Undying love : the true story of a passion that defied death

Karl Tanzler, also known as Count Carl von Cosel, was a radiologist in Key West, Florida who developed an obsession for one of his patients, Elena Milagro Hoyos. The beautiful young woman died from tuberculosis in 1931. With her parents' permission von Cosel had an above ground mausoleum built for her. He visited the tomb every night and by 1933 he had taken the body home. In writing this definitive and mesmerizing tale of the most obsessive love imaginable, Ben Harrison did his homework thoroughly, studying numerous press accounts from the 1930s as well as the von Cosel memoir. What makes Undying Love so special are the interviews Ben conducted with those old enough to have known the story participants and the way things were in Key West during the 1930s. One of his better discoveries was a song, La Boda Negra, The Black Wedding, which Count von Cosel claimed Elena sang to him from the elaborate crypt he had built for her in the Catholic section of the Key West cemetery. The lyric made it unmistakeably clear. She wanted to come home with him. Above the coffin of Elena Hoyos, a black crucifix inexplicably glowed with a soft light as Count Carl von Cosel extracted the inner casket from the outer one. With difficulty because the caskets were heavy, he pushed, shoved, pulled and maneuvered the inner one onto the grass outside the tomb, closed and locked the tomb door. Their remarkable journey was about to begin... The book also includes eight pages of compelling, unforgettable photos. In 1930's Key West, Florida, a German immigrant, who insisted his name was Count Carl von Cosel, fell madly in love with a beautiful young tuberculosis patient at Key West Marine Hospital, where he worked. Von Cosel claimed to have seen visions of Elena, his soul mate, long before he had ever met her. He tried to save her to no avail. Beyond grief, he refused to accept her death, vowing she would become his after-life bride. Half a century later, the story caught the imagination of Key West singer/songwriter Ben Harrison. What strange twist of reasoning or fate had driven von Cosel to his desperate acts? Was he really mad, or had he found his soul mate as he swore? Expertly piecing together von Cosel's bizarre life, Harrison separates fact from myth, and untangles the thread of intrigue woven through a fascinating, gothic tale of obsessive love and melancholic madness.--From publisher description