In the grand scheme of things, Grigori Rasputin was a side character in the story of the downfall of Russia's last absolute monarch, Tsar Nicholas II. But the semi-literate Siberian faith healer and mystic, with his questionable hygiene and hypnotically piercing eyes, captured the imagination of the world as he became a celebrated friend and advisor to the Romanov family. Was he a holy man or the devil incarnate? Was Rasputin controlling the Tsar? Was he sleeping with the Empress Alexandra?
Even more sensational was Rasputin's death, when he was murdered in Saint Petersburg in 1916 by five conspirators close to the throne. According to different accounts, he was poisoned, but didn't die. Then he was shot multiple times and didn't die. Finally, he was beaten and bound and thrown into the freezing Little Nevka river, and finally died. The tale of Rasputin's death only added to his reputation for supernatural abilities. But what really happened to Rasputin? The accounts of his death come from Felix Yusupov, who was there when it happened, and from Rasputin's daughter Maria. Both had their reasons to frame the story as they did. The autopsy report contained information that differed from those accounts. Read the inflated tale of Rasputin's sensational murder and what really happened at Mental Floss.
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