Random Enduring Mysteries Of Rasputin, Imperial Russia's Secret Shadow Master (9 items)

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  (#7) The Story Of His Death Has Become A Popular Urban Legend

  On December 29, 1916, a group of noblemen - including the tsar's cousin Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich - sought to rid Russia of the Mad Monk once and for all. So, they lured Rasputin to the home of Prince Felix Yusupov with the promise of women, food, and booze.

  What happened next remains largely unknown. But according to legend, the noblemen proceeded to ply Rasputin with wine and cakes laced with poison. Though the monk consumed an astonishing quantity, it seemed to have no effect. So they resorted to shooting him. When that didn't work, they bludgeoned him, wrapped his body in a rug, and dumped it into the Neva River. 

  According to Yusupov, when the body was pulled from the river there was water in his lungs. In other words, he was still alive when the nobles cast him off into the river.

  The account is highly disputed, the most notable criticisms come from Rasputin's daughter Maria. Maria claimed Yusupov's story was obviously an exaggeration. Though she wasn't there to witness her father's death, she knew he wouldn't be enticed to eat a whole platter of cakes since he didn't like to eat sweets. The autopsy supposedly strengthened her claim since there was no evidence of either poison nor water in his body, it concluded he was shot in the head. The official autopsy, however, disappeared during Stalin's regime twenty years later.

  Despite evidence against Yusupov's story, his account has been passed down through pop culture.
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  (#2) Ladies In The Imperial Court Obsessed Over Him Despite His Terrible Hygiene

  Critics often complained about his hygiene, using it as evidence that an uncouth man such as Rasputin had no place near the imperial family. He wore dirty clothes, even in the presence of the imperial family. In fact, he once boasted he hadn't changed his underwear for six months. He usually had bits of food stuck in his beard, he licked serving spoons before serving others, and used his fingers to tear bread and fish. He was terribly uncouth in both manner and hygiene, but to his admirers that was part of his charm. He stood apart from the well-mannered aristocracy, and some believe he exaggerated what others thought were taboo in order to entice people.

  By 1905, Rasputin's reputation as a mystical healer and man of faith had reached the imperial court at St. Petersburg. Soon, aristocrats were flocking to him and parading him at their salons and parties. Ladies, in particular, were drawn to Rasputin. To them, his filthy and unkempt appearance perhaps evoked a robust, wild authenticity that was stifled by aristocratic life. He often invited women to bathe with him and personally wash him. Historian Abraham Ascher even notes, "Some men actually felt honored to be cuckolded by the lascivious monk."

   
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  (#3) He Helped The Tsarevich During His Painful Episodes Of Hemophilia

  Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra were a famous love match with a happy home life. The glaring exception to this was the health of their beloved son, Alexei. Alexei was the youngest of the couple's five children - and he was the only son and heir. So when the dreaded symptoms of hemophilia - a hereditary disease that plagued many royal houses in Europe, thanks to their genetic link to Queen Victoria, the so-called "Grandmother of Europe" - first appeared while he was a baby, anxiety for Alexei's health consumed the imperial couple. Though they tried various doctors, their son's health wasn't improving.

  In 1908, Nicholas and Alexandra summoned Rasputin to the palace to treat Alexei after they had heard about his mystical abilities at court. And he seemed to help: whenever Rasputin was around, Alexei's episodes seemed less severe and painful. Historians still can't quite explain why Rasputin, more than anyone else, appeared to significantly lessen Alexei's suffering. Some claim he used hypnosis on the imperial prince, while others insist he simply could calm the boy and enable him to relax. 

  Claims of Rasputin's mystical powers, however, are highly dubious, and many scholars have questioned the physical possibilities of his healing abilities. Looking through historical and physical evidence some hematologists have even concluded the young prince's hemophilia diagnosis was incorrect and he may have suffered from hemolytic anemia, which could explain why his cases of hemorrhaging stopped.
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  (#9) Parts Of The Enigmatic Figure's Afterlife Are As Mysterious As His Life

  Rasputin continued to fascinate, disturb, and cause controversy in death, as he had in life. After he had been pulled from the Neva River, the empress buried him at Tsarskoe Selo. But his body wasn't there for long: on March 11, 1917 - just weeks after Nicholas II had abdicated and months after Rasputin's death - his corpse was dug up with the intention of burning it. After the body was thrown onto a bonfire, it looked as though Rasputin was sitting up as the flames engulfed him. 

  The original copy of Rasputin's autopsy report disappeared during the Stalin regime, along with some of the people who participated in the post-mortem, facts that add to the mystery surrounding his life and death.

  After Rasputin's death, rumors circulated that his assassins had cut off his member. So prevalent were these rumors, that multiple people claimed to possess the severed organ, one of whom even used it as a relic for prayer.

  The autopsy report, however, refutes this urban legend. Not only was Rasputin fully intact, as it were, but his genitals may have actually been damaged from syphilis, alcoholism, and a beating.
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  (#6) He Was So Hated By The Public That People Tried To Take His Life

  Thanks to the growing hostility towards him in the imperial court, many powerful people attempted to get rid of Rasputin. As a result, a handful of assassination plots were concocted, all of which reached various stages of fruition. One plot was hatched by an excommunicated monk Iliodor who planned to hire sex workers to seduce Rasputin and then castrate him. The plot was abandoned once Rasputin caught wind of it.

  One woman who was a follower of Iliodor, Khionia Guseva, however, had heard all sorts of sordid tales about Rasputin the Mad Monk, and even believed that he was the Antichrist. So in June 1914, she stabbed him in the stomach on the streets of Pokrovskoe. 

  Given Rasputin's prominence, the Okhrana (the tsar's secret police) kept tabs on him. After the assassination attempt, Okhrana officers were stationed ostensibly as bodyguards for Rasputin. But they weren't always acting in his interest; they were also tracking his every move and gathering intelligence about him.  They often reported on rumors surrounding Rasputin and read through his mail. 
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  (#5) He Was Criticized For Having A Strong Political Presence In The Royal Court

  After Rasputin's success in easing the suffering of the young tsarevich, he was able to amass and wield greater authority and influence with the imperial family. So reverential were they of Rasputin's power and abilities that Nicholas and Alexandra dismissed allegations about his licentious ways. 

  Rasputin ultimately gained political influence. During World War I, many of the "mad monk's" critics blamed him for the disastrous war effort. In the memoirs of Prince Felix Yusupov, one of the people who assassinated Rasputin, Yusupov claimed Rasputin had personally influenced the Tsar to take control as commander-in-chief of Russia's entire military as it was in "Rasputin's interest to remove him as far from St. Petersburg as possible." With the czar out of the way, Rasputin could then take control of Tsarina Alexandra and, in turn, the country.

  Whether or not Yusupov's claims were true are still debatable. Letter correspondence between Alexandra and Nicholas show that neither Alexandra nor Rasputin wanted Nicholas to leave, believing the military would try to sway him against the advisors in his court and his leaving would only put the imperial hegemony in greater jeopardy.

  Regardless of whether Rasputin convinced the Tsar to leave St. Petersburg or tried to convince him to stay, Nicholas assumed command in 1915 and it proved disastrous both internationally and domestically.

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