Dark History - 108: The Truth About Rasputin: Demonic Wizard or Healing Saint?

Episode Date: October 18, 2023

Welcome to the Dark History podcast. This guy was one of my favorite cartoon characters ever, but it turns out he’s actually based on a super creepy villain. Today we’re talking about Rasputin, the man who was possibly responsible for the fall of the Russian monarchy. He was rumored to be able to speak with animals, have magical healing powers, and even… be immortal?  Go to https://www.theouai.com/DARKHISTORY for 15% off any purchase. Go to https://www.liquidiv.com and use code DARKHISTORY at checkout for 20% off

Attention shoppers, we now have taste in the bread aisle. Dave's Killer Bread. That's right, an organic bread that's no longer a sedative for your taste buds. Dave's Killer Bread is on a mission to make the most of the loaf. To rid the world of GMOs, high-fructose corn syrup and artificial ingredients, and plant the seeds of good in all that they bake. Killer taste, killer texture, and always organic. Dave's killer bread, bread, amplified. Turns out, my favorite cartoon villain was based on a man

who was actually way creepier than the cartoon itself. He was one of the most mysterious men to ever roam the streets of Russia. I mean, we're even rumors that this guy could communicate telepathically with animals, even that he had magical healing powers and that he couldn't be killed. Some even say he's responsible for the collapse of the Russian monarchy. Give it up for Rasputin, that song you're all dancing to on TikTok. Pau, you look just like him, you scary ass.

F***. Rasputin. You scary ass f***. Respeeding. I know, I know. I didn't even know this guy was real either. I thought it was just a cartoon and then a little funky dance on TikTok. No, no, I was wrong. I know. Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today.

My name is Bailey Sarian and I like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History. Here we believe history, it doesn't have to be boring. Yes, it's usually tragic. I mean, it might be happy, but either way, it's our dark history. So all you have to do is sit back, relax, and let's talk about the hot juicy history, goss. Now, if you know me, if you know anything I'm in, you know that I love, I'm really interested

in Russian history, and most of all, Russian literature. I know who am I. I don't know you guys. The end, thank you for coming to this episode. I'm kidding, but after our Stalin episode, you guys, I read the comments and you were thirsty. You were thirsty, dehydrated, watching more Russian Revolution T.

And since one of my favorite movies as a child was Anastasia, I was really curious about the real Rasputin, the man with the beard, and also the talking bat. I wanted to know more. Maybe they had that in Russia, I don't know. I need to find out. And look, if you're like me, maybe you thought,

okay, it's a cartoon, they're exaggerating. It wasn't like this, right? In the cartoon, he had that bat who sang, he had some ghosts. He would keep in the little test tube weird. But I'm gonna tell you, the real story is even more weird. History is just like the gift that keeps on giving because you're for a show. Today's episode is good. Okay look I may have to be annoying and take this off, but my head is just pounding. Thank you for your understanding. No, that's the story. So let's start here. Close your eyes and place yourself in late 1800s Russia. Specifically Siberia.

Okay. First of all, your coldest fuck. Siberia is part of Russia, if you didn't know, and is one of the most remote places in the world. At the time, it had just been miles and miles of beer and land. For a long time, there were no connecting roads to other countries. So unless you live there, nobody was passing through Siberia just for funsies. Except for the wind.

Because of all that, Siberia was considered a dumping ground for anything Russia didn't want to deal with. As a refresher from our Stalin episode, you'll remember Stalin himself was sentenced to exile in Siberia like one too many times, expecting him to die but that beast somehow powered through. Well, that's what the Russian government would do with anyone that they considered a dangerous leader, a religious extremist, or anyone they didn't think was good for society. Siberia was essentially the Russian Wild West, the perfect place for an evil origin story.

Grigory Rasputin was born in Western Siberia on January 21st, 1869, in the dead of winter. But we're just going to call him Rasputin because he's an Aquarius. So his parents, just like most of Russia at the time, were humble farmers and considered peasants. They never got the opportunity to go to school or learn to read. Their life was essentially to work, go to church and like reproduce. Like other peasants, they struggled to survive in Siberia.

As a child, Rasputin was known as a troublemaker. I mean, he was always getting to some kind of trouble with authorities for stealing and causing trouble with other kids in his village. He was just another rascal until one day. Poor little eight-year-old Rasputin caught pneumonia. First of all, why did they put that pee in front of pneumonia? Does anybody know? No. Okay. And honestly, it was touch and go for a while. Like his family didn't know if he was even gonna survive. Whoops. Not whoops, but like sad. My spewden was really out of it and seemed to be having

these really intense fever dreams. I mean, there's shit, you know, there's nothing weirder than like those night-quil dreams. ZZQL, what was that about? How was that legal? I don't know. When Respewn's fever finally broke and he woke up, girl, he looked like he saw some shit.

He needed sunglasses, ASAP. Eyes definitely saw some shit. He described to the townspeople that these visions he was getting were super intense and they were from the Virgin Mary. Virgin Mary. He believed these visions meant he was given like some kind of special power. So everything Rasputin did from this moment on was defined by this encounter with the Virgin Mary. And Resbutan was also said to be getting visions from the Virgin Mary, like all of the time. She would not shut up.

She was always talking to him. And then he would share these visions with people in his village. And apparently, even as a kid, Resbutan had this freaky ability to calm down wild horses with just a single look or touch. It was like magic. It's funny when we say that only because I'm laughing

because like my dad called me last night to talk about sea biscuit. And I just thought of this. I don't know, he told me sea biscuit was a really good movie and that I needed to watch it. This is the second time he's done this back to Rasputin and Wild Horses, sorry. And Rasputin was also said to have something called

the second site, which essentially means he was able to see the future. He was apparently able to predict the weather, see wars that were coming, and even foresee the deaths of some people he encountered. Yeah, that's so raven of him. Now because all of this, Rasputin had a reputation growing up.

