The Undying Love of Count Carl von Cosel

There are many different views about the twisted love story of Count Carl von Cosel. His crime was loving someone so much that even after her death he couldn’t let her go. Many view him as sympathetic and call him a hopeless romantic, while other suggested he was insane.

The story begins on February 8, 1877 in Dresden, Germany where he was born. His real name is uncertain because he listed himself as a variety of different names, each of them similar. On his marriage certificate with Doris A. in 1920 he was listed as Georg Karl Tänzler. In his United States citizenship papers his name was Carl Tanzler von Cosel. However in some hospital records he signed them as Count Carl Tanzler von Cosel.

Despite marrying Doris A. in 1920 and having two children, who later died of diphtheria, an upper respiratory tract illness, the Count was unsatisfied. He claimed that throughout his childhood he would have dreams of his ancestor, Countess Anna Constantia von Cosel, who showed him the face of a beautiful dark haired woman and told him it was his soul mate.

His ambition to find the dark haired woman led to his immigration to the United States in 1926. His family joined him shortly afterwards. However, in 1927 he promptly abandoned them to move to Key West where he became a radiologist at the U.S Marine Hospital. On April 22, 1930 he met Maria Elena Milagro "Helen" de Hoyos, a Cuban-American woman known as the local beauty. Immediately the Count saw her as the woman from his dreams and fell in love with her.

“Elena was the daughter of local cigar maker Francisco "Pancho" Hoyos and Aurora Milagro. She had two sisters, Florinda Hoyos and Celia Milagro Hoyos . On February 18, 1926, Elena married Luis Mesa who later left her shortly after Hoyos miscarried their baby. Despite Luis leaving her, she was legally married to Mesa at the time of her death.”

Elena was then diagnosed with tuberculosis, a contagious disease that is caused by mycobacteria. While we have treatments for it today, in the time of the Count it was a fatal disease. He tried to cure Elena with a variety of machines such as the x-ray and various electrical equipment. In the process of treating her he showered her with jewelry and clothes, which she accepted, and confessed his love to her numerous times, which she rejected.

Elena died on October 25, 1931. The Count paid for all the costs of the funeral and, with her family’s permission, built a mausoleum around her grave. For nearly two years he visited her every night. He believed that she would speak to him and tell him how much she hated it in the cemetery and pleaded with him to take her home. Following what he believed to be her cry for help, the Count removed her body sometime in April, 1933.

Now that he had her in his home he set to work constructing her body. “The Count attached her bones together with wire and coat hangers, and fitted the face with glass eyes. As the skin of decomposed, he replaced it with silk cloth soaked in wax and plaster of paris. As the hair fell out of he fashioned a wig with her own hair. Tanzler filled the abdominal and chest cavity with rags to keep the original form, dressed Hoyos's remains in stockings, jewelry, and gloves, and kept the body in his bed. To mask the stench of the rotting body the Count also used copious amounts of perfume, disinfectants, and preserving agents.”

Not only did he keep Elena in his bed and proceeded to sleep beside her, he maintained a fully consummated relationship with the corpse.

Seven years later in October, 1940 the rumors had finally reached the ears of Elena’s sister Florinda. She confronted him, discovered the body and had the Count arrested. Most people felt sympathetic towards the Count and saw him as an eccentric “romantic.” There were even reports of prostitutes visiting him in his cell and offering their services for free.

“The Count was psychiatrically examined, and found mentally competent to stand trial on the charge of "wantonly and maliciously destroying a grave and removing a body without authorization.”” The hearing took place on October 9, 1940 at the Monroe County Courthouse. Because of the statue of limitations, two years was the statutory limitation for molesting a grave and Elena had been with the Count for seven years, he was released.

Dr. DePoo and Dr. Foraker attended the autopsy of Elena in 1940. “Their discovery remained secret until 1972 when Dr. DePoo confessed, "I made the examination in the funeral home. The breasts really felt real. In the vaginal area, I found a tube wide enough to permit sexual intercourse. At the bottom of the tube was cotton, and in an examination of the cotton, I found there was sperm. Then I knew we were dealing with a sexual pervert."”

Her body was then put on display for where over 6,000 people viewed her. After three days of showing her to the public her body was then buried in an unmarked grave so that the Count would not be able to steal her back once again.

After several more years the Count returned to Zephyrhills where he spent his remaining years writing in his journal and speaking to tourists about his story and showing them a wax effigy he had made of her with her death mask.

In July 1952 the Count was found dead lying next to the wax effigy of Elena he proudly showed tourists. “In a final twist, evidence has come to light that one of those responsible for the secret burial of Elena's corpse made a switch, burying a weighted box and returning Elena to Von Cosel, which means the image of Elena he proudly displayed to tourists was not a replica at all...” However, there is no evidence that the wax doll he was found dead next to contained any bones or anything remotely human.

This sick and twisted story proves that love can even conquer death. Or it could mean that you need to see a shrink.

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