Carl Tanzler: The Man Who Slept With A Corpse

In October 1940, rumors began to circulate when eyewitnesses claimed to see a man dancing around his living room with a corpse; this man was Carl Tanzler, and the corpse in question was that of Elena De Hoyos.

Elena’s sister, Florinda, growing tired of the rotten rumor, decided to visit Tanzler to see if the rumor was true…

The Beginning: Carl Tanzler and Elena De Coyos

Carl Tanzler was born Geor Karl Tanzler in Dresden, Germany, on February 8th, 1877.

Although not much is known about his childhood, many sources do often state that Tanzler revealed how a deceased relative, Countess Anna Constantia Von Cosel, would visit him in dreams and show him the face of his one true love, who he described as an “exotic, dark-haired woman”.

Tanzler grew up in Germany, but later traveled and found himself in Australia just before the outbreak of World War I. During his time in Australia, he became interested in engineering and had begun work on building his own ‘trans-ocean flyer’ when the war broke out—because of this, and his heritage, Tanzler was placed in a concentration camp for ‘safe-keeping’ by British Military authorities.

Once the war had ended in 1918, Tanzler was released, and although not permitted to return home, he did return to Germany in 1920 where he married Doris Schafer, with whom he had two children.

Continuing his travels, Tanzler emigrated to the US in 1926 and eventually settled in Zephyrhills, Florida, where his wife and children later joined him.

However, Tanzler once again left his family to become a radiology technician at Marine Hospital in Key West, Florida, where Tanzler (who was 53 at the time) met 20-year-old Elena De Hoyos.

Elena De Hoyos was the Cuban-American daughter of a local cigar maker in Key West. She was born in 1909 and married her husband at the young age of just 17. However, she sadly had a miscarriage, and the marriage subsequently fell apart. Her husband moved away to Miami.

Upon becoming ill, Elena’s mothers brought her into the Marine hospital for examination, and she was diagnosed with tuberculosis, a disease that was fatal at the time.

But, it was at this hospital that Carl Tanzler recognized the beauty of her face, for Elena was the vision Tanzler had seen many times in his dreams—his one true love.

photo of carl tanzler — photo of Carl Tanzler
Photo Credit: By Florida Keys, Public Libraries

Carl Tanzler was convinced that Elena was the subject of the visions he had during his childhood, and although his specialty was within radiology, he began to devote all his time and energy to attempting to cure Elena’s fatal infection through many remedies and treatments. He even brought medical equipment to Elena’s home.

Not only did he shower her with all his self-proclaimed medical knowledge for over 18 months he also showered her with gifts, such as jewelry and clothes, and eventually proclaimed his love for her—although there are no direct sources or evidence that Elena reciprocated his affections.

Elena Milagro Hoyos. Flickr., CC BY 2.0
Photo Credit: By Florida Keys, Public Libraries, MM00037040

On October 23rd, 1931, at the age of 22, Elena succumbed to her illness and passed away. Tanzler insisted that he wanted to pay for her funeral, and even forked out for a lavish mausoleum which would become her final resting place, or so everyone assumed.

At a loss, losing the ‘love of his life’ Tanzler, for the next two years, visited Elena’s grave every day, speaking to her, singing songs to her, and even claimed that her spirit would respond to him.

However, this obsession would soon be taken to a new level.

Tanzer claimed that he heard Elena’s voice asking him to take her home with him, and as visiting her grave each day was not enough to fulfill him, he listened to her.

On a dark night in 1933, Tanzler entered the Key West cemetery equipped with a toy wagon, crept into her tomb, and removed her body.

Preserved body of Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos — Maria Elena de Hoyos (1910-1931) encased in wax in 1940 Fair use
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The body of Elena De Hoyos had been laid in her final resting place for almost two years, so the state of her body was in an extremely accelerated state of decomposition. However, this did not deter Tanzler,.

Instead, he set about “fixing” her up.

In a makeshift laboratory that he had built at his home, in the shape of a small aircraft—which he named ‘Elena’s Star Ship’—Tanzler began reconstructing Elena’s body.

By using piano wire and coat hangers, he was able to reconstruct her frame by binding her bones back to their skeletal form, he then used rags and towels to stuff her sunken torse back into shape. For her decomposing skin, he soaked silk bandages in plaster of Paris and mortician wax, and he replaced her eyes with glass ones.

To disguise the smell of rotting flesh, Tanzler doused Elena and his home with large amounts of perfume and disinfectant sprays.

Tanzler constructed a wig from the hair that had fallen from her scalp during decomposition as well as hair that he had been given by Elena’s mother after her death. He then stapled this wig to her skull.

