Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast - 12x18: Why I No Longer Go Camping (And Why I Really Love My Dog)

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

Don't miss our next Let's Not Meet Live Stream on Saturday, May 4th at 7:00 PDT at twitch.tv/crypticcounty. Follow now so you don't miss it when we go live!  Stories in this episode: Road Trip Gone Wrong | AdZealousideal4301 (1:19) Why was this red truck following me? | spoketherefore (7:31) The Walk That My Dad and I Never Talk About | Thehistoryteacher1 (14:37) Creep in the Dark Who Said My Dog's Name | indianna97 (18:26) Creepy interaction while solo traveling | somedayhistorian5 (22:42) The Lone Boy | Anonymous (30:41) Encountered a kidnapper | soggy_ass_cheeks (35:10) Why I No Longer Go Camping (And Why I Really Love My Dog) | YoSocrates (38:59) Extended Content: He Insisted on Giving Me My Change | Sarah McKnight A Story From Oslo, Norway | Teresa Liar Liar, Pants on Fire | Camila My Bruises Confirmed It Wasn't a Dream | Anne Due to periodic changes in ad placement, time stamps are estimates and are not always accurate. Follow: - Twitch - https://twitch.tv/crypticcounty - Website - https://letsnotmeetpodcast.com/ - Patreon - https://patreon.com/letsnotmeetpodcast - Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/letsnotmeetcast/ Check out the other Cryptic County podcasts like Odd Trails 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].  New DraftKings Casino players can start playing with just five bucks and get one hundred back instantly in Casino Credits. Download the app and use code MEET to book your one-way ticket to fun with DraftKings Casino! Go to AsteproAllergy.com for a discount so you can Astepro and Go today! 

If you missed the previous live Let's Not Meet shows up north, don't worry. We're currently working on locking down dates around the states for 2024. I'll keep you updated along the way. But until then, don't forget to mark your calendars for May 4th so you don't miss our next live stream episode of Let's Not Meet. I'll be there with the whole gang of podcast guests to share some of our creepiest stories live at 7pm Pacific at twitch.tv slash cryptic County. Follow us now so that you don't miss it when we go live.

We're going to have guests from drinking the Kool-Aid, scary to sleep knife point horror, and that's why we drink and more to be confirmed. Again, that's May 4th, 7pm Pacific at twitch.tv slash cryptic County. Oh, and don't forget, this podcast contains adult language and content. Listener discretion is advised. If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstoriesatgmail.com. Enjoy the show. I was in the United States Air Force, stationed in Omaha in the late 1980s. At the time, I hung out with my roommate and another friend.

My roommate and I share a name, Tracy, and the name of the other girl that we hung out with was Stacy. When we were together, everyone always thought that we were lying about our names since they lined up so perfectly. Being the silly teenagers we were, we always found that to be funny. One weekend, the three of us decided to take a road trip to Kansas City, Missouri. We were speeding down the highway, laughing and singing at the top of our lungs. We were happy and having the time of our lives. Stacey was driving and she had a bit of a lead foot.

She must have been going too fast because before long, a state trooper pulled up behind us and turned his lights on. Stacy immediately pulled over. By the time the officer made it to her window, she already had her license and registration in hand and the window down. The officer looked at her, then looked at me and Tracy. He then said, I want you to follow me. Don't try to run or you will all be going to jail.

Then he turned, walked back to his car, and got in. Needless to say, the three of us were puzzled and talked amongst ourselves, wondering why he didn't just take Stacey's identification and write her a ticket. The officer pulled out slowly, and we dropped in behind him and followed him down the road. He drove a few miles and then exited the highway. He continued driving and then turned onto a dirt road that was surrounded by stalks of corn. We all stopped talking as we became more alarmed about our surroundings, however being young

and scared, and since this was a police officer, we continued to follow him. The officer drove for some time down this dirt road and then pulled into an area that had a large, dilapidated old barn. As he stopped and we stopped behind him, a group of men with shotguns emerged from the barn. It wasn't until that point that we realized we were in danger and panic set in. The officer walked back to our car and told Stacey to get out and follow him to his car. As she got out, she looked at me and Tracy with terror in her face. She followed him to his car and he motioned for her to get into the passenger side.

