Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast - 15x05: The Bottom of the Canyon

Episode Date: August 4, 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: Staying in a Hotel on a Business Trip | errthanglrie (0:58) Always Look Where Your Taxi Driver is Going | Silver (6:33) Working at Denny's Sucked | Jinx (9:58) Psycho Follows Me to Preschool | SnowyMuscles (15:12) Disturbing Experience at a Rest Stop | Barbatos (22:53) I Had 3 Creepy Encounters With Men Over the Weekend | Butterfly_Sprout (29:39) Late Night Walk in Rural Germany Gone Wrong | sugarbumblebee (36:44) Questioning My Safety | ilikeseizures (43:22) The Bottom of the Canyon | ExploreMeDora (47:55) Extended Patreon Content: Birthday Scare | Spencer Scary College House Experience | Ginny I Can See Clearly Now | Megan Late Night Gas Station Encounter | Jess Temporary Stalker | Anie 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! For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code MEET. Right now, when you sign up for a yearly Fireflies subscription, you get your first two months FREE! Just go to Fireflies.ai/MEET. Check out the podcast The Minds of Madness, available wherever you get your podcasts, or visit MindsOfMadnessPodcast.com for more information. 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 [e-mail].  

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If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show. I'm a 31-year-old female and this happened in a different state while I was on a business trip. I had just gotten back to my room from a work dinner. I heard shuffling in the hallway, so I peeked out the peephole. I saw a figure seemingly outside the room to the left of mine, and they were looking outward. I heard them knock lightly and quickly say, hello? This was followed by the sound of the door opening and then closing.

I remember thinking, okay, I guess they must have forgotten what room they were in or something, and someone let them in. So I then walked back to the main part of my room, and I heard that shuffling again. I looked out again and saw the figure. I couldn't make out what the person looked like, and again I heard light knocking followed by, hello? I was starting to get a weird spidey sense, and I wondered what the hell was going on. But then I saw the figure leave, so I thought everything was going to be okay. I then heard the shuffling again. As I started walking toward my room door, I heard a light knock on what sounded to be my door.

This was once again followed by, hello, and whoever this was, then attempted to open my door. Thank God I had the cross latch pulled over. I didn't lock the deadbolt though, so my heart stopped as I stood there and watched the door hit the latch and then fall back shut. I called the front desk and informed them that someone had just tried entering my room, even though I wasn't staying with anyone or expecting anyone. The front desk attendant said, I don't have anyone from housekeeping up there.

And I replied, okay, well, that's concerning. Can you please send someone up to take a look around? The attendant then said that there wasn't a manager on duty. So I asked if I should call the police instead, since I was very worried. All she told me was that I should do what I thought I needed to do. After I hung up, I didn't know what to do. And I didn't want to ask for another room because I was too scared to leave with that person out there.

About ten minutes later, the phone in my room started ringing. I was honestly scared to answer it, but I did. It was the front desk attendant. She said that the police were going to be coming by the room, and she didn't want me to panic when I heard someone knock on the door. I told her that that would be okay and I hung up. But then as I sat there, I thought, how do I know this is legit? Especially since I figured whoever just tried to access my room had a key. Otherwise, how else would that door have opened?

A few minutes later, as expected, I heard a key. Otherwise, how else would that door have opened? A few minutes later, as expected, I heard a knock. I looked at the peephole, and I saw two male officers. I didn't ask to see ID, which in hindsight probably would have been the smart thing to do. But I was so shaken up, and I wasn't thinking clearly. As I opened the door, they asked what was going on. I told them everything that had happened, and they said that it was good that I had the cross latch pulled, since the door would have opened otherwise. I responded, it's a hotel, what do you mean?

What's the point of the access card then? I then wiggled the handle, which didn't budge. They then took a pause and said, so it automatically locks? And then they had me step inside and shut the door to test it. Sure enough, the door didn't open without the access card. So they then said that it was probably housekeeping. I let them know that the front desk attendant told me there was no housekeeping up here when I called.

Plus it was 8.30 p.m. Why would housekeeping be coming by at that time unless I had requested that somebody come by? I also pointed out that housekeeping had already been by during the day since my trash was emptied, and my used towels were gone and replaced with fresh ones. They ultimately said they thought it was housekeeping and told me not to worry.

Then they said if anything else happened, or if I felt unsafe that I should call them, they also said if I wanted to change rooms, they were sure the hotel would accommodate this, and then they left. After they were gone, I was crying in my room, lying under the covers in my clothes. I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep, but I was too afraid to change rooms since I didn't want to leave my room. I was able to speak with the manager the next day when she came in at 11 a.m.

