Grigori Rasputin: Encyclopedia II - Grigori Rasputin - Assassination myths

Grigori Rasputin - Assassination myths

The legends recounting the death of Rasputin are perhaps even more bizarre than his strange life. Having decided that Rasputin's influence over the Tzarina made him too dangerous to the Empire, a group of nobles apparently lured Rasputin to the palace of their ringleader, Prince Felix Yusupov, where they served him cakes and red wine laced with measured amounts of cyanide. According to the legend, Rasputin was not affected . Determined to finish the job, Yusupov went upstairs, then came back down and shot him through the chest with a revolver. Rasputin fell. A half an hour or so later when Yusupov returned to check the body, Rasputin sprang to his feet and began to attack Yusupov, who fled and told the other conspirators.

Heavily drugged by this time, Rasputin muzzily attempted his own escape. He bolted outside and ran across the courtyard toward the gate, threatening that he would tell everything to the Tzarina. Another shot hit him, and he fell into the snow. The conspirators then clubbed him unconscious, tied him to a chair, and flung him into the icy Neva River, watching him sink, satisfied at last that the "Enemy of the State" was dead.

Three days later the body of Rasputin- poisoned, shot twice, and badly beaten- was recovered from the river and autopsied. The cause of death? Drowning. His arms were apparently found in an upright position, as if he had tried to free himself from his bonds.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Assassination myths", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki