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Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to

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Speaker 1: the show, fellow ridiculous historians. Thank you, as always, so

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Speaker 1: much for tuning in. Let's hear it for the number

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Speaker 1: one nemesis of Ohio, our super producer, Mr. Max Williams.

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Speaker 2: I just got to say, I mean, we've recently had

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Speaker 2: a lot of good claps, but that was not just

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Speaker 2: like a perfectly timed one. But the amount of enthusiasm

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Speaker 2: that we all had in our clap was so impressive.

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Speaker 2: It was a loud one.

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Speaker 3: Have we talked about what the clap is to the

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Speaker 3: folks at home? I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I don't know.

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Speaker 4: I mean, nine years in, I think we can break

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Speaker 4: the fourth wall some.

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Speaker 3: I suppose. It's a thing we do that we don't

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Speaker 3: really need to do, but we do it out of

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Speaker 3: a sense of duty and history and in tradition where

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Speaker 3: we clap all at the same time as Max counts down.

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Speaker 3: Sort of like in Wayne's World where they go three, two, one.

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Speaker 3: And then they point.

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Speaker 1: Oh, wait. I was programmed.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we were all programmed. It's like an old school

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Speaker 3: way of syncing up our audio because we're actually not

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Speaker 3: in the same place.

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Speaker 1: What? Hey, folks, before you listen to this episode, we've

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Speaker 1: got a little bit of housekeeping. First off, that is

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Speaker 1: the legendary Mr. Noel Brown coming live and direct from Nashville, Tennessee. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: this is Ben Bullen for tax purposes. And this is

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Speaker 1: episode two of our anniversary show regarding a guy named Greg.

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Speaker 3: Oh, that'd be a better name for the biography or

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Speaker 3: the book regarding Greg.

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Speaker 1: You're still so mad about that story. About that story.

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Speaker 1: So in a previous life. Yeah. In a previous episode, Noel,

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Speaker 1: you got you got rightly irritated by an historian's book

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Speaker 1: about Grigori Rasputin that was just titled. What was it?

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Speaker 1: Rasputin colon a life. A life. Yeah.

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Speaker 3: A life of what?

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Speaker 1: Right. So our last thing at the top here, thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for joining us, folks. We are getting

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Speaker 1: into deep water. So some of the stuff we are

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Speaker 1: exploring today may not be appropriate for all audiences. Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Episode one was the appropriate one. Yeah. And we still

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Speaker 3: talked about blood sugar sex magic.

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Speaker 1: We did. We are joining the story right in the

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Speaker 1: moment where our pal Greg has ascended. Yeah, he's ascended.

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Speaker 1: He's used his Machiavellian wiles to make increasingly important social

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Speaker 1: connections in St. Petersburg, leading up to him meeting the

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Speaker 1: royal family.

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Speaker 3: And here's what we do know for sure in a

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Speaker 3: story full of a lot of things that we don't

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Speaker 3: know for sure. Rasputin got super tight with two aristocrats

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Speaker 3: from Montenegro, these so-called black princesses, Melitza and Anastasia from

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Speaker 3: the movie.

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Speaker 1: Which we're big fans of and inspired an episode in

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Speaker 1: the future. These two princesses, had married cousins of Tsar

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Speaker 1: Nicholas II. And so they had the access to vouch

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Speaker 1: for Rasputin. And they said, look, he's really a mystic dude.

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Speaker 1: He's a legit spiritual leader. He has crazy cool powers.

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Speaker 1: You run Russia. You got to meet this guy.

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Speaker 3: Dude, you know who does the voice of Rasputin in Anastasia?

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Speaker 1: I knew you were looking this up.

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Speaker 3: I was looking up a couple of things. I'll get

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Speaker 3: to the second one in a minute. But it was

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Speaker 3: Doc Brown himself, Christopher Lloyd.

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Speaker 1: That makes so much sense.

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Speaker 3: I can picture it. I can't picture it, actually. I

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Speaker 3: can't picture the voice, but I bet you he does

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Speaker 3: a hard Russian accent. But, dude, Anastasia was from the

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Speaker 3: Don Bluth of the Bluth Company, of The Secret of

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Speaker 3: NIMH and Five Olts. Goes West and An American Tale

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Speaker 3: and The Land Before Time. All the bummer ones from

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Speaker 3: the late 80s and early 90s.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, the deep cuts that really stay with you. All

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Speaker 1: of those go to heaven.

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Speaker 3: Sorry, carry on.

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Speaker 1: That's perfect.

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Speaker 4: Wait, wait, The Land Before Time was a bummer one?

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Speaker 3: Are you joking?

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Speaker 1: Of course it was a bummer.

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Speaker 3: It's sadder than Bambi when Littlefoot's mother dies. That's the

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Speaker 3: inciting event. That's the inciting event of the whole adventure.

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Speaker 4: I impressed that part of the movie.

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Speaker 3: That's the whole reason that he goes a-wandering and meets

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Speaker 3: a ragtag gang of anthropomorphic dinos.

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Speaker 4: I'm going to go cry.

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Speaker 1: It's okay to have feelings. I have about three a year.

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Speaker 3: Watch The Land Before Time, and you might be able

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Speaker 3: to crank that up to four.

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Speaker 1: Thanks, man. Hope springs eternal, and that is exactly where

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Speaker 1: our buddy Nick II is coming from, because despite ruling

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Speaker 1: one of the most important empires on the planet— Stuff

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Speaker 1: is not going well at the czar's household. He has

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Speaker 1: a bunch of kids. He's got four daughters. He's got

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Speaker 1: one son, a kid named, well, we'll call him Alexei.

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Speaker 1: For tax purposes.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. And pronunciation.

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Speaker 4: Right.

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Speaker 1: Yes. For tax and pronunciation purposes. This poor kid, through

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Speaker 1: no fault of his own, suffers from hemophilia.

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Speaker 3: Which was a kind of a common princely ailment that

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Speaker 3: often stemmed from inbreeding. Inbreeding.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 3: It's the one where your blood's real thin and you

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Speaker 3: bleed out real easily if you get a little boo-boo.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, your blood doesn't clot as well. So at the time,

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Speaker 1: there is not much in the way of legitimate medical

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Speaker 1: treatment for hemophilia. And the czar is worried on two fronts. First,

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Speaker 1: he's trying to be a good dad. He wants his

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Speaker 1: son to, you know, not die.

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Speaker 3: Not die, right. But then there's also the whole line

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Speaker 3: of succession to consider.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's our second thing. He's the ruler of Russia

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Speaker 1: and he doesn't want to endanger his family's grip on

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Speaker 1: the throne. So he and his wife, Alexandra, are growing

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Speaker 1: increasingly desperate. It is no surprise then that when his

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Speaker 1: Montenegrin cousins come up to him and tell him these things,

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Speaker 1: wild tales of a strange man from Siberia that he

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Speaker 1: kind of considers it as an option.

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Speaker 3: Well, I'll try anything at this point, you know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. That's what he was saying. That's exactly what

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Speaker 1: he was saying, yeah. And so it comes to pass

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Speaker 1: that on November 1st of that year, Greg meets up

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Speaker 1: with Nick. Rasputin meets up with the Tsar at the

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Speaker 1: Peterhof Palace. We know the exact date was November 1st,

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Speaker 1: Because old Nick writes about it in his diary, which

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Speaker 1: he had. Yes, he did.

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Speaker 3: And he kept up with the regularity.

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Speaker 1: Yes, yes, just so. And he says, he and his.

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Speaker 3: Dear diary. He says, I met a strange man today. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: He notes that he and his empress, Alexandra Feodorovna, made

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Speaker 1: the acquaintance of a man from God. Okay. Grigori from

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Speaker 1: Dobloch province.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. A man for, wow. We met him. We met

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Speaker 3: a man from God today. Uh, we're not a hundred

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Speaker 3: percent sure what exactly they talked about, but it's very

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Speaker 3: likely that they discussed religious matters as well. as the

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Speaker 3: trouble with their young son, Alexi, and his, you know,

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Speaker 3: his blood, his bum blood. And Greg probably tried his

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Speaker 3: best to come off as charming, a little enigmatic, as

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Speaker 3: was his reputation. And most importantly, Ben, as you point out,

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Speaker 3: like ZZ Top levels of cool.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Because of the beard.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. He had a cool beard. He was one

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Speaker 1: pair of Ray-Bans away.

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Speaker 3: Right. So, We should have gone with the sunglasses version

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Speaker 3: of the logo.

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Speaker 1: We should have. It's never too late, right? A little

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Speaker 1: bit after this hang sesh, our buddy Greg goes back

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Speaker 1: home to Siberia and he doesn't make his way to St.

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Speaker 1: Petersburg again until July of the next year. And once

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Speaker 1: he gets back to the big city, he sends the

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Speaker 1: ruler of Russia a telegram. And it's got kind of

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Speaker 1: this you up vibe. He's saying, hey, Nick, can I

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Speaker 1: send you an icon of Saint Simeon that I was

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Speaker 1: talking about earlier, the patron saint of the Urals? If

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Speaker 1: the legend about Greg receiving a vision of this saint

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Speaker 1: is actually true, then, Noel, I think we can reasonably

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Speaker 1: assume he told the Tsar about his visions during their

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Speaker 1: first meeting, and he may have used that story to

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Speaker 1: support his claims of magical power.

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Speaker 3: For sure. This also would seem to be his kind

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Speaker 3: of calling card, you know, this particular patron saint that

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Speaker 3: he claims to have been visited by in the night.

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Speaker 3: Nick and Alexandra were pretty taken by this in a

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Speaker 3: good way. They met with Rasputin on the 18th of July,

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Speaker 3: and then once again in October, and the last meeting

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Speaker 3: was a huge opportunity for our boy Greg. His next

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Speaker 3: step towards world domination Here, he was able to meet

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Speaker 3: the Tsar's children.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. And this is a part, folks, where Noel, Max,

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Speaker 1: and I may not entirely agree. Guys, I think Rasputin

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Speaker 1: was planning this all along.

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Speaker 3: You think he was playing the long game from the start,

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Speaker 3: working his way up to getting in with the clergy,

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Speaker 3: getting introduced around to the inset there in St. Petersburg,

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Speaker 3: and ultimately with the end goal. of influencing politics.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, man, because we don't know exactly when Rasputin learned

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Speaker 1: of Alexei's hemophilia, but it's fair to assume that he

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Speaker 1: caught wind of it through the aristocratic rumor mill before

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Speaker 1: his first meeting with the Tsar. In August of 1906,

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Speaker 1: he asked for permission to pray for Alexei's health. And

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Speaker 1: after Rasputin meets the boy one time, the Tsarina, the

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Speaker 1: Empress Alexandra, is sold. And she's walking around, she's saying, oh,

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Speaker 1: this guy Rasputin, he genuinely does have holy powers. Not once,

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Speaker 1: but multiple times, he has used these powers to stop

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Speaker 1: my son's pain and to staunch his bleeding.

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Speaker 3: He's a magic man. It's true. At least that's what

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Speaker 3: she believed. And her conviction only grew from there, especially

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Speaker 3: once it came to be the spring of 1907 when

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Speaker 3: the Tsarina summoned Rasputin to pray over her son after

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Speaker 3: he had a very dangerous internal hemorrhage, which as we know,

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Speaker 3: if your blood's not clotting, that's going to potentially be

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Speaker 3: a death sentence. So the boy did recover the next morning.

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Speaker 3: This also won over Alexandra's close friend, Anna Virbova. who

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Speaker 3: would later become one of Rasputin's biggest boosters and disciples.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and Rasputin was able to leverage these apparent miracles

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Speaker 1: to great success. He insulated himself further and further into

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Speaker 1: the inner life of the Tsar. If we fast forward

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Speaker 1: a little bit, we're going to be jumping in time here.

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Speaker 1: If we fast forward to the summer of 1912, again,

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Speaker 1: Alexei has a problem. He develops a hemorrhage in his

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Speaker 1: thigh and groin after a rough carriage ride near the

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Speaker 1: imperial hunting grounds. This creates a large hematoma, and it

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Speaker 1: brings with it a serious fever, a lot of pain,

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Speaker 1: the genuine possibility of death. At the time this occurs,

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Speaker 1: Rasputin is back in Siberia, so the Empress of Russia

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Speaker 1: is sends a frantic telegram and she's like, oh, please, Rasputin,

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Speaker 1: you holy man, pray for my Alexei. And Rasputin responds

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Speaker 1: pretty lickety split for the telegram system at the time.

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Speaker 1: We have the direct quote. God has seen your tears

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Speaker 1: and heard your prayers. Do not grieve. The little one

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Speaker 1: will not die. Do not allow the doctors to bother

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Speaker 1: him too much. Ben, that right there is a big key.

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Speaker 3: Because as we know, a lot of times in these

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Speaker 3: early-ish days of medicine, practicing medicine really did have a

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Speaker 3: different meaning because a lot of times they would do

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Speaker 3: more harm than good when you had doctors poking around, bloodletting,

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Speaker 3: doing all kinds of things like that, potentially using contaminated instruments.

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Speaker 3: So the suggestion to maybe have the doctors just back

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Speaker 3: off a little bit may have been enough to cause

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Speaker 3: the boy to heal kind of naturally.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I appreciate that point you make about bloodletting. That

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Speaker 1: is not a good course of treatment for a hemophiliac.

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Speaker 1: The czar, of course, has the best medical minds in

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Speaker 1: the country at his beck and call. These moffins are

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Speaker 1: keep and watch over young Alexei day and night. By

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Speaker 1: the next morning, the kid still is not getting better.

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Speaker 1: He very well could pass away. But the empress, Alexandra...

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Speaker 1: knows that Rasputin is praying for her son. So she's

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Speaker 1: encouraged and lo and behold, the kiddo stops bleeding the

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Speaker 1: next day and the doctors are flummoxed. One of them

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Speaker 1: comes up a lot in several of the accounts we've

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Speaker 1: read about this is a guy named Dr.

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Speaker 2: S.P.

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Speaker 1: Federov. And he says this recovery is, quote, wholly inexplicable

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Speaker 1: from a medical point of view.

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Speaker 3: Based on what they knew at the time. Yep.

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Speaker 1: Important caveat.

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Speaker 3: That same doctor, Fedorov, would later really kind of understand

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Speaker 3: the empress's perspective in saying Rasputin would come in, walk

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Speaker 3: up to the patient, look at him, and spit. Okay,

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Speaker 3: that's a new one. The bleeding would stop in no time.

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Speaker 3: How could the empress not trust Rasputin after that?

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Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, it's a good question, Doc, because this bizarre recovery,

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Speaker 1: nigh inexplicable, remains one of the most mysterious chapters of

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Speaker 1: the whole Rasputin legend. And honestly, from a statistical standpoint

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Speaker 1: at this time in history, the kid should have died.

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Speaker 1: We don't know exactly how he recovered, but it leads

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Speaker 1: us to a fascinating run of speculation.

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Speaker 3: Here's where we really cross over into stuff they don't

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Speaker 3: want you to know territory.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, man. It's possible that Rasputin actually did help Alexei

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Speaker 1: by advising the doctors not to mess with him. It's

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Speaker 1: nuts because, okay, he may have been able to use

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Speaker 1: hypnosis to stem Alexei's bleeding, which we know sounds crazy

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Speaker 1: to your earlier point, but some modern doctors in 2026,

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Speaker 1: even now, argue that hypnotic techniques can be effective in

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Speaker 1: managing hemophilia. Max, let's get a sound cue. This is

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Speaker 1: not medical advice.

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Speaker 3: To do with calming him down, right? And like lowering

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Speaker 3: his blood pressure potentially just literally by lulling him into

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Speaker 3: a calmer state. What happens if you ever like have

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Speaker 3: a heart monitor or like a fitness tracker and you

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Speaker 3: do say like yoga or like some kind of really

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Speaker 3: low impact yoga or meditation, you will see your heart

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Speaker 3: rate go down significantly. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Actually, I really like the way you put that because

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Speaker 1: it does make sense. That may be the efficacy. The

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Speaker 1: most interesting theory that we have found comes from folks

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Speaker 1: like Alexei's French tutor. It's a guy named Pierre Gilliard.

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Speaker 1: He and others argue that Rasputin actually controlled Alexei's bleeding

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Speaker 1: and By stopping doctors, the best doctors in the country,

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Speaker 1: from giving the kid a newfangled drug called aspirin.

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Speaker 3: Which is a blood thinner.

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Speaker 1: Which is a blood thinner.

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Speaker 3: They didn't know that though, right?

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Speaker 1: They didn't know. They knew it could relieve all sorts

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Speaker 1: of pain, but... People didn't learn it was an anti-clotting agent.

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Speaker 1: So some people take it, older people take it for

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Speaker 1: that very reason. It's got a dual purpose, but they

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Speaker 1: didn't know about that. People didn't learn it was an

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Speaker 1: anti-clotting agent until the 1950s. So other people might have

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Speaker 1: hemophilia and take aspirin for pain and they would die

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Speaker 1: as their blood refuses to clot. So, you know, by

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Speaker 1: hook or by crook, Rasputin banning medical treatment for Alexei

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Speaker 1: may have actually saved the kid's life.

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Speaker 3: You know, and this is a story you hear often,

289
00:18:19,369 --> 00:18:22,670
Speaker 3: but I watched the Netflix series Death by Lightning, which

290
00:18:22,730 --> 00:18:28,710
Speaker 3: is about James A. Garfield and his assassin, Charles J. Guto,

291
00:18:28,770 --> 00:18:31,310
Speaker 3: I believe was his name. Really, really interesting four-episode miniseries.

292
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Speaker 3: But what ultimately killed Garfield was the doctors poking around

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Speaker 3: in there way too much.

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Speaker 1: Right, yeah. Yeah, exactly.

295
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Speaker 4: Jump in here. Isn't Garfield the one where Alexander Graham

296
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Speaker 4: Bell got involved in stuff?

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Speaker 1: It is the one. Yes. Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Or was it somebody else? It was Graham Bell.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And both of those folks are dead.

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Speaker 3: Yes. Great.

301
00:18:56,770 --> 00:19:07,700
Speaker 1: Just quick update on Bell and Garfield. So now we're

302
00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:11,300
Speaker 1: in a situation, if we're Rasputin, where we are set

303
00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:15,940
Speaker 1: for life. So long as the son of the emperor survives,

304
00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:20,700
Speaker 1: we don't really have to do anything else. We don't

305
00:19:20,740 --> 00:19:26,280
Speaker 1: have to struggle as a Siberian peasant anymore. Unfortunately, there's

306
00:19:26,340 --> 00:19:28,260
Speaker 1: a bit of an ego and a bit of a

307
00:19:28,380 --> 00:19:33,090
Speaker 1: dark side to this so-called miracle man. Rumors start with

308
00:19:33,140 --> 00:19:38,080
Speaker 1: the other children, the four daughters, but Noel We gotta

309
00:19:38,619 --> 00:19:40,840
Speaker 1: do something else before we get to that.

310
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Speaker 3: That's right, Ben. We have to paint a little bit

311
00:19:43,780 --> 00:19:47,409
Speaker 3: of a larger picture here because the actual rulers of

312
00:19:47,490 --> 00:19:52,480
Speaker 3: Russia at the time truly believed that man was God's gift,

313
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Speaker 3: that he was imbued with mystical powers.

314
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:56,939
Speaker 1: A magic man like the Barracuda song.

315
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Speaker 3: He's a magic man.

316
00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:00,000
Speaker 1: Oh, wait. What's the band?

317
00:20:00,020 --> 00:20:02,620
Speaker 3: Well, Barracuda is another song.