Some people thought like he was holy and had a divine gift. Other people thought he had the devil inside of him. It was one or the other. For example, Rasputin's parents were terrified of his gifts, which is enough to really screw up your kid, you know? But spooky. And look, most of Rasputin's childhood and early adulthood are described as a quote, black hole when it comes to the facts. A lot of these stories are said to

me when I was, while others are said to be absolutely 100% true. But it's like they can't all be true, right? And Rasputin was so mysterious that it's hard to find records of this time in his life, so these are like the most popular stories surrounding him. He was always drinking, stealing horses, and causing chaos within the village. I mean, he was always in trouble with the law at some point. By the time he was 15, Rasputin had already been to jail several times, I know, teenagers, and he was said to have just a rude attitude about him. Like, he felt better than anyone else, and like, you know, the laws didn't apply to him.

He's got the virgin Mary on his side. Laws don't apply. But then something happened that like changed Rasputin forever. See, as a young man into his teenage years, Rasputin' suffered from bad wedding. And it was really ruining his life. Well, one day, he prays to make this problem go away. He's like, please, Duchy, I'll do anything. And guess what? The Lord hears so. And his whole life is about to change.

Hi, friends. When you see me on camera, you might think, well, Bailey, your hair is perfect. Most of the time, you might not be thinking about that. But look, on camera, it can be. Yes, but I'll let you in on a little secret. Well, today I rolled out of bed and came here, but like normally I don't just roll out of bed like this, you know, like it takes brushing

heat, hairspray, teasing. All the stuff I'm not supposed to be doing in my hair, I do it to my hair. I just want to routine that truly takes care of my hair. So I can have like good hair days even on the mornings I'm just rolling out of bed. Way helps you find your way back to healthier hair with products specifically formulated for all hair types and needs. And that means yours. I like to use Waze Detox shampoo to like get rid of all the product build up because when I'm filming I hairspray the crap out of my hair. So there's a lot of stuff on this scalp of mine, you know. And then I follow it up with their thick hair conditioner.

I don't have thick hair, but like the conditioner has shea butter and avocado oil to moisturize and hydrolyze keratin to strengthen my strands and give my hair some like extra like oomph and make it thick. I also love their best-selling hair oil. It's kind of like a holy grail product that does it all. It fights frizz and seals any split ends and it just leaves my hair like shiny and smooth

all while protecting my hair from heat and nourishing it with ingredients. Like some good ones too. And no matter what kind of hair you have, ways hair oil will rejuvenate your hair. So it's healthier, more vibrant. And then it's also gonna smell incredible. Oh my gosh.

Get your fast fix for healthy looking hair. Go to the way THEOUAI.com slash dark history for 15% off any purchase. That's the way THEOUAU-A-I-H-D-E-D-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E-D-E- Well, yeah, because he grows up usually wants to hit puberty. That's when the bed wedding stops has something to do with the hormones But look this turns his whole life around because no longer is he a bed wetter. Thank God, right? Not being a bed wetter completely changes his personality Respewn the guy who loved to drink and get blacked out suddenly He was too good. He didn't want to drink or even touch wine or beer. He

stopped sealing great and then on top of that he falls in love. In 1886 at the age of 18, Rasputin meets a woman named Paschovia. Paschovia was 21 years old and the funniest part of all at 21 years old, she was considered a spinster. Yeah, she was considered a spinster because she was like a peasant girl, and usually they're married off when they are teenagers. So the fact that she was a peasant girl and the fact that she was not married, spinster. Other than that, not much is known about her. But unlike Rasputin, she had a really good reputation.

She was known as kind, loyal and submissive. And when she got the proposal from her Rasputin, she was probably just happy to have the security of marriage. So the truth of them get married and move in with his parents. Ah, fun. That's what you did back then, you know. He ended up having a shit ton of kids with proscolumium, but only three ended up living to adulthood. So throughout his life, he continued having these visions, these, these, um, serious powers, but his personal life was always such a hot mess. So when Rasputin is about 28 years old, at this point, he's six foot four inches tall,

slender man with these huge broad shoulders. And according to historians, he was known for being extremely strong, physically. I know, he sounds kind of hot, but then when you see a picture of him, you're like, oh my god, what the... no offense. It's just you were ugly. And he would have long greasy hair that probably stunk. And I'm not being shady because he did look at the picture. You could smell him through the picture. And he was most known for his piercing blue eyes. I guess they were known as being just really intense and many people believe that he had some kind of hypnotic powers within these eyes,

something to keep in mind. But also when you look at the eyes, it looks like a psychopath. It looks like he's gonna murder you. Pfft. At 28, Rasputin got in trouble once again for stealing from a neighbor. It must have been something so bad

because he decided to essentially dip out of the village. He was living in completely. He just like upped and abandoned his family for a while and he went on to have a little solo adventure, a little eat-pray-love moment for himself. According to his own writing, he was ready for change and he said, quote, I had many sorrows too.

Whatever mistake was made somewhere, I was blamed although I was not involved. Workman mocks me. I plowed hard and slept little, and I kept asking my heart how to find some way to be saved. So his first stop is a monastery that's not too far from where he was living. And there he sees some very intense

and very structured religious life. And this really appeals to Rasputin. He loves this intense lifestyle, you know? The obsessive devotion to something. So Rasputin decides to really commit to the holy life in the Orthodox church of this monastery for several months. And he becomes obsessed.

