Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast - 15x04: Chased Through the Utah Desert

Episode Date: July 28, 2025

Upcoming Live Shows: 11/17 - Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge - TICKETS 11/19 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club - TICKETS 11/20 - Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen - TICKETS Stories in this episode: I Think June Sav...ed Me From a Terrible Fate | Disastrous_Horse_44 (0:59) My Classmate's Mom Stalked Me in Middle School | Queen_Glitter21 (8:54) Strange Happenings in the Mountains of Washington State | AlexAnderRob (14:46) He Almost Killed Someone. My Friend Almost Married Him. | Madam_Monkes (23:30) Maybe I Was Overreacting, Maybe I Could've Died | vi (29:14) Stalked in Paris | angelfaceeed (34:08) Who Chased Me in the Southern Utah Desert? | babyarmzinthowup (40:52) Extended Patreon Content: The Gutter Guy | Nubs Road Rage on Steroids | Phillip DeWalt The Jellyfish Man | Ro He Was Waiting For Me in the Alley | Mayra "Hey! My Puppy is Lost." | Katy Due to periodic changes in ad placement, time stamps are estimates and are not always accurate. Want Bonus Weekly Stories? Hate Ads? Join our Patreon for only $5 a month for over 100 hours of bonus content, and it's all ad-free! Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/84WXQud4gE Follow: - Twitch - https://twitch.tv/crypticcounty - Website - https://letsnotmeetpodcast.com/ - Patreon - https://patreon.com/letsnotmeetpodcast - Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/letsnotmeetcast/ - TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@crypticcounty 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 letsnotmeetstories@gmail.com.  Let Grammarly take the busywork off your plate so you can focus on high-impact work. Download Grammarly for free at Grammarly.com/podcast. Earn points on rent and around your neighborhood, wherever you call home, by going to joinbilt.com/meet.

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Starting point is 00:00:49 If you have questions or concerns about gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BenMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Get your tickets for the upcoming Let's Not Meet Live shows while they're still available.
Starting point is 00:01:04 I'll be in Phoenix, Arizona on November 17th, St. Paul, Minnesota November 19th, and Chicago, Illinois on November 20th. Click the links in the show notes or go to letsnotmeetpodcast.com slash tour for more info. This podcast contains adult language and content. Listener discretion is advised. If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com.
Starting point is 00:01:28 Enjoy the summer. It was one of those houses built for college students, and it was located in a subdivision that was all college students. The house had four bedrooms. I rented one, but the other roommates were out of town for the summer, so I was alone. Coincidentally, one of my friends had a younger sibling who needed to find a home for her rescue pit bull June for the summer. I've had boxers all my life and I've always loved pit bulls, so I had always been curious
Starting point is 00:02:33 about them. As such, I agreed to watch the dog. To this day, I am so glad that I had that dog. I swear she saved me and possibly my life. When June was dropped off with me, I was a bit nervous, if I'm being honest. I didn't know this until my friend dropped the dog off, but my friend's sibling had rescued this pit bull
Starting point is 00:02:56 very recently. It had been less than a month since she got her. Clearly, I should have asked more questions. And I was nervous because June was a bit apprehensive about me, which was understandable, as she was still fresh out of whichever shelter or rescue she came from. This was made abundantly clear by the way that she interacted with me and her sudden new surroundings.
Starting point is 00:03:22 It was also clear that June had been abused. This poor dog had scars all over, and by the looks of it, it appeared she had given birth semi-recently. Something else worth noting is that June was hulked out. I mean absolutely jacked. I had rehabbed dogs before, so I was up to the challenge, especially since I had the entire summer, and it was just June and I. Something else that I should mention is that this house had those magnetic phob locks, and the door at the front of the house faced the rest of the houses in the neighborhood.
Starting point is 00:04:00 There was also a door at the back of the house, which faced an alley. This is where I parked my car. I locked every door every time I used it, as well as the door to the bedroom whenever I went to sleep. And I had June in the bedroom with me. There was an alarm on the house, but the girls who actually lived there—remember, I was subleasing—never set it up, and didn't have the desire to do so, which meant that I was relying on just the locks. On my first night with June, I got into bed and directed June to the comfy, plush bed that I assembled for her.
Starting point is 00:04:37 I laid out all of her toys and some super soft blankets. I was trying to give her the works. I guess June decided, nah, because the next thing I knew she was in bed with me facing me, with all those teeth just inches away from my face. I barely slept because I was so scared I'd accidentally roll on to her foot or something like that. I didn't want to scare her and end up with my face eaten off. Yes, I know it sounds silly, but that's what was going through my mind,
Starting point is 00:05:05 as I lay there awake staring at this massive absolute unit of a dog. Night two was the same, except this time I actually fell asleep. I woke up the next morning to June staring directly into my soul, and we were bonding. On the third night, we spent the evening watching movies and snuggling. I shared my pizza crusts with her, and I could tell that she was feeling the love since she finally let me scratch her belly. She was starting to act like a puppy and less like a recently released inmate.
