1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcomed, unobscured, a production of I Heart Radio and Aaron Minky. 2 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:08,959 Speaker 1: She came in with the others. It was a typical 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:12,399 Speaker 1: day for Resputant. Petitioners were lined up outside his door. 4 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:16,360 Speaker 1: They filed in with requests for prayer, for favors, for 5 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:18,920 Speaker 1: help with something in their lives that was out of reach. 6 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:22,639 Speaker 1: Maybe they wanted healing for themselves or for a wounded 7 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 1: son who had come back from the front, and she 8 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:27,880 Speaker 1: came in with them. In fact, there's no sign that 9 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:31,479 Speaker 1: Resputant thought she was any different from the rest. That 10 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:34,959 Speaker 1: is until she stepped up to Grigory. Something in her 11 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: hand caught the light, and he asked her to show 12 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: it to him. As she approached. Out from under her coat, 13 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:44,200 Speaker 1: she drew a revolver with a ferocious light in her eyes. 14 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:48,960 Speaker 1: She raised it between them and wavered. After a moment, 15 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:51,519 Speaker 1: she broke down. The point of a gun fell to 16 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 1: the floor, and she offered it to Resputant. She had 17 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 1: come to kill him, she said, and the secret police 18 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:00,960 Speaker 1: who were guarding Resputin hadn't see that she was carrying 19 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: a weapon to her meeting with him. She could have 20 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: taken his life then and there, but instead she put 21 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: the gun in his hands, and as she did, she 22 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: told him it was when she saw his eyes that 23 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,520 Speaker 1: she realized her mistake. She simply couldn't go through with it. 24 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:20,000 Speaker 1: What clearer sign could there be that Resputin was God's 25 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:24,480 Speaker 1: chosen man. He had already survived Guseva's knife attack, the 26 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 1: plot formed against him by his craven bureaucrats had failed, 27 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: and he had foiled and survived other attempts to This 28 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:36,399 Speaker 1: became just one of many. But even as attempt after 29 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: attempt came to nothing, resputants paranoia grew. Yes, the attacks 30 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:44,199 Speaker 1: were foiled, but they kept on coming, and they made 31 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,720 Speaker 1: one thing clear to Grigory. Russians, top to bottom, rich 32 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: to poor, noble to peasant, were blaming him for Russia's problems. 33 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: There were enemies abroad, but for Grigory Resputin there were 34 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: just as many enemies at home. He had taken every 35 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: opportunity to lift himself into a position of influence, and 36 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: now he found out just how much that made him 37 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:10,079 Speaker 1: a target. Sure, I called his reaction paranoia, but then 38 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 1: is it paranoia if the threats are real? Gregory couldn't 39 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:16,399 Speaker 1: help but see the knife in the dark cutting through 40 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:19,919 Speaker 1: him and through Mother Russia as well. In fact, at 41 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: some point in his final days he penned a letter 42 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:25,800 Speaker 1: to his daughter Maria that revealed just how dark his 43 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:29,640 Speaker 1: fears had become. And when that letter was finally found 44 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: and read by Maria, it's clear that at least in 45 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 1: this Gregory was not blind to what the future held. 46 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:41,320 Speaker 1: Here's Douglas Smith to read Resputant's words, My dear, A 47 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: disaster is threatening us. A great misfortune is drawing near. 48 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: The face of our lady has darkened, and the spirit 49 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:53,519 Speaker 1: is disturbed. In the calm of the night, there will 50 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: be cries and blood. In the great darkness of these griefs, 51 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:02,920 Speaker 1: I can now distinguish nothing. My hour will soon strike. 52 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 1: I am not afraid, but I know it will be bitter. 53 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:10,280 Speaker 1: I shall suffer, and it will be pardoned to men. 54 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:15,080 Speaker 1: I shall inherit the kingdom, but you will be saved. 55 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 1: The road of your sufferings is known to God. Men 56 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: without number will perish, many martyrs will die, Brothers will 57 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: be slain by their brothers. The earth will tremble, Famine 58 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: and pestilence will reign. Signs will appear to men. Pray 59 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 1: for your salvation and through the grace of the Savior, 60 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: and have her who intercedes with him, you will be 61 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: consoled Gregory. Before comfort, however, would come catastrophe. It was 62 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 1: almost as if Grigory Recipute knew that it wasn't a 63 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: matter of whether his enemies would finally end his life, 64 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 1: but when they would become the icy hand of death 65 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:04,800 Speaker 1: and drag him to his final end. This is unobscured. 66 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:30,560 Speaker 1: I'm Aaron Mackey. It was the autumn of nineteen six. 67 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:34,840 Speaker 1: Alexandra had noticed the change. Gone was the wide eyed, 68 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:38,120 Speaker 1: zealous holy man. Gone was the triumph and joy in 69 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:41,599 Speaker 1: his strong voice and his excitement at the ascent into 70 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:44,960 Speaker 1: the Tsar's palace. Gone even was the man who had 71 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 1: bragged about overthrowing his enemies and elevated his allies just 72 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:54,200 Speaker 1: the year before. Gregory resputant, was weary, cautious, and withdrawn. 73 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: Alexandra wrote to the Czar. She said Grigory was wary 74 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:01,040 Speaker 1: of going out. He was a fraid for his life. 75 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: When the Empress sent her friends and advisers to speak 76 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: with Grigory and comfort him, he only greeted them with 77 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 1: screaming fits. But Alexandra's faith was still strong. She believed 78 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:15,039 Speaker 1: that God was working to keep her advisors safe, and 79 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:18,360 Speaker 1: it was sunny weather, she wrote. Surely he should take 80 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:20,960 Speaker 1: the advice he had given to so many others over 81 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:24,760 Speaker 1: the years, go out into nature, walk the wild places 82 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: of earth, meet God there and feel restored. But that Grigory, 83 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: he was nowhere to be found. With each passing day, 84 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:36,560 Speaker 1: Rasputin of Petrograd left his old self further in the past. 85 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:39,640 Speaker 1: Gone were the years when he would travel from monastery 86 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: to monastery, meeting with monks and religious teachers. He closed 87 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:46,960 Speaker 1: in the walls around himself. He even stopped going to church, 88 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: and he drank. One friend would even remember that. It 89 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:53,359 Speaker 1: was only after spending enough time with a bottle of 90 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:56,720 Speaker 1: Madeira wine that Rasputant would begin to open up. His 91 00:05:56,839 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: fear would come pouring forth. One night between the two 92 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: years of rage and despair, he sobbed out the truth 93 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: he had lost the man he had always wanted to be. 94 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,920 Speaker 1: He called himself a devil, a demon. I am sinful, 95 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:14,240 Speaker 1: he said, where before I was holy, as they say 96 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: in Vino veritas. In those moments of honesty, Grigory knew 97 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 1: what kind of man he really was. But it wasn't 98 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:25,480 Speaker 1: only over rest sputant that storm clouds were gathering a darkness, 99 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:29,360 Speaker 1: an electric tension in the air spread over Russia throughout 100 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:33,039 Speaker 1: nineteen six. Faith in the Tsar was dying, and for 101 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: good reason. It started near the warfront, where battle lines 102 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:40,120 Speaker 1: were drawn, but it spread eastward into the Empire from there. 