318
00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:05,020
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's the same band.

319
00:20:05,710 --> 00:20:11,680
Speaker 3: Magic Man song band. It is Heart.

320
00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:15,239
Speaker 1: Heart. It was Heart who did Barracuda and Magic Man.

321
00:20:15,260 --> 00:20:21,879
Speaker 3: Correct. Barracuda. We got there. We did. They believe in

322
00:20:21,900 --> 00:20:25,060
Speaker 3: this guy. They're all in. They're all in with Rasputin.

323
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Speaker 3: And they, of course, are putting a lot of faith

324
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Speaker 3: in him. They are using, they are taking advice and

325
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Speaker 3: I mean, that's the kind of advice that can become policy.

326
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Speaker 1: Right. Yeah.

327
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Speaker 3: That can truly change the course of history.

328
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Speaker 1: Yeah. Old Tsar Nick II even gives Rasputin an official

329
00:20:46,730 --> 00:20:51,490
Speaker 1: position on the court. He deems him or hires him

330
00:20:51,750 --> 00:20:57,909
Speaker 1: as the lampadnik, lamplighter. The entire job of the lamplighter

331
00:20:58,150 --> 00:21:01,830
Speaker 1: is to keep the lamps lit before religious icons or

332
00:21:01,910 --> 00:21:06,700
Speaker 1: shrines throughout the palace. Interesting gig. Yeah, it's also somehow

333
00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:10,350
Speaker 1: a real job. Yeah, I know. It reminds me of,

334
00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:13,560
Speaker 1: not naming names, but it reminds me of some of

335
00:21:13,740 --> 00:21:18,199
Speaker 1: our more big britches friends who have an entourage of

336
00:21:18,359 --> 00:21:22,560
Speaker 1: inexplicable jobs. Like this guy, Snacks. What's he do? He

337
00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:23,440
Speaker 1: gets the snacks.

338
00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:26,060
Speaker 2: And to jump in here real quick, it does remind

339
00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:28,420
Speaker 2: me of, we actually have an episode from a number

340
00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:32,470
Speaker 2: of years ago about a Russian empress who, that was

341
00:21:32,530 --> 00:21:34,169
Speaker 2: just like, everyone hated her and she was really mean

342
00:21:34,190 --> 00:21:35,590
Speaker 2: and she became really bitter. I mean, she had an

343
00:21:35,890 --> 00:21:38,730
Speaker 2: ice palace and there was someone who stood inside of

344
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Speaker 2: like a statue of an elephant and blew water out.

345
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Speaker 2: So it's kind of like a Russian thing to have

346
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Speaker 2: the most awful jobs.

347
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Speaker 3: For sure. Well, in this case, it was a feature,

348
00:21:50,700 --> 00:21:53,270
Speaker 3: not a bug because it gave him access. Yeah.

349
00:21:53,490 --> 00:21:57,210
Speaker 1: He had free roam of the joint as a Lampidnik.

350
00:21:58,070 --> 00:22:03,020
Speaker 1: He was able to, Get into any room in the palace, essentially,

351
00:22:03,220 --> 00:22:06,140
Speaker 1: even one without an icon or a shrine. He was

352
00:22:06,380 --> 00:22:09,920
Speaker 1: able to walk around the grounds as he pleased and.

353
00:22:10,090 --> 00:22:11,770
Speaker 3: Traverse the secret passages, no doubt.

354
00:22:12,170 --> 00:22:16,830
Speaker 1: Oh, yes, sir. And he had his... He asked Tsar

355
00:22:16,930 --> 00:22:22,169
Speaker 1: Nick for a favor. And this calls back to our

356
00:22:22,250 --> 00:22:27,410
Speaker 1: first episode on Rasputin. He said, hey, buddy... Can you

357
00:22:27,710 --> 00:22:31,040
Speaker 1: help me officially change my name? I don't want to

358
00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:35,900
Speaker 1: be Rasputin anymore. I want to be Rasputin Novie, which

359
00:22:35,980 --> 00:22:38,580
Speaker 1: means Rasputin New.

360
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,590
Speaker 3: Yeah, he had that New Coke feel. So despite his

361
00:22:41,830 --> 00:22:46,870
Speaker 3: priestly persona, I guess, I mean, he had styled himself

362
00:22:47,369 --> 00:22:48,590
Speaker 3: as a holy man.

363
00:22:48,609 --> 00:22:49,310
Speaker 1: Yeah.

364
00:22:49,930 --> 00:22:52,869
Speaker 3: It was kind of an open secret that he was

365
00:22:53,170 --> 00:22:58,390
Speaker 3: all about accepting bribes, which included sexual favors. The rumors

366
00:22:58,510 --> 00:23:01,129
Speaker 3: of all of the, you know, canoodling with his various

367
00:23:01,210 --> 00:23:05,889
Speaker 3: followers over the years continued to follow him around, likely

368
00:23:05,950 --> 00:23:10,640
Speaker 3: for a very good reason. He also ruthlessly worked behind

369
00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:15,520
Speaker 3: the scenes in order to, you know, expand his influence

370
00:23:15,580 --> 00:23:17,900
Speaker 3: in whatever situation he found him in. And in terms

371
00:23:17,940 --> 00:23:19,679
Speaker 3: of like the society that he lived in, this is

372
00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:21,619
Speaker 3: about as high as you can get in terms of

373
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:24,139
Speaker 3: expanding your influence. So he was going to take that

374
00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:26,290
Speaker 3: opportunity and run with it. You can say a lot

375
00:23:26,330 --> 00:23:29,170
Speaker 3: of things about this guy, but he was not a

376
00:23:29,250 --> 00:23:29,850
Speaker 3: good dude.

377
00:23:30,390 --> 00:23:34,810
Speaker 1: Yeah. Let's be clear. Not a good dude. Along with

378
00:23:34,869 --> 00:23:38,410
Speaker 1: his followers, he gained a lot of enemies. These old

379
00:23:38,570 --> 00:23:42,800
Speaker 1: rumors of heresy and sexual abuse from his hometown were

380
00:23:43,050 --> 00:23:47,730
Speaker 1: Pokrov Yusko, they follow him like a shadow to St. Petersburg.

381
00:23:48,090 --> 00:23:52,610
Speaker 1: The prime minister orders an investigation by the secret police.

382
00:23:53,050 --> 00:23:56,920
Speaker 1: In fact, the prime minister goes to the czar himself

383
00:23:57,119 --> 00:23:59,600
Speaker 1: and he's like, Nick, you got to get rid of

384
00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:03,100
Speaker 1: this creepy guy. The prime minister and the secret police

385
00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:10,260
Speaker 1: are unsuccessful. They have proven shenanigans. Rasputin is not exiled.

386
00:24:10,500 --> 00:24:11,840
Speaker 1: His influence keeps growing.

387
00:24:12,650 --> 00:24:15,689
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, he really had his creepy claws in the

388
00:24:15,730 --> 00:24:19,220
Speaker 3: royal family. So now Rasputin wasn't necessarily trying to keep

389
00:24:19,300 --> 00:24:22,800
Speaker 3: all of this stuff secret anymore because I think he

390
00:24:22,820 --> 00:24:27,500
Speaker 3: just had gotten pretty emboldened by his newfound power and influence.

391
00:24:27,540 --> 00:24:30,300
Speaker 3: He felt a little bit untouchable, right? So outside of

392
00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:33,140
Speaker 3: the royal court, he would often preach that physical contact

393
00:24:33,180 --> 00:24:36,530
Speaker 3: with him was a right of purification.

394
00:24:36,570 --> 00:24:38,369
Speaker 1: That's so David Koresh, dude.

395
00:24:38,430 --> 00:24:40,790
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, exactly. And it's something you hear a lot

396
00:24:40,830 --> 00:24:45,920
Speaker 3: about in these– Even today, there's a lot of little

397
00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:49,630
Speaker 3: weird subsets of Christianity. I think there's one that's called

398
00:24:50,810 --> 00:24:55,390
Speaker 3: the International House of Prayer for All People, where their

399
00:24:55,470 --> 00:24:58,820
Speaker 3: leader grows his fingernails out really mega, mega long and

400
00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:01,939
Speaker 3: has his disciples wash his feet. And I think you

401
00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:05,459
Speaker 3: can buy the water even or something like that.

402
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:08,780
Speaker 4: And the International House of Prayer is literally IHOP.

403
00:25:09,970 --> 00:25:11,330
Speaker 1: That's true.

404
00:25:11,350 --> 00:25:14,450
Speaker 3: That is true. For all people. It's for all people.

405
00:25:14,830 --> 00:25:17,909
Speaker 3: I'm not here to demonize anybody's faith, of course. I

406
00:25:17,930 --> 00:25:22,270
Speaker 3: just seem to have heard these rumors about that particular sect.

407
00:25:22,790 --> 00:25:25,340
Speaker 3: I did go eat at a lovely buffet that they

408
00:25:25,380 --> 00:25:28,230
Speaker 3: have in one of their chapters in my hometown. Really,

409
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:31,680
Speaker 3: really good food, but hanging over the fellowship hall.

410
00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:33,020
Speaker 1: No, they don't.

411
00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:35,300
Speaker 3: They serve like soul food and stuff, but hanging over

412
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:38,700
Speaker 3: the fellowship hall is a giant portrait of this dude.

413
00:25:39,830 --> 00:25:44,800
Speaker 1: Yes, of course. And obviously, Greg would have loved a

414
00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:47,919
Speaker 1: giant portrait of himself.

415
00:25:48,020 --> 00:25:51,500
Speaker 3: Oh, certainly. They exist and were haunted and made the

416
00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:53,740
Speaker 3: subject of Ghostbusters 2.

