Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast - 12x10: Lost Stories 21

Episode Date: March 4, 2024

Stories in this episode: She Wasn't My Aunt | explosiverightnipple (1:26) Ghost Hunting Turned Into A High Speed Chase | the-names-adeline (6:04.) Creepy Neighbor In Japan | SeikaBlade (15:08) That's Not Dad | rrns (28:27) The Pink Lady | MythicalGeology (31:30) The Hanger | SeanEsaian (38:09) He Claimed To Be The Maintenance Guy | Anon (42:07) My Mom Escaped The Hillside Strangler | Anon (45:42) The Modeling Agency | Nordic_Nonsense (52:25) Scissors | B1rdnest (57:29) Extended Patreon Content: Ben, The Double Feature Creep | Alma Drill Sergeant Psycho | Anony-Moose My Cousin's High School Boyfriend | Russell Due to periodic changes in ad placement, time stamps are estimates and are not always accurate. 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! 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].   Check out the other Cryptic County podcasts like Odd Trails and the Old Time Radiocast at CrypticCountyPodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts! Start the Good Habit at https://tryfum.com/trails to save 10% off the Journey Pack today. - Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/433173970399259/ - Website - https://letsnotmeetpodcast.com/ - Patreon - https://patreon.com/letsnotmeetpodcast - Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/letsnotmeetcast/ - Twitch - https://twitch.tv/crypticcounty

This podcast contains adult language and content. Listener discretion is advised. If you have a story to share, send it to Let's Not Meet Stories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show. Hi everyone, welcome to the Lost Stories Part 21, the series where we share those classic previously lost recordings from the early days of the show. Thanks to the help of our loyal fans, we were able to recover these classic episodes which most of you have never heard before. We're back with some stories from 2018 that are guaranteed to give you a fright.

Now while these are old recordings, with varying degrees of audio quality and production, we did our best to remix and master them for the current audience. Enjoy the show! It was February 2010 and I was 7 years old. My mom would let me walk home from school as my apartment was just a little ways from school. There were never any problems with this, but one day when I was walking home, a black car pulled up next to me. For the life of me, I can't remember what kind of car it was. The window to the car rolled down, and there was a woman with red hair.

She looked to be about 45. She introduced herself as Erika and said that she was my father's sister. My father left before I was born, and we don't have any contact with his family. Although I didn't know much about my father at the time, I did know that he only had brothers, because just days before I was asking my mom rapid-fire questions about him, and one of them was if he had any brothers or sisters. Anyway, instead of telling Erika that he didn't have any sisters or just walking away, I told her my name, and she started asking me questions like, where do you go to school? And how's your brother?

I got really creeped out by these questions and told her that I wasn't supposed to be talking to strangers and started walking away. She continued to drive slowly next to me and kept saying that she means me no harm, and I got scared and started running, and she followed me. When I got into my apartment complex, I ran up to my neighbor's house acting like it was mine because that's what my brother told me to do if I was ever being followed home. I looked back when I was at the door and she was driving away. I didn't tell my mom because I didn't want her to stop letting me walk alone.

The next day it happened again, but this time, she offered me a ride. I told her no and to leave me alone. Once again, I started running over to the neighbor's house, and once again, she followed me. I still didn't tell my mom. The next day was Saturday, and when I was playing at the basketball court with my brother, I saw the car drive by, and I dragged my brother inside telling him that I felt sick. On Sunday after church, on the way home in our car pulling into the complex, I saw her

outside. She wasn't in her car. I remember that she had a big stomach and small legs. I got scared and when we got out of the car, I ran inside and looked out the living room window while my mom and brother went to make lunch. I saw her walk over to the neighbor's house that I had ran to. A few moments later, she walked away and my neighbor came over to our house and informed my mother that a lady came looking for me, claiming that she was a teacher and needed

to talk to me about something. When my mom heard this, she called me in and I started crying and told her everything. And then she started crying because she was scared of what could have happened to me. And then she told me that I had to wait for my brother, who was 13, to get out of school so we could walk together. And she also reported this to the police. My neighbor and I had to give a report. After I saw the car and would point it out to my brother, we would tell my mom. the car and would point it out to my brother, we would tell my mom. It all died down in April, and we never got any word about if the police ever talked to her.

I didn't see her for years. I forgot about it until yesterday, when I was at Albertsons with my best friend. I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was her. She introduced herself again in my mouth, just hung open and shocked and I acted nice, but when she offered to take me to my house I got scared and grabbed my friend and walked away. I'm very afraid.

