Russia's Greatest Love Machine (opens in new tab)

Czarina Alexandra became hopelessly attached to Grigori Rasputin after he appeared to save the life of her hemophiliac son. By Gerard DeGroot In the dying days of the Russian Empire, highborn ladies would willingly cut the dirty fingernails of the peasant Grigori Rasputin and then sew the clippings onto their dresses like sacred talismans. He would, on occasion, take six women to a bathhouse, then order them to strip naked and wash him. “If I say, ‘Bathe my feet,’ they’ll do as I say and then...