6x11: One For Lizzie - Let's Not Meet (Feat. Morbid)

[00:00:00] This podcast contains adult language and content. The stories in this show can be frightening and disturbing for some. Listener discretion is advised. If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstoriesatgmail.com. Enjoy the show.

[00:00:17] My name is Andrew Tate and this is season six, episode 11 of Lets Not Meet, A True Horror Podcast. My guests this week are Ash and Elena of Morbid, a true crime podcast. Not only true crime, but also creepy history and just all things spooky. It's a wonderful show.

[00:01:08] Check it out wherever you get your podcasts. I'm very happy to have them here on Lets Not Meet. Enjoy the show. I was nine years old when my parents decided that they wanted to move out of Nevada and buy a house.

[00:01:29] The problem was my parents didn't know where they wanted to settle down. All they knew was that they wanted to leave Nevada and have a fresh start. So my parents decided that we were going to take a road trip and travel across

[00:01:43] the States in hopes of finding a place to call home. In a nutshell, this road trip lasted for about a year and we ended up in many hotels and motels. We never stayed too long in one place. And because of this I ended up gaining some street smarts.

[00:02:02] Despite constantly moving around and house hunting, my parents managed to place my two older siblings into local high schools. I don't know how they did it, but they did. My siblings were constantly switching schools and complaining. Meanwhile,

[00:02:17] I on the other hand was placed into homeschooling and happy as I could ever be. My parents did their house hunting together so they would leave me behind at the current motel that we would be staying at.

[00:02:30] When I asked my parents why they couldn't take me on their house hunting tours, my mother simply stated that she needed me safe and sound. I was her youngest and my mom hardly spoke English, so I understood why she was so anxious.

[00:02:46] Now this detail is super important to the story. Before leaving, my mom would always prepare me a meal of green beans and eggs and a banana milkshake. Remember that. Anyways, after my parents would leave,

[00:03:02] I would sneak out and go swimming since most motels and hotels have a pool. I would go alone carrying a card key and a towel in hand. I felt safe because I had done this several times. One day,

[00:03:16] we moved to Arizona and stayed in a quaint cozy hotel with an indoor swimming pool. The day we settled in, I discovered that our upstairs neighbor was a middle-aged man. He had slick brown hair and green eyes.

[00:03:31] He lived with this little girl who was blonde and had green eyes as well. I just assumed he was the father of the girl since they both had green eyes. This girl was the same age as me,

[00:03:43] so I quickly warmed up to her when we first met at the pool. Now I'm not going to give out any names, but I'll just call this girl Lizzie for now. Lizzie was somewhat timid and quiet and I on the other hand was loud and daring.

[00:04:00] I remember Lizzie would always swim with this large foam noodle because she didn't know how to swim, but it wasn't until I started teaching Lizzie how to doggy paddle and even jump off the diving board that Lizzie became more talkative and cheerful towards me.

[00:04:17] She was making jokes. We were splashing water at each other. It felt like we were both sisters. Later on, the man who I assumed was Lizzie's father suddenly started joining us during our swimming sessions. His hairy arms bumped into me whenever we got too close for comfort. Strangely,

[00:04:37] Lizzie would start swimming with the foam noodle again despite already knowing how to paddle and dive off the board. I found this to be strange, so I confronted Lizzie about it. She quickly said, my father says it's too dangerous to swim without my noodle.

[00:04:54] I could drown and die or I can't dive off the board or else I'll break my head I really found this to be off-putting and in a way kind of lame. Lizzie suddenly stopped talking to me and she was back to her timid self.

[00:05:12] Her father on the other hand always looked for the opportunity to greet me and even try talking to me. I didn't like him because in a way I blamed him for making Lizzie insecure and withdrawn. Anyways,

[00:05:26] fast forward one day I'm sitting in the parking lot of the hotel. I haven't seen Lizzie for a while now and I was staring up at the room that Lizzie and her father stayed in. At that moment, I felt a big hairy hand on my arm.

[00:05:45] I looked up and it was Lizzie's dad. I yanked my arm away and just stared at him. I noticed that he was holding a dollar bill in his hand. I'll pay you $50 to play with Lizzie. He said with a smile.

[00:06:02] Really? I said with a frozen concerned look on my face. Where did he even come from? I didn't even hear him walk up. Yeah, he said to me already pulling out his wallet here. I'll make it 80.

[00:06:17] I remember getting a knot in my stomach when he handed me that money. I froze and stared at it. Was it really $80? My curiosity got the best of me. So I grabbed it. I counted the money. Yes,

[00:06:30] it was $80 but I had never had so much money in my life. Why was he paying me? I didn't need money to hang out with Lizzie. Lizzie could just ask me no charge. I felt wrong.

[00:06:44] I shook my head and handed it back. No, I don't want your money. It's too much. I said, no, no, please take it. He said, still smiling at this point he was gritting his teeth together and he was squeezing the money into my hands.

[00:07:02] His sweaty hairy fists wouldn't let go. At that moment, I stared into his green eyes. I was uncomfortable. He was too close for comfort. Sorry, he said, pulling away. Just keep the money even if you don't want to play with Lizzie.

[00:07:19] I still felt really bad for the past six days. I hadn't even seen Lizzie. I was worried. Maybe she was sick. Okay, I'll go play with Lizzie. I said, finally giving in. We went up the metal stairs of the hotel, my feet clanging and stomping against each step.

[00:07:39] Was I really going to see Lizzie? Was Lizzie truly okay? He swiped his room key and opened the door for me. I walked inside and stood in utter shock. You see, common hotel rooms are ugly. They're poorly furnished with cheap dingy mattresses, mud-stained carpets and run down curtains.

[00:08:03] But this room was different. It was brightly colored. A puzzle piece rug, a Barbie table, a miniature couch, and even a shelf full of children's books and toys. For fuck's sake, there was even an easy bake oven on the floor.

[00:08:23] This room was too kid-friendly for a hotel room. And most of all, this room didn't smell like rat feces or pesticides. This wasn't normal. It felt off. I was so surprised that I didn't even notice he had locked the door behind me.

[00:08:41] I just stood there dumbfounded. Even as a nine year old girl, I knew all of this was weird. It wasn't until I saw Lizzie that I unfroze. She was sitting on a purple beanbag with her eyes glued to the television.

[00:08:58] I walked up to her and said, Hey Lizzie. She rolled her head to one side to look at me. How much money did he give you? She said, What? I thought to myself. 80, I told her confused. Lizzie had a disappointed look on her face. Then she looked away.

[00:09:20] She grabbed a nearby coloring book and pretended as if I weren't there. You have a lot of toys. I said awkwardly. Yeah. She said still looking away. If you ask nicely, he'll buy you one. You mean your dad? I said now sitting down next to her.

[00:09:39] And without hesitation, she slapped down the coloring book and said, he's not my dad. What do you mean? He's not your dad. Who is he? I asked. Is he a babysitter? Is that why you have so many toys? There was an awkward silence. Lizzie didn't look at me,

[00:09:59] nor did she say anything. Is he a babysitter? I repeated the question. Yes, I'm a babysitter. I heard a voice from above me. I looked up and noticed the man at this point. I didn't even know what to call him. He was right next to us.

[00:10:18] He was looking down on us with a wide, stupid grin on his face. He had two plastic plates in his hands, which he gently placed on the table. I was surprised again. It was green beans and scrambled eggs.

[00:10:35] The dish that my mother had always cooked for me before leaving. Was this a coincidence? No, because soon after that the man brought in two small plastic cups. And when he told me to sip it, I realized that it was a banana milkshake.

[00:10:55] The kind that my mother makes with a hint of vanilla and cinnamon. I know it's your favorite. He said to me, you don't have to finish it, but please try it. How did he know I loved green beans and eggs and banana milkshakes?

[00:11:09] I never mentioned it to Lizzie. I never mentioned it to the man. Don't get me wrong, the eggs and shake were good, but how did he know? I was starting to freak out. I wanted to go back to my room,

[00:11:23] but I didn't say anything. I felt fear and confusion. Now, right here is where the memory is fuzzy and obscure. The story has become a repressed memory in my head. And every time I try to write it, I always space out or shut down. So please be patient.

[00:11:41] I recall that the man had dragged Lizzie into the bathroom. I could overhear him yelling at her for not lying to me. I recall Lizzie leaving the bathroom with tears in her eyes as she sat down next

[00:11:54] to me. I also recall the man apologizing to both of us, explaining that he was so sorry for Lizzie. I recall him apologizing to both of us, explaining that he didn't mean to be so violent. He brought me a toothbrush and he told me,

[00:12:11] this is your home now. Something along the lines of, I'm going to take a shower to cool off and go to sleep. I don't know how I managed to get my hands on a phone, but I did. And I think it was thanks to Lizzie.

[00:12:25] I recall dialing my mom's phone number and my mom picking up the phone, where are you? Who's with you? And did anyone touch you inappropriately? A part of my brain wanted to shut down, but a part of me also wanted to escape.

[00:12:41] I don't know what I felt, but I felt somewhat numb and petrified. I recall Lizzie having a panicked look on her face and I could overhear the shower still running in the bathroom. My mom said something about calling the cops and minutes later,

[00:12:59] there were about six or eight police cars in the hotel parking lot. The man escorted me and Lizzie out of the room and a group of police officers pulled us away from him. My mom and dad hugged me telling me that they loved me and that everything was

[00:13:17] okay. I felt bad for Lizzie because there was nobody there to hug her, nobody there to comfort her except me. The police officers wouldn't let me near Lizzie because she was getting interrogated and they needed my side of the story.

[00:13:33] They said that if I could tell them what happened, they would let me talk to her. But my parents interfered and said that I was too traumatized to say anything. But looking back, this event was also traumatizing for my parents.

[00:13:47] I don't think they wanted to deal with the court case. God knows how long a kidnapping case could take to solve in the state of Arizona. After all, my parents didn't plan on staying in Arizona, especially after what happened.

[00:13:59] I remember being so angry and also feeling sad because I couldn't hug Lizzie. At that moment, I wondered where Lizzie's parents were and if they missed her as well. I was only missing for five hours, but God knows how long Lizzie was missing from her family.

[00:14:19] Anyways, to the gross creepy man who tried to kidnap me, let's not meet again. And to Lizzie, if you're still out there, please take care. You'll always be in my heart and know that you've always been strong.

[00:14:45] What I thought would be a boring but normal weekday night after work quickly turned into the most bizarre experience of my life. During my mid twenties, I lived in a nice apartment complex, one that I would have been unable to afford by myself. So I had a roommate.

[00:15:01] Let's call her Catherine, who I got along with great. In fact, when we first met, we hit it off because we discovered we both had black cats. She had two and I had one. At the time of my story,

[00:15:12] I had been living with Catherine and our three cats for about a year and a half. We were friends and life was good. Catherine and I lived on the third floor, which was the top floor of a large apartment building. To get to our apartment,

[00:15:24] we had to go up two sets of stairs and then open a door to enter a square area where there were four apartment units. In reference to the entrance, our apartment was located on the right wall.

[00:15:34] So there was one apartment door on the left wall that directly faced ours. At the time, I didn't know who was living in that apartment because I never saw anyone enter or leave. I knew someone was living there though,

[00:15:46] because Amazon delivery food containers accumulated outside the apartment door and on the deck. It was kind of weird, but I never really thought much of it. I assume the person living there didn't like to go out much.

[00:15:58] It was common for me to drive home very late at night during this time, but I never felt scared walking across the parking lot and up the two flights of stairs by myself. However, knowing what happened there now,

[00:16:09] I questioned who and when I was being watched, which is very creepy. As I pulled into the parking spot one weekday evening after work, I started to make plans in my head. Like I always did. Once I got upstairs,

[00:16:20] I would feed my cat, make a quick dinner and then head to the gym. I got out of my car. No other person was in sight. I entered the apartment building. Upon reaching the second set of stairs,

[00:16:30] I was really startled when I heard someone running up the steps. It made my heart beat fast because it sounded like someone was trying to catch up to me. I knew it wasn't Catherine because she got home before me.

[00:16:42] I walked faster to hopefully avoid whoever was behind me. However, before I got to the door, I heard someone yell, Hey! I turned around to see a seemingly normal girl who appeared to be right around my age,

[00:16:55] just looking at me with a strange and agitated expression on her face. Yeah. Can I help you? I said, are you the one who is putting gas in my car? She replied, what the actual fuck? I thought to myself,

[00:17:09] I'm pretty sure I didn't answer her immediately because I was so confused and caught off guard. I never saw this girl before and couldn't imagine why she'd chase me to ask me that question. The girl then followed up her first question with another before I could even

[00:17:23] say anything. Are you talking to my mom? You've broken into my car more than once now to put gas in it. Still in complete shock and feeling a combination of anger and fright, I said, I have no idea who you are.

[00:17:37] I don't even know what kind of car you have. Get away from me. Upon saying this, she laughed to herself and said, yeah, I know you're lying and you've been caught. I ran up the remaining stairs and stumbled into my apartment.

[00:17:52] I immediately looked through the peephole on the door. I watched the girl unlock the apartment door that was directly facing mine. Oh hell no. She was the neighbor who I never saw or met before today. Why did she confront me? What the fuck?

[00:18:08] At this point, Catherine saw me and could tell I was freaked out. I told her what happened. We decided that neither one of us would leave the apartment that evening and that we'd keep an eye on this girl.

[00:18:18] The interaction had been unpleasant and all I wanted to do was focus on avoiding her at all costs in the future. Both Catherine and I went about our evening as per usual. However, within the next hour or so, we started to hear voices outside the apartment door.

[00:18:33] I looked out and was stunned to see a police officer talking to the neighbor girl and then entering her apartment. I told Catherine about the officer and we decided we would try to catch the officer once she left the neighbor girl's apartment.

[00:18:46] We wanted to understand what was going on. In roughly 15 minutes, we saw the officer leave her apartment and Catherine asked her to step inside our apartment. I must admit, I was really scared at what the officer was going to say.

[00:18:59] Was she going to tell me that I had to explain why someone was accusing me of breaking into their car? Did the officer think I did something? However, before Catherine or I could get a word in, the officer said, look,

[00:19:11] you guys are not in trouble. I was so relieved. She continued, your neighbor has called us multiple times to report that you are a Russian spy. She then pointed to me. She believes that you and your boyfriend have been hacking into her computer and

[00:19:29] phone and that you are breaking into her car. She also thinks you're talking to her mom. We don't believe her. We just think you should try to avoid her. We don't think she is dangerous. I was in disbelief.

[00:19:42] To me, this meant that the neighbor girl had been watching me for who knows how long and calling the police about me. She could only know I had a boyfriend by watching me. He didn't live with Catherine and I, but he visited often.

[00:19:55] I felt like something had to be wrong with her, like a mental illness and felt almost bad for her, but also scared. Catherine and I asked the officer if there was anything we could do because the situation made us feel uneasy.

[00:20:07] The officer explained that we could express our concerns to the apartment manager, but there wasn't much she could do since nothing besides wild accusations being made had really happened. We thanked the officer and she left.

[00:20:20] I was so upset because I had gone from feeling completely safe in my apartment to wondering if I'd ever feel totally comfortable again. Catherine and I were continuing to debrief and vent out the situation after the officer left. When we heard a knock at the door,

[00:20:35] Catherine walked over to the peephole to find the neighbor girl standing in front of our door. Catherine sternly asked, what do you want? You need to go away. The neighbor girl replied, I want to talk to your roommate. Catherine responded, you will not be talking to her.

[00:20:51] So get the fuck away from our door or we're calling the cops. I don't want to hurt you, said the neighbor girl. Get the fuck away from us now, yelled Catherine. The neighbor girl walked back to her apartment and shut the door.

[00:21:07] Catherine and I were furious and extremely paranoid. We both had to work the next day and we couldn't help but wonder if this person would do something crazy, like try to break into our apartment and hurt our cats. In addition,

[00:21:21] Catherine left before me. So upon knowing that I was home alone, would she try to hurt me? In an attempt to mitigate our fears about the next day, I called my boyfriend.

[00:21:31] He didn't have to work the next day and he could stay at the apartment to keep an eye on things and escort each of us in and out. My boyfriend arrived at our apartment later that evening with no further

[00:21:40] disturbances. We all eventually went to bed for the night. Aggressively loud fire alarms woke me up the next morning. What the fuck? Not again, I thought. Over the past few months, the fire alarms in our building would go off for no reason.

[00:21:54] It was annoying and we always evacuated just to be safe, but because the alarms were so fucking loud. Without thinking about it too much, we all grabbed the cats and shoved them in the carriers as quickly as we could to go outside.

[00:22:06] I watched Catherine leave the apartment first with her two cats and their carriers. I picked my carrier and cat up and started to walk out of the apartment. My boyfriend was still putting on his shoes and was a few seconds behind me.

[00:22:17] As soon as I stepped outside the apartment, the neighbor girl ran out of her door, got in my face, grabbed my arm and said, where do you think you're going? I yelled, get the fuck off me and out of my way.

[00:22:31] My boyfriend entered the scene and also yelled, move. The fire alarms were blaring. My cat was terrified and huddled in the corner of her carrier and I just wanted to get away. I considered hitting her,

[00:22:43] but wanted to avoid that at all costs because I didn't want my cat to get hurt and I really had no idea if the neighbor girl even had a weapon like a knife. Although we didn't talk about it,

[00:22:52] my boyfriend and I were on the same page and tried to just push through the neighbor girl to get away. She grabbed the edge of the doorway to act as a human door. As this started, other neighbors started to exit from their apartments to leave the building.

[00:23:05] I yelled, this girl is trying to trap us in here. The neighbor girl responded, she's a Russian spy, trap her! After my horrified neighbors processed their confusion, they helped us safely extract the neighbor girl from the doorway and everyone got out. While I was shaken up and quiet,

[00:23:23] Catherine was so angry at what happened. I can't remember exactly what accusation or comments started it, but I had to hold Catherine back at one point outside the apartment because a brief screaming match ensued. I think she felt protective of me, which was actually really nice.

[00:23:39] The police were called and the neighbor girl was taken away. She actually tried to continue to tell police that I was a Russian spy and I needed to be investigated. I got a court ordered peace order, which is like a restraining order.

[00:23:51] I did this so she would have to stay away from me and I could call the police if she didn't. It also allowed the apartment complex to evict her. We later learned that she pulled the fire alarm to lure me out that morning.

[00:24:03] I believe she actually attempted to start a real fire. When we went back in the building after everything was over, her apartment door was open and we could see that her oven door was wide open with things that don't belong inside an oven.

[00:24:16] I also learned that she had untreated mental health issues and had previous run-ins with the law. I'm so relieved she didn't have or rather try to use a weapon that day. I know a lot of people would have thrown a punch right away in that kind of

[00:24:28] situation, but I'm glad we didn't. She was mentally ill and I would have felt bad about it later if she was hurt. Everything she said, she truly believed. When you think about it, she must've been scared like me. I don't think she had to do any jail time,

[00:24:42] but was sentenced to parole and to go to a mental health treatment facility. I'm creeped out when I think about how long she was watching me and creating these ridiculous stories in her head. To this day,

[00:24:52] I have no insight as to how or why out of all the apartment dwellers, I was designated as our neighborhood's Russian spy. So to wrap this up to the neighbor girl, while I hope you've gotten the help you need and don't think Russian spies are

[00:25:06] after you, let's not meet to find out. This is going to be one of the final Lost Stories recordings that I include in these regular episodes. I have a lot of these recordings that are going to be included in future Lost Stories episodes. However,

[00:25:37] you guys are constantly requesting that I include more of these. So I figured I'd do just one more before we get back to our regularly scheduled programming. This one was titled Psycho Grinder Stalker from 2018 by a listener that asked to remain anonymous.

[00:25:55] And by the end of the story, you'll understand why. Back in 2010, I was still living in my hometown of Ripley, Mississippi. This is a very small town of around 4,000 people. I was 18 when all of this occurred and had the misfortune of being the only out

[00:26:15] gay person in the whole town. Because of this, I usually kept to myself. I mean, I'm already an introvert. So being the only gay person in a Bible thumping town in Mississippi wasn't the kind of attention I wanted, but I came out by force,

[00:26:33] not by choice. But anyway, this isn't my coming out story. So I'll get back to the subject. I've always been a night owl. And for that reason, I like to exercise at night. We have no 24 seven gyms in my town.

[00:26:50] So I would drive to the track outside the high school at night and run a few miles. The town invests all the money into the high school. So the track was very nice. It was well lit and had parking spaces all the way around it. Around this time,

[00:27:07] I was very lonely and wanted someone to talk to since all my friends had gone away to college and I couldn't afford to leave right away. I downloaded this new app at the time called Grindr to see if maybe there were

[00:27:20] some other gay guys I could be friends with in town. To my surprise, there were a handful and I started messaging them. The conversations all went south because all they wanted to do is have sex. And I wanted something more than that.

[00:27:35] So one night while I'm doing my run at the track, I get a message on Grindr from a blank profile. He asked me where I'm from and if I'm from here, I told him yes.

[00:27:47] He then asked, was I not ashamed to show my picture in an app like this? I found this really to be an odd question to ask a stranger, so I didn't reply. He then messaged me saying, don't you know how to speak? When someone asks you a question,

[00:28:07] you answer. This kind of ticked me off and I blocked him. I didn't think anything of it after that and continued my run. The next night I came back around 11 to run again. I see one blue truck in the parking lot, which is not that unusual.

[00:28:24] The town is filled with a lot of nurses who also run at night, so I didn't think anything of it. I put in my headphones and started on my run. After about a mile,

[00:28:36] I see the truck is parked on the same side of the track that I just stopped to rest on. Then it hit me. I've been running, but I have yet to see anyone else on the track. The truck was following me.

[00:28:50] I knew it and my intuition was screaming at me to leave. I always listened to my intuition, so I ran back over to where my car was and got in it. I tried to act like I was just finished running and didn't want whomever was in

[00:29:03] the truck to get the feeling that I was onto them. Now I lived out in the country and the track was a good 11 miles from my home. I start driving and notice the truck starts up and begins to follow me with their lights off.

