You're listening to the second and final part of Unexplained, Season seven, episode fifteen, in his eyes a flaming glow. The Russian Empire was built on the notion of absolute autocracy, placing unbridled power in the hands of a single supreme ruler known as the Czar. Even as the empire was forced to gradually adapt over time, that founding principle remained.
But by the mid to late nineteen hundreds, Tsar Nicholas, the second of the Romanov dynasty, whose family had ruled since the early sixteen hundreds, had become a supporting player in his own kingdom. The name on everyone's lips, the one man that nobody could stop talking about was Grigory Rasputin. Every single person in Saint Petersburg had an opinion about Rasputin,
or Father Grigory, as his supporters called him. The enigmatic mystic monk arrived in the city seemingly out of thin air, and in the space of just a few years had become one of the Tsar's most trusted advisers. To some, Rasputin was a revered and inspirational figure, a financially impoverished farmer who'd used faith to pull himself up from his humble beginnings, endured many hard years as a wandering holy man, and had now earned his place in the winter Palace
next to Czar Nicholas the Second. To others, Mutine was anything but holy, perhaps even demonic. His disheveled appearance and long, greasy hair suggested to some that although Rasputin no longer lived in the wilderness, evidently the wilderness still lived in him, and that was nothing compared to the apparent filthiness of his private life. Rumours abounded of Rasputin's womanizing, his regular
visits to brothels, and his addiction to sin. Some believed he was a high ranking member of the Clerste, a clandestine religious sect which split from the Russian Orthodox Church during the seventeenth century. The Klerste sought religious enlightenment through what they described as ecstatic rituals orgies. According to the rumors, Rasputin was said to have adapted the Cleistay's doctrine into his own hedonistic belief system, which promoted sinful to baucherous
behavior as a means of getting closer to God. It was said, too, that he'd even extended this practice to include the Czar's wife, Alexandra. Ever since Rasputin had seemingly miraculously healed the royal couple's only son, Alexey, he'd become a palace fixture. Both Nicholas and Alexandra appeared to spend more time with Rasputin than with each other, so naturally, with all the rumours about his womanizing ways, many drew
their own conclusion. Regardless of whether any of these rumors were true or not, what was undoubtable was Rasputin's unusual hold over the royal couple. To some, it was as though he'd put a spell on them, Despite his general air of unkempt wildness. What made Rasputin so captivating was his gaze. His eyes were eerily pale, and his stare
was penetrating, almost hypnotic. With huge sways of the city's population attending seances, having their palms read, or seeking medical help from spiritual healers, it wasn't at all hard for people to believe that Rasputin was quite literally hypnotizing the Czar and Czarina. How else to explain his unprecedented access to the couple and his unnervingly quick ascent into their inner circle. Rasputin himself did little to dispel these rumors.
At parts, he would brag about his influence over the couple and openly claim that he had the supreme ruler under his command. Despite Rasputin's apparent lack of tact when he was out on the town, it seemed the Royal couple were either oblivious to how all of this looked or simply didn't care to addict it to the validation he offered them. Ever since the First Russian Revolution in
nineteen oh five, Nicholas's power had been steadily waning. He'd managed to stave off an all out revolt by passing the October Manifesto, which granted civil liberties to citizens and vastly weakened his autocratic rule. At the time, he'd felt he had no other choice, and the decision had haunted him ever since. Within only a few years, political unrest
was made again. By the early nineteen tens, Russia was once again overwhelmed by strikes and protests as more and more of its citizens began to question the system, but Resputin encouraged the Tsar to ignore it. He should have confidence in himself and in his authority. He told him. He also reminded him that the will of the people was inconsequential, he had been chosen by God for this position. The Russian Orthodox Church was also emphatic on this point.