Unfortunately, her response was rather disappointing, just like the front desk during the night shift. I also had a disappointing interaction with the morning shift front desk clerks when I asked to check out. Needless to say, I will never stay at this particular hotel again, and I will be avoiding this large chain as a whole. The taxi service is pretty well developed where I live. We have a global app where you have an ID as a passenger, and the driver has one as well. We have a rating system so you know what to expect, and it's easy to track people down when they do bad things.

The system seems to make people feel pretty safe. It's not like the old times when you would just hop into a taxi at random. Honestly, with this system, I've never had any serious trouble with any of the drivers. At least not until this happened. Recently, I needed to get from one small town to another, through the big city. Everything about this ride was pretty odd from the start. The taxi was showing up very oddly on the map in the app. But that can happen.

The internet and geolocation can be tricky sometimes. Anyway, the driver finally arrived and we started to move. The driver hadn't yet pressed start in the app, and I noticed that he was in waiting status. Sometimes drivers need to wait, and I think they can get some extra cash for waiting. I understand the hustle, but I still found it odd, and I noticed that we were going

on a bit of an unusual path, one that I was not used to. Then I had a weird thought and wondered, what if he's going in the wrong direction? What if he's not going to the center, but to the suburban area instead? And he did exactly that. He was silent since the start of the trip, so I figured there was no way he was doing this by accident. He also still hadn't started the trip, so I figured there was no way he was doing this by accident. He also still hadn't started the drive in the app. He was literally going the opposite direction, which had no chance of leading to my destination.

At that moment, I began to get scared, so I piped up and said, Hey, excuse me, what route are you going? I don't need to go this way. He didn't say anything. He did change directions and finally pressed the Your Drive has started button on the app. He seemed to be upset about me saying something, which was rough since the trip was about an hour long. He kept driving, not as the navigator suggested though.

However, he was still going the right way, but then he started messing with the path again when we were close to the end of the trip. So I called a friend and said that I was almost there, just in case he was trying to bring me somewhere else. He remained silent, and when the ride was over, I stepped out of the car, literally shaking. And when the ride was over, I stepped out of the car, literally shaking. After this happened, I thought, what if my app isn't working? What if I didn't check the road?

What if I didn't even know the road at all? The best case scenario that I can think of was that he was intentionally trying to drive the longest way possible to get more cash. But in any case, I decided to write the support team on the app and report the situation. So to the creepy silent unpredictable taxi driver, let's not meet again. I'm a female and this happened three years ago just before I turned 18. I should mention that I'm 4'11". I'm fairly short for my age. This is important, I promise.

Three summers ago I got a job as a hostess at my local Denny's. My job was to seat people and check them out, as well as help the waitresses when they asked. I was 17 when I started working there, so I wasn't old enough to be a waitress. This didn't stop the wait staff from asking me to take tables that they didn't want to serve, which I would always get yelled at for. Around July, there were these three older guys who came in. I was asked to go wait on them, and I did because I didn't want to argue with my co-workers. They were a hassle.

They basically changed their orders after I put them in, told me I was wrong, and made me run back and forth repeatedly for coffee, all the while making some less than favorable comments. When they asked me how old I was, I told them 17. They told me that I was very cute and that I looked younger than I was. And they continued with these comments throughout the entire time I was their waitress. They also stared at my chest a lot, which I told the other waitresses about, but they didn't do anything to help.

Fast forward to the 4th of July. The restaurant was really busy, so there was just me and another host working. One of the guys from that group of older guys that I waited on came in and sat down. He was drinking coffee and just stared at me while I was working. I told the manager on duty, and he told me to just avoid him as best I could. My dad also came in to get coffee before he went to work, and while he was there I told him about the guy and pointed him out. As I went about my day, I avoided this creepy old guy the best I could. It was hard to avoid him because we were busy, and he was sitting in an area that I had to

walk through constantly, so I kept my eyes on the floor to avoid making eye contact with him. While I was walking back to the register, he approached me and stood in front of me. I looked up at him, as I said I'm very short, and this man was over six feet. I politely said, excuse me, so that I could get past him. He then replied, why do you have your hair in your eyes, pretty girl?" He then touched my hair. I walked to the register as quickly as I could after that and I started crying because I didn't know what to do.

Nothing like that had ever happened. One of the dishwashers took me outside to help me calm down and when I came back, the guy was gone. It turns out the manager finally asked him to leave and told him not to come back. The rest of the time I worked there, I never saw that guy or his friends again. I quit not too long after that as well. In the stories here on the show, it's often the small, creeping changes that go unnoticed until they're impossible to ignore.

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Just picture one of those little boxy smart cars. It was a Mazda. Every other day, I drove to this preschool where I taught 3-year-olds how to speak English. It was usually a very boring, uneventful drive that took about 30 minutes. But on this particular day, it left me with PTSD. I was running a bit late, so I was driving a bit faster than I was supposed to be going. I know I shouldn't have done this, but I didn't want my strict boss to yell at me for being tardy.

I was driving in the right lane, which was the fast lane. I rarely drove in that lane since I generally liked to enjoy the scenery, but I didn't have time for that on this day. I noticed that my lane was merging, and I saw that there was a space in front of the car next to me. So I put my foot down to accelerate and get in front of the car. I was a whole two car lengths in front of him, so besides the speeding aspect, I was following the rules of the road. This must have upset him since he then followed my car for 20 minutes, all the way to my workplace.

However, I didn't notice this as I was focused on the cars ahead of me, trying to quietly urge everyone to go faster. However, I didn't notice this as I was focused on the cars ahead of me, trying to quietly urge everyone to go faster. As I pulled up to the preschool, I noticed that my usual space had been taken. I was rather upset at the time, but in hindsight, I realized I would have been in a worse situation if I had been able to park in my usual spot. The parking lot was an abandoned gas station that was just outside of the school. So I parked the car in an available spot and then got myself situated to get out as I gathered

my purse and phone. Before I got out I paused to mentally prepare myself for the next three hours. As I was doing this, I continued not to notice that this man had followed me into the parking lot. I didn't even notice he had parked behind me, and honestly, I'm not proud of any of the decisions that I made in the next 30 minutes of my life. The man appeared at my window just as all of the kids and their parents started to arrive. At first, I just presumed that he was a parent, so I rolled down my window to see what he wanted. I should mention I'm a female and I was 24 at the time.

All I wanted to do was present myself as a professional teacher to this man, whom I thought was a father of one of my students. I quickly found out that he wasn't the father of any of my students, but instead, this deranged lunatic. He immediately started screaming at me, in a language I didn't fully understand, in front of a bunch of three- and four-year-olds and their parents. I was able to gather that he was angry about my car and that he was calling the police. I definitely understood the word police, but I regret alluding to the fact that I understood anything. I feel like I should have pretended not to have understood what he was saying at all. Since he could tell that I somewhat understood, his screaming escalated, and he was calling

me a liar, saying that I had to understand Japanese. Out of the words I learned from watching anime, I learned police, Japanese, liar, and angry. So that was all I understood from this very unhinged man. And yet he was still screaming at me in the parking lot in front of a bunch of toddlers who were watching the scene unfold. He then demanded that I follow him across the street. I agreed mostly because I wanted to get away from the kids right away.

Also, the parking lot we were in wasn't a place that provided a quick getaway. We were across the street from this really big supermarket, and I felt it would be easier for me to flee from him over there. Plus the supermarket was where he told the police to arrest me for trying to kill him, according to what I was told later. So I drove over to the supermarket and kept my car running. He parked two rows ahead of me and kept glaring at me. For the next few minutes, I just awkwardly sat there. After the police arrived, he approached them and demanded that they see the video.

One went to watch it while the other came to my car to get my version of this story and verify my license. After the officer checked my license, he asked me how the situation started using Google Translate. I replied that I didn't know the other driver since as far as I knew, he was just some guy who randomly started yelling at me at my place of work. The officer then walked away and spoke to his partner, who was still at the guy's car. As they talked with him, they promised him that they would deal with me as well. One of the officers then asked if this psycho had assaulted me.

Honestly, that possibility hadn't even occurred to me before this moment. This unhinged person very well could have started an altercation. Luckily he hadn't. So I replied and let them know that he didn't, and I just wanted him to go away. Before they walked back over to him again, they promised that they would get rid of him. While they were doing that, I texted my boss about the situation, since I was now officially missing class. After the psycho drove away, the officers then came and stood protectively next to my car.

