Now, this is where the story takes a turn. Tanzler offered to pay for her to be interred in a mausoleum (which her family agreed to). They, however, had no clue that he had the ONLY key to the mausoleum.
So what did lil ole Tanzler do with this key? Well, he visited her grave every night for TWO YEARS. I can’t make this stuff up people. Meanwhile, her family had no idea. This wasn’t enough for him though. So in 1931, Tanzler decided it was time for de Hoyos to uhh, well to move in with him.
Tanzler stole her body and took it home with him, where they could live as man and wife. Because this was a corpse, Tanzler had to get creative and became a DIY king. He stuffed her body with rags and made a wig out of her own hair. Essentially, he made her look like a doll instead of a rotting corpse. He also used perfume to cover the smell.
He put her body in his bed and there she lived for SEVEN YEARS. Seven years guys. And no one knew a thing. People started to talk though. Tanzler was seen buying woman’s clothes and perfume, which was strange since everyone thought Tanzler was a reclusive old man living on his own. A boy said he witnessed Tanzler dancing with a large doll, which spread around town and eventually to de Hoyo’s family.
Keep in mind, de Hoyo’s family knew this guy was off. He had lost his job (for unknown reasons) and became a recluse. And so, in 1940, one of de Hoyo’s sisters decide to pay him a random visit. At his home, the sister found to be what she believed to be an effigy of the late de Hoyos. After the police were called, it was revealed to be her actual dead sister.
Let’s take a moment here to think of what this family went through. De Hoyos was very young when she died, 22 to be exact. I can’t imagine what a loss like that would do to a family. Perhaps the only thing bringing them comfort was knowing that she was resting in a pricy mausoleum and had found peace. That was never the case though.
An autopsy revealed all of the DIY projects Tanzler had done on her body to keep her “intact”. After all this, Tanzler was arrested only for grave robbing and he was eventually let go without facing any consequences for his actions.
If this wasn’t enough, Tanzler actually had a plan for the body. Are you ready for this? This guy was building a SPACE SHIP so that he could fly de Hoyo’s into space where the radiation would bring her back to life. Can you believe this? This isn’t a movie, this actually happened. And of course, it happened in Florida.
Ok but let’s get back to what happened to Elena de Hoyo’s. After Tanzler was let go, he had the audacity to ask for her body back. Instead, she was put on display at a local funeral home for all to see. She was finally laid to rest in Key West Cemetery in an unmarked grave. Tanzler later died in 1952 and that’s the end of that.
I’m sharing this story because it macabre yes, but also because it angers me. As I write this, it’s the 89th anniversary of de Hoyo’s death. I hope wherever she is now, she has found peace. We don’t know much about de Hoyos or about her inner thoughts about Tanzler before she died. I can imagine she felt strange but didn’t feel like she could say no to his offerings.
I feel for her though and it makes me incredibly sad that this man took advantaged of the situation and did something so sick. Of course, Tanzler was most definitely mentally ill, but that does not excuse his actions.
What’s worst is that her body was put on display after this (you can google a picture of what it looked like) and Tanzler was thought to be a romantic-people felt bad for him. But what about Elena de Hoyo’s? She was a victim who could literally do nothing and she was possessed all those years by a man who I don’t think actually loved her. I think he was obsessed and clearly very very sick…
That’s all I have to say about this very strange and sad tale. If you want to learn more, check out the short video below.