These people made scientific discoveries, performed magical rituals, expanded the boundaries of human capabilities, were declared saints and prophets. They are very different, but they all left behind more questions than answers.
Grigory Rasputin
Nicholas II and the Empress called him "our friend", or "Gregory", and he called them "father and mother." Montenegrin princesses were brought into the family of the last Russian emperor Rasputin, who were disliked in the world for their addiction to the occult, calling them "Montenegrin spiders."
Rasputin performed a rather applied function at the court - he helped the ailing Tsarevich Alexei.
According to popular legend, he came to St. Petersburg at the personal direction of the Mother of God - as the savior of the tsarevich, and also said more than once: "I will not be - there will be no tsar" (and he was right).
All the time that Rasputin was at court, they were "digging" under him. He was a very uncomfortable figure, protesting against Russia's participation in the First World War. 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.
In the summer of 1914, the first attempt was made on Rasputin's life, on December 30, 1916, the second and last.
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Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley can be called the most successful intellectual bad guy of the 20th century. He managed to create, and most importantly - successfully sell his image and his teaching "Thelema" (Greek "will").
Aleister Crowley was initiated into several occult Orders.
In terms of his fame and the resonance that he produced on culture, he can be compared to rock stars.
In his community (Abbey of Thelema), Crowley promoted absolute liberation from bodily and spiritual bonds, members of the community performed magical rituals, indulged in promiscuous sex, and used drugs.
In his teaching, Crowley combined the teachings of various cultures, and even the Russian Khlystovism had a serious impact on his worldview and system. Crowley has been to Russia more than once and admitted that Russian culture has expanded his consciousness.
It was widely believed that one of Crowley's loyal fans was Adolf Hitler. The influence of the magician's teachings on Hitler was undeniable, but one cannot call him a direct follower. Crowley himself has repeatedly denied involvement in Hitler, calling him a magician who did not understand the true meaning of the sacrament. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, was fond of Crowley's books.
Ungern von Steinberg
The Mongols called Baron Ungern "the white god of war." He dreamed of rebuilding Genghis Khan's empire and saving the monarchy throughout the world.
Ungern said that the blood of famous warriors flows in his veins, that his ancestor was almost Attila himself. Also in the family, the baron had Teutonic knights, and, as he himself assured, a wandering knight nicknamed "Ax", a robber knight Ralph Ungern and the 17th century alchemist Wilhelm Ungern, who was called nothing else than "Satan's brother."
Roman Ungern approached questions of faith with his characteristic originality.
In the protocol of the interrogation of Baron Ungern, he calls himself a person who believes in God and the Gospel and practices prayer. This is indirectly confirmed by Ungern's letters, they often contain quotes from Scripture.
However, during a conversation with the occult writer Ferdinand Ossendowski, Ungern said: “I spent my life in battles and studying Buddhism. My grandfather joined Buddhism in India, my father and I also recognized the teaching and confessed it."
Baron Ungerni professed the Buddhist philosophical doctrine of Chittamatra, one of the Mahayana currents prevalent among Tibetan lamas. One of its provisions states that reality is a play of the mind and a figment of the imagination.
Ungern distinguished himself with valor in the First World War. They said about him: "Either he wants to die, or he is absolutely sure that bullets will not take him." For his exploits, the baron was awarded five orders, including St. George of the 4th degree with the inscription "For Bravery".
The baron did not accept the revolution, he believed in the monarchy.
The black baron dreamed of creating a state that would unite the nomads of the East from the shores of the Indian and Pacific Oceans to Kazan and Astrakhan. Its first grain was to be Mongolia, the support - China, the ruling dynasty - the Qing house, which the Chinese overthrew during the Xinhai Revolution of 1911-1913.
Ungern even succeeded in something. When Ungern took Urga on February 2, 1921, he received a lot of gold and titles: tsin-wan, prince of the 1st rank, and the highest, khan, with the title "Great Bator, commander who revived the state."
For a long time he did not sit still. In the same spring, he went north to fight the Bolsheviks and restore Genghis Khan's empire.
He was betrayed by his own officers of the Asian Division. On September 15, 1921, despite a moratorium on the death penalty, he was shot. They say that before his death, Robert-Nicholas-Maximilian von Ungern-Sternberg gnawed his Order of St. George so that it would not fall to the enemies.
Casey
Edgar Cayce can be called one of the most successful predictors of the 20th century. Rare abilities were inherited by him. Casey's mother heard voices whispering to her what to do in a given situation, and grandfather was an unusual person: “Whatever he touched, everything grew. It felt like magic. Moreover, all the wells in the area were dug where grandfather showed him, and they always found water."
Edgar had special genes. According to its researcher Sjugr, in the diviner's genetic code, two rare pigtails of double helices of DNA molecules were intertwined into a single braid, each of which was charged with paranormal information in its own way.
