2x02: Game of Courage

[00:00:00] Andrew Tate, Season 2, Episode 2 of Lets Not Meet, A True Horror Podcast

[00:00:52] Up until I was 9, I had no idea that my grandpa was not my biological, maternal grandfather. My mother had never mentioned anything and probably wouldn't have for quite a while, but one day my father had sat me down by the computer during one of our weekend visits

[00:01:28] and told me to write a message to some man, Alton, on Facebook. He's your grandfather, he said, and he hasn't been able to see you in a very long time because of your mom.

[00:01:42] They don't get along because of that fight they had when you were little, but he's a wonderful man. He's very sick right now, and a message from you would make him very happy.

[00:01:53] I was confused, but I just wanted to get back outside and play with my friends, so I quickly typed out a brief message which my dad read over before sending. When my mother picked me up that evening, we had our usual recap on the drive home and

[00:02:08] I complained to her about how awkward it felt having to write, I love you, to somebody that I didn't know. The tension was immediate, and it only got worse when I told her his name.

[00:02:21] It turns out, things were not as simple as my father had made them out to be. When my mom was a young child, her parents had split, and it had been about as far from amicable as you can get.

[00:02:34] There were custody issues, apparently he continually no-showed to pick up my mom and aunt, which Alton spun as his children being kept from him. At one point, Alton held a gun to my grandmother's head and demanded to know where his kids were. Or he would pull the trigger.

[00:02:53] Despite such extreme actions, his visits were few and far between over the following years, and once my mom was old enough to drive, were usually used as a way to get rid of a stolen vehicle. Eventually, things settled, and they both remarried, Alton to a woman named Tessa.

[00:03:11] Tessa and my mom got along fantastically, over time becoming each other's confidants, and they talked frequently on the phone. Time went on, my mom moved across the country, married, had me, and got divorced, but she continued to keep in touch with everyone back at home, especially Tessa.

[00:03:30] Almost 20 years ago, Alton informed my mom that he was taking a trip back to his home country and that his flight had a layover in a nearby major city, so he wanted to plan a brief visit since he hadn't seen us in almost 3 years.

[00:03:46] They made plans, and the day of the visit came and went without any word. Mom shrugged it off, figuring that there must have been a delay or a change, and that he would call to explain when he landed. He didn't.

[00:04:01] Instead, the next day she got a call saying that he was in town, our town, when he was supposed to be clear on the other side of the world. When she asked why he came back, all he would say was, I forgot to say goodbye.

[00:04:16] As if it were the most obvious reason, despite being suspicious, she kept her cool and played along while he was there. Then, as he was leaving, he made it even worse. Don't tell anybody that I was here.

[00:04:31] So of course, my mom called and told Tessa, who was under the impression that Alton was in his home country as planned. She promised that she would ask Alton and keep my mom posted, and they said goodbye. Now, a couple of weeks later, Tessa died.

[00:04:52] She died in her sleep. Causes unknown. She wasn't even 50. There was an investigation, as Tessa's children were also suspicious of Alton, but even after an autopsy, they couldn't find the cause of death and couldn't prove anything either way. So it was ruled undetermined.

[00:05:11] My mom cut off all contact with Alton, but my father didn't believe Alton was guilty even after she told him the story of the visit and kept in contact through Facebook. Thankfully, despite my father talking about potentially visiting Alton a few times over

[00:05:26] the next few years, it never happened. I'm pretty sure my mom put a stop to that idea real quick after she heard about the messaging incident. Alton passed away a decade ago now, but Alton, let's not meet in this life or the next.

[00:06:09] On the 18th of August, 1977, my aunt's photo was featured in the local paper as part of the gala day for her majorette squad as they created some crafts to sell on the day. My aunt was only 11 years old at the time.

[00:06:26] Shortly after her 12th birthday in September, she received a birthday card in the post from an unknown admirer. Although it was a standard birthday card on the outside, the inside was decorated with beautiful drawings, poems, and little slogans. It was signed by the name Philak.

