16x19: The Man in the Wolf Mask

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_01] Lets Not Meet is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy. Just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money when you bundle your home and auto policies. The process only takes minutes, and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_00] When Kohler, global design leader in luxurious kitchen and bath products, asked me to be their ambassador for timeless, elegant, durable cast iron, I said, I'm in. Soon after I was in their Kohler, Wisconsin foundry, watching molten iron poured, enamel applied by hand, and the beautiful finished pieces ready to ship. Since 1883, Kohler Cast Iron has been crafted by incredible artisans,

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00] and seeing it first-hand gave me a whole new appreciation for their craftsmanship. Now, I am proud to lend my stamp of approval to my favorite Kohler Cast Iron products for their durability, beauty, and enduring style. Shop my curated picks at Kohler.com. As the Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador, I say, long live Cast Iron. This podcast contains adult language and content. The stories shared in

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_01] this podcast are told from the perspective of the authors. Their accounts and opinions are personal and do not reflect the stance of the production team. If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show.

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_01] This happened in Ohio in the 80s. I was a teenager long before cell phones even existed, living with my parents near Columbus. I don't know when he first saw me, but the first time I saw him was through our kitchen window. We had a pop-out greenhouse window, and it was late at night. I was getting a glass of water, all of the lights were off, and I happened to look outside and I saw the

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_01] figure of a man. He was outside the window. I froze and I went back to my room because I was scared, acting as if nothing had happened. This wasn't the first time I felt someone was watching me, though. For weeks before that, I knew someone was outside my bedroom window. We lived in a single-story house that backed up to the park, so anyone could go past the back of my house to the main street.

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_01] It wasn't unusual for people to be around. For weeks after that, late at night, I would wake up with the strongest sense of someone watching me. It was summer, so the window was open, and I had the blinds blocking my view from the outside, and luckily, I had a screen to keep the bugs out. After a few times of waking up like this, I started to hear someone touching the screen.

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_01] It sounded like someone was running their fingernails across the mesh. This happened two or three times a week, and sometimes I would get the courage to run to my parents' room, but by the time I'd actually get someone back to my room with me, whoever was out there was gone. They didn't really believe me, and eventually, this became an almost nightly thing, and I knew I wasn't imagining things, so when I saw him outside

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_01] the window, it was almost a relief because I saw that he was real, and I wasn't imagining it. This continued for months, until it finally started to snow, and there were footprints visible outside my window, so my parents at least acknowledged that something was going on. But they didn't really do much. I guess it was just the 80s. Then it all came to a head when I was home alone with a couple of

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_01] friends getting ready to go out. My parents were away at dinner, so we had the house to ourselves. The blinds were up on one of the bedroom windows, and as I turned around, he was there, standing directly in the window, staring at us. He was a very scary-looking man, with bright orange-dyed hair. This time, I screamed along with my friends, and we ran to the bathroom, which didn't have any outside

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_01] windows, and I finally decided to run to the kitchen and call 911. The police came at about the same time my parents got home, but there was no sign of the guy. The police accused my friends and me of being inebriated and making the whole thing up. A few weeks later, I happened to see a newspaper and stopped dead in my tracks. There was a picture of the guy on the front page. He had attacked two girls at a gas

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_01] station and ended up killing them. The police had shot and killed him when they were trying to detain him. Honestly, I can't remember all of the details, and I haven't been able to find the article since, but I do remember feeling shocked and relieved, since I knew that he wouldn't be coming back after

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_01] that. So to the man with the dyed orange hair, let's not meet. I work full-time at a public

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_01] university in the United States as an office manager. I'm also enrolled in grad school at the same institution. I graduate this May. I have in-person night classes three days a week that start right after I get off of work. My apartment is on the first floor of a complex about 10 minutes away. Now, over the past few months, I've had numerous bizarre occurrences around my home and

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_01] workplace. The first, to my knowledge, was in September, and it was something that my neighbor from across the hall told me about. She's a very sweet older woman. She said that a man was banging on my door for around an hour just after midnight. I wasn't home. My neighbor poked her head out to ask him what was going on, and he said that he was from DoorDash, but he had no food or bags in his hands.

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_01] My neighbor watched him through the peephole, and he tried the doorknob multiple times. Now, neither of us have doorbell cameras, so there isn't any footage of this, unfortunately. As far as I know, he didn't come back, but I've also had three or four instances over this several-month period where someone knocked on my bedroom window late at night. I have blackout

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_01] curtains, which are always closed, but whoever this was always knocked loud enough to wake my tiny dog and me. I never saw who it was. In October, about one month after the knocking instances stopped, a woman came to my sliding glass door demanding that I let her into my place because her stolen device was supposedly pinging my apartment. When I refused, she called the sheriff's

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_01] department. The deputy who came asked me a couple of questions and left, but did confirm that a device appeared to be pinging in my apartment. She never clarified whether it was a phone or what kind of device it was. But the woman lingered in the parking lot until she left a few minutes later. After the sheriff had spoken with me, it was evident I hadn't stolen whatever device she was after,