417
00:25:53,740 --> 00:25:56,900
Speaker 1: Yeah. So this guy is banging left and right, and

418
00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:01,810
Speaker 1: he is rationalizing it by saying, sleeping with me is

419
00:26:02,109 --> 00:26:06,369
Speaker 1: purifying yourself for God. He's off the wagon. He's back

420
00:26:06,450 --> 00:26:10,209
Speaker 1: on the booze. He has tons of affairs with everyone

421
00:26:10,430 --> 00:26:13,590
Speaker 1: in society that he can get a hold of, from

422
00:26:13,770 --> 00:26:17,740
Speaker 1: sex workers on the street to married women of the

423
00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:22,820
Speaker 1: upper class. And several of his earlier followers are recanting

424
00:26:23,060 --> 00:26:26,899
Speaker 1: their allegiance. And these women who have been manipulated and

425
00:26:26,940 --> 00:26:31,400
Speaker 1: abused by him come public and say, you have sexually

426
00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:35,960
Speaker 1: assaulted me. One of his accusers is a woman named

427
00:26:36,390 --> 00:26:42,510
Speaker 1: Kionya Berletskaya. She looks for help from the guy we

428
00:26:42,550 --> 00:26:43,530
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier.

429
00:26:43,550 --> 00:26:44,689
Speaker 3: Oh, he'll be backstabbed.

430
00:26:44,830 --> 00:26:49,610
Speaker 1: Yeah, he got screwed by Rasputin. This is Rasputin's original patron,

431
00:26:49,830 --> 00:26:55,149
Speaker 1: now estranged and discarded. Theophan doesn't just believe this lady.

432
00:26:55,609 --> 00:27:00,149
Speaker 1: He also becomes convinced that his once-upon-a-time friend is an

433
00:27:00,390 --> 00:27:05,369
Speaker 1: actual snake and a threat to the overall monarchy.

434
00:27:05,890 --> 00:27:09,110
Speaker 3: No, but he was sort of the lone voice screaming

435
00:27:09,150 --> 00:27:12,210
Speaker 3: into the abyss. Everyone else seemed to be under this

436
00:27:12,270 --> 00:27:17,470
Speaker 3: dude's spell. So his concerns, try as he might, fell

437
00:27:17,550 --> 00:27:21,430
Speaker 3: on deaf ears, and he found himself increasingly alienated as

438
00:27:21,490 --> 00:27:26,350
Speaker 3: Rasputin began to gain more and more control. Anybody speaking

439
00:27:26,510 --> 00:27:29,510
Speaker 3: ill of Rasputin would probably begin to be looked at

440
00:27:29,570 --> 00:27:32,840
Speaker 3: as an enemy of the state. Political opponents of the

441
00:27:32,910 --> 00:27:36,860
Speaker 3: monarchy leveraged Alexandra's German heritage and claimed that she had

442
00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:40,440
Speaker 3: loyalties to Germany rather than Russia, and that Rasputin wasn't

443
00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:43,300
Speaker 3: just making the decisions, being the power behind the throne,

444
00:27:43,660 --> 00:27:46,220
Speaker 3: but he himself was also, this is another kind of

445
00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:50,090
Speaker 3: echo of a previous spy accusation, was a spy for Germany.

446
00:27:50,660 --> 00:27:54,909
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and tensions are growing because we're rocketing toward

447
00:27:55,010 --> 00:27:58,550
Speaker 1: World War I at this time, and Russia and Germany

448
00:27:58,630 --> 00:28:03,869
Speaker 1: are beefed up. But throughout all of this scandal, throughout

449
00:28:03,990 --> 00:28:08,090
Speaker 1: all these rumors, the Tsar's family still is ten toes

450
00:28:08,150 --> 00:28:11,369
Speaker 1: down for Rasputin. They treat him like a family member.

451
00:28:13,230 --> 00:28:15,669
Speaker 1: Before we get to the World War, we got to

452
00:28:15,710 --> 00:28:19,240
Speaker 1: return to the story of the kids.

453
00:28:20,580 --> 00:28:23,200
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, they basically are told to treat him

454
00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:26,570
Speaker 3: like a. like a, I don't know, a grandpapa type

455
00:28:26,609 --> 00:28:29,790
Speaker 3: figure or a cool uncle. At the very least, they

456
00:28:29,810 --> 00:28:32,940
Speaker 3: were referred to him as our friend, friend of the family.

457
00:28:34,180 --> 00:28:38,880
Speaker 3: And they, Rasputin, Alexei, and Lazar's four daughters, all kind

458
00:28:38,900 --> 00:28:42,480
Speaker 3: of kicked it and seemed to get along like an extended,

459
00:28:42,850 --> 00:28:46,310
Speaker 3: weird extended family. Rasputin would send them telegrams when he

460
00:28:46,330 --> 00:28:51,830
Speaker 3: was away, well wishes, encouragements, birthday greetings. like this one

461
00:28:51,850 --> 00:28:56,360
Speaker 3: from 1908 to directly to the nine-year-old at the time, Maria.

462
00:28:56,380 --> 00:28:59,020
Speaker 3: And yeah, Ben, you want to read this one? This

463
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:00,920
Speaker 3: is very telling.

464
00:29:01,020 --> 00:29:05,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is something we should look into. The telegram goes,

465
00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:09,070
Speaker 1: My dear M, my little friend, may the Lord help

466
00:29:09,110 --> 00:29:12,110
Speaker 1: you to carry your cross with wisdom and joy in Christ.

467
00:29:12,550 --> 00:29:16,290
Speaker 1: This world is like the day. Look, it's already evening.

468
00:29:16,690 --> 00:29:18,750
Speaker 1: So it is with the cares of the world.

469
00:29:19,350 --> 00:29:21,710
Speaker 3: Yeah, telling, I think, in the sense that it shows

470
00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:24,400
Speaker 3: sort of what you might argue is a character that

471
00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:26,740
Speaker 3: he was playing, you know, like this kind of jovial,

472
00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:31,760
Speaker 3: holy man that was sort of a friend to the children.

473
00:29:32,700 --> 00:29:36,610
Speaker 3: Not bad, you know, kind of charming, to be honest.

474
00:29:37,070 --> 00:29:41,380
Speaker 1: It's saying, look, it's later than you think. Time passes quickly.

475
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:43,880
Speaker 1: You don't have to worry about everything.

476
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:44,580
Speaker 3: Carpe diem.

477
00:29:44,900 --> 00:29:49,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, very hallmarky, right? It's a genuinely touching sentiment, but

478
00:29:50,340 --> 00:29:56,780
Speaker 1: in 1910, one of the royal governesses is scandalized because

479
00:29:56,820 --> 00:30:01,810
Speaker 1: she learns that Rasputin is allowed... to enter the nursery

480
00:30:02,330 --> 00:30:05,620
Speaker 1: while the girls are in their nightgowns. Yes, yes.

481
00:30:05,670 --> 00:30:09,660
Speaker 3: And this would have been considered wildly inappropriate at the time.

482
00:30:09,820 --> 00:30:17,590
Speaker 3: And governess Sofia Ivovna Choyucheva desperately wanted to, was petitioning

483
00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:21,730
Speaker 3: even to get Rasputin banned from the nurseries. Tsar Nicholas

484
00:30:21,790 --> 00:30:25,510
Speaker 3: was on board and he did ask Rasputin to maybe

485
00:30:25,550 --> 00:30:32,410
Speaker 3: stop lurking around the nursery, scantily clad children. And eventually, however,

486
00:30:32,790 --> 00:30:34,690
Speaker 3: Alexandra fired the governess.

487
00:30:35,330 --> 00:30:42,100
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. This is getting tough. The governess again, Sophia,

488
00:30:42,180 --> 00:30:45,320
Speaker 1: as you said, no reaches out to other members of

489
00:30:45,420 --> 00:30:49,040
Speaker 1: the Imperial family. And these folks who are not in

490
00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:53,200
Speaker 1: the Rasputin bubble are scandalized by the story. One of

491
00:30:53,270 --> 00:30:58,630
Speaker 1: those scandalized people is grand Duchess Xenia and Alex Janova,

492
00:30:58,710 --> 00:31:02,610
Speaker 1: she is Nick's sister. She had heard these earlier rumors

493
00:31:02,690 --> 00:31:07,340
Speaker 1: about Rasputin. It shows up in her writing. We've got

494
00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:10,300
Speaker 1: to give you the quote. Noel, if you could do

495
00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:13,080
Speaker 1: the honors, this calls back to the first episode.

496
00:31:13,500 --> 00:31:17,900
Speaker 3: The attitude of Alex and the children to that sinister Grigori,

497
00:31:18,310 --> 00:31:21,030
Speaker 3: whom they consider to be almost a saint, when in

498
00:31:21,150 --> 00:31:25,750
Speaker 3: fact he is only a kilst, What is that word again?

499
00:31:25,910 --> 00:31:28,290
Speaker 3: This is for a second time this has come up. No, no, no.

500
00:31:28,410 --> 00:31:29,650
Speaker 3: That's the weird cult, right?

501
00:31:29,710 --> 00:31:30,310
Speaker 1: Yeah.

502
00:31:30,330 --> 00:31:34,730
Speaker 3: Yeah. So they're using that almost as a direct insult.

503
00:31:35,090 --> 00:31:35,410
Speaker 1: Yeah.

504
00:31:35,450 --> 00:31:37,510
Speaker 3: That makes sense based on what we were talking about earlier.

505
00:31:37,550 --> 00:31:42,070
Speaker 3: This was the subset of Christianity that supposedly did like

506
00:31:42,290 --> 00:31:44,090
Speaker 3: blood magic kind of stuff.

507
00:31:44,170 --> 00:31:46,010
Speaker 1: Right. Blood sugar sex magic. Orgies.

508
00:31:46,030 --> 00:31:46,310
Speaker 3: Yes.

509
00:31:46,870 --> 00:31:49,450
Speaker 1: Self-flagellation, blood sugar sex magic.

510
00:31:49,610 --> 00:31:49,890
Speaker 2: Yeah.

511
00:31:49,990 --> 00:31:53,450
Speaker 3: They had it. Sex magic. So he's continuing the quote.

