Rasputin was a man well-known to history as a controversial figure in presoviet Russia.

He was a self-styled religious healer of sorts and ran with the high society crowd.

But one of the enduring mysteries about him is the circumstances of his death, which

was exceptionally violent, but also he is said to have been almost supernaturally resilient.

Today we're going to see what truth can be determined about that event.

And we're doing that up next on Skeptoid.

You're listening to Skeptoid.

I'm Allison Hudson from Skeptoid.com.

The Death of Rasputin.

The legend started almost as soon as the cold, lifeless body was fished out of the water.

Drogory of Femovic Rasputin, a man who claimed powers from God but who many saw as the devil himself,

did not die easily.

Legend says that his assassins first poisoned him, then shot him, then shot him again, then beat him,

and then finally dumped him into the Malaya Nevka River where he drowned only after struggling out of his bonds.

Is this unlikely story true?

Let's see if the history agrees with the legend.

Rasputin was born in early January 1869 in the Siberian village of Pekrovsky.

As a young man, he developed a strong interest in religious mysticism.

He eventually abandoned his family and went to stay at a nearby monastery where he read theology

and debated scripture with the monks, though he never became a monk himself.

In 1890, he claimed to have a vision of the Virgin Mary which marked him as someone chosen by God for a greater purpose.

Eventually, he began to claim the powers of a spiritual healer, saying that through prayer he could cure illness.

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