Talk:Carl Tanzler

Carl
A little too much is being made of his name "changes". His family mostlikely hailed from the town of Cosel in Silesia, hence the "von Cosel". You seem to be implying that he was always planning on doing something untoward since he used a different name on his immigration documents. In fact, the discrepancy between his immigration documents and his birth certificate is not unique. Many Germans anglicized their names in a similar way. Pbasu 18:43, 14 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I am just being methodical, and want to make sure anyone searching for him under another name will find him here. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) 23:00, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Elena
Speaking of names, someone changed Elena's last name to "de Hoyos" and referred to her as "Helen" (the English variant of Elena). All references I have reviewed refer to Elena as Elena Hoyos (and/or Mesa, her husband's name). If all agree, I think we should change it back to Hoyos (unless the person that made the edit can support it). Sundevilesq 18:59, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Necrophilia allegation
I really don't think the fact that no newspapers reported the guy having sex with the effigy via a tube that acted as a vagina in 1940 is clear evidence against it having happened. I don't think that sort of thing would pass the editor's decency restrictions in most newspapers TODAY, never mind in 1940.


 * I am sure it would have come out at the trial in explicit detail, and the newspapers would have used the euphemisms of the time to describe it. I am skeptical of the modern anecdote without any paper trail. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) 21:17, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Both definitive, and well researched, accounts of this bizarre story, Ben Harrison's Undying Love, and Tom Swicegood's Von Cosel (as well as the HBO Autopsy episode) report that Von Cosel DID have sex with the corpse. I agree that the lack of exposure in the then current media of 1940 doesn't make the necrophilia "allegation" somehow unfounded (as was the similar lack of coverage of the extent of FDR's polio, etc.) I think it needs to be added, and taken out of "Apocryphal Stories" (which I believe is a useless subtitle anyway).Sundevilesq 18:52, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Doris, Elena and Carl
Intersting story, but there's a couple of things I'd like to have added to the article if knowledgable editors will oblige. When Carl "left his family behind" in 1927, did he abandon them? Divorce? The timeline has Doris and Carl recorded as living together in the 1930 census. Was Doris aware of Carl's passion for Elena? Also, Carl wrote an autobigraphy. How did he justify his actions? Can someone with access to the book add a passage in Carl's own words? How long and how well did Carl know Elena before she died? Her family seems to have trusted him. Cheers! - ntennis 06:06, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

References Needed
This article needs references with footnotes. I will attempt to add a few myself (mainly from Undying Love and Von Cosel) when I get a chance.Sundevilesq 18:56, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Wikisource
It looks like the funeral notices that I added to wikisource were deleted. They had the references we are looking for. I think someone has confused the legal standing of a funeral notice as a paid advertisement; and an obituary, which has the legal status of a copyrighted biography.
 * Doris Tanzler's obituary is still in the article (in the "See Also" section). Do you have Carl's?  His obituary would make a great addition (and source) as it is quoted in the "Later Life and Death" section.Sundevilesq 17:14, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

repeated references
Cant you just put multiple numbers next to each of the three references, each time you refer to one of the three books. Its a lot of duplication for the three sources.
 * I agree. I tried to get it to repeat within the three book references (like the HBO Autopsy reference), but couldn't get it to work.  If anyone else knows how to fix it, please do! Sundevilesq 04:00, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

I havent a clue! references have become over-complicated and there are now a dozen ways to represent them, each more complicated than the other!

Anna Constantia Gräfin von Cosel
The ancestor that purportedly revealed Tanzler's true love in youthful visions was apparently some German noblewoman. She has a page on Wikipedia-Germany, but it doesn't translate into English (only Polish). Apparently, she was from the Dresden area, and I would bet Tanzler just copped her name when he left Germany and is of no relation (just my opinion). In any event, if anyone knows how to link her name to the German Wikipage, I think that would be helpful (as would an English translation and new page).Sundevilesq 01:02, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Obituaries and coverage in the Florida papers
I still have the photocopies of the material somewhere, but it looks like most of what I scanned was deleted. I had transcribed his obituary and some of the court documents. There were three family obituaries that gave the info on his children

GA nomination approved
It's well written, well referenced, covers the entirety of the subject matter, offers a neutral POV and has well cited and subject appropriate images. Congrats! Nja247 (talk • contribs) 18:22, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Yeah, when I opened this talk page after seeing the references I was thinking that it could be GA.--h i s  s p a c e   r e s e a r c h 07:17, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