512
00:31:53,490 --> 00:31:57,460
Speaker 3: He's always there. goes into the nursery, visits Olga and

513
00:31:57,500 --> 00:32:00,620
Speaker 3: Tatiana while they're getting ready for bed, sits there talking

514
00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:03,400
Speaker 3: to them and harassing them.

515
00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:10,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, not good. Olga and Tatiana are the older teenage

516
00:32:10,980 --> 00:32:13,300
Speaker 1: daughters of the royal family.

517
00:32:13,540 --> 00:32:16,320
Speaker 3: And it's not to say that a cool uncle can't

518
00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:20,140
Speaker 3: be loving or put kids to bed or something like that.

519
00:32:20,180 --> 00:32:22,550
Speaker 3: I think we're talking about all of this through the

520
00:32:22,610 --> 00:32:25,230
Speaker 3: lens of what we know this guy was getting up

521
00:32:25,300 --> 00:32:28,760
Speaker 3: to in his free time and just how slippery he was.

522
00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:31,260
Speaker 3: And I just think there's no world where this was

523
00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:35,700
Speaker 3: all just, you know, platonic uncle Lee affection.

524
00:32:36,420 --> 00:32:36,940
Speaker 4: Yeah.

525
00:32:37,140 --> 00:32:40,280
Speaker 1: And it's tough because all the primary accounts we can

526
00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:45,280
Speaker 1: find that are not rumors about his interactions with the children,

527
00:32:46,020 --> 00:32:50,490
Speaker 1: they are characterized as innocent, but we, we don't know

528
00:32:50,550 --> 00:32:54,460
Speaker 1: the full story. We do know that in 1910, Another

529
00:32:54,540 --> 00:32:58,340
Speaker 1: governess at the nursery claimed she had been sexually assaulted

530
00:32:58,420 --> 00:33:03,000
Speaker 1: by Rasputin. She had once been an ardent follower of Greg's.

531
00:33:04,300 --> 00:33:09,760
Speaker 1: Her name, Maria Ivanova Vishnyakova. She went to the Empress.

532
00:33:09,860 --> 00:33:13,920
Speaker 1: She went to Alexandra. Alexandra did not believe her. There

533
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:18,900
Speaker 1: was an investigation, whoosh, whoosh, hard air quotes there. And

534
00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:21,700
Speaker 1: eventually they fired that governess, too.

535
00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:24,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, again, enemy of the state, man. Like this guy

536
00:33:24,180 --> 00:33:26,020
Speaker 3: had his hooks in so deep that anybody that would

537
00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:28,760
Speaker 3: talk ill of him even if the things– even if

538
00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:34,970
Speaker 3: the smoke seems to indicate fire, no. They couldn't possibly

539
00:33:34,990 --> 00:33:37,430
Speaker 3: wrap their heads around it, the royal family. They were

540
00:33:37,470 --> 00:33:41,900
Speaker 3: just so enamored by this man. rumors continued to pop up.

541
00:33:42,030 --> 00:33:44,430
Speaker 3: Stuff entered the public sphere as well. So it started

542
00:33:44,490 --> 00:33:47,490
Speaker 3: to leak. This guy was such a controversial figure. You

543
00:33:47,530 --> 00:33:52,690
Speaker 3: had things making it out of the highly insulated palace

544
00:33:52,950 --> 00:33:57,080
Speaker 3: intrigue bubble of the royal family. People claimed up and

545
00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:00,040
Speaker 3: down at the time again with, well, at the time

546
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,880
Speaker 3: and in some cases to this day, with no proof

547
00:34:03,500 --> 00:34:07,750
Speaker 3: that Rasputin had seduced Tsarina Alexandra as well as having

548
00:34:08,530 --> 00:34:10,540
Speaker 3: sexual relations with the children.

549
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:12,080
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.

550
00:34:12,219 --> 00:34:15,239
Speaker 3: There were cartoons that were circulated. I mean, this guy

551
00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:18,420
Speaker 3: was becoming like a, an absolute boogeyman.

552
00:34:19,140 --> 00:34:23,200
Speaker 1: Yeah. It was becoming part of the zeitgeist leveraged by

553
00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:26,390
Speaker 1: political opponents of the monarchy.

554
00:34:26,610 --> 00:34:30,129
Speaker 3: Who's this scary pedophile whispering in the czar's ear.

555
00:34:30,670 --> 00:34:35,090
Speaker 1: Right. Yeah. Just so. And there were also extremely graphic

556
00:34:35,150 --> 00:34:39,899
Speaker 1: cartoons that I am so thankful for. We don't have

557
00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:40,400
Speaker 1: to show here.

558
00:34:40,580 --> 00:34:41,660
Speaker 3: Have you seen him?

559
00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:42,640
Speaker 1: Yes.

560
00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:43,239
Speaker 3: Yeah.

561
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:48,780
Speaker 1: And eventually, old Nick has had enough, the ruler of Russia.

562
00:34:49,180 --> 00:34:52,080
Speaker 1: So he tells his buddy Greg to hit the bricks.

563
00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:55,060
Speaker 1: It's like you got to leave town at least for

564
00:34:55,140 --> 00:34:58,609
Speaker 1: a little while. They're still, to be clear, they are

565
00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:01,710
Speaker 1: still close friends. He's like, you just got to get

566
00:35:01,790 --> 00:35:02,840
Speaker 1: out of town for a little bit.

567
00:35:02,870 --> 00:35:04,590
Speaker 3: Let things cool down a little bit, man.

568
00:35:04,630 --> 00:35:11,049
Speaker 1: Exactly, yeah. There are too many horrific rumors. Alexandra is

569
00:35:11,170 --> 00:35:12,589
Speaker 1: super against this.

570
00:35:12,610 --> 00:35:15,010
Speaker 3: This just shows, man. She was the one who was largely,

571
00:35:15,150 --> 00:35:17,380
Speaker 3: you know, his biggest supporter.

572
00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:22,600
Speaker 1: Very much so, yeah. And Rasputin complied. So he took

573
00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:26,240
Speaker 1: a pilgrimage to Palestine in 1911. Again, we're jumping around

574
00:35:26,260 --> 00:35:32,779
Speaker 1: in time. But he does return from Palestine. He continues

575
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:37,000
Speaker 1: to influence the Russian Empire and the monarchy. He goes

576
00:35:37,060 --> 00:35:41,040
Speaker 1: back and forth from his hometown in Siberia to St. Petersburg.

577
00:35:41,460 --> 00:35:47,430
Speaker 1: He is in Siberia in July of 1914 when the

578
00:35:47,610 --> 00:35:50,170
Speaker 1: first assassination attempt occurs.

579
00:35:57,100 --> 00:36:04,140
Speaker 3: That's right, a 33-year-old woman named Kionia Guseva stabbed Rasputin

580
00:36:04,260 --> 00:36:10,279
Speaker 3: right in his guts outside of his home in his hometown, right,

581
00:36:10,380 --> 00:36:16,300
Speaker 3: in Siberia, in Pokrovskoe. She had a fascinating backstory unto herself,

582
00:36:16,420 --> 00:36:19,920
Speaker 3: quite heartbreaking character, in fact. Upon the stab, she yelled,

583
00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:23,700
Speaker 3: I have killed the Antichrist. That says it all. I mean,

584
00:36:23,739 --> 00:36:27,180
Speaker 3: he was getting that level of reputation. She chased him

585
00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:29,799
Speaker 3: through the village streets, hoping to do him in with

586
00:36:29,820 --> 00:36:33,760
Speaker 3: the coup de grace, but she failed and was almost

587
00:36:33,900 --> 00:36:36,440
Speaker 3: murdered in the streets by a crowd that was gathering.

588
00:36:36,940 --> 00:36:41,420
Speaker 1: Yeah, and eventually, Kionya ends up in an asylum, but

589
00:36:41,460 --> 00:36:45,120
Speaker 1: that's a story for another day. Rasputin had only left

590
00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:48,720
Speaker 1: his house because he heard Russia was preparing for war,

591
00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:51,759
Speaker 1: and he wanted to send a telegram to his buddy,

592
00:36:51,850 --> 00:36:55,839
Speaker 1: the Tsar, convincing the guy against going to war. And

593
00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:59,610
Speaker 1: there's the thing about stabs. You've probably heard it before, folks.

594
00:37:00,090 --> 00:37:03,170
Speaker 1: Both people die in a knife fight. The first person

595
00:37:03,230 --> 00:37:06,890
Speaker 1: dies at the scene. The other person dies in the ambulance.

596
00:37:06,950 --> 00:37:09,950
Speaker 1: What we're saying is this stomach stab is no joke.

597
00:37:10,270 --> 00:37:15,239
Speaker 1: And even for all his alleged superpowers, Rasputin almost dies.

598
00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:18,980
Speaker 1: He gets a successful surgery. He spends some time jammed

599
00:37:19,060 --> 00:37:21,800
Speaker 1: up in a hospital. It keeps him just this side

600
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:22,920
Speaker 1: of the grave.

601
00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:23,259
Speaker 3: But.

602
00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:27,540
Speaker 1: As any student of history knows, this was not the

603
00:37:27,580 --> 00:37:31,870
Speaker 1: last assassination attempt. The next one, just a few years later,

604
00:37:32,390 --> 00:37:35,690
Speaker 1: does succeed. And it's quite a mystery.

605
00:37:35,989 --> 00:37:39,670
Speaker 3: Well, Ben, you mentioned superpowers. I think we've already discussed

606
00:37:39,710 --> 00:37:41,720
Speaker 3: this notion that he maybe did have some sort of,

607
00:37:42,570 --> 00:37:46,620
Speaker 3: you know, esoteric occult powers. Maybe he smelled great.

608
00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:47,160
Speaker 1: I don't know.

