Reconstruction of the face from the skull, or the method of anthropological reconstruction of the appearance on a craniological basis, of famous (and not only) historical characters is a favorite pastime of anthropologists. Not so long ago, scientists presented to the public their vision of the appearance of Tutankhamun. It is difficult to judge the degree to which the results of the reconstruction correspond to the true appearance of the heroes of the past. Sometimes even the objects of reconstruction themselves turn out to be not who they were mistaken for. But it's always interesting to look at them. Let's get acquainted with historical figures that have already sunk into oblivion, but look like living ones.

In 2003, Egyptologist Joanne Fletcher identified the mummy KV35YL as Nefertiti, the "main consort" of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the XVIII dynasty Akhenaten. At the same time, its appearance was reconstructed. However, in 2010, as a result of DNA research, it turned out that the remains did not belong to Nefertiti, but to another "second half" of Akhenaten, but concurrently to his sister. True, maybe she was the wife of another pharaoh - Smenkhkara. However, Egyptologists agree that the remains belong to the mother of Tutankhamun.

2. British scientists with the help of a virtual autopsy recreated the appearance of Tutankhamun - the pharaoh of the XVIII dynasty of the New Kingdom, who ruled Egypt in 1332-1323 BC.

Scientists believe that Tutankhamun suffered from genetic diseases, as well as malaria, which may have caused his early death: the pharaoh died at the age of 19. Half of the men living in Western Europe are descendants of the Egyptian pharaohs and, in particular, the relatives of Tutankhamun, scientists say. The common ancestor of the ruler of Ancient Egypt and European men with haplogroup R1b1a2 lived in the Caucasus about 9.5 thousand years ago. The carriers of the "pharaonic" haplogroup began their migration to Europe about 7 thousand years ago.

3. The Apostle Paul is a major figure in world history, one of the authors of the New Testament and one of the founders of Christianity.

Saint Paul lived in the years 5–67 AD. Paul founded numerous Christian communities in Asia Minor and the Balkan Peninsula. In 2009, for the first time in history, a scientific study was carried out on the sarcophagus located under the altar of the Roman temple of San Paolo fuori le Mura. Fragments of bones were found in the sarcophagus, which were examined using carbon-14 by experts who did not know about their origin. According to the results, they belong to a person who lived between the 1st and 2nd centuries. This confirms the indisputable tradition according to which the remains of the apostle Paul are concerned.

4. King Richard III, reconstructed from the remains found in the fall of 2012 under a parking lot in Leicester.

Richard III is the last representative of the male plantagenet line on the English throne, reigning from 1483 to 1485. It was recently revealed that Richard III died on the battlefield after dismounting and losing his helmet. Before his death, the English king received 11 wounds, with nine blows to the head. The absence of wounds on the bones of the hands suggests that at the time of his death, the monarch was still in armor. Richard III was killed at the Battle of the Bosphorus while fighting the challenger to the throne, Henry Tudor (future King Henry VII).

5. The remains of the creator of the medieval heliocentric picture of the world, Nicolaus Copernicus, were discovered in Frombork Cathedral (present-day Poland) in 2005. In Warsaw, at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, computer face reconstruction was performed.

In 2010, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry assigned names, and in 2011 the designations of the elements were officially approved: darmstadtium, roentgenium and copernicium (or Copernicus), with numbers 110, 111 and 112, respectively. Initially, the 112th element, Copernicium, named after Nicolaus Copernicus, was proposed the symbol Cp, then it was changed to Cn.

6. In 2008, Scottish anthropologist Caroline Wilkinson reconstructed the appearance of the great 18th century German composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

Bach's remains were exhumed in 1894, and in 1908 sculptors first tried to recreate his appearance, guided, however, by the well-known portraits of the composer. Critics of the early 20th century were dissatisfied with this project: they argued that the bust could just as well represent, for example, Handel.

7. Reconstruction of the face of William Shakespeare made from the death mask of the English poet and playwright.

The hypothesis of endless monkeys, which sooner or later will print the artistic creation of William Shakespeare, was tested by American programmer Jesse Anderson. The monkey program managed to print Shakespeare's poem A Lover's Complaint in a month. True, the attempt to test the hypothesis on live monkeys failed. In 2003, a keyboard connected to a computer was placed in a cage for six macaques at the Peyton Zoo (UK). The monkeys typed five pages of rambling text and broke their keyboard a month later.

8. In 2007, Italian scientists from the University of Bologna reconstructed the appearance of the great Italian poet at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, Dante Alighieri.

Dante Alighieri, according to some scientists, could suffer from narcolepsy - a disease of the nervous system, accompanied by bouts of drowsiness and sudden falling asleep. These conclusions are based on the fact that Dante's Divine Comedy reproduces the symptoms of narcolepsy with great accuracy, as well as the often accompanying cataplexy, that is, a sudden loss of muscle tone.

9. Perhaps this is what Henry IV looked like - the king of France, the leader of the Huguenots, killed by a fanatic Catholic in 1610.