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_01] so I was completely bewildered. I never saw her again after that. In December, things came to a head when I found a plug-in GPS tracker in the OBD port under my dashboard. The car dealership where my car had been last serviced said that they didn't use the brand on the tracker I found. They also said that

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_01] they didn't perform any services that would have warranted putting it there. So I called the cops, who showed up, took down a few details, and just left. University police were also informed since the tracker was probably placed either on campus or at my apartment. The tracker was the biggest red flag. I never check my OBD port, so I have no idea how long it had been there. I told my unit director,

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_01] and he offered to subtly remove mentions of me around the office and on the website, which I accepted. I am, however, stationed at the front desk of the office for about 80% of my day. Even beyond finding that tracker, odd occurrences did keep happening. Recently, right before I left for lunch, a middle-aged man came into the office wearing a hairnet, surgical mask, hoodie, and sunglasses.

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_01] He claimed to be a prospective student and had questions about FAFSA. He was extremely hard to understand, so I directed him to the financial aid office across campus, but he kept asking questions that our office couldn't answer. I didn't think anything of this interaction. I figured he was mostly harmless, and then he walked over to our coffee machine,

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_01] which wasn't for public use. I just let him make the coffee, and then one of my staff members watched the desk for me while I stepped out for lunch. He was still there as I was leaving, but when I returned from lunch, he was gone. But he walked in again a few minutes later and sat in the lobby for a bit before getting up and then leaving again. I was off work on Wednesday and Thursday,

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_01] but I worked again on Friday. I felt like giving my mostly undergrad staff a break, so I permitted them to head home early, inadvertently leaving me alone in the office. The man came back wearing the same clothes, mask, hairnet, and sunglasses within five minutes of the office clearing out. Our office is technically open to the public, but it isn't public-facing, and he had no reason to be

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_01] there, especially that late in the day. He came in, barely acknowledged me, and said that he was going to bring back bottled water for our coffee machine. Then he left again. I was very creeped out by this, so I messaged my director, who was working remotely, and he asked an IT guy from the adjacent building to come over with his laptop so I wouldn't be by myself. Once the IT guy was there, I explained the

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_01] situation, and he said that he would stay with me until it was time for me to close. He then settled into my director's office, which was just around the corner, so I still looked like I was alone. The man did come back, but he didn't have any water with him. He just leaned against my desk and tried to start a conversation with me. The IT guy heard this, so he came around the corner

[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_01] and stood between me and him. The strange man then quickly changed the subject and asked about financial aid again, for the fourth time. I directed him away, just as I had before, and he finally left. I'm strongly considering informing campus police about this. As I said, they already know about the tracker, and it seems like this guy has an eye on me. I've had problems in the past during my

[00:12:20] [SPEAKER_01] undergrad years at a different institution with men and women being really creepy towards me, but nothing to this level. I have no idea what to do. I can't tell what's isolated and what's connected. My family lives an hour away and has been no help at all. I have a sinking feeling that things are

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[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_01] That's Nutrafol.com spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L dot com promo code MEAT. Let's Not Meat is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy. Just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money when you bundle your home and auto

[00:14:52] [SPEAKER_01] policies. The process only takes minutes, and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit Progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. Last year, my fiancé and I flew out of JFK Airport after taking a day trip to New York City. It was a late night, and the security

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_01] line was treacherously long. A huge snowstorm had occurred earlier that day, so flights were delayed, canceled, etc. I travel a lot and hardly ever notice the people behind me while standing in lines. Even if they bump into me, I don't even look in their direction. However, this time, instead of just an accidental touch, it felt like someone was pulling at my clothing. I ignored it the first time

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_01] that it happened. I possibly moved my head, but didn't even look back completely. But then, it kept happening. I became annoyed and thought that it was somebody who wasn't in the right mindset, but I also thought that they might be playing a prank on me. So finally, I got the courage to look back, and I began to say something along the lines of, Can I help you? But I didn't get to finish the sentence. It took only a glance at the couple

[00:16:16] [SPEAKER_01] behind me to understand that the tugging on my shirt was no accident. It's hard to explain the look of fear, pleading, and distress that the woman had on her face. I knew instantly something was wrong. I didn't know the specifics, but I assumed the worst. The security line was long, so long that I had quite a bit of time to ponder what I should do. I could see that they were checking

[00:16:41] [SPEAKER_01] tickets up ahead, and I figured that I could tell the employee that I was concerned for the woman behind me. My other option was TSA. Ultimately, I decided that I would tip off the TSA officers because they probably had the best pretense for separating them and inquiring with her about her situation directly. I'm glad that I made that choice because, to my surprise, the man accompanying