[00:06:49] My aunt assumed it was someone from her class, but the odd thing was, the name was extremely similar to my aunt's own name, almost as if someone had joined her name and their name together.

[00:07:04] Shortly after receiving the card through the post, my aunt had a request on the radio for her. Someone called the radio station and asked for a song to be played and dedicated to her.

[00:07:15] My aunt didn't personally hear the request or the song, she was later told by the ice cream man who heard the request. The next she heard from the unknown admirer was when a postcard arrived from abroad.

[00:07:29] The postcard was from Spain and had a flamenco dancer on the front. Again the postcard had poems written on it in beautiful handwriting along with the slogans and also some stickers. The postcard was yet again signed off by Philak.

[00:07:47] My aunt wasn't sure of anyone in her class who would go abroad at that time of the year and my grandma and grandpa began to grow suspicious of this person. This is where it escalated and when my aunt received her final card from Philak, yet again

[00:08:08] a card came through the post addressed to my aunt. My grandpa and grandma waited as she opened the card and when she did she quickly closed the card to hide it from them. They instantly knew something was wrong.

[00:08:24] My grandpa grabbed the card from her and opened it only to reveal two nude photos of a woman taped to either side of the card. No beautiful handwriting, slogans or poems this time, just two photos of a woman with her legs spread apart.

[00:08:40] Straight away my grandpa went to the police with all of the cards and reported this person. After that the card stopped, they never found out who it was. However, recently when my family were all speaking about the story again, they remembered

[00:08:58] strange encounters from a man who was part of our extended family. My grandma, her sister, along with my mom, aunt, uncle and cousins often went on family holidays to visit relatives over the summer. Their most recent trip was just before one of the cards arrived.

[00:09:19] The man was in his early 30s at the time and she was 11. They recalled that he would often take my aunt aside and sit and play records with her. My aunt also remembers one night she went to bed and pretended she was sleeping as she

[00:09:32] could hear him creeping up the stairs. He entered the room and began calling my aunt's name. She didn't respond but he whispered to her, goodnight and then left the room. My grandma also called her sister to ask if she remembers anything about this man and

[00:09:51] if she recalls that he would always hang around my aunt and give more of his attention to her than anyone else. Well, my grandma's sister found him very odd and she remembers having to say to him at the time, remember what age she is, referring to my aunt.

[00:10:09] And to make the story even creepier, his name is the perfect fit to the end of her name, to spell the name, Philak. Coincidence? We don't think so. My family are now certain that the cards, radio request and nude photos were from him.

[00:10:27] He however, wouldn't have known or seen my aunt's photo in the local paper as he was from a neighboring country. We think this was just pure coincidental timing. So creepy extended family member, my aunt and her family hope they never meet you again.

[00:11:10] I was about 13 when my family went on our annual trip to Poland to visit my family. My mother and father both come from a small rural village about 2-3 hours away from Warsaw. It's an idyllic little place that is surrounded by lush forests and wheat fields.

[00:11:29] Life is different there. Everyone is very carefree and relaxed. Being the small place that it is, everyone knows one another since everyone essentially lives in the same street. I had made a bit of a reputation for myself there being known as the American girl who

[00:11:48] visits in the summers. So whenever I would arrive, the whole village would know. I loved the attention. All the kids wanted to play and adults doted upon me. One of the townspeople I saw most frequently was Tomek.

[00:12:03] Tomek was a funny guy in his upper 20s who would work in the village deli store. He would often give me extra meat anytime my grandparents would send me out to pick up food or offer to show me inside the kitchen.

[00:12:18] I never took him up on that offer. The idea of seeing how meat was made was too much for my 13 year old mind. Though I didn't know it at the time, Tomek had the reputation of being the town lunatic.

[00:12:33] He wasn't a stranger to the police force nor the villagers as he was a bit of a petty thief. My grandparents told me when I got older that my grandfather had not once but twice caught

[00:12:45] him trying the door of his shed to see if it would open then excusing himself when he got caught as drunk and unsure of where he was. Despite this, I had never had a reason to fear or avoid him.

[00:13:01] The village had a tradition called the game of courage that would fall in between the dates of our visits. On this day, the village children would set into teams and then be given items to find that were hidden around the woods or the village perimeters.

[00:13:18] The event lasted all day and the group that had the most found items would win a prize. The courage was the part of the game where you would be trying to attain the golden item,

[00:13:31] which would be in the woods and guarded by a few adults armed with water sprayers or water guns. The only way to get the golden item was to avoid being sprayed with water.

[00:13:45] If all members of a team were hit, then the team would lose their chance to attain it. My team consisted of four friends, Eva, Eric, Bartek, and Powell. Our strategy was to get as many of the items around town and then try our luck at the golden

[00:14:04] object when it got darker in order for it to be harder for them to spot us. We got a lot of the items throughout the day and worked up a good sweat after racing against the other children.

[00:14:17] Around 7pm, we had attained 12 items and were ready to try our luck at the golden item. We had heard from the other children that the adults were being relentless, guarding the object with ferocity. The wooded area that was the destination of the golden item was behind Eric's house.

[00:14:38] Therefore, we took the lead in devising the plan. Our plan was that we were going to split up into two teams. Eric, Eva, and Bartek were meant to grab the adults' attention and drive them away as

[00:14:52] far as possible while Powell and I would sneak in and grab the item. Feeling confident, we headed into the forest as the sun was slipping away from the sky. We followed the dirt path for about 5 minutes and then stepped off of it, following Eric

[00:15:10] as he navigated through the shrubbery with ease. He stopped us just as we reached a thick clump of bushes. Putting a finger to his lips, he motioned for us to look through the gaps in the shrubbery and see the adults.

[00:15:26] It was dark now, so it was hard to see who was actually guarding the item, but we could make out four shapes huddled together, chatting softly. Without hesitation, we moved into our plan of action.

[00:15:39] Our three friends navigated around and disappeared from our sight, only for us to hear their laughs and the voices of adults yelling to get them. Powell and I watched as the adults raced after our friends, all abandoning the area that they had stood around.

[00:15:57] I remember glancing around and getting ready to jump out of the bushes when I felt Powell's arm on my shoulder and saw him making a shushing sound. They might not all be gone. Wait a bit, he urged. We sat quietly, listening intently for any sounds. Then it happened.

[00:16:19] The slightest sound of something moving on the other side of the clearing. We couldn't make out who or what it was, so we stayed quiet, peering through the gaps of the shrubbery still. Powell saw it first.

[00:16:34] He pointed out what looked like a large, dark figure crouching behind a tree closest to the clearing. We watched as the figure moved from tree to tree, never stepping out from behind, simply just observing.

[00:16:51] Just as I was about to suggest that one of us should cause a distraction, we hear a yelp and turn to see the other team approaching, clearly happy that there seemed to be no one around where the golden item should be.

[00:17:06] We watched as this small group of two raced around the clearing, but didn't pick anything up. I kept waiting for the adult to step out and spray the kids, but the figure remained crouched, half visible behind the trees.

[00:17:22] One of the girls approached the area the adult was at, but she was busy looking up at the tree, musing to her partner that maybe the object was put on a branch. We watched as she began pulling herself up to the lowest branch, and I remember the way

[00:17:40] my stomach dropped when all of a sudden we saw the adult shoot out from behind the tree, grab her leg, and start pulling her into the darkness of the forest. Her partner ran off screaming, leaving me and Powell unsure of what to do.

[00:17:58] We watched frozen with horror as the adult began covering the girl's mouth in some attempt to silence her. Before one of us could do anything, all of a sudden Tomek came running up the path and threw himself onto the man.