Its doctrine stated that the tsar was appointed by God, so any challenge to the czar was in effect an insult to the Lord. Nicholas was emboldened by Resputin's unwavering conviction, trusting no one else, He began to consult him directly on political matters, asking for his guidance on what ministers to appoint to his inner circle. Rasputin's rise to power seemed as unstoppable as it was inexplicable. Effectively, he seemed
to be secretly running the country. To everyone outside, Nicholas was seen increasingly as a weak and indecisive leader whose every move was being orchestrated by a dangerous Charlatan puppet master. Something had to be done about it. In June of nineteen fourteen, Rasputin traveled back to his home village of Boklovskoy to visit his wife and children, where he received a hero's welcome. After all, it wasn't common for people to ever leave this remote Siberian village, let alone make
it all the way into the royal court. Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, one young farmer wasn't so pleased. Thirty three year old Keyonya Guseva met Rasputin several years before during his traveling pilgrim days, and had been impressed by him. Keonya's face was striking, not least of all because her nose had been almost entirely eaten away by disease. But unlike so many others, Father Grigory seemed not to notice it. It was all the proof she needed that he was
indeed blessed with religious powers. That was until another priest, a rival of Rasputin called Iliodore, took Keyonya under his wing and opened her eyes to the truth. Rasputin was a false prophet, he said, a sinner and a violator of women. She'd been hearing stories about him ever since, about its womanizing, his debauched parties, is occult powers. Over time,
she became fixated on Rasputin in a different way. One night, in a small wooden shack hundreds of biles from Pukroskoy, Keanya sat reading a familiar passage in her Bible under the dim light of a solitary candle. Then fire from the Lord came down and burned the sacrifice. When all the people saw it, they fell down to the ground, crying, the Lord is God, The Lord is God. Then Elijah said, capture the prophets of Bar. Don't let any of them
run away. When the false prophets were captured, Elijah led them down to the Kishon Valley, where he slaughtered them all. Then Elijah said to Ahab, now go go eat and drink, because a heavy rain is coming. Key read the story over and over again. With each reading, the words seemed to burn brighter and brighter on the page. It was all becoming clear to her. She knew exactly what she
had to do. On June twenty ninth, nineteen fourteen, the day after he arrived in Pokrovskoy, Rasputin left his family's home and walked out into the afternoon sunshine. As the gate closed behind him, he turned his head to see a woman in black walking quickly towards him. The woman's face was hidden behind a white cloth, so that only her eyes were visible. Assuming the woman wanted some kind of blessing, Rasputin stopped and locked eyes with her. The
woman stopped too, seeming suddenly a little hesitant. Then she bowed to him. For a brief moment, Rasputin saw the cloth fall from the woman's face to reveal a shocking wound where her nose should have been. Something glinted in the sun. Then Rasputin felt a cold, sharp pain in his stomach. He looked down to see the woman's hand against his cassock and what was clearly a dagger disappearing into his body. Rasputin screamed in pain as the woman
withdrew a fifteen inch blade. In terror, he turned and ran as the woman chased him with the bloody dagger. Within seconds, a crowd had descended on the scene. As several onlookers tackled the woman, now revealed to be Keyonya Gusiva. Rasputin collapsed to the ground from blood loss. That night, as Rasputin continued to lie unconscious, a doctor performed emergency surgery.
Keyanya's blade had damaged several of his internal organs, and although the surgery was a success, the doctor warned Rasputin's family that he would be lucky to survive the night. Rasputin spent the next few days dipping in and out of consciousness, barely breathing. Whenever he did come too, he was completely delirious. A priest arrived to administer his last rites. Newspapers across the nation ran headlines announcing the assassination attempt.
They said Rasputin was on his deathbed with no hope of survival. But then one morning, Rasputin opened his eyes and sat up in bed. The following day he was deemed well enough to be transferred to a hospital in Tumin, the nearest major city. In the end, despite immense blood loss and internal injuries, Resputin made a full recovery. He had survived a mortal wound. As words spread of his remarkable recovery, more rumors began to fly that the legendary
healer had healed himself. Resputin was unkillable. Some weeks later, he returned to Saint Petersburg, a legend, where he was greeted with open arms by the Czar and Czarina. They couldn't have been happier to see him return. They needed him now more than ever, because war was on the horizon. That summer of nineteen fourteen, the mood in Saint Petersburg was restless. The city ground to a halt amid hundreds of workers strikes. Another uprising seemed inevitable, or, as one
newspaper put it, we are living on a volcano. But Czar Nicholas was distracted from the domestic chaos by an even larger looming threat. The longstanding tensions between Russia and its neighboring empire Germany were at boiling point. The German and Kaiser Wilhelm, the second was Nicholas's cousin, and they'd always maintained a relatively friendly relationship, now though it seemed
family ties were no longer enough. In June, the assassination of Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand sparked the outbreak of war. As nations mobilized their militaries all across Europe, Russia found itself caught between its close ally Serbia, and the hostile empires of Germany and Austria Hungary. By August, the German government had declared war on Russia. But first this proved
to be a political win for the Czar. War as a way of stoking up patriotism even among those previously indifferent to such things when your immediate survival is suddenly all that matters. And so for the most part, the Russian people forgot about revolution as they rushed to defend their borders. Shortly after the declaration of war, Czar Nicholas and Czarina Alexandra made an appearance on the balcony of the Winter Palace. There they were greeted by a huge
exuberant crowd, who chanted God save the King. Together. After years of mounting resentment from the public, the Czar felt beloved and powerful again. War had reinvigorated him, but not everybody shared the public's enthusiasm. Britain's King George the Fifth, another cousin of the Czar, sent a letter pleading with Nicholas to demobilize the Russian army in the hope of
de escalating the conflict and avoiding an all out world war. He, like many other allies, was concerned that the Tsar's judgment was compromised, he had become dangerously over confident in his and Russia's capabilities, and that the malign influence of Rasputin was to blame. But the Tsar refused to take heed. After all, was it King George who'd survived certain death, or Father Grigory, who better to trust than a clear
vessel of the Lord himself. But now that Russia had entered the war, the stakes had never been higher, and the rumors about the mysterious mystic monk, as Rasputin came to be known, grew ever wilder. Soon, an allegation began to circulate that he had in fact been planted inside the royal court as a double agent and was leaking secrets to Germany. These rumors spread like wildfire among the
Russian nobility, the church, and the general public. Over the years, Several of the Tsar's allies tried to make him see what a mistake he was making. They told him that his dependence on Rasputin was affecting his reputation, that giving the mystic monk so much influence over policies and appointments was eroding the public's trust in him. The French magician Papus, another of the Czar and Czarina's trusted confidants, was unequivocal, writing to the Czarina at the end of nineteen fifteen.
