14x15: Eyes of the Forest

[00:00:00] This podcast contains adult language and content. Listener discretion is advised. If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show.

[00:00:39] It was early spring 2016 and I had just turned 24 years old. My friend and I had just reached our most frequent camping spot, Black Canyon Rim Campgrounds, just outside of Payson, Arizona. We usually travel there two or three times each year.

[00:00:55] It has some incredible views and is only a couple of hours away from the city. For the most part, this area was pretty secluded. In the immediate area, there's a privately owned convenience store a few miles away. Other than that, the closest small town is about 20 miles away.

[00:01:16] The entrance to the campground was on a dirt road directly off of the highway. It's indicated with a campground sign at the start of the road, which also displays information regarding local wildlife, any fire hazards, and general news that may be relevant to camping folk. The pathing is mostly linear, with maybe one fork spanning several miles.

[00:01:40] We once traveled down the dirt road to see how far it would take us. One of the paths would take you to another highway entrance, with a ranger's tower about halfway there. The other path led to a dead end. An abandoned cabin can be found on this path a few miles in. It's mostly hidden in the distance behind some dense foliage.

[00:02:02] The snow had mostly cleared up at this point, leaving crisp air and a slight chill as fauna became active. We usually spot some wild horses, several deer, and tons of little critters whenever we'd come out this way. Spring was the perfect time of year for a relaxing trip to get away from the city for a few days. We arrived at the campground around 4pm on a Tuesday.

[00:02:31] It was late for us. We usually tried to make it out there by noon at the latest, but this trip was spontaneously planned. We both had work during the upcoming weekend, so we just decided to go for it. The sun was setting fast, and we still hadn't picked a spot to set up camp. There were maybe two other groups out there with us, both families. They were parked somewhere close to the entrance, only a few hundred yards away from the highway.

[00:03:01] This time around, we just wanted to get away from humans for a while. Customer service jobs will do that to you. So, we drove down the dirt road, past our usual spot, and finally picked the perfect area, a small clearing hanging right off of the edge of a hill. The whole valley could be seen in this area with a beautiful sunset.

[00:03:25] This would have been our new main spot from then on if the night's incident had never happened. We agreed to get a campfire going and decided to avoid building a tent during this trip. We didn't have much time to do so anyway, and my friend's car wasn't that uncomfortable. We figured I would sleep in the back seat, and she could take the passenger seat. With the windows slightly cracked open, we wrapped ourselves up in a few blankets and fell asleep.

[00:03:56] The next day was fairly uneventful. We spent our time decompressing. I had this strange feeling throughout the day, though. I felt like we were being watched. I heard the crunching of leaves just out of sight every few hours, but figured it was just the local wildlife doing their thing. My friend didn't seem to notice anything unusual, so I didn't really dwell on it. Night came, and the feeling still hadn't gone away.

[00:04:24] My friend must have finally felt something, but she didn't vocalize it. She took some of her sleeping pills, which she didn't ordinarily need to take during our camping trips as nature ambiance is enough to put anyone to sleep. Or so I thought. At around 1am, my friend had dozed off in the passenger seat while I attempted to wind down in the back seat. I leaned against the side window behind the passenger seat,

[00:04:53] with my legs outstretched to the car door on the opposite side. The window across from me was rolled down slightly, with a cold breeze flowing in. I had been on my phone scrolling through Facebook or whatever when I heard something outside. A few crunches on the fallen leaves several places outside the car. I whispered to my friend, Did you hear that? But she was already out.

[00:05:23] I put my phone down and listened intently for a minute or two. But there was nothing. I assumed it must have been a small animal who was curious about our camp setup, so I went back to my phone and continued scrolling through social media. About ten minutes later, I heard it again. The crunching sound. This time it was directly outside the door.

[00:05:47] After I lowered the phone, my eyes needed a moment to adjust from the light of the phone into the deep darkness of the woods. As I turned the phone, the backlight illuminated the window above my feet. And to this day, I can't get that image out of my head. Two rough, scabbed hands held onto the window with fingers wrapped inside the car. The nails on the fingers were long, unkempt and dark.

