12x04: Three Knocks

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[00:00:09] Enjoy the show.

[00:00:40] I grew up in a small beach town in Florida.

[00:00:42] It's located on a barrier island, which means it's on the edges of the state

[00:00:47] and acts like a barrier for storms against the mainland.

[00:00:52] My family and I moved in in 1989.

[00:00:55] And my mother always joked that it was the land of America's most wanted.

[00:01:01] This had the cadence of a joke, but it was also a little true because we had suspects

[00:01:07] that had been caught hiding out in our small, seemingly off the grid beach town.

[00:01:13] That being said, for the most part, the crime was pretty low there, so I always felt safe.

[00:01:19] My mother's home was practically located on beachfront property.

[00:01:23] There was just one empty lot and a desolate stretch of state root between our house and the beach.

[00:01:30] My entire childhood was spent on the miles of beach that stretched right in front of my mom's house.

[00:01:36] She lives at the end of our town, about two miles from Canaveral National Seashore,

[00:01:42] which is a wildlife preserve.

[00:01:44] Her home is on a private part of the beach, but about a block down

[00:01:48] is a public parking area and a huge retaining wall.

[00:01:52] Depending on beach erosion, the wall is either 10 feet tall or two feet tall.

[00:01:58] This area was a beach access point that was open to the general public.

[00:02:04] Just past the public parking area, there are two oceanfront condominium buildings.

[00:02:09] And then there's about a mile long line of oceanfront homes on the road leading to the

[00:02:14] national park.

[00:02:16] Growing up, my mother always warned me and my siblings about the weirdos around the wall

[00:02:22] at the beach.

[00:02:24] My siblings all had their fair share of creepers at the wall growing up,

[00:02:29] but I didn't have an experience of my own until I was an adult visiting home for the

[00:02:34] first weekend with my husband.

[00:02:37] At the time, I was about 33 years old.

[00:02:40] My husband Chad and I drove into town with our two kids to surprise my mother.

[00:02:47] We were making an impromptu trip to the beach for the weekend.

[00:02:51] We got in pretty late at around 10pm or so.

[00:02:55] We brought a 12 pack of beer and stayed up for a couple of hours with my mom and my

[00:03:00] brother just catching up and shooting the shit.

[00:03:04] After that, my mom went to sleep and my brother headed to his living quarters as well.

[00:03:09] Chad and I decided to grab a couple of beers and have a late night walk on the

[00:03:13] beach in the moonlight since it was a gorgeous night.

[00:03:17] This is something we usually do when we stay at my mother's.

[00:03:22] I was wearing a sundress that didn't have pockets so I left my phone charging at the

[00:03:28] house.

[00:03:29] Chad isn't a big phone person so he left his at home too.

[00:03:33] Not that it would matter if we had our phones anyway.

[00:03:36] There is almost zero reception at my mother's and even less reception on the beach.

[00:03:41] There was no point in bringing phones along.

[00:03:43] It was about 2am when we decided to take our walk in the direction of the national park.

[00:03:50] I was feeling nostalgic and I wanted to show my husband the first home we rented when we moved

[00:03:56] there in 1989.

[00:03:59] The tide was extra low and we were walking along the waterline with small waves crashing

[00:04:04] on our feet.

[00:04:06] We walked up to the retaining wall close to the public parking lot and we could see

[00:04:11] one or two cars in the lot which wasn't unusual.

[00:04:15] We also saw a group of younger people who we assumed to be teenagers.

[00:04:20] They were swimming and other than us and them there was nobody else on the beach.

[00:04:26] The wall is fairly long about the length of a football field and after the wall as I

[00:04:31] mentioned are two beachfront condo buildings.

[00:04:34] We continued walking and I told Chad stories about how as kids my siblings and I

[00:04:40] used to sneak into the condo buildings and swim in the pools.

[00:04:44] As we were talking we were approaching the beachfront homes which cast long shadows

[00:04:49] directly onto the beach since they are right in front of the beach.

[00:04:54] We were getting closer to my family's first rental home when we both started having

[00:04:58] a nervous feeling.

[00:05:00] It was like fight or flight was kicking in.

[00:05:03] Chad started asking me questions about wildlife in the area and I explained that

[00:05:08] there was a fair population of bobcats, Florida panthers and rattlesnakes because of the national

[00:05:14] park so I started telling him some other stories of wildlife sightings my siblings and I had as

[00:05:20] kids. Chad and I tried to loosen up a bit as we jokingly teased and spooked each other

[00:05:26] but the entire time our fight or flight feeling was getting more intense.

[00:05:31] We both had to take a second and stop walking.

[00:05:34] Chad asked, do you feel like we're being stalked?

[00:05:39] The blood drained from my face as I responded.

[00:05:42] Yeah, I've had that feeling for the last 10 minutes or so.

[00:05:47] We decided to turn around and not continue walking to the old house.

[00:05:52] We just had this feeling that a panther or a bobcat was stalking us and the feeling only

[00:05:57] intensified. We got back to the part of the beach where it opens up to the strip of beachfront homes.

