17x18: There Is Someone Living Under My House

[00:00:00] [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 at gmail.com. Enjoy the show.

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_00] I'm a 17-year-old female, and I completely understand how, when stories like this come from teenagers, they're extremely easy to look at as fake. But I swear on everything, I wish this were fake.

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00] I live in a two-story home with my mom, dad, and brother. Our town is fairly small, but it's been growing over the past few years. On this particular day, I hadn't been feeling well, so I was going to school a bit late.

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_00] While I was in my room getting dressed, I heard some noises coming from beneath the floorboards. But our neighborhood is notorious for having cats, and we've even found them under the house before, so I just shook it off as some cats moving around down there, and I kept getting ready. I went out to my car and started it up while texting one of my friends that I was on my way to school.

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_00] This man suddenly appeared outside of our home and came up to my car. He explained that my mom had hired him to go into our crawlspace and clean it up a little bit, which probably explained the noise I had heard before. But since I'm smart, and I had seen way too many horror movies, I called my mom to make sure this was true. She confirmed that it was.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00] After this, he asked me to come over to the door to the crawlspace. I was a bit uneasy, but since I was the only one home, I figured it was important to see what he wanted, so I could relay it to my parents. He brought me over to the small door that led under our house and picked up a rusty old switchblade that was just lying in the grass beside the open door. He told me he found it while underneath the house.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00] He had also heard some noises. I was immediately confused because he was being so vague, so I asked, You mean like a person? And he replied that he wasn't sure, but that he had gone to his truck to get some rat repellent in case it was a rat, and when he came back to the door, there was insulation from the inside spread across the yard like someone had tried to run.

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_00] He asked me if he could look under the house, to which I replied, He went under the house, and I waited outside with a baseball bat, joking that I had his back. He disappeared underneath, and when he came back out, he dusted himself off before telling me that he found old clothes, blankets, and even food wrappers hidden in the insulation. So as you can imagine, I immediately called the police.

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_00] Ten minutes later, the police showed up. We explained the situation to them, and they looked under our house. In the meantime, I called my mom, but she didn't answer. So I called my dad, and he drove home from work to be with me and the police. Eventually, the police came back out, and while we were super uneasy, the police told us that there was probably nothing to worry about, and it was maybe just a homeless person who crept in because of the cold.

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_00] They advised us to keep our door locked and call again if we heard another noise. My dad was upset at me for calling the police over something so simple, but the worker who was still there at our house tried to tell him that even he was worried, and that he would have done the same thing. Now at this point, it's worth mentioning that our house has a hatch that leads under the house to the crawlspace,

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_00] and it just so happens that that hatch is underneath the carpet in my closet. So during the nights that followed, I slept in the living room, and even spent some nights sleeping over in my brother's room upstairs. However, the story does not end there. Last night, I came downstairs to the kitchen to get a drink, when I suddenly felt uneasy, like someone was watching me.

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00] It was dark in the room because I didn't want to wake my parents up by turning on a light, so I turned around to look out the kitchen window. I then made eye contact with someone peeking over the ledge in the dark. It looked like a man who was staring wide-eyed before quickly ducking down and running away from the window. I froze. I couldn't help but start to cry. I guess from fear.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_00] I was worried that somehow, this man would get inside. I ran to get my parents and I shook them awake. My dad grabbed his pistol, and then he went outside to look. By the time he came back in, I was standing in the kitchen with my brother and mom. My dad told us to call the police again, and when my mom asked why, my dad responded that the crawlspace hatch was open, and the lock had been broken off.

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00] The police arrived and again told us there's nothing to worry about, to go back inside and keep the doors locked, and to call them if we feel threatened. They said we weren't in any legitimate danger and claimed, well, if he wanted to harm your family in any way, he probably would have already attempted it. This didn't make us feel any more comfortable. This morning, we all woke up feeling scared and unsure of what to do,

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_00] since nobody seemed to listen to us. We were scared to even sleep there. As for the hatch in my closet, when we moved in, we carpeted most of the house, so the hatch got carpeted over. However, I did get to see where the hatch was before it was carpeted over. So today, I went inside the closet to see if there was anything I could place over the ground where the hatch was to stop it from opening.

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_00] When I scooted into the corner of my closet, I practically froze. Part of the carpet looked like it had been partially ripped or cut away from the ground in the corner. For now, I have a heavy safe lying on top of the hatch. My dad said he might try to peel back the carpet tomorrow to either seal it up or peek underneath the house. But for now, we have cameras set up at our doorbells, and I believe my dad is setting up a couple cheaper ones outside

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_00] to watch what happens. I'm worried about trying to get through the night, but there's nowhere else I can afford to go right now, so whoever is underneath the house, please just leave us alone.

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_00] My boyfriend and I decided one Sunday afternoon to go for a hike since both of our schedules were free.

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_00] The day had been relaxing, so far. Just video games and lounging around. And now we wanted to spend the rest of it outside. I pulled out my phone, typed in, hiking spots near me, and one in particular caught my eye. Lone Oak Trailhead in Johnson City. Something about the name intrigued me, so we plugged it into the GPS and headed out for our own little adventure.

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER_00] Normally, we pack snacks, water, and something for protection. For some reason, maybe because we were eager to get out into nature, we didn't this time. One thing we tend not to do, which might not be the smartest, is check the length or difficulty of the trail. Our rule is simple. If we pick it, we finish it. After a short drive, we arrived at 7pm.

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_00] The parking lot was empty except for one other car, which actually reassured me. At least, there were other hikers out there. The trail wasted no time testing us. It was straight uphill from the start. Our legs burned instantly, and for a moment, I regretted my choice. But I reassured myself that it couldn't be that bad. Just a good workout. 30 minutes later, both of us were drenched in sweat.

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_00] Our conversations were just complaints. How much longer do you think it will be to the top? This is ridiculous. It's been straight uphill the entire time. Well, after some grumbling, we pushed on for another 20 minutes until we came across an elderly couple heading down. We asked how much further, and the man replied, About 5 minutes to the first stop, but if you want to reach the top,

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_00] it's another half hour. I thanked them, and decided that we would wait until the first stop and see how we felt. When we spotted a picnic table up ahead, our pace quickened. By now, the sun was falling toward the horizon. We realized that if we kept going, we'd be hiking back in complete darkness. I hated that idea. But we also didn't want to waste the chance to see the sunset. Against our better judgment,

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_00] we pressed on. By 8.20 p.m., my legs felt like noodles. I told my boyfriend to go ahead and check if he could see another picnic table. Alone for the moment, an uneasy feeling crept in. My mind flashed back to a video that I had once watched with my sister about dangerous mountain people in the Appalachians, feral individuals who robbed or attacked hikers.

[00:11:00] [SPEAKER_00] I just shook it off. Maybe I was just being paranoid. That is, until my boyfriend returned and said he hadn't found the picnic table. We debated turning back, but decided to push forward. It was the worst decision we could have made. When we finally reached the top, the sunset was gone and now darkness was swallowing everything. It was now 8.40.

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_00] My boyfriend sat at the picnic table, scrolling on his phone while I wandered a short distance away to take pictures. I was murmuring to myself about how pretty it was when, snap, a huge branch broke directly in front of me. The sound was sharp. My chest tightened instantly, my eyes locked on the spot the sound came from, and my heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my ears. Then,

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_00] more branches cracked quickly, each one closer than the last. Out of the darkness, a man stumbled into view, moving oddly, hunched over, pacing, clearly on something. Hey, hello? I called, but he didn't respond. He just kept coming toward me. My hands shook as I backed up toward my boyfriend, who asked, hey, what's up? The man stopped, sat down on the opposite side of the picnic table,

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER_00] and asked, do you have anything? Everything about him was off, starting with his clothes, a turtleneck, jacket, sweatpants on a grueling uphill hike, but also his lack of gear and his jittery movements. He stepped away pretending to look for cell service while he told my boyfriend that he had been here for hours with quote-unquote friends. Friends? My eyes darted to the bushes around us.

[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_00] Then, without warning, he stood up and walked back down the trail. No flashlight, no goodbye. I called my parents, explaining what happened, but the call kept dropping. They told me to call the police. I tried, but the line cut out again, and that's when I heard it. Heavy footsteps were walking in a circle around us, snapping branches with each step. He was back. The worst part was that we couldn't see him,

[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_00] but we knew he could see us. The fear was primal. My boyfriend grabbed a rock as a weapon. I finally got a hold of the 911 dispatcher again, and I begged for help, desperately trying to explain what was happening. She started telling me what we needed to do, but before she could finish, the call died again. I looked at my boyfriend, and we shared a look of pure fear. Everything felt still.

[00:13:56] [SPEAKER_00] My mind kept spiraling. I thought this would be the end of us. We were going to be murdered or kidnapped or end up as another case on missing 411. I kept redialing 911, but my hands were shaking so badly I almost dropped my phone. Meanwhile, my boyfriend was scanning the tree line, shifting his stance as something crashed from bush to bush around us, always just out of sight. When I finally connected

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_00] with the dispatcher again, she told us to start heading down the trail immediately. Officers would be waiting at the bottom. We decided to go for it, moving fast, using our phone flashlights to try and see through the void in front of us. When we finally got off the mountain, everything was pitch black, but there weren't any cops, just the faint red glow of my car's taillights as I unlocked the car from a distance. We rushed to the car.

[00:14:55] [SPEAKER_00] I told my boyfriend to wait while I checked underneath in case someone was hiding there. Thankfully, nobody was. We got in, started the engine, and drove off. Neither of us spoke for a while until finally, I just muttered, never again. We both agreed we won't be hiking for a very long time.

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_00] If I could permanently delete just one thing from my brain, it would be this moment from years ago where I said something very, very embarrassing and awkward to somebody that I barely even knew. It was a completely forgettable event to everyone except me, and somehow it still shows up at 3 a.m. like it's a brand new thing most nights. I think it's stuck around because, I don't know, I replay it so many times in my head, and the more I replay it,

[00:16:00] [SPEAKER_00] the more space it takes up. Honestly, it's a lot of mental real estate for something that mattered about 5 seconds. That's the kind of thing that can be worth working through with someone, and BetterHelp therapists are licensed, experienced professionals such as psychologists, marriage and family therapists, social workers and counselors. They have at least 3 years and 1,000 hours of hands-on experience plus the required education, training,

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_00] exams, and practice. BetterHelp also does the initial matching for you. A short questionnaire helps identify your needs and preferences, and with more than 10 years of experience, they typically get it right the first time, but if you aren't happy with your match, you can always switch to a different therapist at any time. BetterHelp is now in network with more than 125 health plans, with many co-pays as low as $15 for eligible members.

