The tangent less than a minute in, Simon raging against night clubs being too loud - the script reads Moscow 1915 :p

35:20 "a letter written by Rasputin shortly after his death" now that's impressive

Hearing him say RaraRasputin like that, sets my brain on edge.

As someone with hemophilia, aspirin is like a boogeyman for people with clotting issues not only because of its blood thinning effect, but because that effect sticks around for so much longer than other modern medications, so if doctors were giving Alexei the stuff, the real miracle is that he remained such an active kid. Also, major props to Simon and Arnaldo for one of the best, most realistic (and pretty accurate) and non-sensationalized descriptions of Hemophilia I’ve heard on a KZfaq essay.

I've got a friend of mine who hates to have his picture taken, but is a dead ringer for Rasputin. So for many years on social media he just had various Rasputin pics as his profile pictures😂

Petition for all of Simon's more laid back channels to adopt the rant timer from BB

It's just Simon's pale disembodied head floating in the darkness while two random hands wave about in front of him...

I also believe that Rasputin had a calming effect on Alexi and the Tsarina. The more calm Alexi stayed, the lower his blood pressure and pulse. In turn, this allowed his wound(s) to heal.

"Only 6 of his sibling died", yeah, it feels weird to me every time I remember that Victorian era photographs including babies where the baby isn't extremely blurry are mostly mementos after they died Exposure time meant good baby photo = dead baby photo

I can't read or hear his name, without immediately getting the Boney M song ear wormed into my brain - so after this episode I expect it to be in there for well over a week now, thanks a lot Simon! :P

I named one of my goats Rasputin. We did it as an inside joke after learning in a homeschool history class that he smelled like a goat.

Yes, the claims about "Comte de Saint-Germain" (note: probably not a real count) would make and excellent DtU. When he first popped up in European society, he was a reputed alchemist who had successfully transmuted base metals into gold, could manufacture gems, and of course had discovered the Philosopher's Stone granting him immortality. Later on, esoteric organizations like Helena Blavatsky's Theosophists regarded him as an Adept. Her writings about him are truly unhinged, but some people believe her to this day.

8:35 - Chapter 1 - Life of grigori 21:50 - Chapter 2 - Healing powers ? 28:10 - Chapter 3 - Prophetic powers ? 37:15 - Chapter 4 - Death of grigori 45:00 - Conclusion

A few posters have already commented about the lighting but the sound volume is too low as well. Thank goodness for subtitles! Otherwise this is an excellent video as usual. Love watching Simon's videos!

Wait. At 35:31, Rasputin wrote a letter after his death? Neat trick.

Eventually all his channels will just be his head floating in the endless void. Screaming "AM I RIGHT PETER" before rambling off into tangents.

I can do it too! "But beware the shadow that creeps in the twilight, for power corrupts even the purest intentions, and the echoes of forgotten wars rumble once more. Yet, hope flickers like a candle in the storm, fueled by the courage of those who dare to listen to the whispers of the future." What does that mean? Whatever the hell you want it too whenever it could be appropriate...

Is it me, or does the lighting on these videos get darker and darker each video? At least the shots of Simon at his desk.

Rasputin was actually a Time Lord. Look at any picture of him, imagine a long multicolored scarf and a hat, possibly a robot dog. Time Lord. He was hard to kill because he had two hearts and he kept regenerating.

Praskovya Dubrovina remained in Pokrovskoye throughout Rasputin's later travels and rise to prominence, and remained devoted to him until his death. Rasputin's daughter, Maria Rasputin, emigrated to France after the October Revolution and then to United States. There, she worked as a dancer and then a lion tamer in a circus.

Several years ago, I was looking into Russian history and ran across a book where the author postulated that Rasputin was a calming effect on the Tsarina. By keeping the doctors away and keeping the heir calm it would appear to the superstitious that he had magical healing powers.

FYI they have tested Alexei, he had hemophilia B, Christmas disease, but the severity is unknown. The sister found with him, many assume Maria was also believed to be a carrier as she also died for tonsil surgery.

I was born with hemophilia and you can live quite well these days. Given that it’s a genetic desease it’s not curable but there are medicaments to supplement the factor 8 insufficiency. Most of theses are made from blood donations. So if you are ever wondering what thats used for - this ist one Application. It’s not perfect tho. Wounds still take a lot longer to heal (better than if they weren’t at all) and sometimes there is a small permanent injury. Theses stack up over time, the joints are affected the most. I.E. my ankles aren’t in the best condition. I’m able to live like normal but I can’t go for a run longer than an hour because of prior bleedings in the past

Classic Whistler. Begins the episode by trying to remember the MULTIPLE videos he has done on the same topic.......as I do EXACTLY the same thing. 😂 ❤

I’ve always been fascinated by the Romanov’s and Rasputin’s stories so I’m super excited for this!!!! Buuut Simon is currently railing against niteclubs? so… I guess we’re getting a lot of “extra material” tonight!😊 have a good y’all!

