April 26, 2022 • 55 mins
The rumors about Rasputin—the mad monk who treated the hemophilia of the Tsar and Tsarina's only son—range from comical to absurd. But the truth is buried somewhere beneath, in a story about power and manipulation.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio
and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky listener, Discretion is advised. Yeah,
we don't have sex in the U. S s R.
(00:24):
Those are the words that great visitors in bold block
lettering upon arriving at the Museum of Love and Erotica
in St. Petersburg. From the outside, the muse Arrows, as
it's called, appears fairly innocuous. Muted reds and grays, long
since faded by the sun paints the building's facade, blending
(00:47):
into the equally faded asphalt of the parking lot it
shares with the Shell gas station across the street. But
once inside, the palid hues of the city give way
to midnight blacks and electric pinks. Decor unapologetically flaunting sex
and kink over every square inch of its curated studio space.
(01:13):
Past the throne of dildos and gift shop laden with
leather accessories, the museum offers exhibit after exhibit of artifacts
dedicated to the exploration of sex and sexuality through history.
Fertility statues stand proudly next to displays of vintage vibrators
(01:34):
of I'll Say Dubious historical accuracy. But perhaps the most
interesting piece in the entire space is sitting in a
jar behind a pane of glass. It isn't dressed in
the same jarring, neon or velvet allure in keeping with
the rest of the exhibit, but then again, it doesn't
(01:55):
need to. The pound of flesh bobbing inside the formal
toa i'd filled jar speaks for itself. This artifact, of course,
is the dismembered penis of one Gregory resputant. In the
centuries since his death, the infamous Russian mystic has become
(02:18):
more myth than man, though the latter is hard to
ignore after catching a glimpse of the astonishing appendage on
display at the museum. At least it would be astonishing
if it were real. False reports involving the aforementioned phallus
have been in circulation since the nineteen twenties, after a
(02:42):
group of women in France claimed to have kept it
in an ice box to take it out for use
in certain fertility rituals. Others say that was just a
sea cucumber, and the actual Genitalia resided with Maria, his daughter,
until she sold it sometime in the seven knees. It's
difficult to trace then what happened to the quote actual
(03:05):
or quote false penis. But in the year two thousand
a man would pay eight thousand dollars for something that
claimed to be a resputants penis, and the man proudly stated,
I am sure that it is real. Now there's a
lot to unpack there, After all, who pays eight thousand
(03:28):
dollars to only be sure they have the real deal?
Or maybe it's worth taking a step back and asking
the more glaring question of why would someone want to
buy the penis in the first place. Unfortunately, or maybe
fortunately actually, I do not have the answers to those questions.
(03:48):
But here is one answer. If you were wondering whether
the organ is real, I can tell you that at
the time of resputants autopsy, his body was yes, riddled
with bullet wounds and blunt force trauma, but otherwise fully intact,
and the organ on display in the muse Arrows is,
(04:10):
at least in this writer's estimation, probably from a non
human animal with a size meant to shock audiences to
increase the mythology of its alleged source. Fascinating and deeply
compelling as the pickled mystery meat is. I think it's
even more interesting to examine the actual human who is
(04:32):
allegedly once attached to it when he was still alive.
Resputant aroused distrust and scandal without having to say a word.
One look at a photo of him with his long,
greasy black hair and his gaunt, deep set eyes provide
all the reason as to why, over a hundred years later,
(04:52):
his image is still deeply unsettling the story of his
life is infamously debaucherous. Even today, his name is synonymous
with villain in our cultural psyche. Though perhaps it's all
too common for stories to be lost to be consolidated
over time, the mad Monk's legend defies historical precedent. Instead
(05:17):
of being lost or diminished, histories are inexplicably being added,
like Jenga pieces stolen from the base of a teetering
tower that refuses to fall. So why is it that
museum's boast to have his most prized possession, even though
it is most certainly not real, And why has Risputant
(05:38):
as a myth persisted as a cultural phenomenon while the
man himself has really slipped into shadows. The answer is
a fact Resputin himself knew entirely too well. As long
as people want to believe something is real, the truth
can afford to be subjective. I'm Danis Schwartz, and this
(06:02):
is noble blood. When Google searches of Resputant turn up
picture after picture of greasy beards, wild eyes, and political
cartoons illustrating sexual acts with Russian monarchs, it's sometimes hard
(06:24):
to remember that long before any of that, he was
just Gregory Alfamovitch Rasputin, a young man from a small
village in Siberia, born in eighteen sixty nine. He married
young at eighteen and fathered seven children, though only three
made it to adulthood. But such was life in late
(06:45):
nineteenth century Siberia. Childhood mortality rates were high, access to
basic education was practically non existent, and the Russian idea
of Sogda or God's will, was the guiding force for
the majority of the peas and population. There is very
little known about the exact details of our Sputent's early life,
(07:06):
most of which come to us via a biography written
by his daughter Maria long after he had passed. It's
safe to say that this biography might have some historical inaccuracies.
Early on, she claims that a comment tore through the
sky on the night of Resputant's birth, when in reality
we know there's no recorded comment passing in Earth's view
(07:29):
that entire year. But we do know the one aspect
of his adulthood that would shape the rest of his life.
When Rasputin was twenty eight years old, he took a
trip to a Siberian monastery and returned as a strunk
or religious pilgrim, ready to share all that he had
learned on his travels and spread the word of God.
(07:51):
According to accounts from his closest acquaintances, his intentions began
honestly enough, but that didn't mean that he practiced quiet
lee quite the opposite. In fact, he immediately garnered attention
from other villagers with his peculiar ways. He stopped eating
meat and drinking alcohol, But his most unusual affectation was
(08:14):
the way he performed during his services. With crazy glances
and grimaces, he became impossible to ignore, and fairly quickly
his strange confidence and charisma led to followers. After that
initial pilgrimage, where Sputent didn't stay home for long, he
(08:35):
continued traveling across the continent, going so far as Greece,
but never failing to make his way back to Russia.
But the more that he traveled, the less it seemed
that Russia wanted him back. People were becoming more skeptical
of the uncomp poly man roaming their streets, especially since
(08:56):
a large portion of his disciples were women, which have
been so bad if he didn't openly kiss them in public.
So that was troubling, as were the vague allegations of
sexual assaults that tended to follow in the wake of
his travels. Even before Gregory had married, he had amassed
(09:16):
quite the reputation as a young ladies man, so you
can imagine the type of power dynamic at play when
Respute and found himself in a position where people not
only listen to what he had to say, but respected him,
praised him, reciput and found a way to exploit his
power for personal gain. In one instance, when a woman
(09:40):
came to him distraught after a sexual encounter between the
two of them that she had felt coerced into, he
simply replied that quote, there was no sin in what
they had done. They had simply been celebrating the Holy Trinity.
Another report accounts the two sisters, aged fifteen and tw empty,
(10:00):
were manipulated into sexual acts with the man after being
lured into a bath house. When their mother confronted Respute
and seething with anger, he merely looked at her calmly
and said, quote, now you may feel at peace. The
day of salvation has dawned for your daughters. In Resputant's mind,
(10:21):
or at least the way he spun his religious teachings
to his followers, opening oneself to the possibility of sexual encounters,
i e. Stripping in bath houses was a way to
prove to God that they were able to resist temptations
of the flesh, and sometimes those trips did end in abstinence.
Temptations resisted, but only sometimes. For his part, Resputent did
(10:46):
openly admit to being a sinner, explaining that while he
did try to resist sin, he was ultimately exempt from
judgment because he was quote a man of God, succumbing
to these sins while in his serve us. Now, I
am of the belief that if something looks like a
duck and quacks like a duck, then it's most likely
(11:07):
a sexual predator, and that Rasputin was using the religious
rhetoric of confronting temptations as a way to exploit vulnerable women. Unfortunately,
at the time, his exploits were seen as merely salacious
Monks will be monks. But as gossip around his personal
life spread, so did rumors of his abilities as a mystic.
(11:31):
One night, the Virgin Mary supposedly came to him crying,
tears streaming down her face as she told him to quote,
go wander and cleanse the people of their sins. Resput
and believed that he had been chosen by God, and
he made it his job to let everyone know. For
however creepy and manipulative this man was, he was also
(11:56):
smarter than most people gave him credit for. He was
expert at the long con planting seeds of gossip that
would flower exactly when he needed them to. His actions
seemed erratic at times, but every move was calculated to
cultivate this man of God persona which he was honestly
(12:18):
probably narcissistic enough to believe was true. But at the time,
especially in more elite social circles, people took him pretty
plainly at face value. He was a peasant, most likely
simple minded, and he therefore posed very little threat. So
what if he had a reputation as a philanderer. Surely
(12:40):
only the week fell for such ploys. Right before we
go any further into respute and story, I'd like us
to pivot for a moment towards St. Petersburg. Behind the
waves of civil unrest and political turmoil, the Romanov's sat
(13:01):
comfortably inside the walls of Alexander Palace, confident in their
nearly three hundred year old dynasty, and they're obviously God
given authority to rule. At least if they told themselves
that enough times, maybe it would finally become reality. In truth,
the royal family it was harboring a possibly dynasty ending secret.
(13:25):
The Tsarovitch was sick. Alexey, the fifth child but only
son of Zar Nicholas and the Zarina Alexandra Fedorovna, had
been diagnosed with hemophilia, a rare blood disorder that inhibits
blood from clotting, normally subjecting its victims to possibly fatal
internal bleeding at the drop of a hat. The Czar
(13:47):
and Zarina were understandably distraught concerning the health of their son,
though his illness posed a greater threat to the Russian
monarchy as a whole. Alexei was their only son, and
if you remember our past episode on Paul the First
of Russia, his grudge match against his mother, Catherine the
Great still persisted into the twentieth century in the form
(14:10):
of a law that only sons could inherit the Russian throne.
The Czar and Czarina had desperately waited for a son.
With each pregnancy their hopes were a nude, and with
each daughter, their hopes were dashed four times in a row, Girl, girl, girl, girl.
(14:31):
The Zarina Alexandra had been so desperate for a son
that she had turned to the church and mysticism for help.
The originally of German descent, Alexandra converted to Russian Orthodox
Christianity upon her engagement to Nicholas, and she adopted the
practice wholeheartedly into her life. It's easy to laugh at
(14:53):
the idea of mysticism now, but in the turn of
the twentieth century in Russia it was not an common practice,
especially amongst the aristocracy. People craved excitement, anything to break
up the monotony of their day to day lives. I mean,
think about the way wealthy people today talk about moon
juice and alkalies, lemon water and healing crystals. But at
(15:18):
that time, for those inside the palace walls, mysticism had
genuine credence. One of the crown's closest religious advisors would
tell the Tsar, God sends consolation to his people from
time to time in the guise of righteous men, and
they are the mainstays of Holy Russia. Considering that the
Czar and Czarina truly believed that they had been chosen
(15:41):
by God to rule the people of Russia, their belief
in mysticism compounded. God had chosen them, so obviously he
had chosen these mystics to carry out his work as well.
So after one mystic claimed to be able to influence
the gender of a child during pregnancy, and then the
(16:01):
Sarina gave birth to a son, the practice of mysticism
came to be consulted on all matters of everyday life,
and that man, not resputing yet just some other random guy,
became a mainstay at court. After the diagnosis of her son,
Alexandra sought the help of that mystic more desperate to
(16:23):
alleviate her son's suffering. But over time members of the
court began to grow skeptical of that religious advisor whispering
in the Queen's ear. After a considerable amount of pressure
from his staff, Czar Nicholas was forced to send Alexandra's
beloved mystic away. But before the mystic left, he foretold
(16:46):
one final prophecy quote, Someday you will have another friend
like me who will speak to you of God. The
dust had barely settled on that mystic being fired before
Resputin was suddenly knocking on the palace door, well metaphorically knocking.
(17:06):
Resputin knew that the road to power ended on the
roman Off doorstep, but he also recognized how nearly impossible
it was going to be for him to get there.
After all, he was a peasant with no connections to
the capital and only a questionable reputation to his name,
But he wouldn't let that stop him by virtue of
(17:28):
his chosen profession. By nineteen o five, Resputin had become
an expert in finding spaces for himself in social circles
where none had existed before. He was a social climbing assassin,
using people and then burning bridges like he needed the
tinder to keep warm, And maybe he did, but that
(17:50):
didn't mean the flames would never catch up to him,
as it were. In nineteen o five, Resputin found himself
in St. Petersburg in the company of three of the
Czar's closest acquaintances. Years of travel and power grabbing all
came down to one t on an innocuous autumn afternoon.
(18:11):
So what did the Siberian peasant do to woo the
god divined rulers of Russia? Absolutely nothing, or rather, he
made the nobles feel as though they were nothing, certainly
no more important than any of the peasants that he
often met on the street. He used the informal Russian
(18:31):
you pronoun that used for friends and family instead of
the respectful you reserved for elders and people of higher birth,
and when Rasputin met the Tsar and Szarina, he addressed
them as Batushka and Matushka, or little father and little mother,
which was the common name the peasant class took to
(18:53):
calling the royal couple, and infuriatingly enough, they ate it up.
Nicholas and Alexandra hated all the pomp and circumstance that
typically followed them as Russian monarchs, so when Resputin who
had been waiting years for this very encounter, showed them
the same ambivalence he showed say soap. The royal couple
(19:18):
was immediately smitten. After years without a quote unquote man
of God at her side, the Czarena remembered the parting
words of her last trusted religious adviser, some day you
will have another friend like me who will speak to
you of God. And as she watched with wide eyes
(19:38):
and bated breath, while the mysterious holy Man stood over
her son and her son's muscles finally unclenched after days
of restlessness, there was no doubt in her mind her
friend had arrived. News of resputants present in the palace
quickly made the rounds in Saint Petersburg. Unsurprisingly, people were
(20:02):
skeptical of the unkempt, self proclaimed spiritual healer who spent
so much of his time around the royal family. His
infamous reputation as a sexual predator had followed him on
his travels to the capital, and yet the Czar and
Czarina kept him in their inner circle, unwilling to listen
to anyone who disparaged their newfound friend. Worse yet, the
(20:26):
rumors were beginning to fester. After all, what exactly was
he doing with the royal family? They had five children,
four of them young girls. Someone with a past like
his shouldn't the Czar and Czarina be more concerned. For
once peasants and nobles were in agreement, respute and needed
(20:47):
to go. He was not known for his reticence in
sharing political opinions, and the last thing that anyone wanted
was for resput and notorious sex fiend parading around as
a religious holy man to have influence over the Russian government.
Public outcry trickled its way into the palace, but would
be destined to fall on deaf ears. For the Zarina,
(21:10):
Resputant's place in the palace was indisputable. His prayers were
keeping her son alive. Alexey's hemophilia was still a state secret,
one that the Crown couldn't afford to get out for
fear that their god given right to rule would crumble
under the ailment of the crown prince. After all, if
(21:31):
God had chosen them, why wouldn't he have given them
a healthy air. Their silence would ultimately only add more
fuel to the fire of rumors swirling around the city
before long, speculation as to the nature of Resputen and
the Zarina's relationship was being called into question, especially after
(21:52):
correspondence between the two was leaked to the press. Quote
I know that much of what I do and think
is not good. I want to be a good Christian,
a good person, but it is so hard, Alexandra had
written in a private letter to the monk. Quote so
often I have to fight bad habits. But help me,
(22:13):
don't abandon me. I am weak and not good. End quote. Suddenly,
all of the bridges Resputant had burned to reach the
Romanovs had their flames, threatening to burn down the entire palace.
Even beyond the basic accusations of infidelity, other more disturbing
allegations were coming to the forefront. People were beginning to
(22:35):
question the paternity of the Tsarevich himself, with others accusing
the mad monk of sexually assaulting the young Romanov daughters,
even possibly getting one pregnant. Before long, the entire country
was alight with conspiracy, conspiracy that would carry on for
far longer than one lifetime. Bony M's now iconic lyric
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rah Rah Rasputine, lover of the Russian Queen is, no
doubt a clever couplet, but it's evidence is placed on
faulty ground. The Zarina may have had her faults, but
if she was anything, it was a devout Christian and
loyal wife. And in addition to keeping her son's illness
out of the public eye, she also suffered from chronic pain.
(23:22):
In secret. After five difficult pregnancies, her body had taken
a fair amount of abuse, leaving her with sciatica that
would sometimes keep her bedbound for days. She was not
in a condition to be carrying on an illicit love affair,
even if she wanted to, which, based on her character,
I don't think she did. But of course, once again,
(23:45):
the truth didn't matter. Before the rumors could have just
been dismissed. But after personal letters surfaced and were proven
legitimate by the star himself, the crown was looking as
unstable as ever. The people thought that the infidelity rumors
were true, and the Zarina was furious. The question remained,
(24:07):
who had leaked the letters? How did this happen? The
obvious answer lies with the recipient, But Resputin was a
trusted friend, Surely he never would have done such a thing.
It should come as no surprise that no one was
a bigger fan of Resputen than Resputen. So when the
Czarina herself began sending him not just letters but personal confessions,
(24:32):
he couldn't keep them to himself. Years earlier, an acquaintance
of Resputants had found himself inside the monks St. Petersburg
apartment where Resputin was showing off his personal letters from
the Czarina. He was boasting about his status as one
of her closest spiritual advisors. The acquaintance smiled and nodded,
(24:55):
acting impressed when he was called to do so, but
in the back of his mind he was taking notes.
Perhaps he asked to see the letters up close. Fast
forward three years, and the Czarina's letters were being printed
and dissected by every major news outlet around the world.
Rasputin attempted to do some damage control, but Alexandra would
(25:18):
no longer permit him inside the palace walls. After years
of begging, the Czarina was finally taking the advice of
nearly every one of her advisors, and she sent Rasputin packing.
After all, her son hadn't had a severe attack in years.
There was no immediate need for resputant services. So that autumn,
(25:41):
on a family vacation to their hunting lunch, nobody thought
twice when their carriage took an unusually hard bump in
the road. That was until the young Tsarevich could no
longer contain his screams. After what seemed like no time
at all, Alexei went from playing on the hounds to
crying helplessly in agony. On his deathbed, Nicholas and Alexandra
(26:06):
were beside themselves. Their family vacation had turned into their
worst nightmare. Their son lay pale and incoherent, while his
leg and hip swelled with blood. He was in pain,
so agonizing that the staff took to putting cotton in
their ears to deafen his blood curdling screams. The doctors
(26:29):
worked on him tirelessly, but the Crown Prince showed no
signs of improvement. When Alexey was finally read his last rites,
the Czarina could no longer sit and watch helplessly as
her one and only son slipped away painfully into the night.
Rising from her son's bedside, Alexandra used what little energy
(26:51):
she had to compose a telegram to Gregory Rasputin asking him,
begging him to help save her son. When resput And
received word of the young boy's condition, he was remarkably unbothered.
The doctors had told the royal couple their son would
be dead by mourning, but the mystic simply scoffed. God
(27:14):
has seen your tears and heard your prayers, He assured
the queen. The little one will not die. Do not
allow the doctors to bother him too much. Upon receiving word,
Alexandra immediately relaxed. She walked back to her son's bedside
with renewed vigor, announcing to the others holding vigil that
(27:36):
during the night, I received a telegram from Father Gregory,
and he has reassured me completely and miraculously, Despite quite
literally being on the brink of death, Alexei recovered within days,
His fever broke, the swelling began to receive, and his
appetite returned. It was a miracle, one that seemingly only
(28:00):
took place under resputants command. None of it made any sense,
and yet it didn't have to. All that mattered was
that Theisarevich was alive and the monarchy was safe for
another day. Over a century later, Alexei's recovery remains a
mystery to historians, but of course there are several theories.
(28:23):
The first and probably most likely has everything to do
with the final words of resputants telegram to Alexandra, do
not allow the doctors to bother him too much. To
this day, there is still no cure for hemophilia, but
given the advancements in medical knowledge, we are now certainly
aware of how not to treat the disease. Rule number one,
(28:46):
don't give the patient blood thinners. Unfortunately, for Alexei, aspirin
seemed to be the royal doctor's drug of choice. The
new at the time miracle drug, now widely known as
a blood thinner, seemed to be a cure for so
many common ailments, so why not try it against the
(29:07):
well rare blood disorder that prevents blood from plotting. But
in any case, Resputent's intervention against the doctors could have
possibly saved Alexei's life. Ironically, the best sort of treatment
the boy could have received at the time was time
time without doctor's force feeding him blood thinners and poking
(29:28):
and prodding at his already bleeding body. But others are
more skeptical that Resputent was involved at all in the
young boys treatment plan. The timeline of events that led
to Alexei's recovery is sketchy at best. At what point
exactly did Alexandra send that telegram, how quickly did respute
(29:49):
and respond? It's widely understood that contacting Resputent had been
the Czarina's absolute final option, with the last rites having
already been and to her son. After a certain point,
the doctors would have most likely stopped treating the boy
to let him pass on in peace. Resputant's words could
have reached the hunting lodge while Alexei was already on
(30:12):
the mend. But once again the truth didn't matter. The
Czarina believed Resputin had been sent by God to save
her son, and any previous grudge she may have held
against the man meant nothing so long as her son
was safe. Without even being on the same side of
the country, Resputin had once again managed to make his
(30:34):
way back inside the Royal Palace. The start of the
new year brought with it the three hundred year anniversary
of Romanov rule in Russia, a legacy that great came
with a mounting pressure. Nicholas was beginning to feel in
his bones. Ever since the nineteen oh five revolution, when
his power as Supreme Autocrat had been strict with the
(30:57):
founding of the Russian legislative body known as Duma, he
had never been able to shake the shadow of revolution
that he felt breathing down his neck. He was the
Czar of Russia, wasn't he? Duma be damned? He was
a Romanov and the Romanovs had been chosen by God
to rule the mighty nation of Russia, come hell or
(31:18):
high water. So how would he strive to prove himself
as a competent ruler by going to war, of course,
or rather by sending thousands of young men to go
off to war for him. Unlike the majority of Russian aristocrats,
Resputin was actually staunchly against Russia going to war. He
(31:39):
didn't need to be able to see the future to
know that war would mean the deaths of thousands of
young Russian men, primarily peasants like himself, not aristocrats. Resputin
was quoted as saying, quote, We're already the biggest country
in the world. Why do we need more real estate?
But try as he might, Resputent's effort went unheard. Luckily
(32:02):
for him, vodka proved to be a great listener. With
war on the horizon and feeling his influence waning, he
wasted no time in drowning his sorrows and drowning his
decade plus of sobriety. After an assassination attempt in his
hometown left him bedbound as he healed, Waking up one
(32:23):
morning to the newspaper reporting Germany's declaration of war against
Russia was enough to make him want to curl up
at the bottom of a bottle. Resputants dependence on alcohol
would follow him for the rest of his life. From
this point on, he rarely ever attended events sober, only
pulling himself together enough for the royal couple not to
(32:44):
suspect that something was seriously wrong. So when Alexandra ordered
the monk to embark on a trip to Moscow in
a desperate attempt to bolster his reputation into something salvageable,
she couldn't have known that this trip would lead to
one of the most infamous nights of Resputant's life. On
(33:06):
the evening of March twenty six, nineteen fifteen, Resputin went
to an establishment called the Yard in Moscow to partake
in their typical nighttime festivities. Never one to be unprepared,
Resputin arrived having already down half of his body weight
in vodka, and he promptly ordered more. Upon his arrival,
(33:27):
other patrons of the r began to take notice of
the oddily dressed, boisterous man in the corner. The patrons
held their hands up to their mouths in shock when
the man started to grab at more than a few
of the performers, and then Resputant stood and started off
on an alcohol fuel tirade for the benefit of the
(33:50):
entire establishment. According to witnesses, the unhinged monk became quote
sexually psychopathic, alluding to his legendary fallis, and rumored in
decent relationship with a zarina. He referred to her as
quote the old girl, and proceeded to detail his control
(34:10):
over her, eliciting even more disgusted from the crowd. Finally,
when one patron dared him to prove that he was
the real resputent, he did the only thing a man
like Resputent would think to do. He dropped his pants
and waived his member at the crowd. It's legendary size
(34:30):
apparently all the identification needed. After that, the police were
called and Resputent was led away quote snarling and vowing vengeance. Today,
Resputent's night at the yard is debated wildly amongst historians.
Some say there are no police reports from that night
that would suggest Resputent was even at the r in
(34:52):
the first place. Meanwhile, others say that there were too
many reputable witnesses to have the story be anything but true.
In my opinion, the truth behind the actual events of
that night are of little importance. What mattered, what still
matters in resputen story is that people believed it was true,
(35:12):
and so it was, which leads us to one of
the most notorious myths in the Resputent canon, the prophecy.
In the months leading up to his death, Resputen had
rightly so begun to grow increasingly paranoid about his demise.
He took on an extremely fatalistic view on life, often
(35:34):
recounting his knowledge that the end for him was near.
But according to legend, in the weeks before his death,
Resputen wrote a letter to the royals describing what would
be known as his quote final prophecy. Russians are, he began,
I have a presentiment that I shall leave this world
(35:55):
before the first of January. If I am killed, not
one member of your family will survive more than two years.
The tragic demise of the Romanovs and the Russian monarchy
has been the subject of fascination and speculation for over
a hundred years, and this letter remains one of the
(36:16):
most infamous relics of the past. And while this letter
does seem like exactly the type of manipulation Resputent would
pull to try to solidify his place within the royal fold,
it really is just another tally on the ever growing
list of false rumors associated with the infamous mad Monk.
(36:38):
The letter itself is really the prophecies undoing. It's the
diction that really disproves the letters authenticity. It begins by
addressing Nicholas as Russians are, which, as we stated earlier,
was just not how Resputent spoke. He rarely, if ever,
used terms of authority with royals, and he continued to
(36:59):
call the Czarina and Czar little mother and little father
until his death. The prophecy, like so many other parts
of the resput and myth, is something that people love
to hold onto In this case, maybe because it's a
detail that makes the Romanov killings next all the more
tragic and romantic. On the night of December six, nineteen sixteen,
(37:26):
Resputin was invited to the home of a man named
Felix Yusupo for an evening of dinner and drinks. When
Resputin arrived, you suppose and his two compatriots greeted their
new companion with warm smiles and casual conversation. But beneath
the thin veneer of pleasantries, a more sinister plot was
(37:47):
already brewing. The young Russian prince Felix Yusupov had been
orchestrating a plan for weeks, carefully crafting timetables and alibis
in preparation for what was sure to be his crowning achievement,
ridding Russia of the religious fraud Gregory Rasputin. Yusupov was
(38:09):
not necessarily how one would imagine a murderer, for one,
he had never before committed a serious crime, let alone homicide.
But ever, the idealist Yusupov had watched from afar as
respute and whispered into the ear of the Czarina, and
he became increasingly infuriated with his position in court. Why
(38:29):
should this peasant have such sway over the most important
political decisions in Russia. In his mind, Rasputin needed to
be taken out of the equation, and he wanted to
be the one to do it. Originally, Yusupov went to
the President of the Duma to collaborate on the assassination attempt,
pleading quote, if the Emperor were freed of the influence
(38:51):
of Resputin and his wife, everything would change. He would
be a good constitutional monarch. Unfortunately for him, the President
would hear nothing of it. Quote do you think I
keep office for assassins? He blustered in truth. As much
as the Duma hated Respute and killing him would not
(39:11):
have been beneficial to their cause. It was obvious that
the end of the monarchy was near, and when it
finally fell, the Duma was trying to establish a democratic
government that would rise in its place, where Sputent's influence
over the Romanovs was making them tremendously unpopular and only
helping bring down the monarchy quicker. Why would the Duma
(39:33):
want to help kill a man who was making their
job easier and so Prince Felix Yusupov, a man with
the criminal rap sheet of a pacifier, was left to
orchestrate the assassination of the most notorious villain in all
of Russia alone. I think it's important to note that
the events that occurred next will always remain something of
(39:54):
a mystery. After all, we only hear the version told
from the point of view of the murderer. A I've
said on this podcast many times before. History is told
by the victors, and the night of December sixteenth, nineteen
sixteen is no exception. Around eleven p m. Respute and
arrived at Yusopope's home, where he was promptly led down
(40:16):
into the basement to wait for Yusopope's wife to join them.
While they waited, Felix offered respute and refreshment. Small cakes
and glasses of wine were pushed in Gregory's face, which,
after an initial hesitation, he indulged in thoroughly. Yusupov watched
him with a mixture of horror and fascination, the memory
(40:37):
of having crushed cyanide capsules between his fingertips still fresh
in his mind as he waited for the man to
succumb to the poison. Slowly resputant's eyes began to droop.
He brought his hand to his throat, almost distractedly, like
he was fighting off an itch. He couldn't scratch. But
after an hour he still sat drinking his poisoned wine,
(41:01):
completely awake and very much alive. By one in the morning,
you Suppov was livid, having had to entertain the man
he was trying to kill for over two hours. Excusing himself,
You Suppov ascended from the basement to reconvene with his
co conspirators. This wasn't how the night was supposed to go.
(41:22):
The poison was supposed to allow them time to dispose
of the body cleanly, to cover their tracks with minimal risk.