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_00] And if you don't have eligible insurance or live outside the U.S., you can still get 10% off your first month. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com slash notmeat. That's better h-e-l-p dot com slash notmeat. I'm a 17-year-old female, and I recently quit my job at a fast food chain after working there for almost 10 months. This story is part of the reason

[00:17:29] [SPEAKER_00] why I couldn't continue working there much longer. I worked the drive-thru from 5pm to 11pm almost every weekend. Seeing regulars was not uncommon for me. I would see some people often enough to memorize most of their orders. I even started to input their orders as soon as I heard their voice. Most were very polite, and they'd occasionally tip me. But on one particularly busy day, there

[00:17:59] [SPEAKER_00] was an unfamiliar, weary presence in the drive-thru. I had just started my shift, and I was running food to the window. I made eye contact with a man with bloodshot eyes who was in his car at the window, and immediately felt uneasy. I brushed off how I felt since we were busy, and there was a lot of work to do. Later in my shift, once my manager set up my cash drawer, I took over the drive-thru

[00:18:29] [SPEAKER_00] orders and payments. There were a lot of orders, so I wasn't paying special attention to specific voices or menu choices, but one caught my attention. It was a low, hesitant voice ordering a sandwich, watch. After taking the man's order, I told him his total, and he waited in line. When he pulled up to the window, I noticed he was the man with bloodshot eyes who had made me feel

[00:18:58] [SPEAKER_00] uneasy earlier. I assumed he came back since he forgot to order something. His car was pretty low to the ground, so he had to extend his arm quite a bit to hand me his debit card. As he did this, he mumbled something under his breath, without breaking eye contact. I asked, I'm sorry, what was that? I said, you're looking beautiful today, he clarified.

[00:19:28] [SPEAKER_00] Now, remember, I'm 17. Plus, I had a boyfriend, and I wasn't interested in the guy at all. Um, thank you, I replied nervously. I handed him the bag of food and quickly shut the window until he drove away. I half-heartedly complained about him to some co-workers, all male, and this was typical of us to do with weird customers, but I still had a strange gut feeling. A little

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_00] while later, when the average wait time was about 10 minutes, I heard a familiar voice over the mic asking for a cup of water. It was low, but agitated and forceful. When I looked into the drive-thru, I saw his face through the windshield, so I walked away from the window and had my manager take care of him. This wasn't his last time coming through, though. It happened a few more times that day. Every time he came to place an order,

[00:20:27] [SPEAKER_00] he'd ask for straws or other free things. At that point, I was sure he was coming by repeatedly. for me. I was frustrated with him and his repeated appearances, so I went to the bathroom and I couldn't help but cry. I usually have pretty thick skin when it comes to stuff like this, but I was just so over it. Eventually, he stopped coming through the drive-thru and the rest of the night went on. And I thought and

[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_00] hoped I'd never see him again. And I didn't, until my very last shift at the store a few months later. The evening of my last shift on the job wasn't busy, but it was much later in the day than the first time I encountered him. When he came by, I didn't recognize his voice, but I immediately recognized his face, those bloodshot eyes, and the car. I held my composure as I took his payment and

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_00] tried not to make eye contact with him. I called my manager over, and he said that he would hand him his food for me. Just like before, the man was back in the drive-thru not long after. He asked for a cop of water. This time, I knew better, so I sent a male co-worker to the window to help him. When my co-worker gave the man the water, the man asked the co-worker, you guys close at 11, right? For the rest of the night, I was constantly looking out all of the

[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_00] windows to make sure that he wasn't waiting for me. Call me paranoid, but I listened to enough true crime podcasts to be overly cautious, so to the creepy man in the drive-thru with the bloodshot eyes, let's not meet again. Back when I was 16, my living

[00:22:25] [SPEAKER_00] situation made it so that, at least twice a month, I'd have to make a two-hour drive from a city area back to my parents' house in a rural area. About one and a half hours of that drive was just country road, with nothing but valley, corn, and some other crop on either side, with the occasional farmhouse or other random building along the way. During a long stretch of that drive, I wouldn't have cell

[00:22:55] [SPEAKER_00] service, and it's not like there were any phone booths, but I had become so accustomed to making this trip that I didn't think anything of it. Nothing bad had happened yet, so surely nothing bad would ever happen, right? In the middle of one of those trips back home, as the night was slowly taking over, I was driving when I suddenly saw a flash of light. I thought, hmm, that was weird. But then there

[00:23:25] [SPEAKER_00] was another flash. flash. I wondered if somebody was coming this way, and had their high beams wonky or something. But it was when I saw another flash that I knew something was wrong. I slowed down a bit to try and figure out what was going on, and so as not to get periodically blinded and accidentally swerve off the road. Further off in the distance, I thought I saw a person. Actually, multiple people.

[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_00] My eyesight was well and good at this time in my life, so I was putting two and two together, getting close enough to realize there were four people on this shitty country road lined up across it. It's as if they were trying to make a roadblock. But strangely, I didn't see any other cars around them that they could have come in. I don't remember any farmhouses or sheds nearby either. The rest of this encounter

[00:24:25] [SPEAKER_00] felt like it took place in the span of an hour because of my anxiety, but in hindsight, it was likely no more than five minutes. I was driving about ten miles per hour now, and as I got closer, I realized that I was definitely, without a doubt, approaching a line of four grown people wearing bright white masks, staring in my direction. two of them definitely had bats or some kind of distinct

[00:24:54] [SPEAKER_00] long, blunt objects, and one person was holding something that the flashes were coming from. I have seen enough horror movies and heard enough stories about crimes on the road like this to think quickly in the moment, and I knew I had two options. Either slow down and hope that they eventually parted ways around my car, which ran the risk that they could very well get the jump on me and

[00:25:22] [SPEAKER_00] my dinky car, or pick up the pace and disregard whether or not they have a chance to move out of the way when I potentially accelerate through them. I decided on the latter. I had no means of protecting myself with anything other than the bat that I had in my trunk, plus I was a young teen at the time, who could have easily gotten knocked out with a solid slap thanks to my thin build, and my car was

[00:25:52] [SPEAKER_00] shitty enough that if I stopped, someone would likely break in with easy force. Now, hearing the gravel and dirt that my tires kicked up freaked me out more, because it hinted at the potential that I could drive myself off the road, along with taking out some of these strangers, who I'm now dead certain are carrying bats as I accelerate towards them. I'm fully freaking out, but I've accepted that this was

[00:26:22] [SPEAKER_00] the decision I made due to my fear and the subsequent adrenaline. I accelerated more, and thankfully, the two that were in my direct path lunged out of the way just in time not to get hit. I stopped accelerating to catch my breath and take stock of the situation. I saw them in my rearview mirror, and for some reason, the other two were trying to haul ass towards my car as if they could catch up.

[00:26:52] [SPEAKER_00] That's when the situation became so real. There were people who were intentionally trying to get the jump on me in the middle of nowhere, and they probably weren't just kids trying to freak someone out for kicks and giggles. these were real adults trying to harm someone that came in their way. I felt so shaken by the experience, and focused on driving out of the area as fast as I could, just going forward without the radio on to

[00:27:22] [SPEAKER_00] distract me. Honestly, the most messed up part was getting home and realizing that part of what I was driving on wasn't even gravel. It was nails, and they were now embedded in my tires. praise whatever God might be out there, or likely my own saved up money, for me somehow having some sturdy ass tires. I didn't tell my parents the full story about what happened. They just assumed

[00:27:51] [SPEAKER_00] I was being reckless, and that someone had played a prank by scattering nails randomly around the road. I told the story to some of my friends though, and they told me that the situation probably hadn't been that serious, and that the people were just trying to scare me. Especially since being in a car was a pretty big advantage. Still, it creeped the absolute hell out of me, and I remember it every single time I drive down a road that looks at all similar.

[00:28:21] [SPEAKER_00] One thing that still bothers me is where they came from. Since I very clearly remember there wasn't a car anywhere close by, nor any buildings. But I guess I could have been wrong. I've had several folks that I've told this story to mention that there had been some incidents shortly after the Purge came out where people would scare the absolute hell out of others using similar masks and being generally menacing. But this happened before the

[00:28:51] [SPEAKER_00] Purge movie came out. I know this was mostly in a car, but because of the proximity and near intimate relationship between the car and an external human body, it definitely felt like a personal creepy encounter. And I'll stand by that. This happened a couple of years ago in Hollywood, Florida.

[00:29:21] [SPEAKER_00] I was in middle school at the time. My mom had picked up my sister and me from school, and we were on the front porch waiting for her to unlock the door. When she did, though, we noticed that something was off right away. This is because our alarm didn't go off. My mom always made it a point to set the alarm before we left the house. Although that was weird, and we all noticed and commented on it, it was possible

[00:29:51] [SPEAKER_00] that we just forgot to set it. And because of that possibility, we ignored it and moved on. As we entered the house, and were beginning to set our backpacks and other stuff down, I heard a drawer close in my bedroom. I thought I was just hearing things, so I looked at my mom and was about to ask her if she had heard something when she looked at me at the same time, and her look of horror was enough for me to realize that she had

[00:30:20] [SPEAKER_00] heard the same thing. My sister didn't seem to notice, though, because she had earphones in. That sound, and the fact that the alarm was off, was enough for my mom to decide to get us out of there. She loudly said, I want to show you guys something in the backyard. My sister looked confused, but I knew exactly why my mom had said it. She didn't want whoever was in the house to know that we were leaving because we had heard them.

[00:30:49] [SPEAKER_00] As we entered the backyard and shut the door behind us, we speed walked towards the alley behind our house. The only thing that separated us from this alley was a wooden fence. Once we reached the fence, we opened the gate and began to exit the alley. I was the last to exit through the gate, and before I shut it, I turned and looked at the house one last time. To my horror, I saw somebody looking at me through the curtains.

[00:31:19] [SPEAKER_00] I only saw half of their face, but they quickly moved from the window and the curtains shook. We called the police, but they didn't find anyone, and nothing had been stolen. I'd never gotten a good vibe from that house. Something was always off. But we moved in 2020.

[00:31:58] [SPEAKER_00] I'm a 22 year old guy, but when I was about 8 and my brother was 9, our dad had us actively involved in Boy Scouts. It was very common for us as Boy Scouts to have a group camping trip at the end of each year. This particular year, we all camped at a local farm's land that had a pond. We were able to fish, roast marshmallows, and other typical Boy Scout stuff. There were about 10 adults, and

[00:32:27] [SPEAKER_00] 20 plus kids under the age of 10. Eventually, we all decided to hit the hay, and each camper went to their respective tent. My dad, brother, and I all got cozy in our big blue tent and got ready for bed. Mind you, this was the 2010s, where having any form of smartphone was still very new, and in some ways, a wealthy privilege. This was not the case for my family. My dad had a

[00:32:57] [SPEAKER_00] very basic flip phone at the time. At around 2 to 3 a.m., we were all abruptly woken up by what sounded like somebody unzipping the flap to our tent. When I initially awoke, I assumed it was my dad either grabbing something from our car or using the restroom. It turned out, though, it was not my dad, because I quickly realized that my dad was right next to me. The next thing I knew, an unknown woman

[00:33:27] [SPEAKER_00] was loudly whispering, asking if we had a cell phone she could use. At this point, I was so freaked out that I woke my dad up. He quickly asked her what she wanted, and she asked for his phone. He initially thought that this could potentially be a domestic violence or stalker situation, so he gave it to her. He's a great dad and makes sure that women are always safe and taken care of. He told me later that he tried not to listen to her

[00:33:56] [SPEAKER_00] phone call because he didn't want to snoop, but he recalled her mentioning one thing that he couldn't really avoid. While using the phone, she mentioned that she had just escaped from the back of a police cruiser and needed a place to hide out. This woman was on the run and currently using my dad's phone to call her escape driver. After she left, my dad immediately called law enforcement and told them about what was going on.

[00:34:25] [SPEAKER_00] Get this, they didn't realize she had left their police vehicle. They thought she was still there. My dad let her go because he was worried about the safety of us kids, but they ended up catching her again later and coming back to our campground to let us know. The funniest part was that my dad recalls her holding the phone weird while she used it. As a reminder, we were on unused farmland in the middle of the night.

[00:34:54] [SPEAKER_00] It was pitch black. We realized later that this woman had been in handcuffs the whole time and my dad just thought she was holding her hands weird. My dad handed a woman on the run and handcuffs his cell phone so that she could call someone to help her escape. In the moment, terrifying. Now, it's just a hilarious story of how my dad tried to help a lady and accidentally chose the wrong one to help. As a side note, we still call our dad an accomplice

[00:35:24] [SPEAKER_00] to this day, and he always laughs. Anyway, I hope this made you chuckle, because I did. I'm 29 and female. This happened to me in 2018 when I was 21.

[00:35:54] [SPEAKER_00] I was in Hawaii going to university and was a junior at the time. It was a Friday night, and I had just finished going to a play that my university was putting on. I remember being really upset because I saw my ex there with another girl. I was feeling that mixture of jealousy and hurt, so I was in a bad mood. Before going back to my dorm, I decided to go to one of my favorite places on campus to be alone and pray about

[00:36:24] [SPEAKER_00] all my frustrations and sadness. This place was in the business building of my school. This building was near the edge of campus, where a lot of Hawaiian land and woods sat. It also had my favorite spot, which was on the second floor of the building. It was a balcony that overlooked the campus. My university was private and had very good security, so even though not many people passed by this area, it was really beautiful

[00:36:54] [SPEAKER_00] and peaceful. So I went there a lot, and I never got a bad feeling while I was there. Anyway, after praying for about 15 to 20 minutes and pondering my life and future, like the dramatic heartbroken 21-year-old I was, I left my favorite spot and started walking home to my dorm, which was only a 7-minute walk from the building. At the foot of the building is a parking lot and a back road.

[00:37:23] [SPEAKER_00] Across the road is a wooded area that wasn't really connected to campus. To the left of the parking lot was a short road that led to the front of the building and connected to the main road, but did not connect to the back road behind the building. Now, this is where something happened that I do not understand at all. I was in a really bad mood that night, you know, because of the X thing, and I didn't really want to deal with anyone,

[00:37:53] [SPEAKER_00] so when this white van turned from the main road down that short road next to the parking lot and stopped in front of me, I really wasn't scared. I was annoyed and kind of pissed off, which probably helped me in this situation. The side door of the white van slid open. A bunch of guys who looked college-aged were inside, and it looked like the guy who opened the door was thinking about trying to get me into the van. Now,

[00:38:23] [SPEAKER_00] it's kind of hard to explain. He didn't touch me, but he kind of looked like an animal that was a bit nervous, but ready to pounce on its prey. Given the annoyed state that I was in, I locked eyes with the guy and looked at him almost in disgust, with an expression on my face that asked, what are you idiot? The guy seemed surprised by my expression, and turned to look at the driver of the van,

