Count Carl von Cosel

In 1926 the 17 year old 1926 Elena Miagro “Helen” de Hoyos, (1909 – 1931) married Luis Mesa. She became pregnant with his child but sadly miscarried.Mesa left her and tragedy followed tragedy. Members of her family became ill with tuberculosis, which ultimately caught up with Hoyos as well.
Carl Tanzler also known as Count Carl von Cosel (February 8, 1877 – July 23, 1952) was an American radiologist of German decent. He treated Tuberculosis patients and this is how he met Elena. Von Cosel was peculiar. He had seen an apparition of a dark-headed woman, which he took to be his future love. Elena bore a striking resemblance to the apparition and he fell madly in love with her. She was the woman of his vision! He began buying her gifts of jewelry and clothing. It was a love that would go beyond the grave. Despite Tanzler’s dedicated work, Hoyos died. Tanzler paid for the funeral and the erection of an above-ground. Every night Tanzler would visit Elena’s tomb; but he didn’t just lay flowers. He had a key and would let himself in and sleep beside her corpse. After six months of practicing this bizarre ritual he ecided to take the relationship further. He stole Elena’s body from the tomb and took her home.
Tanzler reconstructed Hoyos’ decomposed body by rejoining disjointed bones with piano wire. He stuffed her body with rags and put glass eyes into her eye-sockets. Her skin disintegrated and her hair fell out. He replaced her skin with layers of silk soaked in wax and made her a wig with her own hair; hair given to him by her mother after the funeral. He dressed Elena in expensive clothes and sprayed her with perfume; much needed given the strong stench of decay. He even added a tube into her vagina so he could make love to her.
9 years later, Hoyos’ sister heard rumors and confronted the good doctor. Tanzler was arrested and psychologically examined. He was found competent for trial and charged with destroying a grave and removing a body without authorization. Fortunately for Tanzler, the statute of limitations prevented a conviction.
The body of Elena Hoyos was put on display at a local funeral home because of the extreme media coverage surrounding the bizarre events. Eventually her corpse was returned to the graveyard. She was buried in an unmarked spot so Tanzler wouldn’t be tempted to reunite with the love of his life.
Tanzler moved on in life and wrote an autobiography that appeared in fantasy magazine “Fantastic Adventures”. He even created an effigy of Elena Hoyos from her death mask, which was found in his home when Tanzler died. Some reports claim that Elena’s body was returned to him and that the effigy was her real remains; that she was back in his arms again…