Elena Hoyos, born Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos in 1909, was a young Cuban-American woman who became the object of a obsession and infatuation by Carl Tanzler, a German- born radiology technician at the Marine- hospital service in Key West Florida.

Hoyos suffered from tuberculosis, a disease that was often fatal at the time. Tanlzer attempted to treat her with various methods, but she ultimately succumbed to the illness in 1931.

After her death, Tanzler’s obsession took a macabre turn, he visited her mausoleum regularly, and in 1933, stolen her body and took it to his home.

Over the next nine years, he preserved her body using a combination of wax, plaster, and other materials. The bizarre situation was discovered in 1940, by Elena’s sister Nana, leading to Tanzler’s arrest. However, he was not prosecuted, due to the statue of limitations on his crimes having expired.

This case has since become a notorious tale of morbid fascination and unrequited love.

This was the historical context, Yujin, Christine, and Esmeralda were reading from a book titled “ Lore: Tales from Key West by notable writer Marisol Lozada, still a resident in the exact same neighborhood, where Elena and her family resided. Esmeralda, replies to her friends, this particular tale, is infamous for its themes of obsession, Afterlife, grief, mourning, Mental Illness, and death, its especially apparent during the holiday season of Halloween. Then Christine, voiced her opinion, it’s also evident that Tanzler couldn’t differentiate and distinguish between love, and infatuation regarding to his one-sided feelings for Elena, what’s so infuriating about the fact is Tanzler had the audacity to disrespect, disregard how Elena’s family was going to react and feel when they discovered her body been stolen by someone they were supposed to trust.