4x14: The Trucker - Let's Not Meet (Feat. Chioke Ianson)

[00:00:03] My name is Andrew Tate and this is season 4 episode 14 of Lets Not Meet, A True Horror Podcast. My guest this week is Chioke Ianson. He may be a familiar voice for some of you. While serving

[00:00:28] as one of the many talented voices for NPR, he's also appeared on shows like Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me and one of my favorites, Love & Radio. He's also an assistant professor of African American Studies at VCU. But more on that later, for now, enjoy the show.

[00:00:56] So a bit of backstory. I'm an 18 year old female from the UK. This happened in February of 2019. I was 17 at the time. I got set up on a semi-blind date. We had seen photos of each other.

[00:01:10] We were set up by a mutual friend and this guy, we'll just call him Cameron. He was 19. Cameron seemed like your average guy. Maybe a little into video games and anime and stuff,

[00:01:23] but overall nothing my friend told me about him seemed off in any way. Our mutual friend gave us each other's phone numbers and we texted for a night and decided to meet in a Starbucks the next

[00:01:35] day since we were both free. I never liked to meet new people this soon, but I figured since Cameron knew my friend, it couldn't possibly go wrong. How mistaken I was. I arrived slightly early,

[00:01:49] ordered my coffee since I never really liked guys to feel like they had to buy stuff for me, and I parked up on a seat facing away from the door and pulled out a book.

[00:02:02] I'm maybe there for 15 minutes chilling out and I get a text saying that he's here. Great. I tell him I'm at X table. I feel a presence over my shoulder and I turned my head slightly in

[00:02:14] acknowledgement. He must be here before I can even get the chance to squeak out a hello. His lips latch onto my neck and he starts sucking on my neck. Now, I don't like people touching my neck

[00:02:30] at the best of times. I'm very ticklish and I get super uncomfortable when people even touch my neck. The few times I've had massages or hair treatments, I've been holding in discomfort. He's latched onto my neck like a leech and this man smells horrendous, kind of like

[00:02:49] dust personified. I freak out and elbow his chest and tell him to get the hell off of me. He lets go and looks at me with this weird expression on his face as he laughs deadpan.

[00:03:04] It's really, really creepy and I start to become alarmed. I asked what the hell was that and he just said, I thought it was cute. Cute? In what world? I try to have a conversation. I'm like

[00:03:20] okay, first impressions don't mean anything. Let's try and give him a chance but he's just creepily staring at my chest. He says, wow, I didn't know Asians could have boobs like that. I better not let you go. Direct quote, I can't make this shit up.

[00:03:39] I'm distinctly uncomfortable but I don't want to run away. He's giving me very weird vibes so I go into the ladies room and wait for someone else to come in. I ask the next person to help me get out

[00:03:52] undetected. I don't want this man following me home or something like that. She of course agrees and lends me her hat and scarf. It's February in the UK after all and we come out of the bathroom

[00:04:05] together and she manages to help sneak me out the back door of the Starbucks without him noticing. He asked my friend where I went but I told my friend to never mention me again.

[00:04:16] I was too terrified. I know I probably didn't behave all that well. I should have just told him I was leaving but honestly I was scared. Dear guy who decided to inappropriately suck my neck

[00:04:28] before we even said hello, let's not meet again. This happened in my early 20s. Before I start, I need to provide a little backstory. I grew up a very sheltered life, usually only leaving the

[00:04:56] house for grocery runs and doctor appointments. I didn't even go to school. My mother decided it was best to homeschool me. I was and still am very socially awkward as a result of my upbringing,

[00:05:09] though I'm getting better. One thing I did leave the house for as a child was to compete in talent competitions. I was a pianist. I still am though a little rusty. I had a newspaper article published

[00:05:22] for me once to advertise a fundraising concert I was holding at my local church. I needed funds to go to a competition 1,500 miles away. In the article, the journalist recorded a quote from me.

[00:05:35] She had asked what I thought of my talent and being a child in a Christian house, I replied, it's not my talent. God let me borrow it. Fast forward till I became an adult. I was

[00:05:48] eager to leave the house and get out on my own. I decided to get my commercial driver's license so I could get out and see as much of the world as I could. Besides driving long hours and the

[00:06:00] occasional night of having trouble finding a halfway decent place to park at the end of the day, I enjoyed it. One night, I was pulling into a truck stop to park for the night. As I was taking

[00:06:12] my dog out to do his business, I passed by the truck next to mine. It had its driver's side window down and the driver was sitting in the driver's seat. He called out to me as I passed

[00:06:22] him, complimenting that he liked my dog and asked if he was friendly. I thanked him and informed him that my dog was shy of strangers. Being that I sat in a truck all day with no human interaction,

[00:06:34] besides the occasional honk and guy flipping me off for being slow, I longed for conversation and I told him I would be right back. A few minutes later, after putting my dog in my truck,

[00:06:46] I walked over to talk to my parking spot neighbor. We chatted for a while, him in his chair and I standing on the top step on the side of his truck. After about 20 minutes, he asked me if

[00:06:56] I had noticed that his arm had bumped mine seven times. This surprised me. I had not noticed it at all. Thinking back on it, I believe he was testing to see how situationally aware I was.

[00:07:09] I told him I had not noticed it. It was cold outside, considering it was the middle of winter, so he invited me to sit in his truck to continue our conversation. This is where I should have had

[00:07:21] alarm bells ringing in my head, but growing up so sheltered, I was too trusting of people. I entered. We continued to talk, though the conversation started crossing lines, asking questions that were too personal. He was asking me stuff like, what's your phone number?

[00:07:42] Who are your parents? What were your grandparents' full names? Where do you live? Etc. Regretfully, I answered him. Thankfully, I had the sense at least to not give him my address. We had also swapped seats during the conversation. First, he had moved to the passenger seat so I

[00:08:02] could sit in the driver's seat, but then we swapped to where I was in the passenger seat and he was in the driver's seat. The conversation started to take a weird and creepy turn.

[00:08:13] After all those questions, he asked, did you notice that my eyes don't have any color? His irises were black, just two black orbs surrounded by the white of his eyes. I later looked this up on

[00:08:27] Google. There is apparently a rare condition that causes someone's eyes to be so dark brown that they appear black. This is where I started to feel very uneasy. He started talking about my childhood

[00:08:41] and this is where he said something that disturbed me the most. He asked, didn't you have a talent as a kid? I said yes and then I played the piano. He replied, wouldn't that be a lie since you only

[00:08:58] borrowed it? I had not mentioned to him anything about that article and the city it was from was too small to be noticed by someone that lived so far away. He lived like 2,000 miles away from my

[00:09:11] hometown. I was ready to get out of there. I was trying to think of how to excuse myself without arousing suspicion. He started trying to convince me to ride with him to his next delivery

[00:09:23] and just leave my truck where it was that he would bring me back the next day. I declined. He then asked me if I would come visit him at his home. Again, I declined. It had been several hours

[00:09:38] so I decided to tell him I needed to take my dog out to do his business again so he didn't go in my truck. I exited his truck and took my dog out again but this time when my dog was done, I went

[00:09:49] back to my truck and locked the doors. I also tilted both seats forward so it would be difficult for him if he entered my truck buying me time if needed. The next morning, he was gone. I continued

[00:10:03] on my day relieved that I was away from him. A few hours later, he called me. So why did you tilt your seats forward last night? I told him it was to keep my dog from jumping on them. He continued to talk

[00:10:19] to me though I kept my answers short this time. I blocked his number after he hung up and later decided to change my phone number. I know I was lucky that it didn't go farther than a creepy

[00:10:33] conversation. I am more careful now about who I talk to and where I am. Be careful everyone. Never get into a stranger's vehicle no matter how friendly and innocent they may seem. I've learned my lesson. Creepy parking spot neighbor, let's not meet again.

[00:11:04] My name is Gigi and I was 14 at the time when this happened. This was four years ago. That day, my little brother Noah was sick and had already spent three days in bed. He had a high

[00:11:17] fever. No big deal, the only real trouble was that he was six at the time and obviously had our attention the entire week. So the day that my parents went out to buy his medicine, they left

[00:11:32] me alone to take care of him. They also asked me to bring all of my brother's toys inside so that they wouldn't get wet because it was raining. So I did what they asked. I took care of Noah and I

[00:11:46] brought some of the toys that were laying outside inside. I was pretty tired that day and I thought that I could do the rest later. So I went inside and sat down on the couch to watch TV before I

[00:11:59] had to prepare my brother's lunch. I was zapping through the channels and I wasn't really aware of what was going on around me. Around 10 minutes later, I hear three honking noises coming from the street and I didn't really pay attention to it. It could have been the neighbors

[00:12:19] or a passing car. Then I realized how late it was and that I had to go into the kitchen and start making my brother's lunch. Noah was resting upstairs. So I was in the kitchen cooking his meal

[00:12:33] and the thing is my kitchen has a large window offering a view of the street and I saw my neighbor a bit worried out of his car looking around. Once again, I didn't pay attention to it as I was

[00:12:47] focused on the food. The moment that I opened the refrigerator, I had a weird feeling like someone was there staring at me. I closed the refrigerator door, looked at the window and yes, there was a

[00:13:02] person standing close to the window staring directly at me. Now I don't know why but I don't remember what the guy looked like. It's really weird. Anytime I try to figure it out, it's like

[00:13:17] there's something blocking it in my head. It's crazy. There's a stranger standing outside staring at me. I wanted to scream for help but it just wouldn't come out. I felt like the only good thing

[00:13:34] was to take my brother and leave the house from the back door. A bit excessive, I know, but I was 14 and I imagined that the guy would just break through the window at any moment and come in.