Correct Photos & Caption
I'm not sure if those photos are of hulos' corpse, i think thats the effigy he made but the caption reads otherwise. I may well be wrong but heres the source that caused me to doubt the photos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyfvf5bc0Vo i think one of you wiki weirdos should investigate. Also, how should i lube a bluetack anus? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.145.217.155 (talk) 00:49, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

"Disturbing" photos disclaimer?
Is a disclaimer regarding the photos in this article REALLY necessary? The photos were originally printed in newspapers over 50 years ago, I can't see how they could possibly "disturb" anyone with access to the 'net who happens to stumble across them in this article. Sundevilesq 23:06, 8 May 2007 (UTC)


 * I stumbled across this article and was disturbed by the photo of the corpse. I couldn't sleep and had nightmares after scrolling down.  There should be a disclaimer at the top of the page to warn about what's to come.  I'm not of a weak disposition or unaccustomed to seeing disturbing things, but when it comes out of the blue without warning I think it would affect a lot of people.  --143.53.155.125 03:04, 22 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia is not censored and there are no disclaimers in articles. heqs ·:. 08:17, 14 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Scared the hell out of me and I've seen dead people before. It's just so damn freaky. However Heqs is quite correct in what he says. Cls14 23:14, 22 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Uncensored, eh? Huh, I'm barely holding back the long stream of profanity about to come out of me... I've seen lots of disturbing stuff before: extremes of alcoholism, intravenous drugs, violence, mental illness - you name it, I've seen it (mostly, in family, close friends, and myself). I've had my face totalled in and surgically reconstructed after an encounter with nice people wielding knuckledusters. I've had a number of friends and girlfriends who have been raped by crazies, including one who was assaulted by a man who put a gun to her head and one who'd been gang-raped after a unknown tranquilizer was slipped into her drink. I've been mugged by unknown people after an unknown tranquilizer was slipped into my drink. I've had to pull a knife in self-defense against multiple attackers before. I recently found out that a good childhood friend from my street who I grew up with hung himself. I've been homeless with maxed-out credit cards before. I've been locked up by police and I've been mugged by police, too, including while being locked up. I've damn near drowned in a whirlpool. And I've had so many concussions from various assaults by age 19 that my country found me unfit to be drafted and exempt. I've been pretty close to dying more than a few times. I've pretty much seen it all, war excluded (only a revolution, so far). And I've pretty much shrugged and kept walking.


 * ...Well, guess what?! Nonetheless, *THOSE* two pictures were EXTREMELY EFFIN DISTURBING! I was planning on some sleep before I saw this, but now I'm still fighting the urge to vomit. Because that is about as disturbing as it damn well gets, massacred children excluded. Now, with your permission, I will go and look for flammable liquids to get royally plastered on, since I certainly don't feel like remembering seeing that shite. On account of pictures of rotting women being unsettling and detrimental to sex drive. Plus - bloody scary, too. 128.195.186.14 13:44, 27 September 2007 (UTC)Adieu

Right - for what my opinion's worth: I was in the Carribean last year & entered an underground mausoleum that turned out to have been desecrated by sickos. Cadavers & bits of cadavers all over the floor, some half-in, half-out of the coffins. I had to beat a quick retreat because of the smell. It turned my stomach but I have to say that it didn't scare me like those pictures did. It goes beyond fright & disgust into real horror. Last night was the first time in my adult life that I've been afraid of putting the lights out. Don't think there's an argument for banning them, though. Maybe something like the "spoiler warning" that appears in Wiki articles on films. Maybe call it a "nauseation warning" or a "totally fuck your sleep up" warning. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.152.213.193 (talk) 14:24, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

I think the pictures are necessary to the article. And are all these personal anecdotes really relevant? Rachey 01:19, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

Not arguing that the pictures aren't necessary - just suggesting a warning. & yes, I think that my personal anecdote is relevant; it's an attempt to put into context the shock at seeing those bloody nasty images. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.162.83.111 (talk) 11:35, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

But that's just your personal opinion. I could give you easily plague you with anecdotes about the hundreds of times I saw things that were shocking that didn't mentally scar me. Like that time I looked Karl Tanzler up on Wikipedia and saw a photograph that one might expect to see in an article dealing with such a disturbing topic. Rachey (talk) 23:40, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

