Hot History - Evelyn Romadka: The Vampire Queen

Episode Date: May 28, 2026

Hello you! Happy Friday!Today we're talking about Evelyn Romadka, the Wisconsin housewife whose obsession with crime novels and dual personality disorder post a botched medical procedure led her to form her own all female criminal network! If you love crime AND history, then this is a story you don't want to miss!If you also want more Hot History you can follow along on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and of course, right here!Til next week, Ainslie x

Known as the Vampire Queen, she was to her agents what J-Lo was to the strippers in hustlers. She kept her girls dressed in the finest clothes and dining in the chicest hotels. She kept them safe and secure and gave them a better life than they could have ever dreamt of. And this was actually kind of common. We just don't hear about it as much because the majority of the historical record focuses on the offences and actions of men. BetMGM casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling

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Hi guys and welcome back to Hot History, your corner of the internet where we cover all the things in history that you probably should know, but don't. I'm Ainsley Harvey, your hot historian here, ready to chat about a tale for both my history and my crime. Lovers, I've been seeing your DMs. Diva, give us a bit of dark history, give us some, you know, crime mystery. So I am answering your calls today with the story of high society millionaires, personality disorders, cat burglars, love affairs and one of my personal favourites, guys, an all-female criminal organisation that ends with its leader disappearing rather appropriately.

like a thief in the night. This is the story of the vampire queen, so let's get into it by rewinding it all the way back to Wisconsin in the late 1880s, where we meet one Evelyn Cain. Now, she is the daughter of a very successful and wealthy Wisconsin rubber man called PJ Cain,

whose career gave the family a comfortable upbringing. They were by no means that, like, gilded age new money, wideners at Linwood Hall or Vanderbiltz or Rockefeller, so nothing like that, but they were pretty well off. Despite this, however, we don't actually know a lot about them, as was the case for the majority of these upper-middle-class families. But what we do know is that Evelyn's youth was pretty standard, average, if you will. There's very little to note of her, save for the fact she was pretty, because apparently that's

the only thing that matters when it comes to young women. And she was rather smart, becoming a school teacher around the age of just 12 or 13. Now, it was this job that would see her make one of the most important connections in her life, that of young Charles Ramadkar, who she came across while walking to school one morning through the northwards of Wisconsin. So he was part of a hunting party she encountered and it turned out was actually the heir to a wildly successful trunk business, the thing you use for storage, not Calvin Clines, just FYI. And soon the pair fell in love and despite his family's initial apprehension, they quickly married. Now, these first few years were bliss.

They were evenly matched in temperament and shared similar desires for their future, and their love was genuinely real. The only thing of note between them was their different hobbies. Charles, on one hand, liked working and hunting, spending his time between his family and associates, while Evelyn was introspective and loved. literature. In the pages of books and pamphlets she would escape into exotic lands and dive into devious plots, with mystery novels particularly taking her fancy. From Agatha Christie-esque

whodunits to true crime reporting in the papers, Evelyn was fascinated by the heroic detectives and deceptive criminals whose lives seemed destined to intertwine. Basically, she would have loved a Netflix murder, cult, serial killer show guy. She would have been all in for. it. Still though, as I said, despite their differences in past times, Evelyn and Charles were genuinely smitten, and it seemed nothing would stop them from enjoying their lives together. At least that's what they thought. For soon, Evelyn was pregnant. And while totally and absolutely overjoyed at the prospect of having her own family, it was not an easy pregnancy. During this point in history, and to be honest, let's be so for real, even still now, society views pregnancy as a

largely private women's matter. Discussions about our medical experiences have always been considered improper, hence the disparity in women's health and research today. You pair this with the fact that the late Victorian era was still plagued by limited medical knowledge and pregnant women were still expected to continue household duties, pregnancy was a very dangerous business. Childbirth too, of course, was just as perilous, with limited pain relief and many women giving birth at home without trained professionals, therefore increasing. the risk of infection and bleeding. So this was, and still is, guys, pretty precarious. And unfortunately for Evelyn, the effects of childbirth extended well after she had safely delivered her child.

While we don't know for certain what actually happened here, we do know that Evelyn had a difficult birth, which led to severe postnatal depression after which she was subjected to a botched medical procedure to help. Cure this. Yes, guys, another gift, inverted commas, for anybody listening, from the Victorian era is, of course, the stereotypes and stigma of women's mental health, aka melancholia. First written about by Dr's Cullen, Pennell and Esquerel, the term melancholia was used from the late 18th century to the end of the 19th century to encompass depression in any and all forms, and the treatments for it were, well, let's just say unusual.

Everything from swings and hanging chairs to bring about vertigo nausea and vomiting to pouring cold water on naked patients to shock and subdue them were used. But the treatments for women in particular were absolutely fucking brutal, especially when it came to what they dubbed postnatal melancholia. To be honest, more often than not, these women were actually just thrown away in insane asylums and, you know, locked. locked out of society forever, but sometimes, like in Evelyn's case here, doctors performed actual surgery in an attempt to fix them. And their main hypothesis here, the thing that they determined would be the fix, would cure them, was that the female reproductive organs were connected to the emotional and physical well-being centres of the body and were therefore the most likely

cause of women's mental health. So basically, your ovaries are what? it's giving you anxiety or like your uterus is a thing making you depressed, right? As such, if we just take it out, then then you'll be fine. For us today, it's obviously insane to think about, like, you know, it's some, it's some mass or tumor which is altering the brain's chemistry, but this was genuinely the belief at the time, one which saw hysterectomies, ovaryotomy and clitoridectomies become common procedures for curing melancholia. This, of course, like I said, is just absolutely barbaric, and post-atal depression now is commonly treated with talk therapy and antidepressants and very, very normal.

But back in the 1890s, it was seen as a curse and one which Evelyn was struck with. Now, we don't know what kind of procedure she had done, almost so, you know, was done to her. But we do know it was botched and she found herself drastically ill. She was struck down by fever and pain and delirious ramblings which went on for months. Unsure how to help his suffering wife and taking the advice of further doctors, Charles authorized another operation on Evelyn, which left her, to no surprise, with even more pain and trauma. Also pausing here for a second, I do think based on this, we can deduce the second

surgery was likely like a complete and total hysterectomy, so absolutely brutal. She's in her 20s here, guys, and losing her uterus ovaries, everything. It's crazy. Eventually, though, the pain subsided and Evelyn's body healed, but her mind would be forever fragmented. Over the course of the next few months, she became less interested in her normal life, and while trying her absolute best to be a good wife and a good mother, the charade could only go on for so long. Soon, the bubbly young woman was gone, replaced by something, or should I say, someone else. Hey, y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered

from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home. Yes, you see, guys, this is a true version of the movie split, but obviously, like without James McAvoy being a wall-climbing beast thing, because Evelyn's various medical procedures had given her what was later diagnosed as extreme personality change. And the personality she adopted was that of a criminal. As I said at the top here, she loved reading thrillers and crime pamphlets, and in her recovery, this is what she consumed. Reading Blake's Yellow Pages, which was basically like an encyclopedia of different crimes of the time,

Evelyn became more introspective, and her prior interest in criminal activity evolved into a full, blown obsession, telling her husband her sole desire was to, quote, meet real crooks. Still, she fought these urges, but after five years she couldn't take it anymore, and packed a bag in the middle of the night, and set off for Chicago, full of its fair, share of criminals and miscreants, the windy city was the perfect place for Evelyn to start over. And she decided to take up base at the Victoria Hotel. It was fancy and fabulous and for whatever reason she was drawn to it, which in a string of fate is where she met cleaner Albert Jones. Now he was tall, dark-skinned and handsome and instantly caught Evelyn's eye, although not for any

of the aforementioned traits. Rather, it was his watch. You see, Evelyn first came across Albert in the hotel lobby and asked for the time, who responded by pulling out a small, fancy ladies' pocket watch, which she instantly realized was stolen. This was what she had waited for, longed for, desired for in every single way, a criminal. Now face to face with her dream come true, Evelyn had a choice. Be satisfied with ticking this off her bucket list or follow Albert down this dark and dangerous path. She of course chose the latter and recalled to Lieutenant James V. Larkin that this was the day

she came face to face with my dreams. And by the time that same pocket watch ticked over to the afternoon, the two began both a sexual and criminal affair. So what was their hustle then? Well, with his job at the hotel, putting him in proximity to the wealthy and his role as a cleaner providing him covered to be in their rooms, Albert had mastered the art of Berklee. which he, in turn, taught Evelyn. She took up a similar role as a maid and began learning where to look for hotel patrons valuables, exactly how much of them to take and most importantly, how to explain it all away.