[00:38:53] [SPEAKER_00] who I believe was kind of telling the other guy what to do. This is when my attention turned to the driver. I locked eyes with him, and raised my eyebrows, in a what-the-heck-are-you-doing incredulous way. After I locked eyes with the driver, he froze, at least for a second, before yelling something at the guy in the back of the van. After another second, the guy slid the van door shut, and then continued down the

[00:39:23] [SPEAKER_00] road. Weirdly enough, as soon as they were on their way again, this fear and uneasiness suddenly hit me full force, as I thought back about what just happened. I have no idea where that fearlessness came from. Maybe because I had just prayed, God had helped me in some way by erasing the fear, I don't know, but as soon as they started driving away, I thought,

[00:39:52] [SPEAKER_00] what was that? Then it hit me that Friday night plus dark parking lot plus guys in a white van equals me suddenly remembering that true crime exists and white vans are bad news. Keep in mind, all of this happened so quickly, within maybe twenty seconds. I hardly had time to think during this situation, but as all these realizations and the uneasiness came to me, I watched the van, curious where it would

[00:40:22] [SPEAKER_00] go. It turned onto the back road and then turned left onto the small dirt path that led into the forest area behind the business building. I watched the lights of the van as it went deeper and deeper into the woods. Eventually, it stopped far into the brush and the van lights were on for a bit before they shut off. I stared a second longer before sprinting back to my dorm panicking.

[00:40:52] [SPEAKER_00] Even to this day, I have no idea what really happened that night. It could be innocent. Maybe they were supposed to meet someone there, but they found me instead. And since they were expecting someone else, they just left. But when you add in the sketchy vibes that it all had, why did it look like they were about to grab me? And why did they leave instead? Did I scare them with my intense anger and this fake confidence? It all

[00:41:22] [SPEAKER_00] confused me. It still confuses me. I don't think I'll ever really know. But I'm just glad that I didn't look shy or innocent for these guys because maybe that is what they expected. Three or four years ago, I was working my first

[00:41:52] [SPEAKER_00] job in my small hometown. I was around 18 or 19 at the time. I worked at a local grocery store as a cashier. The store was roughly five minutes outside of town. There were only about three houses near the shop, and you'd still have to drive a minute or two before you even saw them. So it was pretty dark at night, and the only lights in the area were from the parking lot and the shop.

[00:42:22] [SPEAKER_00] I worked night shifts, noon to 10pm, and after 7pm, only one other person was working, and they were usually stalking in the back. It would just be the two of us closing the store. On this night, I was closing. It was about 9 or 10pm, so an hour or less before close. I had just brought in the wood that we kept outside during business hours and started the rest of the closing tasks.

[00:42:52] [SPEAKER_00] By the time the customer in question had walked in, I was back inside, cleaning behind the register. This customer was at least 6 feet tall, if not a little taller, and I'm assuming he was in his 50s, because he had perfectly white hair with a beard that was very cleanly cut and trimmed short. He had the build of a lumberjack. I didn't think anything of his appearance, because I live in a small town

[00:43:21] [SPEAKER_00] close to lumber mills and logging roads, so I'm used to seeing this type of person quite a bit. Granted, they don't usually have perfectly white hair and a beard, and they don't usually look this well put together. It's hard to explain, but for being in his work outfit, his clothes were surprisingly intact, put together, and super clean. Not like the regular customers I was friendly with that

[00:43:51] [SPEAKER_00] came in a lot right after work. He was also wearing a bright red shirt, which in combination with his stark white hair made him look very similar to Santa Claus, just with shorter hair and a bit thinner. He smiled at me as I welcomed him into the store, and then he walked to the back near the drinks. Everything was perfectly fine, and the only people in the store besides him were my co-worker in the back

[00:44:21] [SPEAKER_00] and me. He started walking up to me in the aisle right in front of my cash register, and that's when I saw something that started to freak me out a bit. He had a weird smile on his face. I know it sounds strange, and even I didn't notice anything wrong with it until he got closer to me, which was when I noticed how fake it felt. Yet, he was smiling so intensely that I, at first, thought

[00:44:50] [SPEAKER_00] it was a genuine smile. When he got up to the register, he only bought a drink. I don't remember what it was, only that it wasn't alcohol. He just kept staring at me, like, deep into my eyes, and kept smiling, almost as if he were staring into my soul. It started freaking me out. It's like I could sense this really weird, negative, almost killing energy. Again, I know it sounds crazy, but I

[00:45:20] [SPEAKER_00] haven't felt like this with anyone else that I have met or interacted with in my life, let alone at work, and I've worked in customer service for the last three years. He didn't say anything until I asked him how his day had gone. He gave a normal reply that didn't saying something about how his day wasn't going according to plan. But I will never ever forget how he finished the reply. He said, but now my day is going

[00:45:50] [SPEAKER_00] splendid. And I swear to God, he paused for like 10 to 20 seconds between the words going and splendid, just like that. When he said those last words, all the hairs on my body stood up. His voice just wasn't natural. It was weird, like it was, I don't know, too perfect, yet too odd in the way that he paused, but also quiet and confident. Firm, if that makes any sense. I just laughed it off and said I was