Starting point is 00:05:41 The next morning I woke up, and it was fairly early. It was about 630 AM, but I usually got up at around nine for my class at noon. As I was coming out of my sleepy stupor, trying to get my bearings and understand why the hell I was awake so early, I clocked June. She was full on snarling at my bedroom door. She was also body slamming it and sniffing it while continuing to snarl. She just kept lunging over and over at the base of the door and the door handle. It was absolutely terrifying.
Starting point is 00:06:17 But I wasn't afraid of her, because I quickly realized someone was right outside my bedroom door. Whoever was out there was jiggling the door handle, which I had locked. I live in Texas, so I grabbed my 12 gauge that I kept under my bed and racked it. It's very old and very loud. When I racked the gun, everything suddenly became very quiet. Who's there? I called out. Some guy replied, maintenance, we're here with maintenance.
Starting point is 00:06:48 We didn't mean to scare you. We're here to fix the dishwasher. I didn't put in a maintenance request for that, I responded. And the dishwasher is in the kitchen, on the first floor. Oh, we were told that no one was here, he said. I'm training a new guy and I thought I'd show him what most of the houses looked like inside. At this point June was losing her ever loving mind and I was kind of annoyed that these idiots had woken me up so early.
Starting point is 00:07:17 Then it dawned on me. I had deadbolted the doors. Sure, maybe the maintenance people had some way to bypass the deadbolts, but honestly, I didn't know. This also occurred when magnetic fobs were kind of new. At least new to apartments near the campus, anyway. I should have been more scared, but I could tell that these guys were shitting their pants between hearing the monster on the other side of the door and my gun racking.
Starting point is 00:07:44 So I cracked the door just a bit, just enough for them to see the gun and June foaming at the mouth. Also, I was trying to get a good look at their uniforms to confirm whether or not they were real servicemen. Weirdly enough, they didn't have any uniforms on. There were three men out there. Two of them appeared to be in their 40s, and they looked like they had it rough. The other guy seemed to be in his mid-20s.
Starting point is 00:08:09 I told them to leave, or I would open the door and let June out. And I let them know I'd call the front office and clear this up. But I told them that for now, they had to leave. And sure enough, all three men turned around and walked out of the house. Once the men left, I checked the doors, and the back door was unlocked. I had checked it the night before, so there was no chance I had forgotten to lock it. I called the front office the minute it was open at 8 a.m. and I explained what happened. They said they had not dispatched any maintenancemen that day, and
Starting point is 00:08:46 they asked for a description of the men. I'm not sure if they were ever caught, but I certainly hope so. I've never been so scared in my life. I used my gun when hunting, but I had never once pointed it at a person. In that specific housing complex, at least five women were attacked in the weeks before this encounter, so I was definitely on edge. I kept June the entire summer, and would have tried to adopt her, as we definitely bonded and I knew she had my back.
Starting point is 00:09:17 I felt so safe with her. But the place that I was moving into after the sublease wasn't a place where she would be happy. It didn't have a yard, and it was really small. To this day I'm convinced June saved me from something truly horrible. To the quote unquote maintenance men, may we never meet again. This happened when I was 13 or 14 while I was in middle school. The school was about 10 minutes away from my car. My parents worked out an arrangement with our neighbor Jake,
Starting point is 00:10:06 who was in the same class as me. He was a normal kid, but our friend groups didn't overlap, so we didn't see each other at school aside from carpooling. I don't remember the exact arrangement, but essentially, my parents would drop us off at school together in the morning, and Jake's mom would pick us up. Jake was usually quiet in the car. His mom was chatty, but I had no issue with that.
Starting point is 00:10:34 She always wanted to know what was going on at school. I didn't wanna share all of the gossip with her, but I told her about some general things, like how we had a spring play, or I'd talk about the science fair, things like that. I would have about ten minutes of conversation with her before we reached the apartment complex where we all lived. Then one day, things got weird. Jake sat in the back seat that day, and I was sitting in the front.
Starting point is 00:11:05 His mom remarked, I think you and Jake would make such a cute couple. You should be his girlfriend. I didn't know what to say to that. I think I mumbled something like, Um, I don't know about that. And stared out the window trying to act like it wasn't happening. Why was she bringing this up?
Starting point is 00:11:26 She didn't really know me, and I barely even knew Jake. I didn't say anything more in the car, I just remembered feeling awkward. I didn't even turn to make eye contact with Jake, but I figured he was probably just as uncomfortable as I was. When my parents came home that evening, I told them. My mom and dad just kind of shrugged since this didn't seem like a serious violation. It wasn't as if Jake's mom had hit me on his behalf or anything like that, but they decided out of caution that maybe I shouldn't carpool with Jake anymore.
Starting point is 00:12:01 I think my dad's exact words were, you don't need to be around that. I didn't want to tell anyone at school about this. It wasn't Jake's fault. I didn't want to make him feel bad or embarrassed about saying anything about him. So I didn't go around telling people about this. I just kept quiet and stopped carpooling with them. After that, I barely saw Jake at school, and when we did see each other, we would just
Starting point is 00:12:29 pass each other by. But that wasn't the end of it. After that, Jake's mom started showing up in places where I would be. For example, I used to go to the park on Saturdays to play frisbee. After we stopped carpooling, I started to see Jake's mom there. She'd always smile at me. I'm not sure how she caught on to the fact that I went there on Saturday morning, but she was also there every Saturday morning.
Starting point is 00:13:00 I had never seen her there previously. Jake's mom also started showing up at the nail salon that I went to. I had never seen her there before, but I saw her there twice in the same month after we stopped carpooling. I tried to think that maybe all of this is just a coincidence, but I knew it wasn't. One day she approached me at the library and said something like, It's so nice to see you here. I bet Jake would love it if you came over to visit him sometime soon.
Starting point is 00:13:35 You two should hang out more. I didn't know what to say. The best I could do was give this awkward smile and mumble something like, Yeah, sure, maybe. Eventually, I had to tell my parents about all of my run-ins with Jake's mom. They talked with her and told her she needed to leave me alone. Then, as far as I know, that was the end of it. After my parents talked to her, we rarely saw each other around.
Starting point is 00:14:04 It was such a strange situation. In the world of horror, a single word, said at the wrong time to the wrong person, can spiral into something much worse. And honestly, real life isn't that different. In business, in emails and proposals, the wrong phrasing, a vague tone, or a poorly timed message can cost you more than just time. That's where Grammarly comes in. Grammarly is the essential AI communication assistant that boosts productivity so you
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Starting point is 00:15:28 I use it, and you should too. Let Grammarly take the busy work off your plate, so you can focus on high-impact work. Download Grammarly for free at Grammarly.com slash podcast. That's Grammarly.com slash podcast. Brammerly.com slash podcast. I was hiking in the Olympic National Forest a few years ago by myself with my two dogs. We were four days in, around 20 miles at least, as the crow flies, from a known mountain road. I was camping at around 7,000 feet that night, right where the treeline started thinning out.
Starting point is 00:16:35 Our campsite that night was a big open meadow on top of a secondary mountain. It was an hour before sunset. My big dog usually runs around within proximity of the camp as I set up the tent, make dinner, etc. But I noticed this time, it was a little different. He was staring up at this tree on the steep mountainside. His tail kept going straight up, and he was barking. This wasn't the same bark from when he would see marmots.
Starting point is 00:17:08 I could tell that it wasn't the same excited high-pitched barks. These barks were more unsure, concerned barks. Now, the day before, I had found a note left under a rock at the last landmark. It said that there was a bear in the area that was harassing a party of campers just a few days ago. I myself had seen tracks the day before, so, after seeing this note, I was rightfully concerned that there may be more around than just ground squirrels. I decided to go climb some of the boulders at the foot of the hill while looking up at
Starting point is 00:17:44 the hillside for movement. I did this before I went to hang my bear bag from the tree. I didn't hear or see anything, but my dog kept quietly whining like there was something up there. I was concerned about this, so I started hiking up this very steep hill to hang the bag. It was so steep that I had to use the trees to balance and lean against so that I wouldn't go tumbling down. Anyway, I slowly made it up this hill, hopping from tree to tree to keep my
Starting point is 00:18:16 balance, then when I was about 100 feet up on the hill, I heard a bunch of movement about 50 feet in front of me. My dog immediately went from a deep low growl to a snapping, slobber flying everywhere type of bark. My heart started pounding out of my chest and I was panicking. A million thoughts went racing through my head in a matter of seconds. If this were a bear, I knew my dog was going to try and save me, especially if he thought that I was stuck up there.
Starting point is 00:18:52 So I knew I had to get off that hillside fast. I was starting to feel pretty screwed. Then I heard my little dog start barking and freaking out down at the campsite. I couldn't see the campsite from where I was on the hill, but I had zipped her in the tent so that she wouldn't wander off while I was away. So I was absolutely freaking at that point. A few seconds later, I snapped back into it. It took me a few seconds to start putting my survival priorities in order,
Starting point is 00:19:20 so I called my dog. Loki, get over here. He came right away and sat at my feet. My back was against a tree, so I was sort of pinned there for a moment. Meanwhile, my dog was seemingly trying to separate me from something up the tree, so I let him lean against me while I tried to collect myself. This was when I realized I had completely forgotten that I had my headlamp on, so I quickly reached up to turn my lamp on.
Starting point is 00:19:51 I was having some serious adrenaline dumps as I did this, so much so that my knees were starting to shake. With my lamp finally on, I peered up the hillside. I figured that with my light, I'd at least get a reflection off the eyes of whatever was up there. I kept looking and looking, but there was nothing. This was confusing, as I knew I had just heard something. Loki and I both heard something.