After all, no one notices the woman there to change her sheets and towels. This gave Evelyn the thrill of her life, but she wasn't happy with the takings after all. People don't travel with their most valuable possessions. They leave them at home in safes and desk drawers. So she began searching ad columns in local papers for work amongst the wealthy families of Chicago. At this point, she is still working with Albert, but this is kind of her own, like, first hustle. And her plan here is to pose as the maid of these wealthy couples,

staying in one place long enough to find out where the family held their valuables, before she and a small percentage of the goods then vanished into the night. And when I say goods here, guys... I mean one thing in particular. Jules. Evelyn Ramadka never met a shiny object she didn't like. From diamonds to rubies and Colombian emeralds to gold bands, Evelyn was an addict and her ice was carbon made.

So once she'd taken these jewels, of course, under a fake name and, you know, never enough, like I said, to be noticeable at first, she would give them to Albert who acted as her fence selling them off for cash. And this was a pretty successful arrangement, similar to Bonnie and Clyde, but without the mass violence and death, just dual theft, you know, really low-key here. Eventually, though, her eyes were too big for her belly, and her obsession for more drove her to rashly enter the premises at 5520 South Park Avenue after she spotted an unlocked door. So this is a big break from her normal hustle and pattern here, right? There's no planning,

there's no established story, it's just pure greed and instincts. She spots this door, she goes in and lets herself loose inside. Here she ransacks every single room looking for whatever shiny things caught her eye until she finally found the Holy Grail. A large alligator-skinned pocketbook full of the family's entire jewelry collection. This is her Ocean's 8 moment. Like, I imagine her opening this pocketbook

and like sunbeams and the heavens just beaming out of it. And the thrill of stealing them not by breaking, but still, you know, entering, was the cherry on top. And just like that, she stuck it under her arm and she walked out

the door. Right in the street, unnoticed and unidentified. Now, as you can imagine, this is quite the shock for the residence, Mr and Mrs Beck, who upon returning home and finding they'd been robbed blind, immediately called the Chicago Police Department. They then sent out their best officer, Lieutenant Larkin, who took a report of their comings and goings, staff ledges, and a detailed description of everything that had been taken.

But ultimately, the trail ran cold. Evelyn left no physical evidence on the scene, and as I said, you know, she wasn't identified. leaving the property. You know, I do genuinely think about this all the time. How easy it must have been for criminals back in the day. Like, there's no alarms, there's no CCTV footage, there's no listening devices or phones or like dash cams, any of that.

Like we have this very, I think, idealised way of thinking about past societies. You know, they're more pure. They're full of good people and good neighbours. but they were probably all doing shady shit just never got caught because there's no cameras and shit, you know? Like Evelyn just walks in and out and that's it, it's wild. Anyway, back to Lieutenant Larkin, who has no leads or clues or idea who could have done this. He's feeling kind of shit, he's feeling kind of down about himself, guys. He's one of Chicago's best officers, but he's kind of left with his dick in his hand a bit.

So he decides to go and drink his sorrows away at the Baltimore Inn, of Chicago's most fashionable and fancy hotels. And while he's here, like I said, eating and mainly drinking his sorrows away, his eyes lock on a gorgeous young woman. Sat at the table all alone, she was glowing. But this wasn't necessarily what caught the lieutenant's eye. It was rather what was at her table. A large alligator-skinned pocketbook put on display like a trophy or a piece of art.

Yeah, you see, After the easiest pull of the century, Evelyn decided to treat herself. And of all the gin joints, in all the world, she happened to walk into the one where a defeated Lieutenant Larkin sat. He was stunned at first, as, like I said, she made no attempt to hide the pocketbook. After all, no one, bar him, would know what was inside. Larkin was sure, though, that this was his cat burglar. And as such, followed her home that evening before launching an investigation the following morning.

Now, I'm not sure exactly who he was expecting Evelyn to be here, but one thing's for certain based on the reporting. He wasn't expecting her to be Mrs. Ramadka, a Wisconsin High Society lady with a deep-set personality disorder and a love of thieving. And so, as is expected in this case, she was arrested and her husband, Charles, was notified of his missing wife's whereabouts. Yeah. You see, he didn't really know what happened to Evelyn after she left Wisconsin. Conson, like he also didn't lodge a missing person's report or try very hard to find her. So he's really shocked to find that she was, one, totally fine, two, had been working as a maid, and three, was a master thief. And, of course, the shock didn't end there.

Bursting through the police station doors, Charles perhaps thought the sight of him before his wife would, like, shock her back into her old self. But the contrary was true. When she saw him, she boldly declared before the entire station of officers that she preferred her new lover Albert over him and ordered him to leave at once. Such a savage move, kind of obsessive. The result for Charles, though, was obviously humiliating, and he soon filed for divorce and custody of his daughter.

He hoped that this would adequately distance himself from the scandal, but when Evelyn's arrest reached the papers, his brother, axed him from the family business, after which he was forced to take up work as a turnstile operator at an amusement park for $10 a week. So quite the fall from Grace here. So at this point, Evelyn's arrested and it's time for her trial, which lasted a whole 11 minutes. Yeah, this was quite the L Woods, like where you got in the shower level spectacle here, which basically started off with Evelyn flat out refusing to give up the name or even acknowledge that she had a partner in crime because she wanted the full glory or blame,

depending on which side of the aisle you're on, for her crimes, after which she was then found guilty and sent straight to prison. The police, of course, though, knew this couldn't be the case and were determined on finding her accomplice. So they ransacked Evelyn's apartment, which was squeaky clean. Again, guys, many crime books could. consumed for her to know the drill here. But by a stroke of luck, Lieutenant Larkin kicked over a book and a piece of paper came flying out. He bent it down, picked it up, turned it over, and lo and behold,

a phone number was on it. He called the line and a woman picked up, claiming to be the wife of a man named Albert. Larkin asked when Albert would be home and she said that he was away and didn't know when he would return, knowing that this was obvious codswallop, Larkin then listened in on the next call, which, to the surprise of no one listening along, was to Albert, who told her to hide the contents of the trunk upstairs. This was the smoking gun that Larkin needed, and as such, he had his men stolen the property, seized the trunk and bring it to him at the station, where jewels, cash and art, totaling approximately $25,000 US dollars at the time were entered into evidence. Having finally found and arrested Albert in the days that followed,

things went from weird to weeder in this case. Instead of deflecting blame, Albert confessed that he acted as, quote, Evelyn's Negro master, asserting and, quote, evil influence over her to commit the crimes. The papers went, berserk on the story spreading tales of the quote white woman's negro friend which only engulfed Evelyn in further scandal. Now, we don't know whether this was Albert's attempt to shift the blame from Evelyn or whether the Negro master title was merely fabrication by prejudiced officers and members of the press, which is highly likely given the time. But we do know that Evelyn

absolutely fucking hated it. While she later confirmed that Albert's criminality sent a strange thrill through her, the idea that he was responsible for her criminal genius was not only incorrect, but in her eyes, insulting, which makes sense of what happened next.

In prison, Evelyn is an exemplary inmate. Truly, the perfect prison. here. She joined hobby groups. She took extra laundry service. She kept her herself and as such was released from prison after just a few years after which she kind of vanished. No one heard from her. There was no, you know, she wasn't popping up on police radars. There was no big kind of red flags here. And it seemed that perhaps her stint in prison had maybe even triggered her old personality back. But all of those thoughts were put to rest in July 1911 when Kansas City millionaire Edmund Gatlin stumbled in to a local police precinct,

claiming he was drugged and robbed by a woman he'd met the night before. Now, this wasn't a new tale. In fact, it was a string of common occurrences that had started almost 18 months prior, where wealthy men found themselves waking up with heavy heads and empty pockets after prior meetings. Are you one of those media strategy people? clicking through slides, scrolling spreadsheets. Yes? Good. This is for you.