He loves the rituals, he loves to commit man. He's like here for it. He's like yes, I'm living, I'm laughing, I'm loving. He really just loves testing himself. And while he's there, he learns how to read and write, which is major for him. He even seemed to thrive when there's a schedule in place. He also makes a lot of interesting people known as wanderers.

These are people of different religious beliefs who wander Russia looking for spiritual meaning sleeping on the ground avoiding any kind of attachment to physical things It's very Buddhist around this time Rasputin is ready for a change again And this is when he meets a man named Makari Makari was just like Rasput He came from an impoverished village who was a peasant just like Rasput. He came from an impoverished village. He was a peasant, plus word on the street was that he was a spiritual advisor

to the Russian royals at the time. Yeah, so he's kind of like a big deal. But most importantly, he was an example of someone who decided to do something big with his life. So he doesn't end up like everyone else. So Rasputin learns a lot from Makari. He becomes a student of his for a while, but he was starting to get like real sick of those monks he was living with, I guess we're annoying. Remember, Rasputin like really hated authority and being told what to do.

So as much as he loved the whole vibe, he wasn't gonna be bossed around by anyone. It was time for him to be the boss. So it's at this point that Rasputin decides to become one of those wanders and just do his own thing. So he's sort of just like wanders, like rocks, all around Russia, just like testing his limits, living off the land, sleeping on the ground, and learning from God. And Rasputin didn't have any money or anything.

He didn't have like trust trust fund fall back on. He was literally just a nobody. And Wanderers like Rasputin, which is depend on the charity of churches and monasteries they passed. And any other Wanderers, they came across on his journey. It's even been said that his trips took him as far as Greece,

which is almost like 4,000 miles away. I mean, what's he doing? Why is he like 4,000 miles away. I mean, what's he doing? Why is he walking 4,000 miles? But the whole point of this journey for Rasputin at least was just to test himself. It was said that Rasputin would purposely not be for months at a time. He would starve himself, basically only eating enough

to stay alive, essentially figuring out the limits of his physical body, believing that the struggle of it all was bringing him closer to God. And we got pretty extreme. He shackled metal chains to his ankles, you know, so they could act like ankle weights, and then plus it would make it really, really hard to walk. But he must have had some sick calves, right?

That's what I thought. Okay, so there's also this wild story out there about something that happened on his journey. So I guess he would stand in marshes, you know, like those wet, grassy, almost swamp-like areas. And he would just stand there and he would stretch out his bare arms. He would do this, I guess, to let the mosquitoes

go to town on him and just bite him up, just drink and up his blood for like hours and hours. Rasputin would also test himself sexually. He would do this by quote, not touching his body for a month at a time. Hmm, okay, sure buddy. There was a period of time on his journey where he was basically refusing himself every pleasure or nice thing you could think of. He wore some rag-like clothing for years. He was just on a journey for the truth, just trying to find himself, I guess, like a gapier

on a really low budget. By now, Rasputin is, we could say, a pretty centric guy. But he's about to take it up a notch because this is when he needs the clisties. Now, if you had any type of unusual religion or were any kind of social rebel, you were cast out into Siberia, remember? And you would usually come across people like Raspute who were like on their own wandering journey. But the Clisties girl, they were different. We all know we need electrolytes after a good workout,

but there are plenty of less athletic reasons to hydrate, right? Like staying up, watching love is blind all night, you know, and like maybe not drinking any water while you did so. Or an especially fun Sunday night with an 8 a.m. meeting the next morning. Whoopsie, been there. But look, you don't have to be an athlete

to need extra hydration throughout the day. From Zoom meetings and workouts to long travel days and fun nights out, liquid IV makes it easy to stay hydrated. With three times the electrolytes of the leading sport string, plus eight vitamins and nutrients for everyday wellness, liquid IV hydrates two times faster than water alone, all in a single stick. I know, okay.

And now their hydration multiplier comes in three delicious sugar-free flavors. White peach, green grape, and lemon lime. A proprietary zero sugar hydration solution with no artificial sweeteners. Liquid IV makes it so easy to stay hydrated on the go. I mean, I just carry around a stick in my purse and like whenever I remember I'm behind

on drinking my water for the day, I just tear one open and like pour it into my water bottle, give it a little shake, a little shimmy, and I have a delicious way to hydrate. I especially love their new sugar-free white peach flavor, wow, super refreshing, and just the right amount of sweet. Liquid IV is non-GMO and free from gluten, soy, and dairy. Their sugar-free mix uses something I can't pronounce, like, polylose, naturally occurring

sweetener with the same taste to expect from table sugar, but without the drawbacks. Use it before I work out. When you feel run down, maybe after a long night out, long flights pretty much anywhere, anytime. Grab your liquid IV hydration multiplier, sugar free in bulk nationwide at Costco,

or you can just get 20% off when you go to liquidiv.com and use code dark history at checkout, okay? Yeah, I said that's 20% off anything you order when you shop better hydration today, using promo code darkhistory at liquidiv.com. First of all, the clisties were known as an anti-church religious sect. They were actually considered outlaws of the Orthodox Church. And instead of meeting out like a church,

they would meet in underground crypts. F***ing hard. GOR. And they didn't believe in having priests. Instead, they had self-appointed leaders. And they had their very own type of religion. They shall we say interesting take on Orthodox religion. It honestly gives more cult, but I don't know if cult was invented yet, so maybe they were the ones who actually invented

cult. This might be the first cult, I don't know. The Clisties were known for absolutely wild gatherings. It was not your typical youth group. You know. The Clisties were known for absolutely wild gatherings. It was not your typical youth group. Mm-hmm, you know. The Clisties would pray for hours and hours, and then they would start to dance around and kind of hype themselves up, get real Tammy Faye Baker with it, and then things would like just take a turn.

They would start turning in circles over and over and over again, until they got so dizzy they would fall over over and they would repeat this again and again because it would make them to a drunk and that's actually a name. Doing this spinning act was called spiritual beer because they were drunk on the Holy Spirit. Mm-hmm, pretty good. And then the real fun would start. So after you've done the praying and the dancing, spiritual beer exercise, that's when it was time for the orgy, of course.

Apparently the members of this church would rip off their clothes and just start going to town on each other in that crypt. Hot, but it must have been so stinky because these people did not shower. Mwah. They would do this on purpose because to them committing a carnal sin

like a huge ass orgy would be such a bad sin that the repentance process would be really intense. And repenting that hard would bring you closer to God. They're like, I'm only doing this for God, don't judge me. The practice was called sinning to drive out sin. Like extreme sin would make you extremely close to God. So Rasputin probably loved this concept because it was truly embodied who he was.

It was naughty. It was an anti-leadership. It broke all of the rules. Honestly, it was a feral behavior. But at the end of the day, you were still like a godly person afterwards. So he made this his core doctrine. It's believed that for the next two or three years, while respawn was on this wandering journey, he was practicing with the clistese a lot. I guess like all those orgies,

they just weren't doing it for him. And at some point, Resputin like missed home. So he decided to pack up his things and head back to his village to see his loving wives and children. Because yeah, he was still married. She didn't need to know what he was up to though, you know? So when he got back to the village,

everyone had noticed that something was different. Like he was not the same rescued and that left. There was an intense darkness that was surrounding him. And rumors that he had fallen in with the clisties had reached his village. So people were talking. Everyone thought of the clisties as like a dark, anti-church cult that was very into pagan rituals and honestly they weren't really wrong. His own daughter Maria grew up and wrote about his involvement with the Clistys changed her father forever. She said that he definitely attended several ceremonies

of theirs and he was even caught preaching their doctrines a few times. Oh shit. And she wrote all in the book. Not just one, but three different books. Just a little FYI, my birthday is in November, which is coming up here really soon. And I wouldn't mind those three books. If you want to give me something, just let me know. Anyway, at this point, Rasputin, you know, he was really ready for his cult leader, Era. I mean, he had been preparing his whole life for this moment. And he had whatever cult leader needs, a signature look, oh, and a creepy cave, even better.

Raspi over here, he dug his own chapel out from under the stables at his family home. Yeah, he wanted to create like a spooky little meeting place. It was like weird, but okay. It was described as a dark cave. Not much else to comment on. And this is where people would come from far and wide to see the mystical man who they'd met on their travels.

Mr. Math's beaten. The people in the village, they started talking, of course. They were like, what the hell's going on in that cave? Like, why is he building? He's the crazy neighbor. Why do you build a cave? Now my property value is going to go down because little 2D over here is building a cave, you know?

I'll link with the hell. That was Rasputin. There were rumors of like weird rituals and sayonses flying around. And he was always seen surrounded by young women that he was allegedly having sex with. I mean his old doctrine was based on an idea of sexual exhaustion. The more sexually exhausted you get, the closer to God. And it seemed like he was indeed taking that very seriously. And there are even stories

out there that say just like the Clisty gatherings, Rasputin would preach to the crowd in his cave and then have sex with the congregation, or an orgy you could say. People you see here, these wild animal sounds coming from that cave church, those who were non-believers of Rasputin's teachings just stayed away, you know, they were too scared. So basically, Rasputin's got like a good thing going

and he does this for years. Just f**ks everybody, you know, they were too scared. So basically, Rasputin's got like a good thing going. And he does this for years. Just f**ks everybody, you know, tracking strangers, starting himself a wacky reputation. Tissue, we would be horny for God. Solid. But then his visions, they're back. And this time, they're even more intense.

They're happening more often. And the messages he's getting from the Virgin Mary are much clearer. And this time, she's telling him, go to St. Petersburg, and he's like, what's in St. Petersburg? You know, and she's like, the royals, he's out on the Virgin Mary.

Rasputin is like, I'm gonna be just like that guy, McCary. I'm gonna get the hell out of the village and get in with the royals. So in 1903, he packs his bags and he leaves his family again and makes his way to the big city. And Russia at the time was the perfect environment for Rasputin because first, at this time's society was very sexually open, which is weird to think, right?

There were ads in the paper for curious to STDs and they put it all out there. So, Rasputin, sexual reputation probably wasn't even a huge deal. And most importantly, Russia at the time was very into the occult, especially the wealthy and powerful. They had way too much time and money on their hands. They just got into whatever they wanted, you know? And St. Petersburg, they were into something

called spiritual mysticism. Essentially, it means that you believe that some kind of higher power like God can take over a regular human's body and help them perform miracles. The world, some selves definitely believed in this. They're like, yeah, that's for sure legit. They love some old fashioned Sanuses.

Ooh, the Ouija board, Ouija board night, yay. And they were big believers in mystical healing powers. Fun, maybe. Now Rasputin didn't just get to St. Petersburg and like walk straight into the palace. Now, he spent months creating a mysterious and powerful reputation with the rich people of society.

People believed Rasputin had some kind of mystical, unknown power to see into the future and heal people. He also just had a very dirty appearance in general. It was said like numerous times that he would have pieces of food stuck in his long beard, a little flavor saver, and when he ate with the upper crust of society, he wasn't going to pretend to have manners. According to journalist Nina Materius, quote, he licked the spoon before he used it to serve others.