Starting point is 00:20:21 And whatever it was, it didn't get away. Or it didn't sound like it made it too far. So I knew something was still around. This left me feeling kind of steadfast, and I just needed to know what was actually up there. I was out there in the middle of nowhere, and we were planning on sleeping there that night, so I was determined to find out what was there. I figured that it would be better to face it rather than wait like a sitting duck all
Starting point is 00:20:48 night. As I kept looking up this hill, at one point my dog lunged forward, unpinning me. Then he charged up the hill about 15 feet, still snarling and nearly foaming at the mouth. As he was doing this, I finally saw movement. Something was moving up and breaking the line of the horizon. My dog, slightly charging up the hill, made whatever was moving around us blow their cover, and I was zeroed in. I called my dog back over to me and silently kept watching.
Starting point is 00:21:23 What I was finally able to see made my heart completely drop. It was a man crouched about 75 feet directly in front of me. He was wearing camouflage, but he was wearing something with a hood that blended into the environment perfectly. It was almost like a makeshift guile suit, but his face was exposed. I couldn't see his eyes, and his face was covered in dirt or something. But I could still tell that we were staring directly at each other at that moment. I continued staring for what felt like several minutes.
Starting point is 00:21:59 I didn't have any words, but I felt like I was trying to subconsciously convey that I was ready to stand my ground. I wanted him to know that I saw him, but I guess I was just too shaken to vocalize this to him. As I was staring, my little dog back at the campsite started to bark her head off again, and it sounded like she was scared. I also had to get off of that hill before it was totally dark, otherwise I could have seriously gotten hurt trying to get back down. So I carefully started heading back down to the campsite with my other dog,
Starting point is 00:22:34 who didn't want to leave. Periodically, I would stop with my back against a tree holding me up. And I didn't look in that direction again, I just kept making it clear that I saw him. It took me a while, but I eventually made it back to the bottom. By the time I finally jumped down and hit the boulders, my little dog had stopped barking. So I could only see the top of my tent at the bottom of the boulders. I thought that she was barking just to bark or barking in response to
Starting point is 00:23:04 my other dog. But when I got there, I saw that my was barking just to bark or barking in response to my other dog. But when I got there, I saw that my little dog had somehow gotten out of the tent. She was walking around the camp growling with her tail sticking straight out. Still trying to hold it together, I thought, maybe she got her nose between the zippers and worked her way out. But I was positive I had zipped up that zipper and it was out of her reach. So in a mixture of being terrified and pissed off and feeling the need to do something, I reached into my day bag and pulled out my gun.
Starting point is 00:23:35 I then fired a single shot into the air as the sun was setting. After that, I climbed into my tent without eating and kept my gun next to me until first light. As soon as the sun came up, I packed my stuff up and I left to head back down the mountain. It was all downhill on the way back, but I couldn't cover the ground to get back to the car in one day. It was dark by the time I made it to the last camp,
Starting point is 00:24:03 about four miles from my vehicle. Thankfully, there were other people there. We sat around the fire that they made, and I felt pretty relieved and safe. They started to tell me that they were planning to head to where I was the night before in the morning. I let them know what happened and needless to say, we both ended up walking back to our cars in the morning. The thing that still creeps me out to this day though, is that when I got home, say, we both ended up walking back to our cars in the morning.
Starting point is 00:24:25 The thing that still creeps me out to this day, though, is that when I got home, I started reading reviews about that same hike that I was on. Other people had similar experiences to mine as well. Someone even noted that a man was found dead from a fall around the same boulder ridge two years ago. A woman had been found murdered there just last year. About four years ago, I attended my first real party post-COVID lockdowns. It was there that I had seen a longtime friend of mine for the first time in a while.
Starting point is 00:25:12 And alongside her was her fiance, whom I was meeting for the first time. He seemed like a pretty normal guy. He had standard hobbies and a respectable job. All that sort of stuff. The party came and went, and a couple of weeks later, my friend invited me to a different party at her house. It was a pretty laid-back event. We just chatted and smoked a bit of weed. You know, we were just doing the usual stuff a group of young adults typically does. But only two months after this party, the same friend reached out to me because of a serious issue that had just occurred in their relationship.
Starting point is 00:25:54 She told me that her fiancé and her parents always hated each other, and they had gotten into a heated argument. By the end of it, her fiance had lost his temper and stormed out of the house, keying her mom's car on his way out. They noticed the damage immediately and captured the whole thing on a household security camera. Ultimately, her parents agreed not to press charges
Starting point is 00:26:20 on the condition that he pay for the damages. And not long after, my friend called off the engagement completely. At the time, none of us could have predicted how this incident was, in retrospect, a first look into his violent tendencies. Fast forward a few years, and life had seemingly moved on. My friend started dating someone new, and her ex, who keyed her mom's car, seemed to have dropped off the grid.
Starting point is 00:26:50 All of his social media accounts had been deleted, and nobody could reach him by phone. I didn't know what had happened to the guy, but I wasn't very close to him, so I kind of didn't care. Then, a little while ago, this same friend shared a few articles on her Facebook page. The headline read, Man Arrested for Assaulting Family Members. She added, this was my ex.
