13x13: Three Masked Men

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_01]: This podcast contains adult language and content. Listener discretion is advised.

[00:00:05] [SPEAKER_01]: If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show.

[00:00:40] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll start by saying that nothing could have prepared me for what I was going to discover the morning following a night out.

[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_01]: It started as any other night would. My family and I got ready and headed out to our local bar for a fundraising event.

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_01]: I had just turned 18 and I was looking forward to having a chill night out with my friends and family.

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I knew most of the people there, so I was feeling pretty relaxed.

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_01]: While at the bar, I went to pay for my drink but the bartender told me that it had already been paid for.

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_01]: When I went to see who had paid for it, I saw it was my cousin's partner who was about 12 years older than me.

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_01]: I gave him a quick wave and we exchanged normal niceties, which was interesting since I hardly ever spoke to the guy.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Prior to this, I had barely spoken more than two words to him as he was quiet during gatherings.

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_01]: More often than not, he would just retreat to his room whenever my family and I came by to visit my cousin.

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_01]: After saying thank you, I didn't think anything of it since nothing seemed off about our little interaction.

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_01]: As the night was winding down, I gathered my family and I told them that I was ready to head home.

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_01]: I was still living at home with my mother at the time and she had made plans to stay at my

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_01]: grandmother's that night, which meant that I was going home by myself.

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_01]: It was around 11.30 pm and I was outside having a smoke, about to head to my car.

[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Just as I was heading to my car, I heard someone call my name.

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_01]: I turned to find my cousin's partner walking towards me.

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_01]: He asked if I was heading home for the night, which I thought was weird.

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_01]: I let him know I was calling it a night and, without skipping a beat,

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_01]: he mentioned the make and model of my car.

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know he knew what I drove, but he explained that he had seen me driving around a few times.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_01]: I was a bit creeped out so I politely said goodnight before continuing to my car.

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_01]: There were plenty of people outside so I wasn't really concerned.

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Once I got to my car, my phone went off.

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_01]: It was my mother. She was begging and pleading with me to go and stay at my

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_01]: grandmother's house with her that night. She said that she just had a really bad feeling.

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Initially, I was annoyed since I just wanted to go home and sleep in my own bed but

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_01]: she was insistent. I couldn't understand her persistence with this

[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_01]: since I was used to being home alone at night, but she wouldn't let it go.

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Our house was right down the road so I just hung up and started driving home.

[00:03:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Not even halfway home, my phone went off again so I pulled over to check it.

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_01]: It was my sister asking me to stay at my grandma's house.

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I was so pissed off at this point and decided that it would be easier to go to my grandma's

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_01]: house so that I wouldn't have to keep arguing with my family. By the time I made it over to

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_01]: my grandma's house, everyone was already asleep and this irritated me. But I followed suit and

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_01]: went to sleep as well. The rest of the night was uneventful but I woke up in the morning to my

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_01]: family talking about how they had a feeling of dread which is why they didn't want me to go

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_01]: home alone that night. My mother and I left to go back to our house around lunchtime and

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_01]: I felt off as soon as we pulled into the driveway. Once I got to the door, I found a business card

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_01]: from a police officer wedged into the door. On the card, an officer had written to call them as

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_01]: soon as possible. I went inside and I found my mother's camera on the kitchen table. This was

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_01]: a huge red flag as I distinctly remember leaving it in my bedroom before we left for the fundraiser.

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I went to my room and I found that the entire room had been ransacked.

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_01]: My blankets were pulled back. It looked like someone had been lying in my bed.

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_01]: My underwear drawer was wide open and there were some sprawled on the floor.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Another camera of my mother's was also on the table where my TV was, directly opposite my bed.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_01]: This only happened to my room and I was losing it. If I had gone home as I had planned all along,

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_01]: I would have made my way through the house and crawled into bed without switching my lamp on.

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I had done that so many times previously, so I wouldn't even have seen the state of my room at all.

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_01]: My mother dialed the number on the card and talked to an officer about what happened and what she

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_01]: told me made the blood drain from my face. The police were alerted about a break-in at our

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_01]: next-door neighbor's house when our neighbors found a man wandering inside their house. The

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_01]: man claimed that he was my friend and went into the wrong house and they chased him out.

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Our house has a big deck which overlooked my neighbor's house. They called the police again

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_01]: when they spotted the same man smoking on our deck. The police arrived at our house at 2am,

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_01]: but since I didn't go home and no one else was home, no one answered the door.

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_01]: They noticed that some lights were on inside so they went inside to investigate.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_01]: They made their way through the house and found a man hiding in my room in the dark.

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_01]: He couldn't give a reason for why he was there or why he was hiding in my room.

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_01]: They arrested him and he was taken to the station where he was held until someone could identify him.

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Turns out, it was my cousin's partner. He had been hiding in my bedroom for over an hour

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_01]: waiting for me to get home because he knew I was going to be home alone that night.

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_01]: My mother's gut feelings saved me from going home alone and my neighbor's vigilance helped me

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_01]: catch a creep. Now, I always listen without question whenever my mom says that she has a

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_01]: bad feeling. Who knows what would have happened if I blew her off and just went home?

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_01]: All I know is, it wouldn't have been pretty. My cousin's partner was charged with breaking

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_01]: and entering. He spent some time in jail before being released and moving out of the country.

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_01]: So always trust your mother's gut. It sure saved me.

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[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to preface this by saying that my husband and I are entering into the building

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_01]: phase on our house right now. This means I'm meeting with a lot of contractors and new people.

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_01]: I've been having trouble finding someone to do our foundation. Over the last month,

[00:09:21] [SPEAKER_01]: I've called tons of people who have said that they can't do the job but know someone who can.

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_01]: I always get the name and number of the reference, but even after reaching out to the references,

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll get the same kind of answer. After a lot of this, I finally got the number of a contractor

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_01]: named Joe. Joe sounded excited to do the job and was the most responsive about the project,

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_01]: he was also the nicest person I had run into as far as contractors go. We set up a time to meet,

[00:09:53] [SPEAKER_01]: and he came out to my place to see the site. He seemed confident that he could do the job

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_01]: and asked to take the plans home with him so that he could go over them.

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_01]: He said that he would get back to me with a quote after reviewing everything.

[00:10:07] [SPEAKER_01]: I agreed and I gave him the plans but told him I would need them back soon. And that was that.

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Not too long after, my husband and I met with a second contractor who we ultimately ended up

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_01]: hiring for the job. After hiring the other contractor, I realized Joe still had the plans.

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_01]: The other contractor was going to get things started quickly, so we needed the plans back.

[00:10:33] [SPEAKER_01]: So I texted him. Hey Joe, would you be able to get those architectural plans back to me?

