Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

Is Rasputin's Willy in a Jar?

October 2, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Rasputin’s pickled penis, supposedly floating in a jar at a St. Petersburg museum, is a myth. Biographer Douglas Smith, who spent years digging through archives across seven countries, is definitive: the autopsy found Rasputin entirely intact. The story of the severed member being smuggled to Paris as a cult object for swooning women is exactly the kind of legend that has obscured the actual man for over a century.

The Peasant Who Walked Into the Palace

Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin was born into a peasant family in western Siberia in the late 19th century. His first three decades are a near-total blank—Smith could only confirm that as a teenager he was jailed for insulting the local mayor. At some point, he had a mysterious religious experience and became a strannik, a holy pilgrim who walked from monastery to monastery across the Russian empire. He never took holy orders; he was not a monk or a priest. Instead, he absorbed scripture and theology through long conversations with clergy and fellow wanderers, developing what even his enemies acknowledged was an uncanny ability to read people.

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What you'll learn

1 (03:19) **Who Was Rasputin?** - Kate introduces the episode and guest historian Douglas Smith, who explains the real Rasputin vs. the myth.
2 (10:26) **Would the Revolution Have Happened Without Him?** - The historian explores whether Rasputin was a cause or a symptom of the monarchy's collapse.
3 (12:24) **Rasputin's Early Life and Marriage** - Details on his wife, family, and how a Siberian peasant rose to St. Petersburg high society.
4 (14:33) **The Holy Pilgrim's Journey** - How Rasputin became a *strannik* (holy pilgrim) and developed his uncanny ability to read people.
5 (18:54) **What Made Him So Entrancing?** - The energy, eyes, and charisma that captivated followers and created his celebrity brand.
6 (26:11) **The Myth of the Stinking Peasant** - Debunking the rumor that Rasputin smelled like a goat and was unclean.
7 (30:21) **The Sexual Teachings and Groping** - Rasputin's "sin to repent" theology and his reputation as a public lecher.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Was Rasputin really Russia’s greatest love machine? Did he have any healing powers? And why might his penis be pickling in a jar?

We're in the middle of some willy related episodes at the moment, and it would be wrong not to include the man, the myth, the 'mad monk'. In this episode from the early days of Betwixt, we are drawing Rasputin out of his cloud of green smoke to find out which of the things we know about him might actually be true.

Kate is joined by Douglas Smith, historian, translator and expert in Russian history, who has emerged from the archives with a new interpretation of this cartoon baddy.

*WARNING there are naughty words and discussions of sexual coercion in this episode*

Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee.

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