The death of Rasputin—A forensic evaluation

Author:

Byard Roger W.

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.

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3