8x09: Lost Stories 10 - Let's Not Meet

[00:00:00] This podcast contains adult language and content. If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show. My name is Andrew Tate and this is Season 8, Episode 9 of Lets Not Meet, A True Horror Podcast.

[00:00:27] Hey folks and welcome to another Lost Stories edition of Lets Not Meet, A True Horror Podcast. If you're new to the show, and many of you probably are, these are some of the classic

[00:00:56] recordings from the early days of the podcast that were lost for some time when I took a break just a few years ago. Upon returning to the new seasonal format, there were many requests to re-release these stories.

[00:01:08] A wonderful fan and friend of the show had all of them saved and shared them with me so I've remastered and cleaned up some of the best of the bygone era and compiled them for you this week for a very chilling and very special episode.

[00:01:20] And remember, these are some rough recordings, but the stories remain just as frightening as ever. Also contained in this episode is a recording by Liz Sauer of the podcast Ghost in the Burbs. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts. For now, enjoy the show.

[00:01:45] To give some explanation and background knowledge for this whole encounter, I was around 15 at the time this occurred. I was camping out in the middle of nowhere with my family and part of my extended family, my aunt, uncle, and some cousins.

[00:02:01] I was the oldest kid there in the RV so you can probably understand how it felt to have no one else to do the stupid crap I did back then with. With a good two year gap between me and the inferiors, it was almost like nirvana when

[00:02:17] I got to the campground and met the other teenagers. These were all people we knew fairly well from previous camping trips, so it was considered normal to hit it off with them from the start and act like we've known each other forever within the hour. Now, the story.

[00:02:37] My parents trusted me a lot, and that's not a lie. I liked my fun, but I liked getting home on time to eat dinner equally as much. So when I was gone most of the day with the other people from the camp, they didn't think much of it.

[00:02:51] The only rule was that I had to be back at the RV to eat dinner before 830 in the evening. So picture this, a group of six teenagers, 15-16 years old, out in the middle of the woods with no adult supervision for the vast majority of the day.

[00:03:09] Just a recipe for success right there. But this particular day we found a neat little deer trail we hadn't found in the two years we had been there before. On second thought, though, it didn't really seem like a deer trail.

[00:03:24] It snaked through a really thick part of the underbrush, maybe a foot of clear ground and 3.5 feet clear of branches going upwards. It's a really hard thing to pick out of the brush unless you're really looking, or you know exactly where it is.

[00:03:40] It was promptly explored, marked with a broken branch outside the entrance, and quickly forgotten. Except, I remembered this special little tunnel. That night, while we were all eating dinner, one of the adults proposed that we played manhunt out in the woods at night.

[00:04:01] Not everyone was totally on board with this idea, but in the grand scheme of the plan, they were squashed down like autumn leaves. Everyone got a flashlight and everyone was assigned to a team. For those of you who aren't sure what manhunt is, here's the explanation.

[00:04:20] Everyone is given a flashlight and they are divided into two groups. It's basically like glorified flashlight tag, but there's a catch. As you catch people, you have to correctly identify who they are, and if you can, they join forces with the hunters.

[00:04:37] The last man standing gets a candy bar or something, whatever is being offered as a prize. This is how we played it anyways. For the first round, I get lumped in with the runners, those who are getting chased by the hunters.

[00:04:53] We get a 5 minute head start to run, climb a tree, or whatever the hell we want to do to evade the hunters. Usually I'm the one up in the tree, but that never really worked out as being a winning spot.

[00:05:07] So to try and score a win for once, I decided to play the cat and use one surefire method of escape. And the hiding spot was the rude little path through the thicket.

[00:05:19] It took most of the head start time to find the damn thing because it was so well hidden and out of the way. As I passed hiding spots, I heard hushed, smothered whispering between siblings who were questioning my actions. It should be noted that I have bad hearing.

[00:05:42] My ears are possibly my greatest asset in this game. But when I just reached the destination, I hear a short blast of the air horn announcing that the 5 minutes are up. I swan dove into this little path in the undergrowth, shuffling on my hands and knees until I'm

[00:06:01] about halfway in, crouching down like some huge malformed quail. The hunters are doing an initial sweep through the trails, looking for obvious hiders and people caught out trying to change spots. When they finally reach me, they reach the dead end and go straight back.

[00:06:23] I try to readjust myself and crawl further down the tunnel. I honestly don't know how it happened, but I found an even more hidden path within that one, and accidentally dragged my stupid body down the rabbit hole.

[00:06:41] Except instead of ending in a dead end, this one ended in a slight hollow. I don't ever want to describe exactly what I found there. I'm sorry, but I just can't. It was a young teenager looking woman, naked, covered in lacerations and stab wounds in the fetal position.

[00:07:07] Her glassy glazed eyes seemed to look straight through me. I won't go any further than that. I was too scared to scream, and I froze while there in the dark, while burgundy stains formed on my jeans.

[00:07:25] I was froze there in a pseudo catatonic position, like a marble carving, for what felt like hours. And then I heard something, someone else coming along the path. Have you ever been so scared that for one moment, one insane moment, you truly consider

[00:07:48] something incredibly stupid as a viable option to escape? That was one of those times. I let out a short, trembling whimper and started moving. Whoever was on the path stopped, and then eagerly started moving forward again. I could hear their panting, uneven breaths.

[00:08:12] They were of a man, a horrible marker of whomever it was getting closer and closer to me by the second. By some wondrous, beautiful miracle, he missed the path leading to the brushy hollow. I heard him moving down past the entrance, dragging something clunky and awkward behind him.

[00:08:34] I heard clinking noises in the occasional effort to silence the small, sharp noises. I heard a low curse somewhere towards the end of the tunnel, and I blasted out of the undergrowth tunnel like a bullet forcing its way out of a barrel.

[00:08:52] Cracks, crashes, and obnoxious rustling was all around me as I heard the man sharply intake a breath and begin to move towards me. The hoarse, deep panting was getting closer and closer to me, a testament to how I was too slow at exiting.

[00:09:11] Somehow, I exploded out of the entrance, got onto my wobbly, half-asleep legs, and started booking it down the trail. The unknown pursuer was close behind me for a bit, but it seemed like he was too exhausted to chase me at the same speed for very long.

[00:09:31] I know everyone loves to rip on the fact that people trip in horror movies, but in all honesty, tripping is something I'm amazed that I didn't do. With adrenaline coursing through me, trying to make my jello-like, unsteady walking appendages

[00:09:47] work to move me away from whoever was behind me was like trying to run on water. It felt like an eternity, but I finally reached the main trail, running back to the camp, and sprinted down it, screaming bloody murder.

[00:10:04] Confused faces looked out from the trees, and I think someone called after me. Reaching the camp was easy, but trying to explain why I woke up half of the people in the camp and bolted out of the woods at breakneck speed was even harder.

[00:10:20] When I finally choked the words out to explain, I remember a profound, insidious silence throughout the group of adults waiting at the mouth of the trail. I really don't remember a whole lot from that point on.

[00:10:35] I know the cops were called, and my mother and aunt ran shrieking and wailing along the trail, calling for the other kids to come back to safety. When someone's yelling like that, you don't ignore it. They rounded everyone up in 30 seconds flat and barreled back to the camp.

[00:10:54] The police found a man out in the woods creeping along the trail, clutching a knife. A black garbage bag with a plethora of sharp instruments and a saw was found abandoned on the trail. Some speckled and smeared with dried blood.

[00:11:13] I don't think there's really any getting over it. I still have nightmares sometimes of the man chasing me, breathing heavily down the back of my neck trying to catch me. Sometimes he succeeds. Earlier this year I went camping, as I am wont to do.

[00:11:46] I chose to head to a campground that I often use because it's not far from where I live since I've had kids and I like to stay reasonably close just in case something happens, and also because it is almost always empty.

[00:12:00] I invited a few friends who were supposed to meet up with me the next day if they could. I arrived at the campground, put four dollars in the honor system box, and drove to my usual campsite. I was pleased that I had the place to myself.