Toward the bread and fish apart with his fingers and wiped them on the tablecloth. End quote. He didn't care if he was eating on the finest of China around the richest of people. He was marching to the beat of his own drum. He's a free spirit. And let's be honest, he got off on being non-conformist. So I guess Ross Bouton was known for treating everyone the same, which is like, he doesn't sound that bad. I mean, even to the point of it like being offensive though, royal or peasant, he would call you by your first name,

you know, which is like, kind of scary back then. Who's a dare devil? He didn't care about society ranks or like, who had the most money or who was the most important. He was there to just f*** and like getting with the rich people, you know? Oh no. And he was said to be very direct with people, just staring at them with those intense spooky ass

looking eyes, man. He looks like you know what I'm going to roll a coaster and like, whoa! You know the way we're talking about our dispute in here makes him sound not that bad. Anyone else? Oh, good. He was also well known for his hot political takes. I mean, normally that could get you killed or banned from high society, but again, he didn't get a f***ing. He was just a shock junk.

And the people couldn't get enough. I mean, he was said to have a long line of women wanting to be with him. Huh. Huh. I know. At first I was like, am I looking at the same picture? Am I looking at the recipe that everyone's talking about?

Because this man does not look. What? He's so gross looking. I'm sorry, that's really rude. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I mean, his female fans would kiss his journey, freshly-lit fingers at the dinner table. They would fight over like who would get

to eat his leftovers? Is a lot. Presumed people just stopped calling him Rasputin. They started calling him the saint. Now just to paint the picture about what it was like in St. Petersburg at this time, let's talk about Luzin power. For hundreds and hundreds of years before Rasputin was even born, Russia had been ruled monarchy style by Azarar. Now, this is essentially a king. And ever since 1613, the czar of Russia had come from one family.

My family is called the Romanov family. And the Romanov's were, they were it, bitch. They were the fuck and shit. Like, they were in charge of Russia. Which is huge. I mean, the largest country in the world. Hello. And by the time Rasput makes his way to the big city, they literally already been in power for 300 years. But little did everyone know that one morning little cert bag was about to rock their world and change. Every, every, every. Was that a good setup?

Okay, let me not double it. With the fall season comes a busy schedule. And it's so easy to like fall back into a dinner time, dinner rut and rotating the same few recipes every week can just get like really, how do you say it, boring? Boring. Yeah. But with HelloFresh, you can simplify your recipe planning with over 40 meals to choose from every week. So you always have a variety. Plus, fall is a great time to try new recipes to take advantage of all the in-season produce. And HelloFresh ships everything you need from the farm to your front door.

All pre-portioned to make cooking of fricken breeze, even if you're not exactly a chef in the kitchen. You save time at the grocery store, save money on takeout, and still get a warm homemade meal on the table. Talk about a win! And HelloFresh doesn't just do dinner. Right now, HelloFresh Market has some yummy seasonal add-ons to snack on. I'm personally a huge fan of their Apple cider cake with caramel sauce. Oh, and mini pumpkin cheesecake.

Don't even get me started. Ooh, a nice part about HelloFresh is the fact that I can even sort by quick and easy meals that take like 15 minutes or less or any dietary restrictions for friends or family I have over for dinner, whether they are vegetarian, vegan, low carb or high protein. There's so many different options to choose from. Hey, right now we have a special offer just for our listeners. Go to hellofresh.com slash 50 dark history and use code 50 dark history for 50% off plus free shipping. Let's hello fresh.com slash 50 dark history and use code 50 dark history for 50% off plus free shipping.

Hello, fresh America's number one meal kit. So, it's the year 1894 and 26 year old Nicholas, the second is on the Russian Rome being a czar, you know, just popping it, popping it, pussy like that, whatever. His wife, aka the Zina, is a German princess named Alexandra. Fun fact, she's also, she's actually Queen Victoria's granddaughter. Yeah, I know, small world is fucking creepy.

Everything's in bread. Anyway, Nicholas and Alexandra, they start to feel some pressure because they have four daughters, but no sons. This is not a good luck at all because at this time, the only way to ensure the Romanov legacy would continue was to have an official heir, a son. Because girls ain't shit, they don't count. Get out of here. I guess every time Alexandra got pregnant, this would be like, yes, this is it. I feel like this is gonna be a boy, it's gonna have a penis and then like, whoops, it wasn't.

And apparently every time in the Alexandra had a daughter, her anxiety was just getting worse and worse. She ends up seeking medical help because she just can't like handle the pressure that is on her in her husband. It's too much. But finally, on August 12th, 1904, Zarina Alexandra gives birth to a boy. The crowd is going wild. Everyone's relieved. Thank God Russia had a guaranteed legacy at this point.

But then the Tsar and Zarina discover that their son Alexei had a rare condition called hemophilia, which means that his blood couldn't clot. So basically, if you get a paper cut, you could bleed out. And like, not a great thing, right, for anyone to have, but especially not for the prince of Russia. Who everyone is counting on to leave the fucking country one day? Hello! Now, Alexandra, in particular, was devastated because it turns out this condition came from her side of the family

so everyone's like, mm-hmm. It also killed her uncle, her nephew, and even her own brother. So shit, it doesn't really sound that promising for him. And she really felt like this condition was a death sentence for her son. I mean, it pretty much was. Nicholas and Alexandra privately consulted with doctors to see what they can do. But none of them can do anything to help baby Alexei. At this point, the family wants some privacy from the public. So they end up picking up and moving to the country.

So random. But they like want to keep their baby Alexei out of the spotlight. Alexandra is worried. She's super worried about him. And they read just the point where she stops trusting medical professionals because honestly, they can't do anything. They can't fix them.