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So, are you ready to talk to fans? Spotify advertising. You're among fans. With you ladies. This led the police to believe that these weren't coincidences, but rather the work of a systematic, organized crew who would seduce these men, drug them, and then rob them blind. And as such, they were dubbed the vampire women.

Now, this was truly infuriating for the police, because night after night, these men would come into the station and despite showing them mugshot after mugshot in these like big, books, of various women who were convicted of prior crimes, none of them could identify the lady they'd met. They were ghosts, phantoms, hence the term, vampire. And this went on for almost two years, no clues, no idea, no evidence, until Mr. Gatlin of Kansas City identified one Evelyn Ramadka. You see, having gotten out of prison, Evelyn's fury over Albert taking credit for her thefts made her realize the only person she could really trust was herself.

This, of course, would be difficult for a thief after all. It's hard to be the thief, fence, and mastermind at the same time. I mean, guys, there's a reason it's called Ocean's Eleven, not just Danny Ocean stealing stuff, right? So Evelyn decided to trust the next best thing. other women. Having researched and recruited at least eight different agents to her cause, Evelyn founded her own female-led criminal organisation targeting rich white men visiting Chicago for business. The hustle was a simple one. Evelyn would track them down and make the mark, while one of her vampire women was sent into flirt after which another would come past

and slip a sleeping pill into the unsuspecting man's drink. The conversation then continued with the man getting sloppier and sloppier after which the pair would stand up to saunter out of the bar, where she would then pickpocket him before saying good night. The man would then stumble on home none the wiser, leaving no memory of the night or the woman he'd drank with. It was a pretty decent play, guys. No one was hurt, aside from a light drugging, which yes,

is very, very bad. But they are criminals, and they're not murdering or maiming or raping. They're just, you know, relieving these wealthy men of a bit of their coin, which I've got to say, you know, I respect a woman's rights. But I also do respect a woman's wrongs here. And these gals were very good at what they did, and Evelyn was their leader. Known as the vampire queen, she was to her agents what Jailo was to the strippers in hustlers. She kept her girls dressed in the finest clothes and dining in the chicest hotels. She kept them safe and secure and gave them a better life than they could have ever dreamt of,

free of the suffering confines Victorian marriage and of the harsh realities off the streets. And this was actually kind of common. We just don't hear about it as much because the moment. majority of the historical record focuses on the offences and actions of men. So while we may have had our first encounter with female criminal organisations from Oceans 8, the Bling Ring or Spring Breakers, if you know, you know, they've actually existed for centuries, dating all the way back to ancient Rome. One of the best examples of which is the Bacchanalian conspiracy of 186 BCE, in which Roman authorities accused women of organising secret religious gatherings as a front for their

criminal activities, where they would steal and seduce in order to manoeuvre the political and social agendas of the day. The female criminal organisation was also prevalent during the Middle Ages and early modern period, where women sometimes worked together in gangs that specialised in pickpocketing, prostitution, or black market trading again for the betterment of each other's lives. But we really see this world expand in 18th century London, where female criminal networks became more visible through court records such as the old Bailey proceedings, one of the earliest detail written sources about female organized crime. It tells us these women worked in gangs that targeted crowded markets and theatres again, pickpocketing and thieving,

not murdering and maiming. And by the 19th century, female gangs became full-blown organisations, one of the best examples of which is the 40 elephants. Dubbed as the first documented all-female crime syndicate in the UK, these ladies were operating across the pond around the exact same time as Evelyn and her vampire women. Starting out in Elephant Castle in Lambeth around the 1880s, these women were the poorest of the poor. They lived in slums and were described by Charles Booth, a social reformer who wrote about London's poverty at the time as the lowest class of all. Deciding to change their fortunes for themselves and their families, several women in Elephant Castle joined together, using their skills in deception and pickpocketing to start the basis of what would become the 40.

