Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast - 15x13: To The Men Who Hurt My Mother

Episode Date: September 29, 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: Creepy Neighbor |... StunningVanilla7916 (1:00) Fake Delivery Man | Helpful_catwnoears (11:40) My Ex Has Been Stalking Me | Dinostores (16:04) Help at 3:00 AM | Majestic_Band_6913 (25:15) The Old Bridge | cuiositydoors (29:15) We're in Love! | Intelligent-Test-476 (36:51) "God Said You're My Wife" | crich1123 (41:30) To the Men Who Hurt My Mother... | nickrashell (46:13)  Extended Patreon Content: The Backpack Man | TotesFerosh Red | Kay The Pen Sniffer | Nora Kimmy | Kay 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! Send your stories to letsnotmeetstories@gmail.com.    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 Keep it classic and cozy this fall with long-lasting staples from Quince! Go to quince.com/trails for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  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.  

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Starting point is 00:01:21 This podcast contains adult language and content. Listener discretion is advised. If you have a story to share, send it to Let's Not Meet Stories at GM. enjoy the show I'm a 41-year-old female, and I live in Montana. A few years ago, I was forced to relocate after my landlord decided to rent the property that I was renting to her son. The community I had lived in for 11.5 years had become incredibly expensive, with $787,000 being the median home price. So, unfortunately, I was forced to relocate to another city. Because of the unexpected move and the associated costs, I moved in with a roommate, and then my roommate left to pursue better job prospects, about three months after I moved in.
Starting point is 00:02:43 Our unit was part of a triplex, so two gentlemen inhabited the other units. I was never added to the lease as the property manager required a full deposit, and I wasn't in a financially healthy spot at the time. so I remained in the unit for a year and a half on my own, paying rent and utilities. I became very good friends with the man in the unit closest to mine. He was 52, and we'll call him Devin. Devin was a disabled veteran who was in recovery.
Starting point is 00:03:16 I'm also a veteran, so he held a soft spot in my heart. We shared meals, hung out, discussed all of life's mysteries, and looked out for one another. Our friendship developed over the course of a year and a half. As such, Devin had gone away for treatment for six weeks, and I watched his cat for him while he was gone. Devin had expressed romantic interest.
Starting point is 00:03:43 However, right from the beginning, I clearly informed Devin that I did not share those feelings, and we couldn't be anything more than friends. Devin seemed to be lonely, which made sense. However, I'm a person who requires alone time to recharge my batteries. So I had to set strict boundaries for Devin, as he wanted to hang out all of the time. I would catch him walking through the front yard multiple times a day to, quote-unquote, get the mail, which I believe was his way to see if I was outside so that he could stop in chat.
Starting point is 00:04:18 When I would leave in the morning to go to work, Devin was always outside to tell me that I looked nice and to have a good day. I told him that it made me feel uncomfortable, and he should send me a text, letting me know if he wanted to see me, and wait for a response. There were a couple of times that I yelled at him for overstepping his boundaries. The first time this happened
Starting point is 00:04:40 was after I had just gotten home and pulled into my garage. I was on a phone call and had stayed in the car while Devin looked through the garage window to see if I was home. I was annoyed and I let him know, but ultimately, I really didn't think much of it.
Starting point is 00:04:56 The second time I was getting dressed in my room. It was summertime, so I had the window cracked open slightly. I felt that this was safe as the window wasn't in a place where anyone should be walking by as it faced the patio along the backside of the triplex. When I caught Devin peeking through the window at me, I lost it. I was much firmer than the first time that I yelled at him, and I let him know that his behavior was inappropriate. I told him that if he couldn't respect my boundaries, we would no longer be friends.
Starting point is 00:05:30 Last year, while I was living there, I had asked Devin to watch my dog for a couple of days so that I could go to a family event out of state. Devin was happy to help, and I was very appreciative. Not long after I returned, I started to notice strange things in my home. But I truly thought it was just me. For instance, I would be fairly certain I had locked my door in the morning when I left for work but when I returned, it would be unlocked. Or, I would be sure that I shut off the lights
Starting point is 00:06:06 and when I got home they would be on. I didn't think anything of this. I genuinely just thought it was my own absent-mindedness. Fast forward a couple of months and my mom had been diagnosed with cancer. My sister watched my dog while I went to tend to my mom. While I was away, my sister reached out to me and asked if anyone else had a key to my apartment. I let her know that she had the only spare key, but asked her why.
