Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast - 12x06: Graveyard Shift

Episode Date: February 5, 2024

Stories in this episode: My Dog is Our Hero | pjrdolanz (0:40) He Wanted Me to Drive Him to a Place That Doesn't Exist | creaky_tits (7:03) Graveyard Shift | nostalgicwinters98 (13:09) Mid 90's Terror | nostalgicwinters98 (20:38) Someone Kept Knocking at My Door Late  | Aurora9794 (25:55) Who The Hell Was That? | Accomplished-Duck407 (32:07) Creepiest Commute | blkpanther14 (36:18) There Were Two Guys on My Balcony with Knives | EliBbox (40:51) He Was Looking Back at Me Through the Peephole | throwaway8484856 (46:31) I Got Him Fired And Now I Think He’s Stalking Me | RacoonBandit22 (51:05) Extended Patreon Content: Creepy Fourth-Year Student | Roe "We're Going to Play 'Kidnapped!'" | T My 2023 New Year's Eve Let's Not Meet Story | Jazmin They Reached in Through the Window | Anonymous Three Men Chased Me Home | Gnome We Were Followed  | Anonymous 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! Head to acorns.com/meet to sign up for Acorns to start saving and investing for your future today! If you’re looking to join a passionate community of the darkly curious, check out Heart Starts Pounding at heartstartspounding.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Want to explore the darkest depths of humanity and horror but don’t know how? Let the guys over at Lights Out Podcast guide you through the seedy underbelly of true crime and the mysteries of the paranormal at http://youtube.com/lightsoutpodcast. - 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/chipschicken    

This podcast contains adult language and content. Listener discretion is advised. If you have a story to share, send it to Let's Not Meet Stories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show. I always wanted my own dog. I put a lot of research into it and decided to get a Bernie's mountain dog. My mom graciously covered part of the cost as my graduation present. One thing to know about this breed and my dog Sirius, in specific, is that they are very friendly and don't consider unknown people as strangers.

Before I got him, I watched several videos of Bernie's Mountain Dogs just napping as repair people came into their pack yards and having a dog with this friendly demeanor wasn't an issue for me. We also have a very protective Saint Bernard at home, so I didn't think that we needed a second guard dog. I always wanted to be able to take my dog out with me and in order to do that, I figured it would be better if he were friendly. Around October, when a chill was starting to form in the air, a friend of mine and I decided to get some pumpkin-flavored coffee for us. We also got a

pup cup for Sirius before going to a local park to get him some exercise since it finally wasn't too hot for him outside. The park that we went to isn't one of the nicer parks. It used to have a designated dog park, but due to continuous flood damage, it was shut down and the secluded area where it used to be is mostly abandoned. There are plenty of people who use the seclusion to their advantage to do drugs, which is honestly what my friend and I had planned on doing.

There are typically lots of families at this park on the weekends, but since it was the middle of the week, the park was pretty empty when we arrived. As we walked into the park, we passed a man who was training for something that I'm not sure I'd like to know about. He was carrying a full army pack and was drenched in sweat. When I later told my stepdad about this, he said he had seen the same guy running along the main road where there are no sidewalks. Sirius was unbothered and completely ignored him. We also met a couple

who had a Rottweiler puppy, who was a few months younger than Sirius. We stopped for a moment and let them play while my friend and I talked to the couple. Sirius had absolutely no issue with them and their puppy, and was very happy to receive attention from some new friends. Eventually, we arrived at the location where we were planning to smoke. It was directly underneath the train tracks, which is the most secluded spot in the park, as there is only one path leading in and out. This is unique since the rest of the park's paths loop around. This specific spot used to be a functioning public road, but it was purchased by the city

for the park, so it's completely empty except for a few houses just past its barriers. We were therefore around 30 minutes before an older man walked by and gave us a polite, hey, how's it going? Since the path didn't loop, once he reached the end, he turned around and walked back the other way. A little while later, he passed back again and noticed that we were sitting in the same spot. This time he asked, are you girls waiting on a ride?

This creeped me out slightly since I tend to be overly cautious and I quickly replied. No, we're okay. Which was true. I had driven us there and I was nowhere near sober enough to drive since we had been smoking. We were just relaxing and enjoying the nice weather before it got too cold. He then told us to have a nice day and turned back around again. During these two interactions with the man, Sirius just continued to play with the stick that he was chewing on. Now I only mentioned these encounters with the first man that we saw, the couple, and the other man, so that you can see how absolutely strange the next one is and contrast. Soon after, a man who seemed to

be in his late 40s or early 50s started to walk towards us. Instead of turning around like the other man had, he continued walking towards us. Sirius absolutely lost it. He was barking and growling at this man. He even attempted to lunge at him. Despite the fact that he was only around seven months at this time, Sirius was a big dog, probably around 70 pounds. The man was scared, and he continued to walk past us. He picked up his pace and kept his distance. But it was strange that he headed that way,

since there was nothing behind us besides an empty road and thick heavy woods. My friend and I continued to sit there until we were sure that he was gone. That was weird, right? I asked my friend. She agreed and wondered, where did he even go anyway? I hadn't considered it at the time, but looking around, I could not figure out where he could have gone. Since we were high, we came up with the brilliant idea to wait and see if he would reemerge

to pass us again. He did not. So we walked up the small hill and passed the barricade to see if we could spot him. There are three houses just past the barricade. They are all pretty run down, and the moment that we started walking past the first one, the man came out onto the porch with a gun and stared at us. Now I had never seen my dog act like that before, and I haven't seen him act like that since.

Every other time he's met somebody new, he's acted like he goes way back with them and he's known them for his whole life. I've always thought that dogs have better instincts than we do, and this has just proved it for me. My friend and I are both pretty small girls. We're both around 100 pounds under 5'5", so it's very scary to think what could have happened had my dog not been with us. way to defend ourselves in such a secluded area. My three kids recently had the flu.

My oldest was first, then my younger two caught it as well. After a visit to the clinic, I headed to the CVS down the street from our house to pick up their prescriptions. I decided last minute to drop my kids off at home with their dad so that they could rest, and then I could quickly go to the store to pick up their medication and some Pedialyte. Now I consider our neighborhood safe. I've taken walks after dark and never felt afraid. Most of our neighbors are older folks who have lived there for over a decade.

When I pulled up to CVS, I parked on the side parallel to our street. It's darker on that side but the entrance is well lit and right around the corner. When I pulled up, there was a man standing outside. He walked in front of my car and I could hear him talking about my music, saying that it was kind of loud, so I figured he was on his phone or something. My husband called me as the man walked back towards the corner adjacent to the entrance. I got out of my car, still on the phone, telling my husband that the kids had the flu, and I was picking up some medicine for them. In a very pleasant voice, the man said, Hey, I've got a question for you.

You know where Main Street is? Assuming that he was asking for directions, I told him that I did. I was still holding my phone to my ear. It's a bright pink case, so I'm sure that he could see it as he was standing directly in front of me. There was a pillar and a trash can behind him, and around the corner there was a propane cage and a red box against its side on the store. Basically walking past him would put me within arm's reach.

Then he asked me for a ride to Main Street, since it was very cold outside and he didn't want to freeze. I empathized with him and said that I couldn't. I offered to ask an employee inside the store if they could assist in finding him a ride. This guy's face instantly changed to rage. You're going to help me. It's right down the street," he said sternly. I stood there unsure of what to do. My husband was still on the phone, and he asked what was going on. I gently told the man that I didn't feel comfortable doing that.

And I said that I had the flu, even though I didn't. I don't care about the flu, the man bellowed. He was getting angrier and not moving away from my route to the store. I didn't want to turn my back on him to go back to my car since it was several feet away from me on the darkened street. While the guy was glaring at me, I decided to quickly walk past him. I had my mask from the clinic in my jacket pocket so I pulled that out and held it in front of me while I moved around him.

He looked disgusted but kept telling me I needed to give him a ride. He kept insisting that he just needed to go down the street, but I knew where the street he asked about was and it wasn't as close as he said it was. Once I got around him, I rushed into the store and went straight to the pharmacy. My husband, who was still on the phone, said that he was calling the police. He heard the way that the man was talking to me and told me to stay in the store. My knees were shaking, which was surprising since I'm not usually the type to be afraid when confronted. When I got to the pharmacy, I interrupted the pharmacist and a customer apologizing

and told them what happened. The pharmacist sent the store manager out. He was a pharmacist and a customer apologizing, then told them what happened. The pharmacist sent the store manager out. He was a tall guy with a long beard who looked like he didn't take crap from people. The police arrived as well, and the man who was still outside was told to leave, which he did, momentarily. After the police left, he came back inside the store, yelling obscenities about me. The store manager told him to get out of the store since he was trespassing at this point. The pharmacy had me hiding behind the screen where they administered vaccines and left the door to the pharmacy cracked open in case I needed to get out of there.

