Rasputin: Holy Man. Scandal. Unkillable.Episode 21:35
The Prince Who Wrote the Perfect Murder
Rasputin's killer becomes the chief author of a death story that physical evidence may contradict.
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Transcript
A shadowed account gathers its own echoes in the dark.
On December 30th, 1916, Rasputin accepted an invitation to the palace cellar.
Prince Felix Yussupov was married to Princess Irina, a niece of the Tsar.
He was also sole heir to the largest fortune in Russia.
Yussupov believed Rasputin represented a danger to the monarchy.
The traditional death narrative is largely based on Prince Yussupov's published memoirs.
Dr Lazovert allegedly laced cakes and wine with cyanide.
The doctor's hands are steady in the amber lamplight.
The traditional account says Rasputin was poisoned, shot, bludgeoned and finally drowned.
Power can shape memory when the witness also controls the pen.
Yet the autopsy found no poison, evidence cited against the cyanide story.
Rasputin's body was dumped into the Neva River after his murder.
But a forensic review argues he was already dead before entering the Little Nevka.
A postmortem photograph was apparently found by police two months later.
The image showed a contact gunshot wound to Rasputin's forehead.
The review concludes Rasputin may have been executed with a contact shot.
The study is dark. The young man's face is still.
Where it leaves off
Yussupov claimed Rasputin was a danger to the monarchy—but how had a poor Siberian peasant come close enough to threaten it?
Sources
- The death of Rasputin—A forensic evaluation - PMCpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govsecondary
- Introduction - Gregory Rasputin: Topics in Chronicling America - Research Guides at Library of Congressguides.loc.govsecondary
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