She remembers me. She still tried to give me a ride and she's still around. I already told my mom and we aren't sure what to do. I have since gone to the police with my mother and we have a follow up with an officer. But let's not meet. I'm a female, which isn't really that important to the story, but I like when people give some context before. I believe we were sophomores when this happened, so barely sixteen in 2008.

I grew up in a small, nowhere, country Midwest town. There are paved roads, so that's a plus. Where I lived was at one point, the meth capital of America. So even though it's a nowhere town, it's got that blue ribbon, cue sarcastic thumbs up. There was an old cemetery out on a country road which was paved.

It had been rumored to be haunted. It also had recently been vandalized. A couple of friends, Parker and Cody, who are two very large testosterone-filled teenagers and I, were hanging out talking about what had happened at the cemetery, speculating who had vandalized it? I've always been fascinated by ghost stories, haunted places, and things like that. I also did a ton of community betterment projects. So I wanted to see how destroyed it was to suggest to one of my 20 clubs that I was in to help.

I'm a chicken, so I came up with a great idea to go check it out because what Ghost or Meth Head is going to get you when you have two football players with you. Sound logic. I might add, this all goes down somewhere between 6 and 8pm in the fall, so it's dark, but not late. We were walking around being respectful, mind you, and we weren't the kind of kids to be jerks. We really just wanted to see how bad the vandalism was and find a ghost. We were there for about ten minutes, and we were checking out the mausoleum. It was just a cement shell, no roof, two holes for windows and a doorway. When a white 90s looking Jeep drives up, slowing down as if to check the place out.

From where we were, we could see the road from the window, but who was driving wouldn't have been able to see us, just our car. My gut is screaming by the way that the Jeep slowed down. I say something to Parker and Cody about leaving. We look out the other window to see the Jeep is turning around in a driveway gravel road. Cody and I are already noping out and getting back to the car. Parker follows us to the car and gets all puffed up as the Jeep does another creep by. Parker gets into the car acting like he's somehow outmanned this Jeep driver and he won't be a problem anymore.

I remember seeing our faces turn to horror as he once again turns around in the nearest driveway. Think of country fields, far enough a way to make a run for it, close and open enough to see. Far enough a way to make a run for it, close and open enough to see. I'm freaking out. Parker turns the car on and is peeling out. We drive out of the cemetery onto the road, passing the Jeep. I vaguely remember Parker flipping off the Jeep as we passed, which pissed me off because why poke the bear? What does this jeep do?

It turns around and starts following us. Not only follow us, but ride our tail and flash its brights. I'm about to start crying. I'm screaming at Parker for just not being able to leave it alone. I'm playing it all out the ways I'm going to die because of this situation. Cody is giving us play-by-play of updates while staring out the back window. Parker decides to lose the Jeep. Not a great idea, but it was a straight road, just lots of hills, and when you're 16 that

seems like the best option. At some point we're doing 80 trying to lose this Jeep. It's slightly falling behind, but only slightly, still flashing its headlights and being generally terrifying. We get to the main highway that runs through town. We cut right on the highway, turn left onto a housed street, then we cut left again and turn into a church parking lot. Parker turns off his lights and keeps the car behind the wooden playground fence. Cody says he can see the lights on the next street over. We lost him. Parker gets a great idea to check it out, and we obviously didn't stay friends after this. I'm screaming, have you ever seen horror movies?

This is how we die. Take me home. Nope. Parker drives down the street that would be running parallel with the Jeep. We don't see the Jeep, so we turn back onto the main road and there are cop lights behind us. Parker pulls over and the police officer asks us what we're doing. I burst into tears. I tell the officer how some crazy lunatic was chasing us, how I thought we were going to die. I may have been a bit dramatic. Cody chimes in from the back to verify that I'm telling the truth. We are pleading for him to find this crazy person because he's probably around.

He asks us why we were at the cemetery. I tell him my name and that I plan on helping out with the vandalism. In this side mirror, I see the Jeep pool behind the cop car. And I no longer have sanity. Shaking uncontrollably, tears silently running down my cheeks, I whisper, he's there. The officer looks back and smiles. Instant dread washes over me. Way too many horrible scenarios flashed through my

imagination in that second. The police officer then informs us that the Jeep driver was an off-duty police officer who thought we looked like suspicious kids. He said have a good night, and just walked off. That was it. They didn't push the issue, and neither did we. All three of us just sat there stunned for a couple of seconds. Because what the fuck? It was terrifying, and I'm glad it wasn't a crazy lunatic. I know this is not your typical let's not meet, but still. Officer who seemed to take his job a little too seriously? I'd rather not. I know how hard breaking a bad habit can be. Sometimes it feels like you're fighting an entire army on your own, making everyday tasks

