Demon, holy man, or simply a depraved charlatan? Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, commonly known as simply Rasputin, was one of those larger than life characters who will continue to fascinate scholars and pop culture lovers alike through the centuries. He was a Russian mystic with a shady reputation -- although he definitely had his believers, including Tsarina Alexandra, who saw him as her most important adviser.
Born in freezing cold Siberia, Rasputin studied to become a monk at the age of 18 after a life changing revelation where he claimed to have seen a vision from the Virgin Mary. He began to travel around the country as a religious healer. By the time he got to Saint Petersburg in 1903, his reputation as a faith healer was well on its way. That's where he lucked out. At the time, Alexei, the son of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra, was a hemophiliac, and suffered from terrible episodes of bleeding. Turns out Rasputin was able to help him with some practical advice that may actually have worked, like relaxation and stopping the use of Aspirin, which was a new drug at the time, and which no one realized was thinning his blood and making things worse.
