It does seem amazing that the bizarre story of Carl Tanzier and Maria Elena de Hoyos isn't better known. Even with the strange directions that obsessive love can take, this case definitely stands out.
While it's still difficult to separate fact from fiction in Carl Tanzier's life considering all the unlikely stories he told over the years, we do know that he was born on February 8, 1877 in Dresden, Germany. Although his claims of having nine university degrees and being an expert authority on different branches of science seem a little implausible, early records do suggest that he worked as an x-ray technician for a while (just not very successfully). His marriage to Doris in 1920 was followed by the birth of their two children and an unsuccessful attempt to emigrate to Australia. Karl eventually sailed to the United States in 1926 and settled in Zephyrhills, Florida where a sister was already living. Doris and their children joined him there but the marriage didn't last long.
By 1927, Carl had managed to relocate to Key West, Florida and changed his name in the process. Now "Count" Carl von Cosel (he claimed to be descended from an old German aristocratic family), he somehow managed to get a job in the tuberculosis ward at the U.S. Marine Hospital. Some accounts described him as being a radiologist there which seems hard to believe considering he had no medical credentials at all. Existing hospital records had him listed as being an x-ray technician and a bacteriologist who worked with the critically ill tuberculosis patients. In his spare time, he was an amateur inventor who created complicated electrical devices and "miracle cures" in his home laboratory.
Whatever his plans for the future, everything changed when Carl von Cosel met the woman of his dreams...
In April, 1930, Carl von Cosel first laid eyes on Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos. A beautiful 20-year old woman from an old Spanish Cuban family, she was brought to the hospital after being diagnosed with tuberculosis. Carl would later claim that he had instantly recognized Elena from the dreams that he had been having for years about a "dark haired woman". He saw no problem with her grim diagnosis or the fact that she was already married to another man, Carl von Cosel was determined to have Elena any way he could.
Given the lack of modern antibiotics, tuberculosis was usually fatal (and the disease had already killed several members of Elena's family). When the well-spoken von Cosel approached Elena and offered to treat her with his (self-proclaimed) medical expertise, Elena and her family were too desperate to refuse. The doctors at the hospital had already given up hope and Elena seemed destined for an early death. Whatever the family's impression of Carl's approach to medicine, they had to admire his persistence. The experimental treatments that he tried on Elena included strange electric shock machines and x-ray devices that he brought to her home as well as different potions that he made just for her. The ingredients are still a mystery but reportedly included various exotic herbs and even flecks of gold. He also plied Elena with expensive gifts and proposed marriage often. Elena always refused since she was still married to her husband Luis (despite their separation).
Elena de Hoyos died on October 25, 1931. With her family's permission, Carl von Cosel paid for the funeral and arranged for Elena's body to be interred in a lavish mausoleum that he had constructed in Key West Cemetery. Elena's body was placed in a metal coffin and Carl even equipped the crypt with a telephone so he could communicate with her. The mausoleum also featured an airship (no, I don't know why, either). He continued to visit the mausoleum on a nightly basis for two years before the visits stopped. By this time he had lost his hospital job and moved to a remote shack but the full extent of his bizarre obsession with Elena didn't become apparent until 1940.
After hearing some very bizarre rumours about Carl von Cosel, Elena's sister Florinda began to investigate and found that the body was no longer in the crypt. She guessed that Carl was responsible and tracked him down to his shack. Whatever Florinda suspected already about Carl didn't prepare her for what she found when he kindly invited her inside. As Carl himself would state later, during his regular vigil in the crypt he began to hear Elena's voice begging him to rescue her from the metal coffin. In April 1933, he stole Elena's body and took it to his shack where he used his chemical knowledge to preserve the corpse. In the years that followed, he lovingly tended Elena's body and even reconstructed part of her face with wax as it decayed. He also replaced her eyes with glass and made her a wig from her own hair. Carl lovingly described his plans to bring Elena back from the dead using his electrical equipment (including a million-volt Tesla coil).
After Florinda fled from the shack, she notified the police and Carl was arrested. Despite initial attempts to have him declared unfit to stand trial, a full psychiatric evaluation determined otherwise. In the meantime, the bizarre case made newspaper headlines across the country. Elena's preserved body was put on display at a local funeral home and more than six thousand people came out to see her in just a few days. There was also a surprising amount of public support for Carl. Not only did he attract numerous visitors to his cell, but two friends posted bail and arranged for his release.
When the case came up for a preliminary hearing on October 9, 1940, the only charge that the authorities could lay against von Cosel was "wantonly and maliciously destroying a grave and removing a body without authorization". Since the statue of limitations for the crime had already expired (two years was the maximum and he had taken the body six years before), Carl von Cosel was eventually released. While later sources claimed that he had also inserted a tube into her vagina to permit sex with the corpse, no allegations of necrophilia were made at the trial.
Elena's body was autopsied and later buried in an unmarked grave to prevent any further tampering. Carl Tanzier (he went back to using his old name) returned to Zephyrhills and lived on his own. Amazingly, his wife Doris continued to support him financially although they never officially reconciled. Carl wrote his autobiography and became an American citizen in 1950. He also created a life-sized wax effigy of Elena's corpse that he tended faithfully and often showed to tourists (he supported himself by selling postcards featuring Elena's death mask). Karl Tanzier died on July 3, 1952 but his body was only discovered three weeks after his death. Despite claims that he somehow managed to retrieve Elena's body, no human remains were found in the effigy. As for his long-suffering widow, Doris, she died in 1977. She never remarried.
Visitors to the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum in Key West, Florida can still see the replica of Elena that Carl made. Their story has since become a part of Key West's colourful history and has even been memorialized in music, television problems, and horror novels. And who says romance is dead?
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