She did. Tracy and I began to cry as the armed men stood by the side of the car, looking at us. We began praying quietly for God to protect all three of us. We prayed that Stacey wasn't being hurt, and that somehow they would let us leave. After a few minutes, Stacey bolted out of the officer's car, ran back to our car, and jumped in the driver's seat. She was crying hysterically. So, of course, Tracy and I began crying even harder. The officer got out of his car and walked back to ours. This time, he approached Tracy's window as she was in the front passenger seat. He asked,

Is it true that you are all in the Air Force? Tracy replied, Yes, sir. The officer sternly said, Get out of here and go back to where you came from. I better not see you again. As soon as he finished saying that, Stacey started the car, whipped it around, and sped back down the dirt road. Then she somehow navigated back to the highway. As she drove back towards the base, the silence was only broken by an occasional sob from one of us three. Stacey drove for a while, and as soon as we crossed back over to Nebraska, she pulled over to the side of the highway and began to sob heavily. Tracy and I hugged her and asked if she was hurt in

any way. She shook her head no. She wasn't hurt. After she calmed down enough, she told us what happened in the police car. After she got in, she gave the officer her identification and apologized for speeding. He took her information and then asked her, what are you doing with those two? Insert racial slur here. Stacey said that she felt the color drain from her face when he asked this, and then she explained that we were on a road trip. He then told her that if she would do certain favors for him, he might let her go without a warning. At that, Stacey had a complete meltdown. I guess while he was waiting for

her to calm down, he finally looked at her identification and saw that she also provided him with her military ID. He asked her if we were all in the military. In between sobs, she said that all three of us were. He asked where we were stationed and she told him. He then told her to go back to her car. As we sat there after Stacey told us what had occurred, I think it hit all three of us at the same time that the only thing that saved us was that we were in the military and stationed at a nearby base. We hugged each other and cried until we couldn't cry anymore. We never reported what happened since, again, we were teenagers.

We didn't think that we would be believed over law enforcement. We never talked about it after that day. That incident has haunted me for years, especially all of the what-ifs, but as I have gotten older, what haunts me more is the thought that others may not have been as lucky as we were. I live in a safe suburban neighborhood. It's a huge grid of residential streets in the middle of which is a big open park type area. The park area is larger than two football fields and is next to a school. About six months ago during one of my nighttime walks, it was around midnight

when I was walking on the sidewalk next to the park. I was listening to a podcast and slowly making my way to the school. The school has a big, well-lit parking lot in the front. There are two entrances about 25 yards apart. As I neared the school, I noticed a car in the parking lot with its headlights pointed toward the street. This was unusual to see at this time of night, especially on a weekday, but I figured maybe it was a cop. As I got closer, I realized that it was a beat-up red truck. It had started slowly and aimlessly driving around the lot. When I passed the first entrance, the truck seemed to notice me, so they stopped. I was halfway to the second entrance when the truck rushed toward it.

I assumed the driver, who was a man, wanted to pull out quickly before he had to wait for me to cross. But no, the truck just sat there, idling as I approached. I got to the entrance and saw that the truck was occupied by four men. I motioned to the driver to go ahead, but while looking straight ahead, he motioned with his hands for me to cross.

At the same time, I noticed a guy in the back seat staring at me very menacingly. I crossed in front of the truck expecting the driver to blow the horn or red the engine, basically expecting him to mess with me. But they just sat there watching me. I continued down the road and as I was turning right onto another street, the truck exited the lot, turning in the opposite direction. Just a strange encounter, I thought. turning in the opposite direction. Just a strange encounter, I thought. A few minutes passed, and I saw the same truck approaching me. Getting to me would have required circling the park and traveling down three different

streets, and to do it so quickly in just a few minutes would have required serious speeding. The truck slowed as it approached, almost stopping as it was next to me. The occupants stared daggers at me as they passed. It felt like they wanted to do something, but they lost their nerve. Now I was a little freaked out. Damn, my wife for making me watch so much investigation

discovery, I thought to myself. I'm not a paranoid person. So I started rationalizing their behavior. I told myself that they were just cruising around, maybe enjoying some weed before going home for the night. That wouldn't have been too out of the ordinary, but these guys looked too old for that. My gut insisted that something was really wrong. Out of an abundance of caution, I walked a little further down the street, and then I

crouched behind a big oak tree surrounded by bushes on some random person's property. I knew that this was inappropriate and possibly dangerous, and I was hoping that the homeowner just wasn't watching me with their ring doorbell as I lurked on their property. I crouched there for a couple of minutes before I saw headlights. I took a peek, and it was just the neighbor from across the street arriving home. When he entered his house, I breathed a sigh of relief, and I told myself I was being ridiculous. I felt pretty embarrassed. But then, just as I was about to stand up, I heard the rattling of an engine and saw headlights slowly creeping down the street. It was the red truck. I heard the truck's brakes squeal near my hiding spot as they continued

driving. I wondered why this truck was speeding to keep up with me, only to slow when it arrived. It didn't seem like chance by this point, so I was now convinced that this truck was intentionally seeking me out. I started running as soon as the brake lights disappeared. I was a little more than half a mile away from my home, and I wasn't taking any chances. As I turned onto the street that intersects with mine, I saw headlights and I heard that familiar engine rattle. So, I immediately turned around and ran down the side of another random house. As if things weren't ominous enough, there was some spooky music and a witch's cackle coming from the Halloween decorations next door.

Then I waited another minute, making sure that the red truck didn't pass, and I ran the rest of the way home. I walked into my house out of breath and my wife asked me what happened. She then scolded me for walking so late after I told her the story. She immediately pulled up the next door app and noticed that there had been several reports

of car break-ins in our area attributed to men in a red. Truck. Let's rewind back to the days of chillaxing on the beach and all-day fun with Spring Break on DraftKings Casino. Play exclusive games like Fan Fave Rocket. The excitement is endless and the vibes are right. Also, the cash prizes are huge. New players start playing with just 5 bucks and get 100 bucks back instantly in casino credits. Download the app and use code MEET to book your one-way ticket to fun with DraftKings Casino. The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit www.1-800-GAMBLER.NET. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org.

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I would take our three dogs, Reddington, Effie, and Rip, for a walk in the woods. It was summer holiday time, so I could stay up late and go to sleep whenever I really wanted to. I liked to stay up late, which was fine with my dad, as he liked going on late-night walks with the dogs. Most of the time, he'd go on these walks on his own, but sometimes my brother would go with him. I was 11 and I believed in ghosts, creatures, and all sorts of paranormal things, so every time my dad asked me to go on these walks, I would decline because I was so scared of encountering something in the woods late at night. One night, I finally mustered up the courage to go.

When my dad asked and I finally said yes, he was more than happy to have me go along with him. And with that, we got ready, got the dogs, and headed out. Then we crossed the street and entered the woods to start our walk. Right when we entered the woods, we started talking, when we heard a whistle almost immediately. Upon hearing this whistle, I turned sharply towards him, and I asked if he heard it too. He said that he did, but assured me not to worry. I was terrified, and I tried to suggest that we turn around and we go home, but my dad

is a very stubborn man, so we continued walking. We were about thirty minutes into our walk, and we were approaching a park when we saw a man sitting on one of the benches near the park. He appeared to be in his late sixties. He had white hair, and he was wearing a burgundy suit. He also had a wooden cane, and he was drinking something. When we passed him, we said hello, but he was dead silent. His eyes were wide open, and his face was pale, which scared the living hell out of

me. My dad and I picked up the pace to pass him quicker, and then we heard the whistling again. It was louder this time, and the man moved closer to us. We continued walking, and the man was now following closely behind. And then I noticed there was a Missing Persons sign posted. The sign read Martin Jones, age 67, height 5'5", missing since Saturday, July 9th. The man pictured in the missing persons sign was the same man who was now following us. I beckoned my dad over to look at the sign, but he stopped and shouted, Get away from my son!

I turned around and the man was right behind me. He was just about to grab me. My dad came and snatched me away, and we ran and called the authorities. We told them about the man and the missing persons sign that we saw and they said that they had never heard of the man, so nothing even came of it. But we never went back in those woods after that again. I'm a 26-year-old female and this happened a couple of years ago. I was walking my dog Indy in a field in my neighborhood. It was dark, but it wasn't late. It was the wintertime in the UK, so it was maybe 6pm. The field that we were walking in is mainly used for rugby and football, but it's completely

fine to walk through it whenever you want. It's surrounded by houses and street lights on the roads, but the field itself is dark, so I brought a torch with me. I came in one entrance of the field, and I was following a path that led to another entrance. I typically use the field to make a loop back around onto the road and back to my house giving my dog some off-leash time whilst in the field. Anyway, as I was walking up to the field, I noticed a figure entering through where I was planning on exiting.

