17x12: Someone Is Living In My Attic

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[00:01:02] [SPEAKER_00] This podcast contains adult language and content. The stories shared in 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

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_00] at gmail.com. Enjoy the show. I just want to preface this by saying that this story is

[00:01:49] [SPEAKER_00] 100% true, and has remained, thankfully, the scariest real-life experience I've ever had. I was 13 at the time. My cousin Destiny was 14. We were headed out to a small water park campground that we often visited with our other older cousin Kara, who was about 25. 5. Kara had a friend, Ethan, who rented a campsite with his camper for the whole summer, so we planned

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_00] on swimming for a short time and then having dinner at the camper. After we swam, it was about 6 o'clock when Destiny and I washed our hair in the free showers in preparation to do purple highlights with the splat hair dye that we had brought with us. Our parents wouldn't allow us to do it at home, so we decided to be rebels and do it without their permission. We went up to the camper and waited

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_00] while Kara and Ethan prepared a classic small meal of hot dogs and potato chips for us. Our hair was dry by the time we were done eating, so Destiny, Kara, and I got to work with the purple hair dye. After waiting for the recommended 25 minutes, we rinsed it out in the freezing cold water of the community water spigot, located a short walk from the camper. Looking back, we now know how disrespectful this was

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_00] and probably not great for the environment. We all hung out at the camper, talking and taking cringy photos of our new hair on the barely functioning phones that we had. We're talking early 2010s camera phones here. By the time the stars were out, Destiny and I wanted to go for a walk on the road that stretched around the entire pond and through the campgrounds. It was one big circle.

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_00] There was a small part of the pond that ran under one part of the road and had a small bridge over it. Next to the bridge were a few picnic tables where you could sit and look out at the pond. It was dark at this time. The place was just barely illuminated by the moon and a couple dim streetlights that they had around the pond. As we approached the bridge, we could see a group of 7 or 8 teenagers,

[00:04:05] [SPEAKER_00] probably around 16 to 18 years old, sitting on the picnic tables. As we got closer, we could see that many of them were smoking, both cigarettes and weed. We could also see that they were looking at us. As we began to pass by them, they started to ask us if we wanted to smoke with them and if we wanted to sit with them. Come hang out. We don't bite. That's what they said, at least. We said no thanks.

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_00] And we both felt a little off about this situation. None of them smiled or had any welcoming energy at all. So we just kept walking. About 5 minutes later, we were still walking and slowly approaching the water park facilities that were located on the other side of the pond from where the camper and the bridge were. We still had a ways to go, but we could see them from where we were.

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00] Destiny and I started to hear some talking, so we turned around and lo and behold, the group of teenagers were on the gravel road, distantly following behind us. I told Destiny to text Kara and let her know what was going on, but of course there wasn't any service. There wouldn't be until we got back to the hill where the camper was, or up the hill in front of us where the facilities were. The pond sat down in a valley, surrounded by everything else on the hills.

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_00] We picked up our pace and kept walking, constantly looking behind us. They were getting closer and many of the boys in the group had started catcalling us, saying, Slow down. We just want to hang out. We're not going to hurt you. I remember the fear we felt being hollered at like this, and our walk was no longer fun. We desperately wanted to get back to the camper, and Kara, but turning around wasn't an option, and we hadn't even made it halfway around the pond yet.

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_00] As we got closer to the facilities, we noticed some lights moving behind us, and we turned around to see that the group had produced flashlights, which were shining at us. But even more to our horror, some of them had begun jogging towards us. Their lights were shaking, and through the moving shadows, we saw that they were much closer than they had been just moments before. Destiny and I entered full panic mode, and took off running as fast as we could towards the facilities, which weren't far from us now.

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_00] But I remember still hearing them yelling at us, and absolutely fearing for my life, at the thought of what they would do if they caught up to us. After about a solid minute of running as fast as I could uphill, Destiny and I ran into the bathroom and showers room that sat outside the chain-link fence that closed off the entry booth to the water park. We scrambled into a shower stall on a bench, closed the curtain, pulled our legs up on the bench,

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_00] slapped our hands over our mouths and hid as quietly as we could. We were both crying at this point. Destiny got her phone out, and seeing that she had one bar of service, sent a text to Kara, essentially a cry for help, saying we were being followed and now hiding in the bathrooms. About one minute goes by, and we start seeing the glow of the flashlights flickering under the shower curtain. We heard their male voices coaxing us outside the bathroom. We held our breath,

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_00] trembling from both fear and from running uphill, and prayed that they wouldn't come in and find us. Moments passed, and the flickering flashlights went away, along with the malicious laughs of the teenagers. Still, we didn't move a muscle. Not until we heard the loud engine of Kara's old Chevy Blazer approaching the bathrooms. We heard her yell for us, and we ran out and got into the backseat of the car. Ethan was in the passenger seat, and they began asking what happened,

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_00] who it was, and where they went. Because they hadn't seen anyone. We told them they probably kept walking. Kara threw the car into drive and started looking for the group. Sure enough, a little up the road, they were still walking, now with their flashlights turned off. As we approached, and they saw the headlights, they began to run. Kara caught up quickly, and as we stopped, Ethan threw open the passenger door and started yelling at them. Kara immediately followed,

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_00] now in full mama bear mode, yelling, You think it's funny to chase girls around in the dark? What's wrong with you? We stayed in the car, but with the doors hanging open, we could still hear them spewing stuff back, like, We were just messing around, it's not a big deal. Things like that. Kara and Ethan proceeded to cuss them out as they walked back to the car. We drove back up to the camper and got our things calmed down, and left the place shortly after.

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_00] Whether the group of teens was just messing around, trying to scare us, or truly had ulterior motives, we'll never know. We felt like prey in the dark, being chased by wolves, and I'll never know what would have happened if we hadn't had a bar of service hiding in that shower stall. Destiny and I never walked alone in the dark a day after that. Ever again.

[00:09:42] [SPEAKER_00] This story started at a campsite in New Jersey. It's a pretty popular campsite, and very safe. One summer when I was about eight, my family and some family friends decided to go camping there. We were staying for about a week or two, and we're on our third or fourth day. I was with three other kids, Dylan and Sophia, who were both ten, and Maddie, who was fourteen. We got bored after eating dinner, so Sophia and Dylan

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_00] had brought walkie-talkies. Since there were four of us and two walkie-talkies, and because we were in a safe area, we decided to play hide-and-seek. We would split into teams, two people hiding together and two people seeking together. Each team got one walkie-talkie. I was paired with Dylan, and we got a five-minute head start to run around the huge campsite. We had actually gotten pretty far. We were on this road, and right by it,

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_00] there were just straight woodlands and a few houses, since some people buy vacation homes there. We were kind of just sitting in our spot on the side of the street for maybe ten minutes. Sophia and Maddie came on the walkie-talkie to ask for a hint, and we gave them one. Still, after about ten more minutes, they couldn't find us, so they gave up. We assumed they were probably close, so we told them the street we were on, and they said

[00:11:10] [SPEAKER_00] that they would come to meet us there. However, right after they said that they would meet us, we suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice come through the static and say, now I know where you live. The voice sounded like an old man from the south, maybe in his 50s or 60s. We obviously did not live here, but it freaked me out. We asked Sophia and Maddie if they had heard what we heard, but they hadn't.

[00:11:40] [SPEAKER_00] We decided to scratch the idea of them meeting us where we already were, and decided to meet at the lake instead, which is kind of in the middle of the campsite. Dylan and I were still shaken by the weird voice, but we brushed it off as a glitch or something. As we were walking to the lake, though, we noticed a beat-up red car circling around us a little too much. We ignored it and continued walking

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_00] until the car slowed down. He pulled up right behind us and rolled down his window. When he spoke, we heard the same voice that we had heard through the walkie-talkie. He said, Hey, do you guys need a ride? We didn't waste any more time and started sprinting. When I looked back, the man in the car looked agitated. Dylan said he saw him getting out of the car.

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_00] We found Sophia and Maddie and tried to tell them what happened, but they didn't even believe us. We walked back to the campsite and didn't tell our parents anything about it. We just continued about our day. I still wonder who that man was and what he would have done if we had stayed in that spot any longer. Was him being on our walkie-talkie conversation just a misunderstanding, or was he actually trying to do something?

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[00:15:09] [SPEAKER_00] I grew up like most of us where I was constantly warned about the threats of the world. I was told all your standard red flags and even trained in martial arts for the majority of my life. Hell, I didn't just feel prepared, I felt confident, but as a 15-year-old girl, I of course thought I knew more than I really did. My sophomore year of high school, I got a part-time job with my best friend Alec. Alec and I were hired

[00:15:38] [SPEAKER_00] at a local elementary school to be counselors in the after-school program. Basically, we just had to watch kids all day and try to keep them from killing themselves. Months went by and I loved the job. I've always been great with kids, plus, Alec and I both had very childish natures about us. The kids loved that. We were always playing games with them and receiving drawings depicting how much they loved us. I became instantly protective of these

[00:16:08] [SPEAKER_00] little tiny people. Alec and I had one other girl our age, a girl named Maria, who rarely talked and often looked angry and constantly irritated by all of the kids. I didn't talk to her much. I could see the kids went out of their way to avoid her as well. The second thing started to get out of control, her booming voice would echo above the chaos and everyone, including Alec and I, would promptly

[00:16:38] [SPEAKER_00] shut the fuck up. The adults at this elementary school were shockingly never present. I would see them when I showed up, but it was like they promptly noped the fuck out when we got there. Looking back, I really should have told someone, but at the time, I didn't fully comprehend how neglectful they were. The head lady and a few others were actually arrested later on for embezzling money a few years after I quit. All this to say,

[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_00] we needed a strong voice like Maria. We always let kids outside to play on the sunny days, and this week had been beautiful. It wasn't yet scorching like hot Georgia weather could often be, but during this week, I had begun to notice something strange. There were woods surrounding our playground, and on the other side of the woods was a subdivision, so it wasn't weird to see people or families hiking through the woods near the playground.

[00:17:36] [SPEAKER_00] During this week, though, I had noticed the continued appearance of one older-looking man, seemingly in his 50s, bald, 5'8", and probably about 160 pounds, always dressed in stained clothing. But what set me on edge was the way that he walked. He would sneak through the woods incredibly slowly, almost like he was a devilish cartoon character. He'd never take his eyes off the children.

[00:18:06] [SPEAKER_00] I would nudge Alec, and we would watch him, but every day, he'd come close without ever actually getting to the playground. Again, looking back, I wish I had told someone, but honestly, I felt like no one at the school even cared. I felt confident in my stupid teenage head, though, that I knew how to protect these kids. That is, until one warm Friday when I was playing with the little ones, I saw the man out of the corner of my eye.

[00:18:35] [SPEAKER_00] He was at the tree line, very close to the playground. I spun around in time to see him talking to one of the little girls who he had managed to coax to the wood line next to him. I shot up, as did Alec, when he realized my panic. I saw him reach for the girl's hand while she kept snatching it back, slowly backing away from him. Gradually, he was working his way forward, getting more and more aggressive, pulling at her hand before trying to grab her shoulders.

[00:19:06] [SPEAKER_00] Sirens were wailing in my head, but panic had set in. My blood felt like it had frozen in its veins. I was motionless, watching this scene happen. I was scrambling to form a single coherent thought, or to even move, but those measly five to ten seconds felt like an eternity, and that's when we all heard it. What the fuck do you think you're doing? Everyone at the playground froze. The man's head snapped up. Maria shot up from her seat

[00:19:36] [SPEAKER_00] on the side of the playground, storming toward the man. She suddenly seemed much taller than her five foot three inch self. If you don't turn around and run the fuck away from her right now, I will bust your ass all over this yard, motherfucker. There was a nanosecond of stunned silence. Of all things, my muddled brain was shocked when she said those words in front of the kids. The man turned and stumbled over himself as he sprinted into the woods. She ordered

[00:20:05] [SPEAKER_00] everyone inside, and no one said a peep as she directed us to the cafeteria to put cartoons on the TV. I felt like an eight-year-old shuffling along with them. I'll never forget sitting down to the proud family and having a couple of girls crawl into my lap with the same look of confusion that I felt. Now, almost twelve years later, I look back on this situation so proud and relieved that Maria did what I couldn't do. I try not to be hard on myself

[00:20:35] [SPEAKER_00] since I was only a kid, but I still mentally kick myself sometimes when I think about it. Thankfully, it was a huge learning experience. So, weird man in the woods, let's meet because I'd love to deliver Maria's promise for you that time you tried to hurt one of my kids.

[00:21:04] [SPEAKER_00] This happened late in the summer of 2014, but I remember it clearly, even over ten years later. In the fall of the previous year, I had moved into an apartment with my boyfriend at the time. I was freshly 18, he was 22. He was a socially inept groomer. Let's call him Mike. Mike was always emotionally distant and strange. We had many shared interests, but he refused to let me

[00:21:34] [SPEAKER_00] have friends, make new friends, or just go out and enjoy life in the city. I would invite him to concerts for bands that he liked and he would decline. I'd offer to introduce him to my friends. He'd decline. I'd go out to a show with some friends or hang out with my friends and he would send me a word document. A deranged, poetic slight describing every single fault of mine that he could discern. One time, I smoked pot

[00:22:04] [SPEAKER_00] and he compared me to Medea killing her children. When I say poetic, I mean poetic and when I say deranged, I really mean deranged. Naturally, we broke up. A friend of mine found him on a dating website and that was that. My parents helped me lug his stuff into a truck and took him and all his shit to his parents' house. Done deal. I kept the apartment and tried to settle back in. It was fine.

[00:22:34] [SPEAKER_00] I enjoyed my time alone and I was free to have friends visit. It seemed ideal. On my second night alone, upon falling asleep, I was quickly woken up by a knock on my door. I checked the time, maybe 3 or 4 a.m. I tried to drift back to sleep, but the knocking happened again, this time more rapidly and more aggressively. I kept ignoring it. I didn't have that many friends and the friends I

[00:23:04] [SPEAKER_00] did have would not be banging on my door at 3 a.m. Eventually, the banging stopped. I enjoyed my next few days, went out with friends, had some drinks, came home alone and went to sleep. The banging started again at 4 a.m. And then the rattling of the doorknob. This time, the guy was trying to open the door. Luckily, the building was old and disgusting.

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_00] Landlord paint jobs, roaches, no AC. But what it did have were two dead bolts and a door chain, so I felt more curious than scared. I took a look through the peephole and saw a blonde man. He didn't look like a junkie or a weirdo, but I also didn't recognize him. And no, it wasn't Mike. Mike was dark-haired and would have written a poem before he tried to break down a door. So, feeling young, stupid, and for whatever reason,

[00:24:04] [SPEAKER_00] safe enough to sleep, I go back to sleep. But it keeps happening every single night. Every single night he knocks, he bangs, slams the door, jiggles the doorknob left and right, yanks at the doorknob, flies into the door with the weight of his entire body, but never talks. He would be shit as a SWAT officer. This went on for about a week, and for some reason, I never call the cops.

[00:24:34] [SPEAKER_00] I think this was the beginning of the all-cops-are-bastards era. I don't know, but I do call my friend Pete. Maybe for a bit of context, Pete looked like the sniper in Saving Private Ryan, skinny, bony, oddly serious. Pete couldn't hurt a fly, but he had a weird, ghoulish face that made it seem as though he could. Pete and I hung out for the day. Then we waited and waited, and plotted.

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_00] We constructed a plan, speaking in whispers. We waited well into the night. At 3am, here come the knocks. Out the peephole, we see a blonde man. What a surprise. He continues to knock, smash, and bang. With the chain lock on, we undo the two deadbolts. The knocking pauses. We flick open the doorknob, and with a knife in each of our hands, we scream.

[00:25:34] [SPEAKER_00] We stab these stupid Ikea kitchen knives through the gap in the door and yell like maniacs, we're going to kill you, we're going to kill you, we're going to cut your nuts off. We swish the blades around like pirates who are only allowed to carry butter knives. Fuck off! The blonde man stumbles back and jogs down the hall. Pete and I laugh our asses off, and to my surprise, the blonde man never returned. All it took was matching his crazy.

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_00] I'll never know why he targeted me, or why he was so fucking insistent on getting into my apartment, though I can guess. But freaky blonde man, let's not meet. You know what's not negotiable for me? Sleep. I don't care what kind of day I have. If my bed isn't comfortable, the whole day gets worse in hindsight. That's

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[00:27:33] [SPEAKER_00] over again when I get into bed, genuinely sleeping better than I used to. They also sent me a dog bed, and I don't need to tell you how much they love it. Remember, the day always ends well with Casper. Right now, save up to 20% on mattresses when you go to casper.com. One last time, that's C-A-S-P-E-R dot com, and save up to 20% on the mattress you deserve. This story happened a few months ago.

[00:28:03] [SPEAKER_00] At the time, I was moving houses, but I had to wait a couple of months before moving into my next house. My very close friend Amy's family had a holiday house that was located in the village I grew up in, which is in the countryside. I've known this family and their house since I was a small child. Since the house is otherwise empty, and since I can work from anywhere, I rented Amy's family holiday house for

[00:28:33] [SPEAKER_00] these couple of months. The house is rather large. It has two floors and five bedrooms. It's located in a quiet, remote area of the village that's only surrounded by forest and other empty holiday houses. While planning this, I was aware that this setting could be scary, being a single 27-year-old woman. But I hate to restrain myself in life because of unjustified fears. So instead, I took

[00:29:02] [SPEAKER_00] a few measures to feel more safe. Before moving in, I would do a complete checkup of all the doors and windows. Once done, I would look into every room, under every bed, and inside all of the wardrobes. This way, I could be certain that the house was perfectly empty at that moment and would stay so, as I would be very careful with closing doors and I knew there were no spare keys. That way, if I was

[00:29:32] [SPEAKER_00] scared at night, I could reason with myself and know that it was only in my head. I was accompanied by my mother during the checkup. She lives close by. However, we faced a problem rather quickly while checking the doors and windows. The two glass doors from the veranda slash patio area were malfunctioning, and you could just slide them right open. The layout of these two doors was the following.

[00:30:01] [SPEAKER_00] One door was on the back of the veranda facing the garden, and the second was between the patio and the rest of the house. That meant that someone could not only get inside the patio from outside, but could also get into the rest of the house. After this discovery, I called Amy. We agreed that I would find a locksmith. Amy's family's financial situation wasn't the best, so depending upon the price, either both doors would get fixed or just the door leading

[00:30:31] [SPEAKER_00] to the garden. But the price was reasonable, thus the locksmith lady could change both locks. The patio was then perfectly sealed. However, according to her, the glass door leading to the garden was weak, and someone could easily open it if they were motivated. But since the glass door to the patio and the rest of the house was safe, I really didn't mind. Someone could have as much fun as they pleased on that patio, as long as I was safe in the house.

[00:31:00] [SPEAKER_00] After that, and a successful second checkup, I was happy to move in. The first days were a bit scary, but since I was careful with doors, and the houses surrounding were so peaceful and lovely, it quickly became blissful to live there. I was heating myself with the fireplace, eating good food, and breathing fresh air. I felt very free and happy. I noticed a small, odd detail within the

[00:31:29] [SPEAKER_00] first few days, though. A third glass door wasn't locking anymore. I was surprised, because I had been very careful to check every single door during my checkup. This third door was right next to the one that had been repaired. The one between the patio and the house. So, this meant that the patio wasn't perfectly sealed anymore. But I thought, fine, all the doors leading to the outside garden were still locked, so I didn't need

[00:31:59] [SPEAKER_00] to worry. I quickly moved on. Since I felt so happy there, I didn't want any useless fear to bother me. I came to the conclusion that I must have missed it, and I was a bit shamed that I got Amy's family to spend money on two locks when it should have been three because of my carelessness. After two wonderful months of living a dream, mostly on my own, because all my childhood friends had moved away

[00:32:27] [SPEAKER_00] from the village, a friend came to visit me. We spent some time outside, and we had a drink at my place before I drove him back to his village about an hour away. As we were leaving my house, he even emphasized how meticulous I was with closing all the shutters behind us. I told him it was the key to me feeling so good there. I was back home at around 10pm. I entered my

[00:32:56] [SPEAKER_00] perfectly sealed house and locked the door behind me. While turning the key out of the blue, I felt sudden and intense goosebumps run all over my scalp. I had never experienced this feeling. I wasn't even aware that the human body could get goosebumps on the scalp. With that came a very instinctive feeling of danger and being on my guard. I felt all of this so intensely that I wasn't

[00:33:25] [SPEAKER_00] able to ignore it. Yet, I knew that my house was kept perfectly closed. So I stayed cautious, but I walked through the entrance and into the kitchen. On the floor was a rectangular plastic bag. It was small and blue and stood out on the orange floor. I was surprised and recognized it as a plastic bag that was supposed to be filled with water to make ice cubes. It shouldn't have been there.

[00:33:54] [SPEAKER_00] I had seen these bags earlier when I was looking in the freezer to put my food in. I knew they were stored in a drawer at the very other side of the kitchen and I knew my friend and I hadn't used them nor anything in that drawer. The uncanny discovery confirmed my gut feeling and I began to feel very uneasy. I sent a picture to my friend asking if he had touched or used these and he said, no, keep me updated. I grabbed the knife and started walking

[00:34:24] [SPEAKER_00] to the living room. Usually, whenever I feel afraid in this house, I would go on a little check-up tour in every room to reassure myself. That's what I had in mind at that moment but this gut feeling was literally forbidding my body to do so. Instead, it walked me out of the house. I drove to my mother's place and I slept there. A few days afterward, during a sunny afternoon, my mother and I came back and did a thorough check-up.