Now it was obvious they would have to use a
more sure fire method. When you Suppose returned, it was
with a revolver behind his back. Taking a deep breath,
he told the monk, Gregory Alfmovich, you'd best come look
(41:45):
at that crucifix and say a prayer before it. He
brought the gun out from behind him and pointed the
barrel at the other man, and after a moment's hesitation,
he fired a bullet into Resputeen's chest, a meat itly
Resputent fell to the floor, and upon hearing the shot,
Usupov's compatriots came down to inspect the body. As the
(42:08):
blood began to spread, the men dragged Resputent's body across
the floor to avoid God forbid, staining the bear skin rug,
and then they took the jacket off of his back.
Although the first part of their plan had gone slightly
off the rails, the second phase was being put into play.
Another of the men dressed in Resputent's coat and drove
(42:30):
away from the palace to make it look like Gregory
left of his own volition, while the man imposing as
Resputen made his swift getaway. The rest of the men
left the basement and hung about the house waiting for
their next move, But Yusopov couldn't sit still. For some
inexplicable reason, he felt the need to check the body.
(42:52):
When his feet found their way back to the scene
of the crime, he took a small breath of relief.
The body was just as they had left it. But
then the figure on the ground began to move with
blood leaking from his mouth. Resputant opened his eyes, greenish
and snakelike. According to the Prince, and stared him down
(43:13):
with an expression of satanic hatred. Felix Resputant croaked, blood
flying from his mouth with every forced syllable. Yusupov ran
to warn the others, but when he came back down,
Resputin was gone. He had walked out the door and
into the snow, heading towards the side courtyard. The Prince
(43:34):
followed after him, his accomplices and tow As they followed
the bleeding peasant past the iron gates, one of the
men shot once twice, but they both missed, until the
third finally found a home in Resputant's back, causing the
man to once again collapse to the ground. Upon approaching
(43:54):
the body, a fourth and final bullet was fired, this
time between his eye ways. The sound of the last
bullet cut through the night air like a knife, making
the silence that followed feel almost like a dream, or
maybe a nightmare. As the blood slowly dyed the snow
beneath their feet, Crimson red at last, the mad mystic,
(44:18):
the most universally hated man in all of Russia, Gregory
alfmo Vitrusputin, was dead This morning. At six o'clock, Gregory
Resputin suddenly passed away after a party at one of
the most aristocratic houses in the center of Petrograd. Days
(44:38):
before they would find the body, news outlets were already
reporting the murder, and the citizens of the capital city
were celebrating in the streets. Felix Yusopov, however, was not
one of those people celebrating. The morning after the assassination,
Yusupov woke at his father in law's house to a
phone call from his residence the police had arrived to
(45:01):
question him. When he did meet with the police, he
immediately took offense at being accused of anything. Quote, if
people murder Resputin, they planned to connect the crime with
me and my party, he refuted helplessly as the police
raided his home. When questioned about the multiple gunshots heard
by multiple witnesses the night before, Yusupov claimed certain members
(45:23):
of the party overindulged and shot a stray dog for fun.
He took them back to his home and showed them
the carcass of said dog, still lying in the snow.
As the police drove away their questions. Unsatisfactorily answered, you
suppose couldn't help but stare at the snow covered courtyard
where just twelve hours before, an entirely different body had
(45:47):
been lying beneath his feet. That body had still yet
to be found, but everyone in Russia seemed to agree
that all signs pointed towards Felix you Suppove. Meanwhile, inside
the Alexander Palace, the Romanovs, specifically the Czarina, were inconsolable
by her orders. You Supov was illegally placed under house arrest,
(46:10):
no longer able to flee the city like so many
of his accomplices already had. Her friend was gone, and
somebody was going to pay. It would be two more
days until Resputant's body would be pulled out of the
icy Nivo River, nearly two d and fifty feet away
(46:31):
from where the party had dumped his body from the
top of the Great Petrofsky Bridge. When the police finally
excavated the body from the ice, Resputant's torso was still
bound by rope, but his arms extended out from his body,
situated in such a way that it was rumored Resputant
was still alive when he hit the water, and his
(46:53):
final act was making the sign of the cross as
he died. For years, Russian officials kept the autopsy of
Gregory Resiputin out of the public eye, leaving the real
cause of death up for speculation. All the while newspapers
at the time, with nothing else to go on, we're
also reporting off hearsay. Combined, these circumstances almost encouraged the
(47:17):
story to grow into the mythic proportions we've come to
know them today. However, since then, the autopsy has been
made available, and here's what we know. At the time
of his death, Resputin had been very drunk. The report
notes the thick stench of alcohol on his corpse, even
after spending two nights in the icy depths of the river.
(47:39):
He had suffered a large blunt force trauma to the
head in addition to the three bullet wounds found on
his body. His lungs, however, did not contain any water,
suggesting he was actually dead by the time he was
thrown from the bridge that night. The autopsy concluded the
third bullet wound to the forehead, not the drowning, was
(48:01):
Resputant's real cause of death. However, what's more interesting is
the lack of any trace of poison other than copious
amounts of alcohol in the bloodstream. The very distinct scent
of cyanide was found nowhere on the body, leading the
doctors to believe that the goods were sputan ingested earlier
(48:21):
that evening were never poisoned in the first place. Historians
have a couple of working theories as to how this happened.
The first is that one of you supposed co conspirators
had a sudden change of heart before a Sputin was
scheduled to arrive at the palace, and he switched the
actual cyanide with a harmless alternative. Another theory is that
(48:43):
the poison they sourced might not have actually been lethal
in the first place. You Supope was not exactly the
world's greatest hit man. It would have been easy for
him to have been duped into thinking he had purchased
the real thing. The final theory is one that changes
what we know about the Night of resputants murder altogether.
(49:05):
This theory is that you suppose jazzed up the story
for dramatic purposes. After a Sputant's body was found and
Yusupope was understood to have been the culprit behind his demise,
the Zarina wanted to put him and his accomplices on trial, however,
it was painfully obvious from the celebrations in the street
(49:25):
that a jury of his peers would find Usupov not guilty,
And while the Zarrena wanted justice to be served, she
also knew that a not guilty verdict would be viewed
as a slight on the monarchy, an institution that was
growing less and less stable by the day. The solution
to this was, you suppose ordered exile from the capital
(49:47):
to his family's estates in central Russia without a trial.
Years later, after the monarchy fell, you suppope and his
family fled Russia, and he took with him, among priceless
jewe poles and a couple of rem brands, his story
about the night he killed Gregory Resputin. Yusupov often boasted
of this accomplishment to people he would meet on his travels,
(50:11):
and it makes sense he would aggrandize some of his
claims to bolster his reputation, especially if he could stand
to make money off of it. In the memoir, he
would go on to write, so what actually happened that night, Well,
it's impossible to say, after all, As Joseph Ferman notes
in his biography, resputing the untold story. The autopsy surgeon
(50:35):
could have not been looking for the poison and failed
to see it. An autopsy from nineteen sixteen is hardly
as reliable as one would be today, so in reality,
Resputin very well could have been poisoned, but just not
given a lethal dose. Some like to speculate that Resputin
had built up an immunity to poison, but that's actually
(50:55):
not possible with cyanide personally. For no real reason, In
just a hunch, I think that the Prince was sold
fake pills and he didn't use a lethal dose. But
in the larger sense, the truth about reciputants murder stomped
mattering a long time ago. The lack of details released
to the public in the immediate aftermath, mixed with the
(51:16):
already larger than life mythos of the man in question,
created a perfect storm of mystery and intrigue that has
flourished into a story that is most likely far superior
to the actual source material, Which brings us back to
the Excuse me pickled penis sitting in the Museum of
Sex and Erotica in St. Petersburg. Although its origins are
(51:40):
now widely understood to be of the bovine variety. The
legend associated with it remains, and if we are to
believe the events of that night at they are actually occurred,
then resputed and obviously wanted his let's say, larger than
life legacy to have carried on. The question does remain,
why do we continue to give the spotlight to someone
(52:03):
as deeply controversial and problematic as Resputant. On a purely
esthetic level, the idea that someone with the hygiene practices
of a cockroache had access to Russia's most powerful royals
is a confounding mystery in and of itself. But mix
in the sex, the scandal, and the mysticism, and it's
(52:23):
a recipe for intrigue. The legendary assassination is just icing
on the cake. But underneath the chaotic Jenga tower that
has become Resputants legacy, I think it's important to remember
that the man beneath it all was just a man,
one who's all too real body was exhumed shortly after
the Czar's abdication, taken to the outskirts of the city,
(52:47):
and hastily cremated by the hands of inexperienced soldiers. And
after the flames had died out, the men dumped what
charge remains there were into a nearby stream, where he
calmly washed back into the earth from whence he came.
(53:07):
That's the strange and possibly even true story of Gregory Rasputin,
But stick around after a brief sponsor break to hear
the all two real story of one of the few
people he left behind. Perhaps the only person to rival
(53:29):
the larger than life persona of Gregory Resputin is his
daughter Maria. After fleeing the country following the Bolshevik Revolution,
Maria lived a nomadic lifestyle with her first husband until
his death in nine As the mother to two daughters.
By this point, she knew she had to find a
way to provide for her and her family. Cut to
(53:52):
Maria Resputin taming lions in the Traveling circus In Maria
joined the Bush circus Us as a dancer, eventually making
her way to America with the Ringling Brothers as their
animal tamer. She was often billed as the daughter of
the mad monk whose feats in Russia astonished the world.
(54:13):
When asked if she minded being in a cage with
the animals, she famously replied, why not, I've been in
a cage with Bolsheviks. Her career with the Circus only
ended after she was brutally mauled by a polar bear.
Miraculously she survived the attack, of course she did. I
think it's actually a little ironic. Polar bear attack is
(54:36):
the only method of death that has never been rumored
to be ascribed to Resputing himself. Maria spent the rest
of her life supporting her family by becoming a factory worker.