[00:12:14] I first walked over to the pit toilets to make sure they had TP, which they did, and then spent about five minutes looking at some rock formations near the entrance to the site.

[00:12:23] When I came back, the parking permit that showed I paid for my campsite was gone from under my windshield wiper and laid in the grill. I thought it was strange, but I figured it was the wind. After all, I hadn't seen a sign of anyone else.

[00:12:37] I left the campsite and hiked about a mile to a small lake where swimming and fishing is allowed. I put a line in the water and walked over to the beach. I started to get the feeling that somebody was watching me, but I wrote it off as paranoia.

[00:12:51] That was until somebody started throwing rocks into the lake. I couldn't see them and they didn't seem to be aiming at me, but every minute or so, somebody would throw a rock, make a splash, and then nothing.

[00:13:04] No giggling, no screams or ghost noises like I'd expect from a stranger playing a prank. I realized that it was most likely one of my friends who knew I was up there and wanted to have a little fun with me. It's something we quite often do.

[00:13:19] I immediately hiked back to my van. It was unlocked and would have been too tempting a target to pass up. When I got there, my side door was open. I expected everything to be gone and or tampered with, but everything seemed to be in order.

[00:13:34] I assumed I'd startled whoever opened it before they could do anything to my gear. I locked my van and went back to the lake for my fishing pole. The entire time, I was aware that someone was following me, but they never did anything.

[00:13:49] This let me narrow down my list of suspects to three or four friends who have the necessary skill to sneak up on me in the woods. I grabbed my pole and headed back, no longer aware of being followed.

[00:14:01] I assumed my friend got tired of playing with me and would have a surprise for me at the campsite. I was right. Somebody had drawn a smiley face in the dust where I was going to put up my tent. It was both lame and somehow chilling.

[00:14:15] I went ahead and set up my tent and got everything ready for the night. At the appropriate time, 2300 I'd guess, I announced, Right! I'm off to bed. See you tomorrow! To whoever was in earshot. I bunked down but didn't go to sleep.

[00:14:33] Sometime later, I heard someone approach my sight. I even thought to myself that whoever this was needed to work on stealthy approaches. I heard them shuffling the items I had on the picnic but couldn't see anyone because

[00:14:47] I had put the rainfly up on my tent to discourage a prankster from blasting me with a super soaker or water balloons. Then I heard liquid being poured and I thought to myself, Bastards are ruining my coffee! There's no potable water in the campground.

[00:15:04] Then I saw a flash and realized my visitor had used some stove fuel to light a campfire. Since we were under a burn ban at the time, I knew it had to be my friend who works for the National Forest. Nobody else I knew would have done it.

[00:15:18] We might be assholes to each other but we're always respectful, mob-biting. I sat up in my tent and said, in the most threatening voice I could muster, Garou, I love you like a brother but when I get out of this tent and you don't have

[00:15:31] a cooler full of beer with you, I'm going to bury this hatchet in your face. There was no answer, just silence. I continued, yeah there might be some remorse but I'll get over it before your body hits the ground.

[00:15:46] With that, I opened the tent and glared at the figure in the camp chair across from the fire. I was expecting to see my buddy, a tall Native American man, but instead it was a thin, pale, blonde woman. I choked out, what?

[00:16:04] Just as she shot up and ran into the woods. I did what I believe is referred to in the parlance as, note. I broke down and drove 20 miles away to a different campground.

[00:16:17] It's weird but the fact that it was a young woman somehow scared me more than it would have had it been another guy sitting there. She could have easily shot me if armed or even set me on fire if she chose to.

[00:16:43] I was 21 and I was moving into a rental house with my partner. The house wasn't quite ready yet because the landlady still wanted to get the carpets deep cleaned, but she agreed to let us get the keys and move our stuff in whilst the work was being finished.

[00:17:01] The estate agent gave us a flyer for a local carpet cleaning business that they had used many times before and said they would take care of the invoice. I called the carpet cleaner named Raj and booked in a time for him to come over.

[00:17:17] I had a few days off of work, so I was still in the new house on my own when he arrived, also alone. He was older than he seemed on the phone, maybe mid-40s, but he seemed fairly professional

[00:17:34] and good at his job, explaining to me what the different chemicals he planned to use were doing. We chatted about bits and bobs whilst he worked, just friendly small talk really. He seemed regretful that he couldn't lift a stain from one of the upstairs carpets and

[00:17:54] said he could come back again if I wanted him to try with a different product. I wasn't too bothered, but saved his number in my phone just in case as I'd already thrown away the flyer. Cut to about a month later when we were fully moved in.

[00:18:11] One night, my cell phone rang and the caller ID said Raj, carpet cleaner. I thought it was weird but answered anyway, thinking maybe he was trying to reach another customer. All I could hear was noise, like he was at a party or something.

[00:18:30] I couldn't hear him talking so I hung up, concluding that he'd pocket dialed me by mistake. A few nights later, the same thing only this time there was no party noise and just someone breathing.

[00:18:48] The third time I thought I heard someone say, hey sexy, followed by a group of men laughing and hung up immediately. Pissed off that my evening TV program had been interrupted over and over again, I figured

[00:19:06] out how to blacklist his calls in my phone settings and thought that was the end of it until the texts started. They came through every couple of days or sometimes up to a week apart and my phone didn't have the option to block texts.

[00:19:25] Hi, hello, hey sexy, things like that getting more and more forward. I wasn't very self-confident back then and my first instinct was to try and ignore it even though I felt sick and helpless every time my phone pinged.

[00:19:43] I used to get the bus to work because it was cheaper but started taking my car instead. When I was out, I made sure I was fully alert at all times, looking around me all the time for men approaching me.

[00:20:00] I was terrified because Raj knew where I lived. I was terrified that he was going to show up one day and I wouldn't know what to do. I didn't even want to tell my partner at first because he sometimes went away on business

[00:20:14] for two or three days at a time and I didn't want him worrying about me in the house on my own with no friends or family nearby. One day, my partner was standing by me when I got the text and he must have seen the

[00:20:29] blood drain out of my face because he demanded to see what it was. Hey sexy, you want some six inch brown cock? This is what the text said. I'll never forget the wording. I showed it to my partner and after being incredulous, he's bragging about having

[00:20:54] six inches I guess, he went ballistic seeing that the guy had been texting me filth like that for months. As stupid as it sounds, neither of us thought of reporting anything to the police but my

[00:21:08] partner did get in touch with the real estate agent to let them know. The agent was mortified that they'd been recommending Raj and agreed that he'd never work with them again. Soon after, I switched my mobile contract with my phone company so my number would get

[00:21:25] changed and obviously the text stopped. I never felt safe in my house again so after the first year's rental period was up, we moved away to a completely different area. It's been a few years now and I'm a different person to the naive victim I was back then.

[00:22:00] I'm a freshman at college and I've been rushing a fraternity while there. Before anyone gets any ideas, most fraternities in America are not what you hear about on TV while those certainly do exist and we have one or two on my campus.

[00:22:17] The majority of frats are filled with good and cool guys. One of the things that drove me to the fraternity is that I felt like they actually wanted me there. I loved the sense of companionship and brotherhood that the active members seemed to have for one another.

[00:22:37] So when spring hit and I was allowed to become a pledge, I did. I was really excited with this because I knew and liked all of the 14 guys who were pledging, three of whom were even my closest friends on campus, and I was happy that I'd get

[00:22:55] to become brothers and bond with all of them. This fraternity that I pledged was officially a non-hazing one, although they did let us know that going into it there was going to be some light hazing because in their eyes

[00:23:14] going through that brought us close together and I wholeheartedly agreed with that. Every Thursday night we would participate in things called rituals, which were usually quick things designed to teach us a lesson about what being a frat member meant. And one night, I suppose that they succeeded.

[00:23:39] We went down into our basement, all 14 of us, and the actives were waiting. One of them stood up. Pledges? This is probably the most hazing we will ever do to you, he said.

[00:23:56] Then he proceeded to split us up into groups of two and they had us all remove any clothing which linked us to the college or the fraternity, as well as put on warm clothing and give up our phones.

[00:24:10] We will be taking you on an adventure and you will all work with your partner to bring us something to eat. Stick to the roads and you'll be fine. And don't come back until you find something. With that, we all put bags over our heads.

[00:24:31] Two active members guided us to cars and they drove us somewhere. I was trying to mentally map where they were taking us, but they made a lot of unnecessary twists and turns in a clear attempt to confuse us.

[00:24:48] Eventually, we lost track of where we were as they went down a pathway that I was unfamiliar with. After a while, the car came to a stop. The actives helped me and my partner, a guy named Will, out of the car.

[00:25:06] They took the cloth bags off our heads and we were in the middle of nowhere, on a country road late at night. I turned to the actives and they had those classic shit-eating smiles on their face.

[00:25:21] You're going to want to walk down that way, one said while pointing. And remember, don't come back until you bring us something to eat. And get creative, don't bring us grass or some shit. Also, no processed food. Raw ingredients only.

[00:25:41] With that, they got in their car and drove off. Without much wait, Will and I started walking down the road looking for anything that could have been edible. My first instinct was dandelions because I knew from experience that you could turn those into soup.

[00:26:00] Unfortunately, as it was still early spring, there wasn't much in terms of plant growth around, especially dandelions. Will and I spent a lot of the first part talking and joking around with one another.

[00:26:15] There weren't any houses for a long while, so we figured we really didn't have to worry about noise. Everything started out great. We figured out early on that the guys that dropped us off would drive down the road every

[00:26:28] now and then, bathing us in the light of their high beams just to annoy us. And we would always return that kindness by raising our middle fingers. I did appreciate that they were clearly checking on us to make sure we were safe, though.

[00:26:45] I legitimately didn't feel scared at first. As I was with Will and the actives were still patrolling the roads to make sure we were going in the right direction, to be honest, I was just worried about finding something to eat.

[00:27:00] That's when we saw our first house, with its lights still on, and we had an idea. Hey, Will! Why don't we just go up to one of those houses and ask them for some sort of raw ingredient? Will shook his head. No way, man. I'm not doing that.

[00:27:21] I did understand what Will was saying there. We were in the middle of nowhere and having two teenagers coming up to your door in the middle of the night asking for raw ingredients might be misconstrued.

[00:27:32] I turned to Will and tried to persuade him on this, saying that nothing is really growing around here, so the only thing we could probably bring back is roadkill, and I'd rather risk asking a stranger than lug the bloody, rotting corpse of an animal back for several miles.

[00:27:50] Eventually, Will seemed to agree, although he insisted on staying out of sight. I rang the doorbell once, and not even ten seconds later, an older man, maybe in his fifties, opened the door. He was balding, a bit thin, and looked like he hadn't showered in days.

[00:28:13] It was cliche as all that sounds, but the thing that really got me was how creepy he was looking at me. He didn't look like he was surprised or irritated to see me at all.

[00:28:28] Instead, he had this sort of almost half-smile and just stared straight in my eyes, never ever breaking eye contact. Good evening. What brings you here? I immediately got the sense that we should not have knocked on this guy's door. I'm sorry, I said.

[00:28:58] I think we confused your house with somebody else's. Sorry to bother you. Nonsense, the guy said. Walking down here at night? You must have had car troubles. It's okay. You can spend the night here, and I'll take a look at your car in the morning.

[00:29:19] I continued to back up. No, it's okay, sir. We really don't need any help. For a brief second, I saw a flash of agitation cross the man's face before he returned to that creepy half-smile of his. Honestly, it's no trouble. Come on in.

[00:29:42] I promise I won't hurt you or anything. After that point, Will stepped out from the side of his porch and into view. It's okay, he said. We really don't need any help. The guy seemed a bit surprised that there were two of us, but not really disappointed.

[00:30:02] But I think with the increase of numbers and Will's don't fuck with us tone, the guy seemed to slither back into his house, not saying another word. Quickening our pace, Will and I got out of there.

[00:30:18] We saw the car with our actives in it pass twice before we found an evergreen tree, which was good because I knew that you could make tea from its branches. Having finally found our raw ingredient, our spirits were raised, and we began to forget about that guy.

[00:30:39] That is, until we saw headlights up in front of us. Now we initially assumed that it was our actives again, but it came far too soon after their last pass, so there was no way they could have come around that fast.

[00:30:57] Additionally, the car our actives were in had one bad headlight. It was burned out, and this one had both, working fine. We didn't think too much of it at first, as we did see the occasional person just driving down the road.

[00:31:15] What tipped us off that something was weird was that when the car cut across, stopped right in front of us and on the wrong side of the road, there was no way that the message could be misunderstood there. The car door opened, and a man stepped out.

[00:31:39] We couldn't see who it was as the headlights were blinding us, but I could have sworn that I heard him laugh. With only a second's hesitation, Will and I ran off the road and into a patch of forest to our right.

[00:31:59] We tried to stick together through it, but somewhere or somehow we got separated. I found a bunch of boulders to hide around and waited. I could hear footsteps off in the distance, and the voice of a man from the house calling out.

[00:32:18] I know you boys are here, he said. I slowly peeked my head out from behind the rocks and caught the form of that man about thirty yards away from me, waving his flashlight around and carrying what looked like a shotgun in his hands.

[00:32:40] Steadily I controlled my breathing, being sure not to panic. I knew that the actives would see that we weren't on the road eventually, and then they'd know something was up. That's when I started to scan around for Will.

[00:32:58] I don't know how, but by some miracle I saw the form of what could only have been Will, hiding behind some brush. I began to worry because I could see that it didn't provide him with enough cover, and the man was slowly getting closer to him.

[00:33:17] It would only be a matter of time before he caught him. I began to go through scenarios in my head, imagining that if he caught Will it'd try to jump him from behind, maybe get that shotgun away from him before he could do anything

[00:33:31] and the two of us could easily overpower him. I wanted to do that, but I knew it would never work out. By complete accident I moved my hand around and felt something that gave me another, even better idea.

[00:33:49] I felt a heavy rock, a good-sized, slightly bigger than baseball rock. I picked up the thing and with all of my strength heaved it a good way off into the distance. The rock made quite a bit of noise clearly audible through the woods.

[00:34:08] The man laughed in a high-pitched, maniacal, crazy way that I'll never forget, almost like a grown man trying to imitate the high-pitched squeal and laughter of a young and excited child. Once he was a good ways off, I came out from my cover and moved towards Will.

[00:34:34] I got probably halfway to him before he saw me. I made a motion for him to follow me, and he did without hesitation. The guy must have thought he was chasing us deeper in, which was damn convenient because we didn't seem to be in any danger after that.

[00:34:55] We found the guy's car on the road still, the driver's side door still open. I looked inside but cursed when I saw that he was smart enough to take his keys. Then I looked in the backseat and a massive lump formed in my throat.

[00:35:14] Back there was a giant hunting knife and a bunch of duct tape. Making sure that the guy couldn't follow us so that we'd have a weapon just in case, I grabbed the hunting knife and proceeded to slash the man's tires deeply.

[00:35:34] We made our way down to where we were supposed to in order to put some distance between us and the lunatic, making sure to stay off the road. Eventually we saw the distinct single headlight from our active's car.

[00:35:50] We ran into the middle of the road frantically waving our arms like madmen, not letting him pass us. He stopped and got out, clearly worried. We rushed the car and told him to let us in and that we'd explain it later. He obliged and continued driving.

[00:36:10] We explained everything to him. It was made all the more believable when we showed him the knife and passed by the guy's car which was still blocking one side of the road.

[00:36:24] I'd just like to say that I don't blame the frat, they had no way of knowing this would happen and even afterwards they did not take this lightly. They admitted to the college what they did and helped us through the process of trying

[00:36:39] to catch the man which the police eventually did. They found that he had multiple charges of kidnapping, assault, and rape in his background. We and the fraternity didn't get into much trouble although they did have us promised to never do the ritual ever again after that incident.

[00:37:00] This incident has and will make me forever more cautious around complete strangers. You don't forget about incidents like this and I still have nightmares about it sometimes. Nightmares where the guy succeeds in catching us.

[00:37:16] So to the creepy bastard who tried to kidnap and possibly rape and kill us, let's not ever meet again. And I'm glad that you're rotting away in prison. My parents divorced when I was young and at this period of time I was living with my mother

[00:37:48] and her husband. I was in middle school. My father lived in a big city, I'd say around 40-50 miles away. It was much more than an hour of driving one way for him to pick me up and drop me off.

[00:38:02] So that's 4 hours of driving or more in one weekend for less than 48 hours of visitation. Eventually my dad's car broke down and I wanted to see him. I was probably 11 or 12 when I convinced my mom to let me bus there by myself.

[00:38:22] She would drive me to the big bus station a couple towns over, about 15-20 minutes from the rural area where we lived and dropped me off. I would catch one of the few bus options into the city and once I got downtown I'd link up with my father.

[00:38:39] It was an hour long bus ride. Eventually I got very street smart navigating the seedy bus station, then the city and its buses to get to my dad. I became very comfortable. Those hours I would be with or without a parent. I loved the city.

[00:38:58] I loved the people. Interacting with the people. I was also a dumbass kid. While waiting for the bus to take me to my dad's city sometimes I would talk to strangers that engaged me.

[00:39:10] I never went out of my way to speak to any strangers, but if someone spoke to me I would respond because I thought I needed to be polite. One time a man walked up to me.

[00:39:21] He seemed to be of Southeast Asian descent, maybe Filipino, but he had a US accent more than anything else. He looked to be 23-28 years old. Honestly, it was impossible to tell.

[00:39:40] He started talking to me as we waited for the bus and he sounded quite nice at first. He had a friendly voice. It was my nature to be polite and give all people the benefit of the doubt.

[00:39:53] This has bitten me in the ass many times in my life. I am much more discerning as an adult. But this is why I engaged him. I told him my first name, which is very distinctive. I have never met anyone with my name.

[00:40:08] It's a scientific word or anatomical term. He asked for my phone number and I gave him my cell phone number, but with one single digit swapped out for a random number. He started asking me personal questions. I lied in many or all of my answers.

[00:40:30] Lots of pushy, dramatic compliments like, You're such a beautiful girl. Wow! I love looking at you. You're so pretty. I still can't believe a girl like you loves being my friend. And this was the first time we met.

[00:40:48] He said these things with a childlike sort of innocence sometimes, but he was clearly smart. Other times there were comments that were clearly sexual. I felt I couldn't leave, walk away, because I had to catch my bus.

[00:41:06] It quickly became apparent to me that he was suffering from some degree of homelessness and had some sort of social dysfunction. He didn't pick up on my discomfort, body language, clear lies, dismissal, annoyed, and cautious tone. Ever. He talked happily and loudly all the time.

[00:41:29] He also insisted on showing me his artwork, or instrument, or something. After I initially met him, I saw him very often catching that same hour-long bus. Probably almost every other time I was waiting for that bus. So as often as twice a month for a while.

[00:41:53] I really avoided him. At least, I tried. I always tried to get a seat far away from him, let him board the bus first and others ahead of me, then pick a seat unaccessible to him.

[00:42:06] I only told him my first name one time, but he remembered it perfectly every single time I saw him from then on. Somehow eventually he figured out my correct cell phone number, and I was really creeped out. I had a prepaid phone that my dad bought me.

[00:42:25] It wasn't registered to anyone's name or on a plan. It refilled with a card, so him getting my number right was really weird. The next I saw him in the city or at the bus station, I told him angrily that we could not interact anymore.

[00:42:45] He took it very badly. I said something along the lines of, dude, I'm a 12 year old kid. I cannot be her friend in any capacity. My dad would be mad at me. I didn't see him in person again for many years.

[00:43:01] I never told my parents about my scary interactions with strangers because I feared they would not allow me to be in public alone anymore. And I valued that experience and feelings of independence. Here's where things get weird.

