Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast - 13x09: Stalked by a Cop

Episode Date: August 26, 2024

Stories in this episode: He Recorded Us For Years | hagetti (0:41) I was being watched | burst-beat (9:44) Close encounter with a serial killer at a highway rest stop. | Avulpesvulpes (13:28) The Men Under the Bridge | tielcas (18:59) I was nearly kidnapped at the beach when I was a kid | Smooth_Use4981 (21:56) Creepy Night in Big Sur | coyote13mc (27:51) My mother was stalked by a cop in the eighties | lajacobine (33:32) The Man Who Secretly Lived at Our Summer Camp | roehlup (39:05) Extended Patreon Content: A Mysterious Blackout and the Missing Keys | Anonymous Field Trip Cut Short | Kaitlyn A Guy I Met on a Dating App Pulled a Gun on Me | Gerardo Grocery Store Goons | Roxanne Due to periodic changes in ad placement, time stamps are estimates and are not always accurate. Upcoming LNM Live Tour Dates: 9/19/24 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall: GET YOUR TICKETS 10/09/24 - Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door: GET YOUR TICKETS 10/30/24 - Portland, OR @ Show Bar: GET YOUR TICKETS 11/09/24 - Houston, TX @ The Secret Group: GET YOUR TICKETS 11/10/24 - Dallas, TX @ Deep Ellum Art Co: GET YOUR TICKETS Follow: - Twitch - https://twitch.tv/crypticcounty - Website - https://letsnotmeetpodcast.com/ - Patreon - https://patreon.com/letsnotmeetpodcast - Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/letsnotmeetcast/ - TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@crypticcounty Check out the other Cryptic County podcasts like Odd Trails, Cryptic Encounters, and the Old Time Radiocast at CrypticCountyPodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts!    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].    

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. This all started when I was probably around nine years old. My family and I lived in a small town in the Midwest where my mom worked at a pizza king until 9 p.m. every weeknight. My dad worked until midnight at the electronics store called Johnson Controls. My brother was a year younger than me, which left our older sister, a 13 year old, to supervise. But she was always doing God knows what. Because of these circumstances, I realized later my brother and

I were perfect targets. We had predictable schedules and a lack of supervision. We were comfortable in our tight knit midwestern neighborhood. One day, during the summertime, my brother convinced me to go look for some kittens that he had seen. So, I put my shoes on and I followed my little brother out the door. We walked the streets in search of the kittens, completely unsupervised. My brother led me about six blocks away from our house when someone called out to us.

I turned my head to find four young men leaning up against an old gray two-door car. They were standing outside of a known drug house, smoking cigarettes, seemingly minding their own business. The guy who called out to us was closest to the passenger side door, and he asked, do you guys want some gum? I stopped dead in my tracks, and my brother looked confused. They're offering us gum, I thought. It was eerily reminiscent of our early stranger danger assemblies

in the school auditorium. My brother and I looked at them for a second, but then turned around and started walking back the way that we came without saying anything. They yelled at us to stop, and we turned our heads and saw the driver getting into the car while the guy in the passenger side of the car pulled the seat up to let the other two men into the backseat. As we heard their car engine start, we ran. We ran through the yard of a man whose lawn was always overgrown. We tried to crouch low in the grass so that we could lose them,

but the loud engine of that old car was getting closer. It didn't occur to either of us that they could see the grass moving as we crawled. When we realized this, we sprang up and we ran full speed. We weaved in and out of people's yards to try and buy us some time, but they followed. There was no outrunning their car, so we made a beeline to one of our neighbor's houses and started banging on their back door. The car sped from around the corner and stopped abruptly in their driveway. So we abandoned that idea and hopped over the fence instead.

We eventually made it back to our house and thought that we had lost them. As we were collecting ourselves, my mom's voice startled me from behind. Where have you been? Where is your sister? I think my mom had come home since she was on deliveries that day. Sometimes, when someone messed up making a pizza, the owners would let my mom take it home to us if she was on a delivery, so that we would have something to eat while we were home alone.

I started to tell my mom about what happened. She didn't look like she was too keen on buying the story. That is until I stopped mid-sentence at the sound of a sputtering engine. I looked outside, and the four men drove past our house slowly, looking in our windows, making eye contact, and giving us a menacing look. My mom saw the men, so she tried to close the blinds, but failed since the track was broken. She had to leave and get back to work after that, so she told us to stay inside for the rest of the day.

Later that night, there was still no sign of our sister. My brother and I were hungry, so we made some mac and cheese and put on Hannah Montana to get our minds off of things. We were trying to relax, so I remember that we were laughing at scenes that weren't even funny, which made my nerves start to settle a bit. However, I kept seeing this tiny red light out of the corner of my eye. It was coming from the window.

