Gregory Rasputin. Rasputin, the “Mad Monk,” was believed to have super natural powers of healing. Prior to the Russian revolution of 1917 Rasputin had held great sway in the royal court of St Petersburg. The Tsar and his wife believed he had saved the life of their haemophilic son, and as a result were in oar of this drunken Siberian peasant. Word of his healing powers, hypnotic stare, drinking bouts and fornication with noblewoman spread through Saint Petersburg like wild fire. Both revolutionaries and those in the nobility were suspicious of Rasputin’s influence over the Tsar and his family. Several nobles including Prince Yusupov decided to assassinate the Monk. They poisoned him, shot him three times and beat his body; but still they could not kill him. They resorted to drowning him in the icy waters of the river. Rasputin certainly had a hefty constitution. He was a heavy drinker preferring Madeira wine to the more traditional Russian vodka. Perhaps it was his drinkers constitution that made him so hard to kill.