Many of you may know Rasputin as a memorable figure from your high school history classroom, but now it’s time for me to take you on a field trip into his mysterious origin. Grigori Rasputin was born into humble beginnings in Pokrovskoye, Siberia in 1869. Belonging to a family of peasants, Grigori grew up illiterate for most of his early years. As he grew, petty crimes and rebellious behaviors became commonplace in his daily life. This all began to change however when he became motivated to go on a spiritual pilgrimage at the age of 28. The pilgrimage, a roughly 421 mile trip to St. Nicholas Monastery in Verkhoturye, permanently transformed Grigori. His stay at the monastery lasted several months, and he opportunely learned to read and write. Now unrecognizable, he had molded himself into a man of virtue and fortitude. He traveled as a Strannik, or a “holy wanderer”, for years, forming an intimate group of loyal followers. Over the years, Rasputin’s reputation grew to higher levels of infamy and power due to his indistinguishable charisma and influence.

In the early 1900s, Grigori Rasputin became notorious in monastic circles as a sacred man with exceptional powers. On his journey to St Petersburg, he befriended many prominent members of the Russian court and aristocracy. As a result, Grigori would inevitably meet the Czar in the year 1905. From that time on, Rasputin’s influence over the royal family grew significantly. He served as a spiritual guide, healer, and political advisor to close acquaintance Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra. It was his close bond with Alexandra though, that cemented Grigori’s place in the royal family. Her son Alexei was ailed with hemophilia, a medical condition in which the ability of the blood to clot is severely reduced, causing the sufferer to bleed severely due to blood thinning. Alexandra desperately implored for Grigori’s assistance as a known “faith healer”. Within two days, Alexei was miraculously healed, allowing Rasputin’s influence to fully develop over the royals. The elite, however, saw Rasputin as a severe political threat. Thus introduced his infamous name, “The Mad Monk.”

Because of Rasputin’s supposed “superhuman strength” and “immunity to poison”, rumors began to circulate of his powers of witchcraft and black magic. In his journals, Rasputin wrote of his ongoing battle with the Devil. He claimed that he could see the Devil standing in front of him. There were even bystander witnesses of Rasputin screaming to himself in the streets to this invisible figure, the supposed Devil himself. Before Rasputin died he even cursed the Czar, saying, “If I am killed by common men, you and your children will rule Russia for centuries to come; if I am killed by one of your stock, you and your family will be killed by the Russian people!” These words came true less than two years later when the entire family was brought to a basement and murdered. In an attempt to kill Rasputin, Yusupov and his friends poisoned and shot him in the chest several times. After some time, Yusupov felt the urge to check on Rasputin, only to find him with his eyes wide open. Rasputin had “rose from the dead” and ran to the courtyard not too far away. Then, the men beat Rasputin with metal rods and threw his body in a freezing river. An autopsy report would later reveal that there was water in Rasputin’s lungs, meaning that he had continued to breathe even after being shot in the head. Those that had interacted with Rasputin personally had stated his bizarre and dark energy, supporting his distinction as a man of dark magic. He will forever go down in history as a mysterious and mystical man of infamy.