Граф фон Козель: Радиолог и одержимость посмертной любовью.

German born American radiology technologist and erotomaniac

Georg Carl Tänzler, also known as Count Carl von Cosel (February 8, 1877 – July 3, 1952), was a German born radiology technologist at the Marine Hospital Service in Key West, Florida. He developed an obsession with a young Cuban American tuberculosis patient, Elena "Helen" Milagro de Hoyos (July 31, 1909 – October 25, 1931), that carried on well after her death.

He was born as Karl Tänzler or Georg Karl Tänzler on February 8, 1877 in Dresden, Germany. Tanzler grew up in the German Empire, but, at some point, wound up in Australia just prior to the outbreak of World War I. 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 his internment during the Great War, as well as his subsequent return to Germany after the War:

Tanzler's account of Trial Bay Gaol, his secret building of a sailboat, etc., is confirmed by Nyanatiloka Mahathera, who mentions that he planned to escape from the Gaol with "Count Carl von Cosel" in a sailboat, and provides other information about the internment of Germans in Australia during World War I. Around 1920, following his return to Germany, Tanzler married Doris Schäfer (1889–1977). Together they had two children: Ayesha Tanzler (1922–1998), and Clarista Tanzler (1924–1934), who died of diphtheria. Tanzler emigrated to the United States from Germany in 1926, sailing from Rotterdam on February 6, 1926 to Havana, Cuba. From Cuba he settled in Zephyrhills, Florida, where his sister had already emigrated, and was later joined by his wife and two daughters. Leaving his family behind in Zephyrhills in 1927, he took a job as a radiology technician at the U. S. Marine Hospital in Key West, Florida under the name Carl von Cosel. During his childhood in Germany, and later while traveling briefly in Genoa, Italy, Tanzler claimed to have been visited by visions of a dead, purported ancestor, Countess Anna Constantia von Cosel, who revealed the face of his true love, an exotic dark haired woman, to him. By all accounts, Hoyos was viewed as a local beauty in Key West. Elena was the daughter of local cigar maker Francisco "Pancho" Hoyos (1883–1934) and Aurora Milagro (1881–1940). She had two sisters, Florinda "Nana" Milagro Hoyos (1906–1944), who married Mario Medina (c. 1905–1944) and also succumbed to tuberculosis; and Celia Milagro Hoyos (1913–1934). Medina, Nana's husband, was electrocuted trying to rescue a coworker who hit a powerline with his crane at a construction site. On February 18, 1926, Elena married Luis Mesa (1908–1974), the son of Caridad and Isaac Mesa. Mesa left Elena shortly after she suffered a miscarriage of the couple's child, and moved to Miami. Elena was legally married to Mesa at the time of her death. Elena was subsequently diagnosed with tuberculosis, a disease typically fatal at the time, and which eventually would claim the lives of almost all of her immediate family. Tanzler, with his self professed medical knowledge, attempted to cure Elena with a variety of treatments, remedies, X ray and other medical equipment, that were brought to the Hoyos' home. After a preliminary hearing on October 9, 1940 at the Monroe County Courthouse in Key West, Tanzler was held to answer on the charge, but the case was eventually dropped, and he was released, as the statute of limitations for the crime had expired.

In 1944, Tanzler moved to Pasco County, Florida, close to Zephyrhills, where he wrote an autobiography that appeared in the pulp publication, Fantastic Adventures, in 1947. His home was near his wife Doris, who apparently helped to support Tanzler in his later years. It has been written (most notably by Swicegood) that Tanzler had the bodies switched (or that Elena's remains were secretly returned to him), and that he died with the real body of Elena. An article written by Michelfelder in 1982 tells of how renovation workers found a note allegedly written by Tanzler, confessing to have killed Elena by poisoning her:

In 2003, two bands released their musical interpretations of the Tanzler story, And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead's The Secret of Elena's Tomb album, and Sleep Station's Von Cosel album. In 2007, the band The Black Dahlia Murder released a song titled “Deathmask Divine”, on their Nocturnal album which tells the story. In 2008, the Swedish band ChansoNoir released the EP Count Von Cosels Obsession, with the B side A Cemetery Serenade presenting an instrumental piece reenacting Carl Tanzler's organ playing in the tomb. In 2009, Mike Glendinning released two songs inspired by Tanzler's story, "Elena" and "Dust Off My Bride," on his "Psychotic America: Lullabies & Necrophilia" album. The 2010 song "Wax and Wire" by Portland based band Loch Lomond is inspired by the story of Tanzler and Elena. In 2015 a Japanese artist, "Kanon69" (奏音69) released the song "The Bride of the Necro" (ネクロの花嫁) which was also based on the story of Tanzler. In 2013, Sharon Needles released the single "Dead Girls Never Say No" inspired by Tanzler on her album PG 13. In 2021, the Polish sludge/doom metal band Las Trumien released an EP titled "Więcej Śmierci" ("More Death"), which contained the song "Lekarstwo na Śmierć" ("Cure for Death") describing the story of Tanzler. The 2022 song "Cupiditate" by the Norwegian band Sinfonia Borealis is inspired by Tanzler's story. In 2024, a collective of artists, (New York based jazz metal trio Kilter, Swiss vocalist Andromeda Anarchia, Growlers Choir from Montreal and New York string quartet SEVEN)SUNS) release "La Suspendida", an opera that tells Tanzler's story from Maria Elena's point of view. William Berger, who wrote the libretto, also released the book called "The Story of María Elena and KILTER’s Jazz Metal Opera La Suspendida".

In 1999, the program Autopsy 6: Secrets of the Dead profiled the Tanzler case, in a segment titled "The Strange Obsession of Dr. Carl von Cosel." In 2000, the History Channel program Haunted History: Key West detailed the "Elena Hoyos / Carl Tanzler" case. In 2010, an episode of the science fiction TV drama series Fringe entitled "Marionette" aired, which appeared to be loosely based on the Tanzler story. On October 24, 2013, the case of Carl Tanzler was featured on Mysteries at the Museum season 4, episode 10. In 2014, the NBC series The Blacklist featured a plotline in the twentieth episode of its second season that resembled the Tanzler incident. A smuggler is revealed to have been pilfering corpses from graveyards and using them in a "corpse mail order bride" business as part of an alleged Chinese tradition involving unmarried decedents. Remains found in the smuggler's facility closely resemble the corpse of Hoyos after its retrieval from Tanzler's residence. In 2015, the story of Tanzler and Elena Hoyos was featured in an Investigation Discovery series True Nightmares episode entitled "Overstay Your Welcome." In 2020, Tanzler's story was featured on an episode entitled "Cryptic Messages" of the Travel Channel show True Terror with Robert Englund.

In 2018, the musical "It Happened in Key West" made its debut in London's Charing Cross Theatre. The show is a comedic retelling of the events of those discussed here.