[00:06:17] Behind the window, I saw a silhouette of a face pressed up against it. This person's breath created condensation every few seconds. All I was able to make out were the reflections of their empty, black eyes. I couldn't move. I couldn't scream. It felt like an eternity. The staring contest between me and this person. Thoughts were repeating incessantly in my head. Why didn't they run away when they saw that I noticed them?

[00:06:48] What were they planning? Is this the face of death? After about ten seconds of this silence, the hands slowly unclenched the window and retreated into the darkness as the condensation on the window dispersed one last time. Another few seconds passed before I heard that crunching again, melodically fading into the distance. Still, I just sat there.

[00:07:17] What just happened? Why couldn't I do anything? Why was I still not doing anything? With that thought, my body received a shot of adrenaline. I pounded on my friend's seat, waking her up from her slumber into a dizzy confusion. Then I unlatched the back door of the car, kicked it open, and took a moment to scan the area. But whoever this person was, was gone.

[00:07:45] I scrambled to pick up any important camping supplies that we had left outside. I just crammed everything into the back seat and the trunk, periodically looking over my shoulder while listening to those crunching noises. When I slammed the back door shut, there they were. A grim reminder of the horror that had just happened. Two distinct handprints were imprinted on the window.

[00:08:13] I quickly wiped them off of the window in a panic. It was my knee-jerk reaction to just want to erase the event, I guess. I then jumped back into the front seat, started the car, and floored it out of there. My friend, finally coming to, asked me what the hell I was doing. We have got to go, I said. There's somebody out there. I didn't see anyone as we fled the scene.

[00:08:39] As I sped down the dirt road, my friend insisted that I slow down, and I eventually did. When we reached the highway, I proceeded to drive 20 or so miles before we saw a Denny's, where my friend asked if we could stop to get something to eat while I explained everything. I had heaps of nightmares after this, but they subsided a few months later. However, I will never forget the state of shock that I was in when this happened.

[00:09:08] It's said that everybody has a fight-or-flight instinct, but I'm convinced I have neither. I mean, I just sat there and did nothing. I frequently tend to ask myself who was out there. Another camper messing with us? A resident of the abandoned cabin down the dirt road? Or maybe someone more sinister residing in the forest, watching lone, vulnerable campers as they drift off into sleep?

[00:09:35] We've been back to that area to camp since 2016, but we never stay too far from the highway. Whoever that was, I hope that was the last I'll ever see of them.

[00:10:05] There's a bit of context that you need to understand this story, so please bear with me. I've had severe insomnia since I was a kid, and growing up, I was consistently awake until early in the morning. When this happened, the second story of my house was just one room. My bed was in the corner, and it was separated from the rest of the room by bookshelves and a wardrobe. None of the furniture reached the ceiling,

[00:10:34] and there was no door leading to my little corner space, so I could hear and see everything that happened on the second floor. The upstairs room had a door leading outside that opened to a poorly constructed bridge made of three long, unsecured boards. This bridge connected to a nearby hill. The door had bells on it, since when I did sleep, I would sleepwalk. This happened when I was around 11.

[00:11:04] Now this house was in a very rural area. And one night, while my parents were asleep, sometime in the early morning, I heard aggressive rattling from outside the door on the second story. It was really aggressive rattling. The bells on the door were ringing and everything. I have no idea how this didn't wake my parents up. I don't think that whoever this was tried to pick the lock.

[00:11:32] It sounded like they'd just had the doorknob in their hand, and they were shaking the door as hard as they possibly could. I guess they were trying with brute force. Mind you, they were standing on a few wobbly planks of wood that were about 10 feet off of the ground. It was cement below. So, kicking the door down wasn't exactly a viable option here. The door shaking would continue for several minutes,

[00:12:01] but then they would pause before trying again. This was done repeatedly, and every time I began to think that they were leaving, the rattling would start again. The irony was that they couldn't get in because the upstairs door was always locked. But the downstairs door was always unlocked. We lived quite a long drive from the nearest house, and the road that we lived on was barely driven down,

[00:12:28] so we used to think that we didn't need to lock the door. All this person needed to do was try that door instead. It happened a second time several weeks later. The exact same pattern occurred. Shaking the doorknob, stopping, and then shaking it again. This person still didn't try the front door, though. After that, it never happened again, as far as I'm aware,

[00:12:58] but I still went to bed every night expecting it, which honestly is the best ending one can hope for in a situation like this. I currently live about a 9-hour drive from that house, and life has gone on. Whenever I think about this, it does feel strange that I never found out who was doing it, especially when I consider that I could meet them without even realizing it. And maybe I already have.