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_01] her did not have a ticket, and they didn't allow him to go any further. I caught them sharing a passionate kiss out of the corner of my eye. Still unsure of the complete situation, I actually wrote a note on my phone asking if she was okay, and I faced it towards her just in case. She replied out loud, saying, I'm fine now. She proceeded to explain that she had been under the abusive control

[00:17:33] [SPEAKER_01] of the man that she was with for three months. I was finally able to get a good look at her face. It was bruised and pale. She said that she was glad I caught on because she wanted someone to intervene in the case that he changed his mind at the last minute about letting her go to London. I didn't really know what to say, so I asked if she was a U.S. citizen. I mostly asked this since

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_01] I was concerned about her being able to get there without being turned away. She said that she was, so I was relieved she would probably have no issues getting there and getting out of New York. I think she noticed I was with my fiancé, and he was kind of quiet throughout all of this because he didn't know what was going on. Before we separated at the security check,

[00:18:20] [SPEAKER_01] she leaned in close behind me and whispered, be safe. I know it was out of care, but that sent a shiver down my spine. I replied that I would. Now my adrenaline was high for the rest of the evening, and it took a while for it to come down. I wondered if her situation went deeper than what she told me, and if I should be concerned for myself. I almost wanted to ask my fiancé to accompany me to the

[00:18:46] [SPEAKER_01] bathroom instead of staying behind to watch our stuff. Well, thankfully that was it. Nothing else happened. However, it did make me thankful for my fiancé, especially when reflecting on my own past relationships. I feel very fortunate to never have experienced anything like that. I feel bad that I didn't think to offer any money, advice, support, or anything else, but the energy surrounding her was so unsettling that it made me disoriented. If I could talk to her now, I would say I'm sorry for not

[00:19:15] [SPEAKER_01] offering more, but I hope she's safe now and living freely. I was coming back from my aunt's house in a small town that has fewer than a thousand residents, and I needed to go to the supermarket to buy some

[00:19:41] [SPEAKER_01] essentials like water. On my way back, about 30 minutes from the city where I live, there's a small mini-market located next to a car wash right at the entrance of a town that I passed through to return home. Outside this mini-market, the parking spaces are very tight. There are about 16 spots in total, 8 on one side and 8 on the other. I went inside, picked up a few things, and went to pay.

[00:20:07] [SPEAKER_01] I was in there for maybe 3-4 minutes. When I came out, I noticed that a gray car was parked in the lane right in front of my car, which prevented me from leaving the parking lot, because the only way to exit was by reversing. My car wasn't the only one blocked by this one. The owner of the car blocking my car and the other car was probably still inside the store. So I went back inside and I spoke to the

[00:20:34] [SPEAKER_01] cashier explaining the situation. She then told a co-worker and asked her to walk around and check to see if anyone owned a car with the same make and model. I then went back outside and waited for the owner of the car blocking the exit to come back out. Three minutes later, someone who was also blocked by the car came out and asked, whose car is this? When I turned around, I saw a very tall man who appeared

[00:21:01] [SPEAKER_01] to be around 30. I told him that I was waiting for the owner of the car. Understandably annoyed, he then said, how can someone even park like this? I only managed to nod as I was confused by the situation. He then maneuvered around me to take a picture of the license plate of the car that was blocking us, and as soon as he finished, he asked me if I was from the town that I was headed to.

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_01] I confirmed that I was, and at that moment, as I looked directly at his face, I realized that he was the same person who, about 10 years ago, used to appear everywhere that I went. See, when I was 14, I used to see this same exact man, no matter where I went. At that time, he was much thinner, and I remember he had a peculiar way of dressing. I used to see him on my school bus, and he would

[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_01] stare at me often. Too often. Even back then, he had visible facial hair, and I think he was definitely older, probably around 18. He was also on my school bus when I was coming back from school several times a week, and I always felt like something about him wasn't right. I always saw him in these school bus lines, which were dedicated lines mainly used by students from different high

[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_01] schools in the area, so I assumed he was a student. One particular detail that made me really notice him was that besides the way he looked at me, sometimes he had a backpack and sometimes he didn't, even though he was on the school bus line. Somehow, he was always on the same bus as me,

[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_01] but he came from a totally different bus stop every single time. Also, I lived on a wide street in my city, and around 2015-2016, while I was closing the gate of my house, I saw this guy walking on the opposite side of the street. I also saw him other times on the bus during the same period, but then, one day,

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_01] I simply stopped seeing him entirely. It was so strange to suddenly have this interaction with him about the car that was blocking both of us at the mini-mart. When he asked me if I lived in that town, I simply answered, yes, I was from that city, and he nodded. The man who was blocking our cars came out of the store shortly after. He was a man with white hair, wearing a black leather jacket, and had

[00:23:32] [SPEAKER_01] a slight hunch and a strange way of walking. Once the man approached the car, the guy next to me asked him if he thought it was okay to park like that. The guy apologized, explained that he was in a hurry, got into his car, and quickly drove away. After the way out was finally clear, the guy said, I don't know what to tell you, and laughed with a smile. Then he said goodbye and drove away as well.

