One of the most popular posts on this blog is
the one I did about Rasputin back in 2009. It consistently ranks as a top visited post.
Listen, I hear you. You love Rasputin. So I don't have to.
As Halloween looms its giant jack-o-lantern head on the horizon, I can't help but think of the Mad Monk as a good addition to the pantheon of traditional Halloween monsters. He's already been depicted a few times in the popular culture as a cartoon villain with mystical powers. Who cares if he was an historical person? Was not Dracula based on a
real dude? And let's not forget
mummies were real dudes once, too.
(shiver - seriously, mummies creep me the way out. Why do people go to museums to see them? They're dried up corpses.)
So join me in welcoming Ol' Raspy to this year's roster of honorary Halloween ghoulie.
And now for some
fun facts, interspersed with artistic renditions!
When Rasputin was growing up, he was a wild kid, a horse-thief, and a drunk. Apparently the local priest would pay him every week to stay away from church on Sundays.
Some say his grandfather took him as a young boy to visit a monastery, where he first felt religious urges. When they returned, Rasputin dug a hole in the garden and sat for days, absorbing Earth's powers.
Then he became a wandering holy man. Actual quote: "For experience and to test myself, I frequently did not change my undergarments for six months."
He still sinned publicly all the time, engaging in rampant bouts of drinking and womanizing, but because he convinced the Tsarina that he could heal her son's hereditary hemophilia, he stayed one of the most influential men in the government and could get away with just about anything.
Were you aware?
His eyes were known to change colors.
He didn't know how to read.
He didn't just treat the Romanovs. His office hours were from 10 am to 1 pm, and any citizen of St. Petersburg could call on him for healing or spiritual support during that time.
In fact, he seldom visited the Imperial Family in the Palace.
Bet you didn't know! His daughter, Maria, became a circus performer and died in Los Angeles.
If you wanted to, you could attribute all of his successes to one thing: hypnotism.
Nobody likes a good hypnotist, however, so it's no wonder some aristocrats lured him to their home and fed him poisoned cakes. Unfortunately, they had no effect. Instead, no doubt in some creepy way, Rasputin asked the high class folks to sing for him. They got scared and shot him with a pistol. Which didn't have much of an effect. And he escaped. When they caught up to him, they shot him some more and beat him up. But he didn't actually die until they bound him and threw him into the river.
The Mad Monk is hiding somewhere in these two photographs! Can you spot him and foil his evil machinations?
Remember: All the people in these photographs have probably been hypnotized.
1 comment:
Another post about good old Razzy!! :D I love it!
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