I just kept brushing it off since I figured it couldn't be anything, right? After some time, curiosity got the best of me, so I finally stood up and went over to the window to investigate. I saw that the tiny red light was a light from a video camera. There was a guy standing there trying to record us through the window. I gasped at the sight of this, and he ran away immediately towards another man illuminated by a street lamp down the road. Naturally, I panicked and cried.

I ran outside, screamed my sister's name as loud as I could, and ran back inside. I then called 911 and my mom, and I told them that there were two men with a video camera outside on the street. The police showed up, and after circling the area, they said that they would stake out the house for a couple of hours, even though the men were probably gone. They never found either of the men that night, but the man with the video camera continued

to find us, over and over again. A couple of years later, my brother had a neighborhood kid over for a sleepover. The three of us hung out in his room until late at night, laughing loudly and shooting BB guns at the ceiling, and each other. I left the room, and when I came back, my brother told me that a hand had slapped the window and slid down just like a horror movie. I thought that he was just trying to scare me, and I was in the middle of telling him he was full of shit when I saw that little red dot again.

We all happened to catch it at the same time, and it silenced all of us instantly. We dropped to the floor at first, trying to remain calm and silent, unbreathing, and then my brother crawled over and turned off the light in the room. We stayed there for a long time until we decided to wake our parents up. When they took a look outside, they didn't find anything, so I passed it off as a prank. Another couple of years later, during an insomniac induced all nighter,

I was sitting in our sunroom reading a book. It was about three in the morning and the whole house was asleep. I had my headphones in listening to my MP3 player when I thought I heard a sound. It was a loud noise coming in over the music. I looked up startled and I saw a man at the door watching me, at three in the morning. This instance was the closest I had ever been to him. I froze and stared at him. He was about six feet tall, his hair was long and wavy over his eyebrows. It kind of looked like he had bangs or a comb over without enough gel.

He was wearing a white hoodie and long blue pants that nearly covered his shoes. He had a blue digital camera in his hand and he was holding it at his side. While maintaining eye contact, he walked away casually without fear or haste. I followed him with my eyes past the window until he was out of my line of sight. Then I ran back inside the main house and didn't tell anyone. I passed it off as a sleep deprived hallucination for months denying the nightmares and the cold chills.

And then I remembered something. The lock on the door to the sunroom to outside was broken. Sightings of this man continued to happen for years. It just became an odd fact of life that he seemed to be less interested as I got older. I'll always wonder what kinds of pictures and videos he captured. The whole thing just seems like an odd revenge for outrunning him years later. To the creepy cameraman, if you're somehow hearing this, you are the reason that I keep my blinds

closed and can never own a house with a sunroom. Let's not meet. This is a true story from about 20 years ago. I was originally from the East Coast, but I had been living in the San Francisco Bay area. My then-girlfriend was from California, and I had never been truly camping, but she was used to it, so I went with her a few times. This was our first time camping together.

We decided to go to Big Sur, and her young five-year-old son came with us. The weather was cooler out there, and it had been rainy, but on this night, in particular, it was misty and cold. We drove to one of those campsites that had a small parking lot, which was empty except for us. So we set up the tent a little ways away from the car and proceeded to try and get a fire started. My girlfriend was frustrated since she had asked me to get the fire started but I had

no idea what to do. We eventually got it started, even though it was cold and wet. After we were done eating, the three of us crammed into a two-person tent. Neither she nor I were gun owners, but I had brought a small knife and a mini baseball bat just in case. I figured it would be good to have something to protect us, since I wasn't sure what we would encounter out there, and I wasn't sure what we would encounter out there and I wasn't comfortable camping. Sometime in the middle of the night, I was awoken by something walking slowly around the tent.

I was so scared since I couldn't figure out if it was two or four-legged. I couldn't hear any other sound except for what sounded like something trying not to sound too loud. This went on for about 10 to 15 minutes. I was terrified. I didn't move, but kept my hand on the bat next to me. I remember assuming that it was a bear or a mountain lion, which I had no experience in dealing with. It sounded like it started to walk away slowly, and even after it was gone, I wasn't able to get too much sleep.

At the first sign of sunlight, I slowly got out of the tent and sat on a park bench that was near us. After a while, I saw somebody walking through the woods towards me, which again scared me as we had seen no one since we got there. Eventually I saw that it was a park ranger or a police officer, I don't remember which, and he seemed to have his hand hovering near his holster. I was wearing camo pants and I have a beard and look pretty scruffy in general. Plus, I was a bit worried since I had some weed on me and the knife and bat.