The cops returned and they told me that this guy gets arrested all the time. They also told me his first and last name, as did the manager. I wonder if that's normal. As soon as the prescriptions were finally filled, I left the store. The police parked next to my car to keep an eye on it for me. The man was still outside as he refused a ride to Main Street from the cops. Since I had his full name, later when I was home I looked him up. His name is unique, and he was incredibly easy to find online. Surprise surprise, he had a long record spanning across three states

in several counties. He had a DUI, tons of public intoxication charges, assault and battery charges, and indecent exposure charges. A friend of mine is an overnight employee at a corner store across from that CVS and I told her what happened. She knew who I was talking about and she said that she's kicked him out of the store before. She still sees him and she calls the police whenever she does since he threatens customers. I probably could have handled the situation better, but I was blindsided by his instant shifting from being pleasant to being filled with rage. I owe a big thank you to the pharmacy team, who kept me safe, and the store manager for

confronting the creeps. They didn't have to go above and beyond like that. I'm also thankful to my husband who was able to recognize that I was in an unsafe situation over the phone. The man is still out there somewhere in my area, but I hope that we never meet again. I live in a historic part of upstate New York, and I know a lot of places that are abandoned, scary, or off limits that I like to visit. In my hometown, there are two large cemeteries that everyone and their brother has gone into at night, at one point or another. We have one that's rather infamous.

Colts tend to flock there, and townies go over there to hook up, drink, etc. Individuals who visit this cemetery are charged with felony trespassing if caught by police. There are a lot of rumors and lore passed around about this place. I've heard tales of ghosts, demons, and spirits of mental patients from the 1920s roaming the 22 acres of rolling hills. Some say that Satan himself hangs out there just to scare the townies. To get there from the main road, you have to walk a mile and a half down a gravel road and back through the trees before you even see the cemetery itself. Along the road, there are caved in mausoleums that aspiring witches and Satanists like candles

in to rebel against their parents or society or whatever. I did my research on this place because I heard so many rumors and wanted to see them for myself. I convinced my then-girlfriend Lindsay and some of our friends to venture out there with me. So we decided to go there on Saturday night. We planned to park our car in a nearby neighborhood, walk to the main road, and then walk around the gates to enter the cemetery from the woods. That night before, I was at a party with my friend Kevin, who I was telling my plan to. As I spoke to him, he started to get this really worried look on his face.

I finally asked him what was wrong, and he told me that maybe about ten years prior, he and some friends had gone to the cemetery to party, get high, and drink. They made it to the center of the cemetery, and it was all overgrown. Once they were there, they made a fire and started doing their thing. My friend Kevin and another guy partied a little too much because they passed out and were woken by men in hoods holding knives to their throats. He recalled kicking one of the guys and taking his knife. Then he shoved the other guy hard into some brush and picked his friend up from the ground. Next, they ran to the main road while being chased by at least six other hooded people.

He said that when they made it to the road, a state trooper was passing by so they immediately surrendered themselves to the cop. The cop told them that there was a cult that they were trying to track down who was living there. They killed at least three people over the last couple of years. The cop also told Kevin and his friend that if they ever found themselves in the woods hearing animal noises or any other non-human noises that were not quite right to leave immediately. He explained, it's the cult members, and they don't

want the cops to be tipped off about them. Then the cop gave them a ride to their car and let them go with a warning since they were so shaken up. Kevin concluded his story by cautioning me to be very careful if I was going to go through with my plan. I ended up going anyway since, by my logic, I figured that was 10 years ago. There's no way there's some mass cold still living there. I knew that I would have some friends with me anyway. We ended up going and when we got to the gravel path, my buddy John and I started walking first. My girlfriend Lindsay and her friend Sarah were behind us and then we had two other friends walking in the back of the pack. We jumped a few times because we saw shadows running here and there.

We stopped in our tracks, though, when we could see these shadows running between the trees. I was eager to experience more, and when we reached the last part of the trail, we heard a loud whistle come from deep inside the woods on our right side. This whistle was followed by a similar whistle from the left. As we continued to walk, we heard more whistling ahead of us, and then behind us. The whistling seemed to be some kind of signal. We stopped, and my friend John started to ask me about the whistles and how much further

we had to go until we were at the cemetery. I calmly explained that I didn't think we were hearing ghosts or animals. I told him it was likely that cult that we had been warned about. I redirected the group to turn back and forget about this whole thing while John continued walking ahead. As the rest of the group started to walk away, we all heard them whistling out again, but they were closer. That was enough for John to rejoin the group, especially because he said that he saw somebody in a hood. We unanimously decided it was time to get out of there quietly and quickly. We lightly jogged the road, making sure not to cut through the wood.