[00:23:58] [SPEAKER_01] I don't know if this was just a huge coincidence, or maybe, is it possible that after more than 10 years, this strange guy, who used to always happen to be where I was, is somehow still following me? Did he and the man who blocked our cars actually know each other? I was only in the mini-mart for maybe 3-4 minutes when I went inside, and there wasn't even a car parked next to me when I went in.

[00:24:35] [SPEAKER_01] I know this is cliche, but I never thought I'd have a story like this. I've heard so many similar stories to the one I'm about to share, and I'm still in disbelief that something like this happened to me. For some background, my roommate and I are best friends. We're both females, and we're in our late 20s. We only recently moved into our apartment, and we just passed our one-month

[00:24:59] [SPEAKER_01] anniversary of living there. We live in Ontario, in the greater Toronto area. We're in a great neighborhood. It's a little touristy, but not a bad area. The building is in great shape, but old, and many of the tenants have told us that they lived there for 20 years or more. We were assured the locks were changed before moving in. I have a key, as does my roomie, and there's an old couple who takes care of the building. They're in their 60s. There's also

[00:25:29] [SPEAKER_01] a general maintenance guy who's around. But let's get on to the story. I was the last to leave the apartment at around 8am, and I locked the door. My roommate got home at around 4.30pm, unlocked the door, changed, and left again to run errands. We both got home at around 6pm. The first thing I did was go to my room to change out of my work clothes and into my yoga pants. I noticed that my closet looked messy.

[00:25:57] [SPEAKER_01] I had a small box of miscellaneous stuff in there. It had things like a notebook, some tissue paper, lip gloss, keychains, you know, junk drawer stuff. It looked like it had fallen onto the floor in my closet. However, the box was then put back up, and some of the dirty clothes from the basket were inside. It looked like someone had been rummaging through my dirty laundry and tossed the clothes

[00:26:23] [SPEAKER_01] out of their way, which probably caused the box to fall. Now, I tend to be a clean person. I knew right away that this was not right. I didn't do this. But I began to rationalize. I wondered if my roommate did this, but quickly dismissed that thought because, no, why would she do this? I knew she simply wouldn't. If she needed something, I knew she would ask. And then I wondered, did I do this?

[00:26:50] [SPEAKER_01] Maybe I threw my pants in the closet and they landed on the box? Maybe I did leave this stuff on the floor? In any case, I decided it was weird and just went on with my business. Now fast forward to about 9.45pm. I was in my room and suddenly I heard my roommate call my name loudly, using a tone of voice that I had never heard from her before. I went to her room and she said,

[00:27:16] [SPEAKER_01] I found the gift you left for me. Confused, I replied, what? I don't understand. She explained, the present that you left in my pillowcase. I looked at her from the hall and said, I have no idea what you're talking about. I then proceeded to her room and on her bed was a dildo. My dildo. I grabbed it and said, that's mine, why is it in here? She replied, it was in my pillowcase.

[00:27:45] [SPEAKER_01] You didn't put it there? I told her it was mixed in with my laundry basket since I leave it there to remind myself to wash it. By then, my wheels were really turning and things were coming together. Someone must have let themselves into our apartment with the key, gone into my room, looked through my dirty laundry, found the sex toy mixed in there and put it inside her pillowcase

[00:28:10] [SPEAKER_01] so she would find it when she went to bed. After being in shock for just a few minutes, the reality sunk in and I began to cry. Someone did have access to our apartment, for at least the last month. We decided to talk to the building managers, the old couple, and while they seemed to want to comfort me because I was an emotional mess, the husband

[00:28:34] [SPEAKER_01] mostly played it down, saying it was probably a joke, but it wasn't funny. He asked if we had ever given a copy of the key to anyone and I clarified, nope, never. We called the cops and they came within an hour or so. They took all of our info, but we told them the full story and they had a look around. Honestly, they couldn't do much, and I figured that would probably be the case.

[00:29:00] [SPEAKER_01] But at least we started a paper trail. I definitely brought up the handyman guy as somebody that we should talk to. They also said they were going to follow up with some of the residents and the building staff. I also watched the property manager and the handyman change my locks the next morning. If anything seems out of place after this, then it's clear that it's either the staff or someone who has access to their duplicate apartment keys. My roommate and I are also getting a camera

[00:29:30] [SPEAKER_01] that we can install somewhere discreetly, and hopefully it will never catch anyone that shouldn't

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[00:31:54] [SPEAKER_01] money when you bundle your home and auto policies. The process only takes minutes, and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit Progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. This happened when I took my 5-year-old son and my 3-month-old daughter to the playground to meet a

[00:32:19] [SPEAKER_01] friend and her daughter. This playground in particular has regular playground equipment, a large parking lot, a spacious grassy area, and a play area that is surrounded by trees. On the other side of these trees is some sort of development that's been in the middle of being constructed. The general area this is located in is pretty rural. There are a bunch of twisty roads and random buildings out there,