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Joe replied, I can stop by now. I responded, I can meet you in town if that's easier,

[00:10:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I need to run some errands anyway. Okay what time? Joe asked.

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_01]: We agreed to meet at noon at the grocery store. When I arrived at the grocery store parking lot,

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_01]: I texted Joe right away to let him know that I was there.

[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_01]: He showed up soon after, pulled up next to my car and got out. I got out of the car as well and I

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_01]: noticed that he was empty handed. Confused, I asked him if he had the plans with him and he said,

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_01]: oh no, they're back at my house. Did you need them? I let him know that the guy who was prepping

[00:11:23] [SPEAKER_01]: this site needed them. And Joe continued, well, you can follow me back to my house,

[00:11:30] [SPEAKER_01]: then I'll give them to you. I was now on alert. Nobody except for my husband knew that I was

[00:11:36] [SPEAKER_01]: meeting this guy and I didn't really know him very well. I asked Joe how far his house was

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_01]: and he said that he was in a neighboring town about five minutes or four miles away.

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_01]: The more that I thought about it, the weirder it seemed. I said, let me call my husband.

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_01]: I might not have time to go to your place since we need to be somewhere.

[00:12:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I walked away from Joe out of earshot and called my husband. Thankfully, he answered and I told

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_01]: him everything. He agreed that it sounded shady and told me to be straight up with Joe and tell

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_01]: him that I wasn't comfortable going to his house. I hung up and walked back to Joe and said, so

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_01]: I do have time, but I'm not going to your house because I don't know you well enough.

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll wait in the community development building parking lot.

[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_01]: It's that very loud, smelly place directly across from the fish factory.

[00:12:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Joe seemed confused and didn't know about the place that I was talking about.

[00:12:39] [SPEAKER_01]: So after a bit of back and forth and trying to explain where I was going to wait,

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_01]: I offered to drive first and have him follow me to where I would be waiting. That way,

[00:12:49] [SPEAKER_01]: he could continue to his house to grab the plans and meet me back where I had parked.

[00:12:55] [SPEAKER_01]: I then got into my car and drove first. Joe followed me and I pulled into the parking lot

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_01]: for the community development building. I looked to make sure that Joe saw me and I noticed that

[00:13:07] [SPEAKER_01]: he had stopped in the middle of an empty street. He was signaling for me to turn my car around.

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Since I was a good distance away, I got out of my car to hear what he was saying.

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_01]: He was yelling for me to turn around and follow him since his house happened to be

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_01]: right where he stopped. I again said no. I told him I wasn't going to his house and I said that

[00:13:30] [SPEAKER_01]: I would wait for him to come back. Less than a minute later, he returned with the plans

[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_01]: and handed them off to me. I took them, said a quick goodbye and booked it out of there.

[00:13:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Now, after I got out of the situation, I was able to think and reflect. It took him less than

[00:13:48] [SPEAKER_01]: one minute to go to his house and get the plans, which always made me think of two things. One,

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER_01]: if he lived so close to where I said I'd wait for him, why didn't he know where the community

[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_01]: development building and the fish factory both were? These places could have easily been seen

[00:14:07] [SPEAKER_01]: from his house since he lived so close. And two, did he have the plans with him the whole time?

[00:14:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't remember who gave me his number in the first place since I spoke with so many different

[00:14:19] [SPEAKER_01]: people, but it's worth mentioning that my husband and I tried looking him up after this

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_01]: and there was no information to be found about Joe on the internet at all. No email address,

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_01]: no business name, no registered phone number. Nothing.

[00:14:44] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm a 27 year old female and I recently moved into a nice apartment in a safe neighborhood with

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_01]: my two dogs Charles and Wigwam. Charles is a corgi slash German Shepherd mix and is the most loving

[00:14:58] [SPEAKER_01]: but overly obnoxious dog, while Wigwam is a Lhasa Apso who is quiet, sweet and often scared shitless

[00:15:08] [SPEAKER_01]: by his own shadow. I've only been in my new place for about a month and after this experience,

[00:15:15] [SPEAKER_01]: I highly doubt I'm going to make it through the duration of my year long lease. The way that

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER_01]: these apartments are set up is that each floor has its own set of doors that lead to four apartments

[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_01]: and a fire escape door that only opens from the inside. I'm on the back side of the building,

[00:15:33] [SPEAKER_01]: which places my patio about 10 feet from the stairs of the fire escape. I take my dogs out

[00:15:40] [SPEAKER_01]: three times a day with the last takeout being at midnight at the latest. Every time I leave

[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_01]: my apartment, I put the bar lock on my patio door and I lock my front door without fail.

[00:15:53] [SPEAKER_01]: But when there was a snowstorm, I cracked the patio door open because I love the cold weather

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_01]: and I wanted to watch the snowfall. It was around 11pm when I decided that since it was getting

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_01]: late, I should take the dogs out for the last time that night. They both hate the snow,

[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I figured that this would be a quick trip. I went to lock the patio door but decided against it

[00:16:17] [SPEAKER_01]: since I was on the fifth floor, I knew I was only going to be outside for a few minutes.

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_01]: So I got the dogs ready, grabbed my keys and locked my door as I left the apartment with both

[00:16:28] [SPEAKER_01]: of them. I made it down to the designated pet area with my beloved snow hating dogs and I let

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_01]: them do their thing. It was a quick outing just as I thought, so we went back to the apartment

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER_01]: and got in safely. Or so I thought. This was where I thought I was losing my mind but

[00:16:47] [SPEAKER_01]: in actuality, shit was about to get real. As soon as we walked into the apartment,

[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_01]: my dogs ran over to the patio door and I noticed that the door was shut and the bar was engaged.

[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_01]: I immediately thought that it was strange but I didn't connect the dots. Then I went into the

[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_01]: kitchen to get treats for the dogs and both of them started going bat shit crazy growling at

[00:17:13] [SPEAKER_01]: a large cedar chest in my living room. As I was walking into the living room to see what

[00:17:19] [SPEAKER_01]: all the commotion was about, I saw a pair of eyes creeping from under the lid of the chest.

[00:17:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I stood there for about five seconds before I realized what I was seeing. Once everything

[00:17:32] [SPEAKER_01]: clicked, I calmly walked to my front door, opened it and told my dogs, let's go outside.

[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_01]: They ran outside without leashes and I immediately got them and myself in my car,

[00:17:46] [SPEAKER_01]: locked the doors, then called the police. The police showed up in less than five minutes.

