The Death of Rasputin: Part 2

The Murder

Late in the night of the 16^th of December 1916 the conspirators put their plan into action. Rasputin was collected and brought to the Youssoupoff palace as planned and met with Felix in the basement dining room. This, however was all that went right for the conspirators that night.

The Resilience of "The Mad Monk"

After an initial refusal to eat the cakes on the ground that they were sweet and an uncharacteristic refusal to drink, the conspirators began to panic. Strangely though, Rasputin shortly had a change of heart and ate and drank the poisoned foods. What was stranger still was that the poison had no effect. After two hours Felix became worried and excused himself from Rasputin's company to consult his fellow conspirators. Shortly he returned with a concealed pistol and shot Grigory Rasputin. Rasputin jerked convulsively and then fell still. Rasputin had been killed, or though they thought.

Poisoned,Shot, yet still alive

After some celebration, Felix returned to check on the body. To Felix's surprise the body was still warm. He shook the body. There was no reaction. When Felix started turning away, he noticed Rasputin's left eye start to flutter open. He was still alive!

Rasputin sprang to his feet and rushed at Felix, grabbing his shoulders and neck. Felix struggled to get free and finally did so. He rushed upstairs shouting. Purishkevich rushed down the stairs only to find that Rasputin was running out across the courtyard.

Purishkevich pursued Rasputin across the courtyard. Whilst running, Purishkevich fired twice as Rasputin but missed. Finally the third bullet found its mark, hitting Rasputin in the back. Rasputin stopped and Purishkevich fired again. This time the bullet hit Rasputin in the head. Rasputin fell. His head was jerking but he tried to crawl. Purishkevich had caught up now and kicked Rasputin in the head.

Poisoned, Shot and Shot Again, yet still alive

Rasputin's body was brought in and placed by the stairs which led to the basement dining room. For some reason, Rasputin's mutilated face put Felix into a rage. Felix grabbed a two-pound dumbbell and began indiscriminately hitting Rasputin with it. When Felix was finally pulled off, he was splattered with blood.
Considering this ordeal to be at an end the conspirators wrapped Rasputin's body in a rug and loaded it into the boot of the car. Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich and Dr. Lazavert then drove the body to the Malaya Nevka river and through it though a hole in the ice.

Poisoned, Shot, Shot Again, Beaten and Drowned

Despite the trauma that Rasputin had already endured there is evidence that he did not die for some time after entering the frozen river. It is recorded that when Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich and Dr. Lazavert launched Rasputin's body over the bridge it struck projecting beams in-flight that dislodged some of the weights allowing Rasputin's body to float downstream for sometime before sinking. When his body was recovered some days later it was evident that Rasputin had been alive in the water and was struggling to untie his bindings.

Rasputin's body was buried at the Feodorov Cathedral in Tsarskoe Selo on December 22nd 1916. A small funeral was held.

Curiosities beyond the grave

The unusual story of Grigory Rasputin did not end, as would be expected with his death. Rasputin's grave was later reopened and the body removed. It was taken from Tsarskoe Selo to Petrograd, then again out onto the Vyborg highway in order for a secret burial, but the car became stuck, and so the body was incinerated on a hastily created pyre at the side of the road. The ashes were scattered and so ended the story of Grigory Efimovich Rasputin.

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