[00:46:20] [SPEAKER_00] glad that his day was going well. Then I rushed through the transaction, and I vaguely remember him asking how my day was. To be honest, I don't even remember how I replied. I was just so scared of him in that moment for some reason. He was only two feet away from me, across the counter, and the combination of him being at least six feet or taller and me being 5'3", the way that he was staring at me, the creepy smile, and the things that he was saying, were all making my

[00:46:49] [SPEAKER_00] heart pound. Even now, as I'm typing this out, I'm getting scared. His transaction was done, and I remember saying something like, have a good night, as that was my go-to. He paused for a moment, just staring at me, before he turned and left. When he was finally gone, I melted into the floor behind the counter, and then I hauled ass to the back to stock the coolers. The man left the parking lot fast and didn't stay around long, but I really do think he was the

[00:47:19] [SPEAKER_00] scariest man I had ever met in my life. Santa Claus look like, let's not meet again. Earlier this week, I decided to take an almost eight-hour road trip to visit my cousin and her fiancé in another state. I've been to that state before, but never to this particular city, so everything felt

[00:47:48] [SPEAKER_00] pretty unfamiliar. Ironically, almost half of my drive was spent listening to true crime podcasts and Let's Not Meet stories, which made the whole experience even more unsettling. When I got to their house, they showed me the guest room, which also doubled as her fiancé's home gym. It was on the ground floor, which wasn't necessarily a problem, but the first thing I noticed was the window. The blinds were partially broken and

[00:48:18] [SPEAKER_00] falling apart, leaving little gaps where someone could easily look inside. Even during the day, something about that window made me uncomfortable. Their backyard was also pretty open, so technically anyone could walk right up to the house. For context, I'm a black woman and growing up, my family always emphasized being cautious about our surroundings. I don't care how safe your neighborhood is.

[00:48:47] [SPEAKER_00] We're locking every door and window because we're not trying to become a statistic. My cousin assured me that their neighborhood was extremely safe. In fact, when we started discussing crime in the area, she joked that the worst thing that she had heard of happening nearby was someone stealing a piece of candy from a gas station, so I figured I was probably just being paranoid from listening to so much true crime, and I mistakenly let my guard down.

[00:49:17] [SPEAKER_00] The first night was pretty uneventful, although I definitely struggled to fall asleep. I wear glasses because my vision is terrible, and as embarrassing as it sounds, I'm still somewhat uncomfortable in the dark alone, especially in unfamiliar places. Being in a new city, sleeping on the ground floor, and having a window with broken blinds was basically a triple threat for me. I kept glancing toward the window thinking, what if

[00:49:47] [SPEAKER_00] somebody walks by? Or, what if someone tries to look inside? Eventually, I fell asleep and everything was fine. The second night was fine, too. Both nights, I had left the window slightly open because the house was pretty warm, and the cool evening breeze felt amazing. By the third and final night, something felt different. Her husband and I spent part of the day watching and

[00:50:16] [SPEAKER_00] discussing true crime and talking about crazy stories. injuries. I remember thinking that I seriously needed to give myself a break from these cases because I was starting to freak myself out. Earlier that day, before we left the house, I actually closed and locked the window, and I remember thinking to myself that if someone ever tried to climb through it, they'd probably knock something over in the cluttered home gym, and I'd hear them. Looking back at these

[00:50:45] [SPEAKER_00] random thoughts I was having, it showed how hyper-vigilant I was. When we got back that evening, the house was still pretty warm despite the AC running, so I decided to open the window again. I got ready for bed, turned the lights off, and tried to fall asleep. But for whatever reason, I just couldn't. I tossed and turned for almost three hours. I felt like I was being watched. I kept thinking about

[00:51:15] [SPEAKER_00] closing the window, but the room was so warm that I convinced myself to just leave it alone. At one point, I even considered sleeping with my phone flashlight on because I was so nervous. But then I remembered that with the broken blinds, having any light would make it easier for someone outside to see directly into the room. Eventually, I gave up trying to sleep and started doom-scrolling. I was on TikTok for a little bit before switching over to

[00:51:45] [SPEAKER_00] Amazon to look at Halloween costumes. Maybe five minutes into scrolling, I heard rustling coming from the bushes directly outside the window. Initially, I didn't think anything of it. I figured it was probably the wind or a squirrel moving around. But then I heard it again, except this time it was louder. I was lying on my back, facing the window, and something inside of me told me to stop what I

[00:52:14] [SPEAKER_00] was doing and actually listen. I put my phone face down to eliminate any light coming from the screen, and I just laid there quietly. The rustling continued, except now it sounded like something was moving closer to the window. My heart immediately started racing. I slowly turned around to face it, and although it was dark outside, there was just enough light for me to make out shadows.