103 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 1: Here's Dr Joshua Sandborn to explain. If you're in the 104 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:47,080 Speaker 1: front line or near the front line, you're experiencing a 105 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: lot of personal insecurity in terms of violence. You're starting 106 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 1: to see a breakdown of social order in many of 107 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:56,560 Speaker 1: these places, led in many cases by by deserting or 108 00:06:56,600 --> 00:06:59,239 Speaker 1: off duty soldiers. But even far away from the front, 109 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 1: one of the key things that happens over the course 110 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:03,760 Speaker 1: of the war is a worsening standard of living driven 111 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:06,680 Speaker 1: by rapid inflation. This is a problem that ours government 112 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: can't get around. Since the war began, the price of 113 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:14,040 Speaker 1: everyday items like milk, potatoes, bread, butter, and fish had 114 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: been going up by four or five times their previous price. 115 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: In some cases, corrupt officials, bad coordination, and decrepit railroads 116 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 1: meant that the bodies of the wounded were being carried 117 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:28,400 Speaker 1: back to distant hospitals, and the food for both the 118 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:30,800 Speaker 1: army and the nation were often trapped on their way 119 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 1: from point A to point B. You're starting to see breadlines, 120 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: the discussion of the need for rationing, and you're starting 121 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:40,760 Speaker 1: to see the supply situation deteriorate in terms of trains 122 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:43,000 Speaker 1: being able to to ship what they need to on time. 123 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:46,040 Speaker 1: All of these things are are beginning to deteriorate, and 124 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: social relations are also becoming more and more poisonous. Ethno 125 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:52,360 Speaker 1: politics has done its role there. That's wide sort of 126 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 1: influx of refugees and the difficulties of dealing with them 127 00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: has helped poison the social relationships. The President of the 128 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:03,280 Speaker 1: Doom wrote in some cases that rotting carcasses changed course 129 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:06,080 Speaker 1: halfway through their journey. Instead of going to the markets 130 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:09,000 Speaker 1: where they could be butchered and sold to feed hungry families, 131 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:12,600 Speaker 1: they were diverted to soap factories, or, if they were 132 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: too far gone, directly to the rubbish heap. Meat that 133 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 1: was supposed to go to the front for the army, 134 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: it was piled high in mounds. There was nowhere to 135 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: store it, and it wasn't allowed to be sold. Soon enough, 136 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: the mounds began to stink, a poisonous fume and an 137 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:31,240 Speaker 1: insult to every Russian in the cities, where food was 138 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:35,319 Speaker 1: growing more scarce by the day. Who Rasputin thinks should 139 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:38,880 Speaker 1: be the minister of you know, of whatever, you know, 140 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:41,640 Speaker 1: minister of interior. Let's say that doesn't have a huge 141 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:45,080 Speaker 1: bearing on people's lives. You know, they're seeing things just 142 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:47,320 Speaker 1: just collapsing. And it's not the result of a particular 143 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:49,840 Speaker 1: minister or anything. It's the whole structure. It's it's autocracy 144 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 1: itself that has led them into this problem. One bitter 145 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:55,880 Speaker 1: irony is that the starvation of the Russian people had 146 00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:59,800 Speaker 1: weighed heavy on Rasputant's mind for years. Even as he 147 00:08:59,880 --> 00:09:03,079 Speaker 1: was bungling the appointment of government ministers, he was begging 148 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:05,960 Speaker 1: the Czar to move his Russian soldiers like the pieces 149 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 1: on a chessboard. It seems that in this case, at 150 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 1: least Grigory saw where the problems were. With so many 151 00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:14,000 Speaker 1: people lining up at his door every day to spill 152 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:16,720 Speaker 1: their problems on his desk, how could he miss it 153 00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 1: When it came to food. The cities were in crisis 154 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:23,679 Speaker 1: by now, though few people in the Imperial government wanted 155 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:27,640 Speaker 1: to hear what resputant had to say about anything moving troops, 156 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 1: moving food, moving money. After all, what did this holy 157 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:34,640 Speaker 1: man drunk every night and whispering in the Czarina's ear 158 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:38,480 Speaker 1: know about any of that. But it wasn't just the 159 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: looming specter of starvation that had the Czar's subjects stirring 160 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:44,920 Speaker 1: with anger. It was also the work they were forced 161 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:48,160 Speaker 1: to do. Strikes in the munitions factories had begun at 162 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: the end of nineteen fifteen. And then there's what happened 163 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:54,800 Speaker 1: further south, in the Central Asian steps that would later 164 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:58,920 Speaker 1: become Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. There was open bloodshed because in 165 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 1: the spring of nineteen SI team the Czar's military planners 166 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,640 Speaker 1: needed more workers at the front line, a lot more. 167 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:08,400 Speaker 1: They wanted a million men building bridges and cutting roads 168 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: for the army. The projects were a massive amount of work, 169 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:14,720 Speaker 1: so they decided to force it on the subjugated peoples 170 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 1: of the Empire. But if you think drafting a million 171 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:20,319 Speaker 1: men into forced labor at the drop of a hat 172 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:24,160 Speaker 1: sounds like a recipe for rebellion, then you've been paying attention, 173 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:27,800 Speaker 1: especially once you know that all the wealthiest Russian settlers 174 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:31,800 Speaker 1: and the imperial governors of those provinces all bribed themselves 175 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:35,280 Speaker 1: free of the draft. Soon enough, the imperial administrators found 176 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:38,720 Speaker 1: the telegraph lines cut, the railways destroyed, and the Russian 177 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:43,000 Speaker 1: garrisons under siege. Suddenly, rather than pulling men out of 178 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:46,080 Speaker 1: the Central Asian planes to serve the Russian army, the 179 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:49,440 Speaker 1: Czar was sending soldiers in, and it was a blood bath. 180 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:53,839 Speaker 1: Kurgis fighters destroyed Russian towns and killed Russian settlers. The 181 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:57,240 Speaker 1: Russian army rolled through the countryside, burning buildings and butchering 182 00:10:57,320 --> 00:11:01,280 Speaker 1: people who had been the Czar's subjects. Just before, the 183 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:03,760 Speaker 1: Russian general in command wrote that in the wake of 184 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:07,800 Speaker 1: his army he saw hundreds of unarmed and innocent Kyrgyz slaughtered. 