In 2010, forensic experts led by Philippe Charlier determined that the surviving mummified "head of Henry IV" is genuine. On its basis, in February 2013, the same scientists presented a reconstruction of the external appearance of the king. However, in October 2013, another group of geneticists questioned the authenticity of the remains of the monarch of the Bourbon dynasty.

10. In 2009, the appearance of Arsinoe IV, the younger sister and victim of Queen Cleopatra, was reconstructed. Arsinoe's face was recreated according to the measurements taken from her skull, which was lost during the Second World War.

Arsinoe died in 41 BC. According to the ancient Roman historian Josephus Flavius, she was executed in Ephesus on the orders of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, who saw her half-sister as a threat to her power.

11. The appearance of Saint Nicholas was reconstructed according to the data of an Italian professor of anatomy, obtained in the 1950s during the restoration in the Basilica of Saint Nicholas in the city of Bari.

In Christianity, Nicholas of Mirliki is revered as a miracle worker and is considered the patron saint of sailors, merchants and children.

What does it mean to be famous? For example, Chesley Sullenberger was ranked second in the 2009 Top 100 Most Influential People for a successful crash landing in which no one was injured. But time passes, and all these rating names are erased and dissolved behind millions of the same rating names. But there are ten people that are known about in every part of the globe. They knew about them, they know and will know about them. And we invite you to remember these ten people in the Top of the Greatest People of All Time. The names are listed in ascending order, from tenth to most important, first.

Greatest people of all time. Top 10. Sir Isaac Newton

If you rank people by query in Google, then Albert Einstein would be in tenth place; in one month, the query "Albert Einstein" gains up to 6.1 million search queries. But there are many more books written about Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein is unlikely to ever be able to defeat him in this sense. Sir Isaac Newton discovered the Law of Attraction, coined the term "gravity", invented a reflector telescope, defeated the Roman Catholic Church by justifying geocentrism and determined that any, even the smallest object in the Universe moves. In his spare time, Newton explored the principles of optics. Lived a long life and died at the age of 84.

Greatest people of all time. Top 10. Leonardo da Vinci

In the case of one of the greatest men in history, Leonardo da Vinci, a Google search can be quite imprecise. And if you only enter the name "Leonardo", then Google will give you a bunch of links to ninja turtles and people who drowned on the Titanic. But if you type the full name of Leonardo da Vinci, you will immediately find that he is known to the whole world. A person who could do anything. And all the books about him and his inventions are perhaps the largest and most interesting summaries in the world. He was an engineer, inventor, anatomist, architect, mathematician, geologist, musician, cartographer, botanist, writer, and sculptor. He invented the rifle, although it did not immediately look like what we used to call a rifle, but Leonardo's rifle shot at a distance of 1000 yards. He invented the parachute 300 years before it was officially invented. He invented the hang glider 400 years before his official invention. The hang glider of Leonardo was based on the work of bird wings. He was able to imagine what a helicopter should be, but he could not understand what kind of force it should be to lift such a structure into the air. He invented the tank, which was a structure driven by a crankshaft. The structure could move and shoot simultaneously and in different directions. He invented scissors by bolting two knives together.

Along with incredible inventions for their time, Leonardo was a great artist and sculptor. The work "Mona Lisa" is a masterpiece of world portrait painting, around which controversy continues to this day.

Greatest people of all time. Top 10. William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is a person whom we repeat every day, quoting and not even suspecting that it was he who invented this phrase or expression. It's amazing, remember how often you say something like this: "all that glitters is not gold", "a pitiful sight", "food of the gods", "all is well that ends well." All this is Shakespeare. And of course, the most famous phrase of the maestro: "to be or not to be." Egil Aarvik, spokesman for the Nobel Prize Committee, once said that Shakespeare would be the only person who could apply for the Nobel Prize more than once.

Speaking about the work of Shakespeare, we can hardly say anything unambiguously about him. About his life, about him as a person. We only know that he was a simple actor, and then suddenly he suddenly became the greatest playwright. This gives rise to the spread of an incredible amount of rumors and whether Shakespeare was Shakespeare.

Greatest people of all time. Top 10. Adolf Gitler

Everyone knows who Adolf Hitler is. We all know that this man is the root cause of World War II. He provoked the war for two main reasons, so to speak. First: to become the most powerful person on Earth and in history, and to rule the world. The second reason: to create as much pain as possible against everyone whom he personally considered guilty of placing Germany in an humiliating and humiliating position after the First World War.

Hitler was an excellent orator, and he knew what his compatriots wanted to hear and knew that they felt the same feelings towards Germany's offenders as he did himself. Consequently, it was not difficult to raise people to "great" achievements and conquests.

The Second World War became the most difficult, bloodiest war in the history of mankind. It led to the greatest human losses. The estimated death toll from World War II is 71 million. And Hitler is to blame for this. And during the war, he knew about it. He knew that all these victims were his victims, and he was glad of it. He was proud of it. Today Hitler in the hearts and minds of people is on the same list with the "Devil" and "Satan".

Greatest people of all time. Top 10. Apostle Paul of Tarsus

In sixth place in our ranking of the Greatest People of All Time. The top 10 is the Apostle Paul of Tarsus. The Apostle Paul is considered the most important person in the spread of Christianity, its ideology and principles. The Apostle Paul is considered the most important Christian apologist.

The Apostle Paul is the most famous and revered apostle of all of Christ's disciples.

Greatest people of all time. Top 10. Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)

It might surprise you, but most of the people who google for the Buddha's name are not Buddhists. In the Western Hemisphere and throughout Europe, Buddhism is not as widespread as in the Eastern part of Nepal and India. It is known that Buddha was a mortal man who attained nirvana and spiritual awakening at the age of 35. To achieve nirvana and spiritual knowledge, Buddha sat in meditation for 49 days under a tree, until he attained knowledge of what needs to be done in order to end human suffering. Having learned the truth, Buddha carried his teachings to people so that all doers could free themselves from the torments in their lives. This path is called the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of: right view, right intention, right concentration, right speech, right action, right lifestyle, right effort, and right mindfulness. According to the Buddha's teachings, if you adhere to these simple rules, you can become a truly happy person who does not depend on anything.

Greatest people of all time. Top 10. Moses

Moses is revered by all the major modern religions of the world, and Judaism, and Christianity, and Islam. He is the greatest prophet of the Upper Testament, the liberator of the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. Moses was a lawgiver, a judge, a person through whom the Lord transmitted his basic 10 commandments.

According to legend, Moses was found as a baby in a basket, floating on the Nile and was raised as the son of Pharaoh. There is no, by and large, accurate information about Moses, except that he grew up in a noble Egyptian family, and one day he saw how an Egyptian mocked his Jewish slave, killed an Egyptian and fled into the desert. Here, in the wilderness, God first appeared to Moses as a burning bush. This turning point inspired Moses, and he was inspired to go to Pharaoh, asking him to release all the Jews, otherwise the Lord will send such torments to the Egyptians that they will not stand. And so it happened. Pharaoh resisted, and the Lord showed his strength and sent unthinkable torments to the Egyptian people. Ultimately, Pharaoh was forced to release Moses along with all the Jews.

Moses led the Jews through the deserts for 40 years, so that they would all be reborn from slavery, here the Lord transmitted his basic laws through Moses.

Greatest people of all time. Top 10. Abraham

Bronze of our rating The Greatest People of All Time. Biblical Abraham ranks top 10. And this is no coincidence. Abraham is considered one of the first prophets of the Middle East, the first to preach one God. According to legend, God makes a covenant with Abraham, because he was very pious, unshakable in his faith in God. This covenant is marked by circumcision. Before that, the Lord tested the faith of Abraham, demanding that he kill his son Isaac and Abraham had already raised a knife over his son when the Lord said that it was a test.

Greatest people of all time. Top 10. Mahomet

For non-Muslims, Mohammed founded Islam. For Muslims, Islam already existed, but Mohammed revived it in the hearts of people. Muslims believe that the Lord transmitted through Mohammed the basic philosophical principles and revelations that he wrote down in the main religious book of Muslims - the Koran.

Mohammed was born in Saudi Arabia and had 13 wives. Not a single exact image of Muhammad has survived, because he is considered the last prophet sent by Allah in order to teach people the basic path of peace and righteousness, and that he is too holy for all of us to see his face. During his life, Mohammed managed to unite the entire Middle East under the name of one God - Allah.

Greatest people of all time. Top 10. Jesus of Nazareth

It would be incomprehensible if the first place in the Greatest People of All Time Top 10, took some other person. Naturally - this is Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Christ.

We all know the story of the life of Jesus, who was born to a virgin, died at the age of 33, that he was crucified on the cross, that he died and three days later was resurrected, ascended into heaven, to the abode of His Father and now sits at the right hand of God.

All religions of the world accept Jesus Christ, both believers and atheists know about him and his life. Perhaps, some of the most primitive peoples and tribes living in the Amazon delta or in the impenetrable forests of Brazil do not know the name of Christ. The main book that tells about the life and deeds of Christ is the New Testament Bible, we note that 25 million copies of the Bible are sold annually around the world.

So even if you are not a believer, you will have to accept the fact that the most famous person in the whole world is Jesus of Nazareth.

Our century has come quite recently, and therefore we cannot yet say who the outstanding personalities of Russia of the 21st century are. However, an analysis of the past will give us the opportunity to understand what truly great we can expect from Slavic blood. After all, as you know, who knows the past, knows the future.

Sergey Yesenin

A contemporary of Mayakovsky and his complete opposite as an author. A subtle and sincere lyricist, who at the same time managed to remain an eternal bully and a teenager. He raised the topic of the struggle of the individual with the environment, love for nature and, of course, for women.

Vladimir Vysotsky

Bard, author of many songs and poems. The greatest poet His hoarse voice seemed to let his voice down under the legacy left to him by all the outstanding personalities of Russia in the 20th century. He raised the themes of the internal and external struggle of a person, his place in society and in the world in general. A subtle satirist.

Bulat Okudzhava

Also a poet who independently performed his poems in the form of songs. Touching and honest, he wrote poetry filled with some kind of cosmic reverie. He often used metaphors, creating deep images with the help of them. His songs had a parable form, which was once even (good-naturedly) parodied by Vysotsky.

Filmmakers

Lev Kuleshov

Thanks to him, the outstanding personalities of Rossiistal appeared in the cinema. The discoverer of the "Kuleshov effect" - "two frames that are independent in meaning, glued together, create a new meaning." In fact, the founder of the montage story.

The first person who used color in cinema in Russia was a red flag in the same "Battleship Potemkin".

Mikhail Romm

Director of documentary ("Ordinary Fascism") and fiction ("Nine Days of One Year") films. One of the most important film theorists of the mid-20th century. VGIK teacher and author of many scientific papers.

Andrey Tarkovsky

A man who manages to shoot a true art house in the USSR. His tapes are filled with personal meanings, full of metaphors and subtle hints. He shot "Solaris" and "Stalker", most often making his works like such allegorical parables.

Painters

Andrey Rublev

Contemporary outstanding personalities of Russia among artists would have been impossible without the person who laid the foundation of Russian painting.

Each of his paintings is like a photograph taken during the culmination of the event that he was trying to capture. His paintings are infinitely alive and may not always reveal their true meaning at first glance. The main thing in Repin is the emotions of the characters and the details.

Kazimir Malevich

The great modernist, known as the author of the now household name "Black Square". I was busy looking for new forms and ways of expressing color in painting. His paintings are full of abstractions and geometric shapes, attempts to invent something new in his art. I tried to find "absolute peace" in the paintings.

Composers

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

One of the first Russian professional composers, Tchaikovsky made a true craft out of music (in the good sense of the word). He was a man who simply could not help but write music.

The extremely diverse topics raised in all possible genres make Pyotr Ilyich a composer capable of reaching out to the heart of every person. His most famous works are the ballets The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov

He believed that the main goal of music is to unite the listener with the true nature of the world, which can only be expressed in such a melodic form.

Dmitry Shostakovich

A composer with a difficult fate, who at first worked in the style of modernism and actively experimented in all genres. However, “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District” did not like Stalin personally, and then brutal repressions followed.

To save himself and his family, Shostakovich had to create in a purely "state" way. However, his music really proves that even an ordinary listener hears the subtext put by the composer. A lot of subtle moods and meanings that he put into symphonies No. 5 and No. 7, everyone understood then.

Scientists

Mikhail Lomonosov

The first Russian encyclopedist, "a man of all sciences." He brought Russian studies to the level of Europe. He made many discoveries in almost every modern science for him.

As an academician and one of the most active personalities of his time, he was an icon for the Russian Enlightenment.

Dmitry Mendeleev

Already become a legendary Russian chemist, who managed to create a periodic system of chemical elements, which significantly pushed world science forward.

The existence of such a table clearly proves the harmony of nature and its clear system.

One of the greatest discoveries in which, in fact, all modern natural science rests, belongs to him. He also worked in other sciences, where he also made various discoveries.

Ivan Pavlov

The first Nobel laureate from Russia. Pavlov made the most important discovery in biology and physiology - it was he who found out the presence of reflexes in the body of living beings. And it was this Russian scientist who divided them into conditional and unconditional.

Pavlov devoted his whole life to this discovery, and even dying, he continued to dictate his feelings to his disciples - so that science could better know the state of death.

Athletes

Ivan Poddubny

Legendary Russian wrestler, "hero of the XX century." In ten years, I have never lost. He became wrestling champion five times.

Garry Kasparov

Chess player with multiple awards, Chess Oscars and the title of world champion. He became famous for his extremely successful combination of various tactics and strategies and the ability to emerge from a seemingly completely failed game as a winner.

"Kasparov's openings" are now the names for unexpected and non-standard moves at the beginning of the game.

Lev Yashin

Soviet goalkeeper, famous for his absolute "impenetrability". Considered the best goalkeeper of the 20th century. He was repeatedly recognized as the best goalkeeper in the USSR. Winner of the Golden Ball.

Conclusion

As we can see, outstanding personalities in the history of Russia have become extremely significant for all of humanity. Chekhov can easily be called the best playwright in the world, and Mendeleev - the greatest chemist. All these people are important not only for Russia, but for every area in which they became famous.

It remains to be hoped that the outstanding personalities of Russia in the 21st century will, just like their predecessors, mean something for the whole world, and not just for their homeland.

In the history of Russia, there are enough mysterious personalities, whose biography to this day is fraught with many mysteries. Even during their lifetime, there were a variety of rumors about them, the number of which increased sharply after their death. This post will remind us of the most mysterious personalities in our history.

