Anastasia

I know, I'm random.

This is what goes on in my brain and how I easily segway into different things.

For those who don't follow me on Twitter, I posted a twit about going to write and how it was late at night but it was ok because I do my best writing "in the dark of the night".

Well that phrase was awfully familiar and then it hit me! In the dark of the night is a song from Anastasia (which contrary to popular belief is NOT a Disney movie). It's one of my favorite animated films.

I haven't seen the movie or heard the songs in years.

I suddenly had the urge to watch the movie. Too bad I don't own it, or the soundtrack.

Anyway, I blipped a few of the songs and I was listening to them and thinking of the movie and of the story. It's a great story.

The movie is loosely based on the urban legend that Anastasia, youngest daughter of the last monarch of imperial Russia, survived the execution of her family.

This is what I know (which isn't much, lol) and correct me if I'm wrong: The reason for the urban legend is that when they took the family to execute, everyone was present, including Anastasia. But after everything was said and done, Anastasia's body was nowhere to be found. So it was believed that she escaped. And I think one of her siblings was said to have escaped too.

False reports of survival began to appear and women were saying they were the long lost Anastasia. I don't know her name, but I heard about one woman in particular that assured everyone she really was Anastasia and that she had faked her death and then escaped with help from a servant that saw she was still breathing. She had a legal battle for recognition which she never won but she never admitted to her lie. She died in her 80's and up until her death she still told people she was Anastasia.

Back in the 90's the grave site of the family was discovered with 9 bodies instead of the expected 11, giving more credence to the myth.

I read a report last year that said that the two missing family members were found. From what I remember of the article, a bunch of amateur archeologists found bone fragments close to the main burial site. They had re-read reports of the execution that said that two of the bodies were separated from the rest of the family and buried elsewhere.

DNA testing showed that the bones belonged to a young boy of around 13 and a girl age 16-18 which could either have been Anastasia or her sister. Either way, that's 11 out of 11. Anastasia never escaped, she was dead all along.

It's sad. It was a really romantic idea. A great urban legend.

Sorry, like I said, totally random. I'm like that. Randomly inquisitive. Don't get me started on the Lochness monster!