Heyo! Welcome back! I took a much-needed week off for my mental sanity. But I also wasn't feeling well at all last week, but I am okay! And excited about today's topic! Today I figured we'd all learn what the deal is with Grigori Rasputin's reputation as "Russia's greatest love machine".
Let's get into some "quick" background if you've never heard the name Grigori Rasputin. He was a mystic and "holy man". Though the latter can be debated. He became close with the Russian royal family after being a "faith healer" to Tsar Nicholas II's son, Alexei.
If you, like me grew up in the 90s or early 2000s, you probably know him as the villain of Fox's 1997 animated film, Anastasia. That was my introduction to him and you can believe how shook I was when I found out he was a real person.
There is also the option that you've only heard his name in the 1978 Boney M song, "Rasputin". Which if you know the song, then you know why I wanted to look into the myth that he was "Russia's greatest love machine". It's hands down one of my favorite songs.
There are so many myths about Rasputin that have since been debunked, but we're not here to talk about all of them. Though I would be willing to write more about his myths if anyone is interested. The man was insane.
Rasputin was a monk who historians believe may have been part of the Khlyst religious sect which was under the Russian Orthodox Church, but split from it sometime in the 1600s. Despite being a self-proclaimed holy man, he heavily drank and visited brothels quite frequently.
His brothel visits might have been what gave him the reputation as a sexual deviant. He found himself in the good graces of the Russian royal family because he seemed to have been able to heal Prince Alexei's hemophilia. However, it may have just been the fact that he disallowed the child to be administered aspirin.
Being so close to the royal family because of that resulted in rumors that he was a puppet master behind the Tsar and that he had an affair with the Tsarina. There is no evidence to prove either rumor. Though he tried to offer military advice to the Tsar and he did have somewhat of an influence on the Tsarina because she named him one of her advisors.
Rasputin was assassinated December 1916, but there are a lot of myths and rumors surrounding his death that might I make a post about at a later date. It's a little more interesting than this subject.
There is no real proof that he really was "Russia's greatest love machine" HOWEVER one of the most fascinatingly disturbing facts I know about him is that ALLEGEDLY after his death, his genitals were removed and now reside in the Museum of Erotica in St. Petersburg. There is a lot of speculation around that, but I figured if I'm going to write about this man's sex life I'd have to add it as a "fun" fact. It's rumored to actually be his genitals, but some people believe it actually belonged to a cow. His alleged genitals were also used in a sex cult's rituals. And that is all I will say because I honestly didn't need nor want anymore specifics about it.
If you enjoyed learning about this extremely weird moment in history, please check out my other That Time... posts! And if you have any other weird moments in history that interest you, drop them in the comments! Have a great week.!
Comments
Post a Comment