The ranger or officer asked me for my name and what I was doing there. I explained that I was with my girlfriend and her son who were still in the tent. After checking my ID and seeing them, he told us that there had been reports of a guy going around and attacking campers in the area. He told us to be careful and think about leaving the area, which we did because the weather sucked anyways. Since it had been raining, there were no footprints or any

other signs indicating that he had walked around our tent. It was scary for me, being more of a city guy, and I was very hesitant about going camping after that. ["Sky's World"] This happened exactly two years ago. I know this because of Facebook memories. I was living in a ground floor apartment in a very heavy foot trafficked area. It used to be a corner storefront, so the living room windows were huge and only one small part of the windows could be opened. I had a very angry upstairs neighbor and even

angrier dealers living across the street. I've had to make multiple calls to the police and give statements due to a few different incidents that occurred. Aside from them, the neighborhood was pretty lovely, and I got along well with all of my sane neighbors. One of my cats even became a bit of a local celebrity thanks to a haunted Halloween tour that would stop at my corner every night to tell stories. The second my cat heard the tour outside, she sprinted from wherever she was to jump up on the open window sill and listen while the crowd would coo at him. Anyway, because of the large windows, I didn't have any privacy in my living room.

Usually, I didn't mind, since I'm a people watcher and my cats loved the view. I had blinds and a sheer curtain, but anyone who was outside could always still see straight into the apartment. Thankfully I had plenty of privacy in the bathroom and bedroom. One night I was sitting at my computer desk in the living room, just watching YouTube and sipping a beer, when I heard a group of people talking outside. It was normal to hear street noise due to the area, and I honestly would have ignored it completely if I hadn't heard one of them speaking directly into the window fan in the open window.

Oh, she's drinking a beer. Doesn't she usually drink whiskey? I heard. I spun around in usually drink whiskey? I heard. I spun around in my chair instantly and then heard, shit, she saw us. Followed by scuffling as they ran away. I couldn't see whoever it was that was out there because it was dark. But it sounded like it was a little group of at least two women and two men. It sounded like it was a little group of at least two women and two men. After that happened, I was frozen in place, just listening for anything else.

I was particularly listening out for footsteps or their voices again. As I listened out, I pondered what I had just heard. Now, while I do typically prefer to sip on whiskey at night, that day I wanted to try a new beer that I saw at the store. These people knew my habits well enough to know that drinking a beer is slightly out of the ordinary for me. I was also deeply concerned that they knew it was whiskey

since I would drink out of a set of patterned glasses and there was no way to tell what was in them. The kitchen could be seen from the living room windows. I often kept my whiskey in the freezer. They would have to see me at specific moments when I was pouring myself a glass to know what I was drinking. Needless to say, I didn't sleep that night. And as I lay in bed awake,

I remembered another incident that happened a few nights prior. I keep my bedroom window open at night because I sleep right under it, and I like to feel the breeze at night. There's a bright security light directly across the street, so even with the blinds down, I still have quite a bit of light hitting the opposite wall.

One night I woke up at around 3 or 4 a.m. Which isn't unusual for me. I turned on Netflix and watched a movie then fell back to sleep. As I lay in bed, I saw the shadow of a head and shoulders appear on the wall. And it stayed there for a long while. It was there for about 15 to 20 minutes. Now this isn't very uncommon. People have stopped to smoke a cigarette right outside my window before. The smell gives me an instant headache. But this time there was no smoke or smell of any kind.

It was just somebody standing there. I couldn't tell which way they were facing, but after overhearing the people who were watching me outside, I wondered if someone was looking in while they thought I was sleeping. I told my co-workers about both incidents, and they were terrified for me. I was planning on moving at the end of that month and I was slowly bringing boxes and furniture over to my new place over the course of the month. Once my coworkers heard about what happened,

they all came together and helped me get most of my things over to my new place in one day. I told them all I cared about was my animals and my bed. So they got everything out of there except for the larger furniture and whatever couldn't be boxed up. I love them all and appreciate them for this. I had a couple of anxiety attacks over this, especially when I had to go back for the last of my stuff.

But thankfully I felt completely safe in my new place. I also got a full-blown security system with sensors and cameras and everything. This encounter happened to my mother in 1987. She had just started her career as a high school teacher in a fairly large developing city and she loved it. She was newly assigned to work at this particular school. It was far from her hometown, but she was willing to relocate since this also meant she would be closer to her aging parents. At that time, the main way to relocate was to post a small announcement in a professional

journal offering to trade her teaching location with someone assigned to her hometown. Among the various creeps who answered her ad with love letters, one stood above the rest. This guy showed up to her high school one day in an attempt to meet her. When the school custodian told him that she had just left on the bus with the co-worker, he decided to follow this bus in his own car. He failed to track the bus closely enough and she got off the bus at some point without him realizing it.

The next day, he went back to school and was able to meet her face to face and exchange a few words with her. The man had never met her before that moment, but he told her that he was in love with her and was willing to marry her. She brushed it off and said that they didn't know each other and that she wanted to focus on her career before settling down. He was a cop, and he let her know that he already knew her address, the names of her parents, and their addresses.

Basically, he ran a background check on her. She was understandably creeped out, so she pretended that she was in a big hurry and left. A few weeks later, she was visiting her parents in her hometown. The mailman delivered a heavy package at her parents' house. The guy had sent her various issues of cop magazines, in which she had written a few op-eds. He attached a letter explaining that she could get to know him better through these, and

asked her to write him back. She never did, and she freaked out for a few weeks because the guy kept sending her letters, but he eventually stopped. She told me that even though she didn't feel that her life was threatened, she was still anxious about going back to her job for a few weeks after that, especially since she never relocated as her only ad seemed to attract creeps. She met my father a few years later, so I guess there's still a happy ending here. This encounter happened in the summer of 2006 when I was 20 years old. I looked young from my age and was often mistaken for a high school student all throughout my

20s. I didn't get my driver's license until around January of that year, and driving opened so many doors for me. I took a lot of solo road trips to go see my friends in nearby New England and mid-Atlantic states. I was driving alone on I-78 on a random July day on my way to visit my friend in Southern Pennsylvania for a long weekend. I had a great drive, listened to some good music, and it was a beautiful day. I was so excited for this weekend trip.

Her parents were away and we had the house to ourselves. We were planning on drinking, getting in the hot tub, and watching planet Earth since that had just come out. We also planned on possibly running around some cornfields at night. Right after I crossed the border from New Jersey to Pennsylvania, I stopped at one of the first rest stops to get gas and snacks for the last part of my drive. Opposite the gas station was the on ramp to get back onto I-78 West.

And parallel to the on ramp was a dirt road, which we'll come into play later. I was heading into the store when a man in his late 30s or possibly early 40s approached me. He was a stocky guy who was decently tall, to me anyway, I'm 5'1". He had dark brown hair and a mustache and goatee. He was wearing a plain black t-shirt and jeans. He had just gotten out of a black pickup truck parked a few spaces away from my car. He had this very intense gaze which immediately creeped me out.

He had a different energy about him, which was strange for me to pick up on as I don't really get vibes from people like that all too often. He was standing too close, his gaze was fixated on me, and his choice of words was odd. He instantly set off alarm bells. His gaze was fixated on me, and his choice of words was odd. He instantly set off alarm bells. Despite my Connecticut license plate, he asked if I was from the area. He also asked where I was headed and if I knew of anything fun to do since he had plans later and wanted to kill time beforehand.

He invited me to go play mini- mini golf or watch a movie with him. I didn't answer any of his questions, declined his invitation to hang out, and I told him that I didn't know the area well before walking away toward the store. I was blown away that he asked me to go somewhere with him, it was so random and uncomfortable. As I was walking away he yelled, you're gorgeous, at a volume and tone that made my hair stand on end. It was very inappropriate and aggressive enough to startle a family walking out of the store. I didn't turn around and proceeded to go inside.

He came into the store shortly after I went in. He was staring at me so much, I went to use the bathroom and I stayed there for at least ten minutes before I came back out. When I walked out of the bathroom, he wasn't in the store anymore. So I took my time buying drinks and snacks, sour bike crawlers and trail mix to be specific. I then went out to gas up my car. I was relieved to see that his car was gone and

started thinking about the rest of my drive. I was getting excited to see my friend. When I pulled up to the road to get back onto the highway, I heard someone persistently honking a horn. I looked around and saw that this creep show was now on the dirt road that I had mentioned before. He was parallel to the onramp honking and shouting and waving at me to drive over to him. He was directly facing the gas station and had been waiting for me to pull up. I immediately freaked out and jumped on the on ramp to get back onto I-78.

He pulled onto the highway after me and I was scared so I called my friend. I was driving so fast, probably at dangerous speeds, and looking back, I realize I'm lucky that I didn't get into an accident, but I didn't know what to do. Thankfully, he didn't follow me for long and after a few exits, he pulled off. My friend and I formed a backup plan in case I saw his car again. She was planning to direct me to a police station, but that ended up not happening, and I got to my friend's house safe and sound. But that ended up not happening, and I got to my friend's house safe and sound. The last few hours of my drive were extremely tense and anxiety-filled.