Ten minutes later, when the coast was clear, they said I was free to go. An arrest wasn't made. There was no fuss. I didn't even get a ticket. I was frustrated as I wondered why I had to deal with this situation only for it to be over so quickly and easily. I was freaking out since I wasn't looking forward to the 30-minute drive home, since

that was the general direction where this psycho was headed. On my way home I couldn't help but hyper-focus on the cars behind me for a while. I was also freaking out, since everyone was heading in the same direction as me. Thanks to this psycho, I was now freaking out when anyone was driving back into town behind me. I couldn't snap out of the feeling of being freaked out when someone drove behind me the whole time I was living in Japan. Whenever anyone was behind me, I would have to make a random turn somewhere, pull over, and calm myself down. To this day, I'm still wary when a car is behind me for longer than 10 minutes. But at least now, I'm able to differentiate between it being someone who is just trying

to get to work, or someone who is just trying to be round two of my nightmare. So to the psycho guy with the deranged train of thought, please let's never meet again. I'm a male, and this happened several months ago while I was moving cross-country to Las Vegas. I arrived the night before my move-in date, and I was supposed to check in with my landlord and get the keys to my new apartment. I didn't feel it was necessary to get a hotel room, so I decided to sleep for a few hours at a pilot travel

stop before heading to my apartment in the morning. There was a parking area on the side of the building with three or four rows of parking spaces. The row furthest out was near a fenced-off area. Most of the spots were filled in with trucks and vans, likely occupied by other drivers who had also stopped to rest. I parked my car in a space closest to the main building since it was the most well-lit,

and decided to get some rest. I had been asleep in the driver's seat for about an hour when I was suddenly startled awake by the sound of someone walking near my door. I looked over and saw this guy walking away. He turned around once he noticed that I was awake and looking at him. So he gave me a little wave and started walking toward my car. He then said, hey man, sorry to wake you but my car won't start. I was wondering if you could give me a jump. I was half awake and for some reason I mumbled, sure, I guess.

He replied, great, follow me. What happened next was not my best decision. So I started my car and drove in the direction where he was walking. He led me to the far back row of the parking area in the back corner near the fence. This was when I started to realize how shady the situation felt. So I stopped my car about halfway down the row, and I told myself, just back up and drive off, this is dangerous. He saw that I had stopped and started waving at me to continue forward.

Apprehensively, I did so, but I kept my windows up and my doors locked. I also grabbed my phone and the pepper spray from my bag in the passenger seat. As I pulled up, I saw his old beat up RV parked next to an even more beat up pickup truck, which had a bed that was filled with garbage. The truck was facing the fence, with its back facing the parking row. The guy was standing near the front of the truck, waving jumper cables and indicating that he wanted me to pull closer. But due to the way that his truck and RV were positioned,

there was barely enough space for a car to squeeze between them. Then, suddenly, a woman stepped out of the RV and began signaling for me to pull up as well. This made me feel even more suspicious. So I shouted, no, I'm not pulling up there. If the cables can't reach, you'll have to find someone else. The woman who emerged from the RV got angry and started screaming at me to pull up. And then the guy ran over to her and told her to shut up and get back into the RV.

He then walked over to the driver's side of my door and said, just pull up closer to the truck so I can hook the cables up and we'll be done. By that point, everything about the situation felt off, so I just said, no, I'm not going to be able to help with this. The man then gave me an irritated look and said, I've got to go to my mother's house, she's not feeling well. I just told him that I needed to go and then reversed out of the parking area to leave the station.

As I was pulling away, I saw the woman come back out of the RV. She was shouting at the man and pointing toward my car. I couldn't tell what she was saying, but I got out of there quickly and found another location closer to the city to spend the rest of the night. I don't know if they genuinely needed help or if it was a setup for something more dangerous, but I immediately regretted following that guy. I genuinely believe that that situation could have taken a bad turn. Sometimes the scariest thing isn't what someone says.

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For context, I went to a three-day convention. On the first day, I had someone take me home. But for the following two days, I couldn't find someone to give me a ride. Since ride shares like Lyft or Uber are expensive, I decided to save some money and take the bus and train home at night. This also made sense as I already had a bus pass. On the first night that I took the bus home, it was 7 p.m. To get home quicker, I took a different bus than I ordinarily take.

When I got on, I saw a man sitting in the back, so I sat in the middle of the bus. Little did I know, that man was about to make me and all of the other women on the bus very uncomfortable. After I sat down, I heard the guy in the back yelling. At first, I thought that he was talking on the phone loudly, but he was talking to himself. He was having an imaginary argument with himself about family matters, and he ranted

about having a culinary bachelor's and master's degree. He announced that he hadn't had sex in a year, and the last meaningful sex he had was 2011. A few minutes later, this blonde woman, who was with her teenage daughter and another woman with her child, boarded the bus. They all sat in the back, which made me silently cringe, since I knew he was going to say something inappropriate in front of them. And he did.