[00:13:45] So I'm on my way to Noah's room and I noticed that the guy is following me very calmly through the window. Imagine my surprise when I found the front door was open just a bit. I certainly didn't

[00:14:00] close it correctly when I brought in the toys. Because of that, now I have the habit of checking at least three times if I've locked a door. When I saw the door, I just ran upstairs instead of

[00:14:13] closing it because he was so close. He would get to it before I reached it. So instead, I ran upstairs. I rushed into my brother's room and closed the bedroom door. Noah was very weak and

[00:14:26] kind of upset because of the noise that I had made downstairs. It can seem unimportant but hearing him complain made me realize we couldn't leave. And while I was thinking, I heard someone coming up

[00:14:41] the stairs. I actually shat myself. In a desperate move, I opened the window and fortunately, just underneath stood Noah's big-ass trampoline, the one with the nets around it. The only thing that

[00:14:58] was reasonable for me was to throw my brother on it and jump hoping that we wouldn't break our bones. Luckily, we were on the first floor. It was something like four meters high. We both landed on

[00:15:13] the trampoline. I could hear the bedroom door open. Now Noah says while getting off, he saw a face apparently of someone with a beard, white eyebrows and a hoodie with a psychotic smile.

[00:15:30] I believe him. We got off and we started running down the street. While I was running, I heard a voice behind us screaming, Gigi. I turned around and I was happy to see my neighbor, the one

[00:15:44] observing from the street previously. They were waving at us to come inside their house. I was very confident at the idea to go into their house because we used to go over there and play

[00:15:56] when we were kids. So we went in. He closed the door and we waited in there for our parents to come back. We were inside with his wife and kids while he waited outside. Funny thing, he explained

[00:16:08] later that he saw everything. He honked at the stalker because he was standing in the middle of the street looking at the house. He also saw the guy walking into the house and a girl throwing her

[00:16:22] brother through the window. It was funny when he told it to me. So my parents came back and we were ironically planning a nice little evening. They even brought pizzas and a movie along with medicine.

[00:16:37] So imagine how stupid they looked with all of that when they saw the police car and us waiting with them. So we explained everything and we later moved into another house. We were already looking for a

[00:16:49] new place before any of that happened. We don't know what happened but when the cops came in, the back door was open and there was no one inside. He probably just ran away. As I said,

[00:17:05] I think about it sometimes and there's really no way that I'll ever know who this guy was. I also know that if I had done what I was asked and I had brought the trampoline back in from

[00:17:16] the garage as I was supposed to, well, I probably wouldn't be here to tell that story. The only thing I regret is that now that Noah is 10, we got rid of all his toys and that trampoline which means we

[00:17:29] can't use the same escape if it ever happens again. So anyway, creepy stalker guy outside my home, let's not meet. Since my last post here sparked quite a discussion, I decided to post another of

[00:17:56] my unsettling stories that are tied to local forests. I grew up in these forests and I feel quite comfortable there. Nevertheless, I stumbled into a few unsettling situations there that would

[00:18:10] firmly stick in my mind forever. This is one such occasion. I was 18 at the time. One evening, me and my two friends, Mike and Paul, decided to go camping. Well, camping maybe isn't the right word

[00:18:24] since we didn't intend to spend the night, only to chill and have some fun around the campfire for a while. The plan was simple. Head out, build a campfire, drink a few bottles of wine, eat something, and head

[00:18:36] back home for a good night's sleep. We met at my house. When it was still sunny outside, we got ready and we headed out. Our destination was an old abandoned quarry in the middle of the woods, which

[00:18:48] was maybe 40 minutes from my house. Even though the quarry has a tragic and frankly creepy history, it's a popular place for such occasions. When we got there, the sky was already colored red as the

[00:19:02] sun slowly sank behind the hills. We quickly gathered all the firewood that we could so we wouldn't have to look for it later. As the darkness fell and absorbed all of our surroundings into

[00:19:13] impenetrable blackness, we already managed to get the fire going. We were in a great mood and we were getting ready for our first toast. That's when we realized that we made a horrible mistake.