[00:13:26] As far as the scariest moments of my life go, this will make the top 10. Whenever that door was being shaken, I was overcome with a paralyzing fear that didn't allow me to move or scream.

[00:14:06] I couldn't alert my parents. He heard it as well. His bed was even closer to the door, so I'm sure he heard everything better than I did. Despite not having many people in the area that I'm from, there is a high murder and disappearance rate out there. A murder did occur during that year that it took place on the exact same road that I lived on. So to the person who tried to break into my childhood home,

[00:14:33] I sincerely hope I never get the chance to see your face. Let's not meet. There's a predator hunting you. Silent, patient. It doesn't need a weapon. It uses interest rates, late fees and collection calls. At first you barely notice it,

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[00:16:01] You're 30 seconds away from being debt-free. Get your free assessment and find the best option for you right now at pdsdebt.com slash meet. That's pdsdebt.com slash meet. pdsdebt.com slash meet. We're Teresa and Nemo. And that's why we switched to Shopify. The platform, the before Shopify used, has used regularly updates, which have caused to lead to the shop, that the shop didn't work.

[00:16:31] Ending makes our Nemo Boards Shop also makes on mobile devices a good figure. And the illustrations on the boards come now much clearer, what is important to us and what our brand also does. Starte dein Testen heute für 1 Euro pro Monat auf shopify.de slash radio. I was 8 or 9 years old when this happened. I lived in a nice, small, middle-class neighborhood. One of my best friends, Raven, lived diagonally across the street from me

[00:17:00] and I often spent evenings at her home after school. Raven's mom would always call my mom to let her know when I was leaving so she would unlock the front door as I'd be back home in the next minute or so. My mom often stood and watched from the screen door just to make sure I got across the street okay. I had begun noticing this beaten up old red car, possibly a Volkswagen or Buick.

[00:17:28] It would pass by almost every night as I ran across the street to my house. I would always head home just after dark so it was generally around 8 or 8.30 when I was leaving Raven's house. This red car would always roll by super slow. The speed limit in our neighborhood was 25 miles per hour and this vehicle was always driving at maybe half the posted speed. One night as I was leaving,

[00:17:57] perhaps a bit later than usual, I stepped out of the side door of Raven's house just as the car was about to pass the house completely. It stopped in the middle of the road and reversed as I approached the road. The window rolled down just as the car slowed to a stop in front of me. A little woman with short, reddish-brown hair and blue-framed glasses was smiling sweetly at me. Hi, sweetheart. It's a little late for you to be out, isn't it?

[00:18:25] She asked, her voice low and pleasant. Oh, no, it's okay. My mom lets me. I'm walking home now, I naively replied. Oh, wow. How silly of your mom, the woman said. There are all kinds of bad people out late at night. Where do you live? I can give you a ride. Just then, my mom came bursting out the front door and screamed, leave her alone,

[00:18:54] as she began running toward me. The woman's pleasant demeanor instantly dissolved and I heard her mutter, fuck, as she slammed her foot on the gas and took off, going well over the speed limit. She even blew through a nearby stop sign to make her escape. That night, I got a lengthy lecture, but also a lot of tight hugs. My mom was very glad that she was in the habit of looking out our storm door to check on me

[00:19:23] instead of just letting me wander home. I easily could have been taken and she told me as much. I can't remember if the police were called, but if they were, I never interacted with any officers. This doesn't end here, though. Like most little kids, I liked setting up lemonade stands. I also enjoyed baking cakes, brownies, and cookies and selling those at my lemonade stand as well. About two weeks

[00:19:53] after the prior incident, on a beautiful, sunny Saturday, my mom helped me with baking and making lemonade, and she set me up in the front yard with my sign. She had been paranoid ever since the prior incident, so she hardly let me out of her sight, aside from going to school. And this day was no different. She stayed outside with me while I sold my little treats to everyone that passed by. That is, until she had to run to the restroom. Now,