The blonde woman was wearing sandals, and he complimented her toenails. She said thank you and remarked that they were dirty from walking all day. To which he asked if he could suck on her toes. As soon as he said that, a few people turned their heads, and the lady clearly said no. The guy then asked her if she would let him do it if they were alone. She didn't respond. He then asked about the woman next to her, and she said that was her daughter. I think the guy knew how inappropriate his remarks were, so he told the daughter that her mother was amazing,

and she wouldn't be here without her. He then said the same thing to the other woman and her child. The blonde woman and her daughter then moved to the front of the bus, and the man asked if they were moving because of him. She just said no. He then moved to the seat right behind me. It was quiet for a bit, so I turned my head to see what he was doing. He was staring right at me, eyes wide.

He was inches away from my face. Why was he staring so intensely at the back of my head? Was he trying to smell my hair? Well, right then, the bus made its next stop. The woman in front got off of the bus and so did I. Then I had to wait for the next bus. I took the next bus to the train station. I was running late and my phone had died.

I went to ask a man who had just got off the same bus if I was heading in the right direction to get to the station since I had never been there. He said yes, and as we took the stairs, he started asking me personal questions like where I lived, where I was born, and where my parents were born. Then he asked for my number, and I said no. The train was already on the platform, so I approached the train car and got on. He followed me and sat right in front of me, asking why I wouldn't give him my number. I guess saying no twice just wasn't enough.

Another guy then got on the train, sat across from me, and joined in on the conversation. It was the three of us, which made me uncomfortable, so I got off. I approached some employees on the platform and told them about what happened. They advised me to get onto another part of the train and walked me to a different train car. They also watched to make sure that neither of the men followed me. Then the train took off and made its first stop. I saw the guy who asked for my number get off.

He saw me through the window and waved, but I just stared. He hesitated before going on his way, but for a moment, I was terrified that he was going to try and get on my train car when the doors I just stared. He hesitated before going on his way, but for a moment, I was terrified that he was going to try and get on my train car when the doors were open. The other guy ended up getting off the train as well, and he walked by and waved. And again, I just stared.

He put his hand over his heart and pouted, so I guess I hurt him. But I just didn't respond. Thankfully, the rest of the trip home went smoothly, but I decided that I would never take that route home again. The next night after the convention, I took my ordinary route and everything went fine on the bus. I got on the train at 8 p.m.

And that was when it got weird. I got onto the train that I didn't normally take in the evening. I do, however, tend to take this train in the morning for work. The inside was mostly empty, but two guys were sitting together in the back, so I sat in the front. After the first stop, a guy on a scooter boarded the train, and he looked at me as he was sitting down. A while later, I glanced over and he was still looking at me.

We made eye contact, but that's something that can easily accidentally happen, so I didn't want to assume the worst. But then, when the train made another stop, he moved to a seat closer to me. I was in the front, so there were no seats for me to move up to. The guy in the back just watched as the other guy asked me where I was going. I lied and said downtown. He said something in response, but I didn't fully catch it. I think he said something about a movie.

I was scared of this guy getting off at my stop and following me when I walked home, so I just got off at the next stop and luckily he didn't. The train station was empty, but there was still some sunlight. A few minutes later, two female train station employees came by and I told them what happened. They said that I did the right thing and gave me advice about getting pepper spray. I only had to wait 11 minutes for the next train, but the women stayed with me and walked me over to my train car. They were very nice.

I didn't encounter any more creeps, and even though it was mostly crowded, I felt safe. I am definitely getting pepper spray, just to be safe next time. This story is from a couple of years ago, right after COVID had started to finally fade and life began to feel vaguely normal again. In Germany this was around mid-2022. One late night, it was around midnight, it had been super quiet the past couple of days due to heavy rains. It had stopped pouring at around 1130 p.m., and I decided to take advantage of this short break in the weather before the next big cloud was scheduled to hit my little village at 1.30 a.m.

As I stepped out, I was expecting the usual crowd of dog owners, but encountered nobody until I walked to the train station in my village. Due to past incidents, I had formed the habit of stopping from time to time and turning my music completely off to return my sense of hearing to the current surroundings. Luckily for me, as I was walking, I just started recording an audio message to a university friend of mine, and that was when I first heard the yelling. Hey! I could clearly hear a man yelling, but I was expecting him to be yelling at

some kind of disobedient dog that got loose from his leash or something like that. I didn't think anything of it, but then I heard it again. They yelled hey, but this time it was angrier and louder. I froze, which disrupted my own audio recording, and I stopped myself mid-sentence. I then saw a man walking fast. He had his hand raised in a fist, and he yelled in German, stay where you are. I was trying to figure out why he was yelling and shouting.