185 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:10,920 Speaker 1: That had become another war of ethnic destruction under the 186 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:14,760 Speaker 1: Emperor's hands. By the end of nineteen sixteen, the Empire 187 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:18,800 Speaker 1: was at war anywhere and everywhere, and it was falling 188 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:26,640 Speaker 1: to pieces. They had joined the court of Ivan the Terrible, 189 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,000 Speaker 1: and something about that era had followed the yusupa family 190 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:32,839 Speaker 1: down through the years. In those early days, they had 191 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:36,679 Speaker 1: been warlord's, amassing wealth and hereditary power. They worked their 192 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:40,360 Speaker 1: way into the royal courts, they converted to Orthodoxy, and 193 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:44,800 Speaker 1: generation after generation they served the czar well. So well, 194 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:47,760 Speaker 1: in fact, that in the opening decades of the twentieth century, 195 00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:50,880 Speaker 1: as Nicholas and Alexandra took power and the currents of 196 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:53,880 Speaker 1: history channeled them to their meeting of fate, the heir 197 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:57,040 Speaker 1: of the Yusupa family was set to receive the largest 198 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:00,520 Speaker 1: fortune in all of Russia, which is to say, perhaps 199 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:04,480 Speaker 1: the largest fortune in the entire world. In fact, the 200 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:08,160 Speaker 1: stories about the family of Felix Yusupov were so extravagant 201 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:12,040 Speaker 1: and so numerous that they were almost unbelievable. Some said 202 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:15,400 Speaker 1: that the Yusupov hunting lodge, built in the fifteen hundreds, 203 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:18,560 Speaker 1: was still connected by an underground tunnel to the Kremlin 204 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:21,560 Speaker 1: in the heart of Moscow. They said that if you 205 00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:24,920 Speaker 1: wandered the underground vaults, you would not see only hordes 206 00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:28,600 Speaker 1: of medieval wealth, tapestries and ornate furniture glowing in the 207 00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:31,760 Speaker 1: low light, but that you might even stumble onto skeletons 208 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:35,960 Speaker 1: still dangling from chains along the walls. And that was 209 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:38,679 Speaker 1: the story of just one Yusupov house. But they had 210 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:42,640 Speaker 1: three palaces in Moscow alone. They had thirty seven estates 211 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:47,080 Speaker 1: scattered across the Romanov Empire. Their lands included iron mines, 212 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:50,720 Speaker 1: coal fields, oil deposits, and a string of factories that 213 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:54,360 Speaker 1: made their family indispensable players in the world of the czars. 214 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:57,360 Speaker 1: And that was the world that Felix was born into. 215 00:12:57,679 --> 00:13:02,560 Speaker 1: As Douglas Smith describes, Prince Felix use Soup was a 216 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:07,760 Speaker 1: member of one of the great aristocratic families of Russia. Uh, 217 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:14,040 Speaker 1: centuries of extreme wealth and power and prestige. Um, one 218 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:16,400 Speaker 1: of the truly one of the richest, most powerful families 219 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:20,160 Speaker 1: in Russia. He was doated on, he was spoiled, um, 220 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:24,760 Speaker 1: he was indulged. Uh. He was you know, sort of 221 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:29,560 Speaker 1: the worst, I would say, examples of the of debauched 222 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:33,240 Speaker 1: aristocracy in the early part of the twenty century. Nothing 223 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: was expected of him. It was a life of glamor 224 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:39,880 Speaker 1: of Champagne. He was a notorious boy about society if 225 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:42,440 Speaker 1: you will, at the time, who really had no purpose 226 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:45,960 Speaker 1: in life. Felix used to pav shared the preoccupations of 227 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:48,880 Speaker 1: the Russian elite. Along with his older brother, he gained 228 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:52,440 Speaker 1: a deep interest in spiritualism and the occult. For a while, 229 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:55,440 Speaker 1: they held seances in their home. They hoped to speak 230 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:58,120 Speaker 1: to the dead, to hear voices from a world beyond 231 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:02,440 Speaker 1: their own. Questions of afterlife seemed to terrify Felix, and 232 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:05,280 Speaker 1: he spent much of his time worrying about his weaknesses, 233 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:08,680 Speaker 1: the things he might lose. He and his brother even 234 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:12,400 Speaker 1: promised each other, like many spiritualist friends, that the first 235 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:15,080 Speaker 1: to die would travel back from the afterlife to appear 236 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:18,080 Speaker 1: to the other. But it wasn't just his life that 237 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:21,200 Speaker 1: Felix was worried about losing. It was also the way 238 00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:24,360 Speaker 1: his position allowed him to dominate others. In fact, it 239 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 1: seems he cared quite a lot about holding onto his 240 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:31,200 Speaker 1: prestige and power. Even as a child, Felix loved to 241 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:34,720 Speaker 1: flaunt his position to entertain himself. He would even scoop 242 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:38,800 Speaker 1: together his mother's jewels and deck himself in her finery. 243 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:41,760 Speaker 1: Then he would order the family's vast household staff to 244 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:44,880 Speaker 1: gather around him and treat him like a monarch. If 245 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:49,480 Speaker 1: nothing else, he felt born to rule. Details like that 246 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:52,840 Speaker 1: create an eerie echo of Czar Nicholas, and there are 247 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 1: others too. Felix's father was also a military man who 248 00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:59,040 Speaker 1: loved being a soldier. He tried to be a kind 249 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:03,120 Speaker 1: patriarch and there but lacked tact and subtlety. Felix was 250 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 1: never his favorite son, but eventually Felix was his only son. 251 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:11,520 Speaker 1: His parents had had doated on his older brother, who 252 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:14,040 Speaker 1: was killed in a duel, and then all of their 253 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:19,200 Speaker 1: attention and devotion, especially from his mother, Princess Zaida, were 254 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:24,120 Speaker 1: showered upon Felix. In nineteen fourteen, the chords binding Felix 255 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 1: to the house of the Romanovs were drawn even tighter 256 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:30,280 Speaker 1: when his mother arranged his marriage. His new bride she 257 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:34,040 Speaker 1: was the niece of the Czar. But now the blood 258 