[00:17:52] [SPEAKER_01]: They went up to my apartment and 20 minutes later, two officers emerged from the building

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_01]: dragging a man who appeared to be about 40 years old with them. I had no idea who the man was but

[00:18:06] [SPEAKER_01]: it turns out he had been watching me since I moved in and he had been staking out my place

[00:18:12] [SPEAKER_01]: waiting for an opportunity to get inside since he knew I lived alone. If that's not creepy enough

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_01]: already, he had a fanny pack that contained a pocket knife, needles, ketamine and a picture

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_01]: of me from the day that I moved in. His plan was to sneak through my patio door,

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_01]: wait for me to fall asleep and do God knows what else. Needless to say, I didn't sleep for days

[00:18:42] [SPEAKER_01]: because I thought that he would come back but luckily, that bastard is still in jail.

[00:18:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll never forget those eyes peering at me from under the cedar chest

[00:18:53] [SPEAKER_01]: to the guy who was obviously planning on drugging me in my sleep. Let's not meet.

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[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_01]: promo code MEET. Now back to the show. This happened 6 years ago when I was 20.

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_01]: I was going home after sleeping over at my boyfriend's place. It was pretty early, around

[00:21:15] [SPEAKER_01]: 8am since my boyfriend had to go to work. My parents weren't home since they left earlier

[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_01]: that morning to go on their vacation. So I was going to be all alone at home. When I got home,

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I went to my bedroom right away but before I went up the stairs, I noticed that the kitchen door

[00:21:33] [SPEAKER_01]: and the window were both wide open. I was surprised and didn't think too much of it.

[00:21:39] [SPEAKER_01]: And I certainly didn't think that I was in any danger since I was inside my own house.

[00:21:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I should mention that my father is very paranoid so there's no way that he would have forgotten

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_01]: to close the windows, especially not before leaving the house, for 2 weeks. In any case,

[00:22:00] [SPEAKER_01]: it was pretty early for me so I was barely awake. I just closed the door and I checked the kitchen

[00:22:06] [SPEAKER_01]: and the living room just to be sure everything was okay before going upstairs to my room.

[00:22:13] [SPEAKER_01]: I went to my room and I grabbed some clothes to change into. Then I went to the bathroom,

[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_01]: got into my new clothes and went back to my room. I closed the door to my room which was strange

[00:22:26] [SPEAKER_01]: since I never really closed my door. I was then scrolling on my phone and about 5 minutes later,

[00:22:32] [SPEAKER_01]: I heard footsteps on the other side of my door. Someone was there and they had been there the

[00:22:38] [SPEAKER_01]: time while I was vulnerably going about my business. I was terrified, my heart was pounding

[00:22:46] [SPEAKER_01]: and I couldn't move. I just took the first thing that I saw in front of me to defend myself,

[00:22:52] [SPEAKER_01]: it was my flat iron. I stared at my door waiting for the person to open it and kill me or worse.

[00:23:01] [SPEAKER_01]: I was ready to jump out of the window if I saw that door open.

[00:23:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Minutes passed and then I heard the person go down the stairs and then leave. I don't know

[00:23:11] [SPEAKER_01]: how long I stayed there, immobile in my room but eventually I called my boyfriend and he came to

[00:23:18] [SPEAKER_01]: rescue me. At first, I thought that I was crazy because I never saw anyone. I honestly couldn't

[00:23:24] [SPEAKER_01]: believe that this kind of thing could happen but my boyfriend checked things out and confirmed

[00:23:30] [SPEAKER_01]: that the intruder forced the door and windows to the kitchen open. So it did really happen,

[00:23:37] [SPEAKER_01]: someone was really in my house. For me, the strangest part of this whole thing was that

[00:23:43] [SPEAKER_01]: the intruder didn't take anything. My mom's Macbook and jewelry, my PS4, my dad's gaming

[00:23:51] [SPEAKER_01]: setup, they were all so easily available to take but none of it was taken. Whenever I think about

[00:24:00] [SPEAKER_01]: that, I can't help but wonder if the intruder broke in for a different reason. At that time,

[00:24:08] [SPEAKER_01]: I was very active on Snapchat. I used to post every day and I used to disclose my location

[00:24:14] [SPEAKER_01]: even when I was at my house as I added to my story throughout the day. So the 5,000 unknown

[00:24:22] [SPEAKER_01]: followers that I had on Snapchat knew everything about me. I'm only mentioning this since there's

[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_01]: fair chance that it may have been related. I was feeling safe after my boyfriend came over but

[00:24:36] [SPEAKER_01]: it was pretty traumatic. I can barely stay anywhere alone without freaking out to this day.

[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_01]: I currently live by myself and I've since stopped being so active on Snapchat.

[00:24:48] [SPEAKER_01]: But I am constantly afraid that someone will try and break into my place.

[00:25:08] [SPEAKER_01]: This happened a few years ago after I moved into a new apartment.

[00:25:12] [SPEAKER_01]: While I was still unpacking and settling in, I was using my parents' address as my mailing address.

[00:25:19] [SPEAKER_01]: They lived a few towns over, about 20 minutes away. A month after I moved into my apartment,

[00:25:24] [SPEAKER_01]: my parents called me late one night at 2am. They were freaked out and proceeded to tell me this

[00:25:31] [SPEAKER_01]: story. That night at 1am, someone started banging on their front door and repeatedly

[00:25:38] [SPEAKER_01]: ringing their doorbell. My dad walked downstairs and opened the door, leaving the glass security

[00:25:44] [SPEAKER_01]: door closed and locked. There was a man standing outside who appeared to be in his 30s. He was

[00:25:51] [SPEAKER_01]: wearing a black hoodie with the hood pulled up around his face. He didn't have any distinguishing

[00:25:57] [SPEAKER_01]: features like facial hair or tattoos or anything. Neither my stepdad nor my mother,

[00:26:04] [SPEAKER_01]: who was watching the whole situation from a nearby window, recognized the man. The man then said,

[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for... and then he said my full name.

[00:26:17] [SPEAKER_01]: My stepdad played dumb and asked, who? The man then stated my full name once again

[00:26:25] [SPEAKER_01]: and said that my boyfriend was worried since I didn't come home that night. He claimed to be

[00:26:31] [SPEAKER_01]: a friend of my boyfriend and told my stepdad that they were both out looking for me and they

[00:26:36] [SPEAKER_01]: were worried because they didn't know where I was. I didn't have a boyfriend at that time

[00:26:42] [SPEAKER_01]: and hadn't been in a relationship for about 5-6 months. I was living by myself with my 3 dogs,

[00:26:49] [SPEAKER_01]: but here's the weird part. My stepdad asked the guy what my boyfriend's name was and the man

[00:26:56] [SPEAKER_01]: said the name of the boyfriend I had when I was in 10th grade, nearly 20 years ago.

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER_01]: My boyfriend from 10th grade had a unique Italian name and I've never met anyone with a full name

[00:27:11] [SPEAKER_01]: even close to this. The man said my high school boyfriend's name a few more times to ensure that

[00:27:18] [SPEAKER_01]: my stepdad heard him and repeated that they were both very worried about me.