Starting point is 00:27:19 It turns out, after their engagement was called off, he moved back home with some unknown relative. I presume it may have been his uncle, or maybe his father. But regardless, he and this relative had been having loud heated arguments, resulting in the police being called to the house a couple of times. The relative then said that he was beginning to fear for his safety, and he was attempting to evict my friend's ex-fiance and get a restraining order. He didn't get a restraining order or evict the friend's ex, so another argument occurred.
Starting point is 00:27:57 This time my friend's ex grabbed a tire iron and began striking the relative with it, landing a presumed total of about 16 hits over the span of 40 minutes. He also stomped on the victim's head after these blows finally knocked him to the ground. After the attack, he stole the victim's car and fled the scene. When the police and EMTs arrived, they transported the victim to the hospital and put a warrant out for my friend's ex's arrest. He then fled the county where the attack occurred and drove about two to three hours away. He was located by a state trooper who was able to arrest him without incident.
Starting point is 00:28:40 He was then brought to his home county's jail, where he was booked on charges of aggravated assault, false imprisonment, theft, and most notably, attempted murder. His bond was set for $100,000. It's frightening to think about how my friend easily could have found herself in this situation. I'm grateful every day that she wasn't harmed, and I'm glad that she dumped him when she did. In every scary story, there's always something lurking in the background, something you've been living with all along but never questioned, until it's too late. For a lot of us, that's rent.
Starting point is 00:29:32 It's just there, quietly draining your account month after month. But what if you could finally change things and actually earn something back from it? By paying rent through built, you earn flexible points that you can redeem towards hundreds of hotels and airlines, a future rent payment, your next Lyft ride, and more. But it doesn't stop there. BILT is about making your entire neighborhood more rewarding. You can dine out at your favorite local restaurants and earn additional points, get VIP treatment in certain fitness studios, and enjoy exclusive experiences just for BILT members every month.
Starting point is 00:30:12 BILT is turning a monthly expense into an opportunity to earn rewards and discover the best that your neighborhood has to offer. Your rent is finally working for you. Earn points on rent and around your neighborhood, wherever you call home, by going to JoinBuilt.com slash meet. That's J-O-I-N-B-I-L-T dot com slash meet. Make sure to use our URL so they know that we sent you. That's JoinBuilt.com slash meet.
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Starting point is 00:31:10 Kalea. Order online at kalea.ca. This product may not be right for you. Always read and follow the label. This has been at the forefront of my mind ever since it happened. I can remember it so vividly and it's definitely one of the scariest experiences of my life. For a little background, I've been a resident of New York pretty much all my life, and this happened around my sophomore year of high school. There was this train line that I would take home from school every single day. I never thought much of this, and the everyday commute essentially became muscle memory, since I knew where to go and when to get off.
Starting point is 00:31:51 The fatal issue I experienced happened because I became less and less aware of my surroundings as time went on. That being said, my commute on this day started like any other. I had headphones on, however I had one ear out so that I could hear the stops as they were announced. Also, in case of an emergency, I would like to be able to hear my surroundings. I liked to get in the train car that was, give or take, the second car from the end of the train.
Starting point is 00:32:23 I had noticed this man yelling to himself, but I didn't think anything of this since that's pretty much standard in the subway. The police entered the train car from the station, asking everyone in the car if they felt safe and if the train was okay to depart to the next station. They received mixed responses. A yes here, a no there. I minded my own business. Then the man started yelling at the police as the train proceeded to pull out of the station. The guy kept yelling, but I felt fine and continued not to think anything of it. That is, until the man said, what they don't know is, I've got a big ass knife.
Starting point is 00:33:10 Part of me thought, okay, well, he's most likely talking out of his ass, and maybe he's under the influence. But for some reason, my gut told me to run. His hand was fidgeting in his pocket, so I didn't want to take any chances. I think others shared the same sentiment since, when the train had stopped at the next station, a majority of us either moved to the next car or got off completely. I was with the group that moved to the next car over. A guy from my school, whom I had talked to a few times, had also been in the car with
Starting point is 00:33:48 me and the screaming man. He also made the choice to move. After we moved, he sat down next to where I was standing. I remember looking at him and him looking at me. And we just started laughing because we were trying to make light of the situation. The train then started moving again, and I'll never forget what happened next. I looked through the car door that connected the train car that I was currently in to the train car I had just left.
Starting point is 00:34:21 The man was still in that car, and he looked me dead in the eyes as he started walking towards me. Fight or flight immediately kicked in and I chose flight. I pushed past a group of people, and when I looked back to check if the man was still following me, he had already made it to my car. He was just a few feet away. At that moment, my life quite literally flashed before my eyes, and I just prayed. I didn't know what his intentions were anyway, but once he got to me,
Starting point is 00:34:57 he just shoved me into an empty seat and kept walking. I didn't even mind the shove because I was so thankful at that moment that I wasn't stabbed. My next stop came. When the train stopped, I looked back to make sure that he didn't see me again. And then I ran like the wind to get out of the station. I called my mom immediately after, and I was freaking out.
