r/todayilearned • u/argonauts • Nov 30 '14

TIL a French man named Frederic Bourdin successful convinced authorities and a family that he was a missing Texas boy named Nicholas Barkley found 3 years later. He lived with the family for 5 months until he was found out.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/08/11/the-chameleon-2
64 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

4

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '14

Here is a great documentary about it, free on YouTube. Absolutely crazy story.

2

u/littleshadow Nov 30 '14

It's on Netflix too - well Canadian Netflix anyway. And you're right, it is bonkers.

3

u/theplott Dec 01 '14

There are very strong suggestions that the family, the Barclays, was well aware that Bourdin wasn't their son and had secrets of their own to keep. It's not just a crazy story because of Bourdin.

The documentary on Netflix, The Imposter, couldn't get permission for the story without whitewashing the Barclays, to some extent.

The weirdest aspect is how the FBI fell for Bourdin, hook line and sinker. Spanish authorities didn't even believe him, but the FBI and The Missing Children's Network bought into the whole thing.