Bewildering Religious Journey
Rasputin’s real name was Grigori Yefimovich Novykh, born to a poor family in Siberia in 1869. Grigory went to school but somehow remained illiterate, and got himself into so much trouble that he earned himself the nickname “Rasputin,” meaning “debauched one” in Russian. By 18, he found himself on a religious quest at a monastery. Potentially a step up, except that Rasputin managed to contort the monastery’s teachings so much that he arrived at his own conclusion.
His new dogma was that one is closest to God when he is at his most exhausted following prolonged debauchery. Yeah. Skipping over the part where he got married at 19 and had four kids, he left them to travel through Greece and Jerusalem, presenting himself as a mystic and a healer.
Healer of Royalty
Somehow, this actually worked. Rasputin made it to St Petersburg where the bishop of Sartov and his buddies were dabbling in the occult. So when a crazy guy like Rasputin showed up, he had found his audience. From there, it was a short leap to the Romanovs. Rasputin was requested to heal Alexei Romanov, who was a hemophiliac. Upon leaving, Rasputin announced that the fate of the Romanov family was linked to Rasputin. A tough sell, perhaps, but it worked! Through Rasaputin’s “powers,” he healed Alexei. It’s speculated that, in reality, Rasputin had Alexei stop taking aspirin, which is a blood thinner. But you have to admit, that’s some dumb luck.
A Ladies’ Man
You’ve seen pictures of Rasputin. They’re historically accurate. If you’re confused how those crazy eyes won the hearts of many women, you’re not alone. We guess it had to be his charisma and power, but still, yikes.
Rasputin never curbed his licentious ways. He remained debaucherous and committed to a life of bad decisions. And for some reason, the ladies loved it.
The Man Who Lived
This man was like James Bond. The stories of his assassination attempts are the stuff of action movies. It took four men, a bottle of poison, knives, guns, and a lake to finish the job. And the lake did the bulk of the work! At the point where Rasputin’s assassins saw him get up from the dinner table after ingesting cyanide, completely unfazed, they had to know they had their work cut out for them. Plus, his autopsy revealed that there was no poison in his system. Rasputin has been almost mythologized, and it’s easy to see why. Be honest, if he was stuck on a desert island surrounded by cameras, you’d vote to keep him there.