I kept my eye on this figure as they were wearing very dark clothing, and their hood was up. I shined my torch as I was walking so the person was aware that I was there. At first, I wasn't doing this because I was nervous. It was more so just me being vigilant. Indy is a wonderful German shepherd, so as you can imagine, I feel pretty safe with her. It wasn't until I saw the person duck down behind a tall bush that I absolutely froze. I was about 200 feet from the exit, but would have to walk past the bush that they hid behind to get to it. I called Indy over and put her leash back on so that she could stay close.

By this point, she is also hyper alert due to the person behind the bush. With that, I heard a weird high-pitched voice that was saying my dog's name. I assumed that they heard it when I was calling her. They said it three to four times in this long, drawn-out, high-pitched voice. It was obvious that it was coming from the person behind the bush. Luckily, Indy wasn't reacting to it. Then I had a moment of fight or flight. My options were either to 1. Run past the bush and try for the exit or 2. Turn around and run back through the dark field and scramble

for the other exit, which was a lot further away. Then there was option three, confront this guy. Indy at this point had hackles up, ears up, and was very alert in front of me, all whilst still maintaining a wonderful sense of calm. I decided to opt for number three. I confronted them. I mustered up every bit of courage and confidence that I had and shouted at the top of my lungs, what the fuck are you doing? This caused the hooded man to emerge from the bush very quickly, but he didn't say a word. So then, I said the same thing. What the fuck are you doing?

Trying to scare a young woman? I'm glad that my voice didn't shake or break when I said this, because I was very terrified at this point. He began to stutter and said, oh, I thought that you were somebody that I knew. I replied, who the fuck hides from somebody that I knew." I replied, Who the fuck hides from somebody that they think they know in a dark field? After that, he skulked down the rest of the field, and I made a swift exit with Indy. God knows what his intentions really were.

Whatever they were, it was very weird and scary. I had this experience a month ago and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I'm a woman in my mid-twenties and I was traveling solo through Europe in March. I had the most incredible time and overall felt extremely safe. There was just one encounter that felt so bizarre and, honestly, scary. It was around 10 a.m. in a mid-sized city in Germany on a Sunday. I had just checked out of my hotel and I was walking through the city center with my backpack on my way to the train station.

There were a lot of people around, waiting for the tram and walking. I was in a super safe area. I noticed a woman standing in the middle of the street, where the tram tracks were. She was wearing a backpack on her front, but it wasn't a traveler's backpack, it was a smaller one. She looked to be in her early 40s and there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about her. Soon after I passed her, I heard her calling out in German and soon realized she was calling out to me.

She wasn't in distress or asking for help, she just wanted to make conversation. Now I'd be down for that with many folks, but something about this person was instantly not sitting right with me. So I ignored her at first, but she would not stop calling out to me. As I kept walking away, I said, sorry, I don't speak German. In hindsight, this was stupid, and later in my trip, I wouldn't have done it. But I was still getting all my bearings. Oh, you want to speak American?

She said, we can speak American. I kept walking away and not engaging with her, but she started following me. I picked up my pace and I ducked into a crowded bakery, thinking that either she wouldn't see where I went or at least I'd be around other people in a contained space. I ordered, but before I sat down, I saw her coming in and ordering something as well. I was pretty freaked out at this point, but I sat down, put in my earbuds, and opened a book. I wasn't actually listening to or reading anything, but I was hoping that it would keep her from talking to me.

But no, she came over and sat at my table. I tried to ignore her, but she was relentless, waving at me and smiling. I don't know how to describe her smile. It was forced and unnatural, though. I felt like she was putting on some sort of act. I asked her what she needed, and she told me that she had seen me walking, and she thought that I looked like I needed some compassion, as she said. I told her no, and that I was good. I said that everything

was fine and thanked her, trying to be as appeasing as possible, while still making my disinterest very clear. But she just kept smiling at me, and asked if I had money and a place to stay. I assured her that I was fine as far as that goes. Then she started talking about various things, people she had met on trains, dance classes, etc. Her English wasn't great so I didn't understand a lot of it but suffice it to say these were all completely random topics. A really strange thing though is that I didn't get the impression that she had any kind of mental illness or any kind of neurodivergence.