Starting point is 00:35:26 Since it was the middle of the day and there was a decent amount of people on the train, there's a good chance he wouldn't have attacked me in broad daylight with so many people around. But then again, there have been slashings and stabbings on packed trains before. It's more common than you'd think. Regardless, to the man on the train, let's not meet again. I went to Paris during my gap year back in 2017. I was there for about four days sometime in April. I arrived there around the time of the Champs-Élysées attack, when three policemen were shot. I happened to witness this from inside a store as it was happening, and had to walk back
Starting point is 00:36:29 to my hostel afterward. I was only 19. Anyway, on my second day there, I had tickets to the Louvre. I set off in the morning, extremely excited, trying not to be daunted by anything. It was my first time traveling alone, and it was my first time out of the country in general. I'm British. Now, I loved it. I had Google Maps guiding me as I walked the whole way there.
Starting point is 00:36:58 It was a 45-minute walk, but I definitely didn't mind. About 15 minutes into my walk, this guy noticed me, so he called out to me with a whistle and smiled at me. Ordinarily, I find something like this pretty annoying, but I was in Paris, so I just brushed it off. I carried on walking, and a few minutes later, he appeared next to me, smiling and saying hi. He had very tanned skin and appeared to be in his early or mid-20s.
Starting point is 00:37:34 I said hello back to him in a surprised tone, since I realized he must have been following me. I found this strange, but we began to talk. I told him I was just there traveling and then going to the Louvre. He asked me a lot of questions, but kept the conversation pretty general due to my very poor French. I asked him why he was following me and asked him if he had somewhere to be. This didn't faze him at all.
Starting point is 00:38:06 He just smiled and carried on with the conversation, and he told me that he didn't have anywhere to be. Then he told me that I should go to dinner with him. I said, great, but in my head I was thinking, that is not going to happen. I then decided to start playing around with the conversation. I asked him if he smoked. He looked surprised, but said that he did. He asked if I smoked as well.
Starting point is 00:38:33 Keep in mind, his English was as poor as my French was. I then looked up how to say weed in French on Google. And then I asked, do you smoke weed? He looked slightly confused and laughed and said, yes, come with me. We can smoke later. I laughed too because I don't smoke. It was just funny to throw him off a bit. As I continued walking, I realized he didn't seem to know his way around,
Starting point is 00:39:04 which was odd, and he had no idea where the Louvre was. I said, I have my ticket for the Louvre already. I'm going straight in, so I'm not sure why you're following me. He replied, I don't mind, I'll wait for you. We can go to dinner later, and then you can come back to my apartment and meet my friends, and we can smoke. Once we reached the Louvre, my heart was beating a little faster as I realized Go to dinner later, and then you can come back to my apartment and meet my friends, and we can smoke." Once we reached the Louvre, my heart was beating a little faster as I realized I was alone
Starting point is 00:39:31 in a different country, and I remember thinking, what do I do? It was slightly comforting to see the entrance of the Louvre. It had this big open space full of people. This was the first time I straight up walked away from him. I just ignored him and walked up to the ticket kiosk. There was an older guy who spoke English there, for tourists, obviously, so I let him know that I needed my physical ticket since I reserved it online. Meanwhile, the guy who had been walking with me was standing at a distance,
Starting point is 00:40:06 watching me. I looked the man at the ticket kiosk in the eye as I said, this man over here is following me. His expression changed, but we maintained eye contact the entire time. He asked me where and I let him know the man following me was to the right. He glanced before looking back at me. Then he told me to go straight inside and just walk away from the man who was following.
Starting point is 00:40:37 Right then, the guy suddenly approached me and asked, what's going on? I was still making eye contact with the man at the ticket kiosk, who then asked, are you going to be okay? I lightened my tone and replied, yes, thank you very much. This guy continued to follow me, but I was over it, so I left him behind and went down an escalator. I saw him watching me as he looked around. and went down an escalator. I saw him watching me as he looked around.
Starting point is 00:41:05 The weird and kind of sad thing is, I tried to tell all the security guards I was being followed but none of them even listened to me. Then I approached this French lady who was behind the desk, stamping tickets. I tried to tell her as well, but she just asked for my ticket, stamped it, and told me to make my way downstairs. Since nobody was listening to me, I finally went to a security desk in the Louvre itself, and I said the same thing. This lady talked to me, asked me for my information, and then proceeded to tell me he was probably
Starting point is 00:41:40 trying to rob me, which I didn't agree with since he had been following me for over 30 minutes. There was a cold feeling all over my body at this point, but at least I was safe and sound inside, where there were numerous soldiers with guns walking around inside and outside the place. But once again, being alone, young, and far from my hostel, I was still on edge. Being alone, young, and far from my hostel, I was still on edge. If I had told the guy who followed me where I was staying, which he asked for continuously, I think something else entirely would have happened. When I exited the Louvre much later, I didn't see him, and I'm so glad that I got to enjoy the rest of my trip, save for the shooting, without much hassle.