[00:06:06] From there we could see a glow on the beach from the street lamps

[00:06:10] lining the state route running along the beach. I thought for sure the bad feelings would go

[00:06:15] away once we weren't in the shadows of the homes but it didn't, it got worse.

[00:06:20] Chad and I both started feeling sick with dread.

[00:06:24] We could see the condos and the distance and there was a man standing on the beach.

[00:06:29] He was close to the stairway going up to the condo, standing in this Peter Pan

[00:06:34] stance with his hands on his hips and his feet hip width apart. He was wearing a raincoat and

[00:06:40] there was a small cooler by his feet. As we crossed in front of him my husband whispered,

[00:06:47] that's the stance of a serial killer. Then the man bent over, picked up the cooler

[00:06:54] and started walking. Our feeling of dread continued to intensify though.

[00:07:01] Chad subtly asked, did he wait until we passed to start walking? I reluctantly

[00:07:07] replied yes, he cut down the beach and now he's walking in our direction.

[00:07:12] In our peripherals we could see that he was following us and cutting down the beach slowly

[00:07:18] and gradually. We were approaching the retaining wall which was about eight feet tall so it was

[00:07:24] casting a pretty large shadow on the beach. I thought that maybe he was walking back to his

[00:07:30] car and he's headed to the parking lot but he passed that stairway leading to the parking

[00:07:36] lot and continued to get closer to us. As we walked Chad took two empty beer bottles out of his back

[00:07:45] pocket. He had held on to them so that he could dispose of them after the walk as he knows

[00:07:50] I'm against littering especially on the beach. I was holding an empty bottle and still finishing

[00:07:56] the second beer. I was holding it when Chad instructed me to grip the bottles in each hand

[00:08:02] like he was. He demonstrated the grip and said if I need to I'm going to hit him with these in the

[00:08:09] head. I want you to do the same then run don't worry about me just run. By this point the

[00:08:15] man carrying the cooler had been following us for about 10 minutes. My ears were ringing as I prayed

[00:08:22] I'm so scared please angels be with us. Chad and I could tell that this man was less than

[00:08:29] 10 feet from us. We didn't want to be within arm's length so Chad stopped and turned to look at him.

[00:08:36] The man stopped abruptly he was backlit by the moonlight so we couldn't see his face or what

[00:08:42] he looked like. He stared at us until he finally decided to ask a question in a really cheesy

[00:08:48] radio DJ deep voice he casually asked may I ask you a question.

[00:08:54] I was frozen with fear and in total shock at the nonchalant attitude he had. He was acting as if

[00:09:00] following us on the dark beach for the past 10 minutes at 3 a.m. was completely normal.

[00:09:06] Chad however was much braver than me. He took two steps in the man's direction and yelled

[00:09:13] can you ask us a question no you can't ask us a question on the beach at 3 a.m. get away

[00:09:18] from us leave us alone. The man hesitated for a moment before replying in that same cheesy radio DJ

[00:09:26] voice okay he sounded offended as if Chad was the one being unnecessarily rude. We didn't want to run

[00:09:36] or show fear but we started to speedwalk back towards my mom's house we were still about a

[00:09:41] half a mile away and walking the last half mile felt like it took forever our ears were ringing

[00:09:47] the whole time I've never been so scared I just kept thinking about our two babies sleeping at my

[00:09:54] mom's all I wanted to do was get back safely to them as we ran through the overgrown empty lot

[00:10:00] and into my mother's yard we finally felt safe but we were still on edge we sat on my mother's

[00:10:07] porch facing the beach until the sun rose keeping watch to make sure that he didn't follow us

[00:10:14] to this day I cite this as one of the scariest moments of my life mostly because we both had

[00:10:19] every fiber of our being telling us that there was danger I still have the sundress that I was wearing

[00:10:25] that night five years later I still can't bring myself to put it on since I'm afraid of feeling

[00:10:31] that same fear and dread that I felt that night the silver lining is that I fell in love with

[00:10:37] my husband a little more that night he was my protector and kept us both safe there are two questions

[00:10:43] I can't seem to shake all these years later what was that man going to ask us and what on earth

[00:10:50] was in that cooler I'm a girl who lives in northern Europe I don't want to specify too much about

[00:11:14] where I'm from and where this happened because I don't want to present an opportunity for this

[00:11:20] story to be traced back to me to preface I had a part-time job at a research facility this facility

[00:11:27] where I was working was located in a bigger city and it was a 30 minute bus ride from where I was

[00:11:33] living at the time it was located in an industrial park which meant that the only people who were

[00:11:39] around were employees from various companies who rented out the office spaces facilities

[00:11:45] and warehouses in the area the research center had three shifts available mornings evenings and

[00:11:51] overnight I had availability to work all three but I mostly worked overnight shifts since none of my

[00:11:58] co-workers wanted to work that late plus as a night owl the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift worked rather

[00:12:05] well for me this story happened back in October during one of the aforementioned overnight shifts

[00:12:12] it was a late Thursday night I was one of the three people scheduled to work that night the three of us

[00:12:19] were not working side by side as we were all in separate departments spaced kind of far apart from

