Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast - 12x12: A Nightmare Before Christmas

Episode Date: March 18, 2024

Stories in this episode: "Woman to Woman, I'll Make Sure You Get Home Safely | Citeen (0:39) Creepy Guy at My Job | ellathechampagne (7:33) The Man in the Red Pickup Truck | BrokenWisdom77 (16:06) Saved by Smokey and The Bandit | shmartyparty (21:50) Never Walk by Yourself in a New Town | Anonymous (29:51) The Creep at the Train Station | StoryUnwind (34:54) A Nightmare Before Christmas | NadjaColette (39:36) The Monster That Married My Mom | geekdadnsc (43:41) Extended Patreon Content: My True Fright Night Experience | Edwin Nearly Kidnapped in Montréal | Hayley The Man at the Dead-End Road | Heidi Dear Joe | Ollie 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! Visit thefreezepipe.com and use code MEET for 10% off your entire order. Head to factormeals.com/meet50 and use code meet50 to get 50% off.  - 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 letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show. I have a long commute from home to work and back again, and I heavily depend on my local train system. One day during said commute, there were some issues that caused all the trains to be cancelled for hours, which left me stranded for an hour and a half as I was making my way home. At the train station, there were a few others who were heading in my direction, so we decided

to split a taxi. The people that I met were Lisa, who was heading to my city to catch a gig, who was a bit tipsy. She was also joined by Kyle, who was beyond drunk. They seemed like friends, possibly with benefits. He was alright, but he made me a bit uncomfortable because he kept peeing in a bush and making vulgar comments. There was another man, John, who was traveling alone. He mentioned that he had just moved to the city.

He was traveling back to my city as he had just broken up with his girlfriend and was picking his stuff up from her place. In addition to these three, there was another woman who was in on the deal at first, but she decided to stay at her mother's house for the evening, so she dropped out of the taxi ride. That should have been a cue for me to drop out as well, but Lisa had just rung for a taxi and they already calculated how much we all needed to pay for the trip, so I didn't want to back out.

I was a little concerned about getting into a car with all of these strangers, so I subtly asked Lisa if I could sit next to her in the taxi. She nodded and replied, I completely understand. Come on, I'll sit in the middle. When our taxi arrived, drunk Kyle sat in the front. I sat on the passenger's side in the back seat. Lisa sat in the middle. When our taxi arrived, drunk Kyle sat in the front. I sat on the passenger's side in the back seat, Lisa sat in the middle, then John got in the taxi.

Mind you, we were parked in a place where there was no danger for him to get into the taxi on the other side. There was no oncoming traffic or obstructions of any kind. He opened the door that I was sitting by and just stared at me. Lisa cheerfully suggested that he get in on the other side. She didn't want to dime out my discomfort, so she explained that she wanted the middle seat, so she would be able to talk to Kyle more easily.

John continued to stand there, staring at us for another second before scoffing and slowly walking to the other side to get in. The ride itself was awkward, as Lisa and Kyle were both drunk and decided to air their dirty laundry about their friends-with-benefits situation. Lisa was still guzzling back drinks that she was sneaking from her purse, and she finally said that she needed to stop and go to the toilet. She was starting to get desperate, so the taxi driver found a public leisure center,

which is somewhat similar to a rest stop for US listeners. The taxi driver pulled in, and she got out and went to the restroom. I should have known better, and I should have gone out with her, but I didn't need to go so I honestly didn't even think about it. Normally, when I'm out with my female friends in restaurants or bars, I go with them, but this was an entirely different situation and it was freezing outside, so I stayed in the taxi. Kyle and John stepped out of the taxi to smoke a cigarette.

When we all saw Lisa coming back, John quickly got into the back of the car and scooted into the middle seat. Then he casually put his hand high up on my thigh and rested it there. I should have done something or said something, made a scene, but I froze. Lisa opened the door and looked at John, then looked at me. She then looked at John's hand on my upper thigh. She politely said, Oh, I'm sorry, can we switch please? I love sitting in the middle.

John was pissed. He looked over at me while I was still frozen. He then removed his hand from my thigh and scooted back to make room for her. He grumbled something, but I couldn't hear what he said since Lisa hit him with an upbeat thank you as she slid in next to me. John was then sitting on the other side of Lisa and we took off. Lisa took my hand and whispered, "'Woman to woman, I'll make sure that you get home safely.'"

