Von Cosel was arrested for body snatching but was not indicted because the statute of limitations had passed. Sloan, D,L. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. Carl died alone in 1952, at the age of 75. As if this case wasnt already bizarre enough, it takes an added sci-fi turn. He was examined by doctors and found to be perfectly sane though it remains a mystery of how he lived with a corpse for so many years. This engraving with Elenas name can now be found at the Fort Martello Museum in Key West. Tanzler also used copious amounts of perfume, disinfectants, and preserving agents to mask the odor and forestall the effects of the corpse's decomposition. This article seeks to bring light to these, with the hope that people will learn what really happened as per these key findings. In 1930, Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos was diagnosed with tuberculosis at the Marine Hospital in Key West. Learn how your comment data is processed. He who has given you to me, will not reject our souls, united as they are in His undying love.. The disease would later claim the lives of almost everyone in Hoyos immediate family, including her sister, Florinda Nana Milagro Hoyos. The strange death mask was put on public display as the story became legend. There is a problem with your email/password. Ginsburg, Arthur, director. Additionally, there is his threat towards Elenas father if there is not a wedding before Christmas, there will be a funeral (Michelfelder 1982, p.56) and his declaration to Perez that he would kill Elena if necessary (n.d., p 68). 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". There continued to be much conflict between him and Elenas family. In April of 1930, the beautiful but doomed Elena Hoyos arrived at the Marine Hospital for blood tests. Police Officer Bienvenido Perez Only Living Person Who Knows Where Elena Buried. Elena died on 25th October 1931 at the age of twenty-two. On April 22, 1930, Maria Elena "Helen" Milagro de Hoyos came to him for an examination and he was persuaded that she was the lady in his dreams. She was said to be extremely beautiful, shy and an accomplished singer, to the point where tourists would ask for pictures with her in the street. Key West, Monroe County, Florida, USA. I own that tomb and everything that is inside, not you! (p.70). Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos Mesa. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. People would spot him dancing with a woman behind closed curtains inside his laboratory. Now that she was dead, she could not protest. Carl spent hours at Marias gravesite everyday, talking to her corpse, singing songs to her, reading stories, and other crazy activities that are best left unspoken. The town's people crowded the funeral parlor, eager to see the macabre curiosity. The Key West Citizen, 15 Aug. 1952, p. 1 + 4, Perez, B. Try again later. Her family agreed to let Tanzler attempt to treat her with various medicines, x-rays and other experimental cures. Von Cosel (Carl Tanzler) in 1940 / Florida KeysPublic Libraries / Flickr / CC BY 2.0, The haunting history of La Pascualita History 101, John Dillingers body to be exhumed after 85 years History 101. Years later he was found living in a house near the sea and through an investigation by Elena's sister, it was found that he had been living with her corpse, preserving it with oiled silk and wax to slow the decomposition. On February 18, 1926, Elena married Luis Mesa (19081974), the son of Caridad and Isaac Mesa. He didnt see an issue with their differing ages or her nearly-dead, immobilized status. She attracted a fair share of admirers. Maria Elena Milagro Hoyos (1909 1931), more commonly referred to as Elena, was the middle born Cuban-American child of Francisco Hoyos (1883 1934) and Aurora Milagro (1881 1940) in Key West, Florida. [1], Though not reported contemporaneously, research (most notably by authors Harrison and Swicegood) has revealed evidence of Tanzler's necrophilia with Elena's corpse. I have sent you to the angels with my golden elixir Perez also claimed Tanzler had once told him that he 'would kill Elena if necessary to fulfil [his] destiny'[12] The poison confession letter article was also cited by historian David L. Sloan on episode 44 of the NightMerica podcast.[14]. During his childhood in Germany, and later while traveling briefly in Genoa, Italy, Tanzler claimed to have been visited by visions of a dead, purported ancestor, Countess Anna Constantia von Cosel, who revealed the face of his true love, an exotic dark-haired woman, to him. And when she fell ill and her mother brought her into Marine Hospital in April of 1930, the disease would prove to be fatal. He reportedly said he felt her spirit come to him when he sat by her tomb and serenaded her with her favorite Spanish song. She would remain legally married to Luis until her death. Medina, Nana's husband, was electrocuted trying to rescue a coworker who hit a powerline with his crane at a construction site. So what does he do? Bienvenido Perez, in a later interview for Men True Adventure magazine (n.d.), would reveal much darker intentions on Tanzlers part. Maria Elena Milagro De Hoyos Birth 31 Jul 1909. I thought you might like to see a memorial for Elena Hoyos I found on Findagrave.com. In their ignorance, they asked if it was illegal to love too much. For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab. It was palatable and my loved one departed this miserable world on October 25, 1931. [The magazine] has a story called Floridas Dr. Frankenstein and his Laboratory of Love. There was an error deleting this problem. This account has been disabled. Her body was finally laid to rest once and for all in an unmarked grave in Key West Cemetery. Death . One even died from diphtheria whilst these events were unfolding (Harrison 1996, Sloan 2012). He was seen shopping for womens clothing, jewelry