Anna Anderson.

  Most of us, who are a bit older, know the story of the Russian Tzar, complete with the hemophiliac son, Rasputin, the overthrow, and the disappearance of the children. 

Many of us are familiar with a woman who mysteriously appeared not long after the family disappeared.  She claimed to be the sole remaining member of the royal Russian family but at the time, no one could disprove her claim.

I remember one of my relatives talking about a news program years ago where they interviewed her on television.  She stood there claiming she was the last surviving member of that family.  They'd found Anna Anderson living a quiet life in the United States where she spoke with newsmen.  Apparently, she showed up in 1920 and 1922 making claims of being the surviving daughter of the family.

The story goes that she survived the bullets because of the jewels sewn into her corset so soldiers stabbed her with a bayonet but the blade was dull so she survived.  When the soldiers came to dispose of the bodies, she convinced a soldier to help her escape.  Eventually she ended up in Berlin but her relatives did not believe her so she tried to take her own life by jumping off a bridge.

Anna's alleged scars from the Russian secret police were said to have been caused when there was an accident at the weapons factory she worked in during World War I.  A couple of people identified her as Anastasia including the daughter of Rasputin, a German doctor who compared photographs in 1964, and a handwriting expert who identified the handwriting as identical. 

Fast forward to 1994 when two different groups did some DNA testing on a blood sample and a piece of the intestine, both fairly old but usable. The reason for this is simply that by this time Anna had died and insisted on being cremated so there was not usable DNA available for testing. The results of both tests indicated that Anna Anderson was in reality Polish.  She came from a farming family and was four years older than Anastasia.

The DNA identified Anna as a person from a Polish farming family. A surviving niece said that Anna wanted more out of life than what she had. She wanted to be famous. The last her family heard from here was a postcard a bit before Anastasia made her first appearance in 1920.  To the end of her life, she maintained she was Anastasia.

Her supporters claim the DNA samples given to the researchers was switched with another and the results were wrong.  They claim the Russians didn't want it known that Anastasia had been found but I don't think that is true especially after so many years.  In addition, the missing bodies were found in 1991, 7 years after Anna Anderson passed away.

Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day and tomorrow, I'll speak more on the other imposters.