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:37,440 Speaker 1: and treasure of the Czar's world were pouring away, not 259 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:40,640 Speaker 1: just as the war sapped the empire strength and exposed 260 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:43,880 Speaker 1: its flaws, but at home too. The Russian people had 261 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:48,400 Speaker 1: been demanding a different world. Step by halting step, Nicholas 262 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:54,200 Speaker 1: had given ground to them. Strikes, revolutions, parliaments, and manifestos 263 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:57,480 Speaker 1: all were signs that the world Felix loved, with himself 264 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:02,040 Speaker 1: on top, was changing. In his own lifetime and in 265 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:04,800 Speaker 1: the war years, things were spinning even more out of 266 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:08,720 Speaker 1: the aristocracy's control, and the voices of the czar subjects 267 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:11,880 Speaker 1: were growing louder. The household staff of the Empire were 268 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:16,400 Speaker 1: talking back and making their feelings known, as Joshua Sanborn says, 269 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 1: above all this feeling that the rich are doing okay 270 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:21,880 Speaker 1: in this war, and the rest of us are bearing 271 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:24,720 Speaker 1: this burden, and look at how badly they're managing it. 272 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:27,680 Speaker 1: This is becoming more and more dominant among all sectors 273 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:31,240 Speaker 1: of society. Felix used upon thought, he knew who was 274 00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:33,240 Speaker 1: to blame for all of this. He thought it was 275 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:36,280 Speaker 1: clear who was behind the concessions that Nicholas had made 276 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:39,320 Speaker 1: to the people's demands, and who it was that weakened 277 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:44,160 Speaker 1: the Empire's power year over year. The peasant from Siberia, 278 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:47,840 Speaker 1: Like many of the avid readers and rumor mongers of 279 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:51,480 Speaker 1: Russian high society, Felix and his family had closely followed 280 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 1: the stories published about Grigory and his connection to the Romanovs. 281 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:58,560 Speaker 1: As we heard in the last episode, Felix and his 282 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 1: mother weren't shy about trading their theories on how Rasputin 283 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:05,840 Speaker 1: manipulated the royal family. Every new salacious story about the 284 00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:08,879 Speaker 1: Empress and her adviser would have hammered those fears and 285 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:13,480 Speaker 1: suspicions deeper, but it wasn't all just second hand, because 286 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:17,440 Speaker 1: as a wanderer of the high society salons, Felix Yusupov 287 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:21,280 Speaker 1: had his own encounters with Grigory Rasputin, and when he did, 288 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:24,000 Speaker 1: the gulf between the two men could not have been 289 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:27,320 Speaker 1: any wider. In fact, in the things he wrote about Grigory, 290 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:31,120 Speaker 1: you can almost hear the sneer behind Felix's words. When 291 00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:34,320 Speaker 1: they first met, Felix said he saw Grigory had a low, 292 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:38,679 Speaker 1: common face. The peasants features were, course, he said, and 293 00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:42,120 Speaker 1: his eyes were small, shifty, and sunken under heavy brows. 294 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:45,919 Speaker 1: Rasputant's hair was untidy, his beard was shaggy, and his 295 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:49,440 Speaker 1: clothes were common and plain. The thing that irritated Felix 296 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:54,520 Speaker 1: the most, though, was Grigory Rasputants self assurance. Simply put 297 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:57,440 Speaker 1: the man looked like a peasant. He was a peasant, 298 00:17:57,560 --> 00:17:59,800 Speaker 1: and so Felix thought that he should act like one, 299 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:03,000 Speaker 1: he should bow and scrape to the rightful rulers of 300 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:06,600 Speaker 1: the world. But Grigory did not. In fact, Felix said 301 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:08,960 Speaker 1: that just being looked at by Resputant was like being 302 00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:12,359 Speaker 1: pierced with needles, and Felix never forgot that, and he 303 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:16,200 Speaker 1: never forgave that either, But for a while Felix kept 304 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:20,159 Speaker 1: those feelings hidden. His aristocratic friends fell in with Rasputin. 305 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:22,520 Speaker 1: Some of the women in his circle even became the 306 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:25,560 Speaker 1: radical followers of the holy Man when they met with him. 307 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:29,440 Speaker 1: Felix even tagged along from time to time, But when 308 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:33,320 Speaker 1: the rumors began, they found a willing ear with Felix Yusupov. 309 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:36,720 Speaker 1: For a while, the pampered prince kept his distance. He 310 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:40,600 Speaker 1: swallowed whole the stories he heard about Alexandra, and as 311 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:44,920 Speaker 1: the days turned dark, his fear, suspicion, and resentment only grew. 312 00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:49,560 Speaker 1: When Felix's father was dismissed from his post as Governor 313 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:53,199 Speaker 1: General of Moscow, Felix knew who was to blame, and 314 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:56,160 Speaker 1: soon enough he found his thoughts turning again and again 315 00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:59,120 Speaker 1: to the peasant and to his belief that this coarse 316 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:04,040 Speaker 1: and shifty must be a German spy undermining the Empire. 317 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:07,240 Speaker 1: He started meeting with other men who felt the same, 318 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:10,280 Speaker 1: people who had spoken out against the role that Rasputant 319 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:13,159 Speaker 1: played in the royal household. But he was disappointed with 320 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:16,119 Speaker 1: everyone he found to be all bark and no bite. 321 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:19,360 Speaker 1: With each passing day that attempts to kill Rasputin came 322 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:24,040 Speaker 1: to nothing. Felix Yusupov, air to Russia's largest fortune, became 323 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:27,680 Speaker 1: more and more convinced he needed to do the job himself, 324 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:30,760 Speaker 1: until he decides that he is going to do save 325 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 1: Russia by killing Raspute and putting together a plot to 326 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:37,359 Speaker 1: do him in. And this becomes, if you will, his 327 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:40,760 Speaker 1: e day fixed, This becomes his raised on Tetra, and 328 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:44,399 Speaker 1: he devotes all of his energies and times to figuring 329 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:48,399 Speaker 1: out how he's going to do away with Rispute. And 330 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:51,440 Speaker 1: if there's one thing that a wealthy family of aristocrats 331 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,439 Speaker 1: had learned over the centuries while serving the Oars, it 332 00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:56,880 Speaker 1: was how to slide up to someone in a position 333 00:19:56,880 --> 00:20:00,920 Speaker 1: of power and win their friendship, even the real purpose 334 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:07,679 Speaker 1: was to stab them in the back. Their first meeting 335 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:11,800 Speaker 1: was a shock. Felix had hated Resputant at their earliest encounter, 336 00:20:12,119 --> 00:20:15,000 Speaker 1: but he had described him then as muscular, thin and 337 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:18,879 Speaker 1: twitching with nervous energy under his peasants attire. Now, in 338 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:21,760 Speaker 1: the fall of nineteen sixteen, Felix found himself face to 339 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:25,000 Speaker 1: face with a slumping man, puffy with drink, who was 340 00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:28,960 Speaker 1: wrapped in luxury, and when Grigory