7x12: Almost Burned Alive - Let's Not Meet

[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 letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show.

[00:00:19] My name is Andrew Tate and this is Season 7, Episode 12 of Lets Not Meet, A True Horror Podcast. 🎶 Due to the number of young children that we have adopted and good genetics, many people

[00:01:03] don't realize that I am a woman north of 50 years old, no longer young and naive. Instead, I would say I'm wise and experienced. Also, people don't realize our children joined our family through foster care, having been removed from often violent, illegal situations that

[00:01:27] caused us to have legitimate concerns for our safety. Concerns that affect even simple decisions like where to live, being careful not to establish habits and patterns as we come and go. Simple everyday things other people never think about. These concerns

[00:01:47] are what prompted us to move to a new home in a new area and quickly but discreetly install our security cameras. We would connect a new monitoring system and change all of the locks.

[00:02:00] We didn't want to announce our security measures as we felt we wanted people to get to know us a bit before assuming we were just paranoid. Our state, and specifically our community, is often considered behind the times and very unsophisticated with worldly matters,

[00:02:20] so we would have definitely stood out. I was exceptionally proud of the new deadbolt that we installed. It was controlled either remotely or using a numeric pad. We always kept the doors locked, so this feature meant that our children could get into the house at

[00:02:40] any time and we didn't fear that they would lose the key. Seems safe, right? Well, that was the idea anyway. Most of the houses have similar floor plans and although our home had a huge

[00:02:55] construction addition, it's almost a cookie cutter appearance. It made it feel safe and familiar right away. Soon after moving in, a neighbor from up the street came to the door asking to borrow

[00:03:13] a screwdriver. I had seen him at church a couple of times. They were a younger couple, two small boys, nice looking. They were in the process of moving and although I could not imagine that a

[00:03:28] man wouldn't have such a common item hanging in his own garage, I assumed he had already packed up and found himself in need. I immediately found two things odd. First, was the way that he worded

[00:03:45] his request. Is your husband home so I can borrow a screwdriver? And second, it was the middle of the day, so moving or not, why was the neighbor home? I assured him that although my husband was

[00:04:01] at work, I had access to the screwdrivers and would fetch one. Did he want a flathead or a phillips? He wasn't sure, so I decided to get one of each. I wanted to make a good impression, so

[00:04:17] I dropped my normal suspicious attitude, put on a smile and said hang on, I'll grab one from the garage. I simply let the outer glass door close without latching it. Although it was against my

[00:04:31] nature, I figured that it wouldn't hurt. I walked past the stairway and headed deeper into the house towards the garage. It was no doubt laid out exactly like his home. As I got to the garage door,

[00:04:48] I heard a voice behind me exclaim, what do you want? I recognized this as our nanny's voice. She was very aware of our safety concerns and had come to the top of the stairs when she heard a man's

[00:05:05] voice. As I turned back to assure her that everything was okay, I found the neighbor man had stepped in silently to the house and followed me towards the garage. He was now standing only inches behind me. As I turned at her voice, he jumped and blurted out,

[00:05:30] I thought you said you were alone. I dropped all concern that I may appear paranoid and didn't care what impression I was about to give this creepy neighbor who had just followed me into

[00:05:45] my home uninvited. I introduced the owner of that voice as my well trained adult nanny and stated that both she and the cameras located directly above his head were security measures installed around my home. Without taking my eyes off this man, I reached behind me and pulled two

[00:06:07] screwdrivers off of the counter and held them out. He glanced down and stated that those were the wrong size but thanks anyway. He headed back to the front door quickly and I thought he was going

[00:06:21] to leave. I was so relieved, but I was wrong. As he reached the door, he stopped and looked at my newly installed deadbolt. He slowly raised his head and said, you seem to take security very

[00:06:39] seriously. Make sure you clean this keypad often or people will be able to guess your code by saying which numbers you use most often. He then shut the door and left. I ran behind him and locked

[00:06:54] the doors. Our wonderful nanny retreated upstairs to make sure that everything was secure. We talked about this later that night and she told me that she just had this feeling that she needed to come

[00:07:06] check on me. It wasn't until the next week that I learned how much I love this lady. As the couple was moving into their new home, the wife found very troubling pictures that connected her husband

[00:07:19] to some local violent sex crimes. She moved all the way across the country with her children and filed for divorce. Her husband, the creepy neighbor man was arrested and convicted. He will be getting out in one day. So to the man who mistook me for a gullible, inexperienced,

[00:07:44] possible target, our security measures have all been upgraded. And I clean my keypad daily. And for your sake, let's not meet again. I write this as I have stumbled upon this podcast a couple of weeks ago and while listening realized I had a very scary encounter myself.

[00:08:22] Before we begin, I want to state that I have always been a little naive and far too nice to strangers. My overly friendly demeanor coupled with my short stature, big smile and curvaceous

[00:08:36] figure often has made me a target for uncomfortable situations with men. I'm now in my 20s and have a better understanding of how dangerous the world can really be. Now onto the story. My family and

[00:08:52] I live in a popular beach town in Florida. It's small and during the winter, the only people you would see were the older residents that would stay year-round. Recently, my quaint beach town

[00:09:08] has become a hotspot for seedy party goers looking to drink and tan. In 2016, I was home visiting from college. I had just started my freshman year and took to driving home alone a lot since I loved

[00:09:23] the four hours on the open road. I got to spend this time by myself. On this day, the sun was shining and the breeze was magical so I had my windows rolled down. My old Pontiac had a great

[00:09:40] speaker system so I couldn't really hear the traffic or conversations from people all too well. I was absentmindedly scrolling on my phone at a stoplight when an older man approached my rolled

[00:09:52] down window. I hadn't noticed him until he scared the absolute crap out of me when he spoke. He was covered in sweat and his graying hair was spiked with gel. He reeked of booze and he was leaning

[00:10:09] into my car through the window. He asked me where the nearest gas station was then went on and on about a fight that he had gotten into with his wife. I pointed him to the nearest gas station

[00:10:23] and said that it was a couple of blocks in the opposite direction that I was going. As I went to roll up my windows, the light turned green. I told the man goodbye but he quickly ran

[00:10:38] to the other side of my car as my windows were rolling up. He reached in, unlocked the passenger's door and got in. Mind you, I'm pretty young and have zero self-defense skills. I was terrified.

[00:10:55] I looked at him astonished and said, please get out of my car. He refused several times saying that I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to get to the gas station.

[00:11:10] Tears were welling up in my eyes at this point. I had no idea what to do in this kind of situation so I drove to where I had pointed earlier. During this time, my eyes remained peeled on the road.

[00:11:22] The couple of blocks to the gas station seemed to be taking forever. His stench permeated the entire car and he kept asking me questions like how old I was, what my name was, why a pretty girl like me

[00:11:36] is driving all alone. He began to get very angry at me. He started yelling the questions now since I refused to answer any of them. I just ignored him. Thankfully, I pulled up to the popular

[00:11:52] gas station packed with cars and told him to get out. He looked at me as if contemplating whether or not to leave. I'm now shaking. I repeated it in a much harsher tone, get out. Thankfully he did.

[00:12:10] I whipped out of that gas station and raced home. Once I got in the door, tears flooded my vision and I told my mom exactly what was going on. She was worried so she called the police who said that

[00:12:23] they couldn't do anything because he didn't physically harm me. So drunken man who forced himself into a young girl's car, let's never meet again. I was very pregnant on January 1st 2009 at 9 30 p.m with two boys. I usually take an evening walk

[00:12:56] around my block to get some exercise but I decided to take a trip to my local Target to browse around a bit which I do pretty often. I got to Target and bought a few household items that I needed

[00:13:10] then headed over to the baby section to do some shopping for my babies that were due the next month. I was looking through the baby clothes when a woman started a conversation with me.

