Georg Carl Tänzler, also known as Count Carl von Cosel (February 8, 1877 – July 3, 1952), was a German-born American radiology technologist at the Marine-Hospital Service in Key West, Florida, United States. He developed an obsession with a young Cuban-American tuberculosis patient, Elena “Helen” Milagro de Hoyos (July 31, 1909 – October 25, 1931), that carried on well after her death. In 1933, almost two years after her death, Tanzler removed Hoyos’ body from its tomb and lived with the corpse at his home for seven years until its discovery by Hoyos’ relatives and authorities in 1940.
On April 22, 1930, while working at the Marine Hospital in Key West, Tanzler met Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos, a local Cuban-American woman who had been brought to the hospital by her mother for an examination. Although he was already married with 2 daughters, Tanzler was immediately struck by Elena’s appearance. He recognized her from a vision he had many years ago, when his dead ancestor Countess Anna Constantia von Brockdorff came to him in a dream and showed him the face of his true love and soulmate: a gorgeous dark-haired woman who looked exactly like Elena.
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| Elena Milagro Hoyos |
Elena was 21 years old, and the daughter of a Cuban cigar maker, whose life was already marred by tragedy. By all appearances, she was an attractive dark haired beauty queen who often wore red roses in her hair, drawing the attention of strangers who desired to photograph and court her. But death was creeping up close and fast.
Elena was subsequently diagnosed with tuberculosis, a disease typically fatal at the time and which eventually would claim the lives of almost all of her immediate family. Tanzler attempted to cure Elena with a variety of treatments, remedies, X-rays, and other medical equipment that were brought to the Hoyos' home. Tanzler also showered Elena with gifts of jewelry and clothing, and allegedly professed his love to her, but no evidence has surfaced to show that Elena reciprocated any of his affection.
Despite Tanzler’s best efforts, Elena died of tuberculosis at her parents’ home in Key West on October 25, 1931. She was only 22. He was devastated. Before she died, Carl wrote in his journal how he “had hopes that, despite the extensive damage, the lesions would heal again. I had hopes that, when Elena was out of danger, we would get married. As long as she lived I never abandoned hope.”
With the consent of her family, Tanzler paid for Elena’s funeral and erected an elaborate mausoleum for her corpse. He had her coffin lined with formaldehyde and other preserving agents, and had a special key made for himself so he could come and go as he pleased. Tanzler spent hours at Elena’s gravesite everyday, talking to her corpse, singing songs to her, reading stories, and other crazy activities. This went on for two years.
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| The mausoleum, more like a tiny home than a crypt. |
One evening in April 1933, Tanzler crept through the cemetery where Elena was buried and removed her body from the mausoleum, carting it through the cemetery after dark on a toy wagon, and transported it to his home. He reportedly said that Elena’s spirit would come to him when he would sit by her grave and serenade her corpse with a favorite Spanish song. He also said that she would often tell him to take her from the grave.
Tanzler wrote in his memoirs: “Elena, my darling, we are alone on this shore. He who has given you to me, will not reject our souls, united as they are in His undying love.”
He attached the corpse’s bones with piano wire and fitted the face with glass eyes. As the skin of the corpse decomposed, Tanzler replaced it with silk cloth soaked in wax and plaster of Paris. As the hair fell out of Elena’s decomposing scalp, Tanzler fashioned a wig from her hair, which he had previously obtained from her mother. Tanzler filled the corpse’s abdominal and chest cavity with rags to keep the original form, dressed Elena’s remains in stockings, jewelry, and gloves and kept the body in his bed. Tanzler also used copious amounts of perfume, disinfectants, and preserving agents to mask the odor and forestall the effects of the corpse’s decomposition.
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| The corpse of Elena encased in wax and plaster circa 1940 |
In Tanzler’s autobiography, he does confess to kissing and cuddling Maria’s cadaver. He slept with the body in his bed, but he kept a curtain between them because he was an extreme gentleman. It isn’t very far off to believe that necrophilia played a part in this twisted romance, but it’s important to remember these claims are not fully proven.
At this point, Carl had lost his job at the hospital and was living in a remote shack which also housed his laboratory. His behaviour became too erratic to hold a job, and the hospital had found out he was stealing medical equipment from them.
Carl had basically abandoned his wife and children, and was more content living with a dead body than a live woman. For some reason, his wife Doris took pity on him and regularly mailed him money to help him survive his destitute situation.
In October 1940, Elena’s sister Florinda heard rumors of Tanzler sleeping with the disinterred body of her sister. She confronted Tanzler at his home, where Elena’s body was eventually discovered (he was also caught dancing with her corpse in front of an open window). Florinda notified the authorities, and Tanzler was arrested and detained. Tanzler was psychiatrically examined and found mentally competent to stand trial on the charge of “wantonly and maliciously destroying a grave and removing a body without authorization.”
After a preliminary hearing on October 9, 1940, at the Monroe County Courthouse in Key West, Tanzler was held to answer on the charge, but the case was eventually dropped. He was released, as the statute of limitations for the crime had expired.
Shortly after the corpse’s discovery by authorities, physicians and pathologists examined Elena’s body and put it on public display at the Dean-Lopez Funeral Home, where as many as 6,800 people viewed it. Elena’s body was eventually returned to the Key West Cemetery where the remains were buried in an unmarked grave, in a secret location, to prevent further tampering. Her body was said to have been dismembered and placed in a metal box. Portions of the original memorial plaque commissioned by Tanzler and affixed to Elena Hoyos's mausoleum have been reassembled and are on display at the Martello Gallery-Key West Art and Historical Museum in Key West.
The facts underlying the case and the preliminary hearing drew much interest from the media at the time (most notably, from the Key West Citizen and Miami Herald) and created a sensation among the public, both regionally and nationwide. The public mood was generally sympathetic to Tanzler, whom many viewed as an eccentric “romantic.”
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| Dr. Carl Tanzler at work |
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| The peculiar lab shack |
In 1944, Tanzler moved to Pasco County, Florida, close to Zephyrhills, where he wrote an autobiography that appeared in the pulp publication, Fantastic Adventures, in 1947. His home was near his wife Doris, who helped to support Tanzler in his later years. Tanzler received United States citizenship in 1950 in Tampa.
Separated from his obsession, Tanzler used a death mask to create a life-sized effigy of Elena and lived with it until his death at age 75 on July 3, 1952. His body was discovered on the floor of his home three weeks after his death. He died under the name “Carl Tanzler.”
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| Tanzler holding a portrait of Elena |
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| Tanzler holding a death mask of Elena |
It has been recounted that Tanzler was found in the arms of Elena’s effigy upon discovery of his corpse. Still, his obituary reported that he died on the floor behind one of his organs. The obituary recounted: “a metal cylinder on a shelf above a table in it wrapped in silken cloth and a robe was a waxen image.”
It has been written (most notably by Swicegood) that Tanzler had the bodies switched (or that Elena’s remains were secretly returned to him) and that he died with the real body of Elena.
The story of Tanzler and Elena would be reproduced in pulp magazines in the years following his death, with various parties adding new details to the case. An article written by Michelfelder in 1982 tells of how renovation workers found a note allegedly written by Tanzler, confessing to have killed Elena by poisoning her:
“She died because I gave this to her mercifully. I mixed the root of wolfsbane (monkshood) with aconite diluted. It was palatable and my loved one departed this miserable world on October 25, 1931. Suffer no more sweet Elena. I have sent you to the angels with my golden elixir...”
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