We ran right out to the main road and walked back to the car. Out of all the research I did prior to going to that place, the best advice I received was from my friend Kevin. I was certainly lucky to see him the night before my friends and I ventured out because that honestly ended up saving our lives. I have no idea what would have happened if those people came out of the woods and caught up to us. And I do not want to know. I know that I should be saving and investing, but I've always been overwhelmed at the thought,

so I just keep putting it off. Even if I started, how would I know if I was doing it right? Which is why I was excited when Acorns reached out to sponsor today's episode. Today's episode is sponsored by Acorns. Acorns helps you automatically save and invest for your future. You don't need a lot of money to get started. You can even start by investing your spare change with roundups. The app even gives you access to education and guidance to learn more about investing. Head to acorns.com slash meet to sign up for Acorns to start saving and investing for your future today. Paid non-client endorsement may not be representative of all clients.

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I was born in the late 80s, which meant I grew up in the 90s. I remember when I got my first bike, I immediately started to explore the area that I grew up in, which is in upstate New York. Where I grew up is much different now than it was in the 90s. Back then, it was more rural, with clusters of neighborhoods here and there. I lived near an old,pped-off landfill, which was off of a main road that connected a lot of semis down to the factories in the neighboring town. While it was a bit vast, it was about a five-minute bike ride. There was also an old Baptist church in the area

that was founded by an eccentric former hippie who was really good to the community. My dad loved to fish and hunt with his friend because it gave him an excuse to kill something while drinking the day away. My dad ended up making a deal with the eccentric former hippie turned pastor and the gentleman who owned the pond behind the church. My dad worked with them to stock it with fish as at the time my dad and his friend were starting to become serious competitive fishers. My dad and his friend even went in on a boat together but my dad ended up selling his share of the boat ownership to keep up with his drinking habit. My friend and I also had permission to fish there in the summer and we would swim while we were out there as well.

It was nice, since I lived less than five minutes away from this pond. Around 1995, my mom heard about a wave of kidnappings on the news. This was just before Amber Alerts became a thing, since those didn't go into effect until 1996. She decided to create a code word with me. She told me that if anyone ever tried to convince me that they knew her or my dad in the hopes of luring me away, I needed to ask them for the code word. Ours was pickles. Fast forward to one summer day. My friend Dennis, his brother and I, headed out to the pond to go fishing. We ended up sitting around and swimming more than anything else. Dennis got mad because he was serious about going

fishing, so he and his brother left, and the next thing that I knew, I was alone on the road. As I was walking, I was about to turn on my road when I noticed I was being followed by a basic pickup truck being driven by a guy who looked like Cletus from The Simpsons. He greeted me and told me that my mom and dad were waiting for us at this local restaurant that I knew of. He told me that they asked him to come and get me and meet them there so that we could all have dinner together. I immediately thought of what my mom said

about the kidnappings and our code word. I was overcome with this feeling of evil, like I was in danger, but I managed to tell him that my parents specifically have a password that they give their friends who are picking me up. I told him that if he was really their friend, he was required to tell me that password. He got so mad and began swearing at me. I couldn't see what he was fumbling with in his truck, but I'm certain it was a gun. So I turned and I started pedaling down my road, screaming for help and yelling that I was in danger. He jerked his truck like he was going to follow me,

but I was making too much noise, and I already made it to my house. So he just took off. When I got home, my mom was there. I was hysterical. I asked her why she would ask such a mean friend to pick me up. I told her what happened, and she calmed me down and told me that I did the right thing. See, she also grew up in the same town, and nothing like that had ever happened to her so I could tell she was having a tough time believing me. A few days later, a friend of hers told her a similar story about her son. He was in the same situation in another part of town. The police were involved.

The cops talked to me and my mom's friend's son. We gave them consistent descriptions of the man, his truck, and what happened. I used to be very bitter about my mom not believing me at first, but I also understand the conflict that she had. Instead of reacting too strongly, she chose to console me and keep an eye on things as they developed. My dad, on the other hand, was more vigilant about it and always asked me if someone looked like that guy in that truck whenever we were out together.

I don't know if the guy was ever caught, but I hope that there weren't any kids harmed by him. This past June, I moved out of my parents' apartment and finally got a steady job and longed for some sort of freedom. I looked for apartments that were affordable in my city and found one that was only a two to three minute walk from my parents' apartment. To me, this plan was perfect. I'd get to live alone and my parents would still be nearby so I could visit them or a pot pie to have breakfast with them anytime that I wanted. The apartment itself is great, it's not much to look at, but for a single male, it's more than enough.

My apartment has a long corridor connecting each room from the sides, with my front door being at the start of the corridor. My bedroom is the second room on the left, and since the walls are pretty thin, people can be heard walking and talking as they're out and about in the apartment complex. Outside noise could be heard from any room in my apartment, but it's particularly easy to hear them from my bedroom. Last week I came home from the pub after meeting up with a few friends. It wasn't really late. It was only around 10.30pm. After I got home I took a shower and hopped into bed to watch Netflix. It was probably around midnight when I heard a faint knock coming from my door.

I stopped the show that I was watching and listened for a minute or so to make sure that my mind wasn't playing tricks on me. I didn't hear anything, but I continued to watch Netflix. But then, once again, I heard a knock on my door. I sat up from bed and went to the door to look through the peephole. I couldn't see anything. It was pitch black, so I shrugged it off and I went back to my room. Before I could settle into continuing watching Netflix, I heard another slightly louder knock. I decided that it must have been my friends playing a prank on me, so I called my friend

and I asked him if he was knocking on my door. I told him if he was, it was not amusing. He hesitated before saying, dude, I'm at home. I have to be up at 7.30. I believed him. And as I hung up the phone, whoever was knocking must have heard me because I heard another knock. I was pretty irritated, so I walked to the door and looked through the peephole again, but I still saw nothing. Then I unlocked the door, cracked it open, and took a peek. I still didn't see anything, so I quickly closed the door and locked it.

It was a bit of relief not to see anyone, but I was intoxicated, so I was a bit angry. I decided I wanted to catch whoever was knocking, so I spent a solid 10 minutes waiting and looking through the people. I was a bit startled when I finally saw someone put their hand over the people as they knocked on my door again. I had been standing there silently, so I had no idea I was right at the door as they knocked. I immediately started unlocking the door and ran out into the hallway. I heard someone booking it down the steps, and I heard his jacket rustling as he backed against the wall waiting for me. I continued running a few steps down before realizing that whoever this was wanted to get the jump on me. I turned around,

hurried back inside and called the cops. They were there within a few minutes and scanned the building and the immediate area but they couldn't find anyone. They told me that it was possibly just some kids pulling a prank. They also told me to never run after someone, which is advice that I'd like to extend to everyone else. They kept a patrol car around my apartment complex the entire night and the knocking stopped after that. It could have been some kids being dumb, but the part that gave me the creeps was the fact that whoever it was ran down the stairs and stopped right behind the corner. He didn't keep running. If it were some prankster, I'd find it more likely that they would have just booked it all the way out of there. This happened fairly recently, and it's kept me on edge.

So far nothing else has come of it, and I hope that the knocking won't happen again. Are you a fan of all things dark and strange? Heart Starts Pounding, Horrors, Hauntings, and Mysteries is a weekly podcast hosted by friend of the show and former guest of the show, Kaelin Moore. Kaelin takes you on a dark journey to a new place, a new time, or a new crime each week. From centuries-old curses and Appalachian folklore to Chilean Nazi cults to terrifying urban legends that turned out to be true,

Heart Starts Pounding tells the stories real and imagined, natural and otherworldly, that quicken our pulses and make us ask how well we really know ourselves, our neighbors and our world, and how well we want to. Many times these episodes involve real journeys as Kaelin travels around the world getting inspiration from locals, from Tokyo to Washington DC, and recently the most haunted city in America, at least according to many, New Orleans.

If you're looking to join a passionate community of the darkly curious, check out Heart Starts Pounding at heartstartspounding.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This happened around 15 years ago. Nothing came of it, but it was so weird that I still think about it regularly. I was 16 years old at the time. It was early evening, so it was getting dark but not yet pitch black. I was walking home from the bus stop after seeing some friends. I had just turned from the main road onto my quiet street when I heard my name being called by a male voice.

As I was trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, I saw a guy jumping out of a car and jogging towards me, smiling. He called my name out again and asked me how I had been. As he was getting closer, I was waiting for the penny to drop. But even when he was close up, I knew that I didn't know this man. I couldn't help but stare at him in confusion. He asked again, Don't you remember me? It's me, Xander.

I responded, no, sorry, I don't remember meeting you. How do you know my name? Then he started in with an incredibly vague explanation which he ended with saying that he was friends with my ex. I was apprehensive, so I asked him, what's my ex's name? He started laughing while maintaining his unwavering, creepy smile. He was in his 20s and likely intoxicated,

so I started to feel a bit unnerved and was ready to end the conversation as soon as possible. He asked me to come hang out with him and I said, no, I need to get home. He was being insistent, but I remained firm and said that I would be in trouble if I was late getting home since my parents were expecting me.