[00:27:24] [SPEAKER_01]: He asked my stepdad if I was sure I wasn't inside. My stepdad was weirded out by this,

[00:27:31] [SPEAKER_01]: so he closed and locked the door in the guy's face. However, the guy didn't leave. He lingered

[00:27:38] [SPEAKER_01]: in front of my parents' house for the next 10 minutes, smoking cigarettes and talking on the

[00:27:43] [SPEAKER_01]: phone. Finally, my parents called the police. About 5 minutes before the cops arrived,

[00:27:50] [SPEAKER_01]: the man walked down to the dead end of their block, got into a silver car and drove away.

[00:27:56] [SPEAKER_01]: My stepdad was unable to get the license plate, but my parents still filed a police report

[00:28:02] [SPEAKER_01]: and nothing else happened. After my parents told me this story, I went nuts over the weird details.

[00:28:10] [SPEAKER_01]: How would somebody know who I dated nearly 20 years ago? What would the motive be for

[00:28:16] [SPEAKER_01]: making up a story that included that oddly specific detail about my past?

[00:28:21] [SPEAKER_01]: At that point, I hadn't had any contact with my 10th grade boyfriend in over a decade.

[00:28:27] [SPEAKER_01]: A few days later, I decided to message said ex on Facebook to see if he had any insight.

[00:28:34] [SPEAKER_01]: I told him the whole story and he was just as confused as I was,

[00:28:38] [SPEAKER_01]: and he let me know that he had no part in it.

[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_01]: This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.

[00:28:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Children are always learning and growing, but sometimes we lose our curiosity as adults.

[00:28:59] [SPEAKER_01]: I definitely did for a long while, and it took some rough times to open my mind back up to the

[00:29:04] [SPEAKER_01]: wonders that life has to offer. I know that probably sounds kinda cheesy, but it is the truth,

[00:29:10] [SPEAKER_01]: and it's something I learned that has helped me to grow. But this idea also applies to everyday

[00:29:15] [SPEAKER_01]: skills and experiences. Is there something you want to learn, like gardening, a new language,

[00:29:21] [SPEAKER_01]: or how to finally beat your best friend in bowling? Well, therapy can help you reconnect

[00:29:26] [SPEAKER_01]: with your sense of wonder. Because your back-to-school era can come at any age.

[00:29:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Therapy can help you get there. It did for me. I think of my therapist as a teacher.

[00:29:37] [SPEAKER_01]: I've learned a lot from her.

[00:29:39] [SPEAKER_01]: If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online,

[00:29:43] [SPEAKER_01]: designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire

[00:29:49] [SPEAKER_01]: to get matched with a licensed therapist, and switch therapists at any time for no additional

[00:29:54] [SPEAKER_01]: charge. Rediscover your curiosity with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash not meet today to get

[00:30:01] [SPEAKER_01]: 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp.com slash not meet. Now back to the show.

[00:30:21] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm a 36-year-old woman. This happened in my hometown back when I was 7. For context,

[00:30:28] [SPEAKER_01]: I lived on an island off the coast of Washington state in a military town that is among one of the

[00:30:35] [SPEAKER_01]: safest places to live in all of the US. But there are still weirdos everywhere.

[00:30:41] [SPEAKER_01]: The timing is vague for me since it was so long ago, and I was so young, but I remember being

[00:30:47] [SPEAKER_01]: outside and playing with my friends so it was likely a summer evening just before dinner time.

[00:30:53] [SPEAKER_01]: We were messing around riding our bikes in the street and running around, you know,

[00:30:58] [SPEAKER_01]: the usual kid stuff, when a car pulled up and stopped in the middle of the street.

[00:31:03] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't remember exactly what the man driving the car initially said but he must have beckoned

[00:31:08] [SPEAKER_01]: me to come closer since I remember walking up to him close enough to hear what he said next.

[00:31:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Have you seen any other kids around? He asked. My kids are out here too but they seem to be missing.

[00:31:22] [SPEAKER_01]: I then noticed that there was also a woman in the car with him.

[00:31:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I assumed that she was the mother of the kids he was looking for as he had stated that he was their

[00:31:31] [SPEAKER_01]: dad. I said no and let him know that I hadn't seen any other kids wandering around. I also told him

[00:31:38] [SPEAKER_01]: there was a park nearby around the corner where he might be able to find them. I was proud of

[00:31:44] [SPEAKER_01]: myself for thinking about this at 7 years old. The man then asked if I would be willing to get

[00:31:51] [SPEAKER_01]: into his car and show them where the park was. Although I didn't understand how dangerous this

[00:31:57] [SPEAKER_01]: was, I was well aware of the whole stranger danger thing so I said no. He asked again if I would

[00:32:04] [SPEAKER_01]: please get into the car and help him find the children at the park but I said no. I apologized

[00:32:12] [SPEAKER_01]: and told him I couldn't do that. Then I gave him directions to the park and skipped away to continue

[00:32:18] [SPEAKER_01]: playing with my friends who were standing nearby and watching the whole time. The couple drove away

[00:32:24] [SPEAKER_01]: and a few minutes later my mom came outside to call me in for dinner. As I bounced happily up

[00:32:31] [SPEAKER_01]: the driveway I told her about how I just helped someone and I was so giddy to have done this for

[00:32:36] [SPEAKER_01]: an adult as I explained the whole thing to her. Her face changed a bit but she nervously said

[00:32:44] [SPEAKER_01]: that's very nice of you honey and I felt a surge of pride. My dad then came home. He's a solid navy

[00:32:52] [SPEAKER_01]: dude with a black belt. He also used to be a para rescuer. My dad is such a badass that Chuck Norris

[00:32:59] [SPEAKER_01]: checks under his bed for him every night. My mom obviously told him what happened. His reaction was

[00:33:07] [SPEAKER_01]: different. He told me that although he was proud of me that I like to help people, I was never ever

[00:33:14] [SPEAKER_01]: to approach anyone that I didn't know like that again. I'll never forget what he said next as I

[00:33:20] [SPEAKER_01]: have passed this wisdom on to my own daughter. My dad told me adults should never be asking children

[00:33:27] [SPEAKER_01]: for help. Always remember that. He told me I was lucky I hadn't gotten snatched because if a couple

[00:33:35] [SPEAKER_01]: snatched me my parents likely would have lost me forever especially if things had gone badly.

[00:33:41] [SPEAKER_01]: He was very stern which hurt my little ego and I lost a tiny bit of innocence that day.

