12x20: I Will Always Remember Where You Live!

[00:00:00] This podcast contains adult language and content.

[00:00:02] Listener discretion is advised.

[00:00:04] If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com.

[00:00:09] Enjoy the show.

[00:00:38] This happened years ago when I got my first actual job.

[00:00:42] I was working at a family friend's restaurant when I heard about some

[00:00:46] website where I could meet pen pals from all around the world.

[00:00:50] I didn't think much of it.

[00:00:51] I figured it was harmless.

[00:00:52] I thought that it would be a cool way to find people from outside

[00:00:56] the country to chat with.

[00:00:58] Learn about some other cultures and their traditions, you know, that kind of stuff.

[00:01:02] I figured I would be keeping things general and I wasn't going to give out any deeply

[00:01:06] personal information about myself.

[00:01:09] I was bored and I had no friends in my city since all my

[00:01:12] friends were back in my hometown.

[00:01:15] I wanted to fill the time, combat loneliness and talk to people.

[00:01:20] So I thought that this was a good solution.

[00:01:22] I made a simple profile, stated what kind of friends that I was interested

[00:01:26] in making and other basic things.

[00:01:29] After about a month, I received a message from a man.

[00:01:32] I don't remember what the message said word for word, but in a nutshell, it said,

[00:01:36] hi, I found your profile and I'm very interested in being friends.

[00:01:41] He then stated that he was living in the same state as me.

[00:01:45] Though I know it was probably rude not to be excited about someone

[00:01:50] in my state contacting me.

[00:01:52] I did politely respond and I replied to a few of his messages for a while.

[00:01:56] In doing so, I found out that he lived in the same city as me.

[00:02:02] I see you like anime, he said in one of his messages.

[00:02:06] I love anime.

[00:02:07] I also see that you've been to Japan.

[00:02:10] I've been to Japan too.

[00:02:12] Do you like to go to anime conventions?

[00:02:14] Maybe we could go to the next convention together when it comes to town.

[00:02:19] This made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

[00:02:22] As I stated right on my profile,

[00:02:24] I had no intention of ever meeting up with anyone in person.

[00:02:29] I was just looking to have an online pen pal.

[00:02:33] I gently pointed out this detail and he didn't like it.

[00:02:38] I just thought that we could be friends since we have similar interests.

[00:02:41] He insisted.

[00:02:43] I stood my ground and kindly told him I wasn't interested.

[00:02:46] I didn't want to meet anyone from the website in person.

[00:02:50] He backed off for a bit.

[00:02:52] And things seemed to be fine.

[00:02:55] Then he went right back to rambling about his interests.

[00:02:59] After our conversation wound down,

[00:03:01] I logged out of the website for a few days to focus on my personal life.

[00:03:06] Going to work, doing schoolwork and taking care of my disabled father.

[00:03:10] One day I woke up to notifications and messages on several of my social media accounts.

[00:03:16] All stating basically the same thing.

[00:03:20] Hey, it's your friend from the pen pal website.

[00:03:23] He messaged me on four different apps,

[00:03:27] which I did not give him the information for.

[00:03:30] How did he find me?

[00:03:33] I was annoyed but decided not to engage with any of these messages.

[00:03:37] Instead, I logged back into my pen pal website and sent him a message.

[00:03:43] I said, hey, I'm not sure how you found my social media accounts,

[00:03:47] but reaching out to me was over the line.

[00:03:49] That was really inappropriate.

[00:03:51] He messaged me on four of my accounts.

[00:03:55] He replied,

[00:03:57] I'm sorry, I just wanted to talk to you.

[00:04:00] You haven't logged onto the website for a few days.

[00:04:04] That doesn't make it okay.

[00:04:05] I responded, I have a personal life, a job and a family.

[00:04:09] I can't spend all of my time on there.

[00:04:12] That's why I messaged you on all the other apps, he said.

[00:04:16] I don't have them listed on my profile.

[00:04:18] How did you find them?

[00:04:20] I asked.

[00:04:21] He avoided the question and just said,

[00:04:24] I'm sorry I did that.

[00:04:25] I'm just trying to be your friend.

[00:04:27] I just want to be friends with you.

[00:04:31] This isn't the way to do it.

[00:04:32] I explained.

[00:04:33] I'm very uncomfortable that you somehow found this information

[00:04:37] that I didn't even give to you.

[00:04:39] I don't think we should talk anymore.

[00:04:40] I'm sorry, but I don't want to be friends with you.

[00:04:43] Please do not contact me again.

[00:04:46] I immediately blocked him on all of the apps that he found me on.

[00:04:50] And then I blocked him on the pen pal website.

[00:04:53] For a few months, everything was fine.

[00:04:57] But then suddenly I got a message on one of my apps from a user who wasn't on my

[00:05:02] friend's list.

[00:05:03] The message said, you stupid bitch.

[00:05:07] Nobody will ever love you.

[00:05:09] You'll never find a man to love you.

[00:05:11] You're an ugly bitch.

[00:05:13] Why don't you kill yourself?

[00:05:14] Do the world a favor.

[00:05:16] I rolled my eyes and blocked the account throughout the course of the next year.

[00:05:23] Every few months across multiple social media platforms, I was being harassed.

[00:05:30] Then I received a message on the pen pal website from an account that had no name

[00:05:35] or photos.

[00:05:37] The message I received there was the same nonsense that I had been getting on my

[00:05:41] other social media accounts.

[00:05:43] Once I received a message in the same vein on that particular website, I knew it had

[00:05:49] to be the man as I had no other issues with anybody else.

[00:05:55] I replied telling him that I knew it was him and told him that his behavior was

[00:05:59] really sad and pathetic.

[00:06:02] I just wanted to be your friend.

[00:06:04] You're a fucking bitch.

[00:06:06] Watch your back.

[00:06:08] He threatened.

[00:06:09] Then the account blocked me.

[00:06:10] During the next few months after that, nothing much happened.

[00:06:14] I got one to two messages from fake accounts again, but I had grown used to it and would

[00:06:20] just immediately block them.

[00:06:22] Then one day I received a Facebook message from a police officer.

[00:06:26] He was contacting me about a profile that appeared to belong to me on a website

[00:06:32] called Ashley Madison, which is used for people looking to have affairs hookups.

[00:06:39] I had never heard of this site before and absolutely did not have an account there.

[00:06:45] I had a long talk with the police officer.

[00:06:47] He explained that his department investigates human trafficking.

[00:06:51] And once my profile came up, he thought that I was an underage girl who was possibly

[00:06:55] in danger.

[00:06:56] The Ashley Madison account had my personal Facebook account listed on the profile as

[00:07:02] well as other ways to contact me.

[00:07:04] I was in shock.

[00:07:05] He advised me to contact the website administrators and ask them to pull the profile

[00:07:10] down.

[00:07:11] The officer concluded, you seem like a sweet girl.

[00:07:14] I don't know who's pissed off at you, but try not to read the profile that they wrote

[00:07:19] for you.

[00:07:21] I should have taken his advice, but I let my curiosity get the best of me and I checked

[00:07:25] out the profile.

[00:07:27] Some of my selfies were pulled from my profile.

[00:07:30] I should have taken his advice, but I let my curiosity get the best of me and I checked

[00:07:35] out the profile.

[00:07:37] Some of my selfies were pulled from my social media profiles and the profile stated a lot

[00:07:42] of horrible derogatory things.

[00:07:45] It made me sick to my stomach to read some of the things it said I wanted to have done

[00:07:51] to me.

[00:07:52] Thankfully, after I reached out and explained the situation, the website quickly took action

[00:07:57] and removed the profile.

[00:08:00] I was shocked.

[00:08:01] I didn't hold back.

[00:08:03] I cursed him out for being so immature and disgusting simply because I didn't want to

[00:08:07] be his friend.

[00:08:09] After I went off, I was blocked again without getting a response and I didn't get any

[00:08:15] messages for quite a while.

[00:08:17] But then one day when I was the closer at work, I was waiting outside for a family member

[00:08:22] to come and pick me up.

[00:08:24] As I was waiting, I was listening to music and waving goodbye to my manager.

[00:08:29] As they drove away, I got a notification on one of my apps.

[00:08:34] You ugly bitch, the message said.

[00:08:38] I sighed and rolled my eyes as I opened the message.

[00:08:42] As I was typing a response, I received another message that made me stop.

[00:08:47] I froze up.

[00:08:49] You're all alone now.

[00:08:51] I could kill you right now if I wanted to.

[00:08:54] I would make sure that nobody would ever find you.

[00:08:59] I backed up against the building.

[00:09:01] It was the best thing that I could think of to do to feel secure as I didn't have keys

[00:09:06] to go back inside.

[00:09:08] That manager was the only one who had keys, but they just left.

[00:09:13] I glanced around the parking lot, but there wasn't a single car in sight.

[00:09:18] My heart started to race as I got more messages.

[00:09:22] Your family probably won't even miss you, you disgusting bitch.

[00:09:26] I should just kill you right now.

[00:09:29] As the phone shook in my hands, I started to cry.

[00:09:32] Just as another text came in, a car pulled up in front of me.

[00:09:37] Luckily, it was my aunt coming to pick me up.

[00:09:40] I took a deep breath and quickly got into the car.

[00:09:43] Sorry I'm late.

[00:09:44] I got stuck at two red lights.

[00:09:46] Did your manager leave already?

[00:09:47] They just left you out here alone.

[00:09:49] Just drive.

[00:09:51] I accidentally blurted out tears streaming down my face.

[00:09:55] What's wrong?

[00:09:56] Did something happen at work?

[00:09:57] My aunt asked.

[00:09:59] As I was crying and shaking, my aunt took my phone and looked at the messages.

[00:10:04] What the fuck?

[00:10:05] She asked.

[00:10:06] Who the hell is texting you?

[00:10:09] I don't know who it is.

[00:10:10] Please just drive.

[00:10:11] We need to get out of here.

[00:10:12] I insisted.

[00:10:14] My aunt took me to her place.

[00:10:16] She wanted to call the police, but I told her not to.

[00:10:19] I had no idea who the man was who was behind all of this.

[00:10:23] I had no idea where to find him or anything.

[00:10:26] I knew I didn't have enough details to make a police report against him.

[00:10:30] So then my aunt called another family member, my cousin, who works in the IT field.

[00:10:35] After my aunt told my cousin the whole story, including everything I had endured for almost two years,

[00:10:41] they told me I should have made entirely new accounts from the beginning of this harassment.

[00:10:47] I took this advice right then and there and deactivated all of my social media and made new accounts.

[00:10:52] I continued working at that job for another month, but my aunt told my manager about what happened,

[00:10:58] so I was never put on closing shifts again.

[00:11:02] I was only given morning shifts, but I still don't feel safe.

[00:11:07] This man knew where I worked and thankfully my manager understood when I finally decided to quit.

[00:11:14] After that, all of the harassment stopped.

[00:11:17] To this day, I haven't received any more of those messages.

[00:11:21] I still live in the same city, but I don't live in the same neighborhood anymore, and now I'm married.

[00:11:28] I finally feel comfortable again.

[00:11:31] I don't feel afraid that a man will find me or stalk me again.

[00:11:37] But every now and then, when I get a random message from somebody who isn't on my friends list,

[00:11:42] my heart races for a second.

[00:11:44] My heart races for a second. This happened when I was a single mother in my 40s.

[00:12:07] I had just moved to a new house with my then four-year-old son back in 2002.

[00:12:14] We were both living in our hometown of Altoona, Pennsylvania.

[00:12:18] We had been there for a few weeks when one late night, there was a knock on our front door.

[00:12:25] My son was asleep on the couch and I was still up unpacking and putting things away, getting us settled in.

[00:12:33] I pulled the curtain aside and I looked out to see a petite young woman who was standing and shivering on our porch.

[00:12:41] Our front door had a chain latch attached to it.

[00:12:44] I kept the latch on so that I could only open the door as far as the latch would allow,

[00:12:51] and then I asked her what she wanted.

[00:12:54] She said that she had locked herself out of her house and asked if she could come into our house and use our phone.

[00:13:01] I asked her where she lived and she gave me the address of a house that was about a block away and around the corner.

[00:13:09] Something about her story didn't seem right though.

[00:13:12] This meant that she had to have passed at least half a dozen houses before approaching mine.

[00:13:18] I found this to be strange as I noticed that all of the houses along the way, from her place to mine,

[00:13:25] each had their porch lights on.

[00:13:27] Not to mention, there was also a still operational payphone across the street.

[00:13:34] Alarm bells in my head were going off about this.

[00:13:37] With my young son still asleep in our living room, I was too reluctant to let her in.

[00:13:42] But it was a chilly winter night, so I offered her a coat and my cell phone,

[00:13:48] which I handed off to her through the doorway.

[00:13:51] She took my coat and my phone and then walked to the other end of the porch where I couldn't hear her as she called someone.

[00:14:00] Before she closed the door,

[00:14:02] I told her to put the phone in the mailbox when she was done making her call and to bring my coat back the next day.

[00:14:08] She left the phone but never returned my coat.

[00:14:13] For several weeks after that, I was receiving strange phone calls from strange numbers at all hours.

[00:14:21] I didn't know any of these people who were calling.

[00:14:24] The people on the other end of these calls were demanding to know where I was when I answered or they would simply hang up.

[00:14:34] Approximately two to three months later, I was reading the Altoona local newspaper.

[00:14:39] On the front page, I saw a photo of the young woman who had knocked on our door that night.

[00:14:45] She and ten other suspects had been arrested in a major drug bust.

[00:14:51] This immediately gave me chills thinking back on that cold winter night

[00:14:55] and how she showed up on my doorstep in a sleeveless shirt after passing by several other homes in the neighborhood.

[00:15:02] I wonder what might have happened to me and my young son if I had dismissed or ignored my unease and my suspicion

[00:15:11] despite her seemingly helpless appearance.

[00:15:26] I always knew that I should have been investing but I had always been intimidated by the idea.

[00:15:32] So I just kept putting it off.

[00:15:34] I was worried that even if I did start, I'd have no idea what I was doing.

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[00:17:11] This happened in the mid 90s when I was 22 and living on my own for the first time.

[00:17:17] One night I was just getting home from work at around 11 p.m.

[00:17:22] To reach my apartment building I could either walk on the sidewalk, which was lit with street lamps and decently trafficked,

[00:17:30] or cut across the communal garden, which was pitch black and set back from the street.

[00:17:37] I saved one whole minute of walking time by cutting through the communal garden and being young and feeling invincible.

[00:17:45] A lot of times I took that shortcut.

[00:17:48] That night I just got this weird feeling saying not to take the shortcut, so I stayed on the sidewalk,

[00:17:55] but there was no one else around.

[00:17:57] As I passed by the garden all of a sudden a large man popped up from its exit path.

[00:18:05] I knew that there was no way he could have been in front of me or just behind me as I was walking since I would have noticed.

[00:18:14] Plus the garden is set back from the street that I was walking on,

[00:18:18] so the only logical explanation was that he had been hiding in the pitch black garden.

[00:18:24] Upon seeing him

[00:18:25] my body was screaming at me to get the hell out of there and I began walking faster.

[00:18:31] My dad taught me to always carry my keys in my fist with at least one key pointed out

[00:18:38] in case I needed to punch someone. So I had that, but I'm 5'4 and probably 110 pounds.

[00:18:46] This guy was tall and big so I knew that my only chance was to outpace him.

[00:18:52] I was speed walking at this point and I felt him matching my pace and getting closer.

[00:18:57] He was breathing heavily

[00:18:59] and I felt this angry energy radiating off of him.

[00:19:03] My apartment building was right there.

[00:19:05] So I put forth a burst of speed.

[00:19:09] When I reached the entrance two people were leaving and they were holding the door for me

[00:19:14] which meant that they were probably going to hold the door open for him too.

[00:19:18] I don't know why I didn't tell them I thought that this guy was following me.

[00:19:21] My mind froze and I was just trying to stay focused on getting inside my apartment. Plus I was still trying to rationalize it.

[00:19:30] Maybe he's visiting someone in the building or maybe this is all just a coincidence.

[00:19:35] I thought this as I tried to tell myself not to be paranoid.

[00:19:40] So then I was climbing the stairs as fast as I could.

[00:19:44] It was a three-story building and I was living on the third floor.

[00:19:48] He was climbing the stairs as well right behind me.

[00:19:52] I got to my floor which had four apartments on the right side

[00:19:55] which was the side my apartment was on and four more apartments on the left.

[00:20:00] I passed by the first two apartments and he was still right behind me.

[00:20:04] I stopped at apartment three and he stopped in front of apartment four

[00:20:10] where I knew he wasn't living.

[00:20:14] This entire time he hadn't said anything.

[00:20:17] He was just breathing heavily.

[00:20:21] I thought to myself there was no way that I was going to open my apartment door and have him try to push me inside

[00:20:26] to attack me or worse.

[00:20:29] He also hadn't knocked on the door of apartment four.

[00:20:33] He was just standing there.

[00:20:36] It's worth quickly noting that the apartments are u-shaped.

[00:20:39] So mine and my neighbor's door were very close together.

[00:20:44] So I banged my own apartment door as loud as I could and I yelled out my neighbor's name.

[00:20:50] Hey, Kevin!

[00:20:52] Let me in!

[00:20:55] This startled the guy.

[00:20:57] Even more so when my own apartment door didn't open but apartment four

[00:21:02] Kevin's apartment did.

[00:21:05] Kevin saw the guy standing right in front of his door and asked him what he wanted.

[00:21:09] The guy mumbled something about having the wrong apartment

[00:21:13] so I quickly opened the door to my apartment and I was inside in a flash.

[00:21:18] I then locked the door behind me.

[00:21:20] I grabbed my cordless phone to call the police, but I heard Kevin through the door telling this guy he needed to leave.

[00:21:27] And he did.

[00:21:29] After he left, Kevin knocked on my door and asked if I was okay.

[00:21:33] I thanked him and said that I was but inside I was still frozen.

[00:21:38] I was scared.

[00:21:39] My adrenaline was pumping as I thanked him for answering the door and I told him to have a good night before closing and

[00:21:44] locking my door again.

[00:21:46] I still had my phone in my hand ready to call the police, but I started trying to rationalize the whole thing.

[00:21:54] What exactly happened anyway?

[00:21:56] A guy followed me, came into my building, followed me up the stairs,

[00:22:01] but then said he had the wrong apartment.

[00:22:03] Would the cops even care about something that seemed like a minor coincidence?

[00:22:09] I tried to calm myself down, but I was also berating myself.

[00:22:14] Why didn't I run the instant I felt him following me?

[00:22:17] Why didn't I tell the people that we passed at the front door that I was being chased by him?

[00:22:24] Why didn't I tell Kevin the second he opened the door and came to my rescue?

[00:22:29] He could have let me inside his apartment and we could have called the cops together, but since everything felt so ambiguous,

[00:22:36] I was questioning myself.

[00:22:38] A couple of weeks later, I was visiting my grandparents and my grandfather was reading the paper.

[00:22:44] He told me that a woman was assaulted in the apartment building across the street from mine.

[00:22:50] The article had a picture of the attacker.

[00:22:52] And it was the same man who followed me.

[00:22:56] He had multiple convictions of sexual assault

[00:22:59] and had recently been released on parole.

[00:23:10] I was staying at my friend's house for the weekend to spend time with him while he was back from college.

[00:23:16] During his break, he was living with his family which consisted of his mom, dad, and younger sister.

[00:23:23] While I was using the bathroom,

[00:23:25] I looked over to the right and I noticed a black square adapter of some sort.

[00:23:31] It was plugged into the wall facing me and it was at an angle that had a view of the toilet

[00:23:39] as well as the entire shower.

[00:23:41] I looked closer and I noticed a black hole in the middle that kind of looked like a camera.

[00:23:48] I don't know if it was a camera exactly or just a small hidden LED light to indicate something was charging.

[00:23:56] But then I noticed that it was connected to a cord

[00:23:59] leading to what looked like a white charging block. Honestly, I have no idea what it could have been

[00:24:06] so I somewhat tried to shrug it off.

[00:24:09] I figured if it was a camera, it definitely captured footage of me staring at it and taking photos.

[00:24:16] So I was a bit nervous.

[00:24:18] Plus, I'm a female so it's scary to think that somebody

[00:24:23] in my friend's household could be recording people in the bathroom and posting it online maybe to make money.

[00:24:31] I noticed that the back of the adapter had a weird number sequence with power adapter model S3 on top.

[00:24:40] When I put that information into Google for a search,

[00:24:43] it came up with recommended searches for cameras.

[00:24:49] I knew that my friend wasn't behind this.

[00:24:51] He's not the type of person who would do something like this and he also had not been home from college for that long.

[00:24:57] So I was worried that it was his father's.

[00:25:01] Just to give some backstory on the family,

[00:25:05] the friend I was visiting is someone I've known for a long time.

[00:25:09] He's gay and there are mostly women popping by his house to hang out and visit, especially when he's home from college.

[00:25:16] My friend would never snoop on women like that. So to me, it was further proof that the camera wasn't his.

[00:25:24] As for his younger sister, she's around 15 years old. So honestly, I couldn't see this being her doing either.

[00:25:33] His father, however, has always made me feel weird.

[00:25:37] I kept inspecting this adapter, the cords and everything else.

[00:25:41] I took the sticker off the back of the adapter and I noticed that there was an SD card.

[00:25:46] It had an A written on it and said that it had 32 gigabytes of storage.

[00:25:52] I was freaking out. So I told my friend who was in so much distress.

[00:25:58] He was scared and he wound up telling his mom as well.

[00:26:02] My mom was completely distraught.

[00:26:04] She immediately contacted a friend of hers who's an advice lawyer.

[00:26:09] She suggested taking it to the authorities.

[00:26:11] So my mom and his mom decided that they wanted to see what was on it and possibly take it to the police.

[00:26:18] There were over 70 videos on there with varying footage tucked away in different folders.

[00:26:24] There was a WhatsApp folder on there, but it was empty which I found strange.

[00:26:30] My friend then decided to confront his father about it.

[00:26:34] His father said that a friend from his job had loaned him the camera about a year ago,

[00:26:39] but quickly quit the company after suing the company for an injury.

[00:26:45] He fled the country after receiving his money. We still haven't found proof that this exchange ever even happened though.

[00:26:53] This situation was a lot to uncover for me.

[00:26:57] I'm somewhat in denial about this.

[00:26:59] My friend said that his dad was really upset once he was told that his daughter, wife, and son were possibly recorded.

[00:27:06] I really don't know what to make of it.

[00:27:09] So

[00:27:10] take that as you will.

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[00:27:37] Allergies are the worst. It's like having a cold, but the cold doesn't go away.

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[00:28:36] AstroPro and go. Use as directed for relief of nasal congestion, runny nose, sneezy and itchy nose due to allergies.

[00:28:43] Now back to the show. I have to admit at the age of 47,

[00:28:59] I'm afraid of the dark.

[00:29:02] Therefore, if I'm alone at night, I can get a little nervous.

[00:29:07] I am married with a 10-year-old daughter. We live in a single level home on a dead-end street.

[00:29:13] Thankfully, we don't have a basement or garage, but it is just a regular house.

[00:29:19] We live pretty close to our neighbors. So I feel pretty safe.

[00:29:23] This incident happened fairly recently. My husband and daughter went on an overnight Cub Scout camping trip.

[00:29:30] I stayed behind since I had to work the next day.

[00:29:33] They left the house at 5 p.m.

[00:29:35] And I was looking forward to being alone, catching up on reality shows and eating a nice steak dinner.

[00:29:43] As I settled on the couch to enjoy a nice quiet meal at around 630,

[00:29:48] I saw a shadow moving past my front room window.

[00:29:52] It moved so fast, I assumed it was something innocent like a branch or a bird.

[00:29:59] I brushed it off and continued watching my show.

[00:30:03] Another few minutes went by and again a quick shadow went by the same window.

[00:30:08] This time I paused the show that I was watching and got up to check it out.

[00:30:13] I didn't want to go outside, so I just looked out the window.

[00:30:17] I didn't see anything, but then I heard a scratching sound at my front door.

[00:30:23] My neighborhood has stray cats, but I knew it wasn't them since they don't scratch at the door.

[00:30:30] We also have raccoons around,

[00:30:32] but they don't scratch at the door either.

[00:30:34] Whenever they're looking for food, they just let themselves in the backyard and run around looking for it.

[00:30:40] Not that we have any back there.

[00:30:43] I decided to check and make sure that the doors were all fully locked.

[00:30:47] Thankfully, all of them were.

[00:30:49] As I walked back to the front of the house, out of the corner of my eye,

[00:30:54] I saw someone standing at the sliding glass door that led to the side of the house.

[00:31:01] I looked at him and he was just staring at me with no expression.

[00:31:07] Then he creepily lifted his left arm and waved at me.

[00:31:12] I just froze.

[00:31:14] My heart was racing.

[00:31:16] What the hell do I do now? I thought to myself.

[00:31:20] I ran to the front room where I was watching TV before and grabbed my phone to call 911.

[00:31:26] Then I heard him trying to pry the glass door open.

[00:31:29] After a few attempts, he stopped prying at the door, but then he started banging on the glass.

[00:31:36] I told the dispatcher, please hurry. Somebody is trying to break in.

[00:31:40] She told me to remain calm and she said that the police were on their way.

[00:31:44] I ran into the kitchen, grabbed the biggest knife that I had, and I waited.

[00:31:50] It was my only choice since I couldn't run out the front door to the car.

[00:31:55] He would have seen me. He would have been able to get to me right away.

[00:32:00] He then walked to the kitchen window and started tapping on it.

[00:32:05] What he said to me will always remain burned in my memory.

[00:32:09] He was still smiling and said, I'll always remember where you live.

[00:32:16] The cops showed up and he took off.

[00:32:19] He wasn't wearing a mask so I was able to memorize his face and what he wore.

[00:32:24] I gave all of the details to the police and they took a report.

[00:32:28] To my knowledge, he hasn't been caught.

[00:32:30] I told my husband what happened and we changed the locks.

[00:32:34] Since this event, I've been having trouble sleeping and any little noise wakes me up.

[00:32:41] I have recurring nightmares about this man breaking in and just standing over my bed,

[00:32:47] watching me sleep.

[00:33:02] I'm a 30-year-old female. I live in a relatively safe neighborhood,

[00:33:07] barring the occasional mugging attempts,

[00:33:10] one of which took place right against my bedroom window with one of my neighbors.

[00:33:15] Other than that, and the few times random men have followed me to my place

[00:33:20] in their cars asking for my phone number,

[00:33:23] things are generally stable.

[00:33:25] I typically have a way of dealing with those types of assholes.

[00:33:29] There's an empty lot on my street that cars can't access so I take advantage of it by

[00:33:34] going in there when I'm being followed.

[00:33:37] This forces whoever is following me to go around the block

[00:33:41] and by the time they manage to loop back around, I'm gone.

[00:33:45] A few months ago, some genius in our street paid someone in the city to move the neighborhood

[00:33:51] garbage disposer to another location.

[00:33:55] It was right down the block but then it got moved a few minutes away.

[00:33:59] This resulted in me having to walk a while with my garbage before I could even throw it out.

[00:34:05] This area is usually quite busy so I found myself having to do this a little embarrassing.

[00:34:10] So I started waiting until night time to do it.

[00:34:14] This probably wasn't my greatest idea considering everything that I've said so far but I settled

[00:34:20] into this routine and started feeling a bit safer.

[00:34:23] That is, until this happened.

[00:34:27] As usual, I waited until it was dark to go take out my garbage.

[00:34:31] After throwing it away, I stopped by a nearby convenience store to pick some things up.

[00:34:37] While I was on my way back to my place, at the entrance to my street, I noticed a young

[00:34:41] man standing in front of a parking lot located in front of one of my neighbor's houses.

[00:34:47] This lot was right across the street from my house.

[00:34:51] He was talking on the phone but facing away from me.

[00:34:55] As I was rounding the corner, I noticed a guy sitting quietly on his motorbike

[00:35:00] right in front of my doorstep.

[00:35:03] Something about the way that he was already looking at me was strange.

[00:35:07] Just as my eyes landed on him, it freaked me out.

[00:35:11] I did some quick math and I realized that by the time I would be able to open the door,

[00:35:16] if ever, he would be able to grab me if he wanted to.

[00:35:21] This time, the empty lot trick wouldn't work as I would have to walk past him first

[00:35:27] but also his motorbike would be able to enter the lot.

[00:35:32] So I turned on heel and went back to the convenience store.

[00:35:36] I was hoping that the guy on the motorbike was just a delivery guy waiting for somebody

[00:35:40] to meet him at the door.

[00:35:42] I dilly-dallied at the store for a while but when I went back home, I found that he was

[00:35:48] still there on his bike while the guy in front of my neighbor's house was still there and

[00:35:54] still on his phone, now just staring at me.

[00:35:59] I realized then that something definitely wasn't right but luckily, I had noticed

[00:36:04] that there was a security guard nearby sitting in his booth.

[00:36:08] So I went back around the corner and I approached him.

[00:36:11] I explained the situation hoping that he would walk to my place which he gladly did.

[00:36:17] The moment that the guy on the phone saw me coming back around the corner with the security

[00:36:21] guard, he put his phone in his pocket and turned toward the guy on the bike who drove

[00:36:26] right over to him.

[00:36:28] Keep in mind that these two were never even looking at one another before.

[00:36:33] They didn't even appear to know each other but my gut knew that they were both up to

[00:36:38] something.

[00:36:39] The guy who was on his phone got on the back of the motorbike and they both drove past

[00:36:44] me while glaring at me.

[00:36:46] Both the security guard and I agreed that something was way off about the entire situation

[00:36:52] and he lingered outside until he was sure that I was safely behind locked doors.

[00:36:57] I didn't know if those two guys wanted to mug me or if they had more sinister intentions

[00:37:02] but I'm glad that I trusted my gut and I didn't go straight home.

[00:37:07] Otherwise, who knows what would have happened.

[00:37:10] When I was returning from a visit with family, I took a Greyhound bus back home from the

[00:37:23] airport to Humboldt County.

[00:37:26] I typically would have flown into San Francisco but for some reason I flew into Sacramento.

[00:37:31] I don't remember why being that it was so many years ago.

[00:37:36] I was on the bus for many hours and the bus was fairly full.

[00:37:40] There was a man on the bus who was very friendly and we chatted most of the way.

[00:37:45] He was a contractor and was going to be staying in Chico for several weeks on a job.

[00:37:51] As the bus drove further north, the emptier it became.

[00:37:55] I remember noticing that the bus driver was driving rather erratically for much of the

[00:38:00] trip.

[00:38:02] He was also taking a lot of back roads, which was weird as he was driving inordinately fast.

[00:38:09] Passengers continued to trickle out of the bus with each stop until the only two people

[00:38:14] remaining were me and the contractor that I had been chatting with.

[00:38:19] I became very uncomfortable as I knew that once we got past the Chico stop there weren't

[00:38:25] going to be many more stops before we would be in the Redwoods.

[00:38:29] I knew that I was going to be the only person that was going to be on the bus since the

[00:38:33] contractor was deboarding in Chico.

[00:38:36] Since we were traveling at night, I knew that the chances of anybody else boarding at this

[00:38:40] time to go to Humboldt County were tremendously slim.

[00:38:44] I felt very uneasy about this bus driver and I remember putting my head down in my hands

[00:38:50] and praying, asking for God to protect me and give me a sign whether I should get off

[00:38:56] the bus in Chico where the contractor was going or continue to Humboldt County.

[00:39:01] I figured I could get a hotel room there for the night and hop on another bus first thing

[00:39:05] in the morning.

[00:39:06] I was very nervous about telling the man that I had been chatting with that I felt uncomfortable

[00:39:11] because I didn't know him too well and I didn't want to be a burden to him.

[00:39:17] But then, after a little while, the man turned to me and asked if I felt uncomfortable.

[00:39:23] He told me that he felt weird about me being on the bus by myself.

[00:39:27] I knew at that moment that this was the Lord's way of keeping me safe.

[00:39:32] The man even offered to pay for my hotel room.

[00:39:35] I accepted his offer and he did just that, like he promised, which was incredibly generous

[00:39:41] as it was a very nice hotel.

[00:39:43] He was the nicest man ever.

[00:39:44] He even paid for brunch for us at the hotel the next morning.

[00:39:48] I'm so thankful that I didn't stay on that bus and I'm grateful that my feelings were

[00:39:53] validated by another passenger since it did confirm that something was off.

[00:39:59] Honestly, I don't know what would have happened to me if I stayed, but I'm pretty sure I

[00:40:03] wouldn't have made it to Humboldt County that night.

[00:40:07] This happened roughly five years ago.

[00:40:27] I worked at a hotel which had 50 rooms between three floors.

[00:40:31] I'm a female and it was typical for me to be the only employee in the building after

[00:40:36] about 5pm.

[00:40:38] The hotel is on the farthest side of the city, which is considered to be the nicer side.

[00:40:45] So, a lot of companies will send their workers to us for room and board instead of sending

[00:40:51] them to the shadier motels on the opposite side of the city.

[00:40:55] Some of them were great guests and others completely trashed everything, but that happens

[00:41:01] everywhere I suppose.

[00:41:03] The layout of the building was simple.

[00:41:06] You pull up to the front entrance into the foyer and the front desk and lobby are right

[00:41:11] through a set of automatic doors.

[00:41:13] Right across the hall from the lobby was the staircase leading up to the second floor and

[00:41:17] to the left were our elevators to the second and third floors.

[00:41:21] The first floor only has hotel rooms on one side due to our pool occupying the other half

[00:41:26] of the flooring along with our workout room, dining area, lobby and office spaces.

[00:41:32] The upper floors have rooms on each side of the building, with the third floor having

[00:41:37] the most rooms.

[00:41:38] Typically the third floor, which was our highest, we kept reserved for business travelers and

[00:41:43] long stays.

[00:41:44] The second floor was reserved for short stays in bigger parts.

[00:41:48] The second floor was reserved for short stays in bigger parties and the first floor we kept

[00:41:53] open for elders or those that needed wheelchair access.

[00:41:57] Sometimes we would check out the first floor rooms to people who arrived late at night or

[00:42:01] for a one night stay.

[00:42:03] I promise this is all relevant to the story.

[00:42:07] Anyway, on this particular night, it was getting to be the last few hours of my shift.

[00:42:13] It was slow that night, aside from a few work groups that I had checked in a few hours earlier.

[00:42:20] I noticed a raggedy, rusted and beat up black pickup truck pulling into the brightly lit

[00:42:26] entryway.

[00:42:27] So I pulled some paperwork to get ready for a check-in.

[00:42:31] A guy got out and he was completely covered in dirt.

[00:42:35] I figured he just got off of work as I have seen several men come in covered in dirt and

[00:42:40] oil.

[00:42:41] I entirely chalked it up to him working in an oil field or being a construction worker,

[00:42:46] so nothing seemed out of the norm.

[00:42:49] I got his credentials, his name was Michael, and then scanned it into the computer.

[00:42:54] He was reluctant to leave his vehicle information with me but I explained that if he didn't,

[00:42:59] his vehicle was going to be at the risk of being towed by morning.

[00:43:03] He caved since he was only going to be there for the night and requested a second floor

[00:43:08] room close to the lobby staircase so he could have easy access to the front doors for smoking.

[00:43:16] After taking his payment, I set up his room keys and then explained parking, hotel policies

[00:43:21] and how he could get to his room which was right up the staircase.

[00:43:26] He had a few bags with him so he picked them up and went upstairs.

[00:43:30] Almost immediately, he came back down and accused me of giving him broken room keys.

[00:43:36] I explained that if he put them next to his phone or anywhere near a magnet, the keys would

[00:43:41] deactivate.

[00:43:43] So I made him a new set of keys and offered to take him upstairs to open the room for him,

[00:43:48] to make sure that his new keys work.

[00:43:51] And they did.

[00:43:53] Then he walked into his room and shut the door so with that, I was on my way back down to the

[00:43:58] lobby.

[00:44:00] When I got back in my office, something odd caught my eye on the cameras.

[00:44:05] He hadn't left the building but his car wasn't in front anymore.

[00:44:11] He hadn't mentioned anything about having another person with him.

[00:44:14] If there was, we're supposed to charge a $10 fee per extra person.

[00:44:20] The side doors don't open unless you have a room key or you are inside of the hotel.

[00:44:26] So I started to watch the cameras to make sure that he wasn't trying to sneak other people in.

[00:44:31] About 20 minutes later, I noticed nothing happening except him coming down the stairs

[00:44:37] again.

[00:44:38] I smiled politely when I saw him and went outside.

[00:44:42] He stayed outside for about 10 minutes, just standing in the cardboard.

[00:44:47] I was watching him on camera.

[00:44:49] Now, while I thought that that was a little weird, I chalked it up to him taking a smoke.

[00:44:56] So I stopped paying attention after a while and started to file my paperwork that was due

[00:45:01] before my shift ended.

[00:45:03] Then suddenly, Michael ran back into the hotel, cigarette still lit in his mouth.

[00:45:10] I instructed him to take his cigarette back outside or put it out.

[00:45:14] He just threw it on the ground and put it out with his shoe.

[00:45:18] He turned his attention towards the TV and ended up sitting in the lobby for an ungodly

[00:45:24] amount of time.

[00:45:26] He kept glancing towards the door.

[00:45:28] This made me uncomfortable.

[00:45:31] During this time, the friendly demeanor that he had at check-in completely disappeared.

[00:45:36] He seemed paranoid and agitated now, and he started to whisper to himself,

[00:45:41] but I couldn't hear what he was saying.

[00:45:44] After about 30 minutes of him doing this, I instructed him to go back up to his hotel room

[00:45:50] and said it was because I couldn't have people in the lobby when I was working on closing

[00:45:55] procedures.

[00:45:57] This was a lie, but the owners and management allow hotel staff to make up reasons to end

[00:46:01] interactions if we feel uncomfortable with a guest.

[00:46:06] Michael then asked me to escort him up to his room because he was uncomfortable and

[00:46:10] scared.

[00:46:12] I explained that I was unable to do that for safety reasons, but I said that I could watch

[00:46:18] him go upstairs on the camera and that he could call me from his room when he arrived.

[00:46:24] So he went upstairs, but immediately came back down and informed me that he forgot where

[00:46:29] his room was.

[00:46:31] He said that I needed to show him.

[00:46:33] I told him I couldn't leave the office or lobby, but offered to explain where the room

[00:46:37] was since it was very simple to get there.

[00:46:41] He was continuing his whispers, but this time, I caught what he was saying.

[00:46:47] It was about him losing his phone.

[00:46:50] Now, I didn't pay any mind to this.

[00:46:52] After I explained to Michael where his room was, he went back upstairs and I heard the

[00:46:57] door to his room as it slammed shut.

[00:47:00] It echoed throughout the second and first floors, which gave me chills.

[00:47:05] He came back down shortly after and started yelling at me.

[00:47:09] He told me that I had stolen his cell phone and that I was planning his demise.

[00:47:15] He told me that I needed to find his phone.

[00:47:19] This was completely bogus as I hadn't even left the office area since making sure his

[00:47:24] room key worked.

[00:47:26] He asked me for help.

[00:47:28] I just warned him to go away, so I slipped a screwdriver into my pocket, just in case

[00:47:35] he tried to attack me.

[00:47:37] Then I began rummaging through the cushions on the couches in the lobby, looking for his

[00:47:42] phone.

[00:47:43] I didn't find it, but I found his credit card, which he accused me of stealing as well.

[00:47:50] I stood my ground and said that if he couldn't respect me in my place of work, I could call

[00:47:54] the police and I could have them escort him to his room or off the facility.

[00:48:00] He got angrier and snatched his card from my hands then went back outside.

[00:48:06] After about 20 minutes, he came back.

[00:48:08] He was calmer, but he asked if I would please go outside with him since there was something

[00:48:14] wrong with his car.

[00:48:16] After I absolutely refused, he grew stern and told me that I needed to go outside.

[00:48:23] He said that it wasn't fair that he was the only person working on his car, he said

[00:48:27] he just needed some fucking help, to quote him.

[00:48:32] I had to explain that I wasn't allowed to accompany guests outside of the building,

[00:48:36] but he just kept repeating that I had to go outside with him.

[00:48:40] Now, I have anxiety, so I was about to have a panic attack.

[00:48:44] I decided to call the owners and ask them what I should do.

[00:48:48] This was my first job working at a hotel, and while I have tons of freedom doing my

[00:48:53] job, I still need guidance on how to properly handle these situations.

[00:48:58] The owner told me if I was uncomfortable or suspected that he was under the influence or

[00:49:04] if I thought he was in any danger of sort, I had full reign to call the police to have

[00:49:09] them ban him from the property.

[00:49:11] I asked if they could keep an eye on the cameras since they have access to them at home since

[00:49:16] he was acting weird.

[00:49:19] I then locked all the lobby doors and made sure that the side and fire exits were all

[00:49:23] properly secured and closed so that nobody could sneak in.

[00:49:28] I did this while staying on my phone with my boss since I was too scared to leave the

[00:49:32] office by myself.

[00:49:34] After getting back into the office, I locked the door and I braced myself for when Michael

[00:49:40] would come back inside.

[00:49:42] My boss told me to just watch the cameras and keep my cell phone nearby just in case

[00:49:46] I needed to call for help.

[00:49:48] Meanwhile, I noticed that I couldn't see Michael on the cameras anymore.

[00:49:52] I didn't know where he was parked, but I sure wasn't going to go out and look.

[00:49:57] That's when I noticed that there was another vehicle driving through our parking lot.

[00:50:02] I called the hotel next door to ask if the car was on their cameras too and I was informed

[00:50:08] that it was an unknown vehicle to their records.

[00:50:12] It was unknown to me as well, and this made my anxiety even higher.

[00:50:17] The car drove around the back of the building, then back around to the front.

[00:50:22] Then they turned and did the same to the building next door.

[00:50:26] The parking lot was almost empty so I know that they weren't looking for a parking spot.

[00:50:32] The car kept looping around and I was so focused on watching it on camera that I didn't

[00:50:37] even notice Michael came back inside.

[00:50:42] When I saw Michael, I told him he either needed to go up to his room or vacate the premises.

[00:50:47] He just continued to yell at me, saying I needed to go outside with him.

[00:50:51] He wouldn't move away from the entrance, but I imagine that's because he was staying

[00:50:56] in view with whoever else he kept looking back at.

[00:50:59] Then randomly he sprinted across the parking lot and out of the camera's view.

[00:51:05] I also didn't see that car that had been looping around anymore after that.

[00:51:10] Since it was practically the end of my shift, I somehow managed to get everything done just

[00:51:15] in time for the next shift to arrive.

[00:51:18] I was so glad to see her I almost cried.

[00:51:21] I explained what was going on and that the owners wanted her to keep the lobby doors locked.

[00:51:26] We put up signs explaining that our doors were out of order and guests would have to

[00:51:31] call for entry or use the side entrance.

[00:51:34] I also deactivated Michael's room keys and told the girl working next shift not to let

[00:51:39] him back in.

[00:51:40] I told her that if he showed up she needed to call the police.

[00:51:45] I made sure she watched me get into my Uber ride after triple checking the vehicle and

[00:51:50] the driver matched what my phone said.

[00:51:52] Since I was a regular customer of the driver, he asked why I was so riled up.

[00:51:57] I asked him to drive through the parking lot with the doors locked so that I could see

[00:52:02] if Michael's truck or the other vehicle that I saw driving around the parking lot were anywhere

[00:52:06] near either building.

[00:52:09] They weren't.

[00:52:10] I didn't spot either one.

[00:52:12] I have no idea what happened to them.

[00:52:15] The next day, I had my boyfriend come and stay with me for the entire evening during

[00:52:20] my shift just in case Michael came back since, according to my bosses, he never came to get

[00:52:26] his stuff.

[00:52:28] He wouldn't pick up the phone when we called to tell him that he needed to gather what

[00:52:31] he had left behind.

[00:52:34] Nothing happened for a while but then a month later, Michael came in asking about his stuff

[00:52:41] and if he could get a room.

[00:52:43] I refused to check him into a room and luckily there were other people there with me in the

[00:52:48] lobby and the office.

[00:52:50] I had our maintenance man retrieve his items as I explained that he was no longer permitted

[00:52:55] to be on the property.

[00:52:56] I let him know that if we saw him again, the police would be called and he would be arrested

[00:53:00] for trespassing.

[00:53:02] This wasn't true but we did not want him to come back.

[00:53:05] I noticed Michael had a different vehicle when he finally came back to get his stuff.

[00:53:10] It was a newer model SUV and it was maroon.

[00:53:12] It didn't match either his beat up black pickup truck or the dark colored suit.

[00:53:18] I was in a different sedan that I saw suspiciously driving in circles.

[00:53:21] If there was anything that sat with me after all this time, it was that he remembered my

[00:53:25] name.

[00:53:26] He addressed me by my name when he walked up to the counter.

[00:53:29] At first I thought, oh yeah my name is part of my uniform but then I realized I forgot

[00:53:34] to put my name tag on that day.

[00:53:37] After that, I refused to wear one in the hotel.

[00:53:41] Management let me create a fake name and wear that from that point on.

[00:53:46] It took me a while to feel safe in the building again while I was alone.

[00:53:50] I constantly had my boyfriend with me while I worked the evening shift.

[00:53:54] So, Michael, let's not meet ever again.

[00:54:27] I

[00:54:52] found a hidden camera in my friend's bathroom by a mutual butterfly.

[00:54:56] He told me, I will always remember where you live by Glittering Return 316 of the 3AM

[00:55:03] Nightmares YouTube channel, Don't Take the Garbage Out at Night by aFaefy, Sketchy NorCal

[00:55:11] Bus Driver by Honeybee1971, and finally, No, You Don't Have to Come Outside with Me by

[00:55:18] Small Waifu.

[00:55:20] All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission

[00:55:23] of their respective authors.

[00:55:25] Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast, is not associated with Reddit or any other message

[00:55:29] boards online.

[00:55:30] If you have a story to share, make sure you send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com

[00:55:35] to hear it on the show.

[00:55:36] Finally, make sure you check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like Odd Trails, My True

[00:55:41] Paranormal Podcast, and the Old Time Radiocast at crypticcountypodcasts.com or wherever you

[00:55:46] get your podcasts.

[00:55:47] Next week we will be announcing some live dates for this year's Let's Not Meet tour,

[00:55:52] so keep your ears open and follow me on social media if you want to get the updates before

[00:55:57] then.

[00:55:57] You can follow me on Instagram at letsnotmeetcast.

[00:56:01] I'll see you all next week for a brand new episode of Let's Not Meet.

[00:56:04] Everyone stay safe.