It's funny how history can feel so distant from our
lives when in reality, Resputent's daughter died in nine seventy seven,
the same year Star Wars would play in theaters for
(54:58):
the first time. M m. Noble Blood is a production
of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey.
The show is written and hosted by Dani Schwartz. Executive
producers include Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. The
(55:23):
show is produced by rema Ill Kali and Trevor Young.
Noble Blood is on social media at Noble Blood Tales,
and you can learn more about the show over at
Noble Blood Tales dot com. For more podcasts, from I
heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. M
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio
and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky listener, Discretion is advised. Yeah,
we don't have sex in the U. S s R.
(00:24):
Those are the words that great visitors in bold block
lettering upon arriving at the Museum of Love and Erotica
in St. Petersburg. From the outside, the muse Arrows, as
it's called, appears fairly innocuous. Muted reds and grays, long
since faded by the sun paints the building's facade, blending
(00:47):
into the equally faded asphalt of the parking lot it
shares with the Shell gas station across the street. But
once inside, the palid hues of the city give way
to midnight blacks and electric pinks. Decor unapologetically flaunting sex
and kink over every square inch of its curated studio space.
(01:13):
Past the throne of dildos and gift shop laden with
leather accessories, the museum offers exhibit after exhibit of artifacts
dedicated to the exploration of sex and sexuality through history.
Fertility statues stand proudly next to displays of vintage vibrators
(01:34):
of I'll Say Dubious historical accuracy. But perhaps the most
interesting piece in the entire space is sitting in a
jar behind a pane of glass. It isn't dressed in
the same jarring, neon or velvet allure in keeping with
the rest of the exhibit, but then again, it doesn't
(01:55):
need to. The pound of flesh bobbing inside the formal
toa i'd filled jar speaks for itself. This artifact, of course,
is the dismembered penis of one Gregory resputant. In the
centuries since his death, the infamous Russian mystic has become
(02:18):
more myth than man, though the latter is hard to
ignore after catching a glimpse of the astonishing appendage on
display at the museum. At least it would be astonishing
if it were real. False reports involving the aforementioned phallus
have been in circulation since the nineteen twenties, after a
(02:42):
group of women in France claimed to have kept it
in an ice box to take it out for use
in certain fertility rituals. Others say that was just a
sea cucumber, and the actual Genitalia resided with Maria, his daughter,
until she sold it sometime in the seven knees. It's
difficult to trace then what happened to the quote actual
(03:05):
or quote false penis. But in the year two thousand
a man would pay eight thousand dollars for something that
claimed to be a resputants penis, and the man proudly stated,
I am sure that it is real. Now there's a
lot to unpack there, After all, who pays eight thousand
(03:28):
dollars to only be sure they have the real deal?
Or maybe it's worth taking a step back and asking
the more glaring question of why would someone want to
buy the penis in the first place. Unfortunately, or maybe
fortunately actually, I do not have the answers to those questions.
(03:48):
But here is one answer. If you were wondering whether
the organ is real, I can tell you that at
the time of resputants autopsy, his body was yes, riddled
with bullet wounds and blunt force trauma, but otherwise fully intact,
and the organ on display in the muse Arrows is,
(04:10):
at least in this writer's estimation, probably from a non
human animal with a size meant to shock audiences to
increase the mythology of its alleged source. Fascinating and deeply
compelling as the pickled mystery meat is. I think it's
even more interesting to examine the actual human who is
(04:32):
allegedly once attached to it when he was still alive.
Resputant aroused distrust and scandal without having to say a word.
One look at a photo of him with his long,
greasy black hair and his gaunt, deep set eyes provide
all the reason as to why, over a hundred years later,
(04:52):
his image is still deeply unsettling the story of his
life is infamously debaucherous. Even today, his name is synonymous
with villain in our cultural psyche. Though perhaps it's all
too common for stories to be lost to be consolidated
over time, the mad Monk's legend defies historical precedent. Instead
(05:17):
of being lost or diminished, histories are inexplicably being added,
like Jenga pieces stolen from the base of a teetering
tower that refuses to fall. So why is it that
museum's boast to have his most prized possession, even though
it is most certainly not real, And why has Risputant
(05:38):
as a myth persisted as a cultural phenomenon while the
man himself has really slipped into shadows. The answer is
a fact Resputin himself knew entirely too well. As long
as people want to believe something is real, the truth
can afford to be subjective. I'm Danis Schwartz, and this
(06:02):
is noble blood. When Google searches of Resputant turn up
picture after picture of greasy beards, wild eyes, and political
cartoons illustrating sexual acts with Russian monarchs, it's sometimes hard
(06:24):
to remember that long before any of that, he was
just Gregory Alfamovitch Rasputin, a young man from a small
village in Siberia, born in eighteen sixty nine. He married
young at eighteen and fathered seven children, though only three
made it to adulthood. But such was life in late
(06:45):
nineteenth century Siberia. Childhood mortality rates were high, access to
basic education was practically non existent, and the Russian idea
of Sogda or God's will, was the guiding force for
the majority of the peas and population. There is very
little known about the exact details of our Sputent's early life,
(07:06):
most of which come to us via a biography written
by his daughter Maria long after he had passed. It's
safe to say that this biography might have some historical inaccuracies.
Early on, she claims that a comment tore through the
sky on the night of Resputant's birth, when in reality
we know there's no recorded comment passing in Earth's view
(07:29):
that entire year. But we do know the one aspect
of his adulthood that would shape the rest of his life.
When Rasputin was twenty eight years old, he took a
trip to a Siberian monastery and returned as a strunk
or religious pilgrim, ready to share all that he had
learned on his travels and spread the word of God.
(07:51):
According to accounts from his closest acquaintances, his intentions began
honestly enough, but that didn't mean that he practiced quiet
lee quite the opposite. In fact, he immediately garnered attention
from other villagers with his peculiar ways. He stopped eating
meat and drinking alcohol, But his most unusual affectation was
(08:14):
the way he performed during his services. With crazy glances
and grimaces, he became impossible to ignore, and fairly quickly
his strange confidence and charisma led to followers. After that
initial pilgrimage, where Sputent didn't stay home for long, he
(08:35):
continued traveling across the continent, going so far as Greece,
but never failing to make his way back to Russia.
But the more that he traveled, the less it seemed
that Russia wanted him back. People were becoming more skeptical
of the uncomp poly man roaming their streets, especially since
(08:56):
a large portion of his disciples were women, which have
been so bad if he didn't openly kiss them in public.
So that was troubling, as were the vague allegations of
sexual assaults that tended to follow in the wake of
his travels. Even before Gregory had married, he had amassed
(09:16):
quite the reputation as a young ladies man, so you
can imagine the type of power dynamic at play when
Respute and found himself in a position where people not
only listen to what he had to say, but respected him,
praised him, reciput and found a way to exploit his
power for personal gain. In one instance, when a woman
(09:40):
came to him distraught after a sexual encounter between the
two of them that she had felt coerced into, he
simply replied that quote, there was no sin in what
they had done. They had simply been celebrating the Holy Trinity.
Another report accounts the two sisters, aged fifteen and tw empty,
(10:00):
were manipulated into sexual acts with the man after being
lured into a bath house. When their mother confronted Respute
and seething with anger, he merely looked at her calmly
and said, quote, now you may feel at peace. The
day of salvation has dawned for your daughters. In Resputant's mind,
(10:21):
or at least the way he spun his religious teachings
to his followers, opening oneself to the possibility of sexual encounters,
i e. Stripping in bath houses was a way to
prove to God that they were able to resist temptations
of the flesh, and sometimes those trips did end in abstinence.
Temptations resisted, but only sometimes. For his part, Resputent did
(10:46):
openly admit to being a sinner, explaining that while he
did try to resist sin, he was ultimately exempt from
judgment because he was quote a man of God, succumbing
to these sins while in his serve us. Now, I
am of the belief that if something looks like a
duck and quacks like a duck, then it's most likely
(11:07):
a sexual predator, and that Rasputin was using the religious
rhetoric of confronting temptations as a way to exploit vulnerable women. Unfortunately,
at the time, his exploits were seen as merely salacious
Monks will be monks. But as gossip around his personal
life spread, so did rumors of his abilities as a mystic.
(11:31):
One night, the Virgin Mary supposedly came to him crying,
tears streaming down her face as she told him to quote,
go wander and cleanse the people of their sins. Resput
and believed that he had been chosen by God, and
he made it his job to let everyone know. For
however creepy and manipulative this man was, he was also
(11:56):
smarter than most people gave him credit for. He was
expert at the long con planting seeds of gossip that
would flower exactly when he needed them to. His actions
seemed erratic at times, but every move was calculated to
cultivate this man of God persona which he was honestly
(12:18):
probably narcissistic enough to believe was true. But at the time,
especially in more elite social circles, people took him pretty
plainly at face value. He was a peasant, most likely
simple minded, and he therefore posed very little threat. So
what if he had a reputation as a philanderer. Surely
(12:40):
only the week fell for such ploys. Right before we
go any further into respute and story, I'd like us
to pivot for a moment towards St. Petersburg. Behind the
waves of civil unrest and political turmoil, the Romanov's sat
(13:01):
comfortably inside the walls of Alexander Palace, confident in their
nearly three hundred year old dynasty, and they're obviously God
given authority to rule. At least if they told themselves
that enough times, maybe it would finally become reality. In truth,
the royal family it was harboring a possibly dynasty ending secret.
(13:25):
The Tsarovitch was sick. Alexey, the fifth child but only
son of Zar Nicholas and the Zarina Alexandra Fedorovna, had
been diagnosed with hemophilia, a rare blood disorder that inhibits
blood from clotting, normally subjecting its victims to possibly fatal
internal bleeding at the drop of a hat. The Czar
(13:47):
and Zarina were understandably distraught concerning the health of their son,
though his illness posed a greater threat to the Russian
monarchy as a whole. Alexei was their only son, and
if you remember our past episode on Paul the First
of Russia, his grudge match against his mother, Catherine the
Great still persisted into the twentieth century in the form
(14:10):
of a law that only sons could inherit the Russian throne.
The Czar and Czarina had desperately waited for a son.
With each pregnancy their hopes were a nude, and with
each daughter, their hopes were dashed four times in a row, Girl, girl, girl, girl.
(14:31):
The Zarina Alexandra had been so desperate for a son
that she had turned to the church and mysticism for help.
The originally of German descent, Alexandra converted to Russian Orthodox
Christianity upon her engagement to Nicholas, and she adopted the
practice wholeheartedly into her life. It's easy to laugh at
(14:53):
the idea of mysticism now, but in the turn of
the twentieth century in Russia it was not an common practice,
especially amongst the aristocracy. People craved excitement, anything to break
up the monotony of their day to day lives. I mean,
think about the way wealthy people today talk about moon
juice and alkalies, lemon water and healing crystals. But at
(15:18):
that time, for those inside the palace walls, mysticism had
genuine credence. One of the crown's closest religious advisors would
tell the Tsar, God sends consolation to his people from
time to time in the guise of righteous men, and
they are the mainstays of Holy Russia. Considering that the
Czar and Czarina truly believed that they had been chosen
(15:41):
by God to rule the people of Russia, their belief
in mysticism compounded. God had chosen them, so obviously he
had chosen these mystics to carry out his work as well.
So after one mystic claimed to be able to influence
the gender of a child during pregnancy, and then the
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Sarina gave birth to a son, the practice of mysticism
came to be consulted on all matters of everyday life,
and that man, not resputing yet just some other random guy,
became a mainstay at court. After the diagnosis of her son,
Alexandra sought the help of that mystic more desperate to
(16:23):
alleviate her son's suffering. But over time members of the
court began to grow skeptical of that religious advisor whispering
in the Queen's ear. After a considerable amount of pressure
from his staff, Czar Nicholas was forced to send Alexandra's
beloved mystic away. But before the mystic left, he foretold
(16:46):
one final prophecy quote, Someday you will have another friend
like me who will speak to you of God. The
dust had barely settled on that mystic being fired before
Resputin was suddenly knocking on the palace door, well metaphorically knocking.
(17:06):
Resputin knew that the road to power ended on the
roman Off doorstep, but he also recognized how nearly impossible
it was going to be for him to get there.
After all, he was a peasant with no connections to
the capital and only a questionable reputation to his name,
But he wouldn't let that stop him by virtue of
(17:28):
his chosen profession. By nineteen o five, Resputin had become
an expert in finding spaces for himself in social circles
where none had existed before. He was a social climbing assassin,
using people and then burning bridges like he needed the
tinder to keep warm, And maybe he did, but that
(17:50):
didn't mean the flames would never catch up to him,
as it were. In nineteen o five, Resputin found himself
in St. Petersburg in the company of three of the
Czar's closest acquaintances. Years of travel and power grabbing all
came down to one t on an innocuous autumn afternoon.
(18:11):
So what did the Siberian peasant do to woo the
god divined rulers of Russia? Absolutely nothing, or rather, he
made the nobles feel as though they were nothing, certainly
no more important than any of the peasants that he
often met on the street. He used the informal Russian
(18:31):
you pronoun that used for friends and family instead of
the respectful you reserved for elders and people of higher birth,
and when Rasputin met the Tsar and Szarina, he addressed
them as Batushka and Matushka, or little father and little mother,
which was the common name the peasant class took to
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calling the royal couple, and infuriatingly enough, they ate it up.
Nicholas and Alexandra hated all the pomp and circumstance that
typically followed them as Russian monarchs, so when Resputin who
had been waiting years for this very encounter, showed them
the same ambivalence he showed say soap. The royal couple
(19:18):
was immediately smitten. After years without a quote unquote man
of God at her side, the Czarena remembered the parting
words of her last trusted religious adviser, some day you
will have another friend like me who will speak to
you of God. And as she watched with wide eyes
(19:38):
and bated breath, while the mysterious holy Man stood over
her son and her son's muscles finally unclenched after days
of restlessness, there was no doubt in her mind her
friend had arrived. News of resputants present in the palace
quickly made the rounds in Saint Petersburg. Unsurprisingly, people were
(20:02):
skeptical of the unkempt, self proclaimed spiritual healer who spent
so much of his time around the royal family. His
infamous reputation as a sexual predator had followed him on
his travels to the capital, and yet the Czar and
Czarina kept him in their inner circle, unwilling to listen
to anyone who disparaged their newfound friend. Worse yet, the
(20:26):
rumors were beginning to fester. After all, what exactly was
he doing with the royal family? They had five children,
four of them young girls. Someone with a past like
his shouldn't the Czar and Czarina be more concerned. For
once peasants and nobles were in agreement, respute and needed
(20:47):
to go. He was not known for his reticence in
sharing political opinions, and the last thing that anyone wanted
was for resput and notorious sex fiend parading around as
a religious holy man to have influence over the Russian government.
Public outcry trickled its way into the palace, but would
be destined to fall on deaf ears. For the Zarina,
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Resputant's place in the palace was indisputable. His prayers were
keeping her son alive. Alexey's hemophilia was still a state secret,
one that the Crown couldn't afford to get out for
fear that their god given right to rule would crumble
under the ailment of the crown prince. After all, if
(21:31):
God had chosen them, why wouldn't he have given them
a healthy air. Their silence would ultimately only add more
fuel to the fire of rumors swirling around the city
before long, speculation as to the nature of Resputen and
the Zarina's relationship was being called into question, especially after
(21:52):
correspondence between the two was leaked to the press. Quote
I know that much of what I do and think
is not good. I want to be a good Christian,
a good person, but it is so hard, Alexandra had
written in a private letter to the monk. Quote so
often I have to fight bad habits. But help me,
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don't abandon me. I am weak and not good. End quote. Suddenly,
all of the bridges Resputant had burned to reach the
Romanovs had their flames, threatening to burn down the entire palace.
Even beyond the basic accusations of infidelity, other more disturbing
allegations were coming to the forefront. People were beginning to
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question the paternity of the Tsarevich himself, with others accusing
the mad monk of sexually assaulting the young Romanov daughters,
even possibly getting one pregnant. Before long, the entire country
was alight with conspiracy, conspiracy that would carry on for
far longer than one lifetime. Bony M's now iconic lyric
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rah Rah Rasputine, lover of the Russian Queen is, no
doubt a clever couplet, but it's evidence is placed on
faulty ground. The Zarina may have had her faults, but
if she was anything, it was a devout Christian and
loyal wife. And in addition to keeping her son's illness
out of the public eye, she also suffered from chronic pain.
(23:22):
In secret. After five difficult pregnancies, her body had taken
a fair amount of abuse, leaving her with sciatica that
would sometimes keep her bedbound for days. She was not
in a condition to be carrying on an illicit love affair,
even if she wanted to, which, based on her character,
I don't think she did. But of course, once again,
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the truth didn't matter. Before the rumors could have just
been dismissed. But after personal letters surfaced and were proven
legitimate by the star himself, the crown was looking as
unstable as ever. The people thought that the infidelity rumors
were true, and the Zarina was furious. The question remained,
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who had leaked the letters? How did this happen? The
obvious answer lies with the recipient, But Resputin was a
trusted friend, Surely he never would have done such a thing.
It should come as no surprise that no one was
a bigger fan of Resputen than Resputen. So when the
Czarina herself began sending him not just letters but personal confessions,
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he couldn't keep them to himself. Years earlier, an acquaintance
of Resputants had found himself inside the monks St. Petersburg
apartment where Resputin was showing off his personal letters from
the Czarina. He was boasting about his status as one
of her closest spiritual advisors. The acquaintance smiled and nodded,
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acting impressed when he was called to do so, but
in the back of his mind he was taking notes.
Perhaps he asked to see the letters up close. Fast
forward three years, and the Czarina's letters were being printed
and dissected by every major news outlet around the world.
Rasputin attempted to do some damage control, but Alexandra would
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no longer permit him inside the palace walls. After years
of begging, the Czarina was finally taking the advice of
nearly every one of her advisors, and she sent Rasputin packing.
After all, her son hadn't had a severe attack in years.
There was no immediate need for resputant services. So that autumn,
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on a family vacation to their hunting lunch, nobody thought
twice when their carriage took an unusually hard bump in
the road. That was until the young Tsarevich could no
longer contain his screams. After what seemed like no time
at all, Alexei went from playing on the hounds to
crying helplessly in agony. On his deathbed, Nicholas and Alexandra
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were beside themselves. Their family vacation had turned into their
worst nightmare. Their son lay pale and incoherent, while his
leg and hip swelled with blood. He was in pain,
so agonizing that the staff took to putting cotton in
their ears to deafen his blood curdling screams. The doctors
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worked on him tirelessly, but the Crown Prince showed no
signs of improvement. When Alexey was finally read his last rites,
the Czarina could no longer sit and watch helplessly as
her one and only son slipped away painfully into the night.
Rising from her son's bedside, Alexandra used what little energy
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she had to compose a telegram to Gregory Rasputin asking him,
begging him to help save her son. When resput And
received word of the young boy's condition, he was remarkably unbothered.
The doctors had told the royal couple their son would
be dead by mourning, but the mystic simply scoffed. God
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has seen your tears and heard your prayers, He assured
the queen. The little one will not die. Do not
allow the doctors to bother him too much. Upon receiving word,
Alexandra immediately relaxed. She walked back to her son's bedside
with renewed vigor, announcing to the others holding vigil that
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during the night, I received a telegram from Father Gregory,
and he has reassured me completely and miraculously, Despite quite
literally being on the brink of death, Alexei recovered within days,
His fever broke, the swelling began to receive, and his
appetite returned. It was a miracle, one that seemingly only
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took place under resputants command. None of it made any sense,
and yet it didn't have to. All that mattered was
that Theisarevich was alive and the monarchy was safe for
another day. Over a century later, Alexei's recovery remains a
mystery to historians, but of course there are several theories.
