Real Life Corpse Bride: The Disturbing Tale of Carl Von Cosel

WEIRD WEDNESDAY

If you’ve never heard of Carl Tanzler, also known as Carl Von Cosel, get ready for a story so bizarre it’ll have you calling him Carl Von Creepy by the end. This tale is straight out of a horror novel but, unfortunately, it’s real life. Let’s dive into the twisted mind of this infamous figure and his disturbing obsession with a young woman named Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos.

A Shady Past

Carl Tanzler was born on February 8, 1877, in Dresden, Germany. Something to note, Carl had a penchant for exaggeration and outright lies. He claimed to have degrees, was a submarine captain, and even called himself an “accomplished inventor.” According to his self-written autobiography, Fantastic Adventures, Carl’s life was a patchwork of tall tales—from traveling to India and Australia to being imprisoned in a castle-like concentration camp during World War I. The truth? Who knows.

At some point, Carl married Doris Shafer, and the couple had two daughters, Ayesha and Clarista. Tragically, Clarista died of diphtheria, a heartbreaking event that Carl tried to leave in the dust when he moved his family to Zephyrhills, Florida, in 1926. Not long after, Carl abandoned them and took a job as a radiology technician at the U.S. Marine Hospital in Key West. It was here that he adopted the name Carl Von Cosel and met the woman who would consume his life—Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos.