There is a
thin line between love and obsession, and we have seen this time and time again
in human history. Many people have committed horrifying acts in the name of
love, which often makes you wonder, was that really love?
The first
story in my upcoming Book 2 of The Horror Wedding Series, The
Botanist's Wife, tells the story about a botanist's twisted obsession with
a tree. It draws inspiration from a true story that highlights the thin line
between love and obsession. The story in question is the tale of Carl von
Cosel, who dug up the remains of the woman he claimed he loved and made her
into a modern-day mummy. There are also claims he had sex with her mummified
remains, which he kept on his bed.
Carl Von
Cosel, or as he liked to call himself, Carl Tanzler, was born on February 8,
1877. Truth be told, he was always an oddball right from his childhood days
when he claimed to have seen a vision of his dead ancestor, Countess Anna Constantia
von Cosel, who revealed to him the dark-haired woman he was destined to love.
He got married
to Doris Schafer in 1920, and the name he used on the marriage certificate was
George Karl Tanzler. Doris gave birth to their first child Ayesha Tanzler, two
years later, and another girl in 1924, named Clarista. At his mother's
suggestion, he moved to the United States, sailing from Rotterdam on February
6, 1926, to live with his sister in Zephyrhills, Florida. His family will later
join him in the US.
After settling
in Zephyrhills, he began working at the US Marine Hospital as a radiology
technician in 1927. He left his family back in Zephyrhills and moved to Key
West, Florida, using his birth name, Carl von Cosel.
The mystery of
his tale took shape on April 22, 1930, when he met Maria Elena Milagro de
Hoyos, 21, who he recognized as the dark-haired beauty from his vision he was
destined to love. To his dismay, Elena was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which
will eventually lead to her death and those of most her immediate family members.
He tried everything in his power, using his self-proclaimed medical knowledge
to cure her. He also tried to win her over using many gifts, including jewelry
and clothing. According to rumors, he confessed his undying love to her,
although they fell short of confirming if she reciprocated his love. The
illness finally took her life on October 25, 1931, despite Carl's best efforts.
Carl financed
her funeral as well as the building of a mausoleum in her honor. Carl's love
for Elena didn't end at her death. In the next two years that followed, he was
seen visiting her remains every night. He went as far as serenading her corpse
with her best Spanish song. He claimed that Elena's spirit came to him while he
sat by her grave and often asked him to take her away from the mausoleum with
him. He finally gave in and took her remains home, transporting her with a toy
wagon.
He dressed
Elena in her own clothes at his home, including gloves, stockings, and jewelry.
He then proceeded to place her on his bed. As the corpse continued to
decompose, he used coat hangers and wires to keep the bone together, and he
replaced her decayed eyes with ones made of glass.
Her skin
continued to rot, but he didn't stop there; He soaked silk cloth in plaster of
Paris and wax, which he used to replace her rotting skin. He stuffed her chest
and abdominal cavity with rags to make sure she maintained her original form.
When her hair fell off completely, he made a wig from Elena's hair initially
given to him by her mother immediately after her burial.
He used
several preserving agents to prevent decomposition and a large amount of
perfume and disinfectants to mask the odor of her decomposing body. An even
more horrifying detail is that he had sex with Elena's remains by putting a
paper tube in the region of her vagina.
Elena's sister
Florinda Medina visited Carl to confirm the rumors about the violation of her
sister's body in 1940. After confronting him, she discovered the horrifying
truth when she saw him dancing with the mummified remains of her sister through
a window. She informed the police, who discovered the mummified body of Elena
on Carl's bed when they searched his home.
The mummified
appearance of Elena's body made it appear alive, and Carl even placed a flower
in her hair. The police also discovered a closet containing bridal clothes he
used to dress her corpse. One of the terrifying things about the whole ordeal
was how Carl remained calm while explaining how Elena's corpse came into his
possession and how he mummified it. He even claimed Elena's corpse comes alive
sometimes to talk to him.
He was later
charged with "wantonly and maliciously destroying a grave and removing a
body without authorization." Elena's body was taken back to Key West
cemetery, its original resting place, and kept in an unmarked grave at a secret
location to avoid future tampering.
The charges
against Carl were dropped, and by this time, his story was popular in the whole
country. Despite the strangeness of his story, many people in the country
considered him an "eccentric romantic,"
In 1944 he
wrote an autobiography called "The Secret of Elena's Tomb,"
explaining his side of the story about turning the love of his life into a
ghoulish mummy.
In his last
days, he lived close to his wife, and in 1950 he was finally given American
citizenship. During this time, he continued his obsession with Elena creating a
death mask that he placed on her life-sized model. According to certain rumors,
Carl switched Elena's body before it was taken away from him.
The Story of
Carl von Cosel and his corpse bride was a big deal during the mid-1900s. He
attracted both sympathizers and critiques who viewed him as nothing but a
perverted man. Whatever the case might be, Carl's story is another story that
makes us question where love ends, and obsession begins.
References
The Gruesome
Story Of Carl Tanzler And His Corpse Bride: https://anomalien.com/the-gruesome-story-of-carl-tanzler-and-his-corpse-bride/
Carl von Cosel
– The Case of the Corpse Bride: https://www.thetruecrimedatabase.com/case_file/carl-von-cosel/
The morbid
tale of Count Von Cosel and Elena de Hoyos - https://ghostcitytours.com/key-west/ghost-stories/count-von-cosel/
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