Published Oct. 1, 2004, in the Kirksville Daily Express

Story by Matthew Webber

KIRKSVILLE - Amid the sword fights, feats of strength and bagpipes Saturday at the Galloway Scottish Highland Games, a Scottish bard will tell the stories behind these activities — stories of vengeance, love and life.

Jeff Campbell, 47, of Kansas City, Mo., has been creating and telling stories for about 30 years. He has traveled across the United States and also to Scotland to try to connect with his listeners. He attends about 120 festivals a year.

Campbell said visitors to the NEMO fairgrounds Saturday can expect magic.

“People ask me if I believe in magic,” Campbell said. “And I tell them, ‘Yeah, I do,’ because every time I get up and tell a story, that’s the real magic: connecting with people on all kinds of different levels imaginable.”

Campbell is a “seanachie,” which means storyteller, or “bard,” which means story creator and teller.

But Campbell said he views himself more as a story collector. He started collecting stories when he was a boy from his great-grandmother, who was born in Scotland.

The first time Campbell earned money for his storytelling was by accident, he said.

Campbell was at a Denver festival doing a weapons demonstration when a young girl tugged on his kilt and asked him what he was wearing.

“So I start to tell her about my kilt and the stuff I’m wearing, and I start telling her stories,” Campbell said. “I’m paying attention to her, and the next thing I realize, I look up, and there’s like, 50, 60 people who had gathered, listening to me tell stories.”

Campbell had taken off his bonnet and set it on the ground next to him because he was hot, and people were leaving money in it.

“I guess they figured I was passing a hat,” Campbell said. “I kind of realized that not only did people want to hear the stories, but they were willing to actually pay me to hear the stories.”

People need to hear stories because they link the past, present and future, Campbell said.

“Story telling is a link,” he said. “And I think in our kind of throwaway culture, that’s an aspect people really want.”

People of all backgrounds, whether Scottish or not, can appreciate his stories because they are universal. Stories are about life, Campbell said.

“Stories are a living, breathing entity,” he said. “There is one story, only one, and every story I tell, every story you tell, any story any of us ever hear, are all part of that one, great, living story.”