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or follow the link in the show notes. Now back to the show. ["The Good Habit"] This happened to me during the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016 until I moved due to the fear of living alone in my apartment. Slight backstory. I'm a 22 year old British female and I've been living in Japan since 2015. The apartment I first lived in was rented out by a company connected to my school. It was not a good apartment at all, but at the time I didn't know what the general quality and size versus price of

Japanese apartments were and I was given one of five that I chose before I moved. The apartment was seriously tiny. One room, kitchen connected, and bed about two steps away from it. I could walk the length of my whole apartment in about ten steps. But I was excited because it was my first time living alone in a country I had previously only dreamt about living in. After about a month of living and studying in Japan, I met my ex-boyfriend.

He told me that the area I lived in was not a good one and known for inhabiting creepy people. So he warned me not to walk alone at night anymore. Or if I did, not to wear headphones and be wary. I kicked myself for the countless times I had walked the 30 minute journey home from the clubs while really drunk after hearing this. Japan is a generally safe country, but not so much for females that are alone. Anyway, into the story. I had been living there for six months when my best friend returned to England and moved

out. He lived on my right. This left me a little scared, because I had noticed previously that the neighbor on my left was a bit odd. He would constantly clear his throat as if he were coughing up some fucking hairball or something. He didn't live immediately next to me, but rather down the hall, so when I exited my room and looked left, his door was in view. On the left were stone stairs going up to nothing. I was on the top floor.

And if you went past the stairs, you'd be standing outside his door, and on the left is more hallway and stairs going down. I only took these stairs to do my washing. We had shared washing machines on the bottom floor. Otherwise, I always used the stairs on my right at the end of the hall because the stairs leading to the washing machines were always full of spiders. And fuck that. So my friend moved out and after that I noticed this guy a lot more. At this point, I'd never seen his face, but I'd know when he was out, or in his place

in the evenings due to the light that would yellow his peephole if he were in. My peephole was smashed by a previous tenant, so if he looked into mine, he wouldn't be able to tell if I was in or not. Luckily. He still cleared his throat all the time, and despite having space between us, it was loud enough to sound like it was coming from outside my door. That's how loud he did it. To be fair, our walls were crazy thin though.

I didn't think much of him until I started noticing that when I went outside my door to smoke, and clear view if he were to look through his peephole, his light would suddenly turn off. The previous yellow peephole would go black. I didn't think too deeply about it because I would usually go out at night, and maybe he just decided to go to bed, and I coincidentally saw it. Every time. Anyway, one day, I went out front for a cigarette, saw his peephole go black. I stared at it a while, while I smoked, trying to pick up any changes in light to confirm or disprove my theory that he hadn't turned off the light and it was in fact blackened

by his own face. I was standing up this time for some reason. I usually sat down but I had a weird feeling this day and stayed standing. I forgot to mention that our doors are metal so opening and closing them makes a very loud noise. I stubbed out my cigarette and put it in the ashtray when I noticed him opening his door and starting to come out. I was on high alert and a bit panicked, but I thought, maybe he's taking out his trash or something. Then I went cold as I noticed, he wasn't holding anything at all. He just stood there, facing me.

I turned slowly and as naturally as possible started into my apartment as he started walking, past the hall to the stairs and towards my apartment. The path was straight, so if he was intending on walking past me, he'd have to keep his feet straight. But he didn't. His walk was angled towards me, and the space between our doors was less than three meters. I opened my door and he suddenly started to walk much faster. I got around my door and entered, closing it in just enough time to see him lurch towards my door as it slammed shut and I locked it. He stopped outside. I couldn't see him because of my broken peephole, but I didn't hear him keep walking past my door or going back to his.

So I knew he was right there on the other side. As I was listening intently, I saw my handle very slightly jiggle. He was trying to open my fucking door. With fuck knows what intentions. I waited maybe 30 seconds before I heard him finally turn and walk back to his place and then his door closed. I was extremely panicked at this point so I called my male school friend and explained everything. He asked if I wanted him to come over, but he lived pretty far from me and it was already late so I told him I'd be okay and he stayed on the phone with me for a while as I calmed

down. During our conversation he asked me to open the door and close it to see if the guy would come out again. I did, opening it and closing it hard, listening intently, and to no surprise. I heard his fucking door open and close again after he probably paused and stared, wondering why he'd heard my door but not seen me. After this, I was so scared to be in my apartment at night or go out for cigarettes. I started testing it, leave my room silently, smoke, and his peephole wasn't black when I went out silently, so this confirming that it had been

him watching me as I smoked all those times before, and then closing my door normally after I was done and listened. Sure enough, every time I closed mine, I'd hear his open. Occasionally, I heard him come to my door and just stand there, probably listening for a sign if I was in or not. One night I was out smoking and the creep came home just as I was there. I was frozen still, staring at him. Out of the corner of my eye, he didn't even open his door at first, just stood there fucking

staring at it for way longer than normal. I had almost finished my cigarette when he finally opened it and went in. Another thing I can't 100% say was him, but I'm pretty fucking sure it was. Sometimes I would smoke in the stairwell when it was raining because the rain would hit me when I stood outside my door. I smoked, then put my cigarette in my ashtray. It was kind of smelly so I left it there in the stairwell. Third step, same one I habitually sat on when I smoked there. I left it tucked in the corner by the wall and went inside, closing my door normally, and went to bed. I knew the people that lived on my right, one to three doors down.

We all used the second stairwell when we went out, not the one that I was sat on, and I know for a fact that they don't smoke. On the left of my creepy neighbor's room was a Chinese couple that I didn't know. They in the creep always used the stairs that led down to the washing machines. The stairs I was sat on, as I said before, aren't used because they go up to nothing and they aren't even visible unless you walk around the corner. My room was on the corner, these steps connected to it. Anyway, I go back the next morning to get my ashtray and not only was it a couple of steps up in the middle,

but there was a cigarette butt and scrunched up packet of cigarettes. Some brand that I don't smoke. I don't know if it was him, but that stairwell is only easily visible to us. This was all happening over the ending months of 2015 and the beginning of 2016. The thing that convinced me to finally move was the following. I had been out to dinner with my boyfriend and we got back after 11. To enter the gate to my apartment after 11pm you need a key as they lock it. I was walking faster than my boyfriend, turned a corner leading to my apartment and saw a figure standing in the darkness near the gate, waiting and watching me approach.

He started to appear from the shadows, away from the apartment, towards me. My boyfriend turned the corner and as soon as this guy noticed him, he pulled his phone out and quite clearly pretended to talk to someone on it. My boyfriend and I walked past as he slowly followed. I didn't realize at this point that it was my creepy neighbor, but we were silent, both wary of the situation. As I got to the gate, I noticed that it was locked and started searching in my bag for my keys. This guy came up, said excuse me, and nonchalantly opened the gate and stood on the other side.

I had found my keys by this point and was holding them ready to unlock the gate. But the guy was standing there as if he were waiting to see if my boyfriend would enter with me or not. I showed him my keys, said thank you, and that I had locked the gate. He reluctantly left before my boyfriend had come in and we watched him go up the stairs but didn't see which apartment he went into. When I saw he used the washing machine stairs, it clicked that it was my creepy neighbor and told my boyfriend.

We went up the same stairs slowly. I went first and peered around the corner to where my neighbor lived. He was standing there, waiting, staring at his door, but not opening it. He noticed me come around and turned to me, staring, until he saw my boyfriend, then went inside abruptly. This was the last incident I could handle. I knew he was up to something that was no good and I didn't want to wait for anything else to happen so I decided that I would cancel my contract and moved out. I had to pay a fair amount to do it. Until the day I moved out,

he still did creepy things. I'd hear him outside my door or see the black peephole and know he was staring at me. So creepy over excessively throat clearing guy, let's not ever meet again. For some context, once a week my parents would go out running with friends and leave my sister and I alone for a few hours. I was 14 and she was 10. It would be so dark usually that they wore neon clothing. Also, where I lived, it's common for houses to have a seven-foot wall around it. The door to the front yard could be opened from the kitchen by a display, where you could see who was ringing the doorbell on a screen. This was a regular night. They'd left in a taxi about 20 minutes ago to get to the meetup point.

Since our doorbell was broken, my sister sat in the kitchen to watch the screen. I happened to be in the room when it lit up, showing a man looking at the ground in a neon yellow windbreaker. Oh, dad's home early, I pointed out, a little confused. Yeah, maybe he heard himself. My little sister walked over, reaching out to the display to open the door when I stopped her. My dad is a fairly tall man, about six foot, where this guy looked to be about five foot

five. That's not dad. We both froze. The screen stayed on for a full three minutes, showing he was ringing the bell repeatedly. It's supposed to turn off after 30 seconds. He seemed to be getting frustrated and started banging his fists against the door. We could hear him shouting slurs at us, calling us bitches, sluts, and telling us to let him in. Eventually he walked off, throwing his hands in the air, as if he were annoyed.