That would explain a conversation like this, but in my gut, I knew this wasn't the case. It felt like she was trying to think of ways to keep talking to me. At times, I could see the wheels turning in her head as she tried to come up with something, anything to say to me. This went on for about five minutes. Finally she offered to move to her own table and I said yes. That would be great if she could. But she sat at the one closest to me and even then tried to get my attention and tried to

talk to me, and even then tried to get my attention and tried to talk to me. She finally sort of stopped, but still kept looking at me, and she pulled out her smartphone and started texting somebody. Also, she never once touched the massive slice of cake that she had bought at the bakery. There was one man, a fellow customer, sitting nearby who looked sympathetic to me in this weird situation. He kept glancing over like he was suspicious of this woman and what was going on. But I don't think he spoke English, so he really couldn't understand.

And I knew I wouldn't be able to explain it to him as I didn't speak German. My heart was racing, so finally I decided I needed to get out of there. I kept checking Google Maps to see when the next tram would arrive, as there was a stop almost right outside. Once the tram was just a minute away, I slipped out of the bakery while the woman was still looking down at her phone. Then I jumped into the tram. I watched the doors the whole time to make sure that she didn't follow me. Now, I haven't

been able to stop thinking about this. I just don't know what to make of it. I've met a lot of people in Europe. People are much more direct and sociable over there, but no one else ever made me feel this way like the woman did. The whole situation was just bizarre. First she followed me, then bought something that she didn't even eat just so that she could come to the bakery to talk to me, then she kept watching me and texting somebody at the same time.

It just felt so off. I have pretty good instincts when it comes to people, and this person just didn't seem right from the beginning. I can't help but be afraid that she saw me with my backpack, quite obviously a tourist, and was planning on doing something to a naive and vulnerable American who was traveling alone. Shout out to AstorPro for sponsoring this episode and providing us with free samples. I use AstorPro and you should too.

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That's A-S-T-E-P-R-O allergy dot com. AstroPro and go. Use as directed for relief of nasal congestion, runny nose, sneezy, and itchy nose due to allergies. Now back to the show. I'm a 33-year-old male, and I often used to hang out with my cousin who is the same age. We were both 10 years old at the time of this encounter, and it's stayed with me ever since. We would mostly spend our youth roaming the streets, not causing trouble, but kicking

footballs around, climbing stuff, and hanging out with kids our age. The typical kid activities before iPads and Netflix became commonplace. One day we decided to go and explore a part of town that we had never explored before. This meant that to get there, we had to go through alleyways and back streets down a trail that ended approximately 2 to three minutes from my house, which was in a safe part of the neighborhood. It was a sunny day, albeit not too warm, and my cousin and I had been walking for what seemed like miles. The journey we planned was supposed to continue longer, but we got bored and we decided to

take a detour home. The detour involved cutting through an alleyway. To the left of us were terraced houses, to the right were steel fences with sharp points to deter any would-be intruders or thieves. We continued up the alleyway and one of the kids from our school lived there. We heard his mom shout, "'What are you boys doing here?' My cousin and I ran when we heard her.

I don't know why. I guess we just didn't like her son much, and her tone sounded accusatory." As we ran, we bumped into another kid. "'Don't go that way, he said. His voice trailed off as he ran further away from us toward the opposite end of the alley. My cousin and I watched this kid run. We just shrugged at this warning and continued on. As we kept walking through the trees and foliage, it got darker, but we soon emerged on the

other end of the alley, and that's when we saw the lone boy. He was about 10 or 12. He just stood there. His eyes were empty and he had a vacant look on his face. Well, the half of the face that we could see well enough, anyway. Everywhere above his mouth was covered with a veil, somewhat like a Halloween mask. But it was June. Halloween was months away. As we got closer, we noticed that the boy had a kitchen knife in his hands. I mean, a real stainless steel kitchen knife.

He had both hands on the handle and the blade glistened. We joked, are you cooking outside? But he looked at us blankly with no emotion, nothing. We were too scared to move. And that's when we realized he hadn't moved either. He hadn't moved a muscle. We saw him blink, but physically, the knife hadn't been raised up or pointed at us. He just held it close to his chest

with the blade pointing upwards. We figured that we should get away from him since that's exactly what our instincts were telling us to do. The situation was too weird and freaky. Going back down the alley didn't seem like a safe option. Being stuck in an alleyway with a strange kid that has a knife didn't seem safe either. But ahead of us was a road with a steep hill.