Elephants, so what did they do? What's their hustle? What's their, what's their schick? Well, they primarily stole from the most expensive department stores in London, dressing up in fashionable clothing with huge skirts, under which they had plenty of room to store all of their loot. And there was no faffing around with these ladies. They were organised guys, dividing themselves into cells with each group being allocated a patch of the city to ensure mass coverage. One policeman at the time said that those girls would disson.

ascend on a western store like a swarm of locust, and he wasn't wrong. They had their hustle down to a proper art form, approaching rich-looking gentleman with choreographed precision while one woman pickpocketed him and passed the goods to another who was, you know, then going to pass it off to a nearby collector. Or, my personal favourite guys, yelling at him, causing such a scene that they could steal from the shop without being noticed. They also, as Evelyn had done, posed as mates, robbing their employer. and blackmailing men with whom they had. An affair, so truly jacks of all trades here.

And like I said, this became a full-blown organisation run and led by the Queen, the first of which was a lady by the name of Mary Carr. Now, for those of you with Disney Plus and who love a period drama, just like me, I recommend you watch the series A Thousand Blows, which is all about Mary and the 40 elephants, and gives a fun and insightful look into the Victorian crime gang. Plus, I also love Erin Docky who plays Mary. She also plays young Princess Anne in the Crown.

Slave obsessed with her. Definitely go give it a watch. The real Mary, however, was described by a newspaper at the time as good looking and charming, but she was so much more than that. She had a real knack for organisation and a mind for strategy which saw her turn this mismatched group of mothers, daughters and wives into an actual criminal gang. Using her home initially as a base for planning these crimes,

the 40 elephants were known for being quick and slick, reselling their goods through an elaborate network to avoid being traced and spending their riches, not on bills or groceries or even towards, you know, savings accounts, but in their favourite clubs, music halls and restaurants. Basically, guys, they were just fun-loving divas who used their skis. to get up among Soho's blossoming nightclub scene hanging out at venues like the Golden Calf All-43 Club,

ushering in this new Edwardian era in London. So very similar to our vampire women here, right? Using their criminality as a way to live life to the fullest, saving themselves, if you will. But for all her success, Evelyn had one great weakness. her ego. It saw her enter that unlocked home and wind up in prison, and in the case of Mr. Gatlin here, her eyes were yet again too big for her belly.

Seeing this stupidly wealthy, great big, bumbling buffoon of a man, Evelyn wanted to be the one who made the play for him. After all, he was the perfect target, one which would set her and her girls up for the year, And that would have been the case, except she didn't give him a high enough dose of drugs, which allowed him to then identify her mugshot the following day. Pointing her out of the mugshot book, it was this, you know, huge rolling with all these different

mugshots in it. Police finally had a break in the case of the vampire women and quickly formed ranks, arresting 13 women who, in exchange for immunity, confessed to Evelyn being their leader. This was the evidence the police needed. The vampire queen finally identified and incriminated with victim testimony and her associate's identification. It was a slam dunk. So they immediately set off to arrest her. But when they reached her hotel, they found neither hide nor hair of her.

She vanished into the night, as though she vanished. She may have actually been a vampire after all. The police were stumped here. What happened? How could this have come to transpire? Was she tipped off? Did they have a mole in their midst? And what would they do now?

Well, the first thing they wanted to do was arrest the 13 women, for community. However, by the time they got back to the station, guess what? They're gone. And having thought they'd secured their queen via their testimony, they took no mugshots of these women. But don't worry, guys, they weren't that sloppy. They did take their IDs.

But guess what? When they followed up on them, turns out they were fake. I mean, you didn't really think that Evelyn would leave town without her gouts. This wasn't her first radio, guys. She knew that if they gave her name to the police with her prior conviction and the title as their queen, the girls wouldn't matter. After all, it's not like there was any physical evidence of their crimes or a way for victims to identify them. Even the police ended up looking through the countless books of mugshots after the women vanished,

hoping to find a match to them, but nothing. Likely telling us that Evelyn hand-picked women with no prior criminal convictions to avoid them being identified. We don't know what happened to these gals after they vanished, but by all accounts, they went on to live normal lives, with no reference of former vampire women popping up in police reports after this. But what about Evelyn? Right? I mean, that's the big question, because,

no one, especially with a record like hers, just vanishes into the night. Well, actually, that's kind of exactly what she did. Evelyn Ramadkar was neither seen nor heard of again in Chicago or the rest of the US. There were no properties, hotel rooms, sublets or vehicles in her name, no mention in police records or local archives. She just vanished after 1911. I mean, did she die? Move to the UK or here, Sydney.

