Born in Siberia in 1869, Rasputin didn't start off as the horror movie monster his contemporaries later painted him as. Smithsonian says, "He seemed destined for an ordinary life." He was a peasant with a wife and three kids. But after several months at a monastery in 1892, Rasputin found himself adhering to either a higher or lower power depending on your perspective. But his eventual nickname, "The Mad Monk," doesn't speak very highly of him.
Rasputin wasn't even a monk. According to ThoughtCo, he called himself a "Mystic." He believed that to become closer to God he had to purge himself of worldly wants through "sexual exhaustion." He drank voraciously and cavorted with prostitutes, which seem like pretty convenient ways to rid oneself of sin. Even more conveniently, the Russian royal family believed in Rasputin and his reputed ability to cure their son's hemophilia. The Mad Monk amassed mad power, serving as an advisor to the Tsarina and even wielding the power to fire cabinet members. However, rumors of his influence were greatly exaggerated, per Time, as were the rumors of Rasputin's death.
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