Page 77 - All About History - Issue 12-14

HISTORY’S 10 GREATEST IMPOSTORS

THE MAN WHO CLAIMED TO BE MADE IN TAIWAN Cunning:
ē RATING ē
Audacity:
George Psalmanazar Media storm:
French, 1679-1763 Success:
George Psalmanazar’s claim to fame was to be the He learned from this and decided to assume
first Formosan to visit Europe (that is, the first person the identity of someone from a land he believed
from what is now known as the island of Taiwan). In nobody would be familiar with. He spoke an
fact, he had never set foot in Asia. invented language, worshipped the Sun and Moon
It wasn’t his first lie either. While and followed a foreign calendar.
in France, he had pretended he was In England, he became known among people
an Irish pilgrim travelling to Rome. eager to hear more about the exotic land. He even
He later changed his story and wrote a book describing Formosa but he’d culled
claimed to be a Catholic convert information from various works and embellished it.
from Japan when the French Anyone reading his work would believe Formosans
soon worked out he had no Irish wandered around naked, munched on serpents and
heritage whatsoever. His ruse came ate their wives if they strayed.
unstuck when he was tested He admitted making up his stories when he wrote
on his Japanese and his memoirs, although by then he had become a
was found wanting. respected theological essayist.

HE SAVED LIVES AS A DOCTOR DURING
A WAR BUT HAD NO MEDICAL TRAINING

Ferdinand Waldo
Demara Jr

American, 1921-1982
As far as those who met him were concerned,
Ferdinand Waldo Demara had impressive credentials. THE KOREAN WAR
A one-man who’s who, he was, at various points in his After WWII ended in 1945, Korea was split into two. The
life, a surgeon, teacher, Navy officer, assistant prison North fell under Stalinist, Soviet-backed rule led by Kim
warden, hospital orderly, lawyer, editor and a cancer Il-sung, while the South had a right-wing government
backed by the USA. The North ordered an invasion of
researcher. He was a Trappist and Benedictine monk the South on 25 June 1950 in an attempt to unify the
as well. To land these roles he made up his identity country and reached the outskirts of Seoul. USA, with
according to whatever situation he put himself in, the UN’s backing, stepped in and sent troops to help
often borrowing the personas of living people. Demara push the invading army back.
would forge transcripts and documents as he went Immediate progress was made and by April 1951 Seoul ē RATING ē
about impersonating others and earned the nickname was safe. North Korean cities and industrial heartlands Cunning:
were bombed, North Korean boats were sunk and even
‘the Great Impostor’. He managed to excel in most Chinese backing didn’t help. Fighting continued until 27 Audacity:
of the jobs he secured, evaded capture and those July 1953 with the signing of an armistice agreement Media storm:
who knew him would remark on his high IQ and that established the Demilitarised Zone. To this day, no Success:
photographic memory. official peace treaty between the two countries has been
His most audacious deception signed, so they are still technically at war.
would prove to be his undoing. During
the Korean War, he assumed the
identity of Canadian doctor Joseph
Cyr, and in 1951 he worked on the
destroyer Cayuga for several months.
He performed surgery on soldiers with
the aid of a medical textbook, even
going as far as extracting a bullet from
a man’s chest in a major operation.
He saved 13 lives and was hailed a
hero but subsequent press coverage
unmasked him as the impostor he
was. Demara’s story was so mind-
boggling that he was impersonated
himself by actor Tony Curtis in the
film The Great Impostor.

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