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Rasputin was born in Pokrovskoye to Siberian peasants. He has his first vision of the Virgin Mary in his early twenties, which prompted him to set out on a two year pilgrimage to Athens, Greece. When he returned home he allegedly possessed the ability to heal and cure by prayer alone. Despite his odd ways, womanizing, and unkempt appearance, Rasputin’s healing abilities soon attracted the interest of Tsar Nicholas and his family. The Tsar’s son, Alexis, had hemophilia and Rasputin was able to easy the boy’s condition.

Rasputin soon became a favorite in the royal court but the more his popularity grew the more he attracted jealousy from the nobility who plotted to kill him. In a letter Rasputin predicted his own death by January 1, 1917. He also wrote that if peasants killed him the monarchy would prosper, but if he was killed by the nobility, the royal family would collapse within two years of unrest and the nobility would be erased from the country.

On the night of December 30, 1916, Rasputin was poisoned. Allegedly, when poison failed to take effect, he was then shot and beaten with a bar. When this didn’t work either he was bound and thrown into the Neva River. This did kill him but when his body was recovered no trace of poison was found. True to his prediction the royal family was murdered within the next two years. Twenty-five years later the nobility came to an end under Stalin’s Regime.