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The first and probably most likely has everything to do
with the final words of resputants telegram to Alexandra, do
not allow the doctors to bother him too much. To
this day, there is still no cure for hemophilia, but
given the advancements in medical knowledge, we are now certainly
aware of how not to treat the disease. Rule number one,
(28:46):
don't give the patient blood thinners. Unfortunately, for Alexei, aspirin
seemed to be the royal doctor's drug of choice. The
new at the time miracle drug, now widely known as
a blood thinner, seemed to be a cure for so
many common ailments, so why not try it against the
(29:07):
well rare blood disorder that prevents blood from plotting. But
in any case, Resputent's intervention against the doctors could have
possibly saved Alexei's life. Ironically, the best sort of treatment
the boy could have received at the time was time
time without doctor's force feeding him blood thinners and poking
(29:28):
and prodding at his already bleeding body. But others are
more skeptical that Resputent was involved at all in the
young boys treatment plan. The timeline of events that led
to Alexei's recovery is sketchy at best. At what point
exactly did Alexandra send that telegram, how quickly did respute
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and respond? It's widely understood that contacting Resputent had been
the Czarina's absolute final option, with the last rites having
already been and to her son. After a certain point,
the doctors would have most likely stopped treating the boy
to let him pass on in peace. Resputant's words could
have reached the hunting lodge while Alexei was already on
(30:12):
the mend. But once again the truth didn't matter. The
Czarina believed Resputin had been sent by God to save
her son, and any previous grudge she may have held
against the man meant nothing so long as her son
was safe. Without even being on the same side of
the country, Resputin had once again managed to make his
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way back inside the Royal Palace. The start of the
new year brought with it the three hundred year anniversary
of Romanov rule in Russia, a legacy that great came
with a mounting pressure. Nicholas was beginning to feel in
his bones. Ever since the nineteen oh five revolution, when
his power as Supreme Autocrat had been strict with the
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founding of the Russian legislative body known as Duma, he
had never been able to shake the shadow of revolution
that he felt breathing down his neck. He was the
Czar of Russia, wasn't he? Duma be damned? He was
a Romanov and the Romanovs had been chosen by God
to rule the mighty nation of Russia, come hell or
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high water. So how would he strive to prove himself
as a competent ruler by going to war, of course,
or rather by sending thousands of young men to go
off to war for him. Unlike the majority of Russian aristocrats,
Resputin was actually staunchly against Russia going to war. He
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didn't need to be able to see the future to
know that war would mean the deaths of thousands of
young Russian men, primarily peasants like himself, not aristocrats. Resputin
was quoted as saying, quote, We're already the biggest country
in the world. Why do we need more real estate?
But try as he might, Resputent's effort went unheard. Luckily
(32:02):
for him, vodka proved to be a great listener. With
war on the horizon and feeling his influence waning, he
wasted no time in drowning his sorrows and drowning his
decade plus of sobriety. After an assassination attempt in his
hometown left him bedbound as he healed, Waking up one
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morning to the newspaper reporting Germany's declaration of war against
Russia was enough to make him want to curl up
at the bottom of a bottle. Resputants dependence on alcohol
would follow him for the rest of his life. From
this point on, he rarely ever attended events sober, only
pulling himself together enough for the royal couple not to
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suspect that something was seriously wrong. So when Alexandra ordered
the monk to embark on a trip to Moscow in
a desperate attempt to bolster his reputation into something salvageable,
she couldn't have known that this trip would lead to
one of the most infamous nights of Resputant's life. On
(33:06):
the evening of March twenty six, nineteen fifteen, Resputin went
to an establishment called the Yard in Moscow to partake
in their typical nighttime festivities. Never one to be unprepared,
Resputin arrived having already down half of his body weight
in vodka, and he promptly ordered more. Upon his arrival,
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other patrons of the r began to take notice of
the oddily dressed, boisterous man in the corner. The patrons
held their hands up to their mouths in shock when
the man started to grab at more than a few
of the performers, and then Resputant stood and started off
on an alcohol fuel tirade for the benefit of the
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entire establishment. According to witnesses, the unhinged monk became quote
sexually psychopathic, alluding to his legendary fallis, and rumored in
decent relationship with a zarina. He referred to her as
quote the old girl, and proceeded to detail his control
(34:10):
over her, eliciting even more disgusted from the crowd. Finally,
when one patron dared him to prove that he was
the real resputent, he did the only thing a man
like Resputent would think to do. He dropped his pants
and waived his member at the crowd. It's legendary size
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apparently all the identification needed. After that, the police were
called and Resputent was led away quote snarling and vowing vengeance. Today,
Resputent's night at the yard is debated wildly amongst historians.
Some say there are no police reports from that night
that would suggest Resputent was even at the r in
(34:52):
the first place. Meanwhile, others say that there were too
many reputable witnesses to have the story be anything but true.
In my opinion, the truth behind the actual events of
that night are of little importance. What mattered, what still
matters in resputen story is that people believed it was true,
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and so it was, which leads us to one of
the most notorious myths in the Resputent canon, the prophecy.
In the months leading up to his death, Resputen had
rightly so begun to grow increasingly paranoid about his demise.
He took on an extremely fatalistic view on life, often
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recounting his knowledge that the end for him was near.
But according to legend, in the weeks before his death,
Resputen wrote a letter to the royals describing what would
be known as his quote final prophecy. Russians are, he began,
I have a presentiment that I shall leave this world
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before the first of January. If I am killed, not
one member of your family will survive more than two years.
The tragic demise of the Romanovs and the Russian monarchy
has been the subject of fascination and speculation for over
a hundred years, and this letter remains one of the
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most infamous relics of the past. And while this letter
does seem like exactly the type of manipulation Resputent would
pull to try to solidify his place within the royal fold,
it really is just another tally on the ever growing
list of false rumors associated with the infamous mad Monk.
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The letter itself is really the prophecies undoing. It's the
diction that really disproves the letters authenticity. It begins by
addressing Nicholas as Russians are, which, as we stated earlier,
was just not how Resputent spoke. He rarely, if ever,
used terms of authority with royals, and he continued to
(36:59):
call the Czarina and Czar little mother and little father
until his death. The prophecy, like so many other parts
of the resput and myth, is something that people love
to hold onto In this case, maybe because it's a
detail that makes the Romanov killings next all the more
tragic and romantic. On the night of December six, nineteen sixteen,
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Resputin was invited to the home of a man named
Felix Yusupo for an evening of dinner and drinks. When
Resputin arrived, you suppose and his two compatriots greeted their
new companion with warm smiles and casual conversation. But beneath
the thin veneer of pleasantries, a more sinister plot was
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already brewing. The young Russian prince Felix Yusupov had been
orchestrating a plan for weeks, carefully crafting timetables and alibis
in preparation for what was sure to be his crowning achievement,
ridding Russia of the religious fraud Gregory Rasputin. Yusupov was
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not necessarily how one would imagine a murderer, for one,
he had never before committed a serious crime, let alone homicide.
But ever, the idealist Yusupov had watched from afar as
respute and whispered into the ear of the Czarina, and
he became increasingly infuriated with his position in court. Why
(38:29):
should this peasant have such sway over the most important
political decisions in Russia. In his mind, Rasputin needed to
be taken out of the equation, and he wanted to
be the one to do it. Originally, Yusupov went to
the President of the Duma to collaborate on the assassination attempt,
pleading quote, if the Emperor were freed of the influence
(38:51):
of Resputin and his wife, everything would change. He would
be a good constitutional monarch. Unfortunately for him, the President
would hear nothing of it. Quote do you think I
keep office for assassins? He blustered in truth. As much
as the Duma hated Respute and killing him would not
(39:11):
have been beneficial to their cause. It was obvious that
the end of the monarchy was near, and when it
finally fell, the Duma was trying to establish a democratic
government that would rise in its place, where Sputent's influence
over the Romanovs was making them tremendously unpopular and only
helping bring down the monarchy quicker. Why would the Duma
(39:33):
want to help kill a man who was making their
job easier and so Prince Felix Yusupov, a man with
the criminal rap sheet of a pacifier, was left to
orchestrate the assassination of the most notorious villain in all
of Russia alone. I think it's important to note that
the events that occurred next will always remain something of
(39:54):
a mystery. After all, we only hear the version told
from the point of view of the murderer. A I've
said on this podcast many times before. History is told
by the victors, and the night of December sixteenth, nineteen
sixteen is no exception. Around eleven p m. Respute and
arrived at Yusopope's home, where he was promptly led down
(40:16):
into the basement to wait for Yusopope's wife to join them.
While they waited, Felix offered respute and refreshment. Small cakes
and glasses of wine were pushed in Gregory's face, which,
after an initial hesitation, he indulged in thoroughly. Yusupov watched
him with a mixture of horror and fascination, the memory
(40:37):
of having crushed cyanide capsules between his fingertips still fresh
in his mind as he waited for the man to
succumb to the poison. Slowly resputant's eyes began to droop.
He brought his hand to his throat, almost distractedly, like
he was fighting off an itch. He couldn't scratch. But
after an hour he still sat drinking his poisoned wine,
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completely awake and very much alive. By one in the morning,
you Suppov was livid, having had to entertain the man
he was trying to kill for over two hours. Excusing himself,
You Suppov ascended from the basement to reconvene with his
co conspirators. This wasn't how the night was supposed to go.
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The poison was supposed to allow them time to dispose
of the body cleanly, to cover their tracks with minimal risk.
Now it was obvious they would have to use a
more sure fire method. When you Suppose returned, it was
with a revolver behind his back. Taking a deep breath,
he told the monk, Gregory Alfmovich, you'd best come look
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at that crucifix and say a prayer before it. He
brought the gun out from behind him and pointed the
barrel at the other man, and after a moment's hesitation,
he fired a bullet into Resputeen's chest, a meat itly
Resputent fell to the floor, and upon hearing the shot,
Usupov's compatriots came down to inspect the body. As the
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blood began to spread, the men dragged Resputent's body across
the floor to avoid God forbid, staining the bear skin rug,
and then they took the jacket off of his back.
