There aren’t many people whose death has turned into a song. It can even be said that one of the first people that will come to mind for many will be Rasputin, who was turned into a song by Boney M and people danced. But despite all the legends about his death (or murder), his autopsy tells a very different story.
For those unfamiliar with the subject, Grigori Rasputin was a Siberian hermit born in 1869 who continued to befriend Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra in late Tsarist Russia. At the age of 28, married and with children, he left his village to go on pilgrimage, traveling the land to visit various holy places with a religious desire. With his obvious charisma, he soon gained his own following and subsequently attracted influential followers and was introduced to the Tsar and Tsarina.
Rasputin’s favor with the rulers increased after he “treated” his sons with hemophilia, who, after Rasputin’s interventions, stopped bleeding and recovered for a while. Of course, this recovery was not due to Rasputin’s mystical powers as was thought, but probably because Rasputin insisted that the boy stop taking the aspirin. Although unknown at the time, aspirin has a blood-thinning property that probably contributed to the illness.
Until now, there had been no reason for anyone to want this man dead. It seems unlikely that you will collect many enemies by roaming the country and “healing” sick children.
However, unlike many who describe himself as a holy man, Rasputin also had a reputation for his sexual relationships and success in this regard. He had a nature to use his reputation as a Holy Man as a way to get into women’s beds. His habit of sleeping with everyone from high society ladies to prostitutes was scandalous, and the influence of Russian Tsarism on its rulers was alarming for those who wanted to have that influence themselves.
Rumors spread (neither true) that he had an affair with Tsarina Alexandra and that he started a cholera epidemic in Saint Petersburg to undermine the war effort.
A few nobles disliked the influence Rasputin had on the monarchy and sought to counteract this influence with the old-fashioned and time-tested method of killing. They planned to kill Grigori by inviting him before sending him to the house of one of the conspirators – the aristocrat Felix Yussupov.
According to the story you probably know, Rasputin came to Yussupov’s house and was offered cyanide wine along with poison cakes. In the part of the evening that Yussupov devoted to Rasputin dying a horrible, poisonous death, he ate the cake and drank a glass of wine before asking for more. When he refused to die, Yussupov decided it would be better to shoot him. He survived, however, and fled into the courtyard while being chased by his attacker.
The famous narrative says this story “Dying from poison, this demon with a lead in his heart must have been resurrected from the dead by the forces of evil. There was something frightening and monstrous in his demonic refusal to die.”
He eventually drowned in the icy Neva River after shooting several bullets to the head, although some sources say he was pulled from the river while still alive. He says other narratives have claw marks on the ice because, “why not.”
For some reason this narrative has become the prevailing version of events, despite two important factors: 1. It involved the revival of Satan by his forces. 2. It was written by the real killer.
Yes, the main version of events that everyone remembers and eventually turned into a song was written by Rasputin’s murderer, who had a vested interest in making the murder look more like a struggle between good and evil rather than showing it as it is. Because, as the autopsy revealed, the truth was far less heroic.
Rasputin was dragged from the river exactly two days after his death, with no claw marks on the ice and no signs of drowning as his lungs were not filled with water, suggesting that he was thrown posthumously into the icy river.
Furthermore, there was no indication that he had been poisoned, and his daughter insisted that Rasputin never ate sweets. This made this part of the events seem unlikely as well.
What was found in the autopsy were three bullet holes; one on his head, one on his back and one on his chest. These bullet wounds caused him to die almost instantly. Of course, this “simple” death would have made it much more difficult to mythologize the Evil Holy Man and justify his death.
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