You might have known who Tanzler was. I didn't & got the page by looking up German-Americans out of curiosity about scientists exiled during WWII. I take it the sarcasm is unintentional... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.152.211.89 (talk) 16:53, 7 January 2008 (UTC)


 * The photographs are informative and are an important addition to the article. I would also advise 128.195.186.14 to avoid intoxicating substances and places where they are sold.Lestrade (talk) 16:19, 18 July 2009 (UTC)Lestrade

Fair-use images
I have added a fair-use rationale to the lead image. The other images also need similar rationales or they may be deleted. Tim Vickers 19:36, 15 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Really? Then somebody do the world a favour and invoke that rule to delete that horrid shite. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.195.186.14 (talk) 13:47, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Boda Negra
The poem/song referred to as being "loosely based on the Tanzler incident" could not have been. The poet and creator of the poem, Julio Florez Roa, died in 1923. That is a full seventeen years before Tanzler was discovered.Lemonwood (talk) 03:12, 19 May 2008 (UTC)lw
 * I removed the paragraph, as this backs up the death date of 1923 for Julio Florez Roa. Raven1977 Talk to me My edits  20:39, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

Carl Tanzler was not a radiologist
Although it has been commonly and erroneously asserted that he was a radiologist, he was in fact a radiologic technologist. A radiologist is a medical doctor who completes 4 years of premedical undergraduate college coursework, 4 years of medical school, and several years of postgraduate medical residency training the medical specialty of radiology.

A radiologic technologist is a technician who shoots X-rays of patients that are ordered by doctors. That is what Carl Tanzler was. Some references manage to get it right.

The notion that anyone can "take a job as a radiologist" (almost on a whim) as stated in this Wikipedia entry is ludicrous. It would be tantamount to a surgical tech being credited with "taking a job as a brain surgeon" as a goof. "Bagging groceries was getting mundane, so one day I took a job as a pediatric neurosurgeon, you know, for a change of pace."

If Carl Tanzler was indeed a radiologist as some control-freak, hyper-vigilant, embarrassingly misinformed Wiki editors seem determined on maintaining, the were is the record of his medical training, degree, and radiology board certification?

This is just another example of what is so wrong with Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.206.165.207 (talk) 05:44, 15 September 2013 (UTC)

Negative/Inverted Photo? Seems the source hoodwinked you.
Am I the only one who happens to notice that ever since the image link was sourced from flickr the colours are now negative/inverted? Src: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carl_Tanzler_%281940%29.jpg 70.127.215.76 (talk) 17:44, 14 November 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
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"New" Evidence
Some "new" and specific details about this story have recently come to the fore, from a podcast interview with David Sloan. I have added these details to the article, and have scans of the magazine articles where these details originated. While I have cited them in the article as such, I would be happy to upload the relevant scanned excerpts if the need arises. PhantomCuban (talk) 00:33, 12 February 2021 (UTC)

- 12th February 2021, 00:10 GMT — Preceding unsigned comment added by PhantomCuban (talk • contribs)
 * Citations is what we need, not scans. I see that you have provided the former. Peaceray (talk) 00:25, 12 February 2021 (UTC)

Okay, that's good. It's my first time editing a Wiki article and one with a pretty sweeping stroke at that, so I just wanted to make sure I was above board. I still extend my offer of the scans to anyone who may be interested in seeing them, however.

PhantomCuban (talk) 00:33, 12 February 2021 (UTC)

dead link
http://www.hbo.com/autopsy/episode/episode_6_the_strange_obsession_of_dr_carl_von_cosel.html

this link no longer works, the content appears to have been removed. Cat-with-the-&#39;tism (talk) 02:46, 19 May 2023 (UTC)

About the little toy wagon…
This article claims that Carl Tanzler carried Elana’s body out of the cemetery on a toy wagon. I have added a tag, but I thought I should open up a channel for discussion here.

Although I am not a scholar in the field of Carl Tanzler, I have not heard of any source that seriously claims this fact. The one source I do know where this claim could have come from was the Sam O’Nella video on the subject. However, this was an ahistorical joke and not an actual claim. MinerB40 (talk) 01:48, 9 June 2024 (UTC)