False Dmitry I (? -1606)

The most mysterious people in Russian history
The preconditions for the appearance of False Dmitry I in Russia are associated with the mysterious death under unexplained circumstances of the son of Ivan the Terrible, Tsarevich Dmitry. The impostor, posing as a miracle of the heir who escaped death, chose the right time: taking advantage of the turmoil in the country, False Dmitry took possession of the Moscow throne for almost a year.
The most popular version of the origin of False Dmitry I, which is still supported by many historians, was put forward by the government of Boris Godunov. In his correspondence with the Polish king Sigismund Godunov identified the impostor with the fugitive monk of the Chudov Monastery, Grigory Otrepiev.
However, the historian Nikolai Kostomarov assumed that False Dmitry could be from Western Russia, being the son of a nobleman or boyar. Some researchers put forward a version that the bravery of the impostor can be explained by a sincere belief in his royal origin. He turned out to be a blind instrument in the hands of the boyars, who, having overthrown Godunov, ruined him as well.

Jacob Bruce (1669-1735)

One of the associates of Peter I, a native of a noble Scottish family, Jacob Bruce was a very outstanding personality. Statesman, diplomat, military man, scientist and engineer - he left a bright mark behind him. But he also had a reputation as a warlock, "a sorcerer from the Sukharev Tower" and the first Russian Mason.
The creation of the magical image of Yakov Bruce was largely facilitated by Russian romantic literature. Irina Gracheva, Ph.D. in Philology, writes that "judging by some data, Yakov Vilimovich possessed a skeptical rather than a mystical mindset."
Contemporaries noted that Bruce did not believe in anything supernatural. When Tsar Peter showed the Scotsman the relics of the saints, he "attributed this to the climate, to the property of the land in which they were previously buried, to the embalming of bodies and to a temperate life." Yakov Bruce should go down in the history of Russia, first of all, as a talented military engineer who was engaged in the improvement of artillery pieces and a scientist who contributed to the development of Russian science.

Monk Abel (1757-1841)

No official documents about the life of the monk Abel (in the world of Vasily Vasiliev) have survived. The only exception is the 1796 Case of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Empire, in which the monk was accused of distributing the book of his prophecies.
Historians do not question the identity of Abel, but most of them do not recognize the authenticity of the prophecies attributed to him. In particular, the Orthodox interpreter Nikolai Kaverin notes that many of Abel's predictions were constantly replenished, and this indicates the formation of the "heresy of reigning", the main sin of which is the equalization of Nicholas II and Christ.
The prophecies of Abel in the form in which they exist now with amazing accuracy predict the fate of the Russian emperors from Paul I to Nicholas II. In addition, the prophecies predict the end of the monarchy in Russia, civil and two world wars, the appearance of aircraft and underwater vehicles, as well as the use of asphyxiant gases.

Princess Tarakanova (1745? -1775)

Princess Tarakanova is one of the most famous adventurers in Europe. According to Vice-Chancellor Alexander Golitsyn, "her quirky soul is capable of great lies and deceit." She, like gloves, changed lovers, names, place of residence, each time coming up with a new story of her origin.
The princess claimed the Russian throne under the name of Elizabeth of Vladimir, posing as the daughter of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and Alexei Razumovsky.
According to historians, the decision to impersonate a grand-ducal personage is largely due to the sensational story in Europe with the imposture of Emelyan Pugachev.
Until recently, Princess Tarakanova refused to recognize herself as an "ordinary woman." According to one version, the impostor died of tuberculosis in the Peter and Paul Fortress, according to another, she died there during the flood of 1777.



Count Palen (1745-1826)

Count Peter Palen went down in Russian history, first of all, not as an excellent officer, highly advanced in military service, but as a cunning diplomat and intriguer who played a major role in the overthrow of Paul I.
For some, he is a hero who saved the Fatherland from a tyrant king, for others - Judas, who betrayed the sovereign, who trusted him infinitely.
But for most historians, Palen is nothing more than a puppet in the hands of the Russian nobility, who wanted to get rid of the unpopular courtier as soon as possible.
Some researchers are convinced that in the conspiracy against the king, organized by Palen, one should look for Masonic roots. Recently, however, the motives of Palen's actions are increasingly seen as an "English trace": perhaps this is how British diplomacy, through the count, took revenge on Paul for his alliance with Napoleon and for colonial interests in India.

Alexander I (1777-1825)

The emperor of Alexander I can be called one of the most mysterious in Russian history: he scandalously ascended the Russian throne and mysteriously left it. Publicly declaring his unwillingness to reign, Alexander I was the autocrat of Russia for a quarter of a century.
In 1825, when the health of the wife of Alexander I deteriorated, the imperial couple left for the south. After visiting the Crimea, the tsar himself fell ill, which led to his sudden death. This is what the official version says.
But there are also legends, one of which says that the emperor did not die, but faked death in order to retire from worldly affairs. According to the most common version, he went to Siberia, where, under the name of Elder Fyodor Kuzmich, he spent the rest of his days.
Of course, this version has no documentary evidence. A story appeared in the Russian émigré press that after the opening of the empty coffin of Alexander I in the presence of Alexander II, the body of a long-bearded old man was put there. However, the mystery of the victorious Tsar could be clarified by a genetic examination, which is not ruled out by the specialists of the Russian Center for Forensic Science.