and perfumes, and everybody assumed Carl was seeing someone new and had finally moved on. [1][8] Tanzler showered Elena with gifts of jewelry and clothing, and allegedly professed his love to her, but no evidence has surfaced to show that any of his affection was reciprocated by Elena. In 1931, a radiologist and bacteriologist working at a tuberculosis sanitarium in Key West, Florida, became obsessed with a 22-year-old patient, Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos. He kept her body in his bed, where he slept beside her every night. This went on for two years. To many bystanders, this would seem romantic, but nobody knew he had a key to her tomb and that he was secretly preserving her corpse. Concocting potions and tonics out of gold, Tanzler would shock Elena by connecting electrodes to her body via transformers and then give her medicinal wines. The former three, as he describes them, are quite applicable to Tanzler. Carls madness was discovered. You accept the use of cookies or other identifiers by accepting, ignoring or dismissing this notice. The Lost Diary of Count Von Cosel. Weller, T. The Lost Diaries of Elena Hoyos Vols. He reportedly said that Elenas spirit would come to him when he would sit by her grave and serenade her corpse with a favorite Spanish song. Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos (1910-1931) died of tuberculosis and her body was preserved by Carl Tanzler (1877-1952) who was one of her physicians. [1] Tanzler received United States citizenship in 1950 in Tampa. There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery. For the past eighty years, the story of Elena Hoyos has been told primarily through the point-of-view of Carl Tanzler, a man who portrayed himself as so in love he could not bear to live without her. Georg Carl Tnzler (also known as Count Carl von Cosel (February 8, 1877 July 3, 1952), was a German-born radiology technologist at the Marine-Hospital Service in Key West, Florida. He provided free radiation treatments to Elena Hoyos, and a promise of marriage. Carl Von Cosel had preserved her corpse for seven years. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Tanzler added copious amounts of perfumes, flowers, disinfectants, and preserving agents to keep the rotting odor at bay, and routinely applied morticians wax to Hoyos face in an effort to keep her alive.. ", Learn how and when to remove this template message, Martello Gallery-Key West Art and Historical Museum, And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, "Autopsy 6: Secrets of the Dead - The Strange Obsession of Dr. Carl Von Cosel", "The Living Doll of Key West: Elena Hoyos & Count Von Cosel", "Ep. He showered her with jewelry and clothing, and he frequently professed his love to her. The list is numerous and was all justified by Tanzler in the name of love. Historically, the Cosel family seemed to be haunted by bad luck. It was there in 1930 that Tanzler met the woman he believed was the love of his life; Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos. Many years ago, Carl von Cosel travelled from India to Australia with the intention of proceeding to the South Seas Islands. All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. 22nd April 1930 would turn out to be a very fateful day. It is through several key pieces of research he came across and our correspondence on these that inspired and made this article a possibility. Von Cosel robbed her body from the grave. She had two sisters, Florinda "Nana" Milagro Hoyos (19061944), who married Mario Medina (c.19051944) and also succumbed to tuberculosis; and Celia Milagro Hoyos (19131934). In 1930, while living in Key West, Florida, her mother took her to a hospital after she had taken ill. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis (which was then incurable) and checked into a facility where she stayed with other patients suffering the same disease. [11], 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. Sources differ (Tanzler von Cosel 1947, Perez 1952, Michelfelder 1982, Swicegood 2003) on when exactly he did this but the more respected tellings of this story (Harrison 1996, Sloan 2012) state this occurred in 1933. This all seems like silly speculation, to get people to read an old story. Victorians described consumption as an illness that heightened the elegance and refinement of its victim, and that it was tragically beautiful to waste away with pallor and fragility. After he left Key West defeated, he returned to his wife and daughter in Zephyrhills, Florida. Try again. Back to Carl: despite being in his 50s and resembling Sigmund Freud, he did not inhibit himself from making strong advances towards young Maria. However, some people go above and beyond this promise. Nevertheless, he went on to live out the rest of his days alone and died in his home in 1952, where he was discovered three weeks after his passing. Loathing: Lethal hate directed towards one person, group, culture or nation (Morrall 2006, p. 36). These transgressions, like the ones committed against Elena, have been shrouded in secrecy due to the cultural biases towards and positions of the instigators involved. He adopted his official nickname, Count Carl von Cosel. Teachers brought their students for field trips; journalists arrived to report on the most unbelievable story in the world. Interestingly, Morrall (2006) uses the word mercy in love as a motivator for murder, as does Tanzler in the confession note I gave this to her mercifully (Michelfelder 1982, p.8). But unfortunately, this was a true story. In 1940, it was finally over. Tanzler didnt seem to get bored living with Hoyos corpse. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer. Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos was a 21-year-old Cuban American beauty. They vow to stay together, even after death. He searched for her, but he could never meet the woman he saw in his dream.