[00:20:22] it would have been a pain to take everything down and bring it inside only to bring it all back out and set it up all over again. So, she figured I'd be okay for a few minutes considering that it was the middle of the afternoon. My mom left me alone for several minutes while she went to the bathroom and presumably went to grab a snack as she was gone for about ten minutes or so. About eight minutes in, a familiar face walked up to my lemonade stand. She appeared

[00:20:52] from some bushes down the street. I didn't even see her in the distance walking up or anything. I honestly just saw her stand up from behind some bushes and brush herself off before she began walking towards me. Her clothes were smart and sophisticated looking, almost like a pantsuit. It was a real clash with how ratty her car had been.

[00:21:20] But that same placating smile was on her face as her eyes glinted from behind the same blue-framed glasses. Aw, that's cute. A lemonade stand, she said. Hi again, sweetie. Sorry for bothering you the other night. I didn't realize how close to home you were. My mom told me not to talk to you. Go away. I said as meanly as I could muster. But my mom had rightfully made me so frightened

[00:21:50] of this woman that I'm sure I just sounded like a scared little girl. And I was. Come on now, Marie, she started. She then proceeded to say my actual, full, real name, first and last. My eyes grew wide. I'm a friend of your parents, she continued. I lived down the street, remember? We met at the pool this past summer. I had no recollection of her.

[00:22:21] If you're their friend, why did you leave so quickly the other night? I asked, before I began shouting for my mother. This made her crouch in front of my table, making her eye to eye with me. We don't need her. I just want to talk to you. You like to bake, right? Well, I have a fancy kitchen with a nice baker's oven and all sorts of cool gadgets to make baking cupcakes and stuff even more fun, she enticed.

[00:22:50] No, no, no, I protested as I stood up and pushed the table into the woman. I then shouted for my mom as I started running for the door. This woman kicked the folding table away and started to chase me until my mom appeared in the doorway. When my mom flung the door open, I barreled into her and the woman stopped running after me and just stood in the yard. What are you doing to my daughter? My mom shouted angrily at her.

[00:23:20] My God, your child is rude. I was just trying to buy a cupcake then she shoved the table into me and ran. Now I have lemonade all over my clothes. The woman lied through her teeth. I don't think she was expecting my mom to come back outside. That's the lady from that night in the car, I explained to my mom. Then I tried to get around my mom and hide behind her. My mom pulled out her cell phone

[00:23:49] and this time I know she called the police. The woman immediately ran back in the direction she came from. When the cops arrived, one took statements while the other patrolled the neighborhood searching for this woman. They ended up finding her car parked at the grocery store that was right up the road about half a mile away at the other end of the neighborhood. They waited for her to show up and claim it but she never did. They never found her

[00:24:19] and I never saw her again. This happened in 2022 when I was around 24 years old. For a bit of context, I'm non-binary and I was assigned female at birth. So I look pretty feminine. At the time I was studying in Paris and renting a room in a house my mom and her boyfriend lived in

[00:24:49] at the time. Our house was in a city that was more than an hour away from Paris but just 20 minutes from Versailles. It was winter and I was on school break. I went to Paris to see a long-time internet friend for the first time. She turned out to be a very toxic person who I'm not in contact with anymore but the story's not about her. After meeting up with my friend I was planning to go to my boyfriend's house. I had to leave before midnight since public transportation

[00:25:18] became scarce after 10pm and I had to take transit for about two hours to get there. Unfortunately, I didn't leave early enough. I managed to catch a train to Versailles but I would have to wait almost an hour for the bus that went to the city closer to my boyfriend's house. From there he would pick me up in his car. While I was waiting near the train station I noticed a group of bus drivers smoking and talking to each other. I approached them to ask them

[00:25:48] who was driving the bus going to the city that was close to my boyfriend's house. One of them, a small man with gray hair who was probably in his early 50s told me he was driving that bus. He noticed my skirt and said that I must be freezing so he offered to let me go sit on the bus and warm myself up before our departure time. I gladly accepted as I was indeed freezing. While he was walking me to the bus which was parked