609
00:37:47,260 --> 00:37:49,520
Speaker 3: Well, sure. But also, like I said, that is how

610
00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:52,240
Speaker 3: they went all the way with that in the Anastasia

611
00:37:52,500 --> 00:37:56,870
Speaker 3: animated film where he literally– doing like spells and hypnosis, right?

612
00:37:57,170 --> 00:38:00,370
Speaker 3: All that stuff. But another rumor about him was that

613
00:38:00,390 --> 00:38:03,090
Speaker 3: he was like unkillable. And I think that this stabbing

614
00:38:03,270 --> 00:38:04,850
Speaker 3: probably is what contributed to that.

615
00:38:05,430 --> 00:38:09,110
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. That's a great point. A lot of people

616
00:38:09,180 --> 00:38:14,140
Speaker 1: were not listening to Greg's earlier victim, Theofan, but there

617
00:38:14,180 --> 00:38:18,839
Speaker 1: was a splinter group of nobles and politicians who were

618
00:38:19,430 --> 00:38:24,070
Speaker 1: maybe less concerned with the sexual assault allegations and more

619
00:38:24,150 --> 00:38:30,110
Speaker 1: concerned that this guy's influence would endanger the future of Russia.

620
00:38:30,290 --> 00:38:34,350
Speaker 1: So it came to pass in December of 1916 that

621
00:38:34,390 --> 00:38:40,570
Speaker 1: a far-right politician named Vladimir, who hated the monarchy, along

622
00:38:40,610 --> 00:38:44,930
Speaker 1: with a grand duke and a prince named Felix Yusupov,

623
00:38:45,550 --> 00:38:50,069
Speaker 1: they conspired. They were going to lure Rasputin, over to

624
00:38:50,170 --> 00:38:54,390
Speaker 1: Felix's house, Moika Palace, and there they were going to

625
00:38:54,770 --> 00:38:58,860
Speaker 1: murder him. Here's what we know. On the early morning

626
00:38:59,020 --> 00:39:04,300
Speaker 1: of December 30th, Grigori Rasputin died. He had three gunshot wounds,

627
00:39:04,760 --> 00:39:09,160
Speaker 1: one of which was point-blank to his forehead. That's the

628
00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:12,900
Speaker 1: closest we can get to provable information. The rest of

629
00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:16,540
Speaker 1: the circumstances, as you said, surrounding his death, remain a

630
00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:20,660
Speaker 1: matter of intense speculation even today. We will never know

631
00:39:20,739 --> 00:39:24,450
Speaker 1: exactly what happened, and that's not because the rumors and

632
00:39:24,510 --> 00:39:29,109
Speaker 1: later tall tales are too wild. Instead, it's because the

633
00:39:29,250 --> 00:39:34,540
Speaker 1: best prime source for the events comes from an autopsy

634
00:39:34,620 --> 00:39:37,950
Speaker 1: that is lost to history. There's no original copy of it.

635
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:43,610
Speaker 1: And the memoirs of Felix Yusupov himself, one of the

636
00:39:43,650 --> 00:39:48,690
Speaker 1: guys who hated Rasputin so much that he literally murdered him.

637
00:39:49,380 --> 00:39:52,900
Speaker 1: As you said, this account is embellished, but it is

638
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:59,799
Speaker 1: still the best snapshot we have of this murder. It's

639
00:39:59,860 --> 00:40:05,899
Speaker 1: a situation where Felix and his co-conspirators invite Rasputin over

640
00:40:05,940 --> 00:40:10,120
Speaker 1: to the palace. Rasputin gets there shortly after midnight. And again,

641
00:40:10,180 --> 00:40:15,120
Speaker 1: this is from those memoirs. Servants usher the guy into

642
00:40:15,140 --> 00:40:18,440
Speaker 1: the basement. There is Felix offering him tea and cakes.

643
00:40:18,700 --> 00:40:22,600
Speaker 1: And per Felix, the cakes have been laced with cyanide.

644
00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:27,040
Speaker 1: Rasputin initially doesn't want the cakes. And Felix is like, nah,

645
00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:29,070
Speaker 1: I'm a great host. You got to try them.

646
00:40:29,530 --> 00:40:30,150
Speaker 3: He eats them.

647
00:40:31,090 --> 00:40:33,750
Speaker 1: And let's just imagine that you were trying to kill

648
00:40:33,790 --> 00:40:36,969
Speaker 1: this guy. He's snacking on the cakes and you're sort

649
00:40:36,989 --> 00:40:41,230
Speaker 1: of waiting for him to die, but he's not dying.

650
00:40:41,390 --> 00:40:44,840
Speaker 1: And then he says, Hey, bro, you got any wine?

651
00:40:45,410 --> 00:40:49,830
Speaker 3: Gosh, this reminds me of that scene in Clockwork Orange

652
00:40:49,930 --> 00:40:54,310
Speaker 3: where the writer who Alex has like wronged rescues him

653
00:40:54,510 --> 00:40:57,049
Speaker 3: from the, you know, the rain after being beaten by

654
00:40:57,070 --> 00:40:59,500
Speaker 3: the cops. And he's like realizes who he is. And

655
00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:01,860
Speaker 3: he goes, food all right.

656
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:08,370
Speaker 1: Try the wine. Yeah. Yeah.

657
00:41:08,489 --> 00:41:11,509
Speaker 3: All of its lace. He's really trying to make sure

658
00:41:11,530 --> 00:41:13,750
Speaker 3: that this dude gets his gets his dose.

659
00:41:14,210 --> 00:41:18,850
Speaker 1: Yeah. So Felix is saying for you, my guy, of course,

660
00:41:19,489 --> 00:41:23,509
Speaker 1: we we know per Felix's account, the wine was Madeira.

661
00:41:23,950 --> 00:41:28,910
Speaker 1: He also apparently poisoned that no matter to Greg Rasputin,

662
00:41:28,950 --> 00:41:33,140
Speaker 1: this guy. houses, three glasses of wine. He's still not dead.

663
00:41:33,540 --> 00:41:37,739
Speaker 1: Now it's not even surprising. Now it's getting awkward. Now

664
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:42,089
Speaker 1: we're like the office version of an assassination attempt. And

665
00:41:42,910 --> 00:41:45,150
Speaker 1: who knows what they talked about. At this point, it's

666
00:41:45,150 --> 00:41:48,589
Speaker 1: 2.30 in the morning. Felix is like, excuse me for

667
00:41:48,630 --> 00:41:52,410
Speaker 1: a sec, bro. He goes upstairs where his two co-conspirators are.

668
00:41:52,770 --> 00:41:56,450
Speaker 1: And they've probably been sitting around waiting to wonder what happens.

669
00:41:56,830 --> 00:42:00,969
Speaker 1: Felix takes a revolver. from that right-wing politician. He runs

670
00:42:01,030 --> 00:42:04,589
Speaker 1: back down the stairs. He says, Rasputin, look at that

671
00:42:04,670 --> 00:42:06,930
Speaker 1: crucifix and say a prayer. And he shoots him in

672
00:42:06,969 --> 00:42:12,270
Speaker 1: the chest. And then they drive, they steal the dude's clothing.

673
00:42:12,510 --> 00:42:15,570
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're trying to create like an alibi, I guess.

674
00:42:15,630 --> 00:42:18,130
Speaker 3: They're making it look like he, you know, walked home

675
00:42:18,190 --> 00:42:18,910
Speaker 3: and was just fine.

676
00:42:19,510 --> 00:42:25,500
Speaker 1: Yeah, right. Yeah, they drive to Rasputin's apartment and one

677
00:42:25,540 --> 00:42:28,629
Speaker 1: of them is wearing Rasputin's coat and hat. And like

678
00:42:28,650 --> 00:42:31,489
Speaker 1: you said, Noel, they're thinking, we want it to look

679
00:42:31,550 --> 00:42:34,650
Speaker 1: like this guy just went home later that night and

680
00:42:34,690 --> 00:42:39,310
Speaker 1: then disappeared. And, you know, they do that little dogleg trip.

681
00:42:39,690 --> 00:42:43,149
Speaker 1: They high five each other. Their feint is accomplished. They

682
00:42:43,210 --> 00:42:46,239
Speaker 1: return back to the palace. And Noel, as you and

683
00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:49,620
Speaker 1: I and Max were talking about off air, Felix goes

684
00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:54,810
Speaker 1: back to the basement to check the body. And Greg

685
00:42:54,930 --> 00:42:55,549
Speaker 1: leaps up.

686
00:42:55,790 --> 00:42:59,870
Speaker 3: He springs to life in classic Jason form or, you know,

687
00:42:59,950 --> 00:43:03,710
Speaker 3: Terminator form. I mean, yeah, the guy, it does appear

688
00:43:03,750 --> 00:43:06,660
Speaker 3: maybe not unkillable because we know how this goes, but, uh,

689
00:43:07,239 --> 00:43:09,900
Speaker 3: He's a tough nut to crack. And he like, you know,

690
00:43:09,940 --> 00:43:12,340
Speaker 3: I mean, can you imagine? I would have lost it.

691
00:43:12,350 --> 00:43:17,810
Speaker 3: Felix is very, very afraid. He runs upstairs like you're

692
00:43:17,830 --> 00:43:19,850
Speaker 3: supposed to do in a horror movie. Well, I guess

693
00:43:19,890 --> 00:43:21,450
Speaker 3: he is in the basement, so it's the only choice

694
00:43:21,469 --> 00:43:25,960
Speaker 3: he had. One of the co-conspirators then shoots Rasputin. This time,

695
00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:28,279
Speaker 3: if I'm not mistaken, Ben, is this the one that's

696
00:43:28,340 --> 00:43:31,259
Speaker 3: like in the noggin, like right in the head? Yeah, yeah.

697
00:43:31,500 --> 00:43:34,880
Speaker 1: This is where we get the head shot. And the

698
00:43:34,940 --> 00:43:38,009
Speaker 1: boys wrap him up in a cloth. And drive him

699
00:43:38,170 --> 00:43:42,549
Speaker 1: over to the Petrovsky Bridge. They throw his corpse in

700
00:43:42,570 --> 00:43:45,970
Speaker 1: the river. So that's where the legend about him being

701
00:43:46,150 --> 00:43:48,089
Speaker 1: under ice and coming back.

702
00:43:48,150 --> 00:43:49,839
Speaker 3: Oh, and he ultimately drowned. Right.

703
00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:54,600
Speaker 1: Right. This is crazy. So the news spreads really quickly,

704
00:43:55,340 --> 00:44:00,630
Speaker 1: probably because one of those co-conspirators is bragging about it.

705
00:44:00,680 --> 00:44:04,330
Speaker 1: He brags to two cop or one cop and two soldiers.

706
00:44:04,830 --> 00:44:08,569
Speaker 1: And he's like, hey. Don't worry about that Rasputin guy.

707
00:44:08,810 --> 00:44:10,930
Speaker 3: We killed the hell out of him.

708
00:44:10,989 --> 00:44:13,570
Speaker 1: Also, don't tell anyone, right? You said you're cool, right?

709
00:44:13,650 --> 00:44:16,870
Speaker 3: You're fine. That's fine. Snitches and stitches and all that.

710
00:44:17,469 --> 00:44:20,570
Speaker 3: The body of Grigori Rasputin was discovered on January 1st,

711
00:44:20,570 --> 00:44:22,799
Speaker 3: just a couple hundred feet downstream from the bridge where

712
00:44:22,820 --> 00:44:25,800
Speaker 3: he was dumped. The autopsy did report no signs of

713
00:44:25,820 --> 00:44:30,540
Speaker 3: poisoning or water in the lungs, and records indicate that

714
00:44:30,620 --> 00:44:34,260
Speaker 3: his cause of death was a single bullet fired into

715
00:44:34,320 --> 00:44:36,080
Speaker 3: his head at point-blank range.

716
00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:41,340
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he is buried the very next day at

717
00:44:41,380 --> 00:44:43,299
Speaker 1: a small church in South St.

718
00:44:43,430 --> 00:44:44,109
Speaker 3: Petersburg.

719
00:44:44,770 --> 00:44:47,270
Speaker 1: Not a lot of people go to the funeral. They

720
00:44:47,310 --> 00:44:51,610
Speaker 1: kept it quiet. It was just the Tsar, Tsarina, Alexandra,

721
00:44:51,630 --> 00:44:55,990
Speaker 1: of course, and some of their close friends. The Tsar also, folks,

722
00:44:56,340 --> 00:45:01,800
Speaker 1: did not invite Rasputin's wife, did not invite Rasputin's main mistress,

723
00:45:02,320 --> 00:45:06,430
Speaker 1: did not invite Rasputin's children. They wanted to build a

724
00:45:06,550 --> 00:45:11,110
Speaker 1: new church over the grave site, but you know, world war. Yeah.

725
00:45:11,170 --> 00:45:14,090
Speaker 3: Talk about like Indian burial ground vibes. I mean, like

726
00:45:14,110 --> 00:45:16,870
Speaker 3: you're really going to build a church on the grave

727
00:45:16,910 --> 00:45:20,380
Speaker 3: of an evil man. That's going to be like a demonic,

728
00:45:20,540 --> 00:45:23,520
Speaker 3: you know, unkillable man. That's pretty weird. Yeah.

729
00:45:24,100 --> 00:45:29,140
Speaker 1: Uh, as we know, uh, our buddy Nick abdicates the

730
00:45:29,180 --> 00:45:31,770
Speaker 1: throne of Russia in March of 1970.

731
00:45:31,770 --> 00:45:32,570
Speaker 3: Bad job.

732
00:45:32,870 --> 00:45:33,250
Speaker 1: Yeah.

733
00:45:33,350 --> 00:45:33,589
Speaker 3: Yeah.

734
00:45:33,710 --> 00:45:38,080
Speaker 1: Yeah. And, uh, when he did that folks dug up

735
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:40,540
Speaker 1: Rasputin's body and they burned it.

736
00:45:40,920 --> 00:45:42,980
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, that's the move. Sorry.

737
00:45:43,380 --> 00:45:44,500
Speaker 1: Just gotta be sure. Right.

738
00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:47,250
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, totally. He really is got like Jason

739
00:45:47,290 --> 00:45:49,450
Speaker 3: Voorhees vibes and definitely don't build a church on cause

740
00:45:49,469 --> 00:45:51,710
Speaker 3: that is definitely going to become an evil church.

741
00:45:52,410 --> 00:45:56,150
Speaker 1: Agreed. Like in that, uh, in that excellent film, uh,

742
00:45:56,390 --> 00:45:57,469
Speaker 1: mouth of madness.

743
00:45:57,489 --> 00:45:58,730
Speaker 3: Stick in the mouth of madness.

744
00:45:59,450 --> 00:46:00,110
Speaker 1: Sam Neill.

745
00:46:00,510 --> 00:46:02,219
Speaker 3: What a good one. That's a fun one. I highly

746
00:46:02,260 --> 00:46:03,319
Speaker 3: recommend anyone that hasn't seen.

747
00:46:04,910 --> 00:46:05,230
Speaker 1: It is.

748
00:46:05,330 --> 00:46:06,670
Speaker 3: It's John Carpenter. Yep.

749
00:46:07,230 --> 00:46:10,109
Speaker 1: Oh, it is John Carpenter. You're right. Well, these folks

750
00:46:10,150 --> 00:46:14,669
Speaker 1: didn't want Rasputin's grave to become a kind of like

751
00:46:14,950 --> 00:46:18,989
Speaker 1: rallying point. Yeah, you know, there were a lot of concerns.

752
00:46:19,050 --> 00:46:20,859
Speaker 3: Let's go to the Church of Rasputin.

753
00:46:21,180 --> 00:46:26,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, spiritual and political concerns. This officially is the end

754
00:46:26,140 --> 00:46:32,440
Speaker 1: of Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin. But just as in his time alive,

755
00:46:32,890 --> 00:46:36,510
Speaker 1: Rumors about him continue to stick around and even grow,

756
00:46:37,010 --> 00:46:40,090
Speaker 1: dare we say, metastasize in the modern day.

757
00:46:40,110 --> 00:46:43,090
Speaker 3: Ben, you got to say this one. You've been wanting

758
00:46:43,160 --> 00:46:45,500
Speaker 3: to say the * * * * stuff, man.

759
00:46:45,520 --> 00:46:47,180
Speaker 1: You want to do?

760
00:46:47,200 --> 00:46:49,800
Speaker 3: You have to. We got to end it on a

761
00:46:49,820 --> 00:46:50,359
Speaker 3: blue note.

762
00:46:50,820 --> 00:46:55,719
Speaker 1: Okay, okay. You and I both know that we are

763
00:46:55,800 --> 00:47:00,120
Speaker 1: probably going to have an interesting conversation with our IT department.

764
00:47:00,680 --> 00:47:04,359
Speaker 1: about how we have used our work laptops to put

765
00:47:04,420 --> 00:47:08,279
Speaker 1: in searches like Rasputin penis size. Let's just put it

766
00:47:08,300 --> 00:47:08,610
Speaker 1: this way.

767
00:47:08,640 --> 00:47:09,790
Speaker 3: He weren't no Napoleon.

768
00:47:10,930 --> 00:47:11,529
Speaker 1: Right.

769
00:47:11,610 --> 00:47:12,690
Speaker 3: He's a big fella.

770
00:47:13,370 --> 00:47:18,110
Speaker 1: One of the biggest rumors about Rasputin is the girth

771
00:47:18,170 --> 00:47:19,410
Speaker 1: and size of his penis.

772
00:47:19,690 --> 00:47:21,370
Speaker 3: Yeah, it would seem that is where all of his

773
00:47:21,410 --> 00:47:24,339
Speaker 3: mystical power resided, much like Samson's in his hair.

774
00:47:24,780 --> 00:47:29,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. Good comparison there. There's a long-running legend that

775
00:47:29,120 --> 00:47:33,420
Speaker 1: Greg was once rocking a member anywhere from 12 to

776
00:47:33,420 --> 00:47:38,380
Speaker 1: 13 inches in length what yeah he had a front tail.

777
00:47:38,360 --> 00:47:40,799
Speaker 3: Oh my god i had to unroll that thing like

778
00:47:40,840 --> 00:47:45,200
Speaker 3: an elephant trunk um that's wild man quite in doubt

779
00:47:45,260 --> 00:47:49,320
Speaker 3: indeed according to autopsy reports however sadly i'm gonna say

780
00:47:49,340 --> 00:47:53,359
Speaker 3: i because i want to believe right this is this

781
00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:56,900
Speaker 3: is uh to put it the ben way cartoonishly untrue.

782
00:47:56,820 --> 00:47:58,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

783
00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:00,060
Speaker 3: Six max.

784
00:48:00,680 --> 00:48:01,180
Speaker 2: Okay?

785
00:48:01,360 --> 00:48:03,260
Speaker 3: Six max.

786
00:48:03,540 --> 00:48:04,340
Speaker 4: Fully erect.

787
00:48:04,700 --> 00:48:06,700
Speaker 1: That's a quote from the autopsy.

788
00:48:06,780 --> 00:48:10,350
Speaker 3: He's a grower, not a showman.

789
00:48:10,550 --> 00:48:16,989
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The most recent, most infamous claim about

790
00:48:17,030 --> 00:48:21,200
Speaker 1: this is, okay, so for decades since the guy's death,

791
00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:26,670
Speaker 1: people would say he had a huge, Just.

792
00:48:25,890 --> 00:48:27,589
Speaker 3: Say it, Ben. Say dong.

793
00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:30,219
Speaker 1: He had a huge dong. They said he had a

794
00:48:30,260 --> 00:48:33,580
Speaker 1: huge dong and they treated it like a relic of

795
00:48:33,640 --> 00:48:37,660
Speaker 1: a saint, right? And the story was people were circulating

796
00:48:38,739 --> 00:48:44,860
Speaker 1: this dead man's dong around to use its various magical powers.