[00:32:44] [SPEAKER_01] which I'd never thought about or noticed until this day. So we arrived at the park and met up with my friend. Another mom that we knew was there with her two girls. The only other people there were a dad and a little girl and a boy who looked to be somewhere between 10 and 12. The three of us moms were all sitting, chatting, and playing with my adorable daughter and having a good time. The kids were playing together and everything was good. Eventually, all of the kids from our group kind of wandered off

[00:33:14] [SPEAKER_01] through the playground to do their own thing. The seesaws are in a shaded area next to a big stretch of grass. My son wanted to get on one of the seesaws, but nobody wanted to do it with him. I got up to go help him, but then the other boy who was there, the one who looked to be around 10 or 12, came over and asked, do you want me to play with him? This struck me as a little strange. Why would he ask me and not

[00:33:39] [SPEAKER_01] my son? But I said, sure, go ahead. So he got on the other side and started seesawing with him. His demeanor was so strange. He didn't smile and his voice was completely flat. He didn't say a word to my son either. He just silently seesawed with him. Of course, my son was oblivious and he was just chatting away with his other kid. After a few minutes,

[00:34:04] [SPEAKER_01] I started walking back to my bench and that was when I heard the boys start talking to my son. So I thought, okay, maybe he's shy around grownups. So I sat down and I started talking to my friends again. Then the dad walked near us, I assumed to go to his car for a second. So I smiled at him and said, hey, it was really nice of your son to offer to play with mine. He looked at me and replied,

[00:34:28] [SPEAKER_01] he's not my son. I don't know who he is. He just asked me if I wanted him to play with my daughter and then kind of followed us around until you got here. He said this with a scoff as if to say, kind of weird, right? And shook his head. After he explained this, I had a very uneasy feeling in my stomach and I looked over to the seesaws. That kid and my son were gone. So I jumped up,

[00:34:55] [SPEAKER_01] handed my daughter to my friend, and I ran in that direction yelling my son's name. I saw them walking and they had almost reached the trees. The trees weren't close. If I had to guess, I'd say they were about a football field or so away from the play area. I had this awful feeling. So I was running as fast as I could yelling my son's name. He turned around and started trying to walk back to me. The strange boy grabbed his arm and tried to pull him towards the trees.

[00:35:24] [SPEAKER_01] This upset my son and he said, hey, let go of me. My son does not like to be grabbed, pushed, or pulled. He has ADHD, so when he gets frustrated, it usually comes out in aggressive ways. I was so thankful for this on that day because he then started hitting the boy and headbutting him like a frenzied little guy. He just didn't know how else to react. The boy let go of him just as I

[00:35:50] [SPEAKER_01] caught up to them, and he ran into the trees. My friends finally realized something was going on, so they were standing at the edge of the play area looking confused. My son was crying and shaking. I don't think either one of us knew what just happened. I asked my son where he was going, and he said his friend wanted to take him to see Ryan, as in the kid from Ryan's Toy Reviews.

[00:36:15] [SPEAKER_01] It was his favorite YouTube channel at the time, and he talked about it non-stop. He told the boy about Ryan, and apparently, the boy told him that he knew where Ryan lived, and asked my son if he wanted to leave to go with him to visit Ryan and play. Of course, my son said yes. I don't know what his intention beyond getting my son to leave the park with him was. I mean, he was a kid himself.

[00:36:42] [SPEAKER_01] I don't understand why he would lie to my son. Why did he want him to go into the woods? Why was he so weird? It could have been innocent, but I truly don't think that it was. I did call the police and report the incident afterwards, but I'm not sure how much good that did. They listened to what happened and asked me some questions, but they didn't want me to make a formal statement or anything. I also called my son's school just to be safe. This was just such a bizarre experience.

[00:37:31] [SPEAKER_01] I'll never know what this man's intentions were, but I'm thankful I listened to my gut anyway, even if it took me a little bit to smarten up. At the time, while this was happening, I didn't think much of it, but now, looking back on it from the perspective of an adult, being more mature and wiser, I have a different opinion. Whenever I revisit the memory of this encounter, I'm convinced something more sinister was at play, but I don't think I'll ever know for

[00:38:00] [SPEAKER_01] sure. I was 17 when this happened, and as a teenager tends to be, I was a lot less cautious than a young girl of my age ought to be, even though I was in a new country and completely unfamiliar with my surroundings. I was on vacation with my family to escape the cold winter weather up north. My parents were very liberal about giving me the space and breathing room that I desired, and I wasted no opportunity to use that to my advantage as much as I was afforded.