[00:33:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Now that I have had 30 years of knowing my dad I know that he was only stern because that was his

[00:33:55] [SPEAKER_01]: personal response when he gets scared. To wrap it up I don't remember if my parents called the police

[00:34:01] [SPEAKER_01]: with the information that I told them but it's likely that they did because they are solid

[00:34:07] [SPEAKER_01]: loving folks. To my knowledge nothing ever came of it and I've never heard about any instances like

[00:34:13] [SPEAKER_01]: that occurring in our neighborhood again. A few years ago during what was probably the darkest

[00:34:34] [SPEAKER_01]: period of my life I worked overnights at a local Walmart. Six days a week I would work from 9 p.m

[00:34:41] [SPEAKER_01]: to 7 a.m stocking everything from fishing lures to makeup. I've never been in a more depressing

[00:34:48] [SPEAKER_01]: environment. Everyone was apathetic and too caught up in their own depressing lives to care about

[00:34:54] [SPEAKER_01]: anything or anyone else. This included the managers. Walmart has a general vibe to them anyway

[00:35:02] [SPEAKER_01]: but this was a 24-hour super center in rural West Virginia so you can imagine the characters

[00:35:10] [SPEAKER_01]: mostly meth and opioid addicts that would show up throughout the night. We didn't have any security

[00:35:17] [SPEAKER_01]: guards and from what I've come to understand a lot of the cameras including the ones in the parking

[00:35:22] [SPEAKER_01]: lot haven't worked properly in a while. Being one of the few female overnight stalkers I encountered

[00:35:30] [SPEAKER_01]: my fair share of unwanted advances but the one who took the cake was this guy who would show up

[00:35:37] [SPEAKER_01]: every single time I went outside for a smoke break regardless of the time. It didn't matter

[00:35:43] [SPEAKER_01]: if I was on a smoke break at 2 a.m 4 a.m or 6 a.m the guy would always appear from around the corner

[00:35:50] [SPEAKER_01]: of the building to try and strike up a conversation with me within seconds of me stepping outside of

[00:35:56] [SPEAKER_01]: the building. Additionally it never mattered which of the three entrances I used somehow he would

[00:36:03] [SPEAKER_01]: always be there. At first I assumed he worked there why else would anyone voluntarily lurk

[00:36:10] [SPEAKER_01]: around a shitty Walmart at all hours of the night? Pretty much everyone on the overnight shift smoked

[00:36:17] [SPEAKER_01]: during their 15-minute breaks we got two of them. It wasn't out of question to think that he was

[00:36:24] [SPEAKER_01]: doing the same. This was especially plausible since he often wore a dark blue t-shirt and had the same

[00:36:32] [SPEAKER_01]: vibe as any of the overnight employees but I eventually came to find that he didn't work there

[00:36:38] [SPEAKER_01]: so I stopped going outside alone. I started only venturing outside with one of my guy friends in

[00:36:45] [SPEAKER_01]: tow. One of my co-workers was someone I've been friends with since middle school but even my

[00:36:51] [SPEAKER_01]: friend's presence didn't deter the man outside and it kind of became a storewide joke. I was weirded

[00:36:58] [SPEAKER_01]: out but didn't become alarmed until he started getting a little more aggressive. He would ask me

[00:37:04] [SPEAKER_01]: if I was seeing anyone and then would ask me out pretty much every chance that he got. I was playing

[00:37:10] [SPEAKER_01]: a lot of GTA 5 at the time so I came up with a story about having a scary long-distance boyfriend

[00:37:16] [SPEAKER_01]: named Trevor from Northern California. Even so, he wasn't phased. As my efforts to deter him kept

[00:37:25] [SPEAKER_01]: getting thwarted I decided I was done feigning politeness and began ignoring him. One night,

[00:37:32] [SPEAKER_01]: my main guy friend had called in sick and the others were working on something on the opposite

[00:37:37] [SPEAKER_01]: side of the store so I went outside with two older women who were working in my area. After a few

[00:37:44] [SPEAKER_01]: minutes they went inside and just as I was about to follow them, the creeper outside suddenly

[00:37:50] [SPEAKER_01]: appeared. I'm pretty sure he had been waiting around the corner. He quickly approached me,

[00:37:56] [SPEAKER_01]: took my hand in his and insisted that I go to his car with him to see something.

[00:38:02] [SPEAKER_01]: He didn't grab my hand hard but I was pissed that he even touched me. I can be an angry person in

[00:38:09] [SPEAKER_01]: general as it is so I lost it. I ripped my hand away from his and sprinted inside. I reported him

[00:38:16] [SPEAKER_01]: to my head manager that night and found out that he had a cousin who worked in the back unloading

[00:38:21] [SPEAKER_01]: trucks. This guy liked to hang out with that cousin at work. The cousin who this guy was

[00:38:27] [SPEAKER_01]: related to apologized profusely and said that he would talk to him. Management didn't even say a

[00:38:33] [SPEAKER_01]: thing or even ban the creeper from the premises. I ended up eventually quitting due to the horrible

[00:38:40] [SPEAKER_01]: mismanagement. After I quit, I found out through a friend that the guy who was still hanging out

[00:38:47] [SPEAKER_01]: at the store every night tried like hell to find out my name and where I lived. He even

[00:38:54] [SPEAKER_01]: continually asked around about me for weeks after I left before disappearing himself. I can't help

[00:39:01] [SPEAKER_01]: but think about how those parking lot cameras haven't worked in such a long time. If I just

[00:39:07] [SPEAKER_01]: disappeared on one of those long tiring work nights, how long would it have taken the workplace

[00:39:13] [SPEAKER_01]: to notice? Salt Lake City, Utah, your live Let's Not Meet show has been rescheduled for October

[00:39:28] [SPEAKER_01]: 23rd. Unfortunately my flight was canceled at the last minute and I didn't get to make it out last

[00:39:33] [SPEAKER_01]: week but don't worry your tickets were refunded and the link for the new date is available today

[00:39:39] [SPEAKER_01]: and tickets are also still available for Seattle, Washington on October 9th,

[00:39:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Portland, Oregon on October 30th, Houston, Texas on November 9th and Dallas, Texas on November 10th.

[00:39:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Tickets for all of these shows as well as the new October 23rd date for SLC are available at

[00:39:55] [SPEAKER_01]: letsnotmeetpodcast.com slash tour or you can just follow the new links in the show notes.