[00:29:19] I know every back road in this town like the back of my hand, so I know multiple ways to get home. I drive through town for just a little bit, you know, just to see if he was really following me.

[00:29:31] I circle around the library, the Walmart and the McDonald's, and I could still see he was indeed following me, but from a very good distance. So on my way home, there's a curve called Dead Man's Curve,

[00:29:43] which is a lesser known road to my house a few feet away from it. I turn into the curve, turn my lights off and head down this road. Now there's nothing on this road but pitch blackness and pine trees.

[00:29:57] I go down this road and come to an end where you turn to go to my house. I turn around and I see a dead man's body. And come to an end where you turn to go to my house. When I reached the end of the road,

[00:30:12] I look both ways and to my left I can see the blue truck sitting in a church parking lot with his lights on. My heart almost jumped out of my chest because at that moment I realized someone might genuinely want to hurt me.

[00:30:29] I didn't pull out because I knew I could see him, but he couldn't see me yet. So instead I backed up and turned around and went the opposite direction. I get back onto Dead Man's Curve and try going another way,

[00:30:43] which is a longer way to my house, but it felt safer. I get halfway to my house and I fucking see the same truck again. This time he has pulled off onto the side of the road and turned off all his lights.

[00:30:59] At this point, I don't really know what to do because it's like he knows where I'm trying to go, which tells me he already knows where I live. So I decided to man up and just drive past him. But I don't do it normally. I floor it.

[00:31:19] And since my car was a Camaro, it had no problem picking up speed. I pass him going about 80 miles per hour and he flips on his lights and starts after me. Now at this point I'm speeding because I know for a fact

[00:31:34] police officers monitor this road and love giving speeding tickets to early morning people driving to work. But with it being almost 2am, I wasn't certain that they would have the radar set up. So I pass my house and keep going

[00:31:50] and I can see that he's not that far behind me. I decided to turn my lights off again and just pull into someone's driveway. Since my car was black, it's pretty hard to see at night with all the lights off and pitch blackness.

[00:32:04] I sit there and he comes flying past the house where I was parked at. I finally managed to get rid of him. I was so nervous I literally sat in these random people's driveway till about 4am. When I finally decided to leave,

[00:32:24] I pulled out and drove back to my house. I didn't see any other cars on the road so I realized I was safe. I get home and I'm still shaken up so I don't even fall asleep till around 7am.

[00:32:39] I wish this were the end of the story, but it's not. In fact, this was the beginning of weeks of torture from this person. I have a small case of sclerophobia from things that happened when I was a kid

[00:32:53] and I'm not sure if this person knew about this if he blogged about it on my MySpace or if he was just genuinely fucking with me because he was bored. Anyways, I started running at the track again two weeks later except this time I bring my dog.

[00:33:10] He was a pit bull and Rottweiler mix and very protective of me so I felt safe. Everything seemed fine again. Then I started to get random phone calls on my runs where nobody said anything but you could hear someone breathing on the phone.

[00:33:27] On one particular night, I get back home and my grandmother, who was also a night owl, was up. She seemed nervous and I asked her what was wrong. She said a man came and knocked on the door around 10pm and he had on a motorcycle helmet.

[00:33:46] She said he knocked and he said he needed to use the phone because his motorcycle crashed in a ditch by the house. But my grandmother, much like me, does not open the door for people we don't know. So he left. This really frightened me

[00:34:04] and I had no choice but to tell her what was going on. She asked me if he was some kind of lover and I said no, I have no idea who he is and what's worse is I don't know what he looked like.

[00:34:17] About two nights later, it's raining so I decide not to go to the track. I check my dating apps and decide to redownload Grindr. That's when I saw the creepiest messages. If you're not familiar with Grindr,

[00:34:32] people can message you even after you've uninstalled it for a short time. I had some of the worst vile messages from three separate profiles. One was calling me a liar and telling me he wanted to shove a broomstick up my ass for ignoring him.

[00:34:50] It's like he would say vile things then turn around and get sexually excited about it. I immediately deleted my profile from Grindr permanently. Then it hit me. That's how he knew where I lived. He was following my location on Grindr that night

[00:35:08] and I was too stupid to realize I was actively giving him my location. I decided I had no other choice but to report it to the police. But they told me without a name there's nothing else they could do.

[00:35:23] So I had no choice but to let it go. But the fact that he was outsmarting me really pissed me off. Even more oddly, I guess. He was toying with me and there was nothing I could do about it. The next night was Friday.

