Meet Carl von Cosel, the Man Who Slept Next to His Crush's Corpse for 7 Years

We all have our favorite pastimes. Mine happens to be falling down internet k-holes. One minute, I'm investigating the whereabouts of Anastasia and, two hours and many mouse clicks later, I'm somehow reading all about how Henry VIII had his butt wiped by people called the "Grooms of Stool." That's around the time I ask myself, Wait, how did I get here? What day is it?

Recently, my cyber explorations took a creepy turn. Did you know there's an American serial killer known as the Butcher of Plainfield, who crafted a belt made out of his victims’ nipples?! Or that disembodied feet keep washing ashore in one area of the Pacific Northwest?? I sure didn't, and now I have to live with that knowledge for years to come. But there's one story that will stick with me forevermore, and it goes a little something like this:

Once there was a German dude named Carl von Cosel. In his early childhood, he said he would regularly be visited by one of his dead ancestors, who kept showing him the face of his one true love, an exotic dark-haired woman. Somehow, that’s the most mundane detail of this story.

Fast forward to adulthood. It’s the 1930s, and Carl is working as a doctor in Key West, Florida. One day at the hospital, a Cuban-American woman named Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos walks in. He immediately recognizes her as the girl from his dead ancestor visions! But, before you get too excited about this meet-cute, this story is less of a Julia Roberts rom-com and more Mandy Moore’s A Walk to Remember. Instead of saying "I have leukemia!" like Mandy Moore does in that movie, Elena says, "I have tuberculosis!"

Carl isn't sweating it though. He believes that he can cure her by bringing weird x-ray machines to her house and basically winging it from there. In addition to his medical(-ish) help, he also gives Elena jewelry and the latest fashions, and professes his love to her. Look up "Doing the absolute most" in the nearest dictionary and you'll find a handsome little photo of our friend, Carl.

SEVEN LONG ASS YEARS LATER, in 1940, rumors are swirling around his odd behavior. Those who remember his frequent visits to the mausoleum wonder why he suddenly stopped coming. His neighbors find it curious that he routinely buys women's clothes and lots of perfume. And a boy claims to have seen Carl in the window dancing with what looked like a super-sized doll. Elena’s sister eventually becomes suspicious too. She marches over to his house and Carl willingly shows off Elena’s body—or what's left of it—in his bedroom.

Carl is quickly arrested for “wantonly and maliciously destroying a grave and removing a body without authorization.” (That’s it?!) Psychiatrists examine him and declare him sane. (For real?!) And all charges are eventually dropped because nothing makes sense in this world (*shakes fist at statutes of limitations*).

All of this craziness makes the headlines in Florida and—again because nothing makes any damn sense—the public is generally sympathetic to Carl and considers him a hopeless romantic who's just a wee bit eccentric. For some weird reason, a public viewing of Elena's body is held. 8,500 people line up to get a look. Local schools even let out early so kids can be scarred for life. Oh, Florida, you never disappoint.

Emboldened by the public support (and maybe a loose screw or two), Carl asks if he can have Elena's body back. Thankfully, common sense prevails and his request is denied. Elena is re-buried in a secret, unmarked grave so as to avoid another toy wagon field trip. Unhappy about this, Carl sets off a bomb at the site of Elena's mausoleum as a way to show authorities what "wantonly and maliciously destroying a grave" really looks like.

Carl goes on to live another 12 years before dying alone. In his final diary entry, he writes, "Human jealousy has robbed me of the body of my Elena, yet divine happiness is flowing through me for she has survived death. Forever and ever, she is with me."

Three weeks after his death, his body is found in his apartment. A life-sized death-mask-wearing effigy of Elena is close by.