started talking, Felix says 341 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:32,119 Speaker 1: he found it all incoherent. There was a discourse on 342 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,840 Speaker 1: brotherly love. To Felix, it seemed that even Grigory didn't 343 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:39,080 Speaker 1: understand what he was saying. When a phone call came 344 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:42,359 Speaker 1: from the Imperial Palace, Grigory rushed off, but not before 345 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:44,919 Speaker 1: he said he wanted to meet together once more. It 346 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:48,320 Speaker 1: was just what Felix wanted to hear, so they started 347 00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: to meet regularly. It was the first step in Felix's plan. 348 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:55,440 Speaker 1: He would become Grigory's favorite disciple. He would learn how 349 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:58,920 Speaker 1: Gregory thought, what he liked, and what his intentions really 350 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:02,120 Speaker 1: were for the Empire. If there were any diabolical con 351 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:05,320 Speaker 1: games that Gregory was running in the shadows, Felix wanted 352 00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:08,000 Speaker 1: to ferret them out. Those were the threads he would 353 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:11,119 Speaker 1: use to weave a net around rest Sputin and drag 354 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:14,520 Speaker 1: him in. For months, he bent all of his wiles 355 00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:17,400 Speaker 1: and all of his wealth towards the plan. Rest Sputant's 356 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:20,440 Speaker 1: daughter Maria, remembered that Felix started to visit their house 357 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:23,760 Speaker 1: almost every single day. They would send everyone out and 358 00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:26,960 Speaker 1: close themselves up together to talk and Felix would beg 359 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,240 Speaker 1: for prayers of healing and words of advice. He even 360 00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:33,760 Speaker 1: ingratiated himself to the rest Mutants girls. Maria said that 361 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:36,639 Speaker 1: he became a close friend, and that made everything that 362 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:39,600 Speaker 1: came next hurt even more, because it was all just 363 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:43,600 Speaker 1: laying the groundwork for that coming December. Even as Felix 364 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:46,439 Speaker 1: became convinced that Gregory himself didn't have some sort of 365 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:49,359 Speaker 1: master plan for the throne, he held even more firmly 366 00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:52,479 Speaker 1: to his conviction that Gregory needed to be killed. In 367 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:56,560 Speaker 1: Felix's eyes, rest Sputant was a greedy and uncultured peasant, 368 00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:59,240 Speaker 1: but he had risen too high for his position to 369 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:02,000 Speaker 1: be an accident. He must be a puppet for some 370 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:05,520 Speaker 1: secret masterminds who were exploiting him from a distance to 371 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:08,960 Speaker 1: bring about the downfall of Russia. So in a way, 372 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:12,720 Speaker 1: become full circle. This was at the height of Resputants power. 373 00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 1: It was the time when the Empress paid the most 374 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:18,439 Speaker 1: attention to what Gregory advised about running the empire. He 375 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:22,240 Speaker 1: finally lived up to the rumors about meddling in imperial affairs. 376 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:26,240 Speaker 1: But even then, when a sharp eyed Felix wormed his 377 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:30,200 Speaker 1: way into Rasputant's confidence to uncover the truth about his schemes. 378 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:34,040 Speaker 1: He didn't find some evil genius. He simply uncovered a 379 00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:37,120 Speaker 1: selfish man who had improvised his way to the very 380 00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:40,880 Speaker 1: pinnacle of world power by seizing each new opportunity as 381 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:44,200 Speaker 1: it came and abandoning the best parts of himself along 382 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:47,760 Speaker 1: the way. Now that Grigory had it all, the only 383 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:50,160 Speaker 1: thing he could do with power was wielded according to 384 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:54,880 Speaker 1: his paranoia. To protect his fragile position on weighty matters. 385 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:58,400 Speaker 1: He was mostly ignored by everyone other than Nicholas and Alexandra, 386 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:02,520 Speaker 1: the rulers whose empire was slipping from their grasp. The 387 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:05,880 Speaker 1: fact that there was no grand plan, no grand conspiracy, 388 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:08,960 Speaker 1: was too much for Felix to believe. For so long 389 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:13,000 Speaker 1: Russian aristocrats had imagined that the problem with Nicholas was Alexandra, 390 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:16,639 Speaker 1: and then that the problem with Alexandra was Resputin. It 391 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:19,280 Speaker 1: wasn't hard for someone to simply bump the issue one 392 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:23,560 Speaker 1: step back. The problem with Resputin must be some undiscovered cabal, 393 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:27,720 Speaker 1: the real enemies of Russia, whoever they may be. Felix 394 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:29,720 Speaker 1: still believed that the best way to stop them was 395 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:32,159 Speaker 1: to take the tool out of their hand. So he 396 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:35,560 Speaker 1: put together a team. A wounded army officer who had 397 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:40,480 Speaker 1: been reassigned to Petrograd, a monarchist politician Vladimir Pershkevitch who 398 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:45,359 Speaker 1: had a history of organizing Eliador's terrorist fighters, decorated military 399 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:48,320 Speaker 1: doctor likewise sent home carrying wounds from the war that 400 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:54,919 Speaker 1: they blamed on Resputin Oh and one other man, Grand 401 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:58,560 Speaker 1: Duke Dmitri Pavlovitch, the Czar's cousin and one of Felix's 402 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:02,440 Speaker 1: oldest friends, also helped that as a grand Duke, Dmitri 403 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:06,840 Speaker 1: would be immune from prosecution, a member of the imperial family, 404 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:10,080 Speaker 1: a wealthy noble, too army officers, and a member of 405 00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:13,400 Speaker 1: the Duma. To Yusupov, this team felt like the perfect 406 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:17,239 Speaker 1: representatives of every part of society that matters. Together, they 407 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:20,359 Speaker 1: would kill the upstart peasant, save the Czar, and bring 408 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:23,240 Speaker 1: order back to the empire. Felix did all of this 409 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:26,800 Speaker 1: under the watchful eye of one other person, his mother. 410 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:30,200 Speaker 1: Even with a team like that, they decided to commit 411 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:33,560 Speaker 1: their killing in secret. An assault on Gregory's apartment would 412 00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:36,760 Speaker 1: be too noisy. There was too much secret surveillance, There 413 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:40,200 Speaker 1: too many observers who could report events to the Czarina, 414 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:44,080 Speaker 1: and no one wanted Alexandra setting her sights on them. 415 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:47,320 Speaker 1: Better to pick a secluded spot late into the night, 416 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:50,119 Speaker 1: the kind of place where Gregory may have wandered in 417 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:54,000 Speaker 1: one of his revelries and lost his police tail. Felix 418 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:56,439 Speaker 1: had just the spot in mind too. In fact, an 419 00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:59,320 Speaker 1: old seller in his palace was being renovated. It had 420 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:02,119 Speaker 1: to stairway, one that went up into the residence and 421 00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:05,120 Speaker 1: one that opened directly onto the courtyard. They could arrive 422 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:09,479 Speaker 1: there and slip underground before anyone had time to notice them. 423 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:12,879 Speaker 1: In preparation, Felix set about making the room comfortable. His 424 00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:16,040 Speaker 1: workmen put down carpets and hung curtains over the gray stone. 