[00:35:39] My grandmother left for Tunica to go to the casino so I was home alone. I dreaded this and wanted not to be there alone so badly but nothing else I could really do. Now we don't have a farm

[00:35:53] but we had farm animals like chickens, ducks, geese, and goats. These animals would let you know if someone was on the property so I kept an ear open for them. Around 11pm I was listening to music and I got this feeling I was being watched.

[00:36:10] I looked out the window and everything was asleep. So I got on my laptop and started chatting with some online friends that I had. One wanted to talk on the phone so we did. About midnight, I'm sitting in the living room still on the phone

[00:36:26] and my dog starts growling. It wasn't like him to growl so I knew he had to smell or see something. Then that's when I smelled it. Cigar smoke. I knew somebody was around the house and they were smoking a cigar.

[00:36:45] I immediately go into the kitchen and call the police. They tell me someone will be out in about 20 minutes because we lived so far out. My heart is racing so I go into my bedroom with my dog

[00:36:58] and turn off my lights because I just know he's looking at me. I can just feel it. That's when I look over at my windows and peep through the blinds. I can see him standing in the backyard in the dark, smoking.

[00:37:18] Mind you, he made sure to stand close to the trees at the edge of the woods so I couldn't see his face, only his silhouette. And he just thumps it down after about four more minutes of just standing there and walks back into the woods.

[00:37:38] The police finally arrive and look around the house. They even do a spotlight search. They didn't find him, but he does come back and tell me that he found large boot prints all around the house in the mud

[00:37:52] and also a lot of cigarette butts and half-smoked cigars in the area close to my room near the woods. The police officer said he'd probably been watching us for a while, but he was more than likely just a harmless peeping tom.

[00:38:09] I don't know about you, but to me there is nothing harmless about a peeping tom. After the police came, the weird occurrences still happened, but not as close together. We would find animals taken from our property and killed in the woods.

[00:38:27] Small things on the outside of the house would go missing, and one morning I came outside and all my tires were flat. The scariest moment was when my grandmother and I both were home and the back doorknob started turning,

[00:38:44] but our dog went to the door and started growling so he left. A few months later, my grandmother would end up selling the house and we would both move out. I got a job teaching English as a second language abroad,

[00:38:58] and she moved into a smaller house in a different town. That was eight years ago. I'm writing about this now because next week I have to go back to that small town for a funeral. I haven't set foot in that town since I left.

[00:39:14] Because of what happened, I don't use location-based apps like Grindr anymore. I also don't put my location or personal info on social media at all. The scariest part about all of this is I'll never know who he was or what he looked like.

[00:39:31] Next week, I could look right at him and not even know that it was him. But if by chance he hears this, Psycho Grindr, Stalker, and the Blue Truck, let's not meet. This happened a few years ago.

[00:39:57] At the time, I was in my late 20s, single and probably a little too naive for my age. It was a warm July evening in a small desert town in southern Arizona. I was running late for a midweek church event.

[00:40:08] Truth be told, I'm always running late for everything, so this wasn't unusual. It was just starting to get dark when I pulled into the parking lot of the church. The church is located on the southeast corner of two streets in a mostly residential area.

[00:40:21] There is a chain link fence around the perimeter of the property that separates the parking lot from the streets. On the west side of the property, the fence is set back pretty far from the street,

[00:40:29] so there's a wider than usual shoulder area that drivers would commonly use to pull over and park on for whatever reason. Since I was in a hurry, I'll admit that I didn't pay any attention to whether or not there was anyone parked there when I pulled in.

[00:40:42] Since the event was about to start, the parking lot was full and everyone was inside the building. I ended up parking on the far west side of the parking lot, the part that was closest to that wide shoulder area.

[00:40:51] The lights in the parking lot were just starting to come on. I grabbed my purse and I rushed to get out of the car. Almost as soon as I got out, I heard a man's voice yelling, Hey you there! Hey!

[00:41:02] I was startled to see a man on the street side of the fence, about 20 feet away from me. He was holding onto the fence with his hands and just staring right at me.

[00:41:09] He was just out of reach from the parking lot lights and it was just dark enough that I couldn't make out his features, but I could see a big 80s style van behind him with the hood up. I think I said something like, Yes, can I help you?

[00:41:22] He gestured for me to come closer. Come here! I stayed where I was by my car and repeated, Can I help you? He sounded pleasant enough but tired. He said, I need some help, it won't start, I need a jump.