[00:26:18] in a very dark corner with no lights he got very close to me and started to act very familiar with me. He asked about where I lived and where I was going. I was feeling uneasy and uncomfortable but I was raised to be polite. Also, I've always been a people pleaser so I answered all of his questions but tried to give as few details as possible. After he opened the door to the bus for me all my instincts

[00:26:47] were screaming at me and telling me not to get onto that bus but I ignored it and got on anyway. I sat in the front of the bus where there was a bit of light but it was very difficult for anyone to see me other than the other bus drivers who saw I was brought over to the bus no one knew that I was on that bus. Anyway, the second I got on the bus things got even weirder. He discarded his lit cigarette

[00:27:17] and got on the bus with me. He then told me a bunch of anecdotes about the bus about how the bus was designed to transport the French football team. He told me there was a bathroom in the back of the bus and said that I should go with him to see it. He suggested having me go to the back of the bus with him twice so I was getting sketched out. I even texted my boyfriend might not come tonight weird bus driver call me as soon as possible. The bus driver

[00:27:47] continued talking to me while blocking my way. I can't remember what he was talking about at all but I do remember his eyes being fixated on me. He was especially fixated on my phone that was in my hand and my knees and thighs. The whole time I was praying for my boyfriend to see my message and call me. When he finally did I breathed a sigh of relief. The bus driver must have seen my boyfriend's face

[00:28:16] on my phone screen because he took a step back and told me that he was going to smoke another cigarette outside. I answered my phone and told my boyfriend everything that was going on while looking out the window to keep an eye on the bus driver. When he was far enough I ran to get off the bus only to discover in shock and horror that he had locked me inside. I was trapped on that bus. Still on my phone with my boyfriend I went back

[00:28:45] to where I was sitting and I saw that the creepy bus driver was coming back. When he saw that I was still on the phone he left and locked me in the bus again. He cycled through this routine of coming back to the bus three times and each time he would leave he would lock me inside. At some point I sat in another seat continuing to keep my eye on the creepy bus driver. Through the window I saw this elderly woman approach him and ask if the bus

[00:29:15] was going to the city close to my boyfriend's house. He lied to her. He told her that she needed to take a different bus. The bus was supposed to leave in less than 10 minutes so something finally snapped in my brain. The bus driver came back so I got up and while maintaining a calm demeanor I lied to him about needing to go back to the train station to go to the bathroom. He reminded me that there was a bathroom on the bus so then I said I needed some snacks

[00:29:44] from the vending machine. He hesitated but he finally let me go. When I bolted from that bus I took the deepest breath of cold fresh winter air that I've ever taken in my life. I then ran up to the train station and hid behind the vending machine. When I finally felt safe I burst into tears. I called my boyfriend again and he called his sister who lived in Versailles so that she could come and pick me up. While I was still trying to hide

[00:30:13] and calm myself guess who I saw coming into the train station? The creepy bus driver. He was acting like he was looking for something or rather someone. And that was likely me. I held my breath and waited for him to leave since at that moment I realized I was his prey. I was finally picked up and I reached out to the bus company but the bus driver wasn't a usual driver for them so nothing could be done. I know this has been said before

[00:30:43] but let me say it again as a reminder trust your gut and your instincts they're never wrong. Also don't be polite with creeps who make you feel uncomfortable unsafe and uneasy.

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[00:32:14] that's tryfume.com and use code MEAT to claim this limited time offer today. We are Teresa and Nemo and that's why we switched to Shopify.com The platform that we have used before Shopify has used regularly updates that have sometimes led to that the shop didn't work .com finally makes our Nemo Boards shop so much on the mobile devices a good figure and the illustrations on the boards come now much clearer what is

[00:32:44] important and what our brand also does make it This happened a few years ago when I was about 13 I'm 5 foot 7 and about 125 pounds so I'm pretty small as such I usually make sure to have pepper spray and a pocket knife on me however I'm embarrassed to say that on this day

[00:33:13] in the excitement of exploring with my best friend I forgot my pepper spray and my knife I love to explore and travel especially in places where I'm not necessarily allowed One of the first places I explored after I moved was the train tracks I had my best friend come over one day to explore my new neighborhood with me and we decided that the train tracks was a perfect place to explore We had been walking for an hour or two

