Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast - 12x02: The Man in My Backyard

Episode Date: January 8, 2024

Stories in this episode: Conspiracy Theorist Classmate | ScarlettAK (0:39) Chased by a Naked Man in the Forest | fredbalce (16:09) Crazed Man Held Me and My Girlfriend at Gunpoint | Just_Marionberry_841 (24:14) Strange Visit at 2 am | Fanndawg1989 (31:48) Someone Tried to Break Into My House | Zealousideal-Dog3022 (38:06) The Man in My Backyard | Anastasia (43:13) Extended Patreon Content: Creepy Embalmer | Cherry The Station Wagon | Anxi Pen He Tried to Get Inside | Nicole My Classmate Threatened to Stalk Me | Rozedges Due to periodic changes in ad placement, time stamps are estimates and are not always accurate. All of 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. To submit your story to the show, send it to [e-mail].   Get access to extended, ad-free episodes of Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast with bonus stories every week at a higher bitrate along with a bunch of other great exclusive material and merch at patreon.com/letsnotmeetpodcast. This podcast would not be possible to continue at this rate without the help of the support of the legendary LNM Patrons. Come join the family! Check out the other Cryptic County podcasts like Odd Trails and the Old Time Radiocast at CrypticCountyPodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts! PDS DEBT is offering free debt analysis to our listeners just for completing the quick and easy debt assessment at www.PDSDebt.com/meet. - Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/433173970399259/ - Website - https://letsnotmeetpodcast.com/ - Patreon - https://patreon.com/letsnotmeetpodcast - Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/letsnotmeetcast/ - TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@crypticcounty - Twitch - https://twitch.tv/chipschicken   

This podcast contains adult language and content. Listen to discretion is advised. If you have a story to share, send it to Let's Not Meet Stories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show. In my country, the government decided to provide free professional classes to anyone either benefiting from welfare or recently unemployed. I, a 30-year-old female, decided to enroll in one of these classes as I was planning to move next year. I thought that this would be good to give me something additional to include on my resume.

Plus this class is giving me an excuse to touch grass since I'm not currently working. I specifically picked a social media marketing and management course that started about three months ago. Everything was great about it, and it seemed to me that all my classmates and professors were great people. I even started to make some friends. No one in my program is under age. The youngest student is around 21, and the oldest is about 56. After a couple of weeks of classes, we were introduced to the main curriculum of the whole course, which involves a months-long group project among the students. The project consists of inventing a brand from the ground up and marketing it on social media as if it's a real thing about to hit the market. I was excited about this,

and I couldn't wait to face this challenge. The groups were chosen at random, and the RNG gods chose for me to be paired with a 56-year-old woman who will call Miriam. chose for me to be paired with a 56-year-old woman who will call Miriam. She barely spoke to anyone in class up until the point of this assignment. Assuming she was nothing but a nice lady, I tried to accommodate her by asking for her preferences on the project, such as choosing what the brand would be. She immediately started telling me half of her life story out of nowhere. She focused particularly on a skin issue that she had that she claimed doctors only made worse. She told me about how she cured herself with herbs and essential oils, which seemed harmless

at the time. Her rambling left me scratching my head, so to redirect the conversation, I said that we could pick that as a brand idea. I figured we could build a brand that provides natural remedies, supplements, and cosmetics. I emphasized that I didn't want our brand to be some kind of multi-level marketing scheme or a cult. Miriam immediately agreed and smiled like a little girl, which, back then, made me happy. After that, she picked the brand name and came up with the idea for our logo and motto, without even asking for my input or opinion. She was confident in her idea and said that it felt imperative to move forward with the

idea. Put a pin in this for later. She also said that since I had no experience with this kind of niche planning, I should learn from her. She insisted that I comply so much, and that's when all hell broke out for me. She started calling and messaging me on WhatsApp constantly, insisting that she needed my work on the designs, logos, and mock-ups in real-time. She said that she needed to supervise my actions, since according to her,

I'm a little girl who hasn't gotten to know the world yet. And that's a direct quote. She never liked any of my work and forced me to redo things over and over again. I'm on the spectrum and have a very hard time setting boundaries with people or dealing with the idea of just pleasing someone so I kept pushing myself. I told myself to stay strong and keep going because I knew I couldn't deal with how this woman would have handled anything that she might have considered as insubordination. On top of that, I didn't want to fail the course since from the beginning, all of our professors indicated

that this project was so vital to our final grades. During one of our calls on WhatsApp, Mariam went on one of the most unhinged tangents that I had ever heard in my life. After seeing me take a sip of an energy drink she screamed at me to toss that garbage away and then explain the reason why. She said that energy drinks, sodas and other junk food, are infested with nano machines that contaminate and infect the human body, rewriting our DNA. She then said that it was due to the great powers. She explained that

the great powers are not aliens, as most think, but androids in AI hive minds, ready to enslave humanity through biomechanical control. She also kept going on about how artificial intelligence has existed since before Christ, coming from an ancient civilization before something she referred to as the Great Reset. She said that all great men in history were Androids or Giants. She also threw in the fact that she's 100% sure that dinosaurs are nothing but a fairy tale. In her opinion, big people, as in giants, could exist, but the fact that dinosaurs existed was simply preposterous. Then last month, on one weekend evening, I decided to go out with my mom to visit some

friends instead of working on the project for Miriam. I left my phone at home and I didn't realize it until it was too late to get back and get it. I wasn't going to return home until the next morning, and since Miriam and I hadn't agreed to work that night I didn't think anything of it. Oh man was I naïve. My phone was blown up with messages and calls all from Miriam, with the exception of a couple of messages from another classmate of ours, who told me that she had called him excessively. She demanded that I show up at my home to make sure that I was okay. He had mentioned before he lives on the same block as me. Later that week, I was called into the office by the school administration staff because

Miriam called them and told them that I had gone missing for three to four days. Again, I was gone and unreachable for one weekend evening. I tried and vain to keep it together, but I just burst into tears in front of the secretaries. I broke down and I told them everything this woman was putting me through and explained that I had an issue with setting boundaries. The administration decided to immediately inform the professors to find a solution that would discontinue contact between Maryam and me. But before they were able to take any action, Maryam and I were informed that one more student was going to be joining our project, we'll call him Tobias. He helped me out that following week by not complying with Mariam's

demands and unreasonable standards. He even urged me to take time off of the project to do my own things. For some reason, she never complained about any decisions to bias made. Then I had another call with Miriam, this time with Tobias. And she went on another unhinged rant. This one will be relevant later, as it's what makes this story particularly messed up. She claimed that she was being gang stocked and sabotaged by Big Pharma because she had invented a miracle ointment that was capable of reconstructing biological tissue. She said she tested it on some third-degree burns that were on her friend's hand. She claimed she saw the nerves, tendons, muscles, and skin reconstruct saving the hand right

before her eyes. This then added that the prototype of said ointment, which contained mostly garlic and aloe, cured her husband of cancer a few years back. She then talked about the accident that she experienced over a decade ago. She said that the doctors decided to sabotage her uterus during an emergency surgery to prevent her from being able to have children. She said that this was further evidenced by the fact that she was being continually sabotaged by Big Pharma.

She also said she was involved in several medical lawsuits. She concluded by saying that she was in this class with us because she wanted to learn how to utilize social media to communicate with the new generations. This made me personally afraid that she would try to scam desperate people into buying her BS garlic and aloe miracle cure. After the strange call, the next day during class, a friend decided to sit next to me since the lesson plan of the day wasn't involving the group projects whatsoever.

My friend and I arrived at class early and set our stuff on our desks. We decided to go into the room next to our classroom to get some coffee. Miriam came in and we heard a commotion in the classroom. We peaked over to see what was happening and we saw that she was tossing my friends' stuff onto another desk. My friend asked her what she was doing. Mariam coldly responded. The seat next to Scarlet is mine. I nodded at my friend, as if to say it was okay to defuse the situation. A few days later, we were informed that I was being swapped from Mariam's group to another one. I was newly assigned to work with a informed that I was being swapped from Miriam's group to another one.

I was newly assigned to work with a girl that I made friends with, and we were having a lot of fun. The way we worked together went so well that I thought everything with Miriam was over. I was certain I wouldn't have to deal with any more of her weird stuff. Well, while we were no longer working on the project together, the calls and messages from Mariam never ended. She even started obsessively calling the school and the professors to protest their decision to remove me from her group.

The texts that she continued to send me ranged from weird trivial questions about random topics to very personal questions. I received up to 50 or 60 text messages from her per day. At this point I stopped responding to her almost entirely and took screenshots of everything that she was sending me. The last incident, as of now, this is ongoing, happened fairly recently. In fact, Miriam asked the professor a question that involved a very important global matter. He replied, and then opened it up to the rest of the class, asking us our opinion.

