Most historical figures have strange myths, rumors, and legends associated with them. Some are completely false, while others? They’re fascinatingly true. Rasputin was one of the most mysterious figures in the history of the world. Some say he was an evil mystic with powers given to him by the Devil. Some say he fancied himself a priest, but also hung out in brothels. Many believe that it took three attempt to kill the man, while others are convinced he is immortal.
Whatever he was, there was no doubt that the man had the ear of Tsar Nicholas and the Romanovs. We may never know he if was a true mystic, but there’s no doubt that Grigori Rasputin’s role terrified the people of Russia. It was a fear that contributed to the downfall of the royal family and the rise of communism in the nation.
In 1887, Rasputin married an older woman named Praskovia Fyodorovna Dubrovina. Together, they had three children. Whether out of general unhappiness, or through banishment from the other villagers, Rasputin left his family to study under a hermit by the name of Brother Makary. He returned as a religious zealot.
share
Grigori Rasputin was born on January 21, 1869, to a coach driver in a small Russian village called Pokrovskoye. Although he never attended school, even as a child he was thought to possess strange “gifts.” Cows allegedly produced more milk around him. The villagers claimed he healed a lamed horse and could even predict the future.
share
The new Rasputin practiced a fusion of sex and religion. He organized orgies in honor of the Virgin Mary in which they participants would shout “sin for salvation” while dancing around a fire.
share
Prompted by a vision of the Virgin, he again left his family to take barefooted religious journey. In Kiev, he met the wife of the Tsar’s cousin Grand Duke Peter. Charmed by the mystic she took him to St. Petersburg, where he exhibited his powers by healing her dog.
share
Rasputin was introduced to Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra. He then helped heal their son, Alexis, who suffered from life threatening haemophilia. It seemed that whatever he did stopped the child’s chronic bleeding.
share
The mystic became extremely close with the royal family. When the leader of the Russian army admonished him for abusing his stature to sell to soldiers positions off the front lines, Rasputin persuaded the Tsar to fire him. Some believed Rasputin was controlling the Romanovs using the same hypnosis he used to treat their son.
share
An assassination of Rasputin was organized by Russian aristocrat Felix Yusuptov. Yusuptov invited the mystic over for dinner, where much of the food was laced with cyanide. Although drunk, the poison seemed to have little effect on Rasputin.
share
Yusupov then shot him in the back. The wound should have been fatal, but Rasputin continued to run and only collapsed after two more shots, including one to the head. Yusupov and his conspirtors wrapped him in a bear skin and beat him, then threw him a river. Remarkably the autopsy revealed Rasputin had died from drowning.
share
The royal family grieved the passing of Rasputin, especially the Tsarina. She was rumored to have had a special connection with the mystic, possibly even romantic. However, the public rejoiced, so the Tsar exiled those responsible for Rasputin’s murder (instead of executing them). The whole family would be murdered by the Bolsheviks two years later.
