Episode Twenty-Nine: Loving the Dead – Necrophiles Anatoly Moskvin and Carl Tanzler
Most of us understandably fear death, but there is a very tiny subset of fairly creepy folks out there who literally embrace it. On this episode, Tom and Jenny “dig” into the bizarre, unsettling cases of two confirmed necrophiles: Carl Tanzler (aka Count Carl von Cosel) and Anatoly Moskvin. Neither were killers, but both had a forbidden affinity with the no-longer-living, and their stories are equal parts disturbing and pitiful. In fact, the morbid “love story” between Carl Tanzler and the corpse of Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos has become the stuff of legend.
The show also features digressions on the excellent Miriam Allen DeFord story “A Death in the Family,” and the wacky world of necrophilia in the animal kingdom. This episode is probably not for the faint of heart; Tom himself becomes so skeeved out by the details of the cases at one point that he entertainingly threatens to abandon the show in utter disgust! So pull up a coffin and settle in for this exploration into the macabre world of the lovers of the dead. You sickos, you. 🙂
Jenny Ashford is a horror, true crime, and paranormal writer, graphic designer, and podcaster. Her most recent books are a three-volume true crime compilation collectively known as The Faceless Villain: A Collection of the Eeriest Unsolved Murders of the Twentieth Century. Volume One was published in 2017, Volume Two in 2018, and Volume Three in 2019.
Her other books include four paranormal nonfiction books: The Unseen Hand: A New Exploration of Poltergeist Phenomena, The Mammoth Mountain Poltergeist (with Tom Ross), House of Fire and Whispers: Investigating the Seattle Demon House, and The Rochdale Poltergeist (both with Steve Mera); as well as three horror novels, Red Menace, Bellwether, and The Five Poisons; two short story collections, Hopeful Monsters and The Associated Villainies; and a graphic novel, The Tenebrist. A second edition of The Associated Villainies was published in 2019, featuring four new stories, an enhanced print layout, and an audio book version. A second edition of The Five Poisons was published in 2020.
Her short stories have appeared in several anthologies, including The Nightmare Collective, History Is Dead, 2012AD, ChimeraWorld #3, and ChimeraWorld #4. Her horror blog, Goddess of Hellfire, contains writing news, short stories and articles, and her reviews and opinions on horror films and books.
She also co-hosts a podcast with Tom Ross called 13 O'Clock, on which they discuss true crime, unexplained mysteries, paranormal weirdness, horror movies and books, food, and other fun, creepy topics. They recently collaborated on a 13 O'Clock cookbook.
Jenny's graphic design work can be seen on everything from books and business cards to posters and packaging. She runs an online store called Gravecake selling products with her designs, and also has a board-and-card game concern called Giallo Games, which produces games based around the beloved Italian horror/crime genre, among many other themes.
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