Two people spoke before I did, giving examples of people or brands who were canceled for sharing political stances. They were talking about how having a problematic or controversial history or presence on social media has the potential to impact one's chances of getting employment negatively. That day, I didn't realize until I was back home that Mariam had sent me several rage-filled texts, claiming I was incredibly rude for taking part in the discussion instead of letting the professor answer her question. She included that she was expecting an apology from me.

For once I responded with a long text telling her that I was not going to apologize since I hadn't done anything wrong. With that, I finally blocked her number. Thankfully, she hasn't been able to find me on social media because I don't use my real name online. Since then, she's been missing all the classes, which is nice since I didn't really want her to try and confront me in person. which is nice since I didn't really want her to try and confront me in person. But it's what I just learned from my classmates during the break that left me completely horrified. My classmate told me that she and Mariam had been exchanging texts from time to time. This was mostly because my classmate took pity on Mariam just as I did at first. My classmate told me that in one batch of texts, Mariam went into detail about her husband. Mariam had mentioned her husband

to me as well. It turns out he passed a few years back. One of her texts read, we fought tooth and nail. We didn't bend over to doctors or God, but he was taken away from me anyway. I was so close to keeping him with me. At least I know he trusted me since he followed everything I said until the very end. After putting two and two together, my classmate and I figured out that she tried to cure her husband of cancer with her miracle ointment instead of traditional medicine, effectively killing him. Also we discovered she's already out there promoting her healing services in a spa, belonging to a relative of hers. She runs this business out of the spa, using the name she insisted on for

the brand for our project. She's also been using my logos and other marketing tools that I've provided to her on her social media pages which explains why she was so obsessive about supervising my work. She was essentially getting free commission out of me. After the holiday break, there will be three or more months until classes are over. I don't know if this story will lead to anything further, but honestly, I just hope that she never shows up to class again. I'm hoping that I don't have any additional updates to this story. All of those holiday bills are on the way, but that doesn't mean you have to start your year off with more debt.

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Head over to PDS debt.com slash meet to get your free debt assessment today. That's pds dbt.com slash meet for your free assessment pds.com slash meet. Now back to the show. This took place during the summer of 2022. I'm just now getting around to writing this story out since I was so stunned that it happened to me in the first place. Every summer in my city, my friends and I like to make campfires in chill, secluded areas. We do this since we'd rather not drive around an hour to get to an actual campsite. In doing so, we also avoid paying any campsite fees, plus we always decide to do this spontaneously.

It's a nice, easy hang for us. There's this one spot near my house that's located by a river. It's nice because no one usually goes out there. Bears are pretty much the only thing to be worried about in that area. They are not uncommon to see living in the Pacific Northwest. My house itself is located right next to the mountains and forests. On one particular night at 11 p.m., I decided to go ahead of my friends and meet them at the spot. I wanted to set things up so everyone could just chill when they got there. The spot that we go to has a paved walkway that leads to a small trail that goes down the right

side of a bridge that crosses over the river. Along this paved walkway, there are two lamps located at the start of the bridge and halfway down the trail to the campfire spot. I parked my car at the beginning of the trail, on the street, and brought my campfire stuff. I had a flashlight, a lighter, and some small firewood logs, also a small shovel to dig out the pit. I got to the spot, which was a small sandy beach and bankmit on the side of the river. This spot is generally a popular weeding area for toddlers and their families during hot summer days. I set up the chair and started to dig the pit. I only had my flashlight illuminating where I was digging.

I was shoveling in the sand around me. I was nowhere near the water, but suddenly I heard a loud splash. The splash was so loud that it could have only come from something really impactful. It almost sounded like a huge rock was thrown into the water. I was confused because I knew I wasn't throwing any sand in that direction at all, and I shined my flashlight at the water. I was confused because I knew I wasn't throwing any sand in that direction at all, and I shined my flashlight at the water. I didn't see anything, so I kind of brushed it off and assumed that I was hearing things. But as I continued shoveling a bit more, I heard another loud splash. At this point, I thought that something must have fallen from above

to make that loud splash. I pointed the flashlight upwards towards the trees above the river, and I didn't see anything, at least not anything big enough to make a splash that loud. I definitely felt my heart rate go up. But I kept digging. Then I heard rustling past the arch of where the bridge went over the river. I quickly grabbed my flashlight again and I shined it towards the sound. I called out, hello? No response. In my head, if it was a bear, I should have gotten out of there immediately,

but there wasn't any bear. There were no signs of anything for that matter." I told myself again that I was just hearing things. I guess I've seen too many horror movies, I thought to myself, and now my mind is playing tricks on me. But I heard the noise again, and it distinctly sounded like leaves were being rustled, so I shone my flashlight over to the area again. I focused my eyes towards the illuminated area. I saw the back of a naked man. He was hunched over.

I kind of froze. I felt my anxiety and stress levels rise again because honestly of all things that I thought I'd see out there I didn't think I would see the back of a naked man. My brain quickly analyzed him. He appeared to be in his mid-40s. He had a shaved head, but he wasn't bald, and he had a medium-ish build. He was like a mix between chubby and built. As I had my flashlight on his back, he started to stand up.

My next reflex was to start packing up all my crap and getting the heck out of there because now it was evident that he was throwing things into the water to shoot me away or scare me. So after using my quick deductive skills, I proceeded to speedwalk out of there with all my stuff. I was carrying all my things and walking briskly up a small ramp to get back onto the paved path and out of the forest. I remember feeling my heart beating in my chest as I frequently looked back to make sure that I wasn't being followed. I was in Crocs, mind you. So, obviously, I was hoping that I wouldn't have to book it out of there.

I made it halfway down the paved path and a sense of relief started setting in. I was feeling like I got out of this very scary situation safely. But as I checked behind me for what I was hoping to be the final time, I saw something. Slowly creeping up the ramp, it was the naked man. He was crawling on all fours as if he were a primate. His head was positioned towards me, looking at me, as he made his way to the middle of the paved walkway. He slowly rose from his peculiar stance, stood on his feet, and positioned his body to face me. After setting himself into this position, the man began running towards me. I booked it. I ran as hard as I could down the path. My flashlight practically leaped out of my

pocket. I lost it, but I didn't care because a naked, grown man was chasing me at 11 pm and the dark and as secluded forest. I looked back for a split second, and the man was still running towards me. I just wanted to make it out of this situation alive. I finally made it out of the forest, and I ran to my car, which was only 30 feet away from the tree line. I desperately got to my car, and like a classic horror movie, I fumbled with my keys, struggling to get my key fob to unlock the car. I actually dropped my keys from fumbling so much. I remember thinking to myself, I'm definitely dead now. I brushed that thought off immediately and picked up the keys. I grabbed my fob, unlocked the doors, and threw my things into the back seat before getting

into my car. This felt like an eternity, but in hindsight it all took about six seconds. As I tried to slide my keys into the ignition, I was fixated on the end of the path that I had just run from seconds ago. I was waiting to see if this naked man was still in pursuit. I didn't want to hesitate any longer, so I started my car, focused on the road ahead of me, and zoomed out of there as fast as possible. As I drove away I called my friends, they were asking if I made it to the spot. All I could say was, guys, I have a crazy story for you. We met up at my house because it was so close to our campfire spot and I told them the entire

story. They assured me that it was none of them trying to prank me or anything like that, but I already knew that. I knew that none of them would ever try to full on sprint at me. The next day, I reported it to the police over the phone. They sent an officer out to me so that I could tell them what happened in person and show them where it happened. When we went to see where I initially saw the man hunched over, they said they couldn't find any trace of anyone being there. The officer said that they would notate it, just in case it happens again.

This is the only crazy Let's Not Meet story I have, but it's definitely something I'll never forget. This took place in the rural farmlands of the southeastern United States. For those from around the area, you know that there isn't much around there, except for old farmhouses, fields, and the occasional subdivision. When I was around 17 or 18, I was dating a girl who went to the same high school as me. Being teenagers, we needed a place to be alone, and what better place than the front seats of my F-150. I remember finding it challenging to find a place for us to park that was away from the road and far away from everyone. One evening, as

the sun was getting ready to set, I thought about this abandoned warehouse with a long driveway and a tobacco barn. It was located off some old back road with no other houses. I had been there before and explored the property. The house had been abandoned long ago, and when I checked it out, it was being used to store lumber. All of the doors and windows on the house were missing, and the rest of the property was in disrepair. I figured this long forgotten property would make a good spot, so I drove my truck up into

the driveway, far away from prying eyes. I put my truck in park, lifted my center console, and put on the radio. As my girlfriend and I were talking, she suddenly fell silent. Her eyes were glued to the rear view mirror, and she said, I think somebody is here. I initially blew her off as I was fairly certain that nobody else would be around, not for miles. But I glanced in my rearview mirror, and I saw this very beat-up looking Ford truck that had pulled in directly behind mine. The door flew open and out-jumped this tall man, holding what appeared to be a 30-odd six-spring-filled rifle, and a weathered wooden staff. As I lowered my window,

the man advanced towards my truck, yelling all types of obscenities. As he walked up, I heard the distinct sound of the safety clicking off on his rifle. the distinct sound of the safety clicking off on his rifle. I froze as the world stopped around me. I had never been held at gunpoint before. As soon as the shock wore off, I threw my hands up, and I saw that the man had his sights aimed on me through the rear window of my truck. I looked over at my girlfriend who was frozen in shock. She managed to somewhat cower into the passenger

door. I remember feeling helpless as I reached for my pistol that I usually had between the seats, but then I realized quickly that I left it at home. This was probably a blessing in disguise because the strange man was belligerent and under the influence of something. I'm sure that if I pulled out my pistol, this would have sent him over the edge. With my hands still up, I eventually muttered. What's going on, sir? The man through rotted teeth shouted. You sons of bitches come out here tearing up my field and ruining my crops. He had mistaken me for some ATV

riders around the area who often wandered on to private property tearing up private land. Looking at the man, he didn't look like any of the farmers I had known around that area. I had lived here for 15 years at this point so I was fairly familiar with the local farmers. This supposed farmer appeared to be in his early 30s and looked to me more like the transients that I would see downtown. I assured the man that I had never been here before, nor that I was responsible for destroying his crops. I was desperately trying to diffuse the situation, but he was hearing none of it, as he continued to mutter while holding me at gunpoint. I waited for a break in his incoherent babbling and I apologized profusely. I finally interjected, sir, if I had

seen a no-trest passing sign, I wouldn't have dared set foot on this property. The man walked around the back of my truck and yelled, you don't see no fucking sign? He didn't believe me. As I studied him, he continued to grip the rifle tighter as he mumbled to himself. I apologized some more and offered to leave, but he had me completely blocked in.

I had nowhere to go. As soon as I mentioned leaving, he perked up and lowered his rifle ever so slightly, putting us out of immediate danger. My fighter flight briefly wanted to choose a fight, but I knew that there was no way to jump out of the truck and get him before he could shoot. Time seemed to slow, and the short silence that ensued felt like it lasted for hours. Then he started to yell obscenities again as he started to walk back to his truck. As he passed my rear bumper, my girlfriend and I exchanged glances. Up until that point, I had never seen a fear like that in someone's eyes, let alone

someone I loved. Up until that point, I had never seen a fear like that in someone's eyes, let alone someone I loved. I knew that I had to do whatever I could to get away from this unhinged stranger. I fired up my truck and put it into reverse, as he did the same. The beat up forward, backed into the road and stopped, waiting for me to exit. I backed out onto the road as well, My eyes never leaving the rearview mirror. As soon as there was enough space, I threw the truck into drive and stomped on the gas pedal, as far as it would go. My tires squealed in the truck roared as it ran through the gears. I was familiar with

the roads, and I was confident that I could outrun him if I needed to. His truck looked like it was on its last leg. As the speedometer flew past 60, I could see the man following us. But it was at a distance. My girlfriend was finally calming down at this point and was trying to rationalize what just happened to us. I drove for several miles, constantly looking behind us to see if he was following. I briefly remember going over 100 miles per hour at some point. The mood changed to utter disbelief as we talked

about how crazy this supposed farmer looked, awkwardly laughing off our near-tests. I never saw that man again after that, and I never returned to that abandoned house. I personally don't think that he was the property owner, as I knew most of the farmers in the area. Being in such a small town, you know everybody. I never saw this man before this encounter, nor have I seen him since. I certainly was in the wrong being on private property, and I had definitely heard horror stories about people running from crazed farmers as bullets flew over their heads. However, a couple of kids parked on what was a forgotten

property should not have warranted a firearm being aimed at them, even if he was the property owner, and he really thought I was tearing up his fields. My truck was clean. I come from a farming family, and being close to the farming community, the last thing anyone would ever catch me doing is tearing up somebody's livelihood. Regardless, I put my girlfriend's life in my life at stake just to park somewhere to a full-around. I never made that mistake again. A bit of backstory, I'm a 32 year old male. My brother who is 28 and I live in a trailer, with our disabled mom about 30 minutes away from Nashville, Tennessee.

