T R I L O B I T E S

When you fight monsters, be careful that . . . you do not become one.”
Frederic Bourdin

Francisco Hernandez Fernandez appeared on the doorstep of child welfare office in France on May 3 2005. He claimed that after his parents had been killed in a car accident, he had been in a coma and sent to live with his uncle, who brutally abused him. An ID confirmed he was born December 13 1989. He was 15 years old. He wore a scarf around his face and a baseball cap pulled down over his eyes.

Francisco was placed in a state-run shelter for displaced children where he insisted that he wash and change in private: his body was covered in burns from the car accident. He spoke softly, his head bowed, recoiling if others tried to touch him. He never took off his hat, even in the classroom at a local school the state enrolled him in. Teachers made an exception for Francisco: the scars might elicit abuse from other classmates.

Francisco's insecurities did not last long. His growing charisma, his uncanny knowledge of slang and American idioms, and an unforgettable performance as Michael Jackson in a school talent show propelled Francisco to stardom. Soon, he was the most popular kid in the school. "He didn't just look like Michael Jackson," a music teacher claimed. "He was Michael Jackson."

On June 8 2005 Francisco's game ended.

An administrator approached the principal. She had seen Francisco on television--although his name was not Francisco. Frederic Bourdin. King of Impostors. Master of New Identities. The Peter Pan of the 21st Century. A tattoo on his right forearm: cameleon nantais: The Chameleon from Nantes. He was 30 years old.

His aliases included Benjamin Kent, Jimmy Morins, Alex Dole, Sladjan Raskovic, Arnaud Orions, Giovanni Petrullo, and Michelangelo Martini. He had even impersonated a tiger tamer and a priest--although in most cases, he had played the same person: an abused or abandoned child.

A master of transforming his appearance. "I can become whatever I want. I am a manipulator...My job is to manipulate." The authorities have never punished him. He has no past of abuse or sexual deviance. His sport is purely for emotional pleasure. In his hometown, he is seen frequently dressed as rapper or a businessman, with a beard on some days, a mustache on others, searching endlessly for an identity.

In 1997, Bourdin, then 23 years old, posed as a missing American child from Texas: Nicholas Barclay. Amazingly, Bourdin not only convinced French authorities that his American kidnappers had abducted him and transported to him to France where he was beaten, abused, and injected with chemicals to change his eye color, but also the child's family. Bourdin was excited. He was going to America. He was finally escaping Europe and going to Michael Jackson's country. Bourdin had no idea what awaited him.

Bourdin arrived as Nicholas in an America that was different from what he imagined. The Barclays were poverty-stricken, a family plagued by addiction and tragedy. In spite of this, the entire family was ecstatic to see Nicholas return--except his mother, Beverly, who regarded Nicholas [Bourdin] with skepticism and her oldest son Jason, a recovering drug addict who was absent at the reunion. In spite of the less-than glamorous details of the Barclays, it wasn't long before Bourdin had settled into his new life as Nicholas and was enjoying himself.

"As Bourdin came to inhabit the life of Nicholas, he was struck by what he considered to be uncanny similarities between them. Nicholas had been reported missing on Bourdin’s birthday. Both came from poor, broken families; Nicholas had almost no relationship with his father, who for a long time didn’t know that Nicholas was his son. Nicholas was a sweet, lonely, combustible kid who craved attention and was often in trouble at school. He had been caught stealing a pair of tennis shoes, and his mother had planned to put him in a youth home. (“I couldn’t handle him,” Beverly recalls. “I couldn’t control him.”) When Nicholas was young, he was a diehard Michael Jackson fan who had collected all the singer’s records and even owned a red leather jacket like the one Jackson wears in his “Thriller” video."

Around this time, a private investigator, Charlie Parker, was hired by a television company to investigate Nicholas Barclay for a story surrounding his kidnapping and return. Gradually, the evidence that Parker uncovered did not add up. Doctors claimed it was impossible to change eye color. Nicholas and Bourdin had different ears, a distinctive phenotypical trait. He contacted the Barclays, informing them that their son could be an impostor. A few days later, Parker says he received a call from Bourdin: "Who do you think you are?" he demanded. "Immigration thinks its me. The family thinks its me." To this day, Bourdin denies the call.

The FBI became involved. The local police became suspicious. Bourdin began to lose touch with his surroundings. One night, Beverly, Nicholas's mother shouted: "I know that God punished me by sending you to me. I don't know who the hell you are. Why the fuck are you doing this?"

Bourdin began to unravel. He took a razor and mutilated his face. During psychiatric observation he wrote a poem:

My days are phantom days,

each one the shadow of a hope;

My real life never was begun,

nor any of my real deeds done.

Bourdin returned and Parker began to uncover more details surrounding Nicholas's disappearance. Shortly after the boy vanished, his older brother Jason returned home from a long trip. Jason had been badly burned after filling a lawn mower with gasoline and accidentally lit himself on fire with a cigarette. He drank heavily and used cocaine. He played Lynyrd Sknyrd songs on guitar alone in his room. Parker discovered from neighbors that after Nicholas's disappearance, there were numerous verbal disputes between Jason and his mother Beverly. Jason was kicked out of the house and went on a drug binge. He was then admitted to rehab.

A month after Bourdin had arrived in America, Jason came to visit. Jason hugged Bourdin, then told him privately to come outside. In front of the trailer, Jason handed Borudin a gold necklace with a gold crucifix. "I want you to have this." Jason never said goodbye to the family. He walked off and never returned.

The FBI believed Bourdin was a spy. The world was closing in around Frederic. He feared the worst: had Jason killed Nicholas and had Beverly covered up this act? Had Bourdin walked into a situation more twisted and tragic than he could ever imagine? Parker met Bourdin at a diner. Bourdin broke down and confessed.

With Bourdin deported, the authorities now descended upon Beverly and Jason. Beverly took a polygraph concerning Nicholas's disappearance and passed. Jason never got the chance: he committed suicide.

Currently, Bourdin is married and has a daughter. He has sworn to never pose as someone else again.

Frederic Bourdin has a youtube account where he regularly posts videos/v-casts.

this information is a summary of the wonderful article by David Grann published in The New Yorker.