic editor and someone he calls the “original Tall Tales guy.”
“Every room in the museum has a John Standard story or photograph,” Shane said.
Shane’s favorite story is one he dubbed “Scruffy Town,” an ode to the 1949 centennial in which a beard-growing contest was held in the city.
“That story is just so funny,” he said.
The final story is on Shane himself, an Army veteran and longtime helicopter pilot.
“I flew attack helicopters — cobras and apaches,” Shane said of his military career, which began in 1974.
After retiring from the Army, he flew as an EMS pilot for 20 years.
“I went from a gun pilot to an ambulance driver, and I spent 20 years there,” he said.
Looking ahead, Shane said, he will continue to seek out stories for his weekly column and likely a third edition of his book.
“It’s harder and harder to find things, and there are exhibits in there I don’t know the story to,” he explained. Consequently, he has “expanded to acknowledge the other museums. I’ve written several stories about the train museum and the Margaret Harwell Art Museum. I just found out the Wheatley School has a museum, and there’s a lot of Poplar Bluff history there, I know.”
Those wanting a copy of the “Tall Tales” book can find it at the Poplar Bluff Museum and the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce. It’s also available on Amazon.
Shane also will be one of approximately 35 featured authors at Saturday’s Author Fair at the Poplar Bluff Municipal Library and will have copies available there. That event will run from 10 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at the main library.