Rasputin was this weird mystical dude who had mystical powers over the last Tsarina of Russia. He had this weird scraggly beard, too; unfortunately the prop that I used had hair too thick so it’s not realistic. (It was a rental so I couldn’t rip out half the hairs as I would have liked.)

This guy is kind of mysterious. He was supposedly some combination of mystic, priest, healer, hypnotist, manipulator. Pretty much a perfect topic for the late-night Coast to Coast radio program with George Noory.

During WWI, Rasputin claimed that the Russian army would not win unless Tsar Nicholas II took command of the army. That was pretty much asking for it because the Tsar didn’t know anything about that stuff. But maybe he just wanted more power, ’cause he exerted an undue influence on the Tsarina while Nick was at the front. And got more power.

To make a long story short, a lot of people didn’t like him, and he got assassinated.