[00:38:30] [SPEAKER_01] We were at a family resort, so at least there was only so far I could go. Nobody was all that concerned about anything that could happen. Everyone had their vacation blinders on, so to speak. Every night, after the sun went down, I liked to wander off to the pool to swim and soak in the hot tub while my parents stayed in their rooms. When you're in a luxurious environment, at a high-end

[00:38:57] [SPEAKER_01] resort, you don't think about the potential for danger. In hindsight, I suppose this is why tourists are considered ideal targets for predatory activity. I had my guard down while I was on vacation. I was more sociable and, admittedly, more trusting than I ordinarily would be. I think there was also this false sense of security that was amplified by the security staff of this protected resort,

[00:39:23] [SPEAKER_01] which made me feel like it was definitely okay to lower my guard. So, just like any other night during my stay, I was lounging in the hot tub, chattering amongst the guests. And during that time, all my worries were completely forgotten, for the moment. I was getting a lot of attention, mainly because it was apparent I was Canadian and the other guests around were seemingly fascinated by this. I was barraged with questions, some of which I could not determine

[00:39:52] [SPEAKER_01] whether they were genuine or trolling. Amongst this group of people, I was particularly invested in this conversation I was having with a much older man who came off as nothing but warm and friendly. He had claimed he was on vacation with his family, but they were nowhere to be seen. Besides myself, he was the only one at the hot tub who didn't seem to know anyone else there. Everyone else was with

[00:40:18] [SPEAKER_01] their families. I figured that was normal enough, since I was also with my family, but they weren't anywhere to be seen either. What was striking me as odd, however, was how he seemed to be engaging only me in conversation and ignoring everyone else. As the night progressed, people began retreating to their rooms, and eventually it was just me, this man, and a few others. It was around this time that he

[00:40:46] [SPEAKER_01] shared with me what room he was staying in before asking innocently where I was staying. I naively told him, but I didn't completely specify everything. I only told him which section I was staying in, even though he had asked which room specifically. I guess I had enough sense not to divulge that much. Things didn't take a particularly unsettling turn until I began to notice how eerily

[00:41:14] [SPEAKER_01] quiet things had become. There were still some people around in the immediate area, but now it was just him and me in the hot tub. I took that as my cue to head back to my room, so I bid him goodbye and I got up to leave, but he stopped me. He insisted that he walk me back to my room and said that it wasn't safe for a pretty little thing like me to be wandering around the resort

[00:41:39] [SPEAKER_01] by myself at this late hour of the night. He came off as a protective uncle, but I waved off the supposed hospitality and assured him that I would be alright. He became more persistent, switching from concerned guardian to fear-mongerer. He told me how bad things happen to young girls like me when they walk around without an escort. As he droned on about the dangers that would surely befall me as a young

[00:42:07] [SPEAKER_01] female on vacation with no one around to guard me, I finally felt the first wave of unease wash over me. But still, I shook it off. I smiled warmly, thanked him, and said that I would be fine on my own. He seemed to deflate as his expression became more exasperated. He then said, at least let me walk you part of the way until I know you're safe. This puzzled me. If predators

[00:42:35] [SPEAKER_01] were lurking, how would I be any safer walking from the halfway point than from where I was now, besides it being a shorter trek? Nonetheless, his show of concern was beginning to wear me down. He had gotten me thinking about how dark it had become and the vulnerable position I was in. He was right. I practically had a target on my back.

[00:42:59] [SPEAKER_01] Okay, I said with a nod after a moment of hesitation. I was young and naive and I thought that it would be an advantage to have someone bigger and stronger with me. I know, it was very naive to think this way. But I was a sheltered teen with far too much faith in humanity at this point. I was very unlike the cynical and distrustful woman I am today, who also follows her gut.

[00:43:28] [SPEAKER_01] I also, as annoyingly typical as this sounds, did not want to be rude. Fortunately, I have since grown out of my people-pleasing complex, and will not hesitate to say no when I feel uncomfortable at the first sign of a red flag. But I had yet to develop this quality back then, so I hesitantly relented. At the moment I was more concerned about being rude than I was about my safety. His eyes lit up and he nodded approvingly, as he replied,

[00:43:57] [SPEAKER_01] Good, let's get going then. It's late, and your parents will worry. I ignored the twisting in my gut and rose from the hot tub, shivering from the sudden exposure in the cold air. Suddenly feeling too exposed, I hastily fastened my towel around myself and walked towards the lockers. At this point, I was just determined to get back to safety and warmth in my hotel. It was only as I was getting closer to leaving that I began to get this sinking feeling

[00:44:26] [SPEAKER_01] in my stomach. It felt like something about this whole night just wasn't right. My suspicions were further affirmed as I took note of my escort following me. The lockers were outside, and the women's changing room was to the left. I was going to retrieve my clothes from the locker, change in the locker room, and then go, with this total stranger whom I didn't know at all. I noticed that he was

[00:44:51] [SPEAKER_01] standing a little too closely now, and I instinctively shrank away from him. This definitely wasn't right. But it wasn't until I shakily started pulling my top over my soaked bikini top, which regrettably accented my curves a little more than I was comfortable with at the moment, that I decided I could change my mind. I didn't have to wander off with this strange man that I

[00:45:16] [SPEAKER_01] hardly knew. Any bit of false security I had waned away the moment that I felt his eyes on me, watching me dress. His eyes were clearly appraising my body, which made me shiver again, this time not from the cold. As I pulled the rest of my clothes on, I had already made my decision. You know, I really appreciate you offering to walk me back towards my room, but I think I'll manage after all. Thank you, though. I said it as firmly as I could.

