29 Facts About Carl Tanzler

Georg Carl Tanzler, known as Count Carl von Cosel, was a German-born radiology technologist at the Marine-Hospital Service in Key West, Florida, United States.

Carl Tanzler developed an obsession with a young Cuban-American tuberculosis patient, Elena "Helen" Milagro de Hoyos, 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.

Carl Tanzler was born as Karl Tanzler or Georg Karl Tanzler on February 8,1877 in Dresden, Germany.

Carl Tanzler paused in Australia to collect equipment and suitable boats, and to become acquainted with prevailing weather and sea conditions.

Carl Tanzler had just begun to build a trans-ocean flyer when the war broke out and the British military authorities placed him in a concentration camp for 'safe-keeping' along with many officers India and China who were prisoners of war.

Around 1920, following his return to Germany, Carl Tanzler married Doris Schafer.

Carl Tanzler emigrated to the United States from Germany in 1926, sailing from Rotterdam on February 6,1926 to Havana, Cuba.

Carl Tanzler attempted to cure Elena with a variety of treatments, remedies, X-rays, and other medical equipment that were brought to the Hoyos' home.

Carl Tanzler 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.

Carl Tanzler paid for her funeral, and with the permission of her family, he then commissioned the construction of an above-ground mausoleum in the Key West Cemetery, which he visited almost every night.

One evening in April 1933, Carl 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.

Carl Tanzler 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.

Carl Tanzler said that she would often tell him to take her from the grave.

Carl Tanzler attached the corpse's bones with piano wire and fitted the face with glass eyes.

Carl 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.

Carl Tanzler used copious amounts of perfume, disinfectants, and preserving agents to mask the odor and forestall the effects of the corpse's decomposition.

In October 1940, Elena's sister Florinda heard rumors of Carl Tanzler sleeping with the disinterred body of her sister.

Carl Tanzler confronted Tanzler at his home, where Elena's body was eventually discovered.

Florinda notified the authorities, and Carl Tanzler was arrested and detained.

Carl Tanzler was released, as the statute of limitations for the crime had expired.

Carl Tanzler's body was said to have been dismembered and placed in a metal box.

Portions of the original memorial plaque commissioned by Carl 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.

In 1944, Carl Tanzler moved to Pasco County, Florida, close to Zephyrhills, where he wrote an autobiography that appeared in the pulp publication, Fantastic Adventures, in 1947.

Carl Tanzler's home was near his wife Doris, who helped to support Tanzler in his later years.

Carl Tanzler's body was discovered on the floor of his home three weeks after his death.

An article written by Michelfelder in 1982 tells of how renovation workers found a note allegedly written by Carl Tanzler, confessing to have killed Elena by poisoning her:.

Carl Tanzler died because I gave this to her mercifully.

Perez claimed Carl Tanzler had once told him that he "would kill Elena if necessary to fulfil [his] destiny".