It was our best bet. So we walked up to the top of the hill, keeping an eye on the kid. As we looked back down the hill, the lone kid had put the knife by his leg, and he was now holding it with one hand, but remained in that same exact spot. He was staring up at us, expressionless. We told our parents what happened, and they called the local community enforcement team to scout the area. The kid was found with the knife, but we never heard why he was there or what he was doing.

And now, 23 years later, it's still on my mind. So I was on the way home from Arby's with a mint chocolate shake. When I was walking, I zoned out for a second and almost didn't notice the car driving through an intersection as I was crossing the street. I hesitated and tried letting him through, but he insisted that I go ahead. I didn't think anything of it so I went ahead and crossed and then continued walking. When he crossed the intersection, he drove ahead of me and pulled over to park his car near some apartments. This person was wearing a black polo shirt, so I assumed he was dropping something off for a job or something like that. As I kept walking, he approached me and offered me a $20 bill.

I asked why, but couldn't understand what he said in response. I refused to take the money since I didn't think it was right. But this didn't deter him. He just kept standing there trying to offer me the money. So I stepped to the side. Then he grabbed my waist and started pulling me towards his car. He put his other hand over my mouth,

so I bit his hand so he would know that he couldn't silence me. I made sure to scream as loud as possible to try and attract any bystanders if I could. He managed to get me into his car, but just before he could close the door, I stuck my foot out through the door to keep it open. Then I got out and made myself go limp since adding dead weight without warning creates sudden resistance and this made it harder for people to grasp you. This caught him off guard so he jumped back into his car.

I then quickly booked it and got on the phone with my mom once I was at a safe distance away from his car. I made sure to got on the phone with my mom once I was at a safe distance away from his car. I made sure to stay on the phone with her. To this day, I'm so grateful for my quick thinking. Due to my quick thinking, I was able to get away relatively unharmed. After that, I took some time to calm down and waited for the cops to get there to take a report and get my statement. The officer ended up praising my quick thinking, telling me that I had, luckily, done everything right in this situation.

Please everyone, take self-defense seriously. I've only ever taken a week-long course, and just that alone has managed to save my life. I don't remember too much from that self-defense course, so I only use the basic techniques that I do remember, which means making noise, dropping my weight, and checking my blind spots. Any other actions I had taken were just the result of logic and quick thinking.

Chances are, if I had gotten more self-defense training, it likely wouldn't have been as close of a call as it was. Also, never accept money from strangers. While there are good Samaritans, there are also people who don't have your best interest in mind. If someone is offering you money and you think they have good intentions, make sure to double check and always ask why they're offering it to you. If you don't get a legitimate reason, it may be tempting to take it anyway, but you'd be better off just refusing. If you refuse and they continue to persist, then get away from that person immediately.

I live in Scotland, and this happened in the Highlands in a fairly remote location. To understand my story, you sort of have to know a tiny bit about trespassing laws in Scotland. Honestly, we don't have any, so long as trespassers are respectful and non-destructive. They can walk over any hills that they like, and specifically in my case, camp on any beach of their choosing. Basically, the only rule is to leave the area how it was found. I used to love camping when I was little.

My family and I would go multiple times a year with a large group of my parents, friends, and their kids. On average, there were maybe 10 of us at a time, which was a bit of a logistical challenge since we always headed out to this really one remote beach on the coast. Although this area is relatively remote, we usually weren't the only ones out there. There were always yachts with people in them, bobbing just off the shore, and other campers lining up and down the beach. Most of them also had children or teenagers, so it wasn't a wild party scene.

It was very much an informal family holiday spot. There was even a small building with toilets and showers nearby, though this camping spot was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. I guess the local council must have opted to installing plumbing in the area since they were probably sick of people peeing behind bushes. We took a trip up there in the spring of 2011. I'm really bad with timelines, but I remember this well since I got my dog in the winter of 2010.