[00:33:43] it was still light outside and we had just passed a small neighborhood street so we felt safe but when I turned around to throw a stick I saw five hooded figures following about 200 feet behind us Now I tried to pretend like I didn't see them and I told my best friend about them very calmly We decided to look at them straight on and see what they would do Once we did they stopped and so did my friend and I

[00:34:14] We stared at each other for a few seconds but this felt like hours Finally after a brief standoff they made their next move Three of them went to the left and two of them went to the right The next thing I knew we heard the loud sound of quickly approaching footsteps so we finally snapped out of it and ran as fast as we could My best friend and I were both in cross country so between that and a hefty shot of

[00:34:44] adrenaline we ran faster than we ever had before Luckily since I had already explored those same train tracks on my own a few days prior I knew that if we ran just half a mile more we would be on a bridge above another small neighborhood We somehow made it and out of fear we jumped off of that bridge about ten feet down and kept running deeper into the neighborhood until we saw a few other people We then slowly walked home shaking

[00:35:14] and exhausted Looking back now I regret not telling my parents but I was very scared that they wouldn't let me explore by myself anymore One thing is for sure I never went on those train tracks again and I never will My partner and I had an

[00:35:44] unsettling experience recently I I was asleep during this incident but woke up to the sound of him rushing into our apartment and locking the door After he told me the details it left me with an uneasy feeling that I haven't been able to get past We live in a suburb that has a reputation for being a bit rough but the bulk of the crime and drug problems are contained in the center of the

[00:36:14] suburb Our area was quite sheltered from these problems and during the day it's busy and full of people with a university a hospital and locals going about their business At night the street near our building is quiet but not in an unsettling way It's usually peaceful as we're tucked away from the main road and surrounded by other apartments and a park However after this incident I'm under the impression

[00:36:43] that things are changing Last week from our balcony I heard a couple arguing loudly in the street It escalated quickly and turned physical so we called the police who intervened Then a few nights later we saw a car pull up near the park A different woman jumped out ran into the trees and hid while a man in the car drove away He didn't follow her but we've

[00:37:13] seen them in the park before and honestly they looked like messed up gym rats The man is often yelling at the woman and calling her stupid among other colorful names After we saw her duck into the park to hide we never saw her come out so we didn't know if she was still hiding In any case we didn't call the police in this instance maybe we felt that it wasn't worth reporting unless things got worse especially since we

[00:37:42] had reported the other incident just a few days prior Now although these were domestic incidents I think this reluctance to report suspicious occurrences carried over when this encounter happened with my partner He later shared that he didn't want to get a reputation for calling the police over everything like the boy who cried wolf but I wish we had done it sooner At about 1am my partner took our dogs out for a quick

[00:38:12] potty break before bed When he returned to the building he noticed a man and a woman standing outside an apartment on the ground floor quietly talking He had seen them before but didn't think anything of it as there are 8 floors in our building with about 12 apartments on each one He stepped into the lift and just as the doors were closing the man stopped the doors with his hand and asked if my partner could take them to the

[00:38:42] 7th floor as they were locked out They must have followed somebody through the doors to initially get inside the building My partner explained that the residents can only access their own floors and told him no Thinking back they would have had to sprint from where they were to reach the doors to the lift before they closed which is what had me questioning my partner's situational awareness but I will continue with the story

[00:39:12] The man shrugged and said Any level should be fine Then both he and the woman stepped into the lift anyway My partner told me that he just froze and was trying to analyze the situation in real time He said they didn't necessarily look sketchy or threatening but their energy seemed unpredictable He didn't know how they would react if he gave them any pushback The hair on the back of my

[00:39:42] partner's neck stood up and he knew that something was not right Not wanting to escalate the situation he proceeded with letting them into the lift As the lift went up the man was looking at my partner in silence while the woman was crouching towards our dogs making kissy faces This contrast was unsettling for my partner as there were no obvious threats here In fact it could be argued that the woman was being nice

[00:40:12] When the lift reached our floor the couple told him to step off first and then they followed My partner walked quickly to our apartment noticing they weren't too close but were definitely behind him As soon as he got inside he locked the door immediately and started listening For the next 10 minutes we could hear them pacing up and down the hallway talking in low voices We couldn't make out what they were saying but their tone remained calm which