[00:45:47] [SPEAKER_01] He grew solemnly quiet, which stirred a growing sense of malaise within me, as I began to feel more and more validated in my decision not to allow this man to walk with me. Are you sure? He pressed. I would hate for anything to happen to you. I nodded more insistently, and through a forced smile, I replied, No, it's all right. I'll be fine. Thank you.

[00:46:12] [SPEAKER_01] He quietly said okay, as I essentially ran for the exit. While still in earshot behind me, I heard him continue. You be careful now, you never know who might be out there. As soon as I was out of sight, I bolted, and was stopped in my tracks instantly by the second wave of impending dread hitting me that night. I decided against walking back on foot and headed towards the

[00:46:38] [SPEAKER_01] on-resort shuttle instead. On the way, on two separate occasions, within ten minutes, two older men in their fifties made a pass at me, and at the shuttle stop, a group of men in a car offered to give me a ride. I ended up making it back to my room safely from the shuttle without any further incident, though. I later wrote the interaction off as paranoia and convinced myself that this older man really was just a hospitable older man, but now that I have some personal

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[00:50:00] [SPEAKER_01] On late night, I was driving out of Nowheresville for spring break with my friend Jeb when we had to stop for utilities just off of the highway. Let's just say that that stop was far from any type of civilization. We needed to go to the restroom, but the gas station was closed, so we decided to go in a bush. For context, it was the middle of a severe thunderstorm, so it felt like we were driving

[00:50:27] [SPEAKER_01] through a constant car wash. As we were relieving ourselves, Jeb asked, Hey, can you see that giant rock poking through those woods up on that hill? Uh, yeah, I replied. Just barely. Look at the top of it, Jeb instructed. There was a barely visible outline of a person standing on top of the rock. It was clear that

[00:50:52] [SPEAKER_01] they were trying their best to remain perfectly still while also having some sort of staring contest with us. I could also tell that they weren't wearing any sort of attire for the rain. Of course, upon seeing this, we sprinted back to the car. Jeb then said, I think it was a girl, but it's hard to tell with all of this rain. Well, this random person seems to be without a car,

[00:51:18] [SPEAKER_01] so let's find out, I replied. We pulled out and we were able to angle the car so that the brights could point at the rock. We knew that it made a little difference trying to see due to the conditions, but we tried anyway. The brights barely revealed two grown men working together to drag something large. They appeared to be digging behind the rock. Both were in completely

[00:51:43] [SPEAKER_01] blacked out clothing, and we could tell that they were definitely okay with getting soaked. What sent chills down our spines was that for the split second that they looked back at our lights, we could see that they were both wearing Halloween masks, or at least some kind of dark full coverage mask. We even thought maybe they were wearing hockey masks. It looked like they had been painted a

[00:52:08] [SPEAKER_01] darker color. We weren't sure what they were burying out there, but we also saw that they were able to drag the large trash bag looking thing completely behind the rock. After seeing all of that, words cannot describe how fast I got back onto that highway. There weren't any cars in the area, and we could tell that the woods were isolated to just a patch behind the highway. I'm not sure what it was that we

[00:52:35] [SPEAKER_01] saw, but it seemed like they didn't want anyone to know who they were or what they were doing. I thought about this extensively, and I haven't come up with a logical reason of what could have been

[00:52:48] [SPEAKER_01] going on. This is a true story, and now I'm coming up on eight years since it happened. I was 20 years old, living in a condo near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I lived a rather crazy life.

[00:53:14] [SPEAKER_01] I had just finished getting my associate's degree in Boston, and I was feeling lost. I didn't have my family around and had just moved to Myrtle Beach. I knew it well from going there as a kid. I lived with my roommate, who was a woman and her brother, in a two-bedroom single-floor condo. It was a Thursday in October, and I was watching reruns of Tosh.0. I was sitting in a recliner

[00:53:40] [SPEAKER_01] facing the sliding door, and it was pitch black. I should mention that I needed glasses at the time, but I was in a really rough spot with my family. I wasn't speaking with them, so I was on my own for the most part. I started hearing what sounded like someone scratching at the back door, on and off. I admit I should have just turned on the outdoor lights, but my imagination was running wild about what the scratching was. The noises alarmed me enough to call out to my roommate, whom we'll

[00:54:09] [SPEAKER_01] call Kelly. She was in her brother's room, getting help with university work. Both originally shrugged me off and said that it was probably just one of the many strays in the area. We did have a dog and cat who frequently used the back sliding door. When I came back from talking to Kelly and her brother about the noises, I noticed that the sliding door was slightly ajar. I had a terrible feeling in my stomach,