I remember checking my mirrors regularly for him and his black pickup truck. I'm grateful that it ended well, and I had a nice weekend with my friend. The encounter was definitely creepy, but over the years, I never put too much thought into it. That is, until a few years ago, when I was talking with another friend who was big into true crime. I mentioned my encounter and told her my experience. She was fascinated and wanted to Google active serial killers in Pennsylvania during that

time. The first hit she got was for Adam Leroy Lane. He looked exactly like the man I met back in 2006. It was a chilling and odd coincidence that I've been doing my one hour of outdoor exercise at night since that's when I find it most relaxing. My neighborhood is very quiet and I'm lucky to live in a nice area that I've always considered to be safe. I used to walk at night, even before lockdown, because I live right next to a canal that

has a lot of nice paths. These paths are even prettier to walk around on at night, when everything is lit up by the moon. This happened about four years ago when I was on one of these walks. I decided to go to a shop in my neighborhood first because I was hungry. After that, I planned a detour back to my usual route along the canal. As I was walking, I heard two guys behind me speaking very loudly in German. I live in England, so it was a bit unusual, but I didn't think twice about it. They looked to be around 30. I live in England, so it was a bit unusual, but I didn't think twice about it. They looked to be around 30.

They were pretty tall, had caps on, which I remember because they were wearing matching designs. I thought it was funny. They were starting to get close, and when I glanced to look back at them, they started jeering, so I knew they were looking at me. This freaked me out. I sped walk towards the shop, but I had to stop on the road as I wasn't planning on getting hit by a car.

They caught up with me, but didn't stop to wait for the light to change. They crossed the street and went into the store that I was headed for. I didn't want to follow them, so I shrugged off my hunger and decided to go to the canal for my walk. I stopped thinking about the men soon after, chalking it up to me being generally anxious, but after that, I was able to complete my walk and I headed back home. For the encounter, to make sense, I have to describe where I was. On my right was the canal.

I was standing on the path and to my left there was this big drop that went straight onto the main road. And next to that road there were a few rows of houses. Then right in front of me was the railway bridge. I had my earphones in and my music was pretty loud, but I thought I heard somebody shouting, so I took one earphone out and listened. I didn't hear much though. It was pretty quiet apart from the cars and the road below me.

That's when I saw two men heading towards the bridge. I immediately recognized them as the two guys who had jeered at me before. They were easy to spot because of those matching caps. I stopped walking as my anxiety flooded back and considered phoning somebody since I thought if I appeared to be on the phone when they walked past me, they wouldn't bother me.

Their reappearance was especially jarring since they were walking under the bridge but nobody came out from under the bridge. I waited and stared at the bridge for a while in complete confusion since I lost sight of them. There was no way that they could have just vanished and I could see through to the other side of the bridge so I knew that they didn't turn around and walk in the other direction or anything like that. But I knew they certainly had not continued through since they didn't pass me.

After a few moments, I started to think that I must have hallucinated them somehow or something like that. So I started to slowly walk towards the mouth of the bridge. Just as I was about to step in, I saw it. The shadow of one of the men cast across the wall. My blood ran cold as I realized what was going on. They were waiting for me at the other side of the bridge. They must have hidden behind the abutment so I wouldn't see them.

My mind went to a million different places, panicking about what they would do if I walked under that bridge. I was convinced that they would follow me if I stayed where I was and phoned for help. I was certain that they would come out to see what was going on, and I would be trapped. I did the only thing that I could think of. I quietly ran to the fence that separated the canal path from the drop to the main road,

and climbed it. It was only about thigh height, and on the other side, there was a small space before the wall and the drop itself. I waited for a couple of moments as the cars passed, but thankfully, I live in a quiet area, so the road was soon empty. I managed to navigate the drop without making too much noise or hurting myself, and the moment that my feet hit the ground, I raced to the side where the houses were and kept speedwalking down that path as fast as I could without making any noise.

I only glanced back when I was nearing the end of the road, which was when I saw that the men were next to the bridge. From my new vantage point, I could see that they were looking through the bridge to see where I had gone. I felt sick and terrified when I saw that, but I made it home safely. I don't know who the men were or what they wanted. I have no idea if I'll see them around again. But I do know I'm not going to be walking at night for a very long time.

To the strangers under the bridge, let's not meet. This happened in the mid-90s when I was just a kid, maybe about seven. My family and I took a trip to a beach in Florida. We were staying in a beach house that was just a short walk from the beach. We went to the beach and I was supposed to stay in sight of my mom, but I wandered away. I quickly found myself way down the beach and before I knew it, I was lost. My instinct was to make my way back to the beach house, but a lot of the houses in the area looked identical,

so I wasn't sure which one was ours. I started to get a little nervous since I couldn't see my mom anywhere and it started to rain. I came to a path that I was pretty sure led back to our house, but it didn't lead to a house at all. It led me to a parking lot instead. There was a big dirty van parked there, and it was the only vehicle around. I was about to turn back when I noticed this burly woman with brown hair. She was wearing a hot pink tank top and those large chunky glasses that were popular in the 80s. She was waving and smiling at me from the passenger seat of the van.

She called out, Oh my, it's raining. Where's your mommy? Let us take you to her. It's dangerous for you to be out here in the rain. You could be struck by lightning. She was very friendly, almost overly so. In the driver's seat was a large man without a shirt on. He had gray chest hair and he was wearing a chunky-looking gold chain.

He was staring at me intently through the yellow-tinted Elvis shades that he had on. He was also smoking a cigarette, which I knew was bad. The woman stepped out of the van, knelt down to my level, and asked how old I was. When I told her, she gleefully remarked, We have two boys your age back at our house. You should come over and spend the night with us. We could watch movies and play Nintendo. We've got all types of cereal to eat in the morning." I had been taught all about stranger danger, but up until this point in my life, no adult

has ever given me any reason not to trust them. The lady continued talking about stuff like how the boys at their house have go-karts, and they even like to drink chocolate milk. It all sounded so enticing for seven-year-old me. I trusted her. Everything she was saying sounded great, but I mainly liked the idea of getting to play with some kids who were my age. I told her I needed to ask my mom first.

She told me that it was no problem, since they lived just up the road. She insisted my mom wouldn't mind. As she continued her pitch, it started to rain harder. So she slid the back door of the van open and said, Now let's get you out of this rain and go find your mommy. I knew that going along with her was something I shouldn't do, but the lady seemed nice, and I was desperately wanting to get out of the rain. As I walked toward the open door of the van,

an awful stench that almost made me gag immediately hit me. This set off alarm bells in my head. Something wasn't right. I noticed that there were cigarette butts all over the floor. And I looked up at the man in the driver's seat who was staring at me. He had this menacing glare. He had a creepy toothy smile. His teeth were stained dark yellow.

I instantly picked up on a very fucked up vibe from him. I knew right then and there I should run. But the woman was now ushering me to hurry up and get in. And when I hesitated, her demeanor completely changed. She became demanding and literally tried to push me into the van. She angrily said, just get in already, in a tone that was completely opposite of how she sounded initially. I impulsively jumped to the side and started running as fast as I could.

The woman managed to grab my arm or wrist but somehow I was able to break free quickly and make a run for it. I think she tried to chase me but thankfully I made it back to the beach. I got back to my mom who was now freaking out. I tried to explain what happened but since I was seven, I don't think I was back to my mom who was now freaking out. I tried to explain what happened, but since I was seven, I don't think I was able to convey the danger I was actually in. I didn't fully understand it myself, but I'm glad that I got out of there. Salt Lake City, Utah, Let's Not Meet will be there live at the Metro City Music Hall on September 19th.

Brandon Lanier of Odd Trails will be joining me to tell a story and do a Q&A after the show along with the meet and greets for the VIP tickets. You can get your tickets at letsnotmeetpodcast.com slash tour or follow the link in the show notes again That's September 19th in Salt Lake City, Utah at Metro Music Hall. I'll see you all there In 2015, I was 19 and working for the summer at a Bible camp for inner-city kids. I'm going to leave out the name of the city, but just know that crime often occurs frequently in big cities and this one was no different. I had been assured that the neighborhood we were going to be in was in the process of being quote-unquote gentrified, and they had even opened up a hipster coffee shop with

its own dog park right down the street. Just to give you a crystal clear visual, this neighborhood had dilapidated houses with trash scattered about right next to the newer houses with immaculate yards and square modern architecture. The Bible camp, where I was working, was essentially located in a huge two-story house with a large fenced-in yard. Again, we were assured that we were safe since we had security bars on the windows and the exterior doors locked automatically when they were shut. The camp was conducted downstairs and the four counselors lived in a small unit upstairs

that was off limits during the day while kids were there. Our camp ran five days a week from eight in the morning to four in the afternoon. Once the kids were gone for the day, any excess time was ours to explore the city, relax, or do whatever. One weekend night in July, all of us counselors were hanging out in the house making a spaghetti dinner together. We were provided a stipend for food that we would divide accordingly each week so that we could buy what we needed for meals, snacks, and supplies. We also had a separate budget for food for the campers, as we were also in charge of preparing lunch and snacks for the kids on camp days. We had two fridges and two pantries, which helped keep our camp food and personal food separated. As you can probably guess, we labeled each as Camp Fridge Pantry and then Staff Fridge

Pantry. We were also pretty territorial over our personal food and wrote our names all over our snacks in the fridge. My best friend, we'll call her Chris, worked at the camp with me. It was our turn to cook dinner on this particular night, so I went into the staff fridge to grab the ground beef. I immediately noticed that my whole case of yogurt was gone. Yogurt was my go-to snack, and I regularly bought three cases a week.

