MENTALLY UNSTABLE OR OBSESSED? Meet Carl Tanzler who wouldn't let death separate him from his love.



MENTALLY UNSTABLE OR OBSESSED?
Meet Carl Tanzler who wouldn't let death separate him from his love.
Tanzler was a physician who lived a  normal life until 1931 when he fell head-over-heels in love with a young tuberculosis patient named Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos, a 22-year-old Cuban-American woman who was brought into the Key West,Florida Hospital where Tanzler worked..
As soon as he laid eyes on her, Tranzler was transfixed. He had visions as a child of a stunning, dark-haired woman who was destined to be his true love and he was convinced that Maria must literally be the woman of his dreams.
At the time tuberculosis was a deadly disease so Tanzler committed himself to caring for Maria and made every attempt to save her life while also showering her with gifts and professions of love. Unfortunately, Maria died a few months later, sending Tanzler into deep heartbreak.


Tanzler visited Maria’s body every night for two years until he evidently decided that he wanted her closer. In April 1933, he stole the decaying body from its tomb and kept it in his home with him.
Because Hoyos had been dead for two years,

Tanzler had to provide extensive upkeep on the body. He used plaster of Paris and glass eyes to maintain the integrity of her face and stabilized her skeletal frame by using coat hangers and wires.
He stuffed her torso full of rags to help it retain its normal shape and cloaked her in copious amounts of perfume to keep the stench at bay.He also added wax to her face to help it remain intact as well .In October 1940,Maria's sister Florinda heard rumors of Tanzler sleeping with the disinterred body of her sister and confronted Tanzler at his home,



where Maria's body was eventually discovered (he was also caught dancing with her corpse in front of an open window). Florinda notified the authorities, and Tanzler was arrested and detained. Tanzler was psychiatrically examined and found mentally competent to stand trial on the 
charge of "wantonly and maliciously destroying a grave and removing a body without authorization." 

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. The public mood was generally sympathetic to Tanzler, whom many viewed as an eccentric "romantic".
Separated from his obsession, Tanzler used a death mask to create a life-sized effigy of Maria, and lived with it until his death at age 75 on July 3, 1952. His body was discovered on the floor of his home three weeks after his death.

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