Grigory Rasputin (1869-1916)

The personality of Grigory Rasputin is shrouded in so many myths and legends that it is not easy to discern a real historical character in him. In revolutionary and Soviet propaganda, the image of the "old man" was so demonized that it acquired caricature features.
Many of the accusations against Rasputin - of sectarianism, debauchery, behind-the-scenes influence on politics - were never brought to an end due to the fact that they did not receive proper confirmation. For example, Rasputin's alleged closeness to the royal family was refuted by many courtiers.
In the 1990s, it was time for the other extreme. The religious veneration of Grigory Rasputin gave rise to the idea of \u200b\u200bcanonizing the "elder" as a holy martyr. Such an initiative was categorically rejected by Alexy II, drawing attention to the "dubious morality" of Rasputin, who cast a shadow on the August family.

Nowadays, it is quite difficult to completely hide data about yourself, because it is enough to type a few words in a search engine - and the secrets are revealed, and the secrets come to the surface. With the advancement of science and the improvement of technology, the game of hide and seek is becoming more and more difficult. It used to be easier, of course. And in history there are many examples when it was impossible to find out what kind of person he was and from where. Here are some of these mysterious cases.

15. Kaspar Hauser

May 26, Nuremberg, Germany. 1828 year. A teenager of about seventeen wanders aimlessly through the streets, clutching a letter addressed to Commander von Wessenig. The letter says that the boy was taken to school in 1812, was taught to read and write, but he was never allowed to "take a step out the door." It was also said that the boy must become a "cavalryman like his father" and the commander can either accept him or hang him.

After meticulous questioning, they managed to find out that his name was Kaspar Hauser and he spent his entire life in a "darkened cage" 2 meters long, 1 meter wide and 1.5 meters high, in which there were only an armful of straw and three toys carved from wood (two horses and a dog). There was a hole in the floor of the cell so that he could relieve himself. The foundling hardly spoke, could not eat anything but water and black bread, he called all people boys, and all animals - horses. The police tried to find out where he came from and who the criminal was, what made a savage out of the boy, but this was never found out. For the next few years, some people took care of him, then others, taking him into their house and looking after him. Until December 14, 1833, Kaspar was found stabbed to the chest. Nearby was found a purple silk wallet, and in it was a note made in such a way that it could only be read in a mirror image. It read:

"Hauser will be able to describe to you exactly how I look and where I came from. In order not to bother Hauser, I want to tell you myself where I came from _ _ I came from _ _ the Bavarian border _ _ on the river _ _ I'll even tell you a name: M . L. O. "

14. Green Children of Woolpit

Imagine living in the 12th century in the small village of Woolpit in the English county of Suffolk. While harvesting in the field, you find two children huddled in an empty wolf hole. Children speak an incomprehensible language, are dressed in indescribable clothes, but the most interesting thing is their skin is green. You take them to your home, where they refuse to eat anything other than green beans.

After a while, these children - brother and sister - begin to speak a little English, eat not only beans, and their skin gradually loses its green tint. The boy falls ill and dies. The surviving girl explains that they came from Saint Martin's Land, the underground world of twilight, where they looked after their father's cattle, and then heard a noise and ended up in a wolf's den. The inhabitants of the underworld are green and dark all the time. There were two versions: either it was a fairy tale, or the children fled from the copper mines.

13. The Somerton Man

On December 1, 1948, police found the body of a man on Somerton Beach in Glenelg, a suburb of Adelaide, Australia. All the labels on his clothes had been cut off, he had no documents, no wallet, and his face was clean-shaven. It was not even possible to carry out identification by teeth. That is, there was not a single clue at all.
After the autopsy, the pathologist concluded that "death could not have occurred for natural reasons" and suggested poisoning, although no traces of toxic substances were found in the body. In addition to this hypothesis, the doctor could not suggest anything more about the cause of death. Perhaps the most mysterious thing in this whole story was that when the deceased was found a piece of paper torn from a very rare edition of Omar Khayyam, on which only two words were written - Tamam Shud ("Tamam Shud"). These words are translated from Persian as "finished" or "completed". The victim remained unidentified.

12. The Man from Taured

In 1954, in Japan, at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, thousands of passengers rushed about their business. However, one passenger did not appear to be involved. For some reason, this apparently completely normal man in a business suit caught the attention of the airport security, he was stopped and asked questions. The man answered in French, but also spoke several other languages \u200b\u200bfluently. His passport bore stamps from many countries, including Japan. But this man claimed to have come from a country called Taured, located between France and Spain. The problem was that none of the maps offered to him in this place had any Taured - there was Andorra. This fact saddened the man. He said that his country has existed for centuries and that he even has its stamps in his passport.