[00:34:53] [SPEAKER_00] Nothing was missing or broken and nobody was there. Everything was exactly as I had left it so I came to the conclusion that my friend had accidentally taken one of those bags and forgotten about it. And then one of them must have fallen on the floor when I opened the door or something like that. I came back in and kept living in a dream in this beautiful place for another month. Then something else happened. For a few days, I had been hearing unusual noises which began to scare me so I decided it was time

[00:35:23] [SPEAKER_00] for another check-up. It was around 9pm. I began going in every room and looking under every bed. The downstairs was all clear. Then I walked upstairs, opened the first bedroom door and to my surprise, the light was on. It startled me a bit, since I never go into these upstairs rooms and they remain closed all the time. Nevertheless, I walked towards the wardrobe, but before opening it, I got startled

[00:35:52] [SPEAKER_00] again as an unknown object was now lying on top of the wardrobe. So I opened the door. Nobody was inside. I closed it and looked at the object. It was an elongated black fabric sheath, rather big, with a hook to carry it on a belt. A terrifying idea crossed my mind that it may be a knife sheath, but I tried to brush that off. I didn't need my imagination

[00:36:21] [SPEAKER_00] going crazy in this type of situation. I finished my check-up, but despite nobody being found, I couldn't help but feel weird about the sheath and the light. I went to sleep at my mother's place again that night. The day after, I checked with my friend Amy. No family member had come into the house while I was away, nor did they even recognize the object as belonging to any of them. I dropped it off at the police station, and according to them, it was

[00:36:51] [SPEAKER_00] indeed very likely a sheath for a hunting knife. I started thinking again about the patio's third door. It had been in my mind for some weeks, but I had been dismissing the idea to avoid unnecessary fear again. Reflecting back on my thorough entrance checkup, it was very unlikely that I would have missed a door, and the locksmith had changed the lock of the door right next to that one,

[00:37:20] [SPEAKER_00] and even used it as an example of what a functioning lock should look like. In talking with Amy, we had first imagined that an old Airbnb tenant could have made a copy of the keys, and the locks would have to be changed. But more and more, I was sure there was a person coming into the house from the patio. Another locksmith came and looked at the third door's lock. She confirmed that the lock part screwed onto the door frame where the lock embeds itself had been

[00:37:50] [SPEAKER_00] screwed off. She also checked the door leading to the garden that her colleague had pointed out was easy to open. She confirmed that there was very little chance for all of that to be a coincidence. I left the house for good after that. I believe a person had their routine in this house, and when I arrived, I locked the doors that they had been using to get in so they made sure that they were still able to get inside despite my changes. Think

[00:38:20] [SPEAKER_00] about it. All this time I was living my life peacefully, reasoning with myself not to be scared that the place was safe and locked. All the while, it was not.

[00:38:50] [SPEAKER_00] You know that feeling, it's 2am and you're wide awake, and not because you heard something outside this time, it's because your sheets are stuck to your legs, your hair is matted to the back of your neck, and you've already cranked the AC down to 65, praying it kicks in before you have to peel yourself off the mattress again. Sleeping hot is miserable, and you've probably blamed everything, the thermostat, the mattress, maybe even whoever's sleeping next to you. But it's none of that, it's your bedding.

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[00:40:20] [SPEAKER_00] Get 15% off your first order plus free shipping at bolandbranch.com slash meet with code meet. That's bolandbranch b-o-l-l-a-n-d branch.com slash meet code meet to unlock 15% off. Exclusions apply. When I was about 10 or 11 years old, I shared a room with my older brother who was 15. We lived in a suburban area in New York. Not the

[00:40:49] [SPEAKER_00] greatest area, but not riddled with crime. There are two windows in our room, one that overlooks the backyard and one that connects to the front porch. The second one came in quite handy for my brother to sneak out and meet with friends. If you step out the window, you're on the porch, so anyone on the porch can also access the window. I was never bothered by that thought because quite honestly, it had never

[00:41:19] [SPEAKER_00] even crossed my mind. My bed was touching this window while my brother's bed was perpendicular to mine. It was an odd setup, but that's beside the point. This was before we had any kind of smartphones or laptops to keep ourselves occupied so on nights when we weren't sleepy, we would stay up talking to each other and making up dumb games to pass the time. This event took place during the summer. We had stayed up

[00:41:49] [SPEAKER_00] into the late hours of the night, one of the perks of having no school. It was probably around 2 a.m. and we were playing a game where one of us was a goalkeeper and the other was taking a shot. We would do a 3-2-1 countdown, and then at the same time we'd both say either left, center, or right. If the goalkeeper guessed the same one as the one taking the shot, he would get a point. If the person taking the shot

[00:42:19] [SPEAKER_00] said a position other than what the goalie said, they would get a point. We went for a couple of rounds of this, and even though this isn't relevant to the story, I was winning. I don't remember what round we were on, but we did our 3-2-1 countdown, and my brother, the goalkeeper, said left, and I, the shooter, said center. Then, a voice from outside the porch window said left. My

[00:42:49] [SPEAKER_00] brother and I froze. We had the shade down, but my mom had left the porch light on. The dim porch light coming in from the borders of the shade. At the time, the only people in the house were my mother, on the opposite side of the house, my sister, one room over, my dad in the basement, and me and my brother practically shitting our pants. We waited for what seemed like an hour,

[00:43:19] [SPEAKER_00] but was probably only a giggle, and a playful knock at the voice said in a cheerful, playful tone. I want to say that it sounded scary or menacing, but it didn't. It sounded like a woman, not too old, but not too young, and it was just normal, like a normal-sounding voice, nothing off about it besides where it was coming from

[00:43:49] [SPEAKER_00] and the time it came. my brother and I were seriously freaked out. I was about to break down because of how close I was to this strange woman. The thought that all I had to do was lift the shade and I'd be face to face with this person scared me so badly. It made me go still and stiff as if I had just looked into Medusa's eyes. After a bit

[00:44:18] [SPEAKER_00] of us not responding, my brother started slowly moving his head from the bed to the door so as not to make any noise. As he was tiptoeing to the door, we started hearing the sound of nails being scraped down the window. It was very slow from the top to the bottom. At that point, my brother made it to the door. He

[00:44:50] [SPEAKER_00] keep quiet. Once the nails stopped running down the window, I heard her light footsteps make their way off the porch and disappear. I laid there for eternity, not moving until my brother returned. I saw my mom move hastily past our bedroom as she

[00:45:21] [SPEAKER_00] called my dad and his groggy annoyed footsteps coming up the stairs. They talked, then they came into our room. They relayed what happened. Apparently my mom caught sight of this lady on foot turning out of our driveway and behind some tall bushes. Thank God we had a long driveway otherwise my mom probably would have thought we were crazy. Considering no harm was done besides leaving me terrified of my

[00:45:51] [SPEAKER_00] window my parents didn't call the police. They just thought it was really weird and stayed up the rest of the night to make sure she didn't return. I'm now 17 and my brother is in college so I have the room to myself. My bed still touches the window because I'm too lazy to move the rest of the furniture in my room so that I can move my bed. The shade to that window has not been opened since that incident and probably never will be.

[00:46:37] [SPEAKER_00] For six months last year I lived in northern Spain. I was renting an apartment in the city and my roommate was an older woman maybe in her 50s. I'm 20. About a week before I was going to move back to Ireland I had a friend over and we were having dinner and drinking a little bit. That night my roommate left to go have dinner with her friends. About a minute after she left someone buzzed our door to be let into the building.

[00:47:07] [SPEAKER_00] I looked at the camera and it was a woman who appeared to be in her late 20s or early 30s. At first I didn't buzz her in because I didn't recognize her and she walked away from the door I hit the buzzer. Then I walked away without watching the camera to see if she actually

[00:47:37] [SPEAKER_00] entered or not. I assumed that if she hadn't entered she would just call or text my roommate. But I was wrong. This woman came up to my apartment building on the sixth floor. She arrived just two minutes after my roommate left. So I know she didn't take the stairs and I know they must have seen each other when my roommate got off the lift and the lady got on. Realizing that this was weird, I didn't open the door when she

[00:48:07] [SPEAKER_00] rang. Instead, I looked through the peephole to confirm that she wasn't anybody I knew. At this point, I backed away from the door and gestured for my friend to be silent. We crept back to my room, which was on the far side of the apartment and tried calling my roommate but she didn't pick up. Meanwhile, the lady was incessantly ringing my doorbell. My roommate still wasn't picking up and my friend was telling me to just open my door.

[00:48:36] [SPEAKER_00] In her mind, it's a woman so she must be harmless. I told her she is an idiot for underestimating the female sex. Women can be criminals as well. She kept telling me to open the door but I refused. The doorbell kept ringing and I kept looking out through the peephole. At this point, I was sure that if she knew my roommate or was looking for someone specific, she would just call or text them. She didn't take out a phone at all. She

[00:49:06] [SPEAKER_00] just stayed eerily silent. She didn't call out any names or ask if anyone was home. I finally got through to my roommate. She said she wasn't expecting anyone and that she doesn't know anyone in her age range. She asked if I was okay and I said I was fine. Now it had been at least 20 minutes. I knew the lady knew someone was home because the lights were on. I assumed that's why she wasn't leaving. I continued

[00:49:36] [SPEAKER_00] watching her through the peephole and I saw her go into the lift for a minute before coming back out again. The lift was really loud and I would have heard it move. It didn't. She just went in and came out. In my mind after 40 minutes she finally left. I ran to our hall flicked on the outside camera and the lady left

[00:50:06] [SPEAKER_00] the building with two men. They all had backpacks on. I will forever be eternally grateful for trusting my instincts and not listening to my friend. Sometimes it's better to be safe than sorry. Creepy lady with henchmen let's not meet again.

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[00:52:06] [SPEAKER_00] energy by supporting nutrient metabolism I had somebody in my discord server for the podcast asking me about this stuff and I'm glad to report that they're seeing the results as well this isn't just a feeling it's backed by two double blind placebo controlled studies showing a positive impact on liver enzyme levels ready to give your liver the support it deserves head to dosedaily.co slash meat or

[00:52:51] [SPEAKER_00] this happened a few months ago and it has completely changed the way I answer my front door I was home alone while my mom was out visiting family and picking up a few things I was upstairs playing animal crossing with my dog Ty who was lying on the bed

[00:53:20] [SPEAKER_00] growl once before that afternoon he suddenly jumped to his feet his ears were pinned back the fur along his spine stood up and he let out a low growl while staring towards the bedroom door a few seconds later I heard a man's voice downstairs hello without thinking I

[00:53:50] [SPEAKER_00] stairs and saw two men looking through the front window I had been expecting a parcel that day so I assumed it might be a delivery I opened the door just enough to ask what they wanted one of them immediately said hi we've got a warrant for the electricity meter something about that felt instantly wrong I had never heard anyone getting a warrant to inspect the electricity meter

[00:54:20] [SPEAKER_00] and neither of them looked like they wanted to explain much beyond that panic started setting in the only thing I could think of to say was I'm underage and home alone I'll call my mom Ty was standing just inside the entryway watching them through the crack in the door still growling I shut the door as quickly as I reached to lock it the key wouldn't turn I tried again