I was wary of moving there at first due to the stereotypes that I've heard about trailer parks, but luckily we've had zero issues in the 10 years that we've been here. We have a very nice neighborhood and very nice neighbors. They all have well-capped yards. Okay, story time. Fairly recently, my brother and I were finally putting up our Christmas tree. We were having fun, probably drinking too much beer, listening to Christmas music. Our Christmas spirit was in full swing. During our random banter, my brother said,

oh yeah, I can't believe I almost forgot to tell you this. Earlier today at work, the owner had some guy kicked out who was acting super creepy. My brother works as a stock person at a little family-owned market about one mile from our home. He went on to tell me that this younger-looking guy was pacing the aisles, only stopping to stand completely still for minutes at a time. Whenever this man was approached by employees or the owner, he wouldn't even respond to them. After about 20 minutes of this strange behavior, the owner politely asked the man to leave since he was scaring and intimidating the customers. After he told me that story, we continued with our good time, hanging ornaments, drinking

and spending time with our mom. All was good. We wrapped up at around 1030 and helped our mom to bed. Then we decided that we might as well finish off the beer that we had left and admire our decked-out tree. About an hour later, we decided to go out to the front porch to share a cigarette, as we usually do, once we've tied on a good bus. My brother opened the door and immediately closed it. I asked what was up and he said, holy shit, that Michael Myers guy that I told you about from work just passed our house.

He's walking down the street. I thought that it was pretty strange, but it wasn't super concerned. My brother and I aren't troublemakers at all, but I'm pretty confident in our ability to defend ourselves if we had to. I just stayed calm. I wanted to keep all of these thoughts in the back of my mind, as I hadn't seen the guy yet. After hesitating for a few minutes, we went outside to smoke. We didn't see him, so we were able to smoke as we normally do, and then we went back inside. Fast forward to 2am. We were more than drunk, so we wanted to go ahead and call it a night after having one more cigarette. My brother opened the door, and within seconds I heard him say,

Whoa, whoa, hey man, you good? I heard nothing in response, then my brother continued, Hey buddy, what's up? Are you good? I was in the kitchen at the time, but I knew that something was not right, so I rushed over to the door. When I got to the door, a younger man was standing on our deck about three feet from our front door. He was pretty tall, about six four.

He looked a lot like Adam Driver, which was a detail that my brother jokingly mentioned earlier during our Christmas decorating time. One thing my brother must not have noticed about this guy earlier, though, was his eyes. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've never seen anything like it. His body language wasn't super-minicing, but his eyes were the strangest combination of wide-eyed bewilderment and fury. It seemed as though opening our front door confused him, and also made him very, very angry. I joined my brother in explaining to him that it was late and suggested that he should head home.

After what I'd say was about 30 seconds, he just walked off without a word. We closed the door and peaked out of our blinds as my brother and I both tried to laugh it off. We just kept trying to compartmentalize by saying things like, well that was pretty weird, huh? It took a while for the shock and adrenaline to taper off. What really bothered me was those 30 seconds when we stared at each other. It felt like he was deciding what the next move would be. And what could that have been? I have no idea.

I also find it troubling that my brother said when he opened the door, the man was already standing there. We had no idea how long he had been standing on our patio in the dark. We calmed down and watched some YouTube videos, and after another 30 minutes I told my brother that we should go to bed. I took one more look outside to be safe, and when I opened the door, he was still there. The street lights are spaced very far apart in our trailer park, but at the edge of our driveway, I saw his silhouette. He was just standing there about 50 feet away, staring on our front door.

I finally put some basin, my voice, and said, Hey, man, you can't just stand in our driveway. You're being creepy, dude. Please, just leave. I don't want to call the cops on you, so just don't make me. This seemed to work. His demeanor didn't change at all, but the phrase, call the cops, seemed to do the trick since he turned around and walked away. Now, I understand and empathize with people who have mental health issues.

I have friends and family who unfortunately suffer from mental health issues. However, I still can't shake the feeling that something bad could have happened that night. We haven't seen this man since, but I hope he's doing okay out there. I hope not calling the police wasn't a bad choice. I just hope that he isn't out there on somebody else's front deck at 2am, especially if he picks a home or somebody lives alone or is elderly. I wish I could have figured out what all that was about, but this man never said a single word during any of our interactions. The story happened three years ago around the time that COVID started. It was early 2020, and I had just gotten a new job in a small town near my area. I was looking for a place