It was easy to notice that it had gone missing since I had just opened my last box about an hour before and I left it in front of the ground beef. I know this sounds oddly specific but I knew I did this. So I closed the refrigerator door and then I headed to the dining room. Chris was close behind me when I yelled, Who stole all my yogurt? That night, in addition to Chris and myself, the other two seasonal counselors were also there. Two other counselors who worked there full time

and lived in the area were there too, and one of them had their cousin there hanging out. Everyone looked at me wide-eyed before looking around at each other blankly. I immediately assumed it was the random cousin who was there, since I had never met her before. So I sucked it up and said, whatever, if you see something in the kitchen that has a name on it, please don't eat it. Then I pulled Chris back into the kitchen to finish making the spaghetti for the group.

We all ate dinner, and then the two full-time counselors volunteered to do the dishes since we made the food and let them eat with us. We figured that was fair, so the rest of us headed back upstairs to get comfy in the sitting room on the couches, and we started watching Family Guy. We were only about two minutes into an episode, when the counselor's cousin, who we'll call Sarah, announced, I can't find my phone or wallet.

I paused the show and rolled my eyes, still annoyed by the missing yogurt. Chris asked, Where did you last have them? Sarah said that she left them on the couch before she went downstairs to dinner. Naturally, we all started looking around the small room for them. We were turning over couch cushions, looking under couches, behind them under blankets, everywhere, but there was no phone and no wallet. Finally, we asked her, under blankets, everywhere, but there was no phone and no wallet.

Finally, we asked her, are you sure you didn't leave them downstairs? So she headed back downstairs to look. The other two counselors went with her, while Chris and I stepped into our room, which was connected to the sitting room. We flopped down on the bottom bunk, and I proceeded to talk shit about Sarah, who I felt was ruining our chill night. Our door was open and I was shocked when I saw a hand creep into view like it was going

to grab the doorframe. Assuming Sarah or maybe one of the other counselors happened to quietly come back upstairs, I said, hey, did you find them? But the hand immediately disappeared from the door frame, and there was no response. I looked at Chris thinking, what the fuck? She looked back at me confused since she never saw the hand. I quickly explained what happened, and we both jumped up and headed over to the stairs.

I yelled down at the others. They were all still down there looking for Sarah's phone and wallet. By this point, I was freaked out because who else could possibly be up here with me and Chris? So then, we started looking around upstairs. We looked in our bedroom, the other bedroom, and the sitting room. We found nothing and no one. We decided not to say anything to the rest of the group yet, since I was worried about

sounding insane. Plus, I was wondering how someone could have gone up and down the stairs so fast without making any noise. When Chris and I decided to go back downstairs, we saw Sarah. She was upset and crying. Her cousin said, come on guys, did somebody take her stuff? Chris and I both knew that we didn't, so we said so. Then Sarah screamed that somebody obviously took her stuff, and

we should just be honest. Things got heated. I finally decided to tell them about the hand that I saw on the doorframe, since I felt like it would reduce the tension of the situation. It did help, but then everybody started panicking. We were running around the house like maniacs, looking in every closet or hiding place that the kids use, but we found no one. We then called our camp director and asked him to come over as the situation just developed into chaos.

When he arrived, the seven of us were all huddled in the foyer, freaked out, and we explained what was going on as best as we could. Our camp director didn't seem convinced that someone was in the house, and then threatened to call the cops if one of us didn't give Sarah her phone or wallet back. None of us fessed up, so he did. The cops came and searched the property, then took our statements. It seemed so dumb to keep going over everything as we were repeating our stories. It felt like we were talking in circles.

We didn't have much to go off of except for a feeling. The cops wrote up a report for stolen property, which at least made Sarah feel a little bit better. With the house secure, everyone else left except for four seasonal counselors who were living there. We were a bit rattled, so we spent the night in the same room with the door barricaded, reassuring ourselves that Sarah's phone and wallet would turn up somewhere random. And when it did, we would just laugh about it.

Fast forward to a few days later. We relaxed a bit, even though we hadn't found the phone or wallet like we expected. But nothing else weird had happened, and we had been occupied with the kids and the job in general. The kids had all gone home at this point, and it was just the four of us, seasonal counselors, all alone. We finished cleaning up outside, locked the gate, and headed to the dining room. We were all hungry and ready for some snacks.