Starting point is 00:42:25 I never told my parents about this either. My mother would freak. I have more freaky stories from my trips during my gap year. I'm pretty self-aware, but for some reason, trouble follows me whenever I go abroad. and the discovered the exciting action of Ben MGM casino check out a wide variety of table games with a live dealer or enjoy over 3,000 games to choose from like cash eruption UFC Gold Blitz, Make Instant Deposits or Same Day Withdrawals. Download the BetMGM Ontario app today. Visit betmgm.com
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Starting point is 00:44:10 That's two checks on your list. Pennzoil, long may we drive. Offerants 83125, valid at participating locations only, valid email address required. Terms apply, see pennzoil.ca slash offer for details. MasterCard is a trademark of MasterCard International Incorporated MasterCard International, Incorporated. When this happened, I was in my 20s. I was young and full of ambition. I was also a raging alcoholic
Starting point is 00:44:32 and a drug addict. So my memory is kind of hazy. However, I have now been sober for almost a year. Anyway, I moved from Arizona to Salt Lake City, Utah, and I got a job as a service technician. One of my jobs was to add and install devices and equipment to a string of gas stations. I started in St. George and slowly worked my way up the state to Salt Lake City. Along the way, I hit every location that was missing one of these devices.
Starting point is 00:45:02 For the life of me, I cannot remember exactly where I was when this happened, but I know it was between Richfield and another town. I was in one of those small towns between Richfield and wherever I was headed. I had finished installing devices at the store and it was pretty late, about 10 or 11 p.m. I wanted to get to the next town over so that I could get right to work in
Starting point is 00:45:28 the morning rather than drive two hours to get to that location. As I was driving down the highway, Google Maps told me to take this dirt road to get to the town that I was trying to get to. I was hesitant and I wondered, why was this where I was being routed? But I turned left onto a dirt road anyhow. This road was exactly that. It was a long, dirt road with absolutely nothing around. It was pitch black out there, and the darkness was so thick that my high beams hardly seemed
Starting point is 00:46:04 to cut through it. About five to seven minutes into the drive, my truck started to sputter. I was driving an old 2008 work truck. It was a real piece of crap. I cursed under my breath as I pulled over and put it in park. When I lifted the hood, nothing seemed to be wrong, and I knew what I was looking at. I do have some mechanical knowledge. Of course, when I looked at my phone, I saw that I had no cell service at all. I even checked my work phone, and it didn't have service either.
Starting point is 00:46:38 My only options here were to stay put and wait it out until daybreak, or find a spot where I could get at least a bar of service. I opted for option two. Also, I usually carry a firearm with me, but on this trip I forgot it. So, wielding a 10 inch pipe wrench and a Milwaukee flashlight, I walked into the desert determined to rescue myself from the dark abyss. I'd like to add that this road was barely paved. I mean, it felt like a road that a truck shouldn't be on,
Starting point is 00:47:14 unless it was the only option to take to get to a specific point. In hindsight, I honestly wouldn't even call it a road. It was more of a trail with trees and brush lining it like a natural wall. Now I'm not an anxious person. I don't get scared very easily. I grew up in Arizona, so I was pretty used to the dark, quiet deserts. Yet every step I took furthering myself from the truck made me feel more tense. After walking for about ten minutes, I randomly heard this laughing.
Starting point is 00:47:50 The laughter was kind of muffled. It sounded somewhat canned, like something you'd hear out of a kids show. It was coming from somewhere behind me, so I swung around quickly. But I didn't see anything. As I kept pushing forward, my boots were sinking into the mounds of sand. My heart was beating out of my chest like a ticking time bomb, and then I heard the laughter again. It was closer and louder.
Starting point is 00:48:20 It sounded like it was just four or five feet from me. This made me break into a full on sprint into the desert brush and sand. My eyes were darting around like lasers looking for somewhere to hide. I don't believe in anything paranormal or aliens or anything like that. So I figured I was hearing some kind of deranged person or possibly an addict. In any case, adrenaline was coursing through me as I dove behind a nearby rock to hide. As I ducked down, my right knee started hurting instantly because of the rigid surface of the rocks on the ground. But I didn't care, I knew I needed to hide.
Starting point is 00:49:00 The rock that I was hiding behind was this mound that was just about three feet tall. The moon was shining brightly, and I was able to see some things, and as I was scanning the desert, I saw the silhouettes of two people running. I was barely able to make them out, but my eyes had finally adjusted to being in the dark. I should mention that by this point, I had turned my flashlight off to not give away my location. Then I heard them. I could hear these two people talking,
Starting point is 00:49:34 but they were just far enough away that I couldn't understand what they were saying. Now I was scared, so I tried to send a message to my family and friends to tell them that I loved them and that I was sorry for anything that I had done wrong in my life. These messages didn't end up sending since I didn't have any service, but typing them out somewhat helped me cope with this traumatic event. I'm not a small guy. I'm 5'10", I weigh about 230 pounds, but I was unarmed and outnumbered.
