On December 16, 1916 the mystic Grigori Rasputin was lured to Prince Felix Yusopov’s Palace with the promise of a party. A group of Russian nobles, afraid that Rasputin was becoming too influential with the Tsarina, had decided to kill him off. They served him cakes and wine laced with a large dose of cyanide. According to legend, Rasputin wasn’t killed by the poison even though he had consumed enough to kill ten. Yusupov, to ensure that Rasputin wouldn’t recover, shot him in the back. When the Russian nobles returned to dispose of the body, Rasputin opened his eyes, jumped to his feet, attacked Yusupov and ran away. In a panic, the nobles shot him three more times. As they approached the body, Rasputin stirred. They clubbed him until he lay still. They then wrapped him in a sheet and threw him into a river. Three days later, when Rasputin’s body washed up on shore, doctors declared drowning and hypothermia as the cause of death. Some say that Rasputin was a supernatural creature. Some disagree. But if a man is poisoned, shot, beaten, shot again, then drowned, I think something supernatural could be involved.

Posted by: Kate Jonez