Rasputin, The Mad Monk

[Night Ω Wolfe]

The legends recounting the death of Rasputin are perhaps even more bizarre than his strange life. Having decided that Rasputin's influence over the Tzarina made him too dangerous to the Empire, a group of nobles apparently lured Rasputin to the palace of their ringleader, Prince Felix Yusupov, where they served him cakes and red wine laced with measured amounts of cyanide. According to the legend, Rasputin was not affected. (The amount of cyanide, it is rumored was enough to kill 6 men.) Determined to finish the job, Yusupov went upstairs, then came back down and shot him through the chest with a revolver. Rasputin fell. A half an hour or so later when Yusupov returned to check the body(or as some versions go, Yusupov came back for his jacket) , Rasputin sprang to his feet and began to attack Yusupov, who fled and told the other conspirators.

Heavily drugged by this time, Rasputin muzzily attempted his own escape. He bolted outside and ran across the courtyard toward the gate, threatening that he would tell everything to the Tzarina. Another shot hit him, and he fell into the snow. The conspirators then clubbed him unconscious, tied him to a chair, and flung him into the icy Neva River, watching him sink, satisfied at last that the "Enemy of the State" was dead.

Three days later the body of Rasputin- poisoned, shot twice, and badly beaten- was recovered from the river and autopsied. The cause of death? Drowning. His arms were apparently found in an upright position, as if he had tried to free himself from his bonds.

-Wikipedia


So what do you all think about this famous death?

[Hallelujah]

WOW! Was this guy crazy or what. I mean, you hear of insane people who can take more physical abuse than the normal person and still keep going, but this is pretty extreme. Then again, how much is fact and how much is legend?

[AREA666]

Sounds like he was pumped up on something, maybe not even like a drug he took, could just have been adrenaline. He was definatly a weird man though. I guess his gaze was supposed to be enough to make people go mad, or confess to him whatever he desired.

[Night Ω Wolfe]

There were a lot of stories about the powers Rasputin was supposed to possess... like him having a hypnotic stare, although most are embellished quite a bit. He was very much into psychology when it was a relatively new field though and I personally think that this is what lead to people thinking he had powers. I think he just knew a bit more about how people would psychologically react to things and mixed with his cunning he could influence people. Like using reverse psychology to get someone to do what you want them to. As far as his death... from everything I have read it is 100% historically accurate that he lived through all of that before his death by drowning.

Funny though... remember that series of Vampire books I mentioned where Da Vinci was a vampire? So was Rasputin... which explains his mental powers over people and how he lived through all that. Man I love that series

[AREA666]

In case anybody is interested in Rasputin and want to travel to Russia you can see his preserved penis.

www.waytorussia.net/news/2004-04/russian-sex-museum.html

One question I have to think if why they would do this in the first place, but the world is very strange sometimes.

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[Hallelujah]

Uhm, Am wondering why anyone would preserve this let alone put it on display and compare it to Napoleon's. Also want to know where in the USA is Napoleon's penis? Just curious. Very strange indeed.

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[AREA666]

Not sure where it is kept, I think some private owner has it and it is randomly put on display at museums. You could probably do a google search and find out pretty easily.

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[Hallelujah]

According to this guy, a urologist has it. Unfortunately, noone is really sure that it is a penis, let alone Napoleon's.

www.straightdope.com/columns/040102.html

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[vearmipone]

I think what I have heard about Rasputin is very interesting and I am going to look up anything and everything I can. Also I liked him in Hell Boy and Anastasia, lol.