[00:40:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll see you there. This took place in the summer of 2016. My friend and I had just moved into our

[00:40:24] [SPEAKER_01]: new house in a rural college town during the summer of that year. I had arrived a week before

[00:40:30] [SPEAKER_01]: the first day of school, joining my roommate who had already moved in. We were settling in and

[00:40:37] [SPEAKER_01]: beginning our semester. The house was nothing special even though it was old and cheap we liked

[00:40:43] [SPEAKER_01]: it because it was close to campus. The university buildings could be seen from outside the house

[00:40:49] [SPEAKER_01]: just down the road. The basement was unfinished and aside from the basement level going up to

[00:40:55] [SPEAKER_01]: the main level of the house there were no other upstairs levels. There was also a communal tennis

[00:41:01] [SPEAKER_01]: court directly across the street from our house. Due to being located in a rural area or for

[00:41:07] [SPEAKER_01]: whatever reason the road that our house was on was not well lit. Combine that with a large forested

[00:41:14] [SPEAKER_01]: area that stretched behind the houses and you'll quickly understand why our house might stick out

[00:41:20] [SPEAKER_01]: as a target. My friend and I were in various later stages of college life and liked to party. We had

[00:41:29] [SPEAKER_01]: a very open friend group and there were always new faces seen coming and going at the various

[00:41:35] [SPEAKER_01]: places that we lived. The friendly nature and I suppose naivety of our friend group led to us

[00:41:42] [SPEAKER_01]: letting our guard down and relaxing some of our standard home security practices. It was the night

[00:41:49] [SPEAKER_01]: before the first day of school. The week that had passed was filled with drinking, smoking weed, and

[00:41:56] [SPEAKER_01]: listening to loud music. On this night it was finally time to get to bed early and get a good

[00:42:02] [SPEAKER_01]: night's rest to wake up early for class the next morning. It was 11 p.m and our friend John had

[00:42:09] [SPEAKER_01]: acquired some weed earlier in the day that had a very suspicious backstory to it. He got it for free

[00:42:16] [SPEAKER_01]: and he had a lot of it. John is a what's mine is yours type so he and I decided to smoke some of

[00:42:25] [SPEAKER_01]: it with our friend Mike. The story about the weed was suspicious as it was but later we learned that

[00:42:31] [SPEAKER_01]: John was having a schizophrenic episode. This explained his erratic reasoning and shifting of

[00:42:37] [SPEAKER_01]: the story on how the weed was acquired. Due to John's inherent gift of gab nature and the fact

[00:42:44] [SPEAKER_01]: that his schizophrenic episodes are not always obvious at first, our friends had no idea that he

[00:42:50] [SPEAKER_01]: was having a mental breakdown. This made things very confusing later on. John suggested that we

[00:42:57] [SPEAKER_01]: roll up some blunts in my room so John and I along with our friend Mike headed into my room to wind

[00:43:05] [SPEAKER_01]: down. As I closed the door to my room I saw our other friend Chris asleep on the couch. Across

[00:43:13] [SPEAKER_01]: the hall my roommate Kevin's door was also shut with the lights off so John, Mike and I were the

[00:43:20] [SPEAKER_01]: only ones awake in the house. My room is small with two windows. One window had an AC unit and

[00:43:28] [SPEAKER_01]: the other faced the back porch and had my TV in front of it. I was sitting at my computer playing

[00:43:35] [SPEAKER_01]: seven days to die while my friends were rolling up a blunt on my bed. The irony of what happened

[00:43:41] [SPEAKER_01]: next is not lost on me. I heard a startling slam come from the other side of the closed bedroom door.

[00:43:49] [SPEAKER_01]: It was as if somebody had knocked way too loud. I yelled out in annoyance assuming this was the

[00:43:56] [SPEAKER_01]: case but it wasn't. The knocking turned into slamming which turned into breaking which led to

[00:44:05] [SPEAKER_01]: splintering wood. In my head I couldn't make sense of any of this. I kept picturing one of my good

[00:44:13] [SPEAKER_01]: college friends James returning from a long late night road trip. I assumed he was on the other

[00:44:18] [SPEAKER_01]: side of the door with a liquor bottle and some cocaine. I was imagining that James would pop his

[00:44:23] [SPEAKER_01]: through the hole that was currently splintering through my door and he would tell me that he'd

[00:44:29] [SPEAKER_01]: fix it later and have us come out and party with him. This was my only logical explanation that I

[00:44:35] [SPEAKER_01]: had in my head for what I was seeing. Finally, the fact that something was off clicked and I

[00:44:42] [SPEAKER_01]: reached for my phone to dial 911. Time seemingly dilated as all of this was happening. I recall

[00:44:50] [SPEAKER_01]: picking up a large pointy shard of splintered wood that ricocheted from the door and holding

[00:44:56] [SPEAKER_01]: it like a spear. I thought, if they break through that door I'm rushing them. I'm not giving them

[00:45:02] [SPEAKER_01]: a chance. I remember seeing a look of sheer terror mixed with hopelessness as I watched Mike

[00:45:10] [SPEAKER_01]: try to shimmy the AC unit out of the window to no avail. We were all shouting and screaming

[00:45:18] [SPEAKER_01]: as the wood continued splintering from the door like confetti. After I saw Mike take his butterfly

[00:45:24] [SPEAKER_01]: knife out, it stopped. Whoever was on the other side of the door stopped trying to force their way

[00:45:30] [SPEAKER_01]: into my room. There was suddenly no more movement. No more sound. The damage was done. The door was

[00:45:39] [SPEAKER_01]: broken and it became stuck. My friends and I essentially had to finish breaking through the

[00:45:45] [SPEAKER_01]: door to climb through the other side. After we climbed through the door, Chris and Kevin emerged

[00:45:51] [SPEAKER_01]: from Kevin's room. Chris had snuck into Kevin's room to hide during the commotion. John quickly

[00:45:58] [SPEAKER_01]: handed the weed off to Chris who was going to hide it away somewhere before the cops came.

[00:46:03] [SPEAKER_01]: I had nothing to do with this plan and they were very quick to act before there could be any real

[00:46:08] [SPEAKER_01]: thought put into this decision. Kevin, who was just as startled as we were, came out of his room

[00:46:14] [SPEAKER_01]: and helped us get out of the room through the broken door. Everyone was confused. We examined

[00:46:20] [SPEAKER_01]: the house to see if anything was stolen. We found that all of our laptops and other valuable items

[00:46:26] [SPEAKER_01]: were exactly where we left them. Nothing was touched. We noticed a cooking pot left outside

[00:46:33] [SPEAKER_01]: of the broken door so we figured that the intruder had come into the house through the back kitchen

[00:46:38] [SPEAKER_01]: door which was unlocked. From there we assumed the intruder swiped something off of our stove

[00:46:44] [SPEAKER_01]: to use to break down my door on the way to my room. At this point, all we could do was wait for the

[00:46:52] [SPEAKER_01]: cops. So we did. After 30 minutes, the cops still hadn't shown up so I called them back.