Then throughout the rest of the journey, each time Lisa leaned forward to speak to Kyle, John slipped his hand over to her seat so that when she sat back down, he would touch her. Every time this happened, she laughed and said, Oh, sorry, I think I sat on your hand. I felt awful because she was in this position because of me. I quietly apologized to her, but she simply repeated that she wanted to get me home safely, woman to woman, again. She was pretty drunk at this point, from drinking during the ride, so I think she was hyperfixated on that sentiment. It was her mission.

When we got close to the city center, Lisa asked me where I needed to get to, and I told her the general area. John said he lived in an area that was literally in the opposite direction. His suburb was north of the city center, while I'm south of it. After Kyle and Lisa got out of the cab, John insisted that we continue to share the taxi, even though it made no sense as we lived in opposite directions. I said no. He was insistent. I won't take no for an answer," he said through clenched teeth. Lisa was hammered and crying about how much she loves her dog, so I was on my own at this point.

I texted my husband and I let him know that I was terrified and asked if he could walk over to the city center to come and get me. My husband booked it as fast as he could. When I saw him, I said bye to Lisa and ran as fast as I could over to my husband. I know we say it all the time, but it needs to be said again. Fuck being polite when you feel scared, uncomfortable, or intimidated in a situation. John likely latched onto me because I appeared to be female traveling alone while Lisa had a man with her.

I'll always appreciate Lisa for doing what she could. I'll never forget her woman-to-woman philosophy. And she's right. Women need to stick together. This happened three years ago. I was hired to work at an auto shop as the front desk receptionist. One of my guy friends had been working there, so he helped me out with getting me the job. It was a pretty straightforward job. I checked customers in, checked them out, answered phones, generated invoices, etc.

When I was hired for this job, I was freshly 15. I acted mature for my age, but I was technically a child, and I was also the only girl who was working there. I had two managers, who we will call Peter and Alvin. Peter was the main boss. He had a dry sense of humor, but he was cool to be around. Alvin also had a great sense of humor, but he was more goofy, and overall, he was very pleasant in general.

And then there was Chester. That wasn't his real name, but I decided that we'll call this guy Chester because I don't like that name. He was 40. He had a girlfriend and a 13-year-old daughter. He was very exuberant. He was always very loud, and he thought that he was quite funny. After meeting him, things were pretty normal at first.

We liked to joke around with each other. He would tease me like a boy would tease a girl on a playground. He would do things like pull my hair or poke me. And he did this after I already laid down my rules when working there. I said that I hated being touched, and that's it. After I gently reminded Chester of this, he started to get as close to me as humanly possible and say, I'm not touching you, and laugh. This was never funny to me, I always found it annoying, but I just laughed it off, though

I felt uncomfortable. Then he was telling jokes laced with innuendos. But whenever we were alone, he straight up talked about his sex life. I knew this wasn't right, so I stopped using a familiar tone with him, and I started putting on my customer service voice whenever I was around him. As I was still easing into this new job, one day I baked cookies for everyone working in the garage. When I dropped them off, Chester leaned in very close to me. I thought he was going to sniff the cookies, but he sniffed me. "'You smell really good and your hair looks nice today," he said.

I didn't like that comment whatsoever, so I went back to the reception area to continue working. All throughout the day, he was going on and on about the cookies that I made. At one point he said, I know cookie is an innuendo. I just want you to know that I really like your cookies. This should have been my breaking point, but we did finally reach that when he started finding a reason to touch me. Any reason.

Whenever I was sitting at the computer, he would make up reasons for needing to lean in close to look at my monitor, and he would brush his fingers against my leg. And when I came into work one day, he grabbed me and pulled me in for a hug, and it wasn't a friendly grab. He grabbed me so tightly I couldn't escape. When I finally pushed him away from me, Alvin rounded the corner and saw what happened. I noticed that he looked a little uneasy,

but I was grateful that somebody else had witnessed Chester's inappropriate behavior around me. As I walked around the corner to get away from Chester, I said, I told you I don't like to be touched, dude. Don't hug me. Chester replied, Well, touch is how I show my affection. Chester replied, Well, touch is how I show my affection. Not only did he brush off my attempts to tell him to stop, but he also admitted to being affectionate towards a 15-year-old. During this time, Chester was openly talking about me and my appearance to the other guys

in the garage. Another guy who worked there, we'll call him Steve, pulled our manager Alvin aside and said that he was worried for me. Steve told Alvin what Chester had been saying about me, and he said that Chester was always looking at me inappropriately and flirting with me. Alvin said that he noticed this as well, but since he is a father of two girls himself, he thought that he was being too overprotective since his fatherly instincts were kicking in. Alvin thought that he was reading too much into things, but when he was approached by Steve,

he felt this finally confirmed his suspicions. Chester was sketchy and gross. I ended up speaking with Alvin the day that he spoke to Steve about Chester. Toward the end of the day, Alvin asked me to stay and talk to him. After the garage closed and everyone else left, I opened up to Alvin about everything Chester had been doing. After that, I went home and felt relieved that I shared my experiences with my boss.