[00:40:41] made it even creepier At one point they opened the door to the fire escape across from our apartment and held it open while still talking lowly Eventually they let it close and after that everything went quiet Since we don't have a peephole my partner got on the floor by the door and tried to see through the crack underneath I crouched with him while he made out their faint movements until they finally left

[00:41:11] About one hour later after we were certain that the hallway was silent we carefully opened the door to check the hallway and the fire escape together The man and the woman were gone but my partner was still shaken He kept replaying the situation in his head wondering if they would have hurt him if he refused to let them into the lift I insisted that we report the incident to the police and ended up providing their description

[00:41:40] just in case they were still loitering around I wish he hadn't let them know where we live but I understand why he froze my partner kept saying that their energy was off and he didn't know what they might do if he told them no I'd like to think that I would have refused to let them into the lift but honestly I don't know how I'd react in the moment The thought of what could happen if they lashed out makes my stomach turn

[00:42:11] After this happened it made me feel like our area wasn't as safe as it was Why would they follow him to our door hold the fire escape door open and continue to linger for a long time before leaving their calmness only made things more unnerving I'm hoping they were just some opportunists and since they didn't get into our apartment or anyone else's maybe I won't need to worry about them coming back Of course

[00:42:41] our door is double bolted with an extra lock just in case To the man and the woman who followed my partner claimed to be locked out and insisted any level would be fine in the lift let's not

[00:43:11] Nemo and that's why we switched to Shopify The platform that we used before Shopify had regularly updates that sometimes have that the shop didn't work finally our Nemo board shop is a good figure and the illustrations on the boards come now much clearer what is important and what our brand does start your test for 1 euro per month on shopify. radio A few years ago

[00:43:41] when I was in college my university told me that I had to spend some time studying somewhere in Asia for my major a friend of mine had talked up Korea so I decided to go there I knew nothing about it but I decided what the hell and so I embarked on a semester long trip I had only had one serious boyfriend in my life and I broke up with him a few months before this trip and for fun I was hoping to have some sort

[00:44:11] of romantic experience on this trip which I needed to navigate carefully since I had never been into one night stands I also wasn't digging the guys that I was seeing at the clubs in Seoul so my friend recommended that I use this specific dating app to meet English speaking Koreans that way I could meet someone and experience a bit of the dating culture there I was young and eager to have new experiences maybe it was a little naive to attempt

[00:44:40] to date in a foreign country it worked out for me eventually but my first date didn't go so well I met this man on a dating app after being in Seoul for about three weeks let's call him Tim I still didn't know the culture or the city very well so I was a bit naive about everything he was eager to meet me for a date after talking with me and he seemed nice I definitely

[00:45:10] should have asked more questions before we met and I should have noticed that he wasn't forthcoming with many details about himself Tim was a bit older than me but claimed to be a college student I assumed he had done his military time as all Korean men have to and returned to school after talking briefly we decided to meet for a tea date near the school that I went to initially he wanted to come to my dorm to pick me up but I lived in an

[00:45:40] all women's dorm and I didn't want him to know exactly where I lived since we were still strangers so I insisted that we meet at the main town center near the subway instead he really didn't like this idea which looking back should have been a red flag but I didn't let up on the night of our date I waited for an hour for Tim he was very late as I was waiting for him he

[00:46:09] messaged me and weirdly commented that he just wanted to make me wait I thought that he was kidding and messaged him a laughing emoji assuming that he when he finally arrived he was much smaller than I thought he would be but a man's height has never been something that I care too much about he was also quite thin I think I let my guard down because I wasn't registering him as a physical threat

[00:46:39] which wound up being a mistake by the end right off the bat he was far too touchy with me and his breathing was different people and personalities but I quickly found his demeanor very off putting he was very odd with me now I had been told that Korean men were polite so I wasn't expecting to meet someone who was so touchy on the first date

[00:47:09] he was also dressed oddly he was wearing business attire for our date which I assumed was a Korean thing even though I knew jack shit about the culture the first thing he said to me translation error but his English was near perfect I asked him for clarification and he said that he meant I thought you would be paler