[00:47:01] [SPEAKER_01]: I asked them what was taking so long considering that there was a campus police substation literally

[00:47:07] [SPEAKER_01]: a block down from where we were living. Apparently they dispatched some city cops from the opposite

[00:47:13] [SPEAKER_01]: side of town. 40 minutes later, the cops and Chris, who was returning from stashing the weed,

[00:47:20] [SPEAKER_01]: arrived at the house at the same time. That's when I realized I had never gotten Chris' side

[00:47:27] [SPEAKER_01]: of what happened. He had left in such a hurry and he had been the only one that had seen the intruder.

[00:47:34] [SPEAKER_01]: The first time I got to hear his side of the story was when the cops sat us down and asked

[00:47:40] [SPEAKER_01]: us what happened. What he said made the hair on the back of my neck stand up as the whole room went

[00:47:47] [SPEAKER_01]: quiet. He said it wasn't just one person but three men in masks. I don't know why I had assumed it

[00:47:56] [SPEAKER_01]: was some sort of lone crazed lunatic especially since I never actually saw anybody myself.

[00:48:03] [SPEAKER_01]: It was at this point that John's schizophrenic breakdown was in full swing. During this

[00:48:09] [SPEAKER_01]: conversation he was saying things that you would never say to the cops if you wanted them to be

[00:48:14] [SPEAKER_01]: productive and actually help you. It was making me extremely frustrated. His mental breakdown fueled

[00:48:20] [SPEAKER_01]: a convoluted story involving impromptu vigilante justice, stolen cash, stolen jewelry, and a wild

[00:48:28] [SPEAKER_01]: goose chase around town. As I mentioned before it's hard to clock it when John's schizophrenic

[00:48:35] [SPEAKER_01]: episodes are starting so I thought that he was just fired up from a break-in.

[00:48:41] [SPEAKER_01]: I chalked his erratic behavior and storytelling up to being scared but boy was I wrong. As the

[00:48:49] [SPEAKER_01]: cops took our story one of our friends decided to fess up and tell them that there was weed hidden

[00:48:54] [SPEAKER_01]: somewhere. While their intentions were good I always thought that this was a bad idea since

[00:48:59] [SPEAKER_01]: the cops became more interested in the weed than the break-in from that moment on. When they were

[00:49:05] [SPEAKER_01]: sitting around discussing everything we heard a knock on the door. Tensions were high and you

[00:49:10] [SPEAKER_01]: could feel how on edge everyone was. The cops looked around for a second and then one of them

[00:49:16] [SPEAKER_01]: slowly walked to the door and quietly leaned up against the people. The cop turned around and

[00:49:22] [SPEAKER_01]: made a face before opening the door and revealing a third cop. The third cop that showed up started

[00:49:28] [SPEAKER_01]: to ask us individually about the weed. Meanwhile the first two cops who arrived were asking John

[00:49:35] [SPEAKER_01]: to identify himself. He provided them with a few versions of his IDs. Each had a different name

[00:49:42] [SPEAKER_01]: and each was from a different state. He was talking a mile a minute and managed to insult

[00:49:48] [SPEAKER_01]: the cops with every third word. They were getting very frustrated with him and so was I.

[00:49:54] [SPEAKER_01]: I could not for the life of me understand why he would choose this moment to pick a fight with the

[00:49:58] [SPEAKER_01]: cops. After the cops left John kept insisting that he knew who was responsible for the break-in

[00:50:05] [SPEAKER_01]: and he went off to tell two or three different stories about how he got this weed. He just

[00:50:11] [SPEAKER_01]: kept rattling off different explanations as he continued to weave these inconsistent stories

[00:50:17] [SPEAKER_01]: and the idea of John knowing who did this was disturbing to me.

[00:50:22] [SPEAKER_01]: John then decided to take matters into his own hands. He left the house claiming that he was

[00:50:27] [SPEAKER_01]: going to find who did this and make them pay. At the time I wasn't thinking straight. I genuinely

[00:50:34] [SPEAKER_01]: believed him and I let him leave to go find these people not knowing that he was having a psychotic

[00:50:40] [SPEAKER_01]: episode. When John returned he told us what he had done. He said that he had cornered the

[00:50:48] [SPEAKER_01]: perpetrator in a parking lot and confronted him with a knife. When he told me this story I was

[00:50:54] [SPEAKER_01]: in disbelief. John may have been psychotic but he wasn't a liar so I feared the worst.

[00:51:02] [SPEAKER_01]: I left and went to a lady friend's house that night. When I was there I gave some more thought

[00:51:08] [SPEAKER_01]: to John's story and finally put two and two together. I realized there was something wrong

[00:51:13] [SPEAKER_01]: with our friend so the next morning I headed back to the house. John was still there with Kevin as if

[00:51:20] [SPEAKER_01]: nothing had happened the night before. When I walked inside he came up to me with two very large

[00:51:26] [SPEAKER_01]: men in tow behind him. He told me that these were his quote-unquote goons and they were going to fix

[00:51:33] [SPEAKER_01]: the place up. I felt like I was about to lose it. It was the morning of the first day of school and

[00:51:40] [SPEAKER_01]: I had no idea who these large burly men were yet they were in my house fixing my doors.

[00:51:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I walked out to the living room and sitting there on the table was a gold watch I had never seen

[00:51:54] [SPEAKER_01]: along with a pile of cash and a pile of weed. I was livid. I still had no idea why our house

[00:52:02] [SPEAKER_01]: had been broken into but I finally figured it had something to do with the weed. At that moment I

[00:52:10] [SPEAKER_01]: didn't want any weed in the house especially on display. I pulled John aside and asked him why

[00:52:16] [SPEAKER_01]: the fuck that stuff was on the table. He gave me some insane story about how the guy who robbed our

[00:52:22] [SPEAKER_01]: house came to him apologized and offered these items as penance. Like I said normally John isn't

[00:52:30] [SPEAKER_01]: a liar so I knew something was deeply wrong but I was still shaken by the fact that he kept telling

[00:52:36] [SPEAKER_01]: me he knew what happened. I went to class on that first day of school but I could barely focus on a

[00:52:43] [SPEAKER_01]: thing and after another terrible night of sleep at my lady friend's I went back to the house to

[00:52:49] [SPEAKER_01]: get ready for the second day of school. When I arrived at the property it was a mess. I really

[00:52:54] [SPEAKER_01]: didn't think much of it until I got a phone call while on campus. It was Mike. He told me that

[00:53:02] [SPEAKER_01]: John had been drunk driving around all day. Apparently he had sold his car but hadn't actually

[00:53:09] [SPEAKER_01]: given the car to the guy that he sold it to. I came back to the house again to find all of my

[00:53:15] [SPEAKER_01]: friends on the lawn. I joined them as they were watching John from across the street.

[00:53:21] [SPEAKER_01]: He walked over to a neighboring complex where he took a full paint can from somebody's porch.