[00:12:25] each other in the building I was working all alone on water analysis in a chem lab this job

[00:12:32] was really quiet and peaceful as it was in a facility that wasn't accessible to the general

[00:12:36] public all of the doors were locked and everyone who worked on site couldn't enter the building

[00:12:42] without a key card the key card needed to be swiped upon entering and leaving the building

[00:12:48] which made it feel secure although we didn't have security guards on the premises additionally

[00:12:55] the key cards needed to be used to access doors inside the building so in general there

[00:13:00] wasn't any concern about anyone uninvited getting into the building evenly late at night

[00:13:08] on this particular night I had taken the bus to work when I arrived I greeted my evening shift

[00:13:14] co-workers who were leaving as their shifts were ending and mine was beginning it absolutely

[00:13:21] seemed like a normal day at first I was in a good mood and so were the two co-workers

[00:13:27] who I was working the night shift with after we touched base we parted ways and went to our

[00:13:32] designated labs to get to work three hours into my shift at 1 a.m. I decided to take a 20 minute

[00:13:40] break my two other co-workers had taken their breaks earlier than me so I went on my break

[00:13:45] alone our break room was set up in a lounge with a couple of long tables chairs a mini

[00:13:52] kitchen and a bathroom to walk to this break room I had to walk down this big hall with old

[00:13:59] flickering ceiling lights and I'm not going to lie this was not my favorite place to be alone

[00:14:05] at 1 a.m. especially when the whole building was nearly empty and it's pitch black outside

[00:14:13] there were big windows in the employee lounge facing the surrounding parking lot

[00:14:18] but I couldn't see anything out there it was just darkness which gave off this eerie vibe at night

[00:14:24] time five minutes into my break I decided to step outside to smoke a cigarette I put my jacket on

[00:14:32] picked up my stuff and opened the door to get outside with my key card we had this designated

[00:14:38] smoking spot in the back of the parking lot that was about a one minute walk from the door

[00:14:43] now if I said I wasn't scared to be alone in an empty parking lot at night I would be lying

[00:14:50] but I really needed that cigarette having to walk out there alone was easily the thing I disliked

[00:14:56] the most about the overnight shift but nothing bad had ever happened and I live in a generally

[00:15:03] safe country so I just hoped for the best there was this nasty chunky white plastic chair in

[00:15:11] the designated smoking place and I took a seat in it as I lit my cigarette from the smoking spot

[00:15:17] I had a clear view of the entrance of the building since there were bright lights illuminated above

[00:15:23] the door I always found myself unintentionally staring at that door I mean it was night in

[00:15:29] an industrial park so it's not like there were any interesting things for me to look at anyway

[00:15:36] then all of a sudden I noticed a person approaching the door it was a man wearing a trench coat and

[00:15:42] a top hat holding a briefcase I had never seen this man before not at work or anywhere else

[00:15:50] he stopped and stood extremely still right in front of the main entry door

[00:15:57] he wasn't moving a muscle as he faced the door it was so jarring to see a strange man appear

[00:16:03] so suddenly just standing by the door I cannot explain how scared I was as he continued to stand

[00:16:11] there I started thinking about how to get past him and back inside he had no idea that I was in

[00:16:17] the darkness in the parking lot since he hadn't seen me I was concerned that he would see me when

[00:16:24] I was trying to get back inside especially if he was trying to get into the building as well

[00:16:28] I couldn't help but wonder who he was and what he wanted this was a really weird place for this

[00:16:35] strangely dressed man to be at 1 a.m the door that he was standing outside of was the only door

[00:16:42] I could use to get back into the building so I had no choice but to try and ignore him as I

[00:16:47] went back inside I finished my cigarette and then started walking toward the man and the door

[00:16:54] all the while he continued to stand there just facing the door clueless about my presence in

[00:17:00] the parking lot the closer I got to him and the door the more scared I got I got so scared

[00:17:08] that I actually stopped to rethink my decision it was technically part of my job to confront

[00:17:14] unwanted visitors and tell them to contact customer service as the facility isn't open

[00:17:20] to the general public but again it was 1 a.m approaching an odd man who appeared out of thin air

[00:17:28] was not appealing to me as an 18 year old girl who was all alone my gut was telling me that

[00:17:34] I should not continue walking to the door so I decided to call my co-worker to ask her

[00:17:39] to meet me at the door and let me in I figured this was better and safer than facing the

[00:17:43] man by myself I ducked behind my co-workers car as I made the call I set myself up in a position

[00:17:51] where I could still see the man through the car windows I wanted to keep my eye on him

[00:17:57] in case he left and I wanted to make sure I saw which direction he was headed in

[00:18:03] my co-worker answered the call and I whispered as I explained the situation

[00:18:08] as I was filling her in I watched as the man finally moved for the first time since he approached

[00:18:15] the door he turned around and stared directly at the car that I was hiding behind it was clear

[00:18:22] that he didn't see me but he must have heard my whispering and as if this wasn't enough set up

[00:18:28] already what happened next was straight out of a horror film he quietly lowered himself