So this is when she leans more into seeking a spiritual relationship or maybe even like spiritual guidance from somebody. So Nicholas and Alexandra start summoning healers to the palace to see what they can do for Rabia LXA. And they're going through all these different people and then eventually, guess what? The final one that they have to go through is Rasputin. Rasputin is first introduced to the Russian court by members of the church in the upper class. Like these people wanted the czar to have some advisors who were down to earth holy men. Salt the earth types, you know? Because of Rasputin's background,

he was perfect for this. On November 1st, 1905, there's all this talk about a Russian revolution in the air. And the royals are getting pretty nervous that they're gonna probably like lose their power. So Rasputin is summoned to the royal palace The royals are getting pretty nervous that they're gonna probably like lose their power. So Rasputin is summoned to the royal palace for a casual three hour long chat with the Tsar and the Zarina of Russia.

Oh, and this was like his big break moment. Oh yeah. Mm-hmm. Nicholas even wrote about it in his diary. He said, quote, Tuesday, a cold, windy day. The water has frozen and patches from the shore to the out of Arkanao was occupied all morning, went for a walk. We made the acquaintance of a

man named Gregory. And quote, I'm imagining that's how he talks. If he talked to an English, I mean, can we take a second to acknowledge how insane this is? I mean, in the course of a year, Rasputin went from the absolute bottom of society traveling around Russia barefoot, wearing the same shirt for a year at a time, sleeping on the ground, to giving advice to the king and queen of Russia. It's kind of motivational, huh? We don't know exactly what Rasputin and Zart,

Giggleus talked about for those three hours when they first met, but one thing about Rasbutant, it was said that he was able to read people extremely well. He had this incredible intuition to understand the person he was talking to within minutes of meeting them. And he was able to emotionally manipulate them

with like barely any effort. But people lay, they didn't see this. They interpreted his charms as him being psychic or as they would say, mystical. So after this meeting with the Zarr, he told a friend of his name, Fio Fon, how it went. And according to Fio Fon,

Resfew didn't told him that the Zarina, Alexandra, had quote, fallen under his influence that very first evening. And quote, but it would take longer to win over the Zarina Alexandra had quote, fallen under his influence that very first evening. And quote, but it would take longer to win over the Zara. Rasputin knew he had a once in lifetime opportunity to get in with the royal family. So four days after meeting them, Rasputin sent Nicholas Letter,

which looks super polite, right? Great emperor Zara and Utacrat of all Russia. Greetings to you. Resputen goes on to give the Zarr some advice. And quote, may God give you sage advice. All of Russia worries. She has descended into a terrible argument.

She trembles and joy and rings her bells calling for God. Now this is wow because it shows like right away after only meeting the Zar-1's rescue and felt comfortable giving him advice about how to run the country and telling him about like what Russia wanted from him. Now obviously they couldn't tell Rasputin about their son's condition right away. I mean the secret of Alexei's condition was a matter of national security, those top secret. Because as one Russian scholar said, quote,

Alexei was routinely on the brink of death, as even minor bruises could result in unstoppable blood loss in hemorrhaging. End quote. Ooh, that's scary. Nicholas and his advisors believe that if Alexei's hemophilia became public knowledge, it could destabilize the whole country.

Like people would realize just how fragile the monarchy was and the whole thing could probably crumble. And they don't want that. What we do know is that at some point, Nicholas and Alexandra let Rasputin in on their secret. And to everyone's surprise, Rasputin did what the best doctors in Russia couldn't do. He stopped Alexei's bleeding.

Oh! You might be wondering, wait a second, he stopped bleeding. Many as magical. Well, here's the thing. During this time period in 1904, science didn't know squadily shit about hemophilia.

And unfortunately, something that doctors did think was helpful was giving them aspirin. I guess because it did help with the pain, but aspirin is a blood thinner. So it was actually one of the worst things you could give to anyone with hemophilia because it can lead to even more blood being lost from a small injury. And once Resbutan was brought on as Alexei's healer, he didn't let him take aspirin. So his magical powers that cured Alexei could literally just have been not giving him aspirin. Either way, Alexandra was over the freaking moon. She was like, oh my God, this is the shit.

Just like that. Oh my God, maybe he stayed. Yay. She didn't just see Resbutan as a healer, but as her son's savior, I mean, naturally, Resbutan becomes one of her favorite people and closest confidants. But the thing is, most of Russia didn't know

that Resbutan actually saved like like baby Alexei's life. And when they looked at it from afar, you know, seeing Rasputin randomly with the family, it was just like a really odd look. So rumors started to spread naturally that like an affair was happening between Rasputin and Alexandra. Mm-hmm. They're like, ooh, they f***ing... I mean, by this point, Rasputin had been living at court for about a decade,

and he and the Zarina were obviously extremely close. And then, when World War I starts in 1914, this rumor only gets worse because the Zarr, Alexandria's husband, leaves to go fight on the front lines. So the Russian people are like, oh, they are for sure. Oh, you're an all-cause-er wasn't anyone around.

That's what everyone's saying. Postcards start to circulate. That's show like graphic little cartoons of the Zarina and Grassbuten doing like some wild kinky shit. All of this might sound like national and choir gossip magazine shit, but I mean, it is, but it actually had like a really huge impact on Russia.

They took this shit like, you know, very serious. And ever since the Zara and his family had moved away from the city to like try to get out of the limelight, they had completely like lost touch with their people. 99% of Russians had no idea that Alexei was sick, so they just kind of saw the czar in Zerina as snobby rich people who were out of touch. Which wasn't wrong, but they didn't want to hear it.

So that's why they moved. And after Germany declared war on Russia and World War I, most Russians hated the Germans. And unfortunately, Zarina Alexandra was a German princess. Hm, sad. Even though she was essentially their queen, their entruster. And the cherry on the cake was Rasputin.