[00:41:33] Can you bring your car over here and jumpstart my van please? I genuinely wanted to help him, but I also knew right away that I wouldn't be the one to jumpstart his vehicle.

[00:41:42] Partly because I wasn't sure I knew how to and partly because I just didn't think it was a good idea since it would require me to be alone with a strange man in the dark. So I told him I'd go inside and get him some help.

[00:41:53] He replied right away and his voice changed. This time he sounded impatient. He said, Look, all I need is another vehicle. I have the cables, you won't even need to do anything. I'm sorry, but I'm really late, I said.

[00:42:06] There's an attendant right at the door and I can send him out to you. No, I'll give you $20, the man exclaimed. He sounded desperate. Now I felt bad. I thought the man didn't believe me that I was going to send someone else out to help,

[00:42:18] but I was sure it was the wiser choice. So I started backing toward the building and I told him one more time that I would get help for him. He just threw his arms up in the air and yelled, Forget it! Just forget it!

[00:42:28] Then turned his back toward the van. The anger in his voice startled me. I hurried inside as fast as I could in my high heels.

[00:42:35] The program was starting by now, but I went straight to the attendant and told him there was a man just outside the fence who had car trouble. The attendant told me that he had to finish something and he'd go out in just a minute to check.

[00:42:45] I remember I was irritated because at the time I was still worried that maybe I had been rude not to help myself and that the man would think I had lied to him if the attendant took too long.

[00:42:54] Finally, the attendant went out and feeling relieved, I took a seat. But the relief only lasted a moment because the attendant came back inside almost immediately.

[00:43:04] I got up again to go back and ask him what happened, thinking maybe he had just not seen the van in the dark. What he told me surprised me. He said there was no one out there.

[00:43:13] I asked if he had looked out by the street on the west side and he said, Yes, there was no one there. I guess I didn't trust that he had really looked since he hadn't seemed eager to help initially anyway.

[00:43:22] So I went out to the door to look toward where I'd parked. The van was gone. I wondered briefly if someone else had just stopped and jumpstarted the van for the man while I was getting the attendant. But there's no way it would have been done that fast.

[00:43:35] It was only two or three minutes tops between when I left the parking lot and when the attendant went outside. As it dawned on me what this likely meant, it sent shivers down my spine. The van was obviously not disabled. The man didn't need help jumpstarting it.

[00:43:48] So what was he after? Why was he so insistent that I help him and not ask someone else? He tried to bribe me not to ask someone else.

[00:43:55] As I replayed the brief interaction over in my head, I realized that he must have been waiting for someone to park in the area I had parked in. It was the furthest point from the building and just far enough away from the lighted parking lot.

[00:44:06] He approached me because I was alone. What was his intention? Was he planning to steal my car or mug me or something worse? I wish I had reported this to the police, but I didn't.

[00:44:16] It wasn't until later when I spoke with my family about what had happened and heard their concerned reactions that I was fully convinced that I wasn't just overreacting.

[00:44:25] I guess a big part of me didn't think anything dangerous could happen to me in the town that I grew up in. I realize how stupid that is now. Honestly, though, even if I had reported it, I wouldn't have been able to give them a good description.

[00:44:36] It was just too dark to tell what he looked like or even what color the van was. If I ran into him at the store, I wouldn't know it. I wouldn't even recognize his voice since I sincerely wasn't alarmed while I was talking to him.

[00:44:47] Besides, what would I tell the police? That he had lied to me about his van needing a jumpstart? I don't think that's a punishable crime.

[00:44:54] I still think about this years later and hope and pray that he is not some sick predator out there trying to trick women into getting close to his van. Hopefully he was just weird and not meaning any harm.

[00:45:04] But in any case, Creepy Man with the Van, let's not meet. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast.

[00:45:25] If you are a patron, make sure you stick around after the music for your extended version of this episode with bonus stories. This week you have heard... All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission of their respective authors.

[00:45:50] Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast, is not associated with Reddit or any other message boards online. As always, if you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. Thanks so much for Ash and Elena of Morbid for appearing on this week's episode.

[00:46:05] Make sure you check out their podcast wherever you get your podcasts. I should be appearing on their show sometime next week. We haven't quite worked out the details, but I'll keep you guys updated.

[00:46:15] If you'd like to support the show and get access to that extended ad-free version of this podcast with bonus stories, plus a bunch of other content, head over to patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast to support the show today.

[00:46:29] And for everyone else, I'll see you next week for a brand new episode of Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast. Stay safe. Creepy truck drivers, posing paper boys, and the man with the mannequin legs all coming up on this extended.