Chris went into the kitchen first and said, someone left the kitchen door open again. It wasn't too weird to find that door open. Kids go in and out of that specific door all day. She shut the door, and that's when I noticed that the staff refrigerator door was cracked open. I don't know what possessed me, but I referred to the mystery hand I swore I saw before and jokingly said, no, he's back. The four of us laughed, we just thought it was ridiculous.

Chris then grabbed a broom, held it as a weapon and joked, The four of us laughed. We just thought it was ridiculous. Chris then grabbed a broom, held it as a weapon, and joked, Let's get him, girls. She threw open the pantry doors, screaming, Where the fuck are you, motherfucker? We know you're here. Show yourself. I was following behind her, laughing, but I inexplicably began to feel nervous and uneasy.

Meanwhile, Chris, who was fully began to feel nervous and uneasy. Meanwhile Chris, who was fully committed to the bit, continued her charade into the next room throwing two more closet doors open. Then she moved into the front room and opened the closet door that was in there. She started to belt out another confident heckle. We know your- When she stopped mid-sentence, she screamed loudly, so loudly that the skin on my neck prickled.

She then threw the broom in the closet and sprinted out the front door, leaving it wide open. My heart was pounding so fucking hard at this point, but I was thinking that maybe she was messing with us. So I slowly went towards the foyer and out the front door. From there I saw her booking it down the street towards a coffee shop. I thought, okay, what's going on? What is she doing? Just as soon as I turned around, assuming I'd have to address the others, I saw him.

It was an older man who hardly had any teeth. He was just standing there after he emerged from the closet that Chris had sprinted away from. He walked toward me, grinning, put his hands up, and impartially said, I didn't mean any harm. Then he slowly backed away and went down the street in the other direction. The creepiest part about him saying that he meant no harm was that I could tell he didn't mean it.

It's like his tone and the grin were mocking me. I froze for a second, but then sputtered out. You can't just leave. He again impartially said, I didn't mean any harm. Then he flashed that goddamn creepy grin before turning and running away. I fumbled around in my pocket for a phone so I could dial 911. And then I started to follow him. But as soon as I reached the edge of the house, he was gone.

The next events were kind of a blur. The cops took our statements and reminded us that we needed to keep the doors shut at all times no matter what. Our director apologized profusely for not believing us. My parents wanted me to come back home for the remainder of the summer, but I figured what else could happen? What kept me up that night were the unanswered questions. How long had he been in the house?

Why did he randomly decide to take the phone and wallet from the person who didn't work there? Had he listened to our private conversations? Did he watch us take showers and get dressed? How much food had he stolen? Where did he go when the police were looking for him? What hiding places did we all miss during our extensive searches? Was he under my bed at night or at any other point during my stay? I just don't know, and I don't think that I'll ever know,

but I'm thankful that our interaction wasn't any worse. Chris was the one who was affected the most. She was terrified to stay in that house after that. She told me later that when she opened that door, he was just grinning at her with those dead eyes, like he was waiting for her to finally find him. She said that she'll never forget his face. She and I are still best friends and at almost thirty years old, I can't ever bring up that summer around her unless she's had a drink or two.

So to the creepy grinning squatter who lived among us at summer camp for god knows how long, let's not meet. Thanks for listening and stick around after the music for your extended version of Let's Not Meet. If you want to get access to that and add free versions of all of our episodes at a higher bitrate, plus stories you won't hear anywhere else with hours and hours of 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 he recorded us

for years by Hagetti. I was being watched by Burst Beat. Close encounter with a serial killer at a highway rest stop by a Vulpiz Vulpiz. The Men Under the Bridge by Tilecass I Was Nearly Kidnapped at the Beach When I Was a Kid by Smooth Use 4981 Creepy Night and Big Sur by Coyote13MC My Mother was Stalked by a Cop in the 80s by Lajaycabeen And finally, The Man Who Secretly Lived at Our Summer Camp by Rollup. 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. As always, if you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. And make sure to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like odd trails cryptic encounters and the old time radio cast at cryptic county podcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts. I'll see you all in Salt Lake City Utah on September 19th at the Metro Music Hall for

the next live episode of Let's Not Meet. Don't forget to get your tickets. You can get the link in the show notes. Additionally, I'll be in Seattle, Washington on October 9th, Portland, Oregon on October 30th, Houston, Texas on November 9th, and finally Dallas, Texas on November 10th. Again, tickets are available

at letsnotmeetpodcast.com slash tour or in the show notes. I'll see you all next week. Stay safe. I'm a 31 year old female.