Each of us has heard about love that goes beyond common sense and leads to madness. The story of Carl Tanzler is one of those stories, and its macabre course gives a completely new meaning to the phrase "love until death." It is a formidable and shivering testimony that there really are things we didn't dream about in our worst nightmares.
Carl Tanzler was born in 1877 in Dresden. He graduated from medical studies and then left for Australia, where he was found by the First World War. Due to his nationality, he was sent to an internment camp during the war, and then, after signing the surrender by the German Empire, was deported to the Netherlands. Although he started a family and had two daughters, life in the Old Continent was not easy for him.
In 1926 he decided to emigrate overseas - to Florida, where his sister was already living. When he managed to settle in a new country, he brought his wife and offspring. Unfortunately, the family happiness did not last long. Carl was considered an eccentric and liked to follow his own paths, but that was not what made him stand out from the crowd. In the USA he used the extended name Tanzler von Cosel, claiming to be a relative of Countess Cosel, Anna Konstancja von Brockdorff. Moreover, he said that the ghost of his supposed ancestor haunted him in his childhood, and during one of these visits he saw the face of a woman who was to become the love of his life.
Obsessed with this thought, he decided to leave his wife and children. He went to Zephyrhills and took a job as an X-ray technician at the Marine Hospital on Key West. It was there, three years after he moved, that his vision came true.
The Dream Girl
Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos was a 21-year-old, attractive Cuban who came to Key West with her mother to treat tuberculosis. Thanks to this, she met Tanzler, who saw in her face the image of a woman from childhood visions. Carl, then 53 years old, fell in love without memory. And although the girl did not reciprocate his feelings, at first she did not see anything dangerous in attraction.
She was even grateful for the gifts and medical support she received. Tanzler, desperate to keep his loved one alive, offered her X-ray treatments, which she gladly used . No wonder, the drastically deteriorating health made Maria and her family ready to do anything to overcome the disease. Unfortunately, this war could not be won. One year after moving, the woman died.
Carl Tanzler was considered an eccentric
Carl couldn't believe the tragedy that befell him. In despair, he paid for Maria's funeral and persuaded her relatives to build a mausoleum (he also covered the costs). The problem is that only one key was made for the tomb - and it was owned by Tanzler.
Carl visited the final resting place of the love of his life every day. These visits, however, suddenly stopped two years after Maria was buried. At the same time, the man was discharged from the hospital and decided to hide at home. The reason for this cut off was not any breakdown, but ... the return of his beloved from beyond the grave.
In bed with a dead body
Days and years passed, and Tanzler's bizarre behavior began to spark more and more rumors. The neighbors not only noticed that he had abandoned his visits to the cemetery. There were stories in the area about his purchases - women's perfumes, clothes and underwear. Someone else saw a doll the size of an adult woman in the window of his house.
All these reports eventually reached the Hoyos family. Seven years after Maria's death, her sister decided to visit Carl's house and see for herself what was going on there. What she discovered exceeded her wildest expectations.
It turned out that, under the cover of night, Tanzler stole Hoyos' corpse and transported it in a pram to his home. The body was already in the process of decomposition, but this did not discourage the man in love. Using wax, plaster, hooks and strings, he began to "repair" his beloved's remains. He also did not spare her clothes, dressing her up in elegant outfits and sprinkling her with a large dose of perfume.
No wonder - their smell was also supposed to cover up the unpleasant smell. And if that's not scary enough, then a later study on the mummy showed that Carl… shared a bed with Maria. A paper tube was discovered in the woman's vagina to facilitate postmortem intercourse.
The beautiful Maria didn't even know what the suitor would do to her body.
Tanzler was arrested and charged with grave desecration and kidnapping. The case was of course widely commented on in the press, and in order to make it more credible, Maria's remains were exposed to the public. Her mummified body attracted around 7,000 spectators before it was finally returned to the family, who, fearing another kidnapping, buried it in an unmarked grave.
Carla was not punished for his crimes, however, as they were out of date. It is also surprising that after the disclosure of the whole case, many people even sympathized with Tanzler, considering his actions "romantic."
Four years after these events, the man moved to Pasco County, Florida, and wrote the autobiography Fantastic Adventures. Surprisingly, his forgotten wife also supported him in the last years of his life. Carl died at the age of 75, and his body was not discovered until three weeks later. A life-size doll with the face of Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos, made of a woman's death mask, was also found in his home. The man lived with her until his death.