425 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:20,600 Speaker 1: Porcelain vases and oak chairs were arranged between other curios, 426 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:24,760 Speaker 1: ivory bowls, A cabinet of inlaid ebony and tiny bronze columns. 427 00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:28,359 Speaker 1: A little Italian cross carved of rock, crystal and silver 428 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:31,800 Speaker 1: was put on display. The red stone mantel piece was 429 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:35,160 Speaker 1: decorated with gold and ivory. It looked like a room 430 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 1: used every day to entertain important guests. Its fireplace was 431 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:41,920 Speaker 1: ready for the welcoming glow of flames. It was all 432 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:46,080 Speaker 1: a picture of elegance. The stage was set. Now they 433 00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:53,520 Speaker 1: just needed Grigory to arrive for his last supper. First, 434 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:56,719 Speaker 1: there was the lure. Felix knew what Grigory liked, so 435 00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:59,080 Speaker 1: he offered up his wife. That is to say, he 436 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:02,640 Speaker 1: dangled and invitation toward Resputin. The two had never spent 437 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:05,639 Speaker 1: time together. Would Grigory like to come by some evening 438 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:08,680 Speaker 1: and meet the Mrs Gregory was never going to pass 439 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:11,840 Speaker 1: up on that. Then there was the hook. With the 440 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:14,680 Speaker 1: help of two servants, Felix arranged the furniture and set 441 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:17,679 Speaker 1: out tea, biscuits, and cakes, and then brought out some 442 00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:20,600 Speaker 1: of his own wine from the cellars. Once he was 443 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:23,440 Speaker 1: satisfied with the food and drink, Felix went to church. 444 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:25,919 Speaker 1: He would later say that as he knelt in prayer, 445 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:29,320 Speaker 1: he felt a sense of divine lightness. He was happy 446 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:32,479 Speaker 1: he was about to murder a man in cold blood. 447 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:36,600 Speaker 1: The mild evening faded into darkness. A fire was set 448 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:39,400 Speaker 1: in the hearth, and around eleven the team tropped down 449 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:42,520 Speaker 1: the stairs into the cellar, where they gathered around Felix. 450 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:47,120 Speaker 1: It felt cozy and quiet, It felt ready. They still 451 00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 1: had another hour to wait, so they brewed tea and 452 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:53,440 Speaker 1: sampled cakes. The conversation was muted. They set the room 453 00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:57,040 Speaker 1: in deliberate disarray. It should look as if Felix's wife 454 00:26:57,040 --> 00:26:59,879 Speaker 1: and a group of her friends had retreated just seconds before. 455 00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:03,439 Speaker 1: When they had finished, Felix opened the ebony cabinet and 456 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,000 Speaker 1: pulled out a small box. He lifted the lid to 457 00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:09,080 Speaker 1: reveal a small pile of crystals and handed it to 458 00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:12,680 Speaker 1: the doctor. Putting on gloves, the doctor crushed them into 459 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:16,040 Speaker 1: a fine powder with a knife. He then carried it 460 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:19,480 Speaker 1: to the table. He split every pink cake and dusted 461 00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:22,719 Speaker 1: the inside with a layer of powder. The group watched 462 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:25,159 Speaker 1: him work. When he was finished, he turned to them 463 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:27,600 Speaker 1: and told them that each cake now held enough cyanide 464 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:30,880 Speaker 1: to kill several men. He carefully stripped off his gloves 465 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:33,960 Speaker 1: and threw them in the fire as they burned. The 466 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:37,040 Speaker 1: men retreated into the house to escape the smoke, and 467 00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:41,240 Speaker 1: Felix left to fetch Rasputin to break the nervous tension. 468 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,920 Speaker 1: As they waited, the men turned on a gramophone. Perishkevich 469 00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:48,160 Speaker 1: checked his revolver at a quarter to one. In clouds 470 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:51,879 Speaker 1: of cigar smoke, Perishkevich and the czar's cousin Dmitri, walked 471 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:55,359 Speaker 1: back down the stairs. They opened a second bottle of cyanide, 472 00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:58,880 Speaker 1: dissolved into a solution, and poured it into wine glasses. 473 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:02,800 Speaker 1: Over at Resputant's apartment, Felix knocked on the door and 474 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:05,280 Speaker 1: Grigory let him inside. As he fetched his hat and 475 00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:08,879 Speaker 1: coat from behind a curtain, the Resputants made recognized the 476 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:12,000 Speaker 1: visitor as Felix, the family friend. It was only as 477 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:13,919 Speaker 1: the two men headed out into the night that a 478 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:17,080 Speaker 1: prick of conscience hit Felix. He said, a feeling of 479 00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:20,160 Speaker 1: guilt swept over him, and then shame. He had been 480 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:22,960 Speaker 1: cultivating this man's trust for months, and now he would 481 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:27,040 Speaker 1: use it to take his life. But it didn't stop him. 482 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:29,919 Speaker 1: They climbed into the car together. The doctor, now dressed 483 00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:33,119 Speaker 1: in the uniform of a chauffeur, pulled out into the street. 484 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:36,440 Speaker 1: Felix checked behind them to be sure that they weren't followed, 485 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: but Rasputin had dismissed his Okrana secret service detail the 486 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:42,960 Speaker 1: night before he was with friends. They made their way 487 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,280 Speaker 1: back to the use of off palace and the room 488 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,600 Speaker 1: that waited for them. Now this is the right point 489 00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:51,240 Speaker 1: to say. There are only a few people who saw 490 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:54,600 Speaker 1: what happened next. Two of them are Felix Yusupov and 491 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:59,200 Speaker 1: his accomplice Vladimir Perishkevitch. And as Douglas Smith says, we 492 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:03,120 Speaker 1: believe FeelA his account at our own peril, You sup 493 00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:07,320 Speaker 1: As memoirs are a network of lies, the tissue of 494 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:12,320 Speaker 1: have truths and and an attempt to bade himself in glory, 495 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:16,360 Speaker 1: if you will, for a truly horrible deed. Like the 496 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:18,520 Speaker 1: only moment I think in his memoirs when he's ever 497 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:21,840 Speaker 1: really being honest is when you Supa frights that that 498 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:26,200 Speaker 1: killing Rasputin was quote unquote a cowardly crime, for that 499 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:29,720 Speaker 1: is what it was. The police reports taken from other 500 00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:32,959 Speaker 1: eyewitnesses are slim. Most of what we know comes from 501 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:35,480 Speaker 1: the men who did the deed. It makes every moment, 502 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:39,080 Speaker 1: every little detail, as suspect as it can possibly be. 503 00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:42,880 Speaker 1: But this is the way they told the story. The 504 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:46,360 Speaker 1: car pulled up into the courtyard and Felix usher Grigory 505 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:49,479 Speaker 1: down the stairs and welcomed him to the seller. They 506 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:51,840 Speaker 1: could hear the sound of Yankee Doodle playing from the 507 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:56,120 Speaker 1: gramophone upstairs, Felix explained that his wife was entertaining friends, 508 00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:58,840 Speaker 1: but she would join them soon. In the meantime, they 509 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:01,880 Speaker 1: should have a cup of tea, and they made themselves comfortable. 