Elena was dressed in clothes and jewelry and was laid in his bed, where he slept next to her for the next seven years.

There was always the question of whether Tanzler indulged himself in necrophilia, although many sources state that Tanzler never said he engaged in such activities. There was no real evidence of this, apart from the fact that a tube-like apparatus that was found within her intimate area.

The body of Elena De Hoyos lay beside Carl Tanzler in his bed, for the next seven years. But one day a neighbor confessed to witnessing Tanzler, through an open window, dancing with a dressed-up corpse.

The rumor began to circulate, and to everyone's horror, they did think it could be a possibility as Tanzler was also claimed to be seen purchasing women's clothes and perfume—even though his wife was not living with him at the time.

For Elena’s family, this must have been horrible to hear, and out of curiosity and determination to discover the truth, one of Elena’s sisters, Florinda, went to Tanzler’s home to ask him the truth.

Tanzler reportedly showed Florinda Elena’s body, but due to the amount of ‘work’ Tanzler had done to the corpse, her sister initially thought he had built himself an effigy of Elena. It soon became apparent the body propped up at his dining room table was, in fact, her sister's.

Naturally, Florina notified the authorities, and Tanzler was arrested in October 1940, and charged with “wantonly and maliciously destroying a grave and removing a body without authorization”.

Elena Hoyes body — Elena Hoyos body
Photo Credit: Florida Keys, Public Library, .Flickr

The trial of Carl Tanzler generated a lot of media and public frenzy, which isn’t surprising considering the crime—but the general consensus was not that of anger but of pity.

Tanzler was seen a ‘lonely eccentric’, and was deemed fit to stand trial. This despite the fact that during a psychiatric evaluation, Tanzler stated that he ‘rebuilt’ her corpse in his makeshift airplane.

He had hopes to one day fly her “high into the stratosphere, so that radiation from outer space could penetrate her tissues and restore life to her somnolent form.”

However, from the time of Tanzlers arrest, the ‘statute of limitations’ had expired and he was released from custody.

But the ordeal for Elena wasn’t over yet. Her body was displayed at a local funeral home, Dean Lopez Funeral Home, where almost 7000 people came to view her corpse before she was eventually laid to rest in an unmarked grave.

After Tanzlers initial release he moved to Pasco County, Floria in 1944, where his wife, Doris, was said to have cared for him in his later years. It is claimed that Tanzler, still rigid with his obsession with Elena, used a ‘death mask’ in order to create a life-size doll of Elena.

Carl Tanzler died on July 3rd, 1952, at the age of 75.

There are many rumors and accounts that Tanzler was found dead in the arms of his size doll. Some say he was found naked on top of the doll, whereas more sources cite that he was actually found dead on the floor and was near a life-size doll.

With such a strange and macabre story, it isn’t unsurprising that more gruesome or dark details emerged about the case years after the fact. There are claims that a note was found written by Tanzler who confessed to killing Elena.

Tanzler with a picture of Elena
Photo Credit: Le Fotografie Che Hanno Fatto La Storia

One particular story written by a Micehlfleder was found in a magazine, titled “Florida’s Dr Frankenstein and his Laboratory of Love”.

The article explains how someone was renovating a cottage, and when they disassembled a wall, they found what seemed to be a confession note:

“She died because I gave this to her mercifully. I mixed the root of wolfsbane (monkshood) with aconite diluted. It was palatable and my loved one departed this miserable world on October 25, 1931. Suffer no more, sweet Elena. I have sent you to the angels with my golden elixir”

The eerie connection between this note and Elena’s autopsy report is quite alarming. The autopsy report was kept secret by Tanzler, but he verbally informed people that Elena experienced ‘violent convulsions’ before her death and this revelation was found noted in a police log at the time of Elena’s death.

The connection between these two pieces of information is eerie as ‘Aconite’ also known as ‘monkshood’ and ‘wolfbane’ is one of the most toxic herbs native to Northern Asia and Europe, which has been used as a deadly poison throughout history.

A case report in 2020 by (Christopher) Wood, (James) Coulson, (John) Thompson, and (Stephen) Bonner detailed the effects of a fifty-year-old male suffering from Aconite poisoning and how he experienced a seizure, much like the violent convulsions Elena is said to have experienced before her death.

In the case of Carl Tanzler, there are many trials of extra ‘what ifs’ scattered about this macabre case, and it is difficult to decipher what is fact and what is rumor, due to the case being so old, limited witnesses, and no formal records of the autopsy, including photos. It would be easy to make grisly connections that may not exist, but can they ever be proved otherwise?

Is it a mystery, was it murder? Or was it a simple case of the ultimate obsession?

No one will ever know for sure.