Rasputin is a vessel like Pandora's box and contains all the vices, crimes, and lusts of the Russian people. Should this vessel break, we shall immediately see these horrible contents spilled all over Russia. When Rasputin was informed of the letter by the Tzarina, he concurred, why I've told you that many a time, When I die, Russia will perish. Tzar Nicholas ignored all the warnings to him. The benefits of Rasputin vastly outweighed the costs, and not only because
he told him exactly what he wanted to hear. Rasputin also had a calming influence on Alexandra, who was prone to anxiety. Better ten Rasputins than one of the Empress's hysterical fits, as he once put it to Russia's Prime minister. But what Nicholas dismissed as hysteria was, in actuality, an entirely rational response to an increasingly dangerous reality. If Alexandra felt a sense of impending doom, an unshakable fear that
everything was about to fall apart, she was right. In the spring and summer of nineteen fifteen, a wofully under equipped Russian army suffered a series of devastating losses, with thousands of Russian soldiers killed or taken prisoner by German forces. With few other options, commanders ordered a retreat and withdrew the Russian Army from much of the Eastern front. Sir Nicholas was furious. Withdrawal was a sign of weakness, precisely
the thing he'd been working so hard to avoid. But when officials tried to persuade him that the Russian army had bitten off more than it could chew, he dismissed them angrily. In August nineteen fifteen, Nicholas made a fateful decision. Encouraged by both the silver tongued Rasputin and by the Czarina, he fired his uncle, Grand Duke Nicholas, the commander in chief of the Russian armies, and so the Tsar took control of them instead and departed immediately for the front lines.
In his absence, the Tzarina Alexandra became the de facto reigning monarch, with Rasputin by her side. As always, to many onlookers, it seemed the so called mystic Monk had finally achieved exactly what he wanted. He was now effectively ruling the entire country through Alexandra. All along the Eastern Front, freezing and starving, Russian soldiers swapped stories about the many
things they'd heard about Rasputin. Soon word was spreading that he'd recently tried to start a cholera epidemic in Saint Petersburg using a shipment of poisoned apples secretly imported from Canada. The soldiers wondered, why should they die in the mud while such a man reigned supreme at the Winter Palace. It was all just more fuel to the growing public resentment of the royal family and the wider ruling classes.