510 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:05,880 Speaker 1: The doctor, who had walked around to another entrance, joined 511 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 1: the men around the gramophone. Quietly, they moved to the 512 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,320 Speaker 1: top of the spiral stairway that led to the basement. 513 00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:17,320 Speaker 1: They listened intently and waited. Felix offered Grigory wine and tea, 514 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:21,040 Speaker 1: but he refused both. They fell into conversation along their 515 00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:23,880 Speaker 1: usual lines, but the more time stretched on, the more 516 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:28,040 Speaker 1: nervous Felix felt. Did Grigory suspect him? Had he done 517 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:31,840 Speaker 1: something to give himself away? But after a few more minutes, 518 00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:35,360 Speaker 1: Grigory finally relented and asked for some tea. It was 519 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,880 Speaker 1: what Felix had been waiting for. Once Rasputin was drinking, 520 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:42,560 Speaker 1: Felix offered him biscuits and then cake. Soon Rasputin was 521 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:46,560 Speaker 1: downing the cakes quickly, one after another. He expected that 522 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:49,280 Speaker 1: a single bite would kill him, but Rasputin went on 523 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:54,160 Speaker 1: talking calmly. Horror began to dawn on Felix. He turned 524 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:57,160 Speaker 1: to the wine. In his nervousness, he poured for Grigory 525 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,240 Speaker 1: into clean glasses, not the crystal that perish Bitch and 526 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:03,760 Speaker 1: Dmitri had laced with their cyanide solution. It wasn't until 527 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:06,480 Speaker 1: he opened a second bottle that Yusupov was able to 528 00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:09,440 Speaker 1: drop Resputant's glass on the ground and replace it in 529 00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:13,200 Speaker 1: Resputant's hand with a poisoned cup. This one was a 530 00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:17,200 Speaker 1: Madeira wine. He was Resputant's favorite. He sipped it slowly, 531 00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:20,760 Speaker 1: enjoying every taste. When he was done, he got up 532 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:24,040 Speaker 1: and started walking around the room. The man at the 533 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:26,840 Speaker 1: top of the stairs had heard the corks pop. Minutes 534 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:30,040 Speaker 1: passed and turned two hours. I can only imagine the 535 00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:32,200 Speaker 1: looks they gave each other as they waited to be 536 00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:35,720 Speaker 1: called down to help Felix dispose of a body. But 537 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:38,960 Speaker 1: their worry could only be matched by Felix, who continued 538 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:42,200 Speaker 1: to talk with Grigory, telling him that his wife's friends 539 00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:45,080 Speaker 1: must be leaving soon and he would go upstairs to check. 540 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:49,200 Speaker 1: Leaving Rasputin in the cellar. Felix huddled with the others 541 00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:52,360 Speaker 1: upstairs around the gramophone. He hissed out an account of 542 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,840 Speaker 1: what had happened. Rasputin had eaten the cakes he drank 543 00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:59,360 Speaker 1: the wine, and yet somehow he was still alive. Their 544 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:02,960 Speaker 1: plan had held, but they were determined that Grigory would 545 00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:06,400 Speaker 1: not leave the house alive. Felix grabbed a revolver and 546 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:09,880 Speaker 1: descended the stairs again. It was two thirty in the morning. 547 00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:14,000 Speaker 1: Back in the cellar, Felix found Gregory with his head drooping. 548 00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:16,680 Speaker 1: Another glass of wine got him back to his feet, 549 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:19,000 Speaker 1: and for a moment the two men talked about going 550 00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:21,280 Speaker 1: out on the town. Maybe they should go see the 551 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:25,080 Speaker 1: dancing girls respute and said. Felix shook his head and 552 00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:29,200 Speaker 1: walked over to the Italian crucifix. It's beautiful, he said. 553 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:32,880 Speaker 1: Gregory walked over to him and agreed. They were standing 554 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:36,240 Speaker 1: only a foot apart, and that's when Felix raised the gun, 555 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:41,840 Speaker 1: pointed it at Gregory's chest and fired. Resputant cried out 556 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:44,400 Speaker 1: and then fell down. The sound of the gun shot 557 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:46,520 Speaker 1: brought the rest of the men flooding into the room. 558 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:49,120 Speaker 1: They gathered around him while he twitched on the carpet 559 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,800 Speaker 1: until he lay still. The doctor leaned over and declared 560 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:56,479 Speaker 1: him dead. The shot had killed him. They rolled him 561 00:32:56,520 --> 00:33:00,240 Speaker 1: off the carpet and on to bare stone. The army 562 00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:03,160 Speaker 1: officer took Resputant's hat and coat and put them on. 563 00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:05,959 Speaker 1: He would leave the use of off palace looking like 564 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:10,280 Speaker 1: Gregory to anyone watching. The doctor and Dmitri went with him. 565 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:12,680 Speaker 1: Now it was just two of the conspirators left in 566 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:16,560 Speaker 1: the palace, and Perishkevitch made his way upstairs. Just as 567 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:20,520 Speaker 1: Felix was about to follow, he noticed something. Resputants left 568 00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:25,120 Speaker 1: eyelid began to quiver. Felix froze, and then slowly walked 569 00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:29,240 Speaker 1: back and leaned over Grigory's face. That's when Resputant's eyes 570 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:33,520 Speaker 1: flew open. He moaned something between a growl and a scream, 571 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:36,840 Speaker 1: and then rose up from the stone floor, clawing and 572 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:40,120 Speaker 1: grasping at the air. His hands caught Felix. The two 573 00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:43,600 Speaker 1: men struggled until Felix freed himself and ran for the stairs, 574 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:47,160 Speaker 1: calling for Poorshkevitch, but he could hear that Resputin was 575 00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:49,600 Speaker 1: moving behind him. When they got back to the cellar, 576 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:52,040 Speaker 1: guns drawn, it was just in time to see that 577 00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:54,800 Speaker 1: Resputant had reached the door that led to the courtyard. 578 00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:59,520 Speaker 1: Roaring like an animal, he disappeared up the stairs. The 579 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:02,320 Speaker 1: killers gave chase when they burst out the door, they 580 00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:06,120 Speaker 1: saw powdery snow falling all around them and ahead. Rasputant, 581 00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:09,839 Speaker 1: stumbling into a run, headed away into the darkness. He 582 00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:12,760 Speaker 1: was nearly at the palace gates and the street beyond. 