Then I tried to end the conversation politely by saying, it was nice seeing you, but I have to go. I then started walking away. He seemed to accept it and thankfully got back into his car. I felt relieved to see him drive away. Until he turned the corner. He parked in the driveway of my house and was now standing outside of his car, smiling as weirdly and as intensely as ever. I was freaking out now. He was literally blocking the entrance to my house. I couldn't figure out if this was a fluke or if he actually knew where I lived. But I knew I did not want to walk into

my home while he was right there. I stopped in my tracks and he walked towards me again and said, come hang out, let's go for a drive. This not only freaked me out further, but I was also getting annoyed by the fact that he wasn't leaving me alone. So I said, listen, I don't know you. I'm not going to go for a drive with some random guy. Then he laughed and pointed at his car and said,

But I'm with a friend. For the first time, I actually looked into his car and I saw a girl looking at me. She looked high out of her mind and she was staring directly at me. My heart dropped when I looked at her face. She looked miserable and was completely spaced out. I continued to stand my ground and say no. I refused to move from where I was standing until he eventually gave up, got back in the car, and drove away with the girl. The girl in the car looked older than me. so at the time I assumed that she knew what

she was doing, but every so often I think of her and I wonder if she needed help. I hope she's okay though. I never saw him again and I have no idea how he knew my name or where I lived but I hope we never meet again. I'm a respiratory therapist who works at a local hospital. I was on my way to work about less than a mile away from my occupation when the car in front of me quickly merged into one of the emergency lanes as if something suddenly happened. Then he just sat there, no hazard lights, no signals going off, nothing to indicate that he

was planning on moving. I still had 20 minutes until I had to be at work. Assuming this individual may be in distress or having car problems, I decided to be a good Samaritan. I pulled over onto the shoulder of the road and turned on my hazards. We exchanged eye contact and I gave him a friendly wave. Then I rolled down my window and asked, Are you okay? Met first, it seemed like he either hadn't heard me or he was ignoring me. But when he realized I wanted to help, he got out of his car. Keep in mind that we were on an

extremely busy road. I was in my work scrubs which tends to put people at ease knowing that they're with a healthcare professional. When he got out of his vehicle, I got out of mine and I walked over to the back end of his car. I assumed that he was going to tell me that he was in pain or tell me what caused him to pull over and stop so abruptly. As I asked him basic, are you hurt? Is something wrong? Questions. His eyes were cold. His body language was skittish. He just stood there and didn't answer anything. So I tried once more by saying, hey man, we're stopped in the middle of a busy road. Is there something wrong with your car or something going on with you?" He flatly replied,

No. Then I started to feel this sensation of discomfort. I felt like he was about to do something to me, but was restraining himself. He had these black beady eyes that I couldn't stop looking at. It was as if he were just a vessel for something dark. I tried to continue the conversation, asking, well, why didn't you stop, man? You don't want to get hit out here. He replied, I don't know. I don't know where to go. I had no idea what he meant by this, so I questioned further. Do you know what city you're in right now? If you're lost,

I can tell you where the nearest highway is. His reply was chilling. He said, I need to be anywhere but here. I was so confused. He couldn't tell me where he thought that he was, but felt this urge to get out of the area as quickly as possible. It was so strange. I inquired, what direction are you wanting to go? The 75 North will take you to Dayton. If you take the 75 South, you'll head to Cincinnati." He asked, What would you do in my position? I simply responded, I don't know what kind of position you're in, man.

Can you drive? The hospital that I work at is within view. We don't have to go in, but we should go there since I want to make sure you don't get hit. He agreed to follow me, but once I turned my blinker on to turn into the hospital, he completely stopped following me. He made a U-turn and sped off. The whole encounter was so strange.

The entire time we were engaged in conversation it felt like he was contemplating doing something or telling me something, but ultimately held himself back. He just seemed incredibly nervous, and his fast motions and gestures left me puzzled. It still gives me the creeps when I think about the way he moved and spoke. I'm also freaked out about his lack of response and unwillingness to explain his actions. He just seemed incredibly paranoid and hesitant. I haven't seen him since that day, but his black BDIs, they're burned into my memory. This happened when I was living in the Fiji Islands back in 2016.

I was 14 years old. This story happened to my family, but my mom is the one who mainly dealt with the situation. It was on the 31st of October, and I was at school for a Halloween party while my parents and my little sister had gone to another Halloween party at a family friend's house, so our house was pretty empty. My party finished at 9pm, and my dad came to pick me up. But on the way there, he dropped my mom and sister off at the house because our security alarm was going off. Since nobody was home, my family called the security company over and they sent a van

with three security guards. My mom unlocked the door to the house and let everyone in. They checked the inside of the whole house, but they saw nobody. My mother checked all of the cupboards and under the bed with my little sister, who was only 12 at the time. The security guards went outside in the garden and in the basement to check if there was anyone there. Then my mom turned on all of the lights in the living room and on the balcony. She started to open the gate on the windows to get onto the balcony and when she looked

through the keyhole to unlock it, she noticed flip-flops on the floor. She looked closer and saw two pairs of legs hiding really close to each other. She saw the legs huddled together against the wall under the outdoor sofa on the balcony. My mom yelled out at the top of her lungs, they're on the balcony. The two guys that were hiding got scared and jumped off of the balcony and into the garden. One of the guards grabbed one of the intruders, but the second one jumped directly onto a guard and ran away. They were able to jump over the fence and run into the forest.