It was clear to a growing number of the Russian nobility that if the monarchy had any chance of surviving, Rasputin had to be stopped by any means necessary. In mid December nineteen sixteen, Prince Felix Usupov, the wealthiest man in Russia at the time, invited Rasputin to dinner at
his home, the Usupov Palace in Saint Petersburg. Rasputin arrived a few nights later, the sound of a party in full swing coming from upstairs, indistinct chatter and the distant strains of Yankee Doodle Dandy being played on a gramophone. After greeting Rasputin at the door, Usupov led him to the cellar and served him a glass of Madeira wine
and a slice of cake. Unknown to Rasputin, there was no party upstairs, and both the wine and the cake were laced with a lethal dose of cyanide Yusupov watched on eagerly as Rasputin ate the cake and drank the wine, and when he'd finished, he simply asked for another glass of the wine. Usupov was stunned. Trying his best to hide its confusion, he poured Rasputin a second glass. Surely this would see him off, he thought, but Rasputin continued
to drink, seemingly completely unaffected by the poison. With no other choice, Prince Yusupov was forced to lead Rasputin upstairs to the supposed party. Rasputin was then led into a room full of men, not party guests, but coke conspirators of Usupov. As the large, hulking frame of Rasputin stepped into the room, the men tried their best to hide
their dismay. This dismay soon turned to fear. They'd always dismissed the stories about Rasputin's mystical powers, especially his supposed infallibility, And yet here he was, two glasses of cyanide down, and not a hint of discomfort on his face. The men greeted him warmly and invited him to join them. After some time talking, Rasputin finally complained of a burning sensation in his stomach and a heavy head Yusupov offered him another glass of the poisoned wine. Perhaps that might help,
he said. Rasputin gladly accepted it. The men watched on again with barely concealed horror as the mystic monk finished off his third glass without any complaint. Slowly, As a few of the would be assassins continued to engage Rasputin in colmonsation, a small group of them quietly excused themselves from the room. Moments later, the men who'd left met in a neighboring room to discuss what on earth they should do next. The conversation descended into angry chaos. Finally,
one man hit his breaking point. He strode back into the dining room, pulled out a pistol, and shot Rasputin at close range. The bullet landed close to his heart. A deadly blow, Rasputin crumpled to the ground, unconscious and bleeding profusely. His breath grew labored and ragged, until finally it stopped. The men watched on with a mix of shock and relief, the smoke from the gun tailing off into the air. One of the men took tentative, stepped forward and stood over the body, then leapt back in
horror as Rasputin's eyes shot open. As the men looked on numbly, a wild eyed Rasputin staggered to his feet and launched himself at Prince Yusupov. It was as though the devil himself had entered him. He grabbed for Yusupov, but was pulled away by the other men. However, despite having just been shot in the heart, Rasputin was too strong for them. He broke from their grasp, stumbled out
of the room, and disappeared down the darkened hallway. He made it into the courtyard outside before the group finally caught up with him. Outside in the freezing winter air, under the pale light of a waning moon, Prince Yusupov and his men charged into the courtyard to find a man with lank, black hair in a long black cassock, stumbling away from them. His hand was clutched to his chest and a line of blood trailed behind him on the icy ground. Stop. They yelled, but the man, seemingly possessed,
continued to stagger forward. A volley of gunfire rang out as a hail of bullets flew into Rasputin's back. Finally, he collapsed again, and this time he did not get back up. But Prince Yusupov was leaving nothing to chance. They bound Rasputin's hands and feet with thick rope and wrapped his body in a sheet of linen. They bundled him into a car and drove out to Petrovsky Island in the west of the city. Together, the assassins threw Rasputin's body into the freezing waters of the Neva River.
They watched somberly as it slipped beneath the surface and into the black waters below, until the ripples gradually receded and the body could no longer be seen. Finally, having survived a stabbing, a poisoning, and a seemingly fatal gunshot wound, Grigory Rasputin was dead. The temperature dropped below zero that night, and the river froze almost solid as a result. It took many days for the police to find Rasputin's body.
When the icy corpse was finally recovered, an autopsy was conducted soon after, where in water was found in Rasputin's lungs, after all that he'd still been breathing when he hit the water. When news of Rasputin's death reached the public, people celebrated in the streets among their compatriots. Prince Yusupov and his fellow assassins were held up as patriotic heroes who'd done what had to be done to save the
Russian Empire. For a while, the ruling classes hoped that getting rid of Rasputin would mean the Czar began listening to their advice again, but the damage had already been done. In fact, Rasputin's murder only added to the sense of chaos and decline that had surrounded the palace for years and fueled the public's anger. By then, the war had been raging for more than two years and had taken
a devastating toll on Russia's economy and infrastructure. The nation's morale was obliterated, and with hundreds of thousands living in poverty and starvation. Anti monarchy sentiment came roaring back. In March of nineteen seventeen, the Russian Revolution began. The streets of Saint Petersburg were consumed by violent riots, and Czar Nicholas was forced to abdicate his throne. At long last, the Romanov dynasty had fallen, and with it the Russian Empire.
It was seemingly just as Rasputin had predicted, when I die, Russia will perish. As furious hordes closed in on the winter Alice, Nicholas, Alexandra, and the rest of their family made a desperate attempt to flee the city, but they were captured by the revolutionary forces and held prisoner in Siberia.
On July seventeenth, nineteen eighteen, Nicholas, Alexandra, their five children, and several members of the Imperial Entourach who had been imprisoned alongside them were executed On the night they were slaughtered. Each member of the family had an ambulet around their necks. When they were removed from the bodies later that day, each were found to contain a small prayer and a
photograph of Grigory Rasputin. This episode was written by Emma Dibden and Richard mcla Unexplained as an AV Club Productions podcast created by Richard McClain smith. All other elements of the podcast, including the music, are also produced by me Richard McClain smith. Unexplained. The book and audiobook, with stories never before featured on the show, is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones,
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