My sister and I stayed huddled in her room until our parents called us 45 minutes later for us to open the door for them. I don't know why we didn't call them when we first saw the guy, maybe it was shock, scared of being in trouble for almost letting him in, but by the time they'd come home, we'd calm down and told them everything. It turns out, my dad had forgotten his windbreaker and the taxi on the way to the meetup point. So it seems, the driver had come back, posed as my dad, and tried to get into the house. We haven't left home alone since, and it took me ages before I finally stopped

being scared of this man who had our address and somehow knew that my sister and I were still in the house. It still fills me with dread, thinking of how long he could have been watching my family in order for him to plan this. So let's not meet. I am an 18 year old male. I have an extremely large German shepherd which needs to be walked three times a day for about an hour. I am a large guy and on the day of this encounter I was wearing an extremely large and padded black leather jacket with skinny black jeans. This is important later. My house is close to a

large state park. I walk my dog here daily. I always take a secluded path off the main path. There are two of these paths, which run parallel to each other. They are about 20 meters apart. One path runs adjacent to a river, over which there is an abandoned house. The other path is higher up and overlooks the path next to the river. This is also important, so now let's get to my story. I left my house and started walking my dog around 1pm. I take the main path until reaching the secluded paths. I take the path closest to the river so that my dog can go swimming.

As I get around one mile, I hear people talking from up and around the corner of the path. I put my dog on a tight leash as I slowly walk up the hill. The hill's gradient begins to decline as I look for the source of the noise I see a lady in a pink blazer sitting on the ground talking to another man who's also on the ground. As I approached, I realized something was wrong. The woman was smiling. The man was sitting halfway down the hill, almost in the river, with his bike upturned

next to him. It appeared to be some sort of accident. The path was not slippery, but it was steep and narrow. The drop at this section of the path was around eight meters of sharp rock into a white river. The pink lady had the following conversation with the man. Someone is coming. The man grumbles something. How did you know that? the lady says. My dog started crying and walked just off the path to investigate.

I pull him back. I ask if everything is okay. She gives no response. She just smiles and looks towards the older, balding man on the ground. We stare at each other for a second, and I get a better look at her before continuing to walk down the path. Let me describe this lady in more detail. She wore a bright pink blazer with camouflaged trousers and large hunting boots. She had to be at least in her late 40s. If any of you have seen Harry Potter,

just think of Dolores Umbridge, and you'll have a good idea of what I witnessed. After ten minutes, the path forks back or diverges to continue on. I start to walk back home, but I get a feeling in my gut that I should go back. After all that man could have been injured, and they were just intimidated by my sudden presence or my grotesquely large dog. As I walk back down the path, I see this pink lady stop two boys, no older than 12, and say something about him being stuck and that he needs their help. Instead of going to the path where the man was situated, I took the back path which

overlooked the path below and the river. As I look down, I am shocked. The man is moving his bike to a steeper part of the path and lies down, as if he were injured. This lady was luring these boys to this man who was not injured, capable of movement and who had just staged an accident. I tried to phone 101, the non-emergency number in my country, but I had no minutes left. The pink lady is nowhere to be seen. I decide I must loop back around and walk down that path. It takes me ten minutes to do so. As I get around there, the lady and man are arguing. The conversation went like this. Now where are we meant to go?

If you weren't such a spooky bitch, those boys would have come in. You were the one who said we couldn't tackle the big guy. At this moment, I go into panic. I make my presence clear and approach them quickly. I must get past them as quickly as I can. I pull my doll closer to me, and as I'm passing them on the narrow path, less than a meter in length, the man gives me the dirtiest look, while the lady gives me the toothiest yellow smile I've ever seen.

I'm not afraid to admit it. I was scared. I ran as quickly as I could, out of the woods. When I do get out, I reach a member of the local government while walking past the parking lot and tell him what I witnessed and the conversation. Fortunately, the boys that the lady was talking to had already reported suspicious activity. He tells me the children had told him that the lady was claiming her husband had fallen off the path and needed some help. The boys didn't fall for it.

He had called the police as soon as the boys had told him. I soon left and will not be returning to that part of the woods for a long time. So creepy pink lady, if you ever see this, I hope you got caught for whatever sick thing you are plotting." However, since this encounter, I have left that region of Five Scotland due to being accepted into higher education. However, my parents' remote house on a diverging trail to the one that I was on has been getting repeatedly damaged. The lady in Pink was never caught. Freaky things in those woods have happened before. A body was found not long after I had that encounter

almost half a year ago. Let's not meet. It's summer of 1997. I was nine and scared of my own shadow, so this experience only furthered my fear of the world. My mom and I drove up to Bearbrook State Park in New Hampshire to camp. My dad was going to drive up there the next morning to meet us because he had work. So everything was going normal at the campsite. We set up the tent, built our fire, and all was well. It was still daylight when we noticed that the lone, greasy-haired man in the campsite connected to ours was continually

running and leaping onto a wooden post, then attempting to balance himself on one foot. He kept doing this over and over and over. It was a bit odd, but we just figured he was some lonely kook, and had a good laugh at his expense. My mom thought maybe he was trying out for the circus. Cut to night time. Absolute darkness if not for the campfire. My mom and I were sitting and roasting s'mores over the flames when we heard footsteps approaching from the other campsite.

Out of the pines, the lone man stumbled into our site, and he was ghastly and ragged in the firelight. I could tell my mom was tense. She asked the stranger what he needed. Hey, he mumbled. I need your help in my campsite. We waited, and he didn't go on. My mom asked what he needed help with.

The filthy man said, I locked my keys in my van and they need you to come over and help me. He then looked at me and said, Don't worry, kid. You can stay here with your fire. I remember getting goosebumps at that. My mom said, I don't know how I can help you with your keys. You must have a spare hanger lying around somewhere, suggested the man.

My mom told him she didn't. The ghoulish man wouldn't let up though. Yeah, you must have a hanger lying around here somewhere. Maybe you dropped one on the ground near your tent. My mom adamantly told him she didn't have a hanger and quickly added, my husband will be here soon, maybe he can help you, he's a pretty strong guy. Yeah, alright.

The creep slurred, and he started to treach away into the dark. But he turned his head and said, well if you do find a hangar, come help me, I'll be here. And with that, the horrible man left. My mom and I barely slept that night. I felt her moving at every sound outside the tent. Looking back, my poor mother must have stayed up through the long night, worrying about a butcher knife that was going to slash through the tent wall. And so, morning eventually came, and when we stepped out of the tent, we immediately saw that the lone man and his camper van were gone.

Later in the day, I heard my mom yell. I ran over to her and watched as she picked up something from the ground beside our tent. She held it between us, staring at it, not speaking. It was a metal hanger. Let's not meet. This happened about two years ago. I'm a female and was 21 at the time. I was a junior in college living in a small apartment off campus with one female roommate. We were both busy students and rarely home at the same time.

One afternoon, I was sitting at home by myself working on a project. A white truck that I didn't recognize pulls into the parking lot, which I can see from my window. I think nothing of it until I hear a knock at the door. A man, maybe in his mid-fifties, bearded with dirty white overalls and a white cap is standing there. I opened the door a bit without letting him in. Hello? Hi, I'm with the company that owns the property.

We're doing a routine check of the smoke detector batteries and air filters. This was strange to me, since the check had just been done a few months prior and we weren't due for another yet. Additionally, the property management always called ahead at least 24 hours as per our lease agreement to let us know the contractors that they hired were coming to do stuff, and we hadn't been informed. I asked what contracting company he was with, and if he had any kind of identification with him, since the truck was unmarked and neither his hat nor his shirt had any kind of logo

on them. Uh, I don't usually carry that stuff around with me. My name is Charlie. It'll take me just a few minutes. We're doing all the units in the area. It was still suspicious to me. He should have at least had something to identify that he was who he said he was. I had that feeling in my gut that you get when something just isn't right.

I told him I didn't feel comfortable letting him in, and if he came back with ID, I would feel much better. He got visibly angry, but agreed to come back later. He got in the truck and drove off, without going into any of the other apartments like he said he was going to. My heart was pounding. I immediately shut and locked the door and called my roommate. She agreed it was weird and suggested I call our property manager.

Hmm, I don't recall sending anyone over to that property today or recently. Here's the number of our contractor. Why don't you give them a call? When I called the contracting company and described the man, they said that not only did they not have anyone on that route today, or anytime soon, they also did not have a single employee by that name, or that looked anything like the man I described. They said I should probably call the police if it happened again. I was on edge for weeks, but he never returned.

I don't want to think about what his intentions were, entering the apartment of a college girl all by herself. Creepy contractor dude, let's not meet again. This takes place in October 1977 when my mom was 16. She ran away from her abusive home along with her friend Lisa. They hitchhiked from Mass all the way to California. Obviously this wasn't the brightest of plans, but given my mom's home life and past experiences, she didn't see how it could be much more dangerous than anything she'd already experienced. They had a pretty safe and uneventful trip across the country, finding friends in many

truck drivers and other travelers. It wasn't until they reached California when this encounter happened. The hillside strangler, at first thought to be one assailant, ended up being two men who were caught and brought to justice for ten murders. So my mom and Lisa end up meeting these two guys who were super nice to them. They crashed at their place for a few days, partying, but nothing bad had come of it at this point. These guys tell the girls that they're going to take them to Hollywood Hills and

Sunset Boulevard to see the sights. Not being from the area, my mom had no idea that these areas were more crime-ridden at that time, especially considered that they were supposed to be sightseeing. My mom really wanted to see where all the movie stars lived. These guys take my mom and her friend to some divey restaurant bar and get them very drunk. It's also the first time my mom is introduced to and tries cocaine. After these underage girls are now completely high and drunk, they split off into pairs and my mom's friend disappears with one of these guys.

My mom is now hanging out with just one of her new guy friends. He then suggests that they stand on the sidewalk on Sunset Boulevard in the middle of the night and if and when a car pulls up they should get in and direct the driver to drive across the street to the parking lot. This isn't really until the first and only car pulls up and she gets in that she realized this guy is prostituting her out. Keep in mind these guys have been nothing but kind and respectful to my young mom and

her friend for the past few days. Also, and very sadly, this type of abuse is not a new concept for her either. She gets into the car and instead of pulling into the parking lot, he keeps driving straight. My mom explains that he's gone the wrong way, so he starts driving faster. My mom moves towards a door but he locks it, hits her, and attempts to hold her down at the same time. He tells her she isn't going anywhere. My mom knew in her head she needed to get out of the car or she'd be dead. So in one swift move she unlocks the door, talks, and rolls out of the car. This car comes to a screeching halt. She sees some

bushes in front of a house so she runs to hide behind them. He's turned around looking for her, creeping along. His passenger side was facing where she was hiding, and she was peeking through the bushes. She saw that he had a gun. As soon as his car crept by, she ran to the backyard. It was all fenced in. There was no other way out, so she had to go back the way she came in. By the time she crawled back into the bushes to see if he was still around, she saw his car had gone to the end of the road and turned back around. So he passes again,

and when she thought he was far enough away, she crawled out of the bushes to run. But then she sees his brake lights, confident that he's now seen her. She runs as fast as possible around the corner. But she could hear his car, so she had to duck and hide behind parked cars on the road. As soon as he passes again, she booked it across the street which took her through the parking lot she was originally supposed to be parked in, and back to her quote unquote friend. The creep did circle back around, but by then she was with her friend and they were leaving

the area. My mom and her friend quickly ditched these two assholes and did find a safer place to stay. But only a short time later did my mom call home and eventually made it home safely. It wasn't until a long time later that she saw on a news story about women being murdered and recognized the murderer, dubbed the Hillside Strangler. As the man who had picked her up that night, on a side note, my mom literally just dictated

the story to me. I've heard it before, but not in so much detail. I told her about this sub and she said that I should share the story. Not purposefully, but I googled an image of the hillside strangler and she saw unexpectedly my phone and jumped so high. It actually really unnerved her, recognizing him again. I feel bad about that. It was Kenneth Bianchi who drove the car that night.

My mom said there was no questioning it. It was his distinguishing features and definitely his mustache. Now I've been reading comments about the story to my mom, retelling her story to me so I could accurately account for it, has stirred some anxiety, and feelings in her didn't realize were there. So she just wants to say a genuine thank you for all of the well wishes and positive comments. I hope she finds comfort in them knowing that. Although it was because of poor choices, hitchhiking and drinking with strangers, her actions show how truly brave and strong she was and is.

Honestly, I'm so grateful for her. She's the most amazing woman I've ever known. For context, this took place when I was 16 years old. I'm 24 now, so it's been a while. But this was one of the many stupid things I've done in my life where I could have ended up dead or even worse. I grew up in Portland, Oregon, and me and my friends would often go to the Lloyds Center to go shopping or just to hang around the food court being degenerates. I was walking around the mall with my friend Crystal and my mom, when a

man at a pop-up kiosk stopped us. He said that he represented a modeling company and wanted to talk to us about modeling for their clothing line. I considered myself better looking than the average duck, spoiler alert, I'm about as plain Jane as they come. So I promptly announced that I wanted to sign up for the modeling agency, which my mom quickly shut down. I replied with a, you suck mom, which got me in trouble later down the line with both parents. But that was only the start of my woes. I convinced my mom to allow me and Crystal to go off on our own, and with a reluctant sigh she allowed us to go off.

Me, being the dumb kid I was, marched right back over to that modeling agency and signed myself up with my phone number and email address. He said that he would be back in contact with me shortly to set up an interview with the company. That night, I went home and saw that I had a friend request from someone that shared no mutual friends with me. Hesitantly, I added the person and a message popped up. Hi, I'm Such-and-Such from the modeling company. You signed up with our agent earlier today and I wanted to get in touch with you. I know you're in the Portland area, so we wanted to set up an interview with you next

week at 9pm at this location. Are you able to come speak with us? I responded with a maybe and logged off my computer. That's when the phone started to ring. I picked it up and it was yet another guy from the agency. Mind you, these were all men. They asked me whether or not I could come to the interview. I said maybe, and farewell.

It was about here that my gut instinct started to kick in. Why would they set up an interview so late at night? And I googled the address, and it was in an industrial park by the airport. I chose not to answer the onslaught of emails, Facebook messages, and phone calls that I was getting. This went on for about a week before I got radio silence. The guy on Facebook blocked me. There were no more emails or calls.

It was at this point I began to worry. What if I had allowed my career not to even blossom, let alone flourish? What if I had made a mistake? I was already in hot water with my father for telling my mom off at the mall for the first time. So with school on my mind, I allowed the idea to fade away from what could have been. About two weeks later, our home phone started ringing. My father answered the phone, and as soon as he started listening to the message, his face became ashen, and he instantly hung up the phone, turning to me to demand what the hell I had done. I tried to feign innocence, but I knew the jig was up. We had just gotten a phone call from the Portland Police Department to warn our family about

a ring of sex traffickers who were targeting young girls with promises of modeling and acting. They had stumbled upon the name of one of the men who worked for the ring and through that started contacting families of young women whose information they had gotten a hold of. The worst part of it all, they had my family's address and home phone number as well. I was grounded for the rest of the gear, which was to be expected, but it was better than being carted off to some sex ring so I couldn't complain. When I was finally allowed back to the mall with my friends, we walked by the kiosk where the modeling agent once pedaled his false hopes and dreams. All that was left was an empty booth.

So creepy fake modeling agent, let's not meet again. Nearly two years ago, I had moved in with my girlfriend to a small but cheap apartment in Montreal. I had been working night shifts while in university, so most evenings, she would call me before bed to talk. She mentioned she kept hearing noises in the evenings and thought it might be mice. I had never noticed the sounds but agree it was possible being an old building, so I set traps the next morning. However, more and more she complained about the scratching. I would even listen for it when I was home nights but nothing. No mice, no sounds.

A few weeks later, our friends down the hall asked if we could water their plants while away. One night I received a freaked out phone call from my girlfriend. She was in the neighbor's apartment and began to hear the scratching again. So she looked through the door hole and she saw an old lady scratching at our door with scissors. I ran home while she called the police. It turns out the old lady had picked her and started stalking her. She knew our schedules well enough that she

was coming by only when I was at work, with her scissors each night, hoping to be let in. Let's not meet. Thanks for listening and make sure you stick around after the music if you're a patron for your extended version of this week's episode episode and if you'd like to get access to that as well as ad-free episodes and so much bonus content head over to patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast to sign up and support the show today this week you have heard she wasn't my aunt by explosive right nipple ghost hunting turned into a high-speed chase by the name's Adeline. Creepy neighbor in Japan by Sika Blade. That's not dad by RRNS. The Pink Lady by Mythical Geology. The Hanger by Sean Esion.

He claimed to be the maintenance guy by Anonymous. My mom escaped the hillside strangler by Anonymous. The modeling agency by Nordic Nonsense, and finally, Scissors by Bird Nest. All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission of their respective authors. If you have a story to share, make sure you send it to Let's Not Meet Stories at gmail.com. Let's Not Meet a True Horror Podcast is not associated with Reddit or any other message boards online. Make sure you check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like Odd Trails, My True

Panoramal Podcast, and The Old Time Radio Cast all at crypticcountypodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you next week for a new episode of Let's Not Meet. Everyone stay safe. In 2011, I got my break filming my first movie.