It was nice that Alvin cared for me like a human and not just an employee. Peter, my other boss, texted me after Alvin caught him up on everything. He told me that everything was going to be okay and that the situation would be handled. Peter's dad is the big boss of the garage. He owns it. And I wound up meeting with him and telling him everything as well. Peter's dad let me know that they had known Chester for a long time. So I was worried that he would be apprehensive about even taking any action,

but luckily he's a good guy and he trusted my word. Also, he was able to review the camera footage of Chester grabbing me in that forceful hug, which was tough to escape. What he was seeing made him really uncomfortable, so Chester was fired. I think the most traumatic thing for me in this whole ordeal was the fact that Chester talked about me as if I were a sex object so openly that I was fifteen. His daughter was only two years younger than I was.

It was disgusting and disturbing. I'm just glad that I've always been a confident person, with well-defined boundaries, because if I hadn't, he would have taken advantage of me for sure. He was very much acting like a predator, and I'm immensely glad that he no longer is a part of that establishment. To anyone who has a daughter, please teach your daughter to speak up when people make her uncomfortable. Even seemingly the little things, like weird jokes, can snowball and turn into something

bigger. It's been like this for young women for a while, and it's only getting worse. To all the women out there, always enforce your boundaries and never let a guy get away with being a creep. Smoking cannabis doesn't have to hurt. Smoking cannabis doesn't have to hurt. Upgrade to a freeze pipe today and experience smoother clouds without the throat burn, chest pain, and coughing attacks. Freeze pipe makes a unique line of freezeable pipes, bubblers, bongs, and more that cool smoke by over 300 degrees. Whether shopping for you or the gift that they'll never forget, freeze pipe is your quality solution to smoke like royalty without paying the king's ransom. A secret is freezable glycerin chambers that come on every piece.

Pop one of these chambers in the freezer for one hour and as smoke passes through, it's instantly chilled for a relaxing experience without the afterburn or coughing. Now I gifted one of my more adventurous friends with their own FreezePipe bubbler and I can confirm that not a cough was to be heard. She loves this thing. Visit thefreezepipe.com and use code MEET, M-E-E-T, for 10% off your entire order. That's thefreezepipe.com code meat for 10% off. Order today and get free shipping and say goodbye to harsh smoke forever. Now back to the show. This happened a year ago.

I'm an adult male with a tall build. I'm about 250 pounds. I live with my dog. My neighborhood is considered one of the nicer ones in my city, but that doesn't mean it's without its share of crime and other incidents. Most incidents that occur in my neighborhood tend to be car break-ins, but sometimes there are worse cases. For example, on occasion college students or other people who are not from the area

get robbed when they aren't paying attention to their surroundings. Growing up, I lived in much rougher parts of the city, so being alert, vigilant, and observant of my surroundings has always been second nature to me. I have to be especially aware at night. Even my dog knows that when we go out for his nightly walk, it's all about the business of doing his business. He knows our nighttime walks are quick with no dilly-dallying. On this particular night, I was running late

since I had a work project that needed to be completed on time. Our walk was delayed, but an hour passed our regular time, so it was about 10 p.m. I absolutely hate going out too late. I was already feeling anxious about missing our regular time since other dog owners are generally out doing the same, and I knew that we would be out there alone since it was so late. Something told me to make sure to carry my firearm with me.

So after I got my dog and his harness, I secured my firearm and my waistband, and I headed out the door. We started our usual walk up the street, moving at a brisk pace. The street was completely empty of pedestrians and car traffic. It was eerily quiet. We walked about halfway up the street before my dog started sniffing around for a good area to do his business. As he was sniffing away, I spotted a red pickup truck flying down the street well over the

speed limit. The truck eventually came to a screeching halt in the middle of the street, about 30 feet ahead of us. As soon as he hit the brakes, I quickly walked up further to put a row of sporadically spaced parked cars on the street between us, and I continued walking while keeping my eyes on the truck. As we walked by, the door of the truck opened. Then a guy got out of the truck and was bent over, coughing profusely.