After picking her out that November from the shelter, she was a birthday gift from me to me, as I paid for her adoption fee. Not only am I mentioning her since almost everyone loves dogs, but she will be very important to the story later. And with that, let me tell you a little bit about Parmesan. Parmesan came to me as a 6-month-old puppy who had been rescued from a dogfighting situation. My family and I are not entirely sure what breed she is exactly, but my best guess is a lurcher-staffy mix of some sort. She is a wonderfully well-tempered dog with people and most dogs. By the time of this camping trip, I'd had Parmesan for a few months. She'd never come camping with us before,

but as far as my family is concerned, dogs go on camping trips. So, when we all piled into the car, Parmesan came too. One unusual thing though, on this trip, was that none of our family friends could make it. So it was just me, my sister, my mom, my dad, and Parmesan. I didn't mind as I wasn't really attached to my parents' friends' kids. Plus, my sister was around and I'd rather play with Parmesan anyways.

The drive took the best part of six hours, and because we had left a bit later, we arrived at sunset. It wasn't ideal to arrive this late since we still needed to build a tent, but we expected to arrive and see other campers already set up. We assumed that the beach would be illuminated by campfires, but the beach was empty. In spite of this, my parents started taking stuff out of our car to try and build the tent. They asked me and my sister to fetch some of the lighter bags from the boot of the car

while they were pointing a flashlight at the sand to see properly. I rolled down the window of the car for Parmesan before getting out since it was pretty hot at that time of year and I wanted her to have air. You always have to be looking out for your dogs. As we were fumbling about in the dark on the beach in the middle of nowhere it was pretty spooky. The one road that led to this beach was circular and had a bridge over the water, meaning you could circle the beach like a big O shape if you felt like it. I was tired, so I wasn't paying any attention to the road, but my mom was.

After about 15 minutes of my dad trying to nail the tent into the sand, my mom asked him, have you noticed that car driving around? It's been around a few times. My dad kind of shrugged her off since he's sort of just like that. I don't know if he said anything back to her, but after a few minutes, the car pulled up next to ours on the road

and someone got out. The cars were maybe 15 to 20 feet from where we were, and the light was pretty scarce except for the torches. We weren't expecting to see anyone else out here at this point, and I think that my mom said whoever this was must be security, but the guy who got out of the car was walking very unevenly. He had to have been drunk or high because he had that stagger to him. There was no way that this guy was sober. Now, it's not unusual to see persons like this out and about, but it's rare to see

them in the wild, essentially in the middle of nowhere. As the man walked into the range of our flashlights, we realized he was carrying a large knife with a blade that was about 15 inches. Although I was small at the time, so maybe my sense of scale was a bit off. Now I don't like my dad, but credit to him because when he saw this he got up immediately, clutching the camping mallet and put all of us behind him. Then the man began to shout wildly at us. He said that we couldn't camp there and he was just quote unquote letting us know. Initially my dad tried to be calm with the

guy. My dad told him that was fine and he said that we would leave, but this didn't work. The man kept coming closer to us, so my dad started shouting. And the man started shouting back. My sister and I were crying. I remember shaking. I was utterly terrified, as I'm sure that anyone would be in that situation. It seemed like this guy and my dad were going to fight, and if I'm being honest, I didn't fancy my dad's chances.

While it's grim to consider, I'm absolutely convinced he would have killed my dad and possibly us as well, since my mother was shaken and wouldn't have had the common sense to run with us. But fortunately, that's not how it went down. Suddenly, a bolt emerged from the darkness like a wolf descending on its prey. It took all of us by surprise. Most of all, the man with the knife. At that moment, Parmesan was an apex predator.

She got him by the arm good. She clamped down hard on him, ripping his jacket and shredding the skin underneath. He dropped the knife as it had been in the arm that she sunk her teeth into. He eventually fought her off of him. Then he grabbed the knife from the sand and ran back to his car then drove off. Parmesan did not follow him. She stayed with us. from the sand and ran back to his car then drove off. Parmesan did not follow him. She stayed with us, her muzzle now covered in blood.

As quickly as we could, we gathered our things and got back into the car. We were all pretty shaken up by the incident. I looked Parmy over. She was okay, but the car's window was much more open than I had left it. We think what happened was, when the shouting started, she must have put her paws down on the gap that I had left for her. It was an old car with manual windows instead of an electric button. So we think she must have been able to hit it with her paws, to force it down until she

had enough room to squeeze herself out. This isn't the end of the story, though. We were all pretty scared, but since we had the dog with us, we couldn't book a hotel for the night. My parents decided to just drive home so we could all feel safe. But first, we had to drive to the nearest town for fuel as the car was low. I spent that time trying to clean parmesan off a bit.