[00:54:35] [SPEAKER_01] but I still couldn't comprehend what was actually going on. In any case, I was freaked out enough to close the door, and for whatever reason, I closed the door from the back side of the door instead of using the handle since I felt so suspicious about it. Then I immediately put in the wooden dowel that we kept behind the door to make sure it stayed shut and locked it. As soon as I stepped back from putting the wooden dowel down and successfully locking the door,

[00:55:03] [SPEAKER_01] a person who appeared to be about six feet tall wearing all black and a wolf mask was pressing themselves against the door. I screamed out to my roommates and said that someone was trying to break in. Kelly's brother came flying out of his room with a gun. He then flew out the sliding glass door. He actually chased the person in the wolf mask through the woods behind our condo.

[00:55:28] [SPEAKER_01] When we called the cops, they shrugged it off as a prank. Just a guy and a wolf mask. It was October after all. I was very unsettled though. Everyone thought that it would be over after that, but my gut told me that it wasn't. I was right. The next morning there were Bible verses spray-painted all over our porch. The Bible verses all mentioned loose women, so it seemed like we were dealing with

[00:55:53] [SPEAKER_01] someone religious. The decorative rabbits that we had out there had their eyes spray-painted black, and all of our outdoor furniture was facing in at the sliding glass door. From the clearing in the woods, we could see a chair had been stolen from us. We could only assume he was watching us from there. Kelly's brother was with us that night, and another one of Kelly's

[00:56:18] [SPEAKER_01] family members stayed with us as well, and they brought their gun for added protection. Kelly's brother worked with this relative, and his tires ended up getting slashed that night, so thankfully, he was able to get a ride into work with their relative who stayed over. We probably should have thought about moving right away because the police were not taking us seriously, and things were escalating, but none of us were in a good position to move,

[00:56:44] [SPEAKER_01] so we did our best and made sure to lock our doors and ensure that there were always two people around with at least one of them being armed. I ended up being able to move out of there by Halloween, but the two weeks leading up to that were horrifying. I really believe that he wanted to kill us with the knife that he had been using to routinely pop all our tires during those two weeks.

[00:57:09] [SPEAKER_01] He continued to paint Bible verses outside, and our neighbors were well aware of it, but nobody ever caught him in the act. He had to have been watching long enough to know everyone's schedule, to know when he could do that stuff to our property. On my final night living there, a group of Kelly's family friends and our guy friends were sitting outside all night long. We all felt strange, like we were being watched because the woods were so dark.

[00:57:36] [SPEAKER_01] Eventually, the sun was coming up, but nothing had happened that night, so we started cleaning up. The next thing we knew, once everyone was inside, the guy with the wolf mask ran after us, grabbed our speaker, and then ran away. We grabbed the baseball bat and some bug spray, and talked about using it on his eyes from the back porch as we watched him running away. Shortly after this, I started receiving text from a friend

[00:58:03] [SPEAKER_01] who said I needed to repent for my sins, and that was when I realized he had stolen a phone. I was probably the person he was originally stalking, although it seemed like he was expressing interest in making Kelly repent as well. Even though I moved out first, we all moved out eventually. I moved out of the state entirely, while Kelly and her brother moved back in with their mom. Our stalker was never found, and ever since we all moved and changed our contact information,

[00:58:32] [SPEAKER_01] I don't believe he's ever reached out to any of us. This is going to haunt me forever, and with the Idaho murders that happened back in 2022, I can't help but think about my situation, since it was very similar. My stalker even tried to enter through the sliding glass door, just like their stalker. Stay safe, everyone, and really secure your sliding glass doors.

[00:59:13] [SPEAKER_01] Stick around after the music if you're a patron for your extended version of this week's episode. If you want to get access, go to patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast to sign up and support the show today. You'll get access to ad-free versions of all of our episodes at a higher bit rate, plus bonus content and those extensions with stories you won't hear anywhere else every single week at patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast. Be sure to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like Odd Trails and the Old Time Radio Cast,

[00:59:40] [SPEAKER_01] and follow me on Twitch at twitch.tv slash crypticcounty. Send your stories into let's not meet stories at gmail.com if you'd like to hear them on the show. This week you have heard my stalker ended up killing two girls by one sweetie 8576. How many people are stalking me by Annie Jello 9719? The woman at the airport by Unique. Was it a coincidence by professional key 9049? Someone has a key to my apartment by Meg. Creepy kid at the park by Rives Mama.

[01:00:10] [SPEAKER_01] The time I almost let politeness win over my common sense by Electra X Heart 15. We saw something we weren't supposed to see by Few Jellyfish 7263. And finally, stalked by a man in a wolf mask by Anonymous. 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. We'll see you all next week for a brand new episode. Everybody stay safe.

[01:01:07] [SPEAKER_01] This happened over 30 years ago and although it's been so long, it has stayed fresh.

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