Nothing really to say, just want to feed the algorithm.

Here’s all you need to know. There lived a certain man, in Russia long ago. He was big and strong, in his eyes a flaming gold Most people look at him with terror and with fear But to Moscow chicks he was such a lovely dear He could preach the Bible like a preacher Full of ecstasy and fire But he also was the kind of teacher women would desire Ra-ra-Rasputin Lover of the Russian queen There was a cat that really was gone Ra-ra-Rasputin Russia's greatest love machine It was a shame how he carried on

🎼Ra Ra Rasputin, Russia's greatest love machine.

We love your tangents Simon❤

The fact that original documents exist from between 2 drastic government changes is rather amazing to me.

It should be said that: 1. Rasputin was probably very rough, bc of where he was from and the life he lived before ever seeing St. Petersburg. He did travel a lot, but also roughly, so that never would've refined him all that much. As for being "bad" or 'good'; who knows? A Siberian can be either to a high level, as survival demands. 2. The Russian nobility, male and female, were as vicious a pack of snakes as ever drew breath; and proximity to the autocracy was the prize they fought over most. Taking out Rasputin was not a hard choice for them, as he was in the way.

We need the "Tangent Timer" on all of Simons videos.

You should absolutely take your author up on that suggestion. St. Germaine features prominently in Umberto Eco's book, Foucault's Pendulum, which weaves together multithreaded conspiracies across time. "Thinking man's Davinci Code"

Kind of crazy how Rasputin is portrayed as a devious villain in pop culture, even though credible accounts paint him as a pretty decent fellow who was just kind of weird.

YES please re the St Jermaine stuff. SO many cults and crazy people through the last several centuries have claimed to either have been this guy OR given a "spiritual mission" by this guy.

For the early tangent about restaurants inside night clubs. I can only comment on my state. But here if you want to serve hard liquor, you have to also have a kitchen serving food.

The video i didn't realize I wanted to see till you made it!

definitely want to see the episode on St. Germaine!

I would love to see an episode about the Comte de Saint Germain.

I vote for a Ste. Germaine episode! The myth and legends are really fun.

I read Douglas Smith’s sizable book. It was very good and cleared up (to me, anyway) a lot of contradictions in the Rasputin story. Btw, there was a good made for tv movie about Rasputin starring Alan Rickman as Rasputin. He was excellent in the part (of course).

Love you Simon! Thankful for all your "fascinating tangents"

It is interesting that he presented the idea of the atmosphere being set on fire....which, was actually a concern by some scientists about detonating an atomic bomb.....though, such concerns were shown to be wildly unfounded

Fun fact: there was no fall of Russian Empire. it took short break under Lenin, because he believed in world Revolution. Then world revolution didn't materialized Stalin quickly rebuilt it with slightly different terminology and symbols, like Gensek instead of Tsar, crossed hammer and sickle instead christian cross, etc

In French we also say paysan which is directly, translated to peasant, but it’s more in terms of a farmer than peasant or someone who lives in the countryside

Regarding hemofilia, if you are on bloodthinners, you are adviced to avoid shaving with a razor since thinners also make bloodclothing harder.

So I looked up the Khlysty sect on Wikipedia, which is stated in this video as being about "finding God via sin", but on Wiki it says : "The Khlysty practiced an extreme asceticism, in order to prepare themselves for the reception of the Holy Spirit into their bodies. They abstained from alcohol, and although marriage was permitted for practical purposes, 'because the help of a wife was indispensable for a peasant', it was a sin to engage in sexual intercourse, even with one's own wife." So yeah, take that as you will I guess? Love the video at any rate! I always learn a lot, and Simon rambling in between bits of information actually really helps my small brain to process the facts better. 😁

I'm down for a St. Jermaine episode lol

Simon didn't mention that hagiography inherently means also glazing the subject and treat overly generously. Which is why I love that Aliester Crowley openly wrote an "autohagiography".

I’m very interested in the story of Saint Germain

1:24 A night club in that time was a bar or restaurant that stayed open late and had live entertainment (comedians, magicians, singers, bands, etc). Nothing like the night clubs of today that are glorified warehouses where they destroy your eardrums.