to live when my sister offered to rent her house to me. She had bought the house two years prior, but she and her husband moved out, as living there made their commutes to work too long. They hung onto the house, but it was uninhabited for an extended period of time. Luckily for me, her house happened to be reasonably close to my workplace. It was around a 40-minute drive away. My sister pretty much rented it out to me for free. I just needed to pay for the water and electricity as I looked after the house. I had been living there for a solid two or three months when I started to feel like I was getting used to it. Then, one night, after returning from work and parking my car, as I walked towards the

front door, I noticed something odd. There was a cigarette but, on the curb, in front of my house. I leaned down to pick it up, thinking that it might have been mine since I am a smoker myself, but after looking at the brand name, I realized that it was not mine. I threw it away and didn't think too much of it. I just shrugged it off as some asshole throwing it at my curb, and with that I went on with my night and nothing unusual happened. A few days later, I was once again walking to my house when I spotted a few more cigarette butts. This time

they weren't on my curb. They were near my porch. Needless to say, I was pissed off. It looked like someone sat on my porch and smoked. I noticed that they were put out pretty recently too, so whoever it was, likely walked off as they saw that I was approaching. That night I was watching a movie on my laptop. It was pretty late, past 1am, so I was surprised when I heard a car passing by. My house is in a typical suburban neighborhood, and it was the beginning of COVID when nobody was venturing out at night, but I still didn't think anything of it.

About half an hour later, I was surprised when I heard chattering nearby. I listened intently, but I couldn't quite hear what was distinctly being said. The voices I was hearing seemed almost muffled and quiet. By this point I was pretty unnerved, so I stopped watching the movie and quietly got off of my sofa. I walked to the front door to make sure that it was locked. As I approached the door, I froze mid-step. I heard two people ascending my porch, reducing their talking to a whisper. I realized right away that whoever was out there wanted to break in. I leaned against my front door and waited, expecting a loud bang against the door or the

door knob shaking at any moment. But it was oddly quiet. I decided to walk over to my window to see if they had walked away or changed their mind. My windows have bars from the inside that need to be unlocked in order to move the curtains. I slowly unlocked the bar mechanism and lifted it so that I could move the curtains. As I was doing so, I was taken aback because Leendah began to my window was a man. He was just as startled as I was because he staggered over his own feet as he jumped back. He tightened his hoodie to cover his face,

so all I could really see were his big blue eyes looking at me. His friend realized what was going on and started to kick the door right away. He kicked it four or five times, but my door is solid. It wouldn't budge. All the while, I was staring at them frozen in fear, trying to comprehend the situation.

I snapped out of it and slammed the bars bars closing them over my window and locking them. I then ran upstairs to my storage room where I pushed a table up onto the door and called the cops. As I listened and expected the two to get inside at any minute, I heard a loud crash, and the bars from the windows were being shaken aggressively. When they realized that they couldn't get in, one of them let out a long, angry scream that likely woke up half of the neighborhood. By the time the cops arrived at the scene, they were long gone. The police never found out who it was,

but there was more police activity in the neighborhood in the following weeks. I wasn't too keen on staying there after that, so I moved out pretty quickly. My sister sold the house a few months later, and as far as I know, nothing similar ever happened at that house since. I honestly don't know what they wanted or why they were so determined to get in, but whoever it was, let's not meat again. My family and I moved to an East Coast town about a year ago to be closer to extended family. This relocation is made us very close. The house where my aunt, her wife, and my cousins live is only about a 10 minute walk from

my house. We live on the outskirts of a big city in a relatively rural area where the houses are spaced out pretty far apart. Recently I was walking home from my aunt's house with my two little docksons. My mom hates it when I'm alone for the majority of the day, so I break up my day by spending time with my aunt. I was genuinely enjoying my time walking back home. It was cold but quiet and oddly beautiful. When I got home, I fed my pups and two birds, and then facetimed with a friend.

I was talking with them as I was doing chores, and admittedly I was being loud and giggly as I took the trash outside of the cans on the side of the road. After I got back inside, I lied down on my bed, still chatting away on facetim. Then suddenly my bird started chirping in reaction to something being outside. Now, anyone who has owned a parrot knows that they have distinct calls indicating certain moments and moods. My parent has been in the family for 76 years, and she's been with me my whole life, so I knew her chirping was conveying in in Treek. I brushed it off and assumed that she saw her reflection in the window and went back to talking with my friend. I got up to get some water,

and my back was to the sliding glass door which was thankfully locked. On FaceTime, my friend had a view of my backyard, and when my friend was facing the sliding glass door, he started acting as if the wind was knocked out of him. I was confused, thinking that he somehow got hurt, as he said, you need to go back to your room now. I scoffed at first, but then I saw what he was seeing in my camera view. There was a man with his face in hands, pressed up against the glass door. He was a middle-aged man and a grey pullover and dark pants. He had this eager, grin plastered on his face. My friend, ever the best in panicked situations, told me,

don't look at him, don't even acknowledge him, just go to your room. I was shaking. I was blubbering as I locked myself in my dogs in the closet. My parent was going crazy. Now English isn't my first language, and I find it even more challenging to find the right words when I'm shocked. So I reverted to my native language, German, which my friend doesn't even know. Luckily, my friend doesn't even know. Luckily, my friend knows how to take charge, and he told me that he'd be over in ten, and he called the police. As I was debating running to my mom's room to find her gun, I heard tapping on my window. The tapping was slow and deliberately creepy.

My dogs began barking. Then in there, I started to accept death as an inevitability. Being a teenage, girl, home alone, I absolutely felt like I was about to die. Then I remembered my aunt was getting ready to leave for work, so I shot her a text, letting her know that I needed her help. As I was doing so, the tapping stopped. I thought that it was all over, but then I realized something that made my heart sink. I left the front door unlocked when I took out the trash. The situation appeared to be getting worse, so I begged my friend to hurry. Then the tapping returned to my window. The only

thing I could do was close my eyes and hope that somebody would get to me fast. It felt like an eternity as I was crying to another teen who was breaking multiple traffic laws and trying to rush over to me. Then I heard a man's voice yelling outside. It was my God-sent neighbor. Apparently his pregnant wife wasn't feeling well and went outside to their deck. From there deck, they had a view of my whole backyard. My neighbor's wife had a bad feeling after seeing an unfamiliar man approach the sliding glass door so she woke her husband up and told him to check it out. I will thank God every single day for her because and told him to check it out. I will thank God every single day for her because I think she saved my life. I let my neighbors into my house and my aunt finally arrived five minutes later, packing

major heat. My friend also arrived not long after her. I went from being a home alone to hosting an impromptu house party of concerned people. The police came 10 minutes later, which was about half an hour after the call was placed to them. On the bright side, my bird calmed down and went back to eating. My dogs were happy to see our neighbor, and my aunt, and my friend. My friend has been staying with me often since this happened, and now I find it hard to be home alone, even though an arrest was made.

I'm so thankful that my neighbor's pregnant wife had such good instincts, and I'm thankful that my aunt and friend were so quick on their feet because things could have been a lot worse. So man at my window, let's not meet. Thanks for listening, and if you're a patron, stick around after the music for your extended ad-free version of this week's episode with a bunch of bonus stories, and if you'd like to get access, head over to patreon.com-forward-slash-let's-not-meat-podcast to sign up and support the show today where releasing content every single day, lots of stuff that you won't

find anywhere else. Again, that's patreon.com-forward-slash-let's-not-meat-podcast. Some of you are probably wondering what's going on with the Let's Not Meet TV pilot. Good news is that I can't actually share any of the news with you. Trust me, that's a very good thing. Filming and post all went great and we're currently working with some talented partners on all of the potentials for release as well as future productions. And that's all I can share at the moment, but it's very exciting stuff.

Trust me when I say that you'll hear from me as soon as I'm allowed to share anything else. Meanwhile, I'd like to give some earned shout outs to the fans that donated to our Indie Go Go at the minimum $40 level. Kaylee Murray, ISIS Chen, Daniel Lee, and I'm gonna butcher a couple of these names, Tanya Udi, Ernie and Amber, Laura Rikowski,

and finally, Ginger Hunter. We have a lot more rewards to fulfill in the coming weeks, so be on the lookout for an email from me directly if you donated, and thanks again, I'm very excited to finally get to share this show with you. This week on the podcast you have heard conspiracy theorist classmate by Scarlet AK, chased by a naked man in the forest by Fred Balki, crazed man held me and my girlfriend at gunpoint by just Marion Berry 841, strange visit at 2am by Fan Dog, 1989, someone tried to break into my house by Zellis Ideal Dog, 3022, and finally, the man in the backyard by Anastasia.

All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with permission of their respective authors. Let's not meet a true horror podcast is not associated with Reddit or any of the message boards online. As always, if you have a story to share, please send that in to Let's Not Meet Stories at gmail.com. And finally, make sure you check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like Odd Trails, my true Paranormal podcast, and the Old Time Radiocast at crypticcountypodcasts.com

or wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you all next week. Everyone stay safe. for context. For context, I'm a happily married 30-year-old.