But then I realized he was coming straight towards me, and it hit me. He was talking to me, and he looked pissed. I was still recording, so I said, I think I've got a problem. And then I turned on heel and started sprinting. In the split second that I looked at the man's face, I swear I saw absolute madness in his expression. His eyes were blank. They were completely devoid of any emotion other than sheer rage, and when I saw him, he was maybe five meters away from me. I was running frequently at that time, and I demonstrated as much since I had a very decent sprinting speed in this scenario.

Within seconds, I had doubled the distance between us, and since I was very familiar with the sidewalk ahead of me, I knew where I needed to avoid potholes and which curbs I could jump. I then cut onto my street, not caring about bringing this monster straight to my house, but then I thought about my mother's safety precautions, and I knew these were going to cost me since she required me to double-lock the front door when I left. So unlocking the door was going to take some time, time that I knew I didn't have. I had lost my sense of time at that moment and expected the guy to have held pace with

me. But when I turned around and risked a glance at the intersection behind me, I found it empty. But I still heard him. He was yelling like a maniac and demanding that I stop and show myself. I jumped a small fence onto county property and then I hid in the dense bushes of dying vegetation. I was panting as I waited, and I tried to steady and silence my breath and my heartbeat.

This was when I finally stopped the audio recording and sent it to my friend. Finally, the guy rounded the corner. He was casually strolling around and smiling like a lottery winner. And then he stopped, just a few meters away from me, still grinning like an idiot. He was also mumbling something to himself about teaching people manners, since nobody seems to have them. He was constantly scratching his nose and he coughed a couple of times.

His coughing was so harsh that it made me understand why he did not manage to keep up with my pace. I probably had lost him halfway through my sprint. He abruptly turned again and pranced down the street in a staggering motion. He was sniffing from time to time and erratically wiping his nose. His mannerisms reminded me of an animal with rabies. I waited a couple of more minutes before finally emerging from my hiding place. I made my way back home quickly, and quite literally dirty. Once the door was safely locked behind me, I audio messaged my friend again,

assuring her that I was alive and well, and that I had no clue what just happened. I felt like the guy was on something, and I know with certainty that it would not have been pleasant to meet him, so let's not meet again. If you're into true crime, you know the most unsettling stories aren't always about the monsters hiding in the dark. Sometimes it's the people standing right next to you. I mean, you're a listener of Let's Not Meet. You get it, right? The Minds of Madness is a weekly true crime podcast that explores just how close we can

come to danger without realizing it. We pass by strangers every day, in line at the store, at the gym, walking past us on the sidewalk, and we rarely stop to think what they might be capable of. Well, The Minds of Madness dives deep into cases involving seemingly ordinary people who commit absolutely unthinkable acts, like the Goldilocks-style intruder who left behind a truly disgusting calling card before vanishing into a nationwide manhunt. Or the manipulative ex who used voodoo to control the people around her.

I'm telling you, this podcast rules. What sets Minds of Madness apart is its focus on the psychology behind the crimes, with interviews from forensic experts, criminologists, and even survivors who've refused to stay silent. If you're looking for immersive storytelling that really tries to understand what makes people tick, this one is definitely worth your time. Trust me, I love it. The Minds of Madness is available wherever you get your podcasts. Or visit MindsOfMadnesspodcast.com for more information. I'm a 19-year-old female and I've been working at my local Chinese restaurant.

I'm currently the only one who can bartend, so I'm usually the one who makes the drinks behind the bar. Customers flirt with me all the time, but I've never been super creeped out. However, one day a customer, whom we'll call David, came in, and when I met him, I never had experienced such a strong feeling in my gut telling me to run away. The woman who trained me told me that he was a regular who always ordered the same thing, a switchback beer and a pork fried rice with no egg. He would also talk to himself and converse with the air like he was surrounded by peers.

The first time David came in, I didn't think this was the man my trainer had warned me about. I'm usually very chatty with customers, but I knew that he was off from the get-go. I could tell, since the way he smiled made me so uncomfortable. He smiled like he learned how-to from a YouTube tutorial or something. It just seemed artificial somehow, and that's the best way I can put it. It was like he was mimicking something he observed. When I approached him to help him, he told me I was so gorgeous that all he wanted to do was listen to my voice.