Discouraged airport staff left the man in a hotel room with two armed guards outside the door while they themselves tried to find more information about the man. They didn't find anything. When they returned to the hotel for him, it turned out that the man had disappeared without a trace. The door did not open, the guards did not hear any noise or movement in the room, and he could not leave through the window - it was too high. Moreover, all belongings of this passenger have disappeared from the premises of the airport security service.

The man, to put it simply, dived into the abyss and never returned.

11. Lady Granny

The 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy spawned many conspiracy theories, and one of the most mysterious details of this event is the presence in the photographs of a certain woman who was dubbed the Lady Granny. This woman in a coat and sunglasses got into a bunch of pictures, moreover, they show that she had a camera and she was filming what was happening.

The FBI tried to find her and establish her identity, but to no avail. The FBI later called on her to provide her videotape as evidence, but no one came. Just think: this woman in the daylight in full view of at least 32 witnesses (in the pictures and videos of which she got) was an eyewitness to the murder and filmed it, and yet no one could identify her, not even the FBI. She remained a secret.

10.D.B. Cooper

It happened on November 24, 1971 at Portland International Airport, where a man who bought a ticket under the name of Dan Cooper climbed aboard a plane bound for Seattle, clutching a black briefcase in his hands. After takeoff, Cooper handed a note to the flight attendant stating that he had a bomb in his briefcase and that his demands were $ 200,000 and four parachutes. The flight attendant notified the pilot, who contacted the authorities.

After landing at Seattle Airport, all passengers were released, Cooper's requirements were met and an exchange was made, after which the plane took off again. As he flew over Reno, Nevada, the calm Cooper ordered all personnel on board to stay where they were while he opened the passenger door and jumped into the night sky. Despite the large number of witnesses who could identify him, "Cooper" was never found. Only a small fraction of the money was found - in a river in Vancouver, Washington.

9.21-faced monster

In May 1984, a Japanese food corporation called Ezaki Glico faced a problem. Its president, Katsuhiza Ezaki, was kidnapped for ransom right from his home and held for some time in an abandoned warehouse, but then he managed to escape. A little later, the company received a letter stating that the products were poisoned with potassium cyanide and there would be victims if all products were not immediately withdrawn from food warehouses and stores. The company's losses amounted to $ 21 million, 450 people lost their jobs. The unknown - a group of individuals who took the name "21-faced monster" - sent mocking letters to the police, who could not find them, and even gave hints. In another message, it was said that they "forgave" Glico, and the persecution stopped.

Not satisfied with playing with one large corporation, the Monster organization has its eyes on others: Morinaga and several other product companies. They acted according to the same scenario - they threatened to poison the food, but this time they demanded money. During a failed money exchange operation, a police officer almost managed to grab one of the criminals, but still missed him. Superintendent Yamamoto, in charge of investigating this case, could not bear the shame and committed suicide by self-immolation.

Shortly thereafter, "Monster" sent his last message to the media, ridiculing the death of a police officer and ending with the words, "We are the bad guys. Which means we have more to do than bullying companies. Being bad is fun. The 21-faced monster." ... And nothing else was heard about them.

8. The Man in the Iron Mask

The "man in the iron mask" had the number 64389000, according to the prison archives. In 1669, the minister of Louis XIV sent a letter to the governor of the prison in the French city of Pignerol, in which he announced the imminent arrival of a special prisoner. The minister ordered the construction of a cell with several doors to prevent eavesdropping, to provide this prisoner with all the basic needs and, finally, if the prisoner ever spoke about anything other than that, kill him without hesitation.

This prison was famous for the placement of "black sheep" from noble families and government. It is noteworthy that the "mask" received a special attitude: his cell was furnished with good furniture, unlike the rest of the cells in the prison, and two soldiers were on duty at the door of his cell, who were ordered to kill the prisoner if he took off his iron mask. The imprisonment lasted until the prisoner's death in 1703. The same fate befell the things he used: furniture and clothes were destroyed, the walls of the cell were scraped off and washed, and the iron mask was melted down.

Since then, many historians have fiercely argued about the identity of the prisoner in an attempt to find out if he was a relative of Louis XIV and for what reasons he was in for such an unenviable fate.

7. Jack the Ripper

Perhaps the most famous and mysterious serial killer in history, first heard of in London in 1888, when five women were killed (although it is sometimes said that there were eleven victims). All victims were connected by the fact that they were prostitutes, as well as the fact that all of them had their throats cut (in one of the cases, the incision was right up to the spine). All victims had at least one organ removed from their bodies, and their faces and body parts were disfigured almost beyond recognition.

Most suspicious of all, these women were clearly not killed by a novice or hobbyist. The killer knew exactly how and where to cut, and he knew the anatomy very well, so many immediately decided that the killer was a doctor. The police received hundreds of letters in which people accused the police of incompetence, and there seemed to be letters from the Ripper himself with the signature "From Hell".