My mom immediately regretted yelling out that she had spotted them. She knew that if she had come down and talked to the security guards quietly, the guys wouldn't have been startled and they probably wouldn't have been caught. My mom was crying and holding my sister close to her side, telling her everything would be okay. The security guards called the police and they filed a report. They described the guys to the police when they arrived. They arrived rather quickly, since we only lived a hundred meters away from the closest

police station. They searched around and discovered that the guy who jumped the fence lost a hat and his flip flops. The two of them also left knives and socks that they were planning to use as gloves. I got home with my dad just after this all happened and my mom and sister were crying. My dad was so mad that he wasn't there with them, but my mom had drank at the Halloween party that they went to, so she couldn't drive to get me. We were both so glad that my mom saw them before she opened the window, otherwise who knows what would have happened. Sadly, the guys were never found. Two weeks later, my mom pulled out of the driveway,

looked in the rearview mirror, and saw those two guys standing opposite our house, staring at her. The guy who hopped to the fence had the same hat, but it was new since he had lost it before. My mom drove to the police station, but they quickly disappeared and none of us ever saw them again. I'm sure many of you are wondering how these two guys got on the balcony in the first place. Well, right next to the balcony where they were hiding, there are two wooden poles. They're linked with a plank. It's intended for hanging clothes outside to dry but we never used it, so my dad asked

the landlord to get rid of it, but the landlord didn't want to remove it. I had it on good authority that it was climbable, since I used to sneak out of the house to go see my girlfriend at the time. I'm now 21 and live in Australia. Even though I wasn't there when my mom experienced this, it really scared me, since my sister and I were so young. Now that I live alone, I check the entirety of my house and make sure that my house is

always locked to the point of locking myself out on several occasions. Do you want to explore the darkest depths of humanity and horror? But you don't know how? Let the guys over at Lights Out podcast guide you through the seedy underbelly of true crime and the mysteries of the paranormal. Kill the lights, join the dark and twisted journey. Sit back and try to relax. As host Josh and co-host Austin, take you through the darkest tales, from the natural world to the unnatural, from the known to the unknown. Lights Out is a mixed bag of killers, cults, cryptids, hauntings, the occult, demonic possessions,

and alien abductions. Escape into the corners of madness and mayhem. New episodes are released every Friday. Watch the video version of the podcast at youtube.com. Last year, I moved to another city after finishing high school. After assessing my college options, I decided to attend one that was roughly three hours away from my hometown. I found an apartment where I was able to live without roommates.

It was located in a safe part of town with reasonable rent. It was also close to some attractions in the city, which was a bonus. It was convenient to live close to a social hub. For the first four months or so, it was great. There were absolutely no problems or safety concerns of any sort. During the first months of living in my apartment,

I managed to become good friends with a guy who studied at the same college as me. He coincidentally lived around five minutes away from me, so we would hang out at each other's places. One night, around when winter started, he called me over to hang out and play video games. We had a pretty chill night, drank a few beers, had a few good labs, and enjoyed ourselves. At around one in the morning, we decided to wrap it up and I headed home to my apartment. When I got back home, I went out to the balcony that overlooked the entrance of my building to smoke a cigarette. I vividly remember looking

around and seeing absolutely nobody. It was a cold late winter night so everybody was understandably inside their homes. Besides a car or two passing by, it was dead quiet outside. Once I finished my cigarette, I decided to call it a night and headed to my apartment to get ready for bed. I was confused when I heard a short ring on the doorbell. I stood still in the center of my room for a few seconds as confusion and a little bit of fear set in. I quickly snapped out of it and decided to tiptoe to my front door to see if I could

hear anyone outside. At first, I thought it was my friend who had come over to drop something off that I might have forgotten at his place. But usually, whenever I did that, he would just text or call. I listened for about half a minute, and then the person on the other side of the door once again rang the doorbell. They also softly knocked a few times. I stood as still as I could.

I didn't want to make a sound, and I especially didn't want to give away the fact that I was right on the other side of the door. I heard the stranger pacing around the hallway outside of my apartment for a few seconds before they stopped. I waited to hear any sort of noise, but it was now completely silent. I decided to take a look out the peephole, fully assuming that he had left. I slowly lifted the cover of the people and peered through. My legs went numb as I saw a hooded figure looking straight into my people. He was clutching the zipper of his hoodie tightly to cover his face. All I could make out was the forehead and eyes.