He immediately followed this up by asking my name. I gave him a fake name, along with a fake backstory since he was asking so many personal questions. He then said, I should run away with him. I told him that I had a girlfriend. This seemed to anger him, but he stayed until we were closed for the evening. After he was told that he needed to leave, he paid in cash, and as he left, he waved goodbye to me through the window. I was scheduled to work the next night, and he came back.

Luckily, I was able to avoid him, since I told my coworkers about my interaction with him. He only spoke to me minimally during the visit, but he kept repeating, you're doing a great job, Caroline. This was the fake name that I gave him. Much like the night before, he stayed until we kicked him out. These two interactions weren't very eventful. However, the most recent one has me freaked out. He came in, sat at the bar, and placed his order. Luckily, my male coworker was able to help him out, but he had to leave,

so by the time we were closing, it was just me and David at the bar. I was minding my own business when he started talking to me again. When it started to become flirty, I reminded him of my girlfriend and told him that one day I wanted to have a family with her. He then started in on some rant about how he's related to Napoleon Bonaparte. He even started referring to himself as Napoleon Bonaparte the Ninth. This made no sense to me. He then said that our kids would be royalty if we had any together.

I was stunned. I was just uncomfortably laughing as I told him, I would never have kids with you. He replied, well, this isn't something we have to discuss right now, maybe in the future. I was quick to tell him that he needed to leave after this, and he did. But as he was leaving, I could have sworn he said my real name as he was walking out. I told my boss, who was very protective of me, and she was freaked out and said that the next time he came in I should let her know, since she said that the reason he could be staying so long was to watch where I go when I leave. After I saw David again, I let my boss know, so she scheduled me to work at their other location for the week to see if he would stop coming in.

From what I observed, he doesn't have a car and seems to travel on foot, so I shouldn't be seeing him at all. I remember he said that he lives close to the other restaurant, which is why it's so convenient for him to go there. I really hope that this will be the end of the ordeal because I haven't been able to stop thinking about the danger I could be in. In 2011, my uncle invited me on a trip with him and my two cousins. We stayed in Vegas for the night and then rented an RV for a trip through Utah and Arizona, with our destination being the Grand Canyon. Along the way, we spent a few days driving around to all of the

tourist destinations such as Eagle Point. Then our nights were spent in various RV parks. On our final leg of the trip, we headed to an Indian reservation where we went on a thorough tour and took some really awesome photos. It was very interesting. On the last night, we were driving around looking for an RV park to sleep in. We didn't want to rough it on the side of the road because it would be freezing cold and we needed to empty the sewage tank.

Unfortunately, we couldn't route ourselves to an RV park since our phones had poor signal. Eventually my uncle was too tired to continue driving, so he insisted that we would have to pull over. We took this opportunity to stretch ourselves out and stargaze. The stars looked beautiful in the night sky, especially since we were in an incredibly desolate, unpopulated area. There were hardly any other cars or people.

As a result, there was no light pollution, which allowed the stars to glow intensely. On one side of the long dirt road was a steep hill with boulders and shrubs. On the other side, there was a canyon. To our surprise, the darkness that surrounded us was suddenly broke by high beams coming towards us. A car was slowly cruising down the road, and once it reached us, the driver pulled over right next to us and got out. He said that he was a local. His hat nearly covered his eyes, and his beard grew over his mouth. We greeted him respectfully, and we asked if he knew of any RV parks nearby. He said we were reasonably far from the tourist areas, and that there weren't any around.

He asked us how we got there, and we told him that we were sort of driving aimlessly in hopes that we would happen upon an RV park. He laughed and started to tell us about the part of the canyon that we were standing next to. He sounded like a tour guide as he spewed out facts. He offered to take us down an unmarked trail that only locals hiked, as it had beautiful scenic spots. Fascinated by his backstory and knowledge, we agreed to follow him. He then started to grab some hiking gear from his car and

urged us to gather some of our own. So we climbed into the RV and gathered our stuff. As I was putting my boots on, I watched him circle our RV through the window. Once we were ready, he led us a quarter mile down the road. As we reached his fabled location, he shined his flashlight off the edge of the cliff to show us the path.

I knew this wasn't an official trail, since he said as much, but it didn't look like a trail at all. Even so, we proceeded to follow him down an incredibly steep bank with tons of loose rocks. He led us around a few turns and through several tight canyons until we found ourselves on a big, flat rock where we stopped to take some pictures. While leading us deeper and deeper into the canyon, he asked, wanna go to the bottom?