[00:19:27] We forgot the corkscrews! We were trying to open the wine without it, but we quickly gave up because the bottles were quite expensive and we didn't want to damage them.

[00:19:37] At this point, it was clear that one of us would have to sacrifice himself and jog back to retrieve the corkscrew. After a bit of haggling, I volunteered. However, I had two conditions. Firstly, they would

[00:19:53] give me a hatchet in case something went wrong along the way. Secondly, no pranks when I got back! Mike and Paul agreed without hesitation. They shoved a hatchet into one hand and a flashlight

[00:20:05] into the other and sent me on my way. As I was jogging through the forest, I heard a noise resembling a wild boar. Suddenly, I remembered a warning I received from an older hunter a few

[00:20:17] days ago. He said that this time of year, boars were getting dangerous, especially at night. I was a bit nervous, but luckily I managed to survive with no harm. I arrived safely at my house, much to the surprise of my mom who didn't expect me so early.

[00:20:35] I explained the whole deal. She just laughed. I grabbed the corkscrew and was back on my way. Not wanting to experience an unpleasant boar encounter, I chose another, slightly longer path,

[00:20:48] this time through an open field. After a while, I got to our spot. It was a small clearing, surrounded on one side by massive rocks maybe 70 meters tall and on the other side by thick

[00:21:00] forest. Somewhere in the middle of the clearing was our campfire. When I approached it, I realized there wasn't anybody, although our backpacks were still on the ground and the fire was burning bright. Great! We specifically agreed that there'd be no pranks when I got back. Those dicks think

[00:21:21] they're funny, I thought to myself. I resignedly sat down near the fire facing the woods. That's the only place where those two assholes could have hidden, I thought. I was really tired

[00:21:33] and all I could think about was the taste of that exquisite pinot noir we brought with us. I really wasn't in the mood for their games and I was getting quite mad. That's when I heard

[00:21:45] a snapping of twigs and rustling of leaves from the edge of the forest, maybe 30 meters from where I was sitting. The sound was rhythmical and it was undoubtedly the sound of somebody walking. I aimed my flashlight to the spot where the sounds were

[00:22:01] coming from. Between the trees, I spotted a tall person wearing a dark hoodie. As I shined my flashlight on him, he stopped walking, turned to me and just kept staring motionlessly. Even though

[00:22:18] he was directly facing me, I couldn't really see his face. I shouted, Paul, I know you're trying to scare me. We agreed on something so stop messing around and come out. As I finished,

[00:22:31] the hooded figure just turned around and walked deeper into the woods. Exactly at that time, my phone started ringing. Hastily, I took it out of my pocket. It was Mike. I took the call and started barking at him. Really funny you assholes. I thought we agreed on something.

[00:22:52] What are you talking about? I'm talking about you trying to fuck with me. I clearly saw you so you can come out now. Mike froze for a minute. For what seemed like an eternity, all I could hear was his heavy breathing and Paul mumbling something in the background.

[00:23:10] When he finally snapped back to reality, he just said, dude, we're at your house. We heard some footsteps. At first, we just thought that you're trying to fuck with us, but then we got scared

[00:23:23] and decided to look after you. I forgot the phone at your house so we couldn't even call you. Just get the hell out of there and we'll come back for our stuff together. Bullshit. That's just another one of your funny pranks and I'm not buying it.

[00:23:37] Hold on a second. For a while, all I could hear was some incoherent mumbling. Hey, what's going on? Asked the voice of my mom coming from the phone. My head suddenly spun and my heart skipped a beat as I realized that they weren't kidding.

[00:23:56] Suddenly, a freezing wave of fear ran through my body. However, I managed to convince mom that everything was just fine, that she doesn't need to worry. She gave the phone back to Mike. Just leave everything and come back.

[00:24:12] We're headed out now. We'll meet you halfway there. I'm not going anywhere alone again. You better get your asses here and do it quick. I'm waiting for you. I hung up. I didn't wish to make any more noise than I already did.

[00:24:28] I quickly turned off my flashlight and started to back off from the light of fire. I moved all the way to the huge wall of rocks. I figured that if I had my back covered by the rocks,

[00:24:40] I would eliminate one of the possible ways the unwanted visitor could approach me. I was standing there in a complete darkness, trying not to make a sound while tightly clutching my hatchet, which would be for the next half hour my best friend.