He must have either heard me lift the cover or my heavy breathing because he immediately backed up from the peephole and said, I know you're at the door. By this point I was shaking with fear, but I mustered up enough courage to say, I'm calling the cops, man. He laughed and said, Sure thing, big guy. Then he proceeded to wipe the door handle with his sleeve before walking off. I called the police. When they came over, they informed me that I wasn't the only one who had been approached by this guy.

He's been doing this for at least a month. He was also the main suspect of a home invasion that had occurred in the neighborhood. I crashed at my friend's place for an entire week before going back to my apartment. It's been a year since this happened, and I haven't had any updates on this guy. He may have been arrested by now, but as far as I know, he hasn't been. I'm not sure what his intent was, but let's not meet again. I used to be a 911 dispatcher for a small city. We dispatched all law, fire, and emergency medical services for the entire county. Within this county, there were multiple law enforcement agencies. I had been working there for about three months or so when I met a man who will call Jake.

Jake had recently transferred from a big department in California and randomly landed himself in our department. It didn't make much sense as to why he left California in the first place, but he always insisted it was just time for him to move to a smaller, less dangerous department. He and I quickly became close, and we would chat almost every day after I was off from my shift. Within a few months, it became apparent that we liked each other, and our flirting progressed into something more serious. Fast forward a few months later, and it turns out he was doing some inappropriate things.

He was taking photos and videos of me whilst he was actively on duty. He kept this and a few other things hidden from me, and it led to him losing his license, and he ended up leaving the department. During the process of his termination, his sergeant had suggested that I get a protective order against him, as he had made threatening statements towards me. As this was going down, he said, You better be telling the truth. I'll find out Tuesday if you're lying to me.

I took his sergeant's advice and began to fill out the paperwork. Upon doing so, I was told that I had a temporary protective order on Jake in the meantime. But I don't think I ever really did. About two weeks after his termination, he called me to catch up. The entire call was so bizarre. Even though it had only been a few weeks, he was talking to me like an old friend. He asked about what I was doing for work and he wanted to know if I had a boyfriend. The questioning was personal already, but it grew progressively more personal as he asked me when my shift ended and what kind of car I was

driving. Being 18 and naive, I treated him like I always had and answered his questions honestly. I had reached out to his old department afterward as his sergeant told me to let him know if I was ever contacted again, but they turned me away pretty quickly and didn't want to have anything to do with it, and that was that. I blocked Jake. Roughly a month later, I got a call from a new number, and it was Jake. Once again, he wanted to meet up and catch up, but this time he casually brought up his new house that he wanted to buy in my neighborhood.

As he was talking about this, he implied that he knew it was my neighborhood. But I never told him where I lived in town, let alone which neighborhood specifically. During this call, he grew more aggressive as well. He said, if I knew I was going to get canned, I should have just had my way with you. Then he half-heartedly joked about getting a hotel room just for us, which made me very uneasy. A few days later, he FaceTimed me. Midway through our seemingly normal conversation, he alluded to the fact that he had been touching himself the entire time. I found this disturbing since nothing suggestive was ever even mentioned.

I blocked him once again, but he keeps trying to follow me on social media, started seeing him out and about in my area, which isn't exactly convenient for him since he lives 30 to 45 minutes away from me. Am I reading into this too much or is this considered stalking? Thank you for listening to this week's episode. Make sure you stick around after the music if you're a patron for your extended ad-free version of this week's episode with a bunch of bonus content. If you'd like to sign up and get access right now, head over to patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast to sign up and support the show today. Again, you're gonna get hours and hours of bonus stories you won't hear anywhere else. This week you have heard My Dog is Our Hero by PJR Dolan's. He wanted me to drive him to a place that didn't exist by creaky tits. Graveyard shift and mid 90s terror,

both by nostalgic winters 98, someone kept knocking at my door late by Aurora 9794. Who the hell was that by accomplished duck 407? Creepiest commute by Black Panther 14. There were two guys on my balcony with knives by Eli Box. He was looking back at me through the peephole by throw away 8484856 and finally I got him fired and now I think he's stalking me by Raccoon Bandit 22. If you have a story to share make sure you send it to let'snotmeetstories at gmail.com. All the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission of their respective authors. Don't forget to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like

Odd Trails, My True Paranormal Podcast, and The Old Time Radio Cast, all at crypticcountypodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you all next week for another episode of Let's Not Meet. Stay safe. I've been a long time listener and this is my first time writing in and sharing this