[00:18:11] Powell shot out to help Tomek while I ran back to call for help. When I reached the backyard that was the destination spot for the end of the game, I was screaming

[00:18:22] uncontrollably in a mix of words that took me a few attempts to get out that help was needed. A large group of the men raced towards the forest while I hid in my mother's arms, waiting to see everyone arrive safely.

[00:18:36] My friends Eric, Eva, and Bartek approached me cautiously and asked what happened and why Powell and I hadn't come back. It had turned out that after Eva, Bartek, and Eric had distracted the adults and drove

[00:18:51] them away, the adults had decided to end the game and get the golden item. They had just assumed that everyone had a chance to try and get it and didn't want the kids wandering in the forest after dark.

[00:19:04] One of the adults had already pocketed the item when they chased our group back towards the main yard. My team had assumed that we would see that there was nothing there and return as well, which is why they didn't come looking for us.

[00:19:20] As I retold what happened, everyone in the backyard listened to me with wide eyes. About ten minutes passed and we saw the group of men coming back. Powell walking aside his father and the girl who had been attacked in the arms of her assumed father.

[00:19:37] As they all approached, I asked Powell what happened. As the parents gathered and talked in hushed voices, Powell described to us how Tomek had beat the guy bloody but let him escape when he turned away, surprised by the men that arrived to help.

[00:19:56] He mentioned that a few men were still scouting out the forest land for the guy. I then asked the remainder of my friends why help was not sent earlier by the girl's partner that had run away screaming.

[00:20:10] Everyone had looked at me with blank faces and the sudden realization hit me hard. The next events became a blur. It's a mix of me racing to my parents with my friends and asking about the girl, a frenzy

[00:20:27] of people calling out her name and begging for her to come out, a whirlwind of everyone rushing to get their kids inside and a mayhem of adults swarming together to go search the woods again and call the police. It's been 8 years now and she hasn't been found.

[00:20:47] Tomek was one of the main suspects, believed to be part of a two-man kidnapping operation but backed out when he saw that there was too much attention that was brought to the event.

[00:20:59] I'm not sure what ever happened to him but I can't help but feel guilty that I didn't do anything to help either of those girls. I saw the girl run away. Powell and I were the last to see her.

[00:21:11] Sometimes I see a child with braided hair and I get thrown back to that night and I can still see her braids swirling around her figure as she disappeared from sight. I hope she's still alive. I was 16 at the time and I had just gotten my driver's license.

[00:21:48] I was able to drive on my own until 11pm. I didn't have a car at the time so I was using my mom's car. I also had a membership to a local planet fitness during this time so I would go and

[00:21:59] work out a few times a week after I got off of school. So now onto my story. One night, I decided to wait and do all of my homework at 8pm so when I was done it was already 9.

[00:22:14] I wanted to go to the gym since I had nothing else really to do and I hadn't gone in a while since I was particularly busy that week. My parents let me go but I had to be back at least before 1030.

[00:22:28] I hop in my mom's car and make a 5 minute drive to the gym. I had a good workout and left around 10. On the way home, I almost hit a guy who was going 10 miles below the speed limit.

[00:22:39] I switched lanes to get around him but as I pulled in front of him he accelerated and laid on his horn. He drove over to the side of me and started yelling at me through his window.

[00:22:50] I ignored him because I didn't want to start a road rage incident. Thankfully, unlike most horror stories, he didn't follow me home. When I pulled into my driveway, I pulled under the carport to my house as that was where she always parked the car.

[00:23:06] I turned off the car and stepped out. Just as I closed the driver's side door and was walking to my front door, I heard someone call out from behind me. Hey, excuse me! I turned to see a man standing about 5 feet in front of me.

[00:23:23] He appeared to be about 30 or so with a shaved head and a thin mustache and beard. He was about my height, around 5'8 and had a stocky build. He was wearing a light colored muscled shirt and cargo pants.

