WEIRD STUFF :: Rasputin and My Mom

When I was like 8 or 9, I got real big into paranormal literature. I don't mean like Goosebumps - I'd go to the library and check out all kindsa textbooks and glossaries and collected essays dealing with real life weird stuff: ghosts, aliens, monsters, folklore, et al. The ratio of probability from leprechauns to Loch Ness, the difference between trolls and goblins, the myths and facts of Vlad the Impaler - this was all more intellectually stimulating than whatever school was feeding me at the time, and has proven to be entirely more useful in my adult life. 

It was rare that I could actually find one of these books for purchase. And of the few I acquired, I thankfully (and purposefully) managed to hang onto this one: Mysterious Powers, a first edition from 1975.

Dealing largely with ESP, telekinesis, and mind powers in general, it's really an area in which I've never had a ton of interest. But I've hung onto it for however many decades, specifically for the short passage concerning Rasputin. 

In a chapter titled "Three Modern Magicians" we get brief summary of the life (and totally awesome death) of Grigori Rasputin and his powers as a fortuneteller and healer, which made him extremely popular with Russian royalty. But more than that, the author is most excited to drive home the details of Rasputin's debaucherous lifestyle - deliberately incorporating this photo of the holy man surrounded by some female comrades. 

Seated immediately to his right is his daughter, Maria, but it's seriously implied that Rasputin probably nailed all these broads at some point. And under normal circumstances I'd say good for him and his 13 inches of mysticism, except there's something specifically and thoroughly off-putting about this picture, and it stood out to me immediately. 

This photo was taken at my grandmother's apartment in 1981. My mother is seated second from the left. I chose this picture because of the angle and the lighting and her age at the time to help better illustrate what I think is an arresting and mysterious physical similarity...

This example cannot truly do justice to this weirdness. You sorta had to've known her and been aware of her facial expressions to appreciate the full impact of the plain truth that the woman in the Rasputin photograph looks exactly like my mom. I showed the book to family members, neighborhood kids, even to her, just to get the same reaction of shock & awe and to confirm what was obvious to me.

I've seen things like this before: old black & white photos of people that vaguely resemble current celebrities and it's good for a giggle. Except 1. this is hardly a vague resemblance - this is doppelgänger shit, and so 2. it wouldn't be as alarming were it not tied into some sinister soothsayer from a century ago. 

I can't really assign any kinda meaning to it. Rasputin could predict the future with great accuracy and he was able to heal the infirm simply through the power of suggestion - but I'm not sure how any of that amalgamates with the theory of reincarnation or whatever it is that's going on here. Astral projection? Time travel? Mom didn't have any answers; no past life recognition or any incarnation awareness. Though she herself seemed to have a second sight in certain situations, and she certainly could act as a healer as any competent mother could. But if we're acting under the assumption that this isn't some incidental graphic illusion and that there actually is some sorta metaphysical wizardry going on here, I've certainly never been able to decipher the sings - particularly the happenstance that this weird ass book published in the U.K. found its way to me over 30 years ago and doesn't seem to wanna die. There's been adequate balance in my life, thus I can discredit any potential blessing or curse, and if it were ever any kinda omen or message, I can't hear it. So for now, its sole purpose is that which befalls all things that exist or have ever existed throughout the history of the entire universe: it's on the internet.

- Paul