[00:54:50] [SPEAKER_00] but nothing and that's when I really started panicking I called my mom and explained what was happening while trying everything that I could think of to keep my door shut since I couldn't lock it I shoved the furniture against the door to stop anyone from pushing it open after what felt like forever but was probably only a few minutes I finally managed to force the key to turn and lock the door only then did I

[00:55:38] [SPEAKER_00] trying not to be recorded then I watched something that still gives me chills at one point two of them quietly opened the front door stepped inside the house for a few seconds and then slipped back outside before gently closing it again that was the exact moment Ty had jumped to his feet upstairs and started growling I hadn't even realized they had managed to get inside

[00:56:08] [SPEAKER_00] watching the rest of the footage I noticed the side door of their van opening and closing several times making me suspect that there may have actually been a fourth person waiting inside I still had no idea how they managed to open the front door especially since I she immediately noticed something that

[00:56:38] [SPEAKER_00] I had not one of the men had been carrying a dog catcher's pole the kind animal control officers use with a long pole and a loop at the end she believes that they may have tampered with or picked the lock while I was talking with them which would explain why my keys suddenly refused to turn she found the phone number printed on the side of the van and called the company immediately the following morning the company told her

[00:57:07] [SPEAKER_00] the workers had been sent to install a pay-as-you-go electricity meter nothing in the house had been moved or touched but the whole situation still felt incredibly unsettling even if they were legitimate workers entering someone's home without permission especially after being told a young person was home alone is completely unacceptable Ty stayed with me in my room that night and having him there made it much easier to sleep three months later my

[00:57:37] [SPEAKER_00] mom received a call from the company they apologized for what happened and told her that the men involved had been we've adjusted our security cameras to eliminate blind spots reviewed what we'll do if anything like this ever happens again and I've learned one very important lesson no matter who

[00:58:24] [SPEAKER_00] for context my fiance is a 20 year old male and I'm a 20 year old female we're both in college and at this time we lived in a student apartment building near campus our apartment was on

[00:58:54] [SPEAKER_00] to hide there to make matters worse there was a door right on the other side that opened out into a dark and not very busy road my fiance Anton and I decided to go work out at around 10pm one Saturday night the gym wasn't very busy I think there was maybe one other guy there but since it was Saturday night in a college town there were a lot of people coming in and out of the building for parties

[00:59:23] [SPEAKER_00] it's also important to note that the gym was an L shape with full length windows that showed the hallway I spent most of my workout right in front of side of the glass

[00:59:52] [SPEAKER_00] and into the stairwell this wasn't unusual so while I took note of it I wasn't very concerned a few minutes later they walked by again with more guys this time going the other way they stared a bit again and while I was more on guard I figured they were just letting their friends in see you needed a key card to get into any door in the apartment building so I figured that now they were

[01:00:22] [SPEAKER_00] going back into their apartment and that would be it but no this continued to happen they walked by again and again with more guys every time reaching probably eight guys total after a couple of rounds with them as a group I start seeing them walking by individually and most of them aren't even trying to conceal that they are staring even when I look at them I went and told

[01:00:52] [SPEAKER_00] Anton what was happening so that he could watch out for it too I was a bit scared but I wasn't too concerned since I wasn't alone I finished my workout put away the weights that I used and I rolled up my yoga mat I was facing away from the hallway while doing this so I didn't see this next part but Anton said that he saw one of the guys go into the bathroom that was between the door to the gym and the stairwell the whole

[01:01:22] [SPEAKER_00] time I was putting my stuff away he kept peeking out and staring at me I would usually go back up to the apartment when I was done because Anton's workouts are longer than mine but I wasn't about to go into that creepy stairwell alone after all of that so I went and sat next to Anton and waited for him to be done the next time the guy looked out from the bathroom he saw me with Anton who's a pretty large guy at 6 foot 2 and he walked out of the

[01:01:52] [SPEAKER_00] bathroom and left nothing else happened and when Anton was done we left and didn't see any of the guys again we think that the guy in the bathroom was supposed to be watching for me to leave so that when I went into the stairwell some of that and

[01:02:31] [SPEAKER_00] not come back up for hours Crimes of Reddit is a new true crime

[01:03:01] [SPEAKER_00] podcast that I think you'll enjoy it's hosted by Sabrina Deanna Roga from Two Girls One Ghost and Alexis Linkletter from The First Degree Every week on Crimes of Reddit one host brings true crime stories from Reddit while the other reacts in real time with no prep and no it's dark and the stories posted by real people so if you love this podcast you're obviously going to love theirs

[01:03:31] [SPEAKER_00] it's the feeling of sending your group chat a thread at 2am that starts with you have to see this except Sabrina and Alexis are in the chat with you new episodes drop every Tuesday follow crimes of reddit on apple podcasts and spotify or subscribe at crimes of reddit pod on on for video episodes a little background on me for the purpose of the story I'm a 26 year old woman with an athletic build and I'm a little

[01:04:01] [SPEAKER_00] over 5'7 so I'll get straight to the point I got rear-ended at a pulled up directly behind my car despite there being plenty of spaces available that weren't directly behind me I get out of my car to assess the damage and

[01:04:31] [SPEAKER_00] the guy walks over and asks if I'm okay I tell him that I am he tells me he's sorry and that he accidentally hit me because he had recently purchased his truck and has been having trouble with the brakes I look over and I see that his truck has custom plates so I don't really believe him but I drop it I look at the damage and all it is is two puncture holes from his license plate holder I tell