Starting point is 00:50:03 And God only knows how many other people were out there with them. I couldn't help but wonder, what were they planning on doing when I was found alone and helpless? I waited, but they were leaving the general area. They were scrambling around like mosquitoes. So I then thought of the only thing I could do. I grabbed two small rocks. And I'm not religious, but I prayed to God that night, as I threw them as far as I could in a direction away from the truck and the road. I then heard them scurry away in pursuit of the noise that I made from the rock.
Starting point is 00:50:44 They were shouting at each other as they trekked through the desert. Then, while still crouching, I slowly made my way through the brush, back to the truck. I then heard another set of feet stomping after me. It was now confirmed, there were at least three people in the desert with me. I kept walking in a crouch until I finally saw my truck. Once I saw it, I felt like I was in heaven, and every step was taking me closer to salvation.
Starting point is 00:51:15 My boots continued filling with sand with every step that I took on the soft, cold sand. And I had branches from the brush stuck to me. They were stabbing me through my cargo work pants. I heard these people tailing me again, but I couldn't bring myself to turn around. I didn't even care to see who was chasing me. Once I was at the truck, I saw that the driver's side door was completely open, even though I had left it closed. I flung the door open even more and checked the back seat. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, so
Starting point is 00:51:49 I practically flew into the driver's seat. And then I took a big risk. I tried to start the truck. It took a couple of attempts to start, but once I did, it let out a roar. I then threw it into gear and took off. As I was hauling ass down this dirt road, I saw a few people wearing hoods along the sides of the road. They were ducking as I drove by, and in some instances,
Starting point is 00:52:14 I saw them scattering into the darkness like roaches. I rolled down the window and chucked my pipe wrench as hard as I could right at one of them and sped off. I yelled as I sped off into the pitch dark desert night. Trails of dust billowed behind the truck as I drove, and then it was silent in the truck. I couldn't hear anything except for me and my heavy breathing as I tried to make sense of the whole situation. I kept driving until I saw town lights. I was sweating as I was gritting my teeth and
Starting point is 00:52:48 white-knuckling the steering wheel while going at least 75 miles per hour. I got into the small town at around midnight. I stopped at a 7-Eleven. I must have looked terrified since the cashier asked me what was wrong. I just asked her to call the sheriff's office. I also called my boss who was initially upset about the late night call he was receiving. He was shocked at what I said and told me to call the sheriff's office himself and
Starting point is 00:53:16 the mechanic. I let him know that the sheriff had already been called. The sheriff ended up being this old burly looking man. I'm covered in tattoos head to toe, so he essentially treated me as though I were a criminal myself. Needless to say, the cops were not any help. They essentially told me that I had been up too long. Maybe I was hallucinating.
Starting point is 00:53:41 I definitely wasn't. They pretty much asked me if I had taken any drugs or had anything to drink. And they barely wrote anything in their report. I stayed in a motel that night. I think it was a Motel 6. I swear I didn't get a lick of sleep that night, not even after I showered all of the dirt off of me. As for what was wrong with the truck, well it turns out a hose had burst or something
Starting point is 00:54:08 like that, but I don't remember exactly what it was. The mechanic was really nice. He didn't even charge me for the repair. I told him about what happened and he said that he had never heard of something like that happening in the area. I ended up returning home early and I quit this job later down the line for reasons unrelated to this event. I've since moved from Utah to Florida, so I'll never know what was going on that night. Maybe an attempted robbery? Maybe they were
Starting point is 00:54:37 trying to hurt me? Or maybe they saw the truck and thought, ooh, expensive tools and copper. I have no idea. Whoever these people were, I felt like they were hunting me like some kind of animal. Has anyone had similar experiences? How close do you think I was to being murdered in the desert? I think that we as humans aren't afraid of being alone in the dark, but we are afraid of finding someone else in the dark with us. Thanks for listening and don't forget to get your tickets for the next Live Let's Not Meet shows. Again, that's Phoenix, Arizona on November 17th, St. Paul, Minnesota on November 19th, and Chicago, Illinois on November 20th. Tickets
Starting point is 00:55:29 at letsnotmeetpodcast.com slash tour or click the link in the show notes. If you're a patron, stick around after the music for your extended version of this week's episode. If you want to get access, go to patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast to sign up and support the show today. You'll get access to ad free versions of every episode at a higher bit This radiocast over at crypticcountypodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts and catch my live streams at twitch.tv slash cryptic county. This week you have heard I think June saved me from a terrible fate by disastrous horse 44. My classmates mom stalked me in middle school by Queen Glitter 21.
Starting point is 00:56:19 Strange happenings in the mountains of Washington State by Alex Anderraub He Almost Killed Someone My Friend Almost Married Him by Madame Monkeys Maybe I was Overreacting Maybe I Could Have Died by V Stalked in Paris by AngelFaced and finally Who Chased Me in the Southern Utah Desert by Baby Arms and Tho Up All of the stories you heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission of their respective authors. Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast
Starting point is 00:56:50 is not associated with Reddit or any of the message boards online. Send your stories into letstnotmeetsstories at gmail.com to hear them on the show. We'll see you all next week. Everybody stay safe. This happened when I was about 15.

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