I sub to a stupid amount of your past and current channels. Gotta say though when i gotta clean or garden this channel is my first choice.

Hey Arnaldo, pitch the St Germane idea. It sounds interesting

The world renowned documentary Doctor Who confirmed Rasputin is The Master. Duh

Simon! for the first time today, I got on spotify to find a podcast about Asperger. My second action was to look for your channels. I find them, I'm excited, I start scrolling to see the abundance, I let my scrolls stop on a random point...... How porcupines mate, the bizarre sex habits of giraffes (and much, much more) ......... Simon, we need to talk

Oh, Simon. Yes, if its too loud, you're too old. Ive been Djing since 1997. I heve recently stopped because of an inner ear issue. Not from the loud music, I was born with this issue, its now 4 surgeries later since the age of 8.

"It was like fighting a boss in dead souls" -Prince Felix Yusupov

I just watched a video about the healings of the Czars son. Rasputin used treatments we still use for bleeding: apply pressure and elevate the area (all i remember at the moment)

Lately, the lighting in the shots of Simon have been so dark, not a huge fan. But really interesting video!

I had recurring nightmares about the real Rasputin as a kid growing up. His allegedly staying alive under water was too much for me to handle.

Ooo this character's a juicy one hehe. Forgot about how interesting a DTU on this guy would be so much thanks Simon and team. The laughs I get watching DTUs perks up my day hehe.

Since the Boney M topic is good, let’s do a casual criminalist episode about Ma Baker 😜

I don't remember where I heard this, but it's possible that the poisoning was indeed attempted, but the poison was put in during the baking process, which it did not survive. This would explain why there was no poison found in Rasputin's corpse. This led to the panicked shooting, followed by beating his corpse before tossing it into the river.

Love the story of Rasputin, thanks for covering it

In germany aswell, Farmer and Peasant is the same word. Bauer.

Ronaldo's script was excellent. Definitely enjoyed the deep dive and research done. The Romanov history has always been fascinating to me. Ra ra Rasputin 😂

Id argue Rasputin could have known about aspirin. Its from Willow bark and he could well have had knowledge of those old school medicines and their effects and uses, even it wasn't a concrete understanding of why it works. We know now a lot of what we called old wives tales or folk medicine, very often the plants and herbs they'd use way back when are the bases of modern medicines we still use today. There's also some thinking that if Alexei did have a milder form of the condition, it could also be exacerbated by stress, and having doctors fuss over him, give him medicine that seems to make him worse, would be very stressful, make him extremely anxious, and might be preventing him from resting and sleeping. Rasputin did appear to be one of those people who's quite magnetic and maybe he had a very calming presence, maybe his presence, or the thought (for a deeply religious, spiritual family) that he is praying and sending some sort of healing or something, was enough to abate the anxiety. And as a lot of Catholicism, early form, Orthodox etc, borrowed many traditions, rites etc from folk religions...it fits into some aspects of the belief system. And in fact many religious rites, rituals, beliefs etc just stem from some sort of...early knowledge or observation of something that would later become a scientific reality. Moses is sometimes referred to as the earliest microbiologist, obviously not literally, but...in Judaism, practies such as regular washing, not eating shellfish and pork, are all just very early insights into disease and hygiene. Its very likely, of course, that whomever decreed these rules didn't figure out germ theory thousands of years earlier than eveyrone else, but, they would have been able to observe that regular washing seems to prevent sickness, that people get sick most often from pork and shellfish. Even keeping Kosher, while there's a religious reason for it, the actual things you do, some of them are pretty much just good hygiene practice when prepping food. Clearly, someone waaaaaaaay back when had figured out some fairly involved, complex truths, again, even if not knowing WHY, they had made the connection that these activities lead to these outcomes. While we didn't formally discover that aspirin had blood thinning properties untl the 1950's or so, its not implausible Rasputin had some folkloric idea that aspirin can have that effect. And, again, he'd know prayer, particularly the kind of prayer he'd be doing, is a meditation.

The real significance of Rasputin is not in the legends and fairy tales, but rather his impact on a major World power and the subsequent ripple effects. The first World war after all was a brutal affair which could easily have gone to one side or the other. The entirety of World history since then, has been profoundly influenced by the seeds sown during that conflict. Whatever stories have been told about him, Rasputin unquestionably had a lot of influence with the Tsar and his family, influence which could easily have propelled history down a very different path than the one we are all living today. I often ponder a World where Rasputin never came to Saint Petersburg, where perhaps the Tsar clung to power, the soviet union never was, where Germany was soundly beaten and hitler died in prison. Would it be better now, or catastrophically worse? Who knows? Yet the influence of this one peasant could have made the difference.

