ABOVE: Capt. Jim Willis, who calls himself a "Banksologist" to honor his love of the barrier islands, has 

 been telling stories since he was a young boy. 



"Suddenly, they heard a great commotion and turned just in time 

 to see full bore — coming down Front Street — none other than the 

 Cedar Island Fire Department," adds Kemp. "Now the Cedar Island 

 Fire Department was driving a 1952 double pumper." With two buckets of 

 sand, two ladders and three buckets of water they put out the blaze. 



When asked what he would do with all the money, the first thing 

 the chief said was to take the old truck and fix them brakes, Kemp adds. 



As one of the original "fish house liars," Kemp has told the 

 "Cedar Island Fire Department" tale dozens of times. 



"When you start telling stories like I do — and people halfway 

 believe you — they give you a label, a term of endearment," he says. 

 "People started calling me a common fish house liar." 



A group of about eight men started telling tall and dubious tales 

 around 1991 and were dubbed fish house liars by master storyteller 

 Josiah Bailey. Today, Kemp and Sonny Williamson of Marshallberg 

 still are spinning tales in Carteret County. 



"The tales we tell as liars are the same stories which have been 

 passed down verbally from generation to generation," Williamson 

 writes in Fish House Lies. "Over the years, they have been added to, 

 modernized and changed until the only truth remaining is that they are 

 intended strictly for entertainment and, even though we sometimes 



poke fun, it is never done 

 with malice. This is 

 important to remember 

 because that's what it's 

 all about, to just have 

 good, clean fun." 



Varied Styles 



Although both 

 Kemp and Williamson 

 are fish house liars, their 

 styles differ. Williamson 

 has a Down East 

 storytelling style in 

 comparison to Kemp's 

 "Southern style" that is 

 similar to the late 

 comedian Jerry Clower 

 and the late newspaper 

 columnist Lewis 

 Grizzard, says Kemp. 



Across North 

 Carolina, there are many 

 storytelling styles. 



"Every region is 

 different," says Kemp. 

 "People Down East in 

 Carteret County don't 



understand mountain Jack tales." 



However, Down Easters do have a gift for telling stories, 

 according to North Carolina State University professor Carmine 

 Prioli, who wrote Hope for a Good Season: The Ca'e Bankers of 

 Harkers Island. "They all have natural instincts for storytelling," says 

 Prioli. "When they get on a roll, there is no stopping them." 



For years, Capt. Jim Willis of Salter Path has been telling Down 

 East stories. 



Dressed in a khaki jumpsuit and fishing cap, Willis calls himself 

 a "Banksologist" because he studies the Outer Banks and specializes 

 in the Bogue Banks that includes Atlantic Beach and Salter Path. 



"True Banks tales don't have no name," says Willis. "I have 

 broke with tradition and give my stories names. I studied at the 

 University of Salter Path under Dr. Little George Smith and Professor 

 Bryant Guthrie of the Promise' Land." 



A five-block area in Morehead City is dubbed the Promise' Land 

 by those who migrated from Ca'e Banks, where the Cape Lookout 

 Lighthouse stands. 



Willis uses the Banks brogue when telling tales, including 

 "Unquenchable Thirst" about a Banker who loved any kind of whiskey. 



Storytellers in Carteret County spin many stories about alcohol. 



8 HIGH SEASON 2003 