He was hacking up spit and whatnot in the middle of the street while clutching onto the frame of his truck door. My dog and I both kept eyes on the guy, who was about 25 feet away, as we walked past. He then looked up at me while keeping one arm inside the car door and asked, "'Can you come here for a second? Without breaking stride I replied, Yeah, I'm not going to do that. I then rotated my body and walked backwards as we passed him so as not to turn my back on him.

While still backing away on our path, I asked him what was wrong. He said, I'm not feeling well. Can you please come over here? While continuing to back away, I flat out said no and told him that he could pull into any of the vacant parking spaces on his side of the street and rest until he felt better.

I offered to call an ambulance for him if he was really feeling that bad. Upon hearing this, his face contorted into a snarl. He also suddenly no longer had coughing fits. Any sign of visible distress vanished. He was pissed that I wouldn't cooperate. He then closed the door a little bit so that it was slightly ajar. His arm had been hiding behind that door, but it was now concealed behind his back. He slowly started to approach me and

my dog, saying, "'Please come here, sir. I told you that I'm not feeling well.'" I then clipped my dog's leash to my belt and stood parallel against the side of a large SUV parked on my side of the street. I also moved my hand behind my back to my waistband. I was ready to pull my firearm if needed. I told him he was close enough from behind the vehicle. When he realized my arm was also concealed behind my back, he stopped and stared at me for a second.

I could literally see him working out the math in his head on the chances of me bluffing. He immediately decided to turn around and go back to his truck. But he didn't leave at first. He reached inside with his concealed hand before he looked back over his shoulder. As he stared, he noticed that I was staring at him also, as I hadn't left my position next to the buffer vehicle, nor did I ever turn my back to him. Then he said something to someone in the passenger seat. I had no idea anyone was even in the car since they were obstructed by the dark window tent. They agreed to something, and then he quickly hopped in the car since they were obstructed by the dark window tent.

They agreed to something, and then he quickly hopped in the car, slammed the door, and sped off into the night. I haven't seen that guy since that night, and I've never had anything like that happen to me since. To the man and his friend in the red pickup truck, let's not meet. Years ago I lived in a condo with my two dogs, Smokey and the bandit. The two of them were brother and sister, and I got them when they were puppies. For reference, their mother was a sheltte, which is a miniature Collie.

They had different fathers, though. Smokey's father was a German Shepherd, and Bandit's was a Husky. Both of my dogs were Shepherd-sized dogs with long, thick coats that made them appear a lot larger than they actually were. Personality-wise, they were both big babies who loved people and loved attention. They would happily lick any person that they meet to death, if given the chance. One night I got home late, at around 2.30.

I took them outside for a quick run and a bathroom break, which is something I had done on many occasions. We lived on the backside of the condo building on the ground level. Our backyard was a huge park-like area with lots of grass divided up by intersecting pathways. It was kind of like a square with four quadrants surrounded by other condos. The area right in front of my condo was a big field with a path about halfway through, which ran parallel to the condo complex. To the left of that was an area around the same size divided between a large playground

area and a forested area that also had pathways running through it. On this night, my dogs and I headed straight out of my condo into the pathway that led through the big open field. I had just noticed someone. A tall, skinny man dressed in all black. He was whistling while walking along the path that I had just crossed. As I ran with the dogs, I noticed that the whistling stopped, so I looked over my shoulder and noticed that the man had diverted off of his path and was now walking in a direct

line towards me. I immediately thought, oh shit, this can't be good. So I took a hard left and I ran into the playground area. It was well lit over there, but there was also a huge man-made hill in that area. I ran around the hill where he wouldn't be able to see me. I stayed there for a minute to formulate my plan. Luckily, I knew the area very well having spent hours walking around everywhere and exploring with the dogs. The playground was bordered on one side by the forested area, so I crept through the

trees to where the path ran through so that I could circle back towards my condo. I kept close to the shadowed area, and I hoped and prayed that I had lost him, or that he had lost interest. The forested area basically ends right where the backyard area is, where the four quadrants of grass are at my condo. Still hidden in the forest area, I looked at the open area ahead. I couldn't see anyone, so I made a break for it and started running like hell.

Up to this point, for my dogs, it was still just any other walk. They had been happily galloping alongside me the entire time, seemingly unaware of any potential danger. As I left my hiding spot in the forest, I saw this guy jump out of a cluster of bushes nearby. I had a good head start on him, but I had no idea how fast he was, so I just kept running, not looking back. What happened next still amazes me to this day. As I was running with the dogs still at my side, Smokey suddenly stopped dead in her

tracks. She turned around and assumed a don't fuck with me stance and started snarling and growling at the man that was chasing us. This caused him to stop dead in his tracks as well. Meanwhile, Bandit stuck right by my side like glue until we got to my patio. I turned around and looked back and almost laughed as I saw Smokey. She was still standing her ground in full-on guard dog mode. All he could manage to do was stand there looking at her with his hands up in surrender.

I called Smokey to come, so she backed away slowly but continued barking and growling until she got further away from him. She then turned around and trotted right back over to me. I kept my eyes on the guy the entire time. He didn't move a muscle until the dogs went back inside. I immediately called 911 and within minutes the entire area was swarming with cops. The cops who interviewed me said that there had been numerous reports of assaults in the area, and they figured that it might have been the guy they were looking for. Unfortunately, the only descriptors I clocked were tall, skinny, and wearing all black,

so honestly, I had no useful information on his appearance. After the cops left, I had a good long cuddle with my wonder dogs, complete with them licking away my tears. And as my adrenaline wore off, the gravity of what could have happened to me and how damn lucky I was to get away finally hit me. I had done lots of different trainings with my dogs, but I had never trained them on anything that involved protection. What they did was 100% instinct, so I'm grateful that they naturally had that in them. Improving your diet is a breeze with Factor's tasty prepared meals. Each meal, always fresh and never frozen, is meticulously prepared by chefs and endorsed

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that's M-E-E-T-50, and use the code meet50 to get 50% off. That's code meet50 at factormeals.com slash meet50 to get 50% off. Now back to the show. This happened back in 2015 when I was 20 years old. I was a scrawny thing at 4 foot 10 and I didn't have much weight or muscle to myself. My family and I had just moved to a new town that had a population of about 1,000 people or so.

Before doing so, we checked the crime rate, and it seemed pretty low, so we thought that it was a safe town. The first few weeks we lived there were rather uneventful, and nothing bad happened, so on a cold winter day, my parents decided to let me walk to the little store in town. It was about three blocks away from our house, so it was only a five minute walk. I didn't own a cell phone at this time, so I took my parents' phone and credit card to get whatever we needed at the store. The pants I was wearing didn't have any pockets, so I had the card and phone in my hand, making

both highly visible, which looking back was an oversight on my part. I walked to the store and got what I needed pretty quickly, without incident. When I walked outside, I slid the credit card into the grocery bag before starting to walk back home since I didn't want to lose it. The sun had started to set around this time, but it wasn't dark out yet. I was walking between the store and an abandoned building almost at the end of the block when I saw three young boys who appeared to be in middle school or possibly high school. I knew I had to continue past them to get home so I had no choice but to walk past these

boys. At first, I didn't have a bad feeling about them, and they weren't saying anything to me. I honestly don't think that they saw me until I had almost passed them. They were between the store and the abandoned place, and as soon as my back was to them, I got this very bad feeling. Then I heard one of the boys yell, You!

Yeah, you! I looked back, and they were now headed my way, but I just ignored them and didn't answer. I heard footsteps coming up behind me, but they seemed to be at a distance, quite a ways away. I heard them yell again, You! Come here! I decided to ignore them again, but this time the footsteps got louder and faster.

They were jogging to catch up to me. The last time they yelled out to me was a lot louder and a lot more aggressive. I didn't turn around, but I could hear the footsteps. They were now at a running pace and they were almost right behind me. I peeked back and all three of these boys were almost on me, but they weren't quite at arm's length yet. I was scared since I didn't have any weapons

or anything on me to defend myself, and there was nobody else on the road. It was just me and these three boys. I didn't know what to do, so I gripped my parents' cell phone tighter with one hand, and I clenched my other into a fist. I was getting ready to fight, and I was going to use the phone as a weapon since the boys had reached arm's length. But then an ambulance came around the corner, and they were driving really slow.

They looked at me, and then the three boys. The guy sitting in the passenger seat looked at me and smiled, then they drove away. I went to look at the boys again, but they had taken off. They were gone. I'm not sure why I didn't yell at the ambulance or flag them down for help. I think I was too shocked or scared. I called my family and told them what happened. I asked if somebody could pick me up or meet with me to walk me home.