[00:18:36] and then slowly and deliberately started approaching the car on all fours

[00:18:44] he chose not to walk or run he was crawling I was frozen in fear I couldn't even scream

[00:18:53] I even dropped the phone from my hand as the man was getting closer to the car

[00:18:59] I saw both of my co-workers open the door waving and screaming frantically at me to make a

[00:19:04] run for it and come back inside they did not need to tell me twice I ran in so fast that this strange

[00:19:12] man didn't even have time to react by the time he stood upright and started running after me the

[00:19:19] door was already closed and I was back inside the second he heard the door snap shut as it

[00:19:25] locked itself he turned and just speed walked away disappearing into the darkness

[00:19:32] we called the cops immediately and they arrived not long after they patrolled the area but they

[00:19:37] didn't find anything or any one it was so bizarre that man disappeared just as quickly as he appeared

[00:19:44] in the first place and nobody has seen him since after our shift was over my co-workers walked

[00:19:51] me to the bus stop and waited with me until the bus arrived to make sure that I boarded

[00:19:57] to make sure that I boarded my bus to get home safely I'm forever thankful to those lovely

[00:20:03] co-workers for opening the door for me before the man made his way to where I was hiding

[00:20:09] God knows what would have happened if he had got a hold of me

[00:20:14] I stopped working overnight shifts after that and for sure will never work them again

[00:20:35] this happened when I was in college to give some background I was a 19 year old student

[00:20:40] living in Mexico at this time cartels were very openly working in this particular town

[00:20:47] and it wasn't uncommon to see the members of the different groups out partying and just going about

[00:20:53] their day I happened to be enrolled in a private university which was a bit of a nest for cartel

[00:21:00] kids who were the sons and daughters of said criminals this meant that some of my closest

[00:21:06] friends were in one way or another related to cartels one friend let's call her Judy was elbows

[00:21:13] deep in the lifestyle and her boyfriend at the time was too but the three of us were good friends

[00:21:20] Julie and I would go out often as the legal drinking age in Mexico is 18 so we were doing

[00:21:27] what college students do we were partying it up that being said we got into the habit of

[00:21:33] buying drinks for ourselves whenever we went this was largely because we both understood men

[00:21:40] can feel entitled to get what they want from you if they buy you something this is particularly

[00:21:46] true for the men who are involved in the drug cartels Julie and I were often surrounded by

[00:21:54] said men so we thought that it was better to try not to risk it after adopting this habit

[00:22:01] I never really felt like I was in any danger that is until one night remembering still gives

[00:22:07] me anxiety this happened on a boring night there wasn't much to do so I was just at home relaxing

[00:22:13] when I got a text from Julie asking if I wanted to go to a party with her and her boyfriend

[00:22:19] it was a yes from me and about an hour later they picked me up 15 minutes after

[00:22:25] they picked me up we were parking outside of the house where this party was I asked my friend about

[00:22:31] bringing drinks and she said that we didn't need to because her boyfriend's godfather had us covered

[00:22:37] honestly I should have walked away right then and there but they seemed to trust this guy

[00:22:44] even though I didn't know him I went into the house with them as soon as I stepped inside

[00:22:49] I realized this was not a party it was just a bunch of men hanging out I subtly asked Judy what the

[00:22:57] fuck she said I know I'm sorry I just didn't want to be the only girl here great friend right

[00:23:07] I knew I was already deep in the situation so I couldn't just leave when it comes to cartel

[00:23:12] people you have to be really careful so we walked in and sat down with the men then an older guy

[00:23:20] just came over to me and introduced himself as he sat next to me he introduced himself as Julie's

[00:23:26] boyfriend's godfather he offered me a drink which I politely declined he was insistent that

[00:23:34] I have a drink but I declined again telling him there wasn't anything I normally drank at their

[00:23:39] house he asked me what I liked to drink and in an attempt to get him to stop offering me drinks

[00:23:45] I mentioned some outrageously expensive rare liquor that I thought that he wouldn't be able to obtain

[00:23:52] easily or quickly this godfather then proceeded to send one of the guys out to go look for it

[00:23:59] even though I said it wasn't necessary it all went downhill from there I turned to Julie

[00:24:08] and I signaled with my eyes that I wanted to get out of there but at that same moment the guy that

[00:24:14] was sent out to look for the rare expensive liquor that I mentioned came back with a whole fucking

[00:24:19] bottle of it the dude was immediately ordered to make a drink for me as I was handed this

[00:24:26] drink I knew I didn't want to take a single sip but I ended up having to as the godfather

[00:24:32] creep was staring daggers at me I took the smallest sips before asking Julie to take me home

[00:24:39] she seemed unsure about her boyfriend seeing how uncomfortable I was got up and took us out of there

[00:24:47] I dumped the rest of my drink as soon as we were outside of the house

[00:24:51] as sketchy as that was it's the next part that really freaked me out

[00:24:56] as soon as I got home I collapsed in my bed and I didn't wake up for 14 hours

[00:25:03] it's been about 15 years since this happened and whenever I think about it I'm always grateful