One of them went to Edgar Cayce from his mother, who heard whispers from the worlds beyond, and the other from his grandfather.
Being an excellent healer, a great predictor and a person known to the whole world, Edgar himself gave all his advice, diagnoses and methods of treatment in a trance state, but he himself did not remember anything from what was said. According to the recollections of his relatives, in his normal state he was not distinguished by a sharp mind, insight and education.
We must pay tribute to him, on his gift Casey did not seek to make money by refusing the most attractive scams.
Cayce gave many prophecies, he predicted both world wars, the rise of China, the findings of the Qumran scrolls, and much more. He planned his reincarnation in 2100.
Gurdjieff
In his youth, George Gurdjieff studied at the same theological seminary as Stalin. In his mature years he became one of the masters of thought in Europe. Here, the teaching of the magician and teacher was a real fashion.
Gurdjieff founded a nomadic Institute for Harmonious Development here.
The training was based on the principle of a pendulum, or rather, lifting the pendulum out of balance. Gurdjieff argued that any development begins in a struggle, that for effective growth it is required to take a person out of the comfort zone. The sleek aristocrats at the Gurdjieff Institute washed and hammered nails, and a man who feared the sight of blood was sent to slaughter cattle.
It is believed that Gurdjieff influenced the fact that Stalin changed his date of birth. The rectification of the date allowed him to take and hold on to power. Both magicians chose the same year 1879 as the year of their new incarnation. This year's totem is a spider.
In the last years of his life, Gurdjieff presented himself as a dance teacher and claimed that each of his "sacred dance" contains a secret meaning, inaccessible to the uninitiated.
There is even a version that Gurdjieff, with his ballet "Battle of the Magicians", provoked the Second World War.
One of Gurdjieff's students in the 1920s was Karl von Stülpnagel. Already in the 30s, when a former student was walking down the street, accompanied by two SS men with dogs, Gurdjieff kicked him with the words "Recollection!" (Remember!) Gurdjieff behaved like a Zen teacher beating a student with a stick to awaken. In 1944, Stülpnagel, already a colonel-general of the infantry, became a member of the conspiracy against Hitler. According to recollections, before the execution, Gurdjieff's student retained his "soldier bearing."
The magician died on October 29, 1949 in an American hospital near Paris. Got in a car accident.
Nikola Tesla
The fact that Tesla was a genius is not even discussed today. Without his inventions, we would not have electricity, fluorescent lamps, wireless communications, vertical takeoff aircraft, hovercraft … He predicted that soon the world would be filled with smart machines, robots, various sensors and autonomous systems.
Tesla invented the first radio-controlled model.
During the demonstration of the boat in one of the parks, he caused some people to panic. His invention then seemed like a miracle, but now it is believed that Tesla stood at the foundations of robotics.
In 1931, Tesla showed the public a mysterious car. The gasoline engine was removed from the luxury limousine and the electric motor was installed. Then Tesla, in front of the public, placed a nondescript box under the hood, from which two rods were sticking out, and connected it to the engine. Saying, "Now we have energy," Tesla got behind the wheel and drove off.
The car was tested for a week. She developed a speed of up to 150 km / h and, it seems, did not need to be recharged at all. Everyone asked the scientist: "Where does the energy come from?" He answered: "From the air." The mystery of that box has not yet been solved, but the first serious electric car, released recently, is not accidentally named after the great scientist.
The Death Ray is perhaps the most famous invention of the genius Serb.
Tesla invented a charged particle beam emitter after studying the Van de Graaff generator. To implement his developments, Tesla needed money, but he did not want to sell the invention into the hands of one state, reasonably believing that this could forever change the balance of power on Earth.
The inventor sent around the world proposals to design "super-weapons", suggesting to establish a balance of power between different countries and thus prevent the onset of World War II. The mailing list included the governments of the United States, Canada, England, France, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia. In the USSR, Tesla's discovery was seriously interested.
In 1937, Tesla negotiated with the Amtorg company, which represented the interests of the USSR in the United States, and gave her some plans for a vacuum chamber for his death rays. Two years later, Tesla received a check from the USSR for $ 25,000.
The Second World War confused the cards, and Tesla's tower was destroyed by the Americans themselves.
It was believed that it could be used by the Nazis. But the world has not forgotten about Tesla's development. They were used in the Star Wars (American Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) program).
Tesla seemed strange to those around him. During a walk, he could, for no reason at all, do a somersault on the spot, often walked, talking to himself. Tesla spoke eight languages fluently, was active in sports, wrote poetry, and went through an addiction to gambling, smoking and coffee. In his later years, the inventor became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine, he wrote: “It is undoubtedly much wiser to grow vegetables. I think that vegetarianism is a decent way to get rid of barbaric habits."