Scamfluencers - Listen Now: RedHanded

Episode Date: October 31, 2023

RedHanded the podcast jumps head first into all manner of macabre madness. We cover everything from big time serial killers (and those you may never have heard of), to hauntings, possessions, disturbing mysteries, bizarre whodunits and basically anything that tickles our creepy fancy. So, join us, plug in, sit back and prepare for scares. http://wondery.com/shows/redhanded See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello there scum fluences listeners, it's Saru Tehuu. One half of Weekly True Grind podcast Red Handed. Now if you don't know about Red Handed, let me tell you a little bit about us. Every week on our show, we get stuck into the most talked about cases from around the world. For example, we've covered the Christchurch Massacres, the Lucy Letbe case here in the UK, the Murdoch family murders, and the curious case of Natalia Grace. Last year, we also started a second weekly show because, you know, there's just so much

time in the day, and that one we called Shorthand. They're 20-minute episodes. They give us an excuse to talk about anything and everything we find interesting, because it's our show and we can do whatever we like. So whatever the case, whether we're talking about a serial killer on the loose, or a man who wants to have sex with dolphins, the aim of Redhanded is always to try and understand what pushes people to the extremes of human behaviour. Like, can someone give consent to be cannibalized? Or what drives a child to kill?

What's the psychology of a terrorist? So if that sounds interesting and you're keen to give us a try, but I'm sure maybe of where to start. We've got you covered. We think you'll just love episode 283. Where we dive into the story of Rasputin, Russia's greatest love machine. He scammed the gullible Zarina by helping her hemophiliax son Alexey, even when no doctors could, and so he filled their heads with all sorts of spiritual mumbo jumbo to maintain his position at court. Now we're about to play you a clip from this very episode. But remember, you can enjoy Redhanded on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts anytime you like. You can listen to Redhanded early and ad free on Wondry Plus. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple podcasts. So where did this magical miracle mad monk man come from?

Short answer, Siberia. Long answer, Pokrovska. A 36 hour drive in today's car movements from St. Petersburg. Or, you know, just a casual 22-day walk, assuming that you don't stop at all ever. And almost all of the things that you might believe about Rasputin just aren't really true. First off, he was never a monk, he wasn't even a priest, and his name wasn't Rasputin. He came by that name later in life. But he began as a son of a peasant farmer, with the name Gregori, or Grishka, to his mates. And Grishka was a bit of a shit growing up. He stole fences, he stole horses, all sorts.

Rasputin was particularly good with horses, but it was even better with women. He got in fights quite a lot, and one time he got in a fight so bad that it actually left a permanent lump on his forehead. Which he covers with his hair for the rest of his life. So he is vain to a certain extent. I think there is this image of him

of being completely disinterested in looks and all of any, you know, does go on to do some gross stuff, but like, I don't believe he didn't care what he looked like. No, I think he knew the effect of his appearance because he was, maybe I'm incorrect, but he does seem to be taller than the average person at that time. He has a very big beard, he has long hair, he's got this very like big broad presence to him. And I think that, and the eyes It's the eyes. I had to, once I had finished reading one of the many books I read for this, I had to move the book into the other office because I didn't want to look at them anymore. And that's just a photograph. That's like 100 bajillion years old,

but I didn't want to look at, I can't imagine what they would do to you in person. Yeah, I think he knows exactly how his appearance backs up the claims that he's making and makes him a very imposing figure when he enters a room. And I think the lump on his forehead, he probably hit that because, hey, vanity, but also be because he was like, I probably makes me look like a bit of a ruffian. Yes, yeah. And I think this is something that maybe a lot of people don't know, I certainly didn't. And the idea should get married and even had a few children. and the idea should get married and even had a few children, although only if you survived the bitter hardship of a Siberian childhood back in the 1900s.

And perhaps it was the fact that four of his children died of very preventable diseases that respite in God of Reputation for being quite a vicious drunk. He would like to get pretty tratted and then ride around in his Houghton cart insulting people around the town. He was also very lecturous and groovy and that is probably what earned him the name Rasputin, which means the deborched one. There's some things that you will see where people like,

oh no, it means like a crossroads, like blah blah blah. But like two of the books I read were written in Russian and then translated into English and in one of the forwards, the authors, like, it's very sweet when English speakers try and decode it, but it does not mean that at all. But, one day, after riding around on his cart and calling people names, and groping women, the debauch one had a vision of the Virgin Mary, and he decided to turn it all around. The mother of God came to him and told him, Grigory, I'm weeping for the sins of mankind, go wander and cleanse the people of their sins. So he decided to go a wandering, which was a fairly common practice for holy men at the time because they didn't have TV and stuff, and Rasputin are wondered pretty far, 325 miles in fact, to a monastery. And it was there at 28 years old that Rasputin found God.

He stood in swamps for days, he got bitten half the death by midges, he mingled with self-flagulating monks, and then returned to Pockrovskir, a changed man. He stopped drinking, stopped womanizing, and started throwing his arms about, and wouldn't shout out about how he'd seen the light. I think he has, obviously, the images we have of him are still,

because it's the olden days, but he was a really energetic person. Like, he's never still, he's like flinging his arms around, like, he has a really funny walk. Like, he's a very energetic and physical person. And this conversion to becoming a more religious person wasn't that odd at the time. Siberia is 50 times the size of the UK, with half the population of the UK. Distrust in the Orthodox Church has deep roots in Russia, and pagan practices there often were Christian disguises.

The God of Thunder, for example, just became St. Elijah, and the festival surrounding him remained. In that sense, Siberia was a lot freer, religiously speaking than some of the more industrialized areas of Russia, and the geographical distance from the centre-powers of the Church meant that there were a lot of sects that played by their own rules entirely. One of these denominations were called the Cleesties. Which is similar to the Russian word for whip? Because the Cleesties would wear white robes and descend into the crypts of churches to

chant strange hymns whilst whipping themselves. Then they would spin around and around and around until they were sweating, like Jesus had, in the Garden of Gethsemane. So the Garden of Gethsemane reference is, it's the day before Jesus is crucified and he's in the Garden and he's sweating so much he starts to bleed and it's the, my god, my god, why have you forsaken me? It's that moment that's in the Garden of Gethsemane. So sweating blood in Christian traditions, traditional, like orthodox Christian traditions is quite like a, it's very symbolic. And these clisties, when they were spinning, they would reach this sort of sweaty, ecstatic climax,

at which point they would fall on the ground and all have a big old orgy. Yeah. I think it is really difficult to quantify just how big Siberia is. Nobody is policing this. Yeah. I mean, the fact that it is so big and so sparsely populated, and the climate,

and the terrain, who is gonna go out there and be like no you must practice the orthodox way there obviously not so this is the sort of prime reading ground for like you said these sets to pop up the very very different and diverse forms of Christianity to propagate and a and Rasputin is right in the middle of it. And the idea behind these big orgies that the clistis would have was to sin oneself free of sin. So you do everything until you can sin no more. And Rasputin did attend some of these ceremonies. He is associated with the clistis, but it's very much by his enemies and they're like, he's having all of these.

And that's the thing about Rasputin. The A.Y. there are so many things about him that everyone believes that are not true. And B.Y. it's quite difficult to know what was true is because people hated him, so they were saying things to discredit him all the time. However, it's likely he attended these ceremonies, but we don't think he was involved in the orgies

like his enemies would have you believe. And we think that because had disputed and officially joined the Clisty sect, his progression through the echelons of the Orthodox Church would have just been impossible. But the rumors followed him, nevertheless, and they still do. Do.

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