797
00:48:46,180 --> 00:48:50,800
Speaker 1: This is as recent as 1994. Someone claimed to have

798
00:48:51,360 --> 00:48:56,320
Speaker 1: Rasputin's severed penis. It was a dehydrated sea cucumber.

799
00:48:56,680 --> 00:49:01,140
Speaker 3: No. Say it isn't true, Ben. Say it isn't true.

800
00:49:01,260 --> 00:49:05,920
Speaker 1: I don't know, man. I can't imagine liking someone enough

801
00:49:06,060 --> 00:49:11,430
Speaker 1: to carry around- Their severed penis? Yeah. I don't know

802
00:49:11,450 --> 00:49:12,790
Speaker 1: if I'm the demographic for that.

803
00:49:12,810 --> 00:49:14,890
Speaker 3: I don't think anyone is, or anyone that I want

804
00:49:14,910 --> 00:49:15,589
Speaker 3: to hang out with.

805
00:49:15,690 --> 00:49:18,350
Speaker 1: That's probably why you and I hang out, because of

806
00:49:18,430 --> 00:49:22,120
Speaker 1: our agreement. Yeah, for sure. to do that. Yeah, but

807
00:49:22,500 --> 00:49:23,460
Speaker 1: we do have- I mean.

808
00:49:23,520 --> 00:49:26,470
Speaker 3: If it was your dying wish, I would do it.

809
00:49:27,160 --> 00:49:30,000
Speaker 3: I wouldn't like it, but I'd do it. Great.

810
00:49:30,300 --> 00:49:34,070
Speaker 1: We're going to get some weird messages for that one.

811
00:49:34,780 --> 00:49:39,290
Speaker 1: Dear Noel Brown, we haven't met before. However, you recently

812
00:49:39,430 --> 00:49:41,030
Speaker 1: asked about my dying wish.

813
00:49:42,530 --> 00:49:46,080
Speaker 2: And to jump in here, um, Yeah, I actually am

814
00:49:46,100 --> 00:49:48,140
Speaker 2: about to update my will. And so I'll make sure

815
00:49:48,160 --> 00:49:50,450
Speaker 2: to put that in the will. I think I might

816
00:49:50,469 --> 00:49:52,009
Speaker 2: be at a lot of risk because I might go

817
00:49:52,070 --> 00:49:53,870
Speaker 2: near the state of Ohio sometime soon.

818
00:49:54,070 --> 00:49:55,710
Speaker 3: Oh, no.

819
00:49:55,750 --> 00:49:57,630
Speaker 4: This is the most forced inclusion.

820
00:49:57,650 --> 00:49:58,950
Speaker 3: It was pretty weak, man.

821
00:49:58,969 --> 00:50:00,860
Speaker 1: There we go. You did it.

822
00:50:02,620 --> 00:50:04,180
Speaker 3: Barely. I don't know.

823
00:50:04,620 --> 00:50:07,080
Speaker 1: I mean, in with a chance. A win is a win.

824
00:50:07,219 --> 00:50:08,000
Speaker 3: An E for effort.

825
00:50:08,660 --> 00:50:13,150
Speaker 1: There we go. Which is kind of the mantra of

826
00:50:13,210 --> 00:50:13,649
Speaker 1: our show.

827
00:50:13,690 --> 00:50:15,049
Speaker 3: I was about to say the same thing, dude. This

828
00:50:15,230 --> 00:50:17,109
Speaker 3: is an E for effort kind of show. We do

829
00:50:17,150 --> 00:50:21,310
Speaker 3: do our best. And I'm glad, hey, somehow we've... I know.

830
00:50:21,590 --> 00:50:23,700
Speaker 3: I know. It is what it is. Somehow we've been

831
00:50:23,719 --> 00:50:26,799
Speaker 3: allowed to continue to middle our way through this thing

832
00:50:26,860 --> 00:50:30,899
Speaker 3: for almost a decade. So thanks to y'all out there

833
00:50:30,940 --> 00:50:35,070
Speaker 3: for keeping us... on the air, because we wouldn't, I

834
00:50:35,110 --> 00:50:36,890
Speaker 3: don't think they'd let us keep doing it if people

835
00:50:36,930 --> 00:50:37,510
Speaker 3: weren't listening.

836
00:50:38,030 --> 00:50:41,310
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe we're flying under the radar, but you are

837
00:50:41,370 --> 00:50:45,089
Speaker 1: the most important part of the show, fellow ridiculous historians.

838
00:50:45,950 --> 00:50:49,299
Speaker 1: We cannot, as you said, Noel, do this without you,

839
00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:53,399
Speaker 1: and we are, jokes aside, we are so grateful. We

840
00:50:53,600 --> 00:50:57,339
Speaker 1: also are the opposite of grateful to a guy named

841
00:50:57,400 --> 00:51:03,390
Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland, a.k.a. the Quister, just like, how long Will

842
00:51:03,450 --> 00:51:06,810
Speaker 1: his reign of infamy continue?

843
00:51:07,370 --> 00:51:11,799
Speaker 3: However long it takes to rule the world. Again, bit

844
00:51:11,820 --> 00:51:14,620
Speaker 3: of a Rasputin fellow. Playing the long game, that's strict.

845
00:51:14,960 --> 00:51:17,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, playing the long game. And he does have a

846
00:51:17,140 --> 00:51:20,969
Speaker 1: sick goatee. Big, big, big, big thanks, of course, to

847
00:51:21,130 --> 00:51:26,489
Speaker 1: our super producer. The number one enemy of Ohio, Max Williams.

848
00:51:26,730 --> 00:51:29,549
Speaker 3: Oh, he's Rizzing It Up in Ohio. Remember that one?

849
00:51:29,610 --> 00:51:30,470
Speaker 3: That kind of went away.

850
00:51:30,850 --> 00:51:31,770
Speaker 1: Wait, what was that one?

851
00:51:31,910 --> 00:51:34,100
Speaker 3: Ohio was just one of those brain rot things. It

852
00:51:34,140 --> 00:51:36,200
Speaker 3: was like the kids were talking about Rizzing It Up

853
00:51:36,260 --> 00:51:39,520
Speaker 3: in Ohio. Ohio became like a meme with the Gen

854
00:51:39,620 --> 00:51:43,500
Speaker 3: Alphas for no good reason. It's like 6-7, you know?

855
00:51:43,560 --> 00:51:45,229
Speaker 3: It's like a nonsense meme.

856
00:51:45,930 --> 00:51:46,390
Speaker 2: Oh, man.

857
00:51:46,960 --> 00:51:48,819
Speaker 3: Can I say something really quickly? This is unrelated, but

858
00:51:48,840 --> 00:51:51,960
Speaker 3: also related. On the way into Nashville driving, I hit

859
00:51:51,980 --> 00:51:53,919
Speaker 3: some really bad traffic and was able to really take

860
00:51:53,960 --> 00:51:55,660
Speaker 3: in some of the billboards on the side of the road.

861
00:51:56,120 --> 00:51:59,000
Speaker 3: And there was a series in succession of billboards for

862
00:51:59,040 --> 00:52:01,690
Speaker 3: this like gun store. And one of them just had

863
00:52:01,730 --> 00:52:06,530
Speaker 3: a machine gun on it. And it just said Riz. What?

864
00:52:06,790 --> 00:52:07,150
Speaker 1: Yeah.

865
00:52:07,250 --> 00:52:09,250
Speaker 3: And then the next one said.

866
00:52:09,670 --> 00:52:11,410
Speaker 1: Was this I-24? It was I-24.

867
00:52:11,610 --> 00:52:13,870
Speaker 3: And then the next one had a big old Glock

868
00:52:14,070 --> 00:52:17,990
Speaker 3: on it. And it said pistol maxing. With two X's.

869
00:52:19,290 --> 00:52:22,350
Speaker 3: And then another one that said, we sell flamethrowers.

870
00:52:23,710 --> 00:52:26,910
Speaker 1: Okay, I don't like the second one, but the first

871
00:52:27,010 --> 00:52:28,049
Speaker 1: one and the third are great.

872
00:52:28,230 --> 00:52:31,189
Speaker 3: No, but it's just, they're trying to co-opt brain rot

873
00:52:31,270 --> 00:52:33,570
Speaker 3: talk to sell guns to children?

874
00:52:33,590 --> 00:52:38,380
Speaker 1: I'm confused. And flamethrowers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And big thanks,

875
00:52:38,420 --> 00:52:43,000
Speaker 1: of course, to Alex Williams, who composed this slap and bop. Big,

876
00:52:43,040 --> 00:52:45,779
Speaker 1: big thanks to I don't know. We should do a

877
00:52:45,840 --> 00:52:49,020
Speaker 1: history of billboards. That might be a tough one. Big,

878
00:52:49,060 --> 00:52:52,610
Speaker 1: big thanks to the rude dudes of Ridiculous Crime. If

879
00:52:52,750 --> 00:52:54,649
Speaker 1: you dig us, you'll love them.

880
00:52:54,930 --> 00:52:58,090
Speaker 3: You sure will. And Ben, what a bang up job

881
00:52:58,170 --> 00:53:01,989
Speaker 3: on this multi-part Rasputin adventure that you've taken us on.

882
00:53:02,670 --> 00:53:04,850
Speaker 1: Oh, geez. We went there together.

883
00:53:05,130 --> 00:53:08,590
Speaker 3: We did, but you wrote the map. You set the tone.

884
00:53:09,160 --> 00:53:10,980
Speaker 1: I have never stolen a penis.

885
00:53:11,400 --> 00:53:20,740
Speaker 3: Fair, fair. We'll see you next time, folks. For more

886
00:53:20,780 --> 00:53:24,180
Speaker 3: podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

887
00:53:24,239 --> 00:53:26,300
Speaker 3: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.