Who the hell was this woo, woo, peasant who had warmed his way, who hadked his way to the top, all the way to the palace! What was going on between he and Alexandra Walsar, Nicholas, was a way... The people had questions to the outside, the monarchy, they just... Este es el mejor momento para preparar

lugar para las fiestas y recibir a los invitados. Porque en el Home Depot encuentras a oros de hasta 40% en baños seleccionados por internet. Además de entrega gratis en todos los tocadores y grifos por internet. Deja tu casa lista para esas visitas esperadas. Familia, amigos, vecinos… Y las imesperadas. Deja tu baño listo para las fiestas con ahorros de hasta 40% en tocadores y grifos en The Home Depot. Haces más, logras más. Con la frente arrugada de preocupación, el Padreus Protectorus siempre anda encima

de sus hijos. Cuidado por donde manejas, evita la carretera que hay tráfico. Se lista hace 20 minutos si no se dete. Pero el Padreus va evolucionando, como State Farm está ahí las 24 horas, ahora están más tranquilos. ¡Mijonos, vamos a los atullos! Como un buen vecino, State Farm está ahí. Llama para obtener una cotización hoy. ¡Esta es un meso!

¡Güe con esto! Porque este drama con el respucamiento, personas se parecen de cómo funcionan el sistema de desarra, o cómo es como como se fue adaptado. Because of this drama with Resputing, people started to doubt whether the Zara system was actually still working, or whether it was kind of like outdated. Was the family still up for the job? They don't know. I'm not going to get into like the whole politics of it all because we did cover some of the Russian Revolution in our Stalin episode, but also it's just a story. But long story short, our revolution is a bruh-wid. And the Zara is like super busy fighting in World War I. I hate to see you menotives.

And the Zarina is too busy taking care of, baby Alexei and having tea with Rasputin, she's too busy sucking his titty, that she doesn't even care either. And anyone who's anyone knows if the Tsar and Zarina needs to make a decision, they're gonna run it by Rasputin. He was giving advice on everything related

to the government. And it started to piss a lot of people off who had spent some serious time and money to get the attention of the Zaren Zarina themselves. They're like how this got- they're like jealous, everyone's mad, everyone's pissed. Meanwhile, Rasputen had a pretty bad reputation outside the palace for basically being a sex offender. Yeah, so pretty legit reason. I remember that whole like you need to be sexually exhausted to find God. Well, it seems like he talked the talk and he also like walked the walk, but not always consensually allegedly. And according to urban legend, this made

him many, many enemies and these enemies would ultimately cost him his life. I mean, good, though, like if he rapes people, then faggot. One woman tried to kill Rasputin allegedly to get back at him for assaulting her. In 1914, Keonia Gaseva, she was working as a sex worker. I guess she had like straight up attacked a Rasputin. She stabbed him in the gut with a dagger. Mm-hmm. That's what it does. I wouldn't say that they saw Rasputin's guts fall out of his stomach while Keona shouted, quote, I've killed the Antichrist. I mean, she thought she killed him. I mean, had Rasputin thought she killed him. Everyone thought he was dead, but somehow, just like,

I don't know, like a zombie, he just like got up and recovered. I think this must be where the rumors that Rasputin was immortal come from, because who survives their guts falling out of their body? Oh my God, even in the cartoon, Aesthesia. There's a scene where his guts fall out. Ew, that movie's so gross and accurate, wow.

So, Rasputin is this unkillable demon. And most of this legend actually comes from the second assassination attempt that Rasputin faced. I'm gonna go home and watch Aesthesia and probably like cry because he was so scary. Rasputin in that movie was so scary. His skin melted off and stuff. Come on. And it was all real. According to urban legend, a man named Su-Supath tried to kill Rasputin in 1916.

The story goes that you Su-Boff invited Rasputin to his palace for dinner and served him a platter of cakes and wine. All of it was apparently laced with poison, like cyanide, to be specific. So Rasputin comes over and according to you Su-Boff's memoirs, he starts gorging himself on the poison food. But then like some time goes by, TikTok baby. Nothing happens. And you soup off is like, holy shit.

He must be like Batman or something like you can't kill the sky, the sky is unkillable. I mean, he's eaten enough poison to kill like 20 men by this point. What the hell? So you soup off decides to like take manners into his own hands. He instead grabs a gun. I know. He's like, you know what, fuck it, I'll just grab a gun. And he starts just firing it off. He's like, bang, bang, bang, bang.

And like the smoke clears and rascutin' still standing, unaffected, unbothered. Yusubov just can't shoot a gun, I think. But in his book, you supau wrote, quote, this devil who was dying of poison who had a bullet in his heart must have been raised from the dead by the powers of evil. There was something appalling and monstrous

in his diabolical refusal to die." And quote, he honest pretty dark. Usubov was certain that Rasputin had done some dark magic to become immortal. But unfortunately Rasputin did die. I would say fortunately Rasputin did die, I guess. So I'm finally gotten him. Although nobody knows who it was, we do know that Usubov and a group of Russian nobleman came up with

a plan to finally get rid of Rasputin. And on December 30th, 1916, a group of Russian nobleman, most likely including Yusubov shot Rasputin in the head at close range in the Yusubov's palace grounds. See, the elites of Russian society hated the fact that this peasant who had come from nothing had become such an important figure to the Tsar in Zarina. I mean, they resented him, and they saw him as a part of the reason that Russian people stopped trusting the monarchy. So he had to be stopped.

And like, they weren't exactly entirely fully wrong. I mean, not too long after Rasputin's death, a story came out. Even though he lived in St. Petersburg, people said that Rasputin had basically an open invitation to the palace, because he made the Zaren Zarina feel confident that a revolution was not going to happen.

Oops, it was said that he convinced Zara Nicholas not to flee the country back in 1905 right before things got violent. He apparently told Zara that he had a vision that all would be well in the end and that Nichols and his family didn't need to like fear further lives. He's like, you guys are totally fine, you're chilled.