It was dark, we were tired, so we declined. But we did follow him for about ten more minutes. We saw some birds eating a small animal as we were walking. That was when it struck me that we were truly in the untouched wilderness. We also got uncomfortably close to the edge of the cliff many times. My uncle grew a bit uneasy about the trek and asked him to lead us back. He agreed and told us that he knew of a shortcut from where we were. He told us to wait there as he disappeared out of sight.

We were a bit nervous at this point because we had no idea where we were. We waited about ten minutes, taking more photos to pass the time. Eventually my uncle walked in the direction where the man had gone. My cousins and I were afraid to be alone, so we trailed him tensely. When my uncle rejoined us, he told us that he couldn't find the man. We waited another ten minutes before giving up. He's not coming back, my uncle said. I began to wonder what could have happened to him. Did he fall? Did he get lost? Did he ditch us? I couldn't understand why he would just leave us there.

He seemed so friendly, and we were oddly eager to trust him. So we started to hike back from whence we came. The problem was, nobody remembered exactly where we came from. The terrain was incredibly unsafe, and we quickly realized that we could not navigate it on our own. My uncle called out a few times, but the only response was his own echo. We found ourselves testing ridges that we were certain we hadn't come across before. Foot placement was key.

Many of the rocks were wobbly. My little cousin started to cry, and we had to hold on to her jacket. It felt like we were lost in a labyrinth. My uncle repeatedly remarked that he knew it was a bad idea, but it was too late now. And since this was not a real trail, there were no markings to help us. The only

source of light came from our flashlights. I tried not to look over the edge since we were incredibly high up, and I didn't want to be in the back of the pack. But I wasn't prepared to lead either. I just wanted to be back in the RV. Our anxiety was building as the moon sank, but we managed to joke that we could survive a night in the canyon since my cousin was an eagle scout. We were merely trying to take our minds off of this situation. Finally we found ourselves on the big flat rock. From there we followed the series of canyons that we crossed through initially and climbed

back out. It was such a relief to be back on the dirt road. We walked towards our RV, looking for the man as we staggered on. When we came upon the RV, we realized the man's car was gone. He left us. We were angry and's car was gone. He left us. We were angry and we felt incredibly foolish. As I got closer to the RV, I noticed that the door was cracked open, even though I distinctly remember locking it when we left.

Tears began to build up in my eyes immediately. I wasn't sure if the adrenaline had gotten the best of me or if I truly had a reason to be afraid. My uncle then said, hold on, as he sprung the door open. My cousins and I were too afraid to go inside, but we weren't particularly content being outside either. My uncle took a few steps into the RV and called out, guys, we've been robbed. We froze after we piled into the RV.

None of us wanted to venture too deep. I was just thinking about all of the stuff I had with me. Our suitcases were thrown on the floor. Our clothing was scattered. My iPad was gone. My uncle's wallet was gone. My cousin's jewelry. My other cousin left her phone in the RV, and that was taken as well. It felt so violating. My uncle started the

RV and we drove off looking for civilization. All of us were quiet, and none of us wanted to sleep after that. Fortunately, we had enough gas to make it back to the RV rental place. We phoned the police once we were there and they filed a police report, but nothing ever came of it. My word of advice to everyone is, if someone asks you if you want to go to the bottom of a canyon, just say no. Just. Say. No. Thanks for listening and don't forget to get your tickets for the live shows in Phoenix, St. Paul, and Chicago at let's not meet podcast dot com slash tour or just click the links in the show notes. If you're a patron, stick around after the music for your extended ad free 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 all of the episodes at a higher bitrate and bonus content with stories every single week that you won't hear anywhere else. Finally, be sure to follow my other podcasts like Odd Trails, my true paranormal podcast, the old time radio cast and cryptic encounters at crypticcountypodcasts.com. This week you have heard Staying in a Hotel on a Business Trip by Earth Anglerie. Staying in a hotel on a business trip by Earth Anglery. Always look where your taxi driver is going by silver. Working at Denny's sucked by Jinx.

Psycho followed me to preschool by Snowy Muscles. Disturbing experience at a rest stop by Barbados. I had three creepy encounters with men over the weekend by Butterfly Sprout. Late night walk in rural Germany goes Wrong by Sugar Bumblebee, Questioning My Safety by I Like Seizures, and finally, The Bottom of the Canyon by Explore Me Dora. 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. Send your stories to Let's Not Meet Stories to hear them on the show. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week. Everybody, stay safe. I'm a 22 year old male and I live in Kansas.