Rasputin: The Mad Monk Who Wouldn't Die

Grigori Rasputin was a semi-literate Siberian peasant with a reputation for heavy drinking and sexual debauchery who somehow became the most powerful man in Russia. Through a combination of genuine healing abilities (or incredible luck), hypnotic charisma, and sexual magnetism, he gained complete control over Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra by treating their hemophiliac son Alexei.

Rasputin's influence over the royal family was scandalous. He made government appointments, influenced military decisions during WWI, and allegedly had affairs with noble women across St. Petersburg - including rumors (likely false) about the Tsarina herself. His wild parties, drunken behavior, and manipulation of the desperate royals made him the most hated man in Russia while the country coll ...