[00:53:27] [SPEAKER_01]: This was in the middle of the summer so a ton of people were outside. John was swinging the

[00:53:32] [SPEAKER_01]: paint can around on the sidewalk in a high traffic area while interacting with everyone and anyone

[00:53:38] [SPEAKER_01]: who would listen. At one point he even tried to break the paint can open. A squad car pulled up

[00:53:45] [SPEAKER_01]: as we were watching all of this and we asked him if there was anything that could be done.

[00:53:50] [SPEAKER_01]: At this point it was clear that John was becoming a danger to others but mostly himself.

[00:53:56] [SPEAKER_01]: The cop let us know that if he hadn't committed a crime there was nothing that he could do and he

[00:54:01] [SPEAKER_01]: left. The next day John's mother and aunt came to our house to attempt to take him home.

[00:54:08] [SPEAKER_01]: The conversation that they had with him really broke my heart. I had to listen as they tried

[00:54:13] [SPEAKER_01]: to have a rational conversation. During this conversation they figured out something was

[00:54:19] [SPEAKER_01]: deeply wrong. I couldn't bear to be in the room with him while they were speaking so I listened

[00:54:24] [SPEAKER_01]: from my room. John's mom and aunt were unable to get him to agree to leave so eventually he was

[00:54:30] [SPEAKER_01]: picked up by the cops. The cops found him downtown the next day bashing his head into the glass

[00:54:36] [SPEAKER_01]: storefront of a local Chipotle. He was then taken into custody at a psych ward and I was honestly

[00:54:43] [SPEAKER_01]: relieved. My friend Mike and I decided to go down to the psych ward at the hospital to visit John.

[00:54:49] [SPEAKER_01]: When we walked in it was like he ran the place. I really have to reiterate that this man truly

[00:54:55] [SPEAKER_01]: has the gift of gab. This is what made it so hard to tell that there was something wrong with him.

[00:55:02] [SPEAKER_01]: As Mike and I walked in John immediately started flirting with this young pregnant nurse who was

[00:55:07] [SPEAKER_01]: checking us in for our visit with him. She was giving him this oh you kind of reaction. We sat

[00:55:14] [SPEAKER_01]: down with all of the patients and John started introducing us to them like he's known them for

[00:55:19] [SPEAKER_01]: years. They all loved him. Even the security guards had friendly banter with him when they

[00:55:25] [SPEAKER_01]: talked about the tv show that they were watching. Things started to settle down when John was in the

[00:55:31] [SPEAKER_01]: psych ward. I was called into the precinct to give more information but nobody was ever caught for

[00:55:37] [SPEAKER_01]: the break-in. I moved out of that house a few days later. I moved into an apartment with a guy

[00:55:42] [SPEAKER_01]: down the block. The first weekend of living in that apartment I had it all to myself since my

[00:55:47] [SPEAKER_01]: roommate was out of town. Everything was comfortable and I was finally able to sleep easy knowing that

[00:55:51] [SPEAKER_01]: I was safe but as I was resting I suddenly heard a pounding on my front door. Somebody was knocking

[00:55:58] [SPEAKER_01]: with all of their force and not letting up. They were also mashing the doorbell as fast as they

[00:56:03] [SPEAKER_01]: possibly could. I caught a little wind of bravery and decided to check the peephole which was

[00:56:08] [SPEAKER_01]: actively being covered by whoever was on the other side of the door. I was shitting my pants. I

[00:56:13] [SPEAKER_01]: figured that the intruder had found me and they were coming for me. This was it. I figured they

[00:56:19] [SPEAKER_01]: knew that I talked to the police and I was dead. I locked myself in my room and I called Mike.

[00:56:24] [SPEAKER_01]: He was living in the same complex so I knew that he'd be the quickest to respond.

[00:56:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Thankfully he answered. I told him the situation and he came running over to help me right away.

[00:56:32] [SPEAKER_01]: After what felt like an eternity of wordless pounding and doorbell ringing it finally stopped.

[00:56:39] [SPEAKER_01]: I waited for a second and then I called out to see if Mike was there.

[00:56:43] [SPEAKER_01]: He was and I let him in and I asked him what was happening. Apparently some drunk college

[00:56:48] [SPEAKER_01]: girl was out there and she had the wrong apartment. So to the three masked intruders

[00:56:54] [SPEAKER_01]: and the drunk college girl who had the wrong apartment let's not meet. Oh and PS John is

[00:57:00] [SPEAKER_01]: fine now. I talk to him every so often and there are no indications that he's living with paranoid

[00:57:05] [SPEAKER_01]: delusions anymore. He himself admits that he was lost during this time and had no clue what was

[00:57:12] [SPEAKER_01]: going on. Thanks for listening. Stick around after the music for your extended version of

[00:57:27] [SPEAKER_01]: this week's episode if you're a patron. If you want to get access head over to patreon.com forward

[00:57:32] [SPEAKER_01]: slash let's not meet podcast to sign up and support the show today. You'll get access to

[00:57:37] [SPEAKER_01]: ad-free versions of all of our episodes at a higher bit rate and hours and hours of bonus

[00:57:42] [SPEAKER_01]: content with stories you won't hear anywhere else. This week you have heard Always Trust

[00:57:46] [SPEAKER_01]: a Mother's Intuition by Iniquitous Pearl. Joe the Contractor by Count Curly Fluffs.

[00:57:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Always Lock Your Patio Door by Little Pickle 06. Someone Broke Into My Home When I Was Alone by

[00:58:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Are We Human Enough. Weird Guy Showed Up At My Parents' House At 1am Looking For Me by Lampro

[00:58:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Kapnos 1324. Almost Lured Into A Car By A Couple Looking For Their Kids by Disciple Forever.

[00:58:17] [SPEAKER_01]: I Had A Night Stalker When I Was A Night Stalker by Lady Tyrant. And finally Three Masked Men by

[00:58:24] [SPEAKER_01]: A Droopy Mango. All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the

[00:58:30] [SPEAKER_01]: respective authors. Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast is not associated with Reddit or any other

[00:58:36] [SPEAKER_01]: message boards online. Send your stories in to Let's Not Meet Stories if you want to hear them

[00:58:40] [SPEAKER_01]: on the show. Finally make sure to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like Odd Trails,

[00:58:45] [SPEAKER_01]: my true paranormal podcast, Cryptic Encounters, and the Old Time Radiocast all at crypticcountypodcasts.com

[00:58:53] [SPEAKER_01]: or wherever you get your podcasts. And make sure to get your tickets for the new October 23rd date

[00:58:58] [SPEAKER_01]: for Salt Lake City, Utah. You can grab those as well as tickets for all the other shows like

[00:59:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Seattle, Portland, Houston, and Dallas at letsnotmeetpodcast.com slash tour or follow

[00:59:07] [SPEAKER_01]: the link in the show notes. I'll see you all next week. Everybody stay safe.