You may already have heard about the curious character named Rasputin, a mystical little crazy that gained a reputation for being almost immortal in the early 20th century For this man became a very influential figure in the Russian court at the end of the tsarist period, was the power gained from the monarchs - and jealousy that his inspired position - which indirectly led to his tragic death in the winter of 1916.
Son of peasants, Grigoriy Yefimovich Rasputin was born in Pokrovskoye, in Siberia, in 1869. Although small began to draw the attention of the villagers in which he lived, where some believed that the boy was a little weird, while many others said he had powers supernatural.
Real family
In adolescence, Rasputin was to the monastery of Verkhoturye, in the Urals, with the goal of becoming a monk. However, he never completed his studies, getting married at age 19 with Praskovia Fyodorovna, with whom he had three children. In 1906, Rasputin moved to St. Petersburg, and only two years later he was presented to Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna. It was then that Rasputin began to gain fame.
Real healer?
Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna
The monk was sought by the czars who were desperate to find a cure for his son Alexei, heir to the throne. The boy suffered from hemophilia - a hereditary condition that affects blood clotting - and Rasputin became the only person able to stop the bleeding prince every time he got hurt.
Today it is speculated that the power to "cure" the monk would be its ability to calm the Prince, lowering your blood pressure and, consequently, the boy's bleeding. One possibility is that Rasputin make use of hypnosis for this, but there is no shortage of rumors that the mad mystic employed black magic to treat Alexei.
In addition to the accusations of the use of sinister powers, another controversial aspect of Rasputin was that he said to be able to rid women of their sins "sleeping" with them to help them find the divine grace. What was not lacking throughout his life has followers, and many accusations and disagreements because of their debauched behavior.
Controversial figure
Still, after the first "cure" Rasputin won the trust of the czarina, and during the next five years, began to exert great influence on the treatment of Alexei. The problem is that, despite the nasty and uncontrollable behavior, the monk took the role of personal Tsarina counselor, and the poor woman defended their presence in court on the belief that Rasputin was the only person able to save the life of his son.
And as you can imagine, it was not long until his presence in the palace, as well as the time he spent with Alexandra, would eventually generate harsh criticism - and infamous rumors - against the royal family.
According to critics, the influence of Rasputin would have provoked the distancing of monarchs of his people. In addition, there were rumors that the monk organized orgies and that he would have maintained relationships with several women married to aristocrats. One of the rumors even suggested that Rasputin had an affair with his own czarina and therefore was a disgrace to the court.
Attacks on his life
All this occurred in a period prior to the Russian Revolution, and the tension - which was already great - rose after the monk launch the prediction that Russia would fall into disgrace during the First World War, leading the Tsar from for battle and leave Alexandra in charge of domestic affairs. Critics accused Rasputin to use his powers to poison the mind of the czarina, although he had little influence on political affairs.
It was then that the assassination attempts began. The first occurred in 1914 at the hands of a prostitute who stabbed Rasputin - they say their entrails fell to the ground while the girl screamed that had killed the Antichrist - but the monk miraculously survived. Then in 1916 a group of nobles produced a better plan organized that eventually ended up working.
The nobles invited Rasputin to visit the residence of one of them, and there he would have eaten food and wine containing cyanide in an amount sufficient to kill five men. However, as the monk showed no sign of poisoning, the conspirators despaired and gave it a shot. However...
Hard to kill
According to reports, Rasputin was lying on the floor and no pulse when suddenly opened his eyes and jumped violently against one of his attackers, trying to strangle him. Then the other nobles fire several shots at the monk and to ensure that this time he would not return from the dead, beat him brutally.
They also say that the assailants cut Rasputin's penis before winding man in a carpet and throw it in the river Neva, which was partially frozen. The body was recovered three days later, and the report of the autopsy showed that Rasputin surprisingly still seemed to be alive when their killers got rid of him, and he probably drowned or due to hypothermia.
However, interestingly, just before the attack, Rasputin would have told the czar that if he died by unknown hands, both the monarch as their children continue ruling Russia over the next centuries. On the other hand, if he was killed by the hands of conspirators, the tsar and his family would be killed by the Russian people. Whether he has guessed it or not, less than two years after the royal family was murdered.
And what happened to the penis?
According to legend, after the Rasputin assailants cut his penis, a maid found the severed member and saved. In the 20s, the penis would have gone into the hands of a group of Russian women who lived in Paris and who considered a kind of fertility amulet. After discovering the whereabouts of the missing limb, one of Rasputin's daughters demanded that he be immediately returned.
After the death of his daughter in the 70's, the penis changed hands again, and the new owner after trying auctioning it found that, in fact, was a member of the cucumber seas. No one knows for sure what happened or how the exchange - the phallus by a sea creature - happened, but in 2004 the real penis of Rasputin supposedly appeared.
A researcher of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences decided to open a museum dedicated to eroticism in St. Petersburg, Russia, and, in addition to several belongings of Rasputin, one of the items on display would be the famous member. The researcher ensures that such talk - with 30 cm long! - It was purchased from an unidentified French collector and the item is authentic. Who knows...