[00:25:08] that I made it home safe and I'm still alive and well the older I get the more I understand

[00:25:14] the danger of situations that I had put myself in and how truly blessed I am to be here

[00:25:20] I eventually stopped talking to Julie completely and haven't heard from her in many years

[00:25:26] I no longer live in Mexico so creepy old godfather guy let's never meet again

[00:25:41] I'm in my 20s and this story happened when I was still a munchkin below the age of 12

[00:25:47] my grandmother who I'll call Tilly and I used to go on road trips either across our own

[00:25:53] country or the one next to ours we lived relatively close to the border on this particular occasion

[00:26:01] we decided to travel across our neighboring country my grandmother had a friend in the more

[00:26:07] rural part of our neighboring country and she hadn't seen her in a while so after some planning

[00:26:13] we figured out the best time for the two of us to make the trip I was excited when my grandmother

[00:26:18] first told me about the trip I had no idea where we were going but going on a road trip

[00:26:23] with my grandma was always so exciting I could hardly contain myself fast forward a few months

[00:26:30] and we finally hopped into the car and headed off on our merry way the trip was going to take

[00:26:36] approximately a week since my grandmother wanted to see all of the neat stuff along the way

[00:26:42] plus traveling with someone young and such as myself required a lot of pit stops I wasn't

[00:26:48] necessarily a bad or fussy traveling companion I just had a small bladder anyway we were on the

[00:26:56] last stretch of our road trip when my grandmother had to pull into a gas station to fill up we were

[00:27:02] practically running on fumes and I really had to go to the bathroom so we pulled into this middle

[00:27:07] of nowhere gas station after my grandmother had filled up the car we hurried inside to use

[00:27:13] the restroom the moment that we walked inside all the alarm bells and my tiny brain went off

[00:27:21] I had no idea why I was feeling that way until I set my eyes on the clerk I'm not usually

[00:27:28] want to judge a person by how they present themselves but the clerk looked like he

[00:27:32] walked straight out of a serial killer documentary we were in the middle of a very rural area

[00:27:38] in the middle of nowhere this man was polished and looked like he should be selling high-end

[00:27:45] luxury cars not working at a rundown gas station despite this pristine appearance the clerk was

[00:27:53] giving me all kinds of bad feelings he was smiling a little too widely when he spotted my grandmother

[00:28:00] however when he saw me you could have sworn he was looking at a sunday dinner

[00:28:07] however his very wide grin only continued to widen remembering it even to this day

[00:28:15] still scares me thankfully my grandma could tell that something was wrong and shielded

[00:28:20] me from his predatory gaze she paid for the gas and asked for the key to the washroom

[00:28:27] which he took his sweet time getting she walked with me to the bathroom which was disgusting by

[00:28:33] the way and I quickly did my business as we returned the key with great reluctance things

[00:28:39] took a turn for the worse my grandmother and I piled back into the car and the clerk closed

[00:28:45] down the shop and got into his car now technically we had two days left on the trip

[00:28:52] my grandma stuck to a pretty good schedule on road trips we would start the day with four

[00:28:58] hours on the road and then an hour off to explore fill up etc then we would drive a few more hours

[00:29:07] and find an inn or hotel to spend the night at we traveled about eight hours each day

[00:29:15] when we left the gas station the clerk followed us for and I'm not even joking

[00:29:20] the rest of the trip at first we just assumed that he was heading in our general direction

[00:29:28] it was just one desolate rural road after all but my grandmother noticed that he wasn't taking any

[00:29:34] turnoffs and she realized he was following us upon this realization my grandmother refused

[00:29:41] to stop driving unless it was absolutely imperative to do so and the clerk proceeded to follow us

[00:29:47] for 12 hours we finally made it to the city where her friend resided and that's when we

[00:29:54] pulled into a police station the clerk followed us there pulling up next to our car just as we

[00:30:02] headed inside the building he sat outside in his car as he watched my grandma speak with the

[00:30:10] lovely lady at the desk thankfully the cops handled this creepy clerk with ease but i'll

[00:30:16] never forget this still too wide grin that never left his face while he was being escorted away

[00:30:26] needless to say my grandmother and i vowed to never road trip in our neighboring country again

[00:30:32] but that was the last time we took a road trip in general i'm an 18 year old female and i live

[00:30:50] in singapore with my parents my family consists of only me my mom who's 38 and my stepdad who's 40

[00:30:58] the three of us are living in a small apartment together i have my own bedroom as i'm an only child

[00:31:06] my parents took the smaller room in the apartment and i have the primary bedroom which has a big

[00:31:11] window facing out the back of our apartment building all of the primary bedrooms in these

[00:31:17] apartments had these big windows all facing the same direction the space outside of the big

[00:31:23] bedroom windows and the units is almost like a walkway it's accessible from the roads but there

[00:31:31] was no logical reason for anyone to need to intentionally stand near my window for someone

[00:31:39] to stand outside of my window they would have to walk in from the road and take a few turns

[00:31:44] just to find it one night i fell asleep at around 11 p.m and i forgot to close my blackout curtains

[00:31:51] on my window the window is frosted so the view inside is slightly obstructed but anyone can see

[00:31:58] through it if they stand close enough at exactly 1 23 a.m i was startled awake as i heard three

[00:32:07] loud knocks on my bedroom window from where i was sleeping my window was straight across from me

[00:32:14] in the right corner of the room i could generally see shadows on my bedroom door or on the walls

[00:32:21] during the day or even in the evening that late at night it was completely dark so i couldn't

[00:32:29] see anything my table light also happened to be shining on me at its highest setting which

[00:32:36] made me feel even more vulnerable i had been sleeping on my side facing my bedroom door which

[00:32:43] is on my left i finally turned my head and i looked at my window to my surprise i saw a

[00:32:51] silhouette of a man clearly visible through the frosted window i instantly got goosebumps

[00:32:57] and i froze because i was unsure of what to do the curtains were wide open and this man could

[00:33:03] obviously see me despite my parents room being right next to mine i went into shock i couldn't get them

[00:33:12] i had to call my mom to help me check out what was going on outside the window or at least

[00:33:18] to close my curtains for me if i was just tripping she was trying to sleep but i told her what i

[00:33:25] saw she advised me to sleep in the living room in the meantime to try and calm myself down

[00:33:32] but i was too uneasy i couldn't go back to sleep at all as i lay awake in the living room

[00:33:38] i heard three more knocks coming from my bedroom at three in the morning by this point

[00:33:45] my curtains were closed and my room was out of view so whoever was out there didn't know that

[00:33:51] i wasn't in my room i decided to quietly creep back into my room to try and get a peek at who

[00:33:58] or what was knocking on the window the knocks at three a.m. differed from the ones that i had heard

[00:34:05] an hour and a half earlier the first knocks were loud and in quick succession this round of knocks

[00:34:14] was still loud but much slower i wish i had stayed curious and stayed in the living

[00:34:21] room that night but i decided to walk into my room and peel back the curtain i cupped my

[00:34:28] hands on the sides of my eyes and pressed my face up against the glass so i could get a closer and

[00:34:34] clearer look i saw a man standing outside of my bedroom window just four meters away from the

[00:34:41] window he stood there staring straight at me he was wearing long gray pants and a black t-shirt

[00:34:50] he had pale skin very pale he looked completely emotionless when he saw me

[00:34:57] i froze but i still was able to close the curtains i returned to the living room

[00:35:05] the next morning although pretty sleep deprived from the night prior i knew that there was no

[00:35:10] way i was just hallucinating or hearing things i knew that i saw a man out there

[00:35:16] so i went outside to see if i could find anything i found large hand prints on my window

[00:35:23] the moral of the story is to always check your windows before you fall asleep and close your

[00:35:29] curtains recently i've had a few encounters with a delivery guy the first time i remember

[00:35:52] interacting with him he asked me what my name was and then recited my previous address

[00:35:58] i hesitated on reacting to him knowing this information as he asked you moved huh with a

[00:36:05] creepy smile on his face i thought that he was just overly friendly he was trying to make small

[00:36:12] talk so i brushed it off i live alone so i don't want to overthink it since i knew that i would

[00:36:19] get creeped out if i did after i thought about it i realized that he was my neighbor at my

[00:36:25] previous address the next time i saw him he struck up a conversation with me saying that he

[00:36:32] knew one of my friends i don't like talking to strangers so i didn't talk with him long

[00:36:38] but the conversation stayed with me since i felt so uncomfortable the way that he specified details

[00:36:45] in an attempt to relate to me made me feel like he was dangerous shortly after that i was going

[00:36:52] out and i saw him again delivering a package to my neighbor i ignored him and tried to walk by

[00:36:59] without engaging in conversation he saw me and recognized me and asked me to confirm my old

[00:37:05] address again but i just continued walking i then saw him in my facebook friend requests

[00:37:13] i ignored him there as well but i was still creeped out i wound up talking to the friend

[00:37:20] that this delivery guy said that he knew at first my friend said that she didn't know him

[00:37:27] but then she recognized his last name which made her realize he was the son of a family friend

[00:37:35] she had never talked to him before though his family had no idea that he was working as a

[00:37:41] delivery guy and he was eventually let go because he became obsessed with his boss

[00:37:47] who was an older woman older than his mom after not seeing him around for a while i lost my keys

[00:37:55] so i asked my landlord for replacements i didn't think too much of my missing keys until i came home

[00:38:01] one day and my door was open i was cautious upon entry but there wasn't anyone in my apartment

[00:38:10] i sighed in relief as i assumed i must have left the door open somehow

[00:38:15] i work night shifts so sometimes my mind is all over the place

[00:38:20] my friend told me to report it to the police but i'm too scared because i'm sure that they'll

[00:38:26] just let him go which makes me worry that he'll take revenge on me

[00:38:32] my friend also told me he might be doing drugs according to his family

[00:38:36] since he's very secretive and acts very suspiciously

[00:38:39] in the meantime i have removed my name from deliveries and set the name to my boyfriend's name

[00:38:45] this is just a temporary fix to hold me over until i move to a different city in a few months

[00:38:52] the most i can do for now is change my locks and install some sort of personal security camera

[00:38:58] in front i'm still scared since this delivery guy knows my address

[00:39:03] knows my address this happened when i was living in a flat share on the outskirts of a city that

[00:39:18] is generally known for being quite safe to get into the building a key is required for the main

[00:39:25] entry the main entry door often isn't shut properly so it can just be pulled open more

[00:39:32] often than not as the lock doesn't really engage unless the door is fully closed this

[00:39:37] was never really a cause for concern to anyone who lived in the building as it's located in a very

[00:39:43] trusting neighborhood late one night around 2 a.m i was lying in bed relaxing completely sprawled out

[00:39:52] someone opened the door and entered my bedroom i figured it was just one of my flatmates going

[00:39:57] out to the balcony my flatmates had to walk through my room to access the balcony so it

[00:40:03] was completely normal to me that somebody was entering and walking through my room at this time

[00:40:09] i had just gone out there and smoked a spliff myself so i opted to ignore the noise as

[00:40:15] i pretended to be asleep i felt him standing there for about two minutes i assumed that maybe

[00:40:23] he was waiting for his girlfriend to join him or maybe he was stalling since he was checking

[00:40:29] his phone or something in any case this was still no big deal to me he finally proceeded to the

[00:40:37] balcony which took him about two to three minutes i still hadn't taken a peek at who was there

[00:40:44] but i was still under the impression it was my flatmate he went outside and smoked a cigarette

[00:40:49] before coming back after that he continued to stand in my room in total silence as i said

[00:40:58] before i was pretending to be asleep but by this point i was actually falling asleep

[00:41:05] i was half asleep but still acknowledged that he was just standing there i still didn't really

[00:41:10] think anything of it but eventually i fully drifted off to sleep the next morning when i woke up

[00:41:16] my flatmate told me that somebody had broken in from my perspective they sauntered and i suppose

[00:41:24] whoever it was came into my room then went into the room of my flatmate and rummaged through his

[00:41:31] things then he went into the kitchen and upon seeing my flatmate investigating what was going on

[00:41:38] he quickly left out the door and exited the building the only thing that he stole

[00:41:43] was my pair of marshal headphones my flatmates and i were all very confused as to why this

[00:41:50] was the only thing he had stolen there was cash left on the table and my flatmates

[00:41:56] had multiple cameras but all of that remained untouched and intact we spoke to our neighbors

[00:42:03] of which there were 15 in the building none of them had noticed anything out of the ordinary

[00:42:09] but we were able to confirm that whoever broke in hadn't gone into any of the other

[00:42:15] apartments we knew that most of our neighbors didn't lock their doors at night much like we didn't

[00:42:22] so it seems that this man walked up three flights of stairs ignoring all of the other

[00:42:27] apartments and for some reason went straight to ours we contacted the police but nothing came

[00:42:34] of it the police said that they would keep an eye out and i had to buy a new pair of headphones

[00:42:40] the situation left me thinking about what could have happened if i opened my eyes and acknowledged

[00:42:45] this person standing over me would he have hurt me i never got a good look at him so

[00:42:52] i've had to live with the uncertainty of not knowing if it was a total stranger or someone

[00:42:57] whom i had already met all of this started about six months ago one night i was in my room

[00:43:22] getting ready for bed at around 10 30 p.m my curtains were closed so i couldn't see out of the

[00:43:28] window but i heard three knocks on the glass of my window of course that scared the living

[00:43:35] shit out of me so i didn't even look and i ran to get my dad to make him look i live with my

[00:43:40] parents and two brothers in a fairly busy neighborhood so outside noises weren't uncommon

[00:43:46] to hear but these hard knocks hit directly on my window indicated whoever was outside wanted me to hear

[00:43:54] it the thing is my bedroom doesn't face the front of the house or the road or anything

[00:44:02] my room is actually towards the back of the house so to knock on my window someone would have

[00:44:08] to walk down the side of my house to the backyard which seemed odd to me my dad came

[00:44:14] to check on everything but by the time that he got into my room and opened the curtains nobody was outside

[00:44:22] he even went into the backyard to check but nobody was out there after that i closed my

[00:44:28] curtains and brushed it off as hearing things or some sort of animal the following night

[00:44:35] at almost the exact same time i heard another three knocks on my window i immediately went

[00:44:41] to get my dad again only for him to see nothing all over again but this time i just couldn't brush it

[00:44:49] off so i slept in my parents room on the floor the next few nights were calm and quiet

[00:44:57] until about a week later when i was home alone at night it was about nine p.m and i was on

[00:45:03] face time with a friend i heard another three hard knocks on my window since i was home

[00:45:10] alone this time running to get my dad wasn't an option but i ran into my parents room anyway

[00:45:16] and called them they told me to call the neighbors to help me check it out since they were out of

[00:45:22] town so i did but the neighbors saw nothing the night after that at around 1 a.m i heard the

[00:45:31] knocking again this time was different though it wasn't just three knocks the person knocked

[00:45:39] more than ever before and it woke me up out of a dead sleep i was tempted to just look out the

[00:45:46] window to see who was out there once and for all but part of me didn't want to know i went and got

[00:45:54] my parents who didn't bother to check it all at this point because they didn't see anything the

[00:45:59] last few times but i continued to hear the knocking for the next few nights it got to the

[00:46:05] point where i just ended up sleeping on the couch my parents decided to let me move into a different

[00:46:11] room so they moved my bedroom into what was the office and switched everything around in hopes

[00:46:16] that i wouldn't hear things anymore after moving bedrooms i didn't hear anything and it was good

[00:46:25] for the first three nights but then i heard it again the same three hard knocks

[00:46:32] but on my new window this time i looked out and i saw what i assumed was a man

[00:46:40] or very sturdily built woman they were crouching down wearing a gray hoodie and some dark jeans

[00:46:49] i closed the curtains then went and told my parents about it they informed the police but

[00:46:55] the police really couldn't do anything because we had no solid proof they advised us to install

[00:47:00] a camera outside facing my bedroom and we did exactly that i haven't heard any knocking since

[00:47:08] but i can't help but wonder who's been doing this i'm a 40 year old female and i board my horse at

[00:47:27] a small local stable that has access to a lot of acreage and trails for riding i've ridden there

[00:47:33] since i was a kid and the lady who owns the stable and the land has been there for over 40 years

[00:47:40] one day she my mother another border and i were all out on a trail when we saw a man in the distance

[00:47:46] down the trail normally when we encounter someone which is rare we say hello and encourage them

[00:47:53] to speak so that the horses know that it's just another person and not something to fear

[00:47:59] this guy would not answer us despite our numerous attempts to get him to reply

[00:48:04] he just stood there watching us my horse Henry is pretty brave about most things but he has to

[00:48:11] inspect anything that he's unsure of so we continued to approach the man if we had turned and ridden

[00:48:17] away from him the horses would have been nervous and upset about having something unknown behind

[00:48:23] them so our only option was to keep moving forward when we came right up to him he finally

[00:48:30] spoke yelling at us and telling us that we were trespassing on his property

[00:48:35] Annie the owner of the barn and the land is a 70-something horsewoman who backs down from

[00:48:41] nothing and nobody she told him that she was in fact the owner of the land and he was the one

[00:48:49] trespassing he argued and we could clearly see that he wasn't mentally stable but he lunged

[00:48:56] out to grab Henry's burtle which I quickly wheeled around to keep out of his reach I ride with a long

[00:49:03] riding crop for brushing flies and spider webs away but I was thoroughly prepared to use it on

[00:49:09] this guy if I had to the horses were visibly nervous at this point so we told the man that

[00:49:15] we were going to turn and ride our way and let him go on his way wherever that might have been

[00:49:21] luckily he didn't follow us but the horses were anxious the whole way home once we reached

[00:49:27] the barn and he called the sheriff's office and they came out and went out with her on the four by

[00:49:32] fours but they couldn't find the man anywhere at one point during our encounter he had given

[00:49:38] us his name so I did some internet digging and I found that he had a criminal record and has

[00:49:44] beaten his elderly mother so badly that she eventually died from complications from her

[00:49:50] injuries she refused to press charges at the time my parents had owned property that bordered

[00:49:58] some of the trails that we rode on and he had been known to hole up in the woods out there

[00:50:04] and basically live off the land like a wild man the police told us to be wary not to ride alone

[00:50:11] and to let them know as soon as we saw him again luckily we didn't if he had been hiding out

[00:50:18] there Henry would have let me know but you can bet that when we rode around for a while I was carrying

[00:50:25] my gun like an old school cowboy I assume he must have moved on or possibly he got arrested

[00:50:34] but in the future Mr. Crazy Man in the Woods let's not meet thanks for listening and make

[00:50:57] sure you stick around after the music if you're a patron for your extended ad free version of

[00:51:02] this week's episode if you'd like to get access head over to patreon.com forward slash let's not

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[00:51:11] to get instant access to hours and hours of bonus content stories you won't hear anywhere else

[00:51:17] this week you have heard what was in the cooler by Jolaine what did he want by high paracetamol

[00:51:24] always bring your own drinks by anonymous my road trip from hell by Mikey 1 30 a.m.

[00:51:30] 3 a.m. by ag envy I think I'm being stalked by smiles smiley stranger broke in and watched me

[00:51:39] sleep by boot krowski the person at my window by no piglet 7568 and finally crazy woodsman by gene

[00:51:47] all of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission

[00:51:50] of their respective authors let's not meet a true horror podcast is not associated with reddit

[00:51:55] or any other message boards online make sure you send your stories in to let's not meet stories

[00:52:00] at gmail.com if you'd like to hear them on the show and finally make sure you check out the new

[00:52:05] episodes of my other podcasts like odd trails my true paranormal podcast and the old-time radio

[00:52:10] cast all at cryptic county podcasts dot com or wherever you get your podcasts see you all next

[00:52:16] week everyone stay safe