What You Never Knew About Rasputin

Posted by Lorie Orum on Monday, April 8, 2024

The guy in question was Felix Yusupov, the Russian aristocrat credited with shuffling off Rasputin's mortal coil. The now ubiquitous legend of his struggle to snuff out the mystic comes from Yusupov's memoirs, in which he casts himself as a shining, patriotic force for good, embroiled in battle with demonic forces.

In reality, Rasputin was roughly as killable as the rest of us shmoes. Little known fact: he almost bit it hard when he was attacked by a woman with no nose. How did she smell? It was 1914, decades prior to the widespread popularity of deodorant, so, you know. Probably not great. But that's beside the point.

According to a century old New York Times article, Khioniya Guseva tracked Rasputin to his home town and rushed him with a knife, stabbing him right in the gut. She would later state that she wished "to remove from this world the false, infamous prophet who has led so many people astray" before being summarily institutionalized. Rasputin, in an unusual move for a faith healer who claimed to be able to cure any ailment, was rushed to a hospital and received emergency surgery. It's been said that the wound caused him pain for the rest of his life. All two years of it.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qL7Up56eZpOkunB%2BkmtpaXBfrLWiwIyypq5lnprDpr6MpKWer12Wr7DB02apmqugqsGquo4%3D