[00:47:39] your skin is darker than I thought and your eyes aren't as green are you pure European this officially weirded me out first of all I'm almost as pale as you can get I'm Irish and Scandinavian so my complexion is very fair the fact that he was expecting me to be even whiter was funny to me I wondered why did he even care in the first place why does my skin color matter and why did

[00:48:08] he bring it up as we were walking to the tea shop he mentioned how he wished I had greener eyes at least three times every time I would just politely reply well I guess my online photos just make them being nervous and trying to start a conversation isn't it funny how we come up with justifications for people especially when we're panicked

[00:48:39] when we arrived at the tea place I tried to order a basic raspberry tea but he stopped me and told me I had to try this special tea I thought that it was odd that he wanted to choose the tea for me but I brushed it off again he was incredibly insistent that I drink this specific tea and I just agreed these details may seem small but they become a lot weirder later after tea he asked if we could go

[00:49:09] for a walk around my school it was dark but the school was very well lit so I agreed the whole time that we were walking he would randomly stop grab me and pull me in for long hugs I was letting these impulsive hugs happen at first but then I stopped him and even after I stopped him he just kept trying he kept grabbing me and breathing deeply into my neck it was very awkward I was trying to understand

[00:49:39] what this guy's deal was so I started asking a bunch of questions I asked him so many questions but he refused to tell me any personal details about himself he never told me anything at one point he said I'm a mysterious man and he delivered that line like it was straight out of a movie he also said something along the lines of you look so much like my favorite movie character I asked him who that was and he wouldn't

[00:50:09] even reveal that he just said that I would have to figure it out on my own eventually he said let's find somewhere dark and private in my head I was thinking hell no at this point I was ready for the date to be over but somehow he knew there was a wooded area behind my campus and said that we should go there I told him no and said that I wanted to stay near the main campus and town

[00:50:38] but he kept pushing finally he grabbed my back I don't know why I didn't ask for help or get angry maybe I was scared but in any case I just began to book it back to the main road but he followed we continued walking and

[00:51:08] ended up in front of a hospital near the center of town this was where I told him it was time for us to part ways I made up some excuse and he pleaded but I wanted to get away from him at this point I was pretending I thought our date was all good so he would just leave suddenly he started leaning into me immediately I thought

[00:51:37] oh god no because I he was biting my face I had never felt that sensation before he bit me on my nose and my cheek as hard as he could I screamed and pushed him away from me I

[00:52:07] couldn't even find the words to say I just ran up the sidewalk until I saw a convenience store on the right I ran into it and ran to the back of the store where I bent down and began crying the man who owned the store was yelling at me and I couldn't explain the situation I wish I had learned some Korean by then I just begged him to let me stay I ended up having to buy something to stick around I got a popsicle as I

[00:52:47] stay away from me I told him he was a creep and that he shouldn't bite women and I said I was calling the police then I blocked him I was so scared to walk around the area where my school was after that I was afraid that he would find me somehow I'm so thankful I never let him pick me up at my dorm though I called my mom to tell her what happened and when she put the details together she realized a lot of weird things he was saying and doing were referencing the

[00:53:16] Fifty Shades of Grey books at first I thought she was just being silly I thought she might just be making a joke of the whole thing but she was right she had recently seen the movie or read the book so the details were fresh in her mind bringing up my eye color the way that I dressed and the tea that he made me drink matched the book and movie I think biting me was his way of trying to dominate me it was like he was living out his dirty

[00:53:46] little fantasy on a happier note this bad experience didn't stop me from dating I eventually did meet someone else in Korea and we ended up falling in love we even did the whole long distance thing for a while but now I'm living in Korea and we're hoping to get married soon so I

[00:54:58] it's again that's patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast it's the best way to listen to the show this week you have heard eyes of the forest by so solo soul there's someone still out

[00:55:30] and finally my nightmare date in korea by crabby tree all of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission of their respective authors let's not meet a true horror podcast is not associated with reddit or any other message boards online send your stories in to let's not meet stories at gmail.com to hear them on the show and be sure to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like odd trails my true paranormal podcast cryptic encounters and the old time radio cast at cryptic county

[00:56:00] podcasts dot com and catch my live streams at twitch.tv slash cryptic county i'll see you all next week everybody stay safe