I'd say it's probable 1915 "nightclubs" were far more 'social eating' than EDM/pop-music meatmarket

Simon is so dark, I mean that literally. Get some lights! You look like a floating head 😂

Rasputin is a very intriguing historical figure.

I've read/heard the apocryphal story many times. Fascinating person in tumultuous times.

I have personally seen people with fatal wounds to both the head and heart speaking to me arriving at the hospital 15-20 minutes after being shot. Rarely is death instant like you see in the movies.

Anybody notice that, during Simon's first tangent about nightclubs being too loud, that the volume of the episode slowly lowered?

Russia’s Greatest Love Machine!

Why do I watch these videos and answer Simon's questions as though we're having a conversation?

The Kingsmen surely have something to say about Rasputin

Rasputin funk overload is all you need to see

Simon butchering 🎶Rah-Rah-Rasputain🎶 hurts my soul

Simon big Fan..keep up the great work u do..I love the content I’ve been waiting for Rasputin…He was a beast

As a Czech, I have never heard the use of “selske” as peasant 😁 but it is cute when Simon speaks the forbidden language 😂 Rasputin was an odd character.

In the end, I thought that he was going to say that Rasputin was really Merlin. That would have been just as believable as Saint Germain being Rasputin. Lol Another well put together script. The basement gang are really starting to earn their food and water. In this case, apparently, wine. Simon's spring for the good stuff now. Lol

I read a biography of Rasputin that I recall was written in the early 1950s. It seemed fairly definitive. When I took Russian history as an elective in high school honors history it seemed that most of my classmates did reports on Rasputin or Ivan the Terrible. I decided years later to read a biography that might offer some greater clarity of his story. Not just illiteracy, but a belief that the possession, reading and interpretation of holy scripture was strictly the province of the clergy, kept the commoners from reading the Bible. What I remember from the biography was the many accounts of Rasputin fooling around with the Tsarina's ladies in waiting, as if they partied daily like Paris Hilton, Nicole Ritchie, et al. I question whether the daily court life in St. Petersburg was accurately depicted.

Rasputin got a very early preview of Antman😳😂

Cougar-bars, if you can find them are good. Mature women, reasonable music volumes.

Simon thinks a discotheque is a nightclub. That Russian restaurant/nightclub probably just had a stage, dance floor and a band. Records and thumping sound systems weren’t common until multiple decades later.

Horse theft was definitely one of the worst crimes in the old times. There's even sayings scattered throughout Europe that go along the lines of "... and they will be dealt with like they deal with hose thieves." Meaning they will receive a terrible punishment.

I live for Simons rants!!!!

Rumors of his survival have been greatly exaggerated.

Simon you're around 10 years younger than me and at times you sound like such an old man. LOL

One things for sure Boney M made this man’s story into a kickass tune.

you can't threat Hemophylia only use expensive medication but that will be provided by the government. my brother in law has it and it is passed down in somebody's bloodline. but only woman can pass it down, so when my gf was pregnant we needed to quickly check if we had a boy or girl. Because only a boy can have the disease and woman only carry the gene with them, with a certain percentage of Blood Clotting. mostly around 25%-50% instead of when you have the disease and don't have any Blood Clotting. (sorry for the poor english)

I was in Japan last summer and I walked past a nun Cafe / bar in Tokyo and they were plating the Rasputin song. All the staff were dressed as sexy nuns.

Count Dankula did a 10/10 video on this, can’t wait to hear Simon’s & the writers take.

Sounds like perfect Patreon content. Simon singing Rasputin and giving us his best disco fever.

"nowadays it's like that would be insane to have that many children die, I'd be like omg im so sorry " Well in that case there's like parents of 10.000 children you can go say sorry to whose children have been murdered in the last 4 months. Murdered by a country you have visited and have talked about without shame in your tangents. Rest in peace Hind and Sidra and the over 10.000 other children.

Literally 10 seconds after the title screen and Simon’s on a tangent. This has to be a record of some sort.

I for one need more madeira fueled scripts.

Love me some Boney M. I hope Simon listened to Rasputin after filming this video. Also Rivers of Babylon! ❤️ from 🇨🇦

As a Czech when I heard Simon say Rasputin was “selské peasant” I almost spat my dinner.