Master of Deception: The Astounding Life of Ferdinand Waldo Demara, the Greatest Impostor in History

Unveiling the Intricate Web of Deceit Woven by the Charming Impostor Who Played Countless Lives During the Korean War and Beyond.

The Korean War, the 1950s. On board the Canadian destroyer HMCS Cayuga, the experienced surgeon Dr. Joseph Cyr treats the wounded. He operates, amputates, saves lives. What nobody suspects is that the real Dr. Cyr is practising in faraway Canada at the same time. An impostor has crept in — with forged papers!

Ferdinand Waldo Demara, born in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1921, is still considered the most ingenious impostor of all time. No one faked as many lives as he did. Demara taught psychology at a college, ensured law and order as a deputy sheriff, shone as a cancer researcher, teacher and lawyer. He was a paramedic, chaplain, monk and prison warden. He invented entire biographies or borrowed existences such as that of the doctor Joseph Cyr. With astonishing talent, he acquired the necessary skills and operated successfully according to the instructions in a medical manual.

It is always only coincidences that expose his deceptions. He is not exposed because he plays the roles badly — but because he plays them…