[00:52:44] [SPEAKER_00] And that's when I saw it. The silhouette of a person standing directly outside my bedroom window. I can't even begin to explain the feeling that came over me. My heart was in my throat. I kept trying to convince myself that my eyes were playing tricks on me, that maybe I was just seeing shadows from the bushes, and that all these scary stories were finally getting to my head. I continued to try to lie perfectly still and

[00:53:14] [SPEAKER_00] just listen, trying to make out any sounds or movements, but then I heard something that made my stomach drop. The blinds started moving. Not the bushes, but the actual blinds on the window. I immediately reached over to grab my glasses, which were sitting on a weight beside the table. I was trying to do so very quietly so I could potentially catch this person in the act

[00:53:43] [SPEAKER_00] and get a good look at their face. But of course, like in every horror movie ever, I accidentally knocked over my hydro flask, which made a ridiculously loud metallic bang when it hit the weight. I knew that whoever was outside had probably heard me. I quickly threw my glasses on, looked at the window, and I saw a hand reaching through the blinds. I didn't scream. I didn't even think.

[00:54:12] [SPEAKER_00] I immediately jumped out of bed and slammed the window shut, hoping to maybe catch their hand. I slammed the window so hard that it actually broke one of my nails. As soon as it closed, I heard someone rustling outside of the bushes and running away. I ran upstairs and started banging on my cousin's bedroom door, frantically trying to explain what happened. They were so deeply asleep that it took them almost five minutes to even answer the door.

[00:54:43] [SPEAKER_00] I was absolutely terrified and refused to go back into that bedroom. I ended up spending the rest of the night in the living room, falling in and out of sleep until around 3 a.m., just waiting for the sun to come up. Part of me wanted to pack my things up and leave immediately, but I knew driving several hours in the middle of the night while terrified and exhausted probably wasn't the smartest idea. The next morning, while packing my things, I

[00:55:13] [SPEAKER_00] actually started questioning myself again. I kept thinking, what if I really was just being paranoid? What if all those podcasts finally got to me and my mind was playing tricks on me? So I decided to look at the window in daylight, specifically to see what someone standing outside would have been able to see if they were looking into the room. And that's when I genuinely felt sick. There were scratches through the dust on the window and a handprint.

[00:55:43] [SPEAKER_00] I still have absolutely no idea whether this person was trying to break into the house or if they were just some creep trying to watch me sleep. I don't know how long they were standing there, whether they noticed me sleeping in that room the previous nights, or what their intentions were, and honestly, I don't think I ever want to know. But what really gets me is how many times throughout those three days I had this weird feeling about that exact window.

[00:56:12] [SPEAKER_00] I kept telling myself I was being paranoid, that I needed to stop consuming so much true crime, and that nothing was going to happen because the neighborhood was supposedly so safe. But on the one night that I genuinely could not fall asleep, something actually happened. I'm a very deep sleeper. Once I'm out, I'm out. If I had fallen asleep that night, I don't think I would have heard anything. And had I not been there at all, who knows what could have happened to my cousin and her fiancé.

[00:56:42] [SPEAKER_00] They were sleeping so deeply downstairs that they couldn't even hear me frantically banging on the door. I know some people might think I'm being dramatic, but I genuinely feel like the universe was looking out for me that night. Between not being able to sleep, constantly feeling uneasy, and deciding to put my phone down and actually listen to what was happening outside, I feel incredibly lucky. I don't know whether it was

[00:57:10] [SPEAKER_00] intuition, hypervigilance, or just sheer coincidence, but I'm so grateful I was awake. And something else that I've been struggling with is this overwhelming feeling of being violated. It's honestly a strange feeling to explain because technically nobody touched me, and I don't even know if this person actually saw me. But your bedroom is supposed to be the one place where you can completely let your guard down.

[00:57:39] [SPEAKER_00] This is where you sleep, change your clothes, and exist in your most vulnerable state. The thought of some random person standing inches away from where I was lying, potentially watching me or trying to get inside makes my skin crawl. I keep replaying the entire situation in my head, especially the moment I saw that hand, and wondering what would have happened if I hadn't been awake to slam that window shut. Needless to say, this was probably one of the scariest

[00:58:08] [SPEAKER_00] things I've ever experienced on my own, and I don't think I'll ever feel comfortable sleeping with an open ground floor window again. So to whoever was standing outside my bedroom window that night, let's please not meet again.

[00:58:41] [SPEAKER_00] If you'd like to hear more stories every single week and you're tired of ads, sign up for our Patreon at patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast to get ad-free versions of all of our episodes at a higher bit rate for the best listening experience, plus bonus stories and our extensions every week that you won't hear anywhere else. Again, that's patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast. If you have a story to share, send it to let's not meet stories at

[00:59:09] [SPEAKER_00] gmail.com and be sure to check out the new episodes of my other podcast, the old time radio cast, wherever you get your podcasts. Follow me on Twitch at twitch.tv slash cryptic county. This week you have heard there is someone living under my house by infinite career 5167. When a peaceful hike turned into a police call by blue moon 2222. Creepy drive-thru guy by Maddie. Four person roadblock by okay but

[00:59:39] [SPEAKER_00] like what if. Someone who was in my house by the blue Tennessean. Camping encounter by no rabbit 3608. The men in the white van by imaginary unicorn 17. The old man who resembled Santa Claus by kello 10k. And finally, I wasn't being paranoid by sobbing sunflower. All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission of

[01:00:09] [SPEAKER_00] 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 next week. Everybody stay safe. Bye.

[01:00:19] Bye. Bye.