[00:43:18] A few weeks later, I'm at my mom's house, and I decide to have a sleepover with a friend who lived four blocks away. I was there from maybe 3pm to noon the next day. Then I walked home.

[00:43:33] When I got home, my mother said, oh, I got a weird call last night while you were gone. A man named Andrew. I was thinking, what? She described the way he spoke as well as his name. I instantly knew who it was.

[00:43:51] I started freaking out a little bit. How could he have found my mom's phone number? We have never had the same last name ever, and she was married and didn't even sport her maiden name anymore.

[00:44:07] I told my mom who I thought it was and how it was literally impossible for him to have the house phone number. She was creeped out. The number was not listed in any phone books. Then she told me what he said.

[00:44:24] Apparently this guy told my mom he was a good friend of mine. Yeah, because 12 year old girls have good friends that are adult men. He said that the phone call was extremely important. It was an emergency. In his words, I had an accident.

[00:44:44] I had fallen down a flight or two or something, I don't quite remember, of stairs and broken my neck. Plus, just generally injured all over and was in the fucking hospital right now. She told my mom I needed to go to the hospital immediately.

[00:45:05] She was really taken aback and didn't really know what to say, and because of his tone and how nervous he sounded, the weird things he said, she didn't take it seriously. She had tried just asking more questions as he fumbled over his words.

[00:45:21] She said the conversation ended very abruptly and awkwardly. Just that whole thing was strange. To this day, I still wonder how on earth could this person have found my mother and her husband's landline number? Her only two last names are very different from mine.

[00:45:42] How did he get my actual cell phone number when he didn't even know my last name? Even if he did, he wouldn't have been able to find my number based on my name. It was practically a burner. Why did he call it my mom?

[00:45:57] Where did that story about me being in the ER critically wounded even come from? Did he make it up so my mom would leave the house? My husband wonders if he wanted her to come to the hospital. If so, why her and not me?

[00:46:14] How did he know I wasn't home when he called? Was it a lucky guess? I could have been standing next to my mom when he called for all he knew, and then this story would have been even more obviously a lie.

[00:46:29] Anyway, years later, I ended up moving to the city. I saw a guy who I thought was my friend. I went up to him and did the whole, hey man, what's up? Long time no see. And as the last word left my lips, I realized it was Andrew.

[00:46:47] I realized as he was recognizing me. It was too late for me to run away. He had grown out his hair. It was long and black, which is why I thought he was this skateboarder friend that I had

[00:47:03] that actually looked incredibly similar, but was a couple years younger. He now thinks I am greeting him like I missed him. Yeah, I missed the freakish, obsessive, borderline stalking, right? And I swear, my stomach dropped.

[00:47:22] He hugged me before I even had a chance to step back, and it was so touchy-feely and violating. Then he proceeded with lots of, wow, you look so good. I can't believe it's you. I missed you so much.

[00:47:38] Can I have your phone number so we can spend some time together now? And I told him I was running late for something and literally ran away. I was paranoid I would see him around again, but I never did.

[00:47:54] Moral of the story, kids are dumb and people are creepy. I don't know, I just thought I'd share this weird, exhausting experience. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast.

[00:48:23] As always, if you're looking for the true supernatural or paranormal, make sure you check out the new episode of my other podcast, Odd Trails, at oddtrails.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:48:34] This week you have heard The Man in the Brush by Cana Rock, My Campfire Story by MindCindy172, The Carpet Cleaner by Myon, Don't Come Back Until You Find Food by Nemean007, and finally, Weird Interactions with a Strange Man That Still Have Me Wondering How, 12 Years Later by GleepGloopGlock.

[00:48:55] All the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with 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. If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com.

[00:49:11] And if you are a patron, don't forget to stick around after the music for your extended ad-free version of this week's episode. And if you want to get access to that episode and many others, tons, tons of bonus content,

[00:49:22] head over to patreon.com forward slash letsnotmeetpodcast to join today. I'll see you all next week for a brand new episode of Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast. Stay safe. This was about eight or nine years ago when I was 19.

[00:50:06] I played in a band at the time. We were very popular in our small town in England.