[00:13:23] We chatted over how cute the clothes were and how it was hard not to buy everything on the rack. She then asked me how far along I was and what I was expecting. These were not unusual questions

[00:13:39] or suspicious in fact I had been answering them for months. The woman congratulated me and added that she too was pregnant but not very far along and not quite showing yet. I said goodbye to the woman and headed to another department. The woman approached me again

[00:13:59] but this time asked if I was interested in working for her. She mentioned that her husband had just started a new business and was looking for nice reliable people to hire. I said thank you but I'm

[00:14:16] not really capable of working right now. And that in fact I was already employed but on maternity leave. She said okay and seemed very understanding but still insisted that she take down my number

[00:14:33] just in case after I have the twins that I was interested. This woman was being so friendly and nice and also being pregnant like myself part of me just felt guilty telling her no. I knew this was

[00:14:49] not a good idea but another part of me just wanted to get out of this awkward situation so I gave the woman my name and number and we went our separate ways. A few days passed and my phone rang. It was

[00:15:05] not a number that I recognized but I still answered. It was the woman that I had met at Target. I was surprised that she called so soon. I told her my situation not changed and that I wasn't

[00:15:18] interested. After this conversation I was sure that she would stop calling but I was wrong. The woman began calling me more and more often even from a private number. One day I answered

[00:15:34] and it was her husband asking me if I would be willing to meet with them at his business so he could further explain the job opportunity that he was offering. By this time I was very irritated by

[00:15:48] their presence and started thinking I made a big mistake by giving these people my number. I declined his offer once again and asked that they stop calling me. The man apologized and agreed

[00:16:02] to stop. This had become very concerning so I decided to let my husband know what happened at Target and what had been occurring since. My husband became very upset and questioned why I would give

[00:16:15] them my name and number and pregnancy information. All two complete strangers. The more we talked the more I questioned myself why would someone starting a new business want to hire a nine-month pregnant woman carrying twins knowing that they would be out of work for a long time.

[00:16:36] Was this woman really even pregnant? I felt so stupid and angry with myself for trusting this woman and not trusting my instinct that this was just not right. Well one evening my phone rang at

[00:16:50] about 10 45 p.m from a private number. I answered it. It was the woman's husband. I immediately handed the phone over to my husband. My husband does not even give this man a chance to talk. He

[00:17:05] threatens that he will call and report them to the police and that if he ever calls his phone again we'll find him and he'll beat the shit out of him. The man hangs up without a word. Weeks passed

[00:17:18] and the phone calls had stopped. I stopped worrying and gave birth to my beautiful twin boys. A month after this I make a run to Target in the evening. While shopping my phone rings.

[00:17:33] I grab it and it's the woman's number. She was calling me again. I instantly felt sick to my stomach. I remember feeling as if she had her eyes on me and was just calling my phone while watching.

[00:17:51] I left my whole cart and quickly walked out of Target. I was careful to make sure that no one was following me to my car. I jumped in then called my husband. I had him on speaker the

[00:18:04] whole way home also making sure that no cars were following me. My husband and I are almost positive this woman was at Target that night looking for more women to lure for whatever reason. I can't help but wonder what they wanted with me. What were their true intentions?

[00:18:23] I'm grateful I never found out and to this woman and her husband let's not meet again. My story happened a couple of years ago. At the time my daughter was just under one year old.

[00:18:51] I had dropped her off at my sister's house so that my partner and I could have some quality time alone. I used to drive a white Ford 98 pickup truck. Seeing that it was made in the 90s there

[00:19:05] weren't any backup cameras which made three-point turns a bit unnerving for me. I chose to pull into my sister's across the street neighbor's driveway to make the turn a little easier. I started to

[00:19:20] drive back home which is about a 20 to 25 minute trip. I had the music blasting and started down a two-lane backroad freeway. I noticed a car riding my ass which really pissed me off because

[00:19:33] whoever it was had every chance to pull onto the next lane and pass me. I grew angrier as the car didn't budge. Once I had gotten to the light the car had gotten in the lane next to me.

[00:19:51] Okay it was a small red Nissan Juke. I noticed a woman was driving and nobody was with her. I looked over in irritation and quickly turned back to face the road as the light had just

[00:20:06] changed. I continued down the road not thinking anything of it as she had sped by me and was ahead of me at this point. I was taking the backroads to the apartment as I hated driving this truck

[00:20:20] on the freeway. I noticed that she was headed in the same direction as me. I was starting to feel very concerned because the backroads that I was using they weren't common for everyone to use

[00:20:35] unless they lived in that area. She manages to get behind me again and rides my ass the entire time. I'm starting to freak the hell out. I'm seriously thinking to myself I'm going to die

[00:20:48] this crazy bitch is going to kill me. I panicked because I couldn't remember where the nearest police station was. I knew my partner was home so five minutes before my turn I called him and

[00:21:01] told him someone is following me and I'm really scared. He told me to come home and he'd be waiting outside for me. I found a place to park and he was standing outside waiting just as he said.

[00:21:14] I got out of the truck and he was talking to the woman, me. Guns blazing I started cussing and screaming at her out of the pure adrenaline that was pumping in me. I called her a crazy

[00:21:30] bitch and insisted that she tell me why the fuck she was following me 25 minutes to my house. My partner held his arm out to keep me at bay. She shouted back at me asking me if I was so and so's

[00:21:43] daughter. She used my father's name. I was confused and speechless because I come from a close-knit family and pretty much know all of the people that my dad would know. Who is this woman?

[00:22:01] She begins accusing me of stealing her mail and telling me she knows I stole important documents that she's been waiting for for weeks and that she saw me pull into her driveway. My eyes widen as I realize she's my sister's neighbor from across the street.

[00:22:21] Are you kidding me? She followed me home accusing me of stealing her mail. What the fuck? More shouting from her continues as she threatens to call the police on me and that she knows where

[00:22:36] I live and that she has my license plate number as well. My partner shouts back that we'll be calling the police as she drives off. Shaking with fear and frustration he tells me to dial

[00:22:50] the cops and tell them what happened. They arrive soon after to take my statement. To this day, that woman still lives across from my sister. She's never bothered me again after this incident. But

[00:23:05] crazy neighbor lady who accused me of stealing your mail because I did a three-point turn in your driveway. Let's not meet again. This story begins about five years ago when I was 15. I'm now 20, I'm a female and I can't believe this even happened to me.

[00:23:37] I had a best friend who lived two houses down from my childhood home while growing up. We'll call her Tasha. She was a lifesaver for me. We were the same age and the same classes and the best of friends. Every summer we would spend every single second together

[00:23:56] finding new things to do and new ways to spend our time. This year we had set up tents in each of our backyards and we were alternating sleeping and tenting at each other's houses.

[00:24:09] Every summer with her was full of laughing, joy, tan lines and so much more. I will never take those days for granted. This summer I had taken a summer job working at our local ice cream shop

[00:24:23] in town and normally my shifts would be until 10 at night. Almost every night I would get off of work, run home and then run to Tasha's. I didn't even grab overnight clothes since there was so

[00:24:38] much that I had in my bag that I just kept my pjs and bathing suit since Tasha had a hot tub in a pool. Just like any other night I got off of work and ran to Tasha's with some other friends.