None of the myriad suspects and none of the myriad conspiracy theories have ever shed light on this case.

6. Agent 355

One of the first spies in US history, and a female spy, was Agent 355, who worked for George Washington during the American Revolution and was part of the Culper Ring spy organization. This woman provided vital information about the British army and its tactics, including plans for sabotage and ambushes, and if not for her, the outcome of the war might have been different.

Presumably in 1780, she was arrested and sent aboard a prison ship, where she gave birth to a boy, who was named Robert Townsend Jr. She died a little later. However, historians are skeptical about this story, stating that women were not sent to floating prisons, and besides, there is no evidence of the birth of a child.

5. The killer named Zodiac

Another unknown serial killer is the Zodiac. It's practically an American Jack the Ripper. In December 1968, he shot and killed two teenagers in California - right on the side of the road - and attacked five more people the following year. Of these, only two survived. One of the victims described the attacker as waving a pistol in a cloak with an executioner's hood and a white cross painted on his forehead.
Like Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac maniac also sent letters to the press. The difference is that these were ciphers and cryptograms along with insane threats, and at the end of the letter there was always a crosshair symbol. The prime suspect was a man named Arthur Lee Allen, but the evidence against him was only circumstantial and his guilt was never proven. And he himself died of natural causes shortly before the trial. Who was the Zodiac? No answer.

4. Unknown Rebel (Tank Man)

This photo of a protester face to face with a column of tanks is one of the most famous anti-war photographs and also contains a secret: the identity of this man, who is called Tank Man, has never been established. An unidentified rebel single-handedly held back a column of tanks for half an hour during the Tiananmen Square riots in June 1989.

The tank was unable to bypass the protester and stopped. This prompted Tank Man to climb onto the tank and talk to the crew through the vent. After a while, the protester descended from the tank and continued his standing strike, preventing the tanks from going forward. And then people in blue carried him away. It is not known what became of him - whether he was killed by the government or forced into hiding.

3. The woman from Isdalen

In 1970, in the Isdalen Valley (Norway), the partially burned body of a naked woman was discovered. With her were found more than a dozen sleeping pills, a lunch box, an empty liquor bottle and plastic bottles that smelled of gasoline. The woman suffered from severe burns and carbon monoxide poisoning, in addition, 50 sleeping pills were found inside her, and perhaps she received a blow to the neck. Her fingertips were cut off so that she could not be identified by her prints. And when the police found her luggage at the nearest train station, it turned out that all the labels on her clothes were also cut off.

Further investigation revealed that the deceased had a total of nine pseudonyms, a whole collection of different wigs and a collection of suspicious diaries. She also spoke four languages. But this information did not help much in identifying the woman. A little later, a witness was found who saw a woman in fashionable clothes walking along the path from the station, followed by two men in black coats, towards the place where the body was found 5 days later.

But this testimony did not help much either.

2. Grinning Man

Usually, paranormal events are difficult to take seriously and almost all of these kinds of events are exposed almost immediately. However, this case seems to be of a different kind. In 1966, in New Jersey, two boys were walking at night along the road towards the barrier and one of them noticed a figure behind the fence. The towering figure was dressed in a green suit that gleamed in the light of the lantern. The creature had a wide grin or grin and small spiky eyes that relentlessly followed the frightened boys with their eyes. The boys were then questioned separately and in great detail, and their stories coincided exactly.

After some time in West Virginia, there were again reports of such a strange Grinning Man, and in large numbers and from different people. With one of them - Woodrow Dereberger - Grinning even talked. He called himself "Indrid Cold" and asked if there were any reports of unidentified flying objects in the area. In general, made an indelible impression on Woodrow. Then this paranormal entity was still met here and there, until he disappeared with ends.

1. Rasputin

Perhaps no other historical figure can compare with Grigory Rasputin in terms of the degree of mystery. And although we know who he is and where he came from, his personality has become overgrown with rumors, legends and mysticism and is still a mystery. Rasputin was born in January 1869 into a peasant family in Siberia, and there he became a religious wanderer and "healer", claiming that a certain deity gives him visions. A number of controversial and bizarre events led to the fact that Rasputin as a healer ended up in the royal family. He was invited to treat Tsarevich Alexei, suffering from hemophilia, in which he even succeeded somewhat - and as a result acquired enormous power and influence over the royal family.

Associated with corruption and evil, Rasputin has had countless unsuccessful assassination attempts. They sent a woman to him with a knife disguised as a beggar, and she almost gutted him, then they invited him to the house of a famous politician and tried to poison him with cyanide mixed into the drink. But that didn't work either! As a result, he was simply shot. The assassins wrapped the body in sheets and threw it into the icy river. Later it turned out that Rasputin died from hypothermia, not from bullets, and was even almost able to extricate himself from his cocoon, but this time he was not lucky.


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