[00:23:40] Even without much light since the front light was off, there was enough moonlight to make out his appearance. I was immediately on high alert. 1. It's 10pm. 2. This guy had to have been standing near my driveway or hiding around it since I saw

[00:23:58] no one in the headlights pulling into my driveway. Nevertheless, I decided to play it cool and answer him. Yeah, can I help you? I asked him calmly. Hey, I was wondering if you could help me get directions to the gasoline service place. He asked in response.

[00:24:19] Sidenote, gasoline service place? I've never heard of that phrase to describe a gas station before. Um, okay, I responded. I was keeping an eye on him making sure he didn't pull any sudden moves.

[00:24:33] His hands weren't in his pocket so I could at least tell he wasn't holding a weapon. I also kept my ears open to any footsteps that I heard as this guy could have a buddy hiding in the shadows, waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack me from behind.

[00:24:51] I proceeded to give him directions to two gas stations near my house, both of which were about a quarter of a mile or so away. He seemed to have a lot of trouble understanding the directions, to which he explained that

[00:25:04] it was because he was from New York and was in my town visiting a friend of his. He then proceeded to ask me where the Mason Lodge was around here. I still have no clue what he was referring to.

[00:25:17] It wasn't the name of a motel or inn nearby and a search on Google showed nothing in my area. I was starting to buy this guy less and less. He seemed sincere, but the fact that he came out of nowhere and asked for directions in

[00:25:31] the middle of the night in a suburban neighborhood was suspicious to say the least. Plus, as I mentioned before, I hadn't seen him in the beam of my car's headlights at all when I was driving down the street or turning into my driveway.

[00:25:46] That meant he had lightning fast walking speed with the quietest footsteps I had ever heard or not heard. Or he was hiding nearby and I caught him and he was trying to act lost to appear credible.

[00:26:01] After talking to this guy for what felt like 10 minutes, he smiled and told me, God bless you man, then turned around and began walking down my driveway. This is where things get even creepier.

[00:26:15] Me, thinking the whole ordeal was over with, turned around and took two steps toward my front door. However, I immediately panicked as I realized that by turning around I had myself vulnerable to an attack from behind.

[00:26:31] I turned my head toward the direction of where the man began walking to, only to find him completely gone. I looked around, but he was nowhere to be seen. I had turned around for only a few seconds and in that time he completely disappeared.

[00:26:50] This was impossible for a couple of reasons. One, I live on a pretty long street in my neighborhood. My house is near the middle of that street. There is one street that cuts through my street pretty much in the middle and makes a four way intersection.

[00:27:06] This is located about five houses down from me, but even if he ran with that much speed, he wouldn't have reached the intersection in the span of five seconds. And two, he made no sound whatsoever.

[00:27:20] This could be related to the fact that I had not heard him walking up when I originally pulled into the driveway. However, there were no noises at all. Not a single sound could be heard.

[00:27:30] So unless this guy moved around without making a peep, he would have to be heard by me. I freaked out and sprinted to my door, unlocked it and ran inside. I then slammed the door and locked it.

[00:27:41] I sat there, catching my breath, trying to rationalize what just happened. Thankfully, my house wasn't broken into that night and nothing ever happened. I told my parents the next day and while they were worried, they told me that we were probably

[00:27:53] okay considering that we live in a pretty safe neighborhood. Heck, the sheriff even lives down the street from me. But thinking back on it now, I still have so many questions.

[00:28:03] I would love to know where that guy could have been hiding and how he was able to disappear in a thin air in under five seconds. I looked up and down that street several times and not a single person was outside.

[00:28:17] To this day, I'm convinced that this guy was just hiding around the corner from me or waiting for me to go inside. This could be the only likely scenario. This man could have been genuinely lost and I was a good Samaritan by helping this stranger

[00:28:32] or he could have been a potential burglar or criminal who I caught before he was about to plan his attack. But to the man who was in my driveway, if you were in fact a lost guy out in my neighborhood,

[00:28:46] try and get help before it's too dark so you don't scare anybody. But if you had any malicious intentions, let's not meet again. Let's not meet.