Although the first part of their plan had gone slightly
off the rails, the second phase was being put into play.
Another of the men dressed in Resputent's coat and drove
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away from the palace to make it look like Gregory
left of his own volition, while the man imposing as
Resputen made his swift getaway. The rest of the men
left the basement and hung about the house waiting for
their next move, But Yusopov couldn't sit still. For some
inexplicable reason, he felt the need to check the body.
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When his feet found their way back to the scene
of the crime, he took a small breath of relief.
The body was just as they had left it. But
then the figure on the ground began to move with
blood leaking from his mouth. Resputant opened his eyes, greenish
and snakelike. According to the Prince, and stared him down
(43:13):
with an expression of satanic hatred. Felix Resputant croaked, blood
flying from his mouth with every forced syllable. Yusupov ran
to warn the others, but when he came back down,
Resputin was gone. He had walked out the door and
into the snow, heading towards the side courtyard. The Prince
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followed after him, his accomplices and tow As they followed
the bleeding peasant past the iron gates, one of the
men shot once twice, but they both missed, until the
third finally found a home in Resputant's back, causing the
man to once again collapse to the ground. Upon approaching
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the body, a fourth and final bullet was fired, this
time between his eye ways. The sound of the last
bullet cut through the night air like a knife, making
the silence that followed feel almost like a dream, or
maybe a nightmare. As the blood slowly dyed the snow
beneath their feet, Crimson red at last, the mad mystic,
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the most universally hated man in all of Russia, Gregory
alfmo Vitrusputin, was dead This morning. At six o'clock, Gregory
Resputin suddenly passed away after a party at one of
the most aristocratic houses in the center of Petrograd. Days
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before they would find the body, news outlets were already
reporting the murder, and the citizens of the capital city
were celebrating in the streets. Felix Yusopov, however, was not
one of those people celebrating. The morning after the assassination,
Yusupov woke at his father in law's house to a
phone call from his residence the police had arrived to
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question him. When he did meet with the police, he
immediately took offense at being accused of anything. Quote, if
people murder Resputin, they planned to connect the crime with
me and my party, he refuted helplessly as the police
raided his home. When questioned about the multiple gunshots heard
by multiple witnesses the night before, Yusupov claimed certain members
(45:23):
of the party overindulged and shot a stray dog for fun.
He took them back to his home and showed them
the carcass of said dog, still lying in the snow.
As the police drove away their questions. Unsatisfactorily answered, you
suppose couldn't help but stare at the snow covered courtyard
where just twelve hours before, an entirely different body had
(45:47):
been lying beneath his feet. That body had still yet
to be found, but everyone in Russia seemed to agree
that all signs pointed towards Felix you Suppove. Meanwhile, inside
the Alexander Palace, the Romanovs, specifically the Czarina, were inconsolable
by her orders. You Supov was illegally placed under house arrest,
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no longer able to flee the city like so many
of his accomplices already had. Her friend was gone, and
somebody was going to pay. It would be two more
days until Resputant's body would be pulled out of the
icy Nivo River, nearly two d and fifty feet away
(46:31):
from where the party had dumped his body from the
top of the Great Petrofsky Bridge. When the police finally
excavated the body from the ice, Resputant's torso was still
bound by rope, but his arms extended out from his body,
situated in such a way that it was rumored Resputant
was still alive when he hit the water, and his
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final act was making the sign of the cross as
he died. For years, Russian officials kept the autopsy of
Gregory Resiputin out of the public eye, leaving the real
cause of death up for speculation. All the while newspapers
at the time, with nothing else to go on, we're
also reporting off hearsay. Combined, these circumstances almost encouraged the
(47:17):
story to grow into the mythic proportions we've come to
know them today. However, since then, the autopsy has been
made available, and here's what we know. At the time
of his death, Resputin had been very drunk. The report
notes the thick stench of alcohol on his corpse, even
after spending two nights in the icy depths of the river.
(47:39):
He had suffered a large blunt force trauma to the
head in addition to the three bullet wounds found on
his body. His lungs, however, did not contain any water,
suggesting he was actually dead by the time he was
thrown from the bridge that night. The autopsy concluded the
third bullet wound to the forehead, not the drowning, was
(48:01):
Resputant's real cause of death. However, what's more interesting is
the lack of any trace of poison other than copious
amounts of alcohol in the bloodstream. The very distinct scent
of cyanide was found nowhere on the body, leading the
doctors to believe that the goods were sputan ingested earlier
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that evening were never poisoned in the first place. Historians
have a couple of working theories as to how this happened.
The first is that one of you supposed co conspirators
had a sudden change of heart before a Sputin was
scheduled to arrive at the palace, and he switched the
actual cyanide with a harmless alternative. Another theory is that
(48:43):
the poison they sourced might not have actually been lethal
in the first place. You Supope was not exactly the
world's greatest hit man. It would have been easy for
him to have been duped into thinking he had purchased
the real thing. The final theory is one that changes
what we know about the Night of resputants murder altogether.
(49:05):
This theory is that you suppose jazzed up the story
for dramatic purposes. After a Sputant's body was found and
Yusupope was understood to have been the culprit behind his demise,
the Zarina wanted to put him and his accomplices on trial, however,
it was painfully obvious from the celebrations in the street
(49:25):
that a jury of his peers would find Usupov not guilty,
And while the Zarrena wanted justice to be served, she
also knew that a not guilty verdict would be viewed
as a slight on the monarchy, an institution that was
growing less and less stable by the day. The solution
to this was, you suppose ordered exile from the capital
(49:47):
to his family's estates in central Russia without a trial.
Years later, after the monarchy fell, you suppope and his
family fled Russia, and he took with him, among priceless
jewe poles and a couple of rem brands, his story
about the night he killed Gregory Resputin. Yusupov often boasted
of this accomplishment to people he would meet on his travels,
(50:11):
and it makes sense he would aggrandize some of his
claims to bolster his reputation, especially if he could stand
to make money off of it. In the memoir, he
would go on to write, so what actually happened that night, Well,
it's impossible to say, after all, As Joseph Ferman notes
in his biography, resputing the untold story. The autopsy surgeon
(50:35):
could have not been looking for the poison and failed
to see it. An autopsy from nineteen sixteen is hardly
as reliable as one would be today, so in reality,
Resputin very well could have been poisoned, but just not
given a lethal dose. Some like to speculate that Resputin
had built up an immunity to poison, but that's actually
(50:55):
not possible with cyanide personally. For no real reason, In
just a hunch, I think that the Prince was sold
fake pills and he didn't use a lethal dose. But
in the larger sense, the truth about reciputants murder stomped
mattering a long time ago. The lack of details released
to the public in the immediate aftermath, mixed with the
(51:16):
already larger than life mythos of the man in question,
created a perfect storm of mystery and intrigue that has
flourished into a story that is most likely far superior
to the actual source material, Which brings us back to
the Excuse me pickled penis sitting in the Museum of
Sex and Erotica in St. Petersburg. Although its origins are
(51:40):
now widely understood to be of the bovine variety. The
legend associated with it remains, and if we are to
believe the events of that night at they are actually occurred,
then resputed and obviously wanted his let's say, larger than
life legacy to have carried on. The question does remain,
why do we continue to give the spotlight to someone
(52:03):
as deeply controversial and problematic as Resputant. On a purely
esthetic level, the idea that someone with the hygiene practices
of a cockroache had access to Russia's most powerful royals
is a confounding mystery in and of itself. But mix
in the sex, the scandal, and the mysticism, and it's
(52:23):
a recipe for intrigue. The legendary assassination is just icing
on the cake. But underneath the chaotic Jenga tower that
has become Resputants legacy, I think it's important to remember
that the man beneath it all was just a man,
one who's all too real body was exhumed shortly after
the Czar's abdication, taken to the outskirts of the city,
(52:47):
and hastily cremated by the hands of inexperienced soldiers. And
after the flames had died out, the men dumped what
charge remains there were into a nearby stream, where he
calmly washed back into the earth from whence he came.
(53:07):
That's the strange and possibly even true story of Gregory Rasputin,
But stick around after a brief sponsor break to hear
the all two real story of one of the few
people he left behind. Perhaps the only person to rival
(53:29):
the larger than life persona of Gregory Resputin is his
daughter Maria. After fleeing the country following the Bolshevik Revolution,
Maria lived a nomadic lifestyle with her first husband until
his death in nine As the mother to two daughters.
By this point, she knew she had to find a
way to provide for her and her family. Cut to
(53:52):
Maria Resputin taming lions in the Traveling circus In Maria
joined the Bush circus Us as a dancer, eventually making
her way to America with the Ringling Brothers as their
animal tamer. She was often billed as the daughter of
the mad monk whose feats in Russia astonished the world.
(54:13):
When asked if she minded being in a cage with
the animals, she famously replied, why not, I've been in
a cage with Bolsheviks. Her career with the Circus only
ended after she was brutally mauled by a polar bear.
Miraculously she survived the attack, of course she did. I
think it's actually a little ironic. Polar bear attack is
(54:36):
the only method of death that has never been rumored
to be ascribed to Resputing himself. Maria spent the rest
of her life supporting her family by becoming a factory worker.
It's funny how history can feel so distant from our
lives when in reality, Resputent's daughter died in nine seventy seven,
the same year Star Wars would play in theaters for
(54:58):
the first time. M m. Noble Blood is a production
of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey.
The show is written and hosted by Dani Schwartz. Executive
producers include Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. The
(55:23):
show is produced by rema Ill Kali and Trevor Young.
Noble Blood is on social media at Noble Blood Tales,
and you can learn more about the show over at
Noble Blood Tales dot com. For more podcasts, from I
heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. M
Host
Dana Schwartz
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