Just like, hang out, no biggie. Turn on some television, whatever. With spoiler alert, yeah, he was actually really wrong. In reality, by the time Rasputin died, the monarchies' rebeitation was completely in the toilet. And by 1917, Zahar Nicholas was essentially forced to advocate, aka give up the throne. And his family were kept as prisoners for years. All the Romanovs who could manage to get the forgot of the country flood, which Nicholas and Alexandra might have done if like Rasputin had it made them feel safe and secure, I guess.

But sadly, Nicholas and Alexandra and their kids, they were not lucky. All of them were rounded up and killed by a firing squad. And the leaders of the Russian Revolution buried their bodies in unmarked graves, and Nicholas would be the last czar Russia ever had, that's dramatic. Respewn's body was buried at a small church in Russia. But during the Russian Revolution, his body was actually burnt to stop people from using his grave site as a meeting place or like a place to rally. Looking back, I mean, there are a couple different schools of thought. Some people believe Rasputin was kind of a sacrificial lamb who like took the hit to the shift of power brewing during the early Russian revolution.

That his death was basically a lesson for any peasants or lower class people who hoped to rise up the ranks of society. They're like, no, this was what will happen to you. Other people think Russ Futenew exactly what he was doing, when he told the Tsar in Zareen and not to worry about the revolution, that he was actually intentionally bringing

about the end of the royal reign. Which kind of like makes sense because his whole life he believed everyone should be equal and he refused to give anyone special treatment. Refuge's daughter, and he was Maria, she actually managed to get out of Russia. She would actually go on to become a lion tamer, I know, no biggie, just a casual job. And it was said that she inherited her father's special ability to communicate with animals and calm them down with those infamous breastbuting eyes that fucking look so scary. Yeah, hot. She even went on to write a book about her dad. And this book is actually where we get most of our information about Rasputin,

the Mayan, the Miss, the Lajay. And here's another fun part. After Rasputin's daughter moved to Paris to do work in the circus, she ran into a group of women, kind of like a fan club. They were obsessed with her dad, and they worshipped his penis. They're like, oh my God, we love your dress, Dick.

Apparently after, Res butan was killed, you soup off, cut off, Res butan's penis. Yes. And then he put it like in a jar or something, and he sold it for $8,000. Go for him. And he was literally worshiped years after Respeedance Death.

Yeah, he's the dick guy. I know you're wondering because I was wondering the same thing. Does the penis still exist? Yes, it does. It's on display in the Museum of Arotica in St. Petersburg. Some people believe it's actually like a cow's penis because I don't know maybe because it's 13 inches, but I'll let you decide. So if you go there, take a picture and let me know. Like send it to me because I'll probably never get to see it. Like I can't fly out there just to see Rasputin's dick. Well, maybe.

But somebody bit. Look, this guy reminds me of Keith Rineri. Did you guys watch out the vowel? Shit. This is Keith Rineri. He was having sex with everybody. He's stuck with a long hair. Ooh.

Well, thanks for listening. Next week, we'll be concluding our spooky season episodes with some of my personal favorite tales. These are stories that have shaped, changed, and morphed in society since the dawn of time. And even though they've changed, they've managed to find ways to haunt us to this day. Hm, let's be honest. Turn us on. Tune in next week for our episode on Monsters!

Ah! Remember, don't be afraid to ask questions to get the whole story because you deserve tune in next week for our episode on monsters! Remember, don't be afraid to ask questions to get the whole story because you deserve that. And also join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, you could also catch my murder mystery and make up. I'd love to hear your guys' distractions to today's story, so make sure to use the hashtag darkhistoryoverouncesocialmedia so I can follow along. So now let's read a couple of comments that you guys left me. Yeah, leave a comment, I'll read it. Hello.

Destructor, Servantes. 9377? He has a very important question for me. Hey, I was wondering what's your favorite oatmeal? I like apple cinnamon. Oh, no, no, no, you understand. Distructor, listen, I went through this period in my life where all I ate was oatmeal.

Like I lived off of oatmeal. It was really all I could afford. And brown sugar was my shit. And so to this day is my shit. Those little prepackets. I didn't like apple cinnamon, that's nasty. But thanks for asking, destructor. Luffyya.

Tiffany Booey. 22631. Hey. Left a comment on our fast food episode saying, white castle burgers make me horny with all those little onions. Okay, brave Forbes edits, 2687, how did an episode suggest you?

Saying, you should do an organ trail episode and an episode about the Orient Express. Ooh, both are huge interests for me. Although I think an Orient Express video would be great for winter. So maybe you could save it for them, and quote. I love these recommendations because growing up when I was a kid, the Oregon Trail was my shit. That's the hardest game you would ever play. I don't think I've ever beat it.

I never got in that far like just in Terry, whatever. Everyone died. Everyone starved. It was hard. But then I had to remind myself like, oh yeah, this literally happened to people in history like that sucks too. Hi, nice.

So yeah, I'll write it down. For sure, I think that'd be a great idea. Thank you for your recommendation. Their history is an audio boom original. This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian High, Dunia McNeely from Three Arts, Kevin Grush, and Met and Lo from Maiden Network. A big thank you to our writers, Joey Scavuzzo, Katie Burris, Alison Falobos, and me, Bailey Surion. Burris, Alison, Follobos, and me, Bailey Surion. Production lead, Brian Jackers. Research provided by Sander Elmore

and the Dark History Researcher team. Special thanks to our expert, Leonee Trophy Moth. You can read all about Rasputin in his book Seven Miss of the Russian Revolution. And I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. I hope you have a good rest of your day. You make good choices, and I'll be talking to you next week. Goodbye.

Thank you.