Did she go undercover, incognito, change her name, her hair, get a job at a supermarket? Maybe she remarried and became a mother again. We don't know. But what we do know is that she had a sister who lived in Canada, the place she told her former cellmate in prison that she was one day going to move to, which makes me wonder, was this perhaps? all part of her plan. I mean, think about it. Is it not possible that she played Gatlin, an incredibly wealthy baboon, to identify her to police? Drug him enough to be robbed, but not

enough to forget her, after all. By pinning the blame solely on herself, her vampire women would be released without charge, allowing them to live normal lives, and her to leave the US for Canada. Here she joins her sister. She lives in anonymity, having done, what she always wanted to do, become a criminal mastermind. The truth, though, is we don't know what happened to Evelyn Ramatka. Whether she went on to burgle more unsuspecting millionaires or died in her bed at 100, she wasn't followed up on or written into legend, like Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy, Jesse James, or the copious amounts of other 19th century male criminals.

She just vanished. Despite being notorious at the time and. still fascinating today, all we have of the vampire queen are a few court documents and newspaper clippings detailing her 1907 arrest and her subsequent crimes in 1911, plus, of course, the mugshot. And the reason for that is because this is the reality of women's history. Evelyn is scandalous, for sure. No one's debating that. Outrageous, even if we are being honest, but she's not rich like Alva Vanderbilt. She's not ferocious like. She's not ferocious like Joan of Arc or famous like Marilyn Monroe.

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But barely. Again, let me remind you here. This is a woman who developed a personality disorder and decided to turn her love of crime novels into a profession. She is, by every meaning and definition of the word, scandalous. And yet we know almost nothing about her. And if that's the case for a leader of a criminal organisation, what chance did the mother of five on the Oregon Trail? Or the single woman working on the docks in New Jersey have of making it into the history books? Big fat donut guys, zero. It is for this reason that any and all primary sources, especially those perceived, as mundane as court documents or hospital records or diaries. entries are essential in piecing together our history as both women and humanity.

We're not complete with 50% of the human population stories only making up 0.5% of what we have recorded. Our history is broken, fractured and genuinely leaves me questioning how on earth we're meant to understand who we are and where we've come from. Plus it makes me even more emphatic to all of you guys and, you know, your friends and family and everybody. online, that we have to write our own stories and experiences. We have a real chance living in this unprecedented time of social media and digital footprints to creating this time capsule for history. I mean, even this episode that you're listening to, right, now becomes a part of the historical record.

Hi, everybody who's going to listen to this in future and think, wow, what a great episode. This is recorded as part of that. So we all need to be active in recording our stories and experiences, which if Evelyn or Madka had done, I'm sure would have been a New York Times bestseller 100 times over. Which brings us to the end of another episode of Hot History. Thank you so much for following along with me on this episode, guys. I want to hear from you. What do you think ended up happening to Evelyn and her vampire women?

DM me. tell me in the comments and then check back in next week because we are talking about one of the most cursed objects in history. The Hope Diamond. It is a tale spanning a lot of time from the French kings up to Gilded Age heiresses and I'm super keen to chat with you all. Plus, if you listen to today's episode and liked it, then please feel free to leave us a review or share this episode with your friends and family. I absolutely love seeing all of your messages about, you know, what you're doing when you're listening, how you're listening, what your thoughts are, who you're sharing it with.

And of course, if you have any recommendations for future episodes you want to see or just feedback in general, it is always so appreciated. As always as well, if you are looking for some more Hot History before then, you can follow us on Instagram at Hot History Club and on TikTok at hot. dot history. It has been a pleasure, as always, getting down and dirty in time with you, and I will speak to you all next week. Thanks, guys. Love you. Bye.