[00:24:54] In order to understand the story a bit better I need to describe how we had our tent set up. Tasha's tent was set up about three feet from the stairs that led to her living room

[00:25:06] which then turned into the kitchen. This entrance to the living room was the only way to get into the house other than the front door. We set up super close to the stairs because I peed a lot

[00:25:20] during the night and at the time Tasha had an older sister who was about 20. She slept upstairs and was rarely home. Every night that we slept at Tasha's we would always have that door unlocked

[00:25:33] because like I said I often went inside during the night. Anyway this night was no different than all of the other summer nights. I arrived with a couple more of our friends, raided her kitchen

[00:25:46] for snacks and spent hours in the pool and hot tub laughing, drinking which we obviously weren't supposed to be doing, and listening to music. We would usually end the night with a movie in the

[00:25:58] tent. We had gone into the tent at around 2am that night falling asleep to a movie. Around 3am we woke up to our tent being shaken and Tasha's sister frantically moving us inside. I was half asleep and I had no idea what was happening so I just followed.

[00:26:22] My eyes were very sleepy and so were Tasha's. As soon as I got into the kitchen I heard somebody crying. Confused and concerned I looked around. I was fully awake when I saw Tasha's older sister

[00:26:35] curled up and crying on the kitchen chair. Tasha's dad was there and looked angrier than I had ever seen anyone. Her parents had been recently separated but even her mom was there. As the night

[00:26:51] turned to morning I slowly learned of the events that had taken place. The cops showed up and I overheard what Tasha's mom and sister were telling them as I eavesdropped but I just couldn't help

[00:27:05] it. I felt sick. What happened that night will always stick with me. In the middle of the night somebody had broken into the house. As they walked through the house they didn't take a thing. The

[00:27:18] counter was littered with laptops, wallets, my phone and an iPad. It was bizarre. After they walked past that counter they promptly went to Tasha's older sister's room. That evening she was woken up to someone standing over her inches from her face. After realizing what happened she jumped

[00:27:41] out of bed and the man disappeared quickly after. But it gets worse. After hearing this a cop walked over to Tasha and I and asked if anything we had here had been taken and we were sent up to the

[00:27:56] room to look. We stepped into her room and everything looked in place and nothing looked to be gone but it just didn't feel right. Something was off so we started looking. Into my horror,

[00:28:09] my dirty underwear from the night before had been taken from my bag along with Polaroid pictures of me and Tasha. These were Polaroids that we had taken in our bathing suits. All of Tasha's underwear

[00:28:25] and bras had been taken along with her tights and a pair of her dad's blue jeans that were hanging up in her room to dry after being washed that day. In Tasha's sister's room her photo albums had all

[00:28:39] been taken along with pictures that she had in her wallet but no money or cards were taken. As the night dragged on they started dusting for fingerprints in the house. They found absolutely

[00:28:52] nothing on the front door which meant that this man had to have walked by mine and Tasha's tent that evening to get in. Thinking of this man just walking a few feet from us while we were sleeping,

[00:29:05] it's horrible. I didn't know that in a few short minutes what the police would find would make me feel even worse. The discovery of zero prints on the front door prompted the police officers to

[00:29:19] believe that we were being watched since he knew that the back door was unlocked. Tasha had acres of land filled with bush in her backyard so they started searching. By this point it was morning

[00:29:32] and we were all terrified and exhausted. Police shoe prints littered the floor. They quickly made the grisly discovery of a folding lawn chair, binoculars, and lotion about 10 feet into the bush

[00:29:49] and perfect view of the hot tub, back door, and pool. They never caught who this was and to this day I still get chills when I think about it. Tasha and I see each other often since she moved out of

[00:30:04] that home and started her career and her sister moved across the country but when we're all together it occasionally comes up. It'll probably stick with us forever. Needless to say we didn't camp

[00:30:18] in our backyards that summer. So to the guy who terrorized all of us that night, let's not meet. I just recently heard about your podcast because it was mentioned on Morbid and let me tell you

[00:30:47] I can't stop listening and this leads me to want to share one of my stories with you that I haven't told many people still to this day. At the time of this encounter I was around 22 years old and

[00:31:03] living in Portland, Oregon. I'm now currently 30 and live in a small rural town. I was having the time of my life in my 20s in the city especially because I lived with my best friend. We frequently

[00:31:18] went downtown on weekends and never had any encounters that seemed alarming. That is however until one night on a Thursday when my best friend went to see some science show at an auditorium

[00:31:34] and I instead had an appointment to get my hair done because I wasn't really interested in science stuff. My appointment was around 6 p.m as was her show. As I got out of my appointment it was dark

[00:31:50] downtown and the street my salon was on was a side street with terrible street lights. I somehow had forgotten where our parking garage was so I was walking around aimlessly trying to find it

[00:32:04] all alone which as a young female walking around downtown Portland at night is a bit of a mistake to begin with. As I'm walking I noticed two men walking towards me but I didn't really think

[00:32:19] anything of it. That is until I heard the words come out of their mouth, the words that chilled me to the bone. Words I'll never forget. After they had passed me they stopped. I heard one of

[00:32:36] them clearly say, we could make a lot of money off of her. Panic set in but I didn't make it obvious that I was aware of what they had just said. I kept walking as fast as I could. I somehow found my

[00:32:52] parking garage just a few moments later and jumped into my car and locked the doors. I texted my best friend and said we have to go. As far as I know the men didn't follow me nor did they find me

[00:33:04] thankfully. So to all the women out there, as a word of advice please don't wander downtown in a big city at night alone because you truly never know what could happen to you. And to the men who

[00:33:18] wanted to kidnap me and possibly traffic me, let's never meet again. This is something that happened to me when I was young, dumb and bored which is never a good combination to have. Back in my home state of Queensland Australia after youth service one night

[00:33:51] four friends and I decided to go egging in my car. It was a choice that we would regret by the end of the night. Straight after youth service we all piled into my Ford Falcon, three in the back with me

[00:34:08] driving and my best mate at the time shotgunning. We decided to go egging outside of our small town so we wouldn't be recognized and we wouldn't be risking hitting somebody that we knew. Before we

[00:34:22] left I changed the number plates just for extra precautions and in case I was to get shot. We made our way to the petrol station first to purchase eggs and some snacks. Driving around for the next hour in a couple of suburbs over just egging random drunk people

[00:34:47] and signs, having heaps of fun blasting music and we honestly thought that we were the shit and no one was going to stop us. I wasn't the best influence if you haven't already realized

[00:35:02] and I had the brilliant idea of egging this small country town off the beaten track. Now I knew this town about a 20 minute drive off of the highway. It was secluded and full of small run-down houses and a caravan park. I honestly thought

[00:35:22] that they were an easy target, that they wouldn't do anything plus no police station in this town. We started making our way down this gravel dirt road and it didn't click to me that the road

[00:35:37] into this town is the same road out. What was supposed to take only 20 minutes felt like forever with this endless long grass on both sides of the road, no street lights either. It was pitch black. Eventually I saw ahead the lights of the streets and the town.

[00:36:00] I started to prep the others for what was going to go down. Turning off the lights and lowering the music to basically nothing, I let the car crawl past these houses and everyone started to peg eggs and the blink of an eye the house started to light up.

[00:36:21] And I could hear yelling and people running outside. We roared with laughter and I floored it around the corner. We were on the home stretch almost at the main road connecting to the exit

[00:36:36] back to the highway. I started to turn my lights back on. The music was back up and I was picking up speed all the while they were following in a vehicle in the dark. Because of how loud and

[00:36:50] distracting my friends were being, I didn't notice the vehicle. The street lights barely lit up the town as well. All of a sudden another car pulled onto the main road exit and was picking

[00:37:04] up speed coming straight at us. I looked in the rear view mirror and noticed something following us just as the vehicle turned its high beams on. I knew I only had one option and that was to

[00:37:20] either crash into the long grass or into someone's fence or stop. I chose to stop. I knew the gig was up and the men blocked my car so I couldn't take off anywhere without damaging mine or their

[00:37:37] vehicles. I told everyone to shut up and listen to me very carefully and do as I say. I told my friends to quickly put the eggs under the seat and in the glove compartment, be quiet and everything

[00:37:50] will be okay. The headlights were so bright that it would line the shadows of the men and what they were carrying. My heart dropped a bit when I noticed the wood in their hands but it actually

[00:38:07] stopped for just a moment when I saw the petrol can. Everything felt like it was going in slow motion. My friends looked terrified and I remember some of them even crying and praying as they put

[00:38:21] the images together in their heads of what it looks like, of what is going to happen. I told them to put their heads down and trust me not to look up and make sure that they have their seat

[00:38:35] belts on. The men approached the car yelling telling us, you think you can come into our town and mess with us? You picked the wrong people you dumb fucks. You're going to learn a lesson

[00:38:47] about fucking with people's homes. One of the men was telling me to roll down my window. I refused and just said that we were lost but they weren't having any of it. The men started to try and smash

[00:39:01] the windows with the wood and their fists. All I was focused on was the man with the petrol can. He walked over and poured the contents on my driver's side window. I remember so vividly that

[00:39:17] moment. I knew I couldn't reason with them so I went into fight or flight mode. I didn't care that one of the men was in front of the car and that the vehicle was in the way, I just floored it.

[00:39:32] I didn't look back. Clipping the guy in front of the car and smashing the front side of the vehicle, I was off and had a free strip to the highway. Not looking back and I was going as

[00:39:46] fast as I could. I pushed the car while still staying in control. We made it to the highway at a crazy speed and almost took out a minivan in the process. I didn't stop the car until we

[00:40:01] reached the petrol station on the other side of the highway. No one made a sound even when I stopped. Getting a bucket out of the boot of my car, I walked over and filled it with water,

[00:40:14] rinsing off the driver's side door. Before I dropped everyone off at home, we decided to never talk about that night again. I think about it often and what would have happened if I had just stayed

[00:40:27] and hadn't floored it out of there. To those men, I really hope we never meet again. For reference, I'm a female and this happened to me back in June of 2010 when I was 17.

[00:40:52] I was driving home from a graduation party at about 1am. I lived in Virginia at the time and the summers are extremely hot and humid. The air conditioning wasn't working in my car,

[00:41:05] so all of the windows and sunroof were open and I was blasting my music and singing along. I was at a red light and I had this overwhelming sensation that I was being watched. It was so

[00:41:20] overwhelming that it made me shiver which was odd considering that it was 90 degrees outside. I fought the urge to look but I did cave. Staring right at me with this shit-eating grin was a man

[00:41:34] who I'd guess was in his mid-30s in a red pickup truck in the left turn lane. He was trying to yell something at me, but I couldn't hear over my music so I turned it down and looked back over.

[00:41:48] Looked back over. He called me sexy and asked where I was headed. I cringed, rolled my eyes, and turned away from him to ignore him. Right before I turned the music back up, I heard him

[00:42:02] call me a bitch. Nice, I thought. I laughed to myself and blasted my music and went on ahead when the light turned green. I checked the rearview mirror and to my surprise,

[00:42:16] I see a red pickup truck pull out of the left turn lane and speed up behind me. Initially, I give him the benefit of the doubt and try not to be too paranoid

[00:42:28] and just keep driving. I turn right into my neighborhood and just as I feared would happen, he turns right as well. I live in a pretty big neighborhood but it's one of those suburban

[00:42:41] neighborhoods with a lot of twists and turns and dead ends and it's easy to get lost if you're not familiar with the area. I now know it's not a coincidence. I remember what my driver's ed

[00:42:54] teacher had taught us. If you think someone's following you, you never pull into your driveway alone. He told us to call for help and drive to a well-lit area, especially a police or fire station

[00:43:08] if you can. So instead of taking the right turn onto my street, I turn left. So does he. I take another left and so does he. I've seen too many horror movies and at this point,

[00:43:24] I'm thinking of every worst case scenario when suddenly he starts blaring his horn over and over. It gets to the point where he's just laying on the horn for what feels like minutes.