I had always loved and trusted dogs, but what she had done for me and my family blew my mind. As we drove into town, we came across a gas station, but it looked closed. My dad drove closer to get a better look and stuck his head out the window to look at his sign. My mom asked him what on earth he was doing and he told her that he was trying to see when it was supposed to reopen. Never, we heard from the darkness.

My heart sank. Parked in the corner behind the van, so we hadn't seen him at first, was the man with a knife. He was sitting on the hood of his car, using some tissue paper to clean up his arm. It looked pretty bad. Without stopping to refuel or look anywhere else in town, my dad drove out of there right away. He decided to go to the next town over, but again we were in a remote area.

The next town over was sixty miles away. As we began driving we realized we didn't have that much gas. This meant that we were going to break down. That's fine, Dad said. We'll get a tow. Someone could tow us home, or at least to somewhere acceptable for the night. It's better than staying in this town. Then, after driving for about five minutes, we saw lights flash at us from behind. It was him again. He was now following us.

He must have realized that we were low on gas. The next half hour was one of the worst half hours of my life. I had a complete and utter breakdown, as did everybody else in the car. I could tell that my parents were trying to keep their fear somewhat under wraps so it wouldn't upset me or my sister, but we weren't little kids. We were both in the double digits, so we had a grasp on how dangerous this situation really was. My dad turned off the radio to conserve gas, and the man followed us for 55 miles before he peeled away onto another road.

Our fuel meter was on the big red E for empty for the next 10 miles until we got to the next town. We were driving on fumes. I don't believe in God personally, but if he does exist that was definitely one of his miracles. Once we got into the next town, we drove into a gas station and refilled the tank before driving the rest of the way home. My sister and I slept in the car after that.

I only woke up once we made it all the way home. I'm just grateful that nothing worse happened. After getting some sleep, my mom phoned the non-emergency line for the police and reported what had happened. The woman that she spoke to listened to my mom's story and then said that they may reach out to her in the future as the man matched the description given for a suspect who was wanted for murder. We don't know if he was that guy or just some random psycho, but they never got back

to her. So what's the takeaway other than crazy man on the beach, let's not meet? Well for me, it's that I love Parmesan. She's still with us now, old as the hills and twice as grizzled as one of my mom's friends like to joke. I don't know why she did what she did that day. I couldn't tell you what her thought process was, but what I do know is that this poor puppy was born into an environment where she was abused and neglected

Despite how badly people treated her when I took her home. She forgave but never forgot. I Think the saying is never trust a person who doesn't like a dog, but always trust a dog who doesn't like a person. I Can't help but agree They have a very good understanding of human body language and I think that she must have understood how much danger we were in. So, if you're able to help, please adopt. You might find yourself in a situation like mine one day and I promise you, if you're willing to save a four-legged friend's life, they will pay you back tenfold if they're able to, without a thought for their own safety.

Thanks for listening and make sure you stick around after the music for your extended ad-free version of this week's episode. If you want to get access, head over to patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast to sign up and support the show today. You'll get instant access to hours and hours of bonus content with stories you haven't heard anywhere else. This week you have heard Road Trip Gone Wrong by adzealous Ideal4301. Why was this red truck following me by SpokeTherefore. The Walk That My Dad and I Never Talk About by The History Teacher.

Creep in the Dark Who Said My Dog's Name by Indiana97. Creepy Interaction While Solo Traveling by SomedayHistorian5, The Lone Boy by Anonymous, Encountered a Kidnapper by Soggy Asscheeks, and finally, Why I No Longer Go Camping, and Why I Really Love My Dog by YoSocrities. All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission of their respective authors. Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast is not associated with Reddit or any other message boards online.

Make sure you send your stories to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. And don't forget this weekend, May 4th at 7pm Pacific over at twitch.tv slash cryptic county we'll be doing our live episode of Let's Not Meet with a number of guests. You won't want to miss it. You can follow me now on Twitch so that you get the notification when we go live. Finally, make sure you check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like Odd Trails, my True Paranormal Podcast, and the Old Time Radio Back in 2016, I got a job as an assistant language teacher.