[01:05:00] [SPEAKER_00] him whatever and try to walk back to the driver side of my car as I'm walking he asks me if I tell him that he insists I take down his phone number and tell him I'll call him if anything changes he says okay and we go our separate ways so as I'm getting ready to pull out because he's parked directly behind me

[01:05:30] [SPEAKER_00] I'm about to ring my husband to let him know what happened and when I he asks me if I've called him yet I tell him no and he tells me okay well can you call me now being unable to pull out without hitting his car I give him a call he says thank you and

[01:06:12] [SPEAKER_00] comfortable I hang up and I shake it off two days after the phone call he texts he asks if I remember him I tell him yeah and ask what he needs he responded not much I'm just thinking of you I responded okay with a question mark he then proceeded to ask me if I'm okay after the incident I tell him I'm fine and that my husband looked at the damage and said that it's

[01:06:42] [SPEAKER_00] no big deal he apologizes and tells me he's sorry he hit me and says it happened because he fell asleep at the wheel very suspicious if you ask me he then thanks me for giving him peace of mind and I stop responding the next day I assures

[01:07:12] [SPEAKER_00] me and fast forward to this morning I'm getting ready to do my daily run when I get a notification on Facebook I check it and it's a new friend request it's from the guy that rear-ended me needless to say I'm absolutely freaked out at this point and pretty sure that this guy hit me on purpose I reached out to my insurance again today to see what their privacy policy is and when I

[01:07:42] [SPEAKER_00] explained my situation to the woman she told me that his behavior is absolutely not okay she said that if he tries to contact me again to please give him the phone number for my insurance and the claim number I've never been faced with a for the record I've blocked him on all my social media accounts I

[01:08:26] [SPEAKER_00] live with my mom and twin sister in a two bedroom house with an attic we've been here for two years going on three we first moved into the house in November so right before winter the attic had cardboard and blankets covering her temper but lately it's been especially bad she recently accused

[01:08:56] [SPEAKER_00] me and my twin of going into her room and grabbing stuff and stealing her twenty dollars but I didn't do any of that neither did my twin I was really confused but in that same week I was lying down in bed and through the crack in my door I saw a figure down the hall moving around the kitchen and I was positive they were asleep because my mom snores and my twin was sleeping right across from

[01:09:26] [SPEAKER_00] me the next night it was the same thing but layered with heavy footsteps again I knew that everyone was asleep the next day I explained what I saw to my twin and I was surprised when they didn't shoot me down instead they asked me why I thought someone was in the house but if I'm being honest as I was explaining it I thought I was getting nowhere so I dropped it until

[01:09:56] [SPEAKER_00] today me and my mom were in my house talking about something random while we were getting ready to go to the gas station I asked her if she thought someone was in our house she gave me this crazy look and said no but once we got outside she told me that she thinks that someone is actually at our house and that they've been here for a while watching us and taking stuff she noticed we were burning through food really fast and that our cleaning

[01:10:26] [SPEAKER_00] supplies and her own personal things were getting moved or taken we talked intensely about this while we were out of the house I'd say we as we returned home we saw a man looking down at us from our attic window he had a dimmed light on but once we made full eye contact with him that light went out my mom made it seem like we were looking at the night sky and she

[01:10:56] [SPEAKER_00] asked me if I saw him too I had and we both had the same description of him however my twin was still inside the house with him so we had to go inside my mom called the police while I filled my twin in on what we just saw suddenly as my

[01:11:34] [SPEAKER_00] they aren't telling us everything suddenly our neighbor's dog started barking like crazy and the cops went to go check our backyard but they still didn't find anything my mom got in touch with our landlords they're a couple our landlord is a woman and her husband is the one that repairs stuff and helps us out with stuff around the house his wife said that no one is going up there because her husband is 70 and can't do much

[01:12:04] [SPEAKER_00] we saw a man in our window looking down on us and we heard him moving once we told the cops about him I just feel watched and I don't know what to do if you're tired of your story

[01:12:44] [SPEAKER_00] of the old story to let's not meet stories at gmail dot com if you'd like to hear time radio cast at crypticcountypodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts and follow me on twitch at twitch.tv slash cryptic county this week you have heard chased in the dark by c income

[01:13:09] [SPEAKER_00] 8081 who was he by secret woman 11 she did what i couldn't do by blitz chick three in the morning by s-g-e-u-l-a-c-h-d i couldn't imagine where to start pronouncing that feeling safe while i shouldn't have by exact hamster 76 85 the woman on my porch by arcane dane years of watching crime doc saved my life by alcoholic cat lady oh they unlocked the front door by codes he was waiting

[01:13:39] [SPEAKER_00] for me to leave the gym by 10 red light red truck by desert rose and finally someone is living in my attic by throw away to the coffin 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 of the message boards online we'll see you all next week everybody stay

[01:14:01] [SPEAKER_00] safe was jason he was 18 years old andy and anna here from your new favorite podcast no such thing

[01:14:40] [SPEAKER_02] as a fish yes we are two of the four hosts of the podcast that stuffs fascinating amazing weird mad facts into your ears on a weekly basis you got any good facts andy yes how about this one

[01:14:54] [SPEAKER_01] anteaters have evolved on 12 separate occasions wow mysterious wonderful the world really wants them

[01:15:01] [SPEAKER_02] to exist what about this one when Ronald Reagan left office he left a note on the white house lawn for the squirrels warning them to beware of george bush's dogs so there you go if you like fascinating

[01:15:13] [SPEAKER_01] facts and much more besides we are no such thing as a fish