583 00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:17,160 Speaker 1: Poorashkevitch raised his revolver and fired two shots. When he 584 00:34:17,200 --> 00:34:20,080 Speaker 1: could see that both missed, he took off running. The 585 00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:24,160 Speaker 1: wounded man was too slow. As he reached him, Perishkevitch 586 00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:27,120 Speaker 1: fired again. This time the bullet hit Rasputan in the 587 00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:29,880 Speaker 1: back and dropped him to the ground. In a moment, 588 00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:34,279 Speaker 1: Parishkevitch was on him. He flipped Grigory over, pointed the 589 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:43,120 Speaker 1: gun at his head, and pulled the trigger. Poorishkevitch found 590 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:46,440 Speaker 1: Felix in the bathroom. He was in hysterics, hunched over 591 00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:49,560 Speaker 1: the sink, spit hanging from his lips. It took a 592 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:52,440 Speaker 1: few minutes for him to recover. By then, the Yusupa 593 00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:55,600 Speaker 1: family servants had dragged Gregory's body back down the stairs 594 00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:59,000 Speaker 1: into the cellar. Perashkevitch would later say that when Felix 595 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:01,120 Speaker 1: went down to see the body again, he flew into 596 00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:04,160 Speaker 1: a frenzy and attacked Rasputant's head and face with a 597 00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:07,160 Speaker 1: rubber club. It took members of the household staff to 598 00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:10,680 Speaker 1: restrain Felix and drag him away. Felix was escorted to 599 00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:15,160 Speaker 1: his bed, where he collapsed. The rest was up to Perishkevitch. 600 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:17,759 Speaker 1: He ordered the servants to wrap Grigory's body in a 601 00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:20,319 Speaker 1: blue cloth and bound it with a cord while he 602 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:23,800 Speaker 1: waited for the other conspirators to finish burning resputants clothes 603 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:26,759 Speaker 1: and then circle back around. When they finally pulled up 604 00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:30,000 Speaker 1: to the door, still exulting from Grigory's death, they saw 605 00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:33,000 Speaker 1: the look on Perishkevitch's face and realized that things had 606 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:36,480 Speaker 1: gone terribly wrong while they were away, so they moved quickly. 607 00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:39,480 Speaker 1: The four of them dragged rasputants corpse into the car 608 00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:41,880 Speaker 1: to the waiting chains that were meant to weigh the 609 00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:44,720 Speaker 1: body down. But as they piled in and were pulling 610 00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:48,000 Speaker 1: away from the Yusupov Palace, Paraskevich looked back and noticed 611 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:51,160 Speaker 1: that Rasputants, galoshes and his heavy coat were still in 612 00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:54,680 Speaker 1: the car. The other men explained they had followed the plan. 613 00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:58,360 Speaker 1: They took Resputants closed to the hospital train at Warsaw station, 614 00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:00,759 Speaker 1: where it would look like he was to ride out 615 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:03,840 Speaker 1: of town, and there the train stove was already blazing, 616 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:07,480 Speaker 1: lit by Parishkevitch's wife. The only problem had been that 617 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:11,319 Speaker 1: the clothes didn't fit. Rather than destroying the evidence, they 618 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:13,560 Speaker 1: had just carried it all back out again, and now 619 00:36:13,600 --> 00:36:17,640 Speaker 1: they were carrying them alongside Rasputant's body. The car crawled 620 00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:20,240 Speaker 1: through the streets. They were afraid of driving too fast 621 00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:23,520 Speaker 1: and attracting attention, but eventually they cleared the city to 622 00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:26,920 Speaker 1: the northwest and made it to their destination, the Bullshoy 623 00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:30,399 Speaker 1: Petrovsky Bridge. Beneath them, a branch of the Nevka River 624 00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:33,880 Speaker 1: flowed nearly invisible through a large hole in the ice. 625 00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:37,080 Speaker 1: In a rush, the four men jumped out of the car. 626 00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:40,680 Speaker 1: They dragged rasputants body to the guardrail, lifted him over 627 00:36:40,719 --> 00:36:43,640 Speaker 1: the edge, and let him go. The body of the 628 00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:47,440 Speaker 1: Siberian holy Man fell into the dark water and vanished. 629 00:36:48,480 --> 00:36:51,200 Speaker 1: Only then did the killers realize they had forgotten to 630 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:54,440 Speaker 1: attach the weights and chains to his bundled body. They 631 00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:57,640 Speaker 1: scrambled to grab them from the car. Hurriedly, they threw 632 00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:00,520 Speaker 1: the chains down into the dark hole after him. They 633 00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:03,520 Speaker 1: hoped that somehow it would catch him and drag him down. 634 00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:07,439 Speaker 1: One chain they wrapped around his coat. Like everything else 635 00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:11,080 Speaker 1: about their plan, it was poorly thought through and carelessly 636 00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:14,800 Speaker 1: carried out. In the mad scramble, one of them spotted 637 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:17,680 Speaker 1: a boot still sitting in the car's back seat. In 638 00:37:17,719 --> 00:37:20,439 Speaker 1: a rush to flee the scene, they flung it over 639 00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:23,600 Speaker 1: the side, Confident that they had saved the Czar and 640 00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:26,560 Speaker 1: pulled the parasite from the body of Holy Russia. The 641 00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:30,120 Speaker 1: killers left back into the car, slammed the doors, and 642 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:37,200 Speaker 1: sped away into the darkness. Grigory Resputant was gone. That's 643 00:37:37,239 --> 00:37:41,240 Speaker 1: it for this week's episode of Unobscured. Stick around after 644 00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:44,319 Speaker 1: this short sponsor break for a preview of what's in 645 00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:51,240 Speaker 1: store for next week. People started coming to their apartment. 646 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:53,720 Speaker 1: They started to line up at the door as usual, 647 00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:57,200 Speaker 1: bringing their pain, their needs, their desires, but there was 648 00:37:57,239 --> 00:38:00,480 Speaker 1: no sign of Grigory to meet them. So Maria put 649 00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:02,680 Speaker 1: in the call to her friends of the Empress, and 650 00:38:02,719 --> 00:38:06,920 Speaker 1: they promptly relayed the message to Alexandra. Grigory it seemed 651 00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:10,719 Speaker 1: was missing. After that, Maria called the woman who had 652 00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:14,479 Speaker 1: introduced Resputant and Felix use of POV. Together, they tried 653 00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:17,840 Speaker 1: to get in touch with Felix. After a few tries, 654 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:20,240 Speaker 1: they had him on the phone, but as Maria watched 655 00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:22,840 Speaker 1: them talk, she saw something come over the woman's face. 656 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:25,839 Speaker 1: By the time they ended the call, Maria could tell 657 00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:29,160 Speaker 1: she was deeply upset. Felix had sworn that he had 658 00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:32,440 Speaker 1: not seen Gregory the night before. He had not picked 659 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:34,600 Speaker 1: him up, much less hosted him at the use of 660 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:37,360 Speaker 1: haf Palace. That was all he had to say, and 661 00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:40,439 Speaker 1: then he hung up. The two looked at each other. 662 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:44,640 Speaker 1: One thing was clear, Felix was lying, and with Grigory missing, 663 00:38:45,000 --> 00:39:00,560 Speaker 1: they began to suspect why. Unobscured was aided by me 664 00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:04,400 Speaker 1: Aaron Manky and produced by Matt Frederick, Alex Williams, and 665 00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:08,320 Speaker 1: Josh Thaine in partnership with I Heart Radio, with research 666 00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:12,360 Speaker 1: by Sam Alberty, writing by Carl Nellis, and original music 667 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:16,600 Speaker 1: by Chad Lawson. Learn more about our contributing historians, source 668 00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:19,920 Speaker 1: materials and links to our other shows over at grimm 669 00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:25,160 Speaker 1: and mild dot com, slash Unobscured, and as always, thanks 670 00:39:25,200 --> 00:40:05,520 Speaker 1: for listening. Three Pas