Why Poison and Gunshots Didn’t Kill Rasputin?

Question by Lord Zane Vorhis: What reasons are given as to why poison and gunshots didn’t kill Rasputin?
His wine was poisoned and he was shot…yet he died by drowning. Why didn’t the poison or bullets kill him?

Answers and Views:

Answer by knight1192a
Actually, something I just learned is surprising. Rasputin’s autopsy turned up no signs of poison. The autopsy also suggests that he didn’t die from drowning but from a gunshot wound to the head. The guy who told the world how Rasputin died actually gave conflicting accounts of the death.

Answer by Angel
No one is really sure what really happened, but for the poison; He was supposedly fed cakes and red wine laced with cyanide. Some think he was given so much that it just made him sick. Others say he never actually ate the cakes or wine. It has also been suggested that he was immune to the poison because he had, over time, taken small amounts of poison to eventually become immune to it.

And when he was shot, his attackers thought the poison would have killed him but just to make sure they shot him in the back and then left. One of his attackers then returned to check on the body and found that he was not dead, so he was shot three more times, which still didn’t kill him. He was then clubbed until he was unconscious. His attackers then tied him and wrapped him in a carpet, then threw him in the river. Though he did escape his bonds, he drowned in the icy water.

Answer by Bilbo
He was not poisoned – only alcohol was found at the autopsy carried out at the Academy of Military Medicine.

It is likely the bullet wounds were fatal (one entered the brain, the other the liver, kidneys, and stomach) – but he was chucked in the Neva whilst still alive – as a relatively small amount of water was found in his lungs.

How Did Rasputin Develop his Immunity to Poison?

Answer by Trilo
I watched him on the series ‘most evil men in history’. they didn’t say anything about his poison immunity. Could be another myth.

Answer by King David
You can develop a resistance to many poisons by exposing yourself to small doses over time. Your body adapts to the foreign substance and has a more minor reaction each time. You can become immune to poison ivy by ingesting small amounts over time. Please do not try this at home though, it’s not worth the risk of accidentally overexposing yourself.

Answer by huh
My mother knows a poem/section of a book or something, and it’s called “Terrence, this is stupid stuff.”
At one point, it tells of the king sampling small amounts of poisons, and then taking just a bit more, and building up his immunity.
I’ll see if I can find it…

“There was a king reigned in the East:
There, when kings will sit to feast,
They get their fill before they think
With poisoned meat and poisoned drink.

He gathered all that sprang to birth
From the many-venomed earth;
First a little, thence to more,
He sampled all her killing store;

And easy, smiling, seasoned sound,
Sate the king when healths went round.
They put arsenic in his meat
And stared aghast to watch him eat;

They poured strychnine in his cup
And shook to see him drink it up:
They shook, they stared as white’s their shirt:
Them it was their poison hurt.

–I tell the tale that I heard told.
Mithridates, he died old.”

Perhaps that is how Rasputin did it?

Answer by JonahHex
Generally, the reasons given involve the supernatural. Watch the movie Hellboy for an explanation that is as good as any and more entertaining than most.

Answer by huh?
cuz he’s crazy like that

Read all the answers in the comments. What do you think?