Georg Carl Tanzler, also known as Count Carl von Cosel (born on February 8, 1877, and passed away on July 3, 1952), was a German-born radiology technologist employed at the Marine Hospital Service in Key West, Florida. His life took a disturbing turn when he became infatuated with a young Cuban-American tuberculosis patient named Elena “Helen” Milagro de Hoyos, born on July 31, 1909, and deceased on October 25, 1931. This infatuation persisted long after her d*ath.
In 1933, nearly two years after Elena’s passing, Tänzler exhumed her body from its tomb and brought it to his residence, where he lived with the corpse for a total of seven years. This macabre arrangement went unnoticed until it was discovered by Elena Hoyos’ relatives and the authorities in 1940.
On April 22, 1930, while working at the Marine Hospital in Key West, Georg Carl Tänzler encountered Maria Elena “Helen” Milagro de Hoyos (1909–1931), a local Cuban-American woman who had been brought to the hospital for an examination by her mother. Strangely, Tänzler immediately recognized her as the stunning dark-haired woman he had seen in his previous “visions.” By all accounts, Elena was regarded as a local beauty in Key West.
Elena was the daughter of Francisco “Pancho” Hoyos (1883–1934), a local cigar maker, and Aurora Milagro (1881–1940). She had two sisters: Florinda “Nana” Milagro Hoyos (1906–1944), who married Mario Medina (c. 1905–1944) and tragically succumbed to tuberculosis, and Celia Milagro Hoyos (1913–1934). Nana’s husband, Mario Medina, met a fatal accident, being electrocuted while attempting to rescue a coworker involved in a powerline incident at a construction site.
On February 18, 1926, Elena married Luis Mesa (1908–1974), the son of Caridad and Isaac Mesa. However, Luis Mesa left Elena shortly after she suffered a miscarriage of their child, relocating to Miami. Elena was still legally married to Mesa at the time of her d*ath.
Elena was eventually diagnosed with tuberculosis, a typically fatal disease during that era, which tragically claimed the lives of nearly all her immediate family members. Tänzler, believing in his own medical expertise, made multiple attempts to treat and cure Elena using various medicines, X-ray machines, and electrical equipment that he brought to the Hoyos’ residence. Tanzler also lavished Elena with gifts, including jewelry and clothing, and purportedly professed his love for her. However, there is no concrete evidence to suggest that Elena reciprocated any of his affection.
Obsession
Carl Tanzler
Despite Georg Carl Tänzler’s persistent efforts, Elena succumbed to tuberculosis at her parents’ residence in Key West on October 25, 1931. Tänzler not only financed her funeral but also obtained the family’s consent to construct an above-ground mausoleum for Elena in the Key West Cemetery, which he visited almost nightly.
In an eerie turn of events in April 1933, Tänzler surreptitiously entered the cemetery where Elena rested and removed her body from the mausoleum. He then transported her remains to his home, wheeling them through the cemetery after dark on a small wagon. Tänzler claimed that he felt Elena’s spirit would come to him when he sat by her grave and serenaded her lifeless body with a favorite Spanish song. He also insisted that she communicated with him, urging him to rescue her from the grave.
Tänzler used piano wire to reassemble the bones of the corpse and fitted the face with glass eyes. As the skin decayed, he replaced it with silk cloth soaked in wax and plaster of paris. To address the loss of hair from Elena’s decomposing scalp, Tänzler fashioned a wig using hair he had previously obtained from her mother.
He filled the body’s abdominal and chest cavity with rags to maintain its original form, dressed Elena’s remains in stockings, jewelry, and gloves, and kept the corpse in his bed. Tänzler also employed liberal amounts of perfume, disinfectants, and preservation agents to conceal the odor and delay the decomposition.
In October 1940, Elena’s sister, Florinda, heard rumors about Tänzler sharing his bed with her sister’s exhumed body. She confronted Tänzler at his home, where Elena’s corpse was discovered. Tänzler was caught dancing with the remains in front of an open window. Florinda contacted the authorities, leading to Tänzler’s arrest and detention. After a psychiatric evaluation found him mentally competent to stand trial on charges of “wantonly and maliciously destroying a grave and removing a body without authorization,” Tänzler was held to answer for the crime following a preliminary hearing on October 9, 1940, at the Monroe County Courthouse in Key West.
However, the case was ultimately dropped, and Tänzler was released, as the statute of limitations for the offense had expired. Shortly after the corpse’s discovery, physicians and pathologists examined Elena’s body, which was then put on public display at the Dean-Lopez Funeral Home, viewed by as many as 6,800 people. Elena’s remains were eventually returned to the Key West Cemetery and buried in an unmarked grave at a secret location to prevent further tampering.
The case and its preliminary hearing generated significant media interest at the time, capturing the public’s attention both regionally and nationally. Many viewed Tänzler as an eccentric “romantic.”
While not reported contemporaneously, subsequent research, particularly by authors Harrison and Swicegood, revealed evidence of Tänzler’s necrophilia with Elena’s corpse.
Two physicians who attended the 1940 autopsy of Elena’s remains recalled in 1972 that a vaginal tube had been inserted in the corpse’s vaginal area to enable se*ual intercourse. However, the necrophilia claim has been met with some skepticism, given that no such evidence was presented at the 1940 preliminary hearing, and the physicians’ allegations surfaced over 30 years after the case was dismissed.
Later life and de-ath
In 1944, Georg Carl Tänzler relocated to Pasco County, Florida, near Zephyrhills, where he penned an autobiography that was published in the pulp magazine, Fantastic Adventures, in 1947. He resided near his wife, Doris, who seemingly provided support during his later years. Tänzler was granted United States citizenship in 1950 in Tampa.
Separated from his fixation on Elena, Tänzler employed a d*ath mask to create a life-sized effigy of her, which he lived with until his d*ath at the age of 75 on July 3, 1952. His body was found on the floor of his home three weeks after his passing. He d*ed under the name “Carl Tanzler.”
Some accounts suggest that Tänzler was discovered in the embrace of the effigy of Elena when his body was found. However, his obituary reported that he passed away on the floor behind one of his organs. The obituary mentioned: “a metal cylinder on a shelf above a table in it wrapped in silken cloth and a robe was a waxen image.”
Additionally, it has been proposed, notably by Swicegood, that Tänzler had orchestrated a body switch or that Elena’s remains were clandestinely returned to him, and he d*ed with her actual body.
The tale of Tänzler and Elena continued to capture public interest after his d*ath, with various accounts adding new details to the case. An article by Michelfelder in 1982 recounted how renovation workers discovered a note allegedly written by Tänzler, confessing to having poisoned Elena:
“She d*ed 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…”
Perez, another source, claimed that Tänzler had once told him that he “would k*ll Elena if necessary to fulfill [his] destiny.” The poison confession letter article was also referenced by historian David L. Sloan on episode 44 of the NightMerica podcast.
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