Abstract
AbstractGrigori Yefimovich Rasputin, a confidant of Tsar Nicholas and his wife, was murdered by Prince Yussupov and his co-conspirators in the cellar of the prince’s Moika Palace in St Petersburg, Russia, on the evening of December 30th, 1916 (December 17th in the Russian calendar). The narrative of his death is largely based on Prince Yussupov’s published memoirs and has Rasputin being poisoned with cyanide, shot, bludgeoned, and finally drowned. A review of the available forensic material, however, shows a photograph with a contact gunshot wound to Rasputin’s forehead. This would indicate that he was dead prior to being dropped into the Little Nevka River. His distaste for sweet foods and the absence of poison at autopsy would also suggest that the story of cyanide toxicity was fabricated. Yussupov’s description of Purishkevich firing at Rasputin from a distance as he ran across the courtyard in an attempt to escape would also not be consistent with the post mortem photograph. The simplest version of the events would be that Rasputin was executed by a contact gunshot wound to the forehead when he visited the Yussupov Palace. While it appears that the events of that fateful evening have been embellished, it is certainly not uncommon for perpetrators of homicides to provide histories that are later shown to be at odds with the truth. Re-evaluation of historic cases may provide compelling evidence for alternative interpretations to the popular historic record.
Funder
The University of Adelaide
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Reference18 articles.
1. Byard RW, Maxwell-Stewart H. Historical forensic pathology – a “new” discipline. Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2019;15:165–8.
2. Byard RW. The execution of the Romanov family at Yekaterinberg. Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2020;16:552–6.
3. Shukman H. Rasputin. Guernsey: Sutton Publishing; 1997.
4. Kilcoyne MJ. The political influence of Rasputin. Thesis. University of Washington proquest dissertations publishing. 1961;6103993. https://www.proquest.com/docview/302067071?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true. Accessed 20 Nov 2023.
5. Fulop MR. Rasputin: the holy devil. New York: Viking Press; 1928.