[00:24:57] I had to constantly convince myself not to curl into a ball in fear. Even my own body started to betray me as my hearing got worse due to my savagely beating heart. I was trying to calm myself, but then again, in worst case scenario,

[00:25:14] every little bit of adrenaline would help. After what seemed like an eternity, I spotted two weak light beams coming from the forest. I heard Paul shout my name. I've never been so relieved. I finally ran out of my hiding to greet my two friends. For quite some time,

[00:25:34] we were just standing there, laughing like maniacs from relief. We were even getting a bit cocky and we thought about staying. After all, there was just one, supposedly, creep lurking between the trees and there were three of us. Funny, just minutes

[00:25:51] earlier I was shitting myself with fear and now I was suddenly full of tough macho bullshit, thinking what could possibly happen? In the end, healthy judgment got the better of us and we decided to

[00:26:03] leave. We packed our things, put out the fire and got out. We took our bottles of wine to enjoy somewhere else. Somewhere where it's nice and brightly lit. It's 3.09 am. There's a bang. From deep sleep to full force adrenaline. Either it was a crash,

[00:26:37] an explosion or a meteorite fell to earth. This sound was so loud. Screams, a man yelling, my wife, my wife! My body became weightless. It felt like I was floating at lightning speed

[00:26:55] as I ran to help myself. In the time I ran, I was preparing myself to see something horrible, broken dead bodies, severed limbs. But I saw a glowing light around the bend in a walkway.

[00:27:11] It was a house completely ripped open, as if a giant had torn off its facade. Electrical wires with lights still attached, moving slightly as they hanged from the ceiling, hardly attached. A stolen car had crashed through the house almost completely. The two youngest daughters

[00:27:32] of this family were sleeping in their bunk beds when this happened. The car, it stopped right before them. They were within literal inches of doom. Miraculously, everyone was accounted for and unharmed, except for the driver. He was gone.

[00:27:53] By this point, a police officer arrived and more people started to appear, all wearing pajamas with dreamlike confusion on their faces. As I walked back to my apartment, I saw a trail

[00:28:06] of blood. It was leading right down the path that goes to my door. There are no other doors down this path, and no one but I should need to take it. The usual sweet, pleasant-smelling jasmine hedges that surround my apartment and gave me privacy now offered something different.

[00:28:28] The driver was either in my unlocked apartment or hiding behind those hedges. I stepped over the small puddles of blood and felt that feeling we all have experienced before, that feeling of being watched. The deranged, hopped-up driver of the stolen crashed vehicle was watching me.

[00:28:52] I half expected him to jump out, to grab me and seek refuge in my apartment. I half expected him to be there already. In either case, I was ready to fight. I tried to appear unaware of his presence,

[00:29:09] not only to hopefully keep him in hiding, but so if he attacked me, my fight response would shock him. As I shut the door, I heard the lightest shudder of the hedges and the trailing

[00:29:25] of feet as they whisked away. Thinking this was my imagination, I checked my entire place to make sure that he wasn't inside. It was clear. Moments later, the police spot him on the side of my

[00:29:40] block and they chase him briefly before arresting him. As I was walking back into my bedroom, I realized that if this drugged-up driver had turned in a slightly different way, he would

[00:29:54] have driven right through my room. He would have first collided where my head lay in bed. There is no doubt. If he had hit my house instead, just my door, I would have been dead. Tweaked-out man

[00:30:09] covered in blood, you chose to steal a car, drive it while high out of your mind, and almost kill two innocent children. You indeed traumatized them, not only by nearly killing them, but also

[00:30:23] with your blood-covered face as you crawled over them in bed to escape out their window. Let's Not Meet. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast. This week

[00:30:48] you have heard My Date From Hell by Reddit user MurderOfRavens. The Trucker by Reddit user K. Corbin. Stalker Breaking Into My House by Reddit user JJ123Lamaroso. Somebody's Watching Me Somebody's Watching Me From The Woods by Reddit user Rigel1895. And finally,

[00:31:12] Bang at 3.09am by listener Cassie F. Thanks again to my guest, Chioki Iansin. Iansin will be serving as Director of Community Media at the new VPM ICA Community Media Center. It's a recording studio and

[00:31:29] workspace that's free and open to the public. It's located on the second floor of the ICA. The VPM ICA Community Media Center at the Murray DePillars Learning Lab will launch virtually in the fall of 2020, and it will be open for in-person recording in the spring of 2021.

[00:31:48] Follow the link in the show notes for more information. This guy is doing great things, and it was a pleasure to get the chance to work with him. As always, all of the stories you've heard this week were read and produced with the permission

[00:32:02] of their respective authors. Let's Not Meet is no way associated with Reddit or any other message boards online, and if you'd like to hear your story on the show, email me at letsnotmeetstories

[00:32:13] at gmail.com. Also, if you're looking for bonus content and merchandise, you can always head over to patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast for all the bonus episodes and content. I'll see you all next week for a brand new episode of Let's Not Meet.