I then continued walking. As I walked, I gripped the phone tight and constantly looked over my shoulder to make sure that I wasn't being watched or followed. I walked so fast that nobody in my family had any time to come to my rescue. When I got home, someone was about to head out to come and look for me, and I let them know I'd just made a break for it. Thankfully the boys didn't follow me home, and I didn't see them again after this incident. To this day, I believe the men who drove by in the ambulance saved me. I had a really bad feeling about these boys. I had a gut feeling that they were going to try and rob me, or worse.

Also, being in a new town, I didn't really know my way around. When this happened, I could have crossed over to another street, but I didn't. I now have better directional awareness and I always listen to my gut. It has never been wrong. My gut has always steered me in the right direction. This happened when I was 13. For some background, I transferred to another school that was further away from my home. Instead of taking only one bus to school, I had to take a bus, then a train, and then another bus. With my longer commute, I had to leave my house at around 7 just to get to school by

8.30. For the most part, I was never worried about my safety since public transit was so busy in the morning. Whenever I got off of the train, I had to cross a bridge in order to get to the area with the different bus routes. There were three major bus routes that I could take. It didn't matter which one I got on as they all passed by the school before breaking off into separate directions. So one morning, as I was waiting for one of the buses to show up, some random construction worker, also waiting for the bus, started talking to me. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties.

I didn't think much of it, as it was easy for me to strike up conversations with people. After I first met him, I started seeing him more frequently at the bus stop. He began complimenting me every single time he saw me, so I started to find our interactions a bit strange. The compliments started innocent enough. He would compliment me on my bag or my jacket. But then it got weird when he started complimenting my features, saying that I had pretty eyes or a cute smile.

Although this made me uncomfortable, I brushed it off and decided to start avoiding him. I figured this would be easy, as there were always other people around, and I had a cell phone in case I had to call my parents or the police. After I started avoiding him, I noticed I wasn't seeing him around, so I began to think that I was in the clear. As I was starting to forget about him, things really began to escalate. One day I was sitting by myself at the bus stop with my earbuds in, when suddenly somebody tapped me on my shoulder then sat beside me.

It was the guy, and he was talking to me with a strong familiarity, as if we were friends. This made me very uncomfortable since I had been avoiding him. I tried to dismiss him by walking to the other side of the bus stop, but as I was walking away, he said something that caught me off guard. He said, what would you do if I tied you up and never let you go? I was appalled. He then got up and started to follow behind me. Thankfully, two buses pulled in. I got onto one of the buses, and he, of course, followed me. But I wasn't having it.

I got off and hopped onto the second bus. I was getting ready to let the second bus driver know that I needed help, but luckily, the guy didn't follow me. As the bus pulled away, I was so confused. I went to school, and the first thing I did was tell my friend about what happened. At the time, I didn't understand the severity of the situation since I was a 13-year-old male. I didn't think things like this happened to guys. The more I retold the story, the more I downplayed it because everyone kept giving me this dumbfounded

look. One of the teachers at my school ended up hearing about the story. The teacher brought me to the principal's office so that I could explain what happened. I missed the first entire period of the day since I had to explain what happened to the principal and a police officer. My parents were contacted as well,

and I was driven to school the next few days. The police were able to find the footage of the guy on transit cameras, and they tracked him down and talked to him. There wasn't too much the officer could do aside from telling him to stay away from me. The officer said that the police would be patrolling the train station around that time, and he said if the guy ever approached me or talked to me again, I should call 911. After I started taking the bus again, I saw him a few more times, but he never spoke to me or even looked at me, which I'm thankful for.

I'm glad that this situation has made me to open my eyes a lot more when it comes to being aware in public. This happened before Christmas in 2019 when I was 26, and it sticks with me to this day. My then boyfriend, now husband, and I decided to meet for dinner at a Christmas market here in Switzerland. He planned to pick up our dog from doggy daycare first, and I planned to get there after work. At this time, the dog had been with us for about a year.

His name is Bean, and he is a medium-sized dog. Before he came to Switzerland, he was a street dog in Italy. He was about two and a half years old at that time. He loved and still loves to get all the attention that he can get. Christmas markets are incredibly busy here, especially after work since they're a popular meet-up during the holiday season. People frequently meet their friends at Christmas markets after work to eat dinner and drink mulled wine. On this particular day when we got to the Christmas market we realized that it was way too busy to walk through with a dog. So I waited at the edge of the market with Bean and I sent my boyfriend off to get my favorite street food.