[00:43:36] I need to focus so I turn the music off and that's when I can hear it. He's screaming, blood curdling screams and I can make out a few curse words but then I hear him scream clear as day,

[00:43:52] you'll regret this you fucking bitch. I immediately panic. My blood runs ice cold and my entire body starts to shake. I reach over for my cell phone which is sitting in the passenger seat and right

[00:44:05] as I have it in my hands, he starts flashing his bright lights over and over. Between my shaking hands and the headlights flashing, it caught me off guard enough to where of fucking course I

[00:44:19] dropped the phone on the passenger side floor. I'm absolutely terrified and even worse, this sinking feeling comes over me. This is happening when I'm not even a mile away from the safety of my house.

[00:44:34] I think about my mom and my stepdad, none the wiser thinking I'll be home any minute. I start to cry. Thinking about them is what gave me a little push. I have to get out of here and

[00:44:46] away from him. I refuse to let him get what he wants. I speed up and sharply and quickly take turns at last seconds hoping to lose him but he keeps up. He's still screaming, still flashing his

[00:45:01] lights and honking so I roll up all of my windows. As I'm taking a right turn, I think of a shortcut. It's an unpaved road that looks like it would be the entrance to someone's driveway if you

[00:45:14] weren't familiar with the neighborhood but it leads back to the main road. I floor it down that street watching the gravel dust leave behind as I take a quick left then a quick right and I'm

[00:45:26] back on the main road. I ran the first red light and stopped at the next one when I felt this huge wave of relief wash over me when I saw that no one was in my rearview mirror. Not a single car

[00:45:38] was even on the street but I'm still shaking and feeling sick to my stomach so with my foot on the brake, I try to reach down and find my phone. I finally have it in my hand when I hear the loudest

[00:45:52] thud. Quickly another thud follows then a crack after that. I look up and to my absolute horror the man in the red pickup is banging on my window screaming at me to let him in

[00:46:07] calling me the most disgusting derogatory names. I look in my rearview mirror and his truck was parked several feet behind mine on the side of the road with its lights off. I hate myself in

[00:46:19] this moment because I'm so terrified and frozen to the point where I feel legitimately paralyzed but that's when I look up to the open sunroof. How did I forget to close that too?

[00:46:32] He looks to see what I'm staring at and he immediately tries to climb inside of the car. Within seconds I think to myself you either fight this or you don't. I push his arm off of me and

[00:46:46] then I slam my foot so hard on the gas and scream as I watch him fly off of my car and smack onto the pavement behind me. I keep driving. I don't stop driving even when I'm finally calling for help.

[00:47:00] Unfortunately like so many others they never found him. I couldn't make out a single letter of his license plate since he was trailing so close and flashing his high beams. I'm grateful

[00:47:12] that I got away and for the most part I am okay. I'm shaken but I'm alive. To this day I still can't help but feel this sense of dread when I think about what happened so many years ago. Am I the

[00:47:25] only one he's done this to? And even more terrifying of a thought, was I the last? Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast. This week

[00:47:41] you have heard You Picked the Wrong Person by Suzy. Random Stranger in Car by Bernie. Job Offer by M.O. Crazy Lady Followed Me Home by Abby. Tenting Horror by Happy Go Lucky. A Story by

[00:48:04] Listener Brittany. Young, dumb, and almost burned alive by Kay. And finally, The Man Who Tried to Follow Me Home by Holly. All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with

[00:48:16] the permission of their respective authors. 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

[00:48:26] letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com and if you're a parent or a parent of a child or a teenager let's not meet stories at gmail.com and if you're a patron stick around after the music for your

[00:48:36] extended ad free version of this week's episode. If you want to get access to those extended episodes head over to patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast to start supporting the

[00:48:47] show today. I'll see you all next week for a brand new episode of Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast. Stay safe.