Count Carl Von Cosel: Love Beyond Death

Count Carl Von Cosel: Love Beyond Death

Carl Tanzler

Count Von Cosel, also known as Carl Tanzler, was born in 1877. He was a German-born, American Radiologist who become obsessed with one of his patients, Elena Miagro de Hoyos.
Tanzler worked as a radiologist during the tuberculosis epidemic in the 1920s. He had a vision where he saw the ghost of a beautiful dark-haired woman that he knew would be his soul mate one day. Not long after this time he met Elena and fell deeply in love with her.

Elena

In 1926 Elena married Luis Mesa, she became pregnant but miscarried, after this tragedy Mesa left her and moved to Florida. Members of Elena's family were struck down with tuberculosis, eventually, Elena was diagnosed with the dreaded disease.
She started treatments with Tanzler who upon seeing her knew she was the woman he had seen in his vision, and he set about to make her his.
He would buy her jewellery and expensive gifts, beautiful clothing, and, unable to hold back his desire, told her he would love her now and forever beyond the grave.
Tanzler worked hard to keep Elena alive, but the disease soon overcame her and she died.

Tanzler paid for Elena's funeral and the building of an above-ground tomb for his beloved Elena, a tomb with which he would become all too familiar. Every night upon the completion of his work he would visit Elena's tomb and lay flowers, then using a key he had cut, he would let himself inside her tomb and sleep beside her corpse.
Six months after he started this bizarre practice he decided it would be more comfortable if Elena came home with him, so he stole her corpse from the tomb and returned home with it.

The silk and wax covered face of Elana

After six months Elena's body was suffering greatly from decomposition, Tanzler stuffed her body cavities with old rags and rejoined her disjointed bones and limbs with piano wire. He inserted glass eyes in her eye sockets, and as her skin deteriorated, he replaced it with layers of silk soaked in wax.
He had a wig made for her out of hair given to him by Elena's own Mother after her funeral, and dressed her corpse in fine clothing and jewels, to cover the smell of her decomposition he sprayed her with perfume.
She spent all day and night laying in his bed,
He even went as far as to add a tube into her vagina so he could have sex with her

It took 9 years before his acts were discovered. Elena's sister had heard rumours that her sister's corpse was in Tanzlers house,

 she confronted him and soon reported him. Tanzler was arrested and sent to be psychologically examined.
Doctors found him competent for trial and he was charged with "wantonly and maliciously destroying a grave and removing a body without authorisation." Luck was on Tanzelers side though as the case was eventually dropped and he was released, as the statute of limitations for the crime had expired
Elena's body was recovered and put on display in Dean-Lopez Funeral home in Florida, the case attained extreme amounts of media coverage and many people came to look at poor Elena Hoyos's body.
Eventually, she was reburied in Key West Cemetery in an unmarked grave to stop Tanzler from interfering with her body again.

Before and After

Tanzler eventually went on to write an autobiography that appeared in “Fantastic Adventures” a fantasy magazine. He moved to Pasco county Florida, closer to his estranged wife Doris (of whom he had separated with sometime around 1928. They had two daughters, Ayesha Tanzler and Crysta Tanzler)

Upon his death it was discovered that Tanzler had created a new effigy of Elena from her death mask, it has been claimed by some conspiracy fans that Elena's body had been given back to Tanzler and that the effigy was the real Elena Hoyos, again removed from the grave.



As an interesting side note, Tanzler spent some time in Australia. The following “Editorial Note“ accompanying the autobiographical account “The Trial Bay Organ: A Product of Wit and Ingenuity” by “Carl von Cosel,“ in the Rosicrucian Digest of March and April 1939, gives details about his stay in Australia before and during World War I and his return to Germany after the war:

”Many years ago, Carl von Cosel travelled from India to Australia with the intention of proceeding to the South Seas Islands. He paused in Australia to collect equipment and suitable boats, and to become acquainted with prevailing weather and sea conditions. However, he became interested in engineering and electrical work there, bought property, boats, an organ, an island in the Pacific—so that he was still in Australia at the end of ten years. He 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. Later he was removed to Trial Bay to a castle-like prison on the cliffs, and there the work in this narrative was accomplished. At the end of the war no prisoner was permitted to return to his former residence, but all were shipped to the prisoner's exchange in Holland. When Carl von Cosel was released he set out to find his mother from whom he had not heard since the beginning of the war. Finding her safe, he remained with her for three years, witnessing the chaos that followed in the wake of the war. ... Finally, she suggested that her son return to his sister in the United States ….”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Tanzler#cite_note-Swicegood-1

http://www.weirdworm.com/carl-tanzler-romancing-the-dead/

http://www.angelfire.com/magic/scotlass/voncosel.html

© 2012 Eidolon Paranormal

written and researched by

Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au