Bean likes to greet everyone who looks at him, and by that point, I had gotten used to just talking with strangers since Bean is so friendly and eager to meet them. So when a guy came up to us, I wasn't too concerned at first. I remember that Bean happily greeted this guy. He tried to lean up against him and lick his hands. The guy asked me for his name and what breed he was, and I told him that Bean is a pincher mix of some sort. That's when the situation started to turn.

The man insisted that he must be a different breed. All of a sudden his demeanor completely changed. He just straight up switched right before my eyes. There's no better way to explain it. He was adamant and even a little offended. How could I say Bean is a pincer? Then he grabbed Bean's leash and said, "'I'll go now,' and tried to walk off with my dog.

Thankfully, I had a firm grip on his leash. I was incredibly confused and flustered. I just stood there and stammered that he couldn't take my dog. He got increasingly angrier with every second that I didn't let go of the leash. I loudly told him to leave me alone and Bean was angry and scared so he started barking at the man. I had never seen Bean this angry. The man finally realized that we were starting to draw some attention so he let go of the leash and slipped into the crowd. I was left standing there as a dumbfounded mess with the dog. Bean was

barking and shaking so I knelt down to his level to calm him down, holding him and talking to him. My boyfriend was still somewhere out in the crowd, waiting for our food. After a while, a woman walked up to me and told me to be careful, as she had just seen someone put a firecracker on the ground nearby. It was one of those small ones that makes a little popping noise on impact when they're thrown on the ground. Apart from the woman who warned me, nobody stopped to help when I was being harassed

by the strange guy. Even though I was loud in my attempts to make him go away, the people who were standing nearby were just watching. Bean was the one who finally scared the guy off in the end. Luckily, the events of that evening have no lasting impact on my sweet Bean. He still loves to greet strangers, but I still remember that stranger, and I don't think I will ever forget him or this whole bizarre interaction. The final story contains violent content involving children in domestic situations. Listener discretion is advised. This story happened when I was very young.

It started around the time that I was five, back in the 80s, and was beginning the worst five years of my life. I came into this world as a result of an unplanned teenage pregnancy, so my mom was a single mom for the first few years of my life. It wasn't too bad since my mom and I weren't alone. We lived with my mom's parents. My mom's younger sister was also still living at home. We were all safe and happy.

Then, my mom met this guy who we'll call Joe. Joe seemed like a dream come true. He was nice to me and my mom. He took us places and bought us gifts. It was awesome. So, when he proposed to my mom, she and I were both very happy. They got married, and my mom thought that we would now be a happy family, but we didn't know how wrong we were. Things were great at first. We had left my grandparents and moved into a different home with Joe. We had some really good times, but things really took a turn for the worse after the first few months. Joe had a really bad temper, and it would come out when my mom or I upset him. He would yell, throw things, and break stuff, which escalated into him hitting my mom and

me. He would kick and punch us. Once he started doing this, he got worse and worse. He started beating me up to get back at my mom. It was a nightmare for three years. My mom was too scared to leave home or tell anyone what was going on. I was really young, so when I accidentally slipped information to people, they thought that I was lying because I wanted to go back to my grandparents. It was especially strange, because Joe was a lot like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

We did have some really good times, especially when we would go on vacations and spend holidays together. When he was nice, it was amazing. When his other side came out, it was hell. As the roller coaster continued, my mom got pregnant. She was happy about the news and I was excited to be a big brother. But this also meant that we were further tied to Joe

and who knew what he would do to a baby. When my baby brother was born, things were good for a while. We were pretty happy. I had withdrawn from our situation a lot, though. I stayed in my room, watching TV and reading. I figured if I was out of sight, I was out of mind. I thought that if I avoided Joe, he wouldn't bother me. And I should have continued this plan. But I was blinded by the happiness and peace that came with my baby brother's birth.

Then one day, Joe had a toothache and was in a foul mood. He had been yelling at my mom all day. My baby brother was having tooth problems as well, since he had been teething and he was being fussy. Since Joe was extra grumpy, he yelled at my mom to quiet the baby down. As this was going on, my mom called me to dinner so I walked out of my room and into the dining room. I was walking slowly and quietly because I didn't want to make Joe any more upset than he already was. Well, I guess I was going too slow because I accidentally got in his way.

He got mad, yelled, and threw the remote control, hitting me in the side of the head and the eye. He had thrown the remote so hard that I was bruised and bleeding. My mom finally had enough, so we left him and went to my grandparents' house. They took pictures of my eye and called the police, but the police wouldn't do anything. Social services launched an investigation, but they didn't do anything either. We were happy being at my grandparents' since we were safe, but Joe was very slick. He called my mom and said all of the right things, and after some coaxing,

he got her to agree to come back with promises to be better. And he was for a while. But then, he went back to his old ways. He even tried to start beating my little brother, but I wouldn't allow it. I took a lot of beatings for him, because I loved him and I wanted to protect him. But it all came crashing down one December night when I was nine years old. My mom had forgotten to pay the phone bill, so the phone got turned off. She was working double late night shifts, and Joe was due to go into the same plant she worked at for his third shift in a different department. He was enraged when he found out that our phone service had been cut off. When he realized this, he dragged me out of bed,

and we drove to the store just up the road from our house. He called my mom at work from the payphone at the store. He was yelling and cussing at her about the phone bill. Then he said something that sent chills down my spine. He told her that if she didn't get home in an hour, he would kill me. Obviously I was terrified. When we got back to the house, I quickly went to my room while Joe kept ranting and raving. Even though I was so scared when he called me into the living room, I did as I was asked. He started attacking me right away. He was hitting me with a belt. Then he grabbed me and threw me into a wall, and then grabbed a broom and continued to

beat me. The beating continued on and off for several hours. I was in pain, covered in blood and bruises. I'm convinced it only stopped because it was time for him to go to work. He got dressed up to go and told me that if I went to school in the morning, he would beat me when I got home. I guess he knew with all of my wounds that the school would know something was up and do something about it. I was scared, but I also knew that I needed help.

The next morning, I couldn't change out of my pajamas because I was in too much pain, but I decided to make a break for it. I slowly limped my way to the bus even though I was in too much pain, but I decided to make a break for it. I slowly limped my way to the bus, even though I was barefoot and still in my Incredible Hulk pajamas. The bus driver pulled up, opened the door, took one look at me, got me on the bus, and immediately drove to school. Everything moved so fast after that. Before I knew it, I was talking to social services again,

as well as the police. They ended up taking me to my grandparents, who eventually got custody of me. I was happy to be with my grandparents, and I was happy to be safe. But I did miss my mom and my brother. Strangely enough, the police still never did a thing about Joe. I guess it was just a different time back then.

It was a few more years before my mom got the courage to leave him, but I'm grateful she finally did. She ended up reconnecting with the high school sweetheart and getting married. I later found out that Joe had been orphaned at the age of five because his parents and older sister died when his dad's small plane crashed. He was then raised by a very physically and mentally abusive aunt and uncle. It did shed some light on his behavior, but it doesn't give him any excuses for what he did.

I finally found him on social media. I reached out to him to let him know that I forgave him. I told him, I let go of the anger and hurt that I'd been holding onto. He let me know that he had got a lot of mental help and seemed to be doing well. Joe also reconnected with his mom's family and some other extended family who he lost touch with

after his parents died. I'm glad that he did, since it has been helping with his healing. Thank you for listening, and make sure you stick around after the music for your extended ad-free version of this week's episode if you're a patron. If you want to get access, head over to patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast to sign up and support the show today. You'll get access to hours and hours of bonus content with stories you won't hear anywhere else. Also, make sure to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like Odd Trails, my true

paranormal podcast, and the Old Time Radio Cast at CrypticCountyPodcasts.com, and follow me on Twitch at twitch.tv forward slash Cryptic County. This week you have heard Woman to Woman, I'll Make Sure You Get Home Safely by Sighteen, Creepy Guy at My Job by Ella the Champagne. The Man in the Red Pickup Truck by BrokenWisdom77. Saved by Smokey and the Bandit by SchmardiParty. Never Walk by Yourself in a New Town by Anonymous. The Creep at the Train Station by Story Unwind. A Nightmare Before Christmas by Najah Collette. Story Unwind, A Nightmare Before Christmas by Najah Collette, and finally, The Monster That Married My Mom by Geek Dad NSC.

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. Make sure you send your stories in to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com to hear them on the show. We'll see you all next week for a brand new episode of Let's Not Meet. Stay safe. This happened last year at an event called Halloween Frightener.