Carl Tanzler and the Corpse Bride

Love, true love, often strikes from out of nowhere. Life is grand, you’re living your life, and then boom! It smacks you. You can’t control who you fall for, and that often leads to the vow, “‘Til death do us part.” But is death truly the end of your love story? It wasn’t for Carl Tanzler.

Carl Tanzler was born to a Jewish family as Karl Tänzler or Georg Karl Tänzler on February 8, 1877 in Dresden, Germany. Around the year 1920, he married Doris Schäfer and together they had two children, Ayesha Tanzler, and Clarista Tanzler, who unfortunately died in 1934 of diphtheria. 

Carl emigrated to the United States in 1926, first sailing to Rotterdam to Havana, Cuba, then to Zephyrhills, Florida, where he was reunited with his sister, who had already emigrated. He was soon joined by his wife and two daughters, but he didn’t stay long. Leaving his family behind, Carl took a job as a radiology technician at the U.S. Marine Hospital in Key West, Florida, going by the name Carl von Cosel. It was at this hospital that he met the love of his life, Maria Elena “Helen” Milagro de Hoyos, a local Cuban-American woman who had been brought in by her mother for an examination.

From an early age, Carl had claimed to have been visited by visions of a dead, purported ancestor, Countess Anna Constantia von Cosel. He believed this woman had revealed to him his true love, an exotic dark-haired woman. Upon seeing Elena, he knew she was the one.

Elena had been seen as a local beauty in Key West. She was the daughter of local cigar maker Francisco “Pancho” Hoyos and Aurora Milagro and was one of three girls. On February 18, 1926, Elena married Luis Mesa, but soon found herself abandoned after she miscarried their child and Luis moved to Miami.

Elena had been taken to the hospital and was ultimately diagnosed with tuberculosis, a disease that would eventually claim the majority of her immediate family. Carl was so smitten that he believed he could cure Elena. With only his self-professed medical knowledge, he began to treat her. He conjured a series of concoctions, and even acquired her parent’s permission to set up an x-ray machine in the home to monitor her progress. 

Carl showered Elena with gifts, clothing, jewelry, and even professed his love to her. Despite his efforts, there is no evidence to show that she harbored the same, or any, feelings toward him.

Elena passed away on October 25, 1931 at the age of 21. Heartbroken, Carl offered to pay for her funeral, and with her parents permission he also paid for her tomb, an above ground, stone mausoleum built just for her. 

For the next two years, Carl could be found in the Key West Cemetery, visiting his love. He would talk to her, and sing her songs. He truly believed that her spirit was there with him. One day, her spirit asked him to take her away from there, away from her grave – and that’s just what he did.

In April 1933, Carl Tanzler pulled the corpse of Elena Milagro de Hoyos (Mesa) from her grave, and pulled her, on a toy wagon, all the way to his house. Life was good. 

Carl and Elena lived together, sleeping and dancing together. Carl took care of her, carefully, working to preserve her body. He used a combination of coat hangers and piano wire to hold her skeleton together. Her skin was repaired as it deteriorated, using silk soaked in plaster of paris, towels, and wax. He replaced her eyes with those made of glass. As for hair, well that was easier as he was able to fashion a wig from her hair that had fallen out.

He filled her abdominal and chest cavity with rags to hold their original form, and he dressed her in stockings, jewelry, and gloves.  

All his efforts weren’t enough, and he had to come up with some more elaborate means of preservation. He came up with the idea of launching her body in an airship to space, using the radiation in the stratosphere to restore her body. While he worked on that plan, he still had to maintain her, which meant the use of disinfectants, preservatives, and perfumes. This went on for seven years, until the rumors began to swirl. 

In October 1940, Elena’s sister Florinda heard rumors of Carl sleeping with the disinterred body of her sister. Rumors also claimed that he had been seen dancing in front of an open window with the corpse. Flroinda had no choice, but to confront him at home. Authorities were notified, and he was arrested and detained. 

Carl Tanzler underwent a psychiatric examination where he was found to be mentally competent to stand trial on the charge of “wantonly and maliciously destroying a grave and removing a body without authorization.” A preliminary hearing was held on October 9, 1940, but the case was ultimately dropped and he was released. The statute of limitations for the crime had expired. 

As for Elena, her body was taken and examined by physicians and pathologists. All of Carl’s preservation methods were noted, as well as the existence of a paper tube that had been inserted into her vaginal cavity, confirming suspicions of necrophilia. 

Her body was put on display at the Dean-Lopez Funeral Home, where as many as 6,800 people viewed it before it was eventually returned to the Key West Cemetery, and buried in an unmarked grave – a secret location preventing it from further tampering. 

Carl Tanzler left, moving to Pasco County, Florida, not far from where his wife, Doris, was living. He made a replica of Elena’s body from a life size effigy and a mask. Some say he managed to have the effigy and Elena’s body switched so he could be with her for the rest of his life. Despite everything that happened, Doris ended up supporting him. Carl Tanzler died on July 3, 1952 in Zephyrhills Florida.

The case drew national interest, where people were sympathetic to Carl and his love story, labeling him an “eccentric romantic.”

Is it possible love went beyond the grave?

Up Next: Anna Baker’s Wedding Dress.