Starting point is 00:06:36 Similarly, she had experienced the same issues with the lights and the locks. I hadn't shared my experiences with my sister prior to her communicating hers with me, as I really just doubted my own sanity. While I was out of town, I received text messages from Devin, asking if I had a potato that he could borrow. I let him know that I was out of state with my mom who was sick. Devin didn't reply.
Starting point is 00:07:05 Which was out of character. Then I noticed a change in Devin as a result. He was more reserved and less friendly towards me. I thought it probably had to do with my firm adherence, to my boundaries, which was okay, because he didn't have to like them. He just had to respect them. When I got back to town, I stayed over at my sister's house one night after helping her move. As I mentioned before, I was struggling financially, so I would carefully budget and plan my weekly meals. The morning before my sister's move, I had placed three pieces of bacon
Starting point is 00:07:43 into a Ziploc bag to be used later for a sandwich. When I returned the following morning, much to my disbelief, there were only two pieces of bacon. As I held the bag in my hands, knowing that there definitely had been three pieces, I decided to no longer doubt myself. I called my sister and I let her know
Starting point is 00:08:04 that somebody had been getting into my house. Since I always kept the place locked, the only logical thing that I could think of was that it was dead. He must have made a copy of my key when he watched my dog for me. My sister reminded me about the text that he sent me about the potato, and then I saw that the potato I had in the basket on the counter was gone. After that, I had enough information to be certain that my neighbor had violated my trust.
Starting point is 00:08:35 I knew he was no friend. However, I wasn't afraid of him. As I mentioned, he is a disabled vet. So he was somewhat feeble and sickly. On top of that, I've never been scared of confrontation. As a reminder, I wasn't on the lease, and I didn't want to be homeless, so I couldn't turn to the property management for help. And Devin knew it, so I was on my own.
Starting point is 00:09:04 I immediately went to the hardware store and purchased a camera that streams to your phone once the motion detector has been activated. I then placed it facing the side door where Devin would enter. It also had two-way audio capability. So, I planned that when Devin decided to enter my home again, I would see it, get on the mic, and say something to the effect of, put the key you copied on the counter and get out of my house, and never speak with me again, or I'll contact law enforcement.
Starting point is 00:09:35 Also, in the evenings, I started placing a jug of cat litter and a kitchen chair in front of the door that I knew Devin was accessing my unit from. But I never expected that he would attempt to come in while I was at home. But one night while I was lying on the couch watching TV, I thought I had heard something sliding on the floor and the laundry room where the door was.
Starting point is 00:10:01 Initially I brushed it off since I was sure there was no way that he would come into my home while I was there. My cat was running around playing, so I decided what I heard was probably just her. And I figured I was being paranoid because of everything that has happened. The next morning, while I was doing some laundry, I noticed that the chair with the jug of litter on it had been pushed about three to four inches to the side. I checked the camera's sensitivity and found that I could prevent it from recording by slowly opening the door.
Starting point is 00:10:36 But since there was so much movement, I knew it was Devin trying to come in. But he was making this attempt while I was at home. That morning, I took bearspray into the shower with me while my knees knocked. I was terrified. I felt vulnerable and violated. I also felt like Devin knew that I knew what he was up to, since he must have felt that barrier in front of the door when he tried to open it. after that he was never outside in the mornings
Starting point is 00:11:08 nor did he walk through the yard to get his mail I also obtained a firearm for protection and made a police report the police officer was annoyed with me as I didn't want him to approach Devon since I didn't want Devin to report me to the property management and I would end up homeless I'm grateful that whatever he was up to
Starting point is 00:11:31 was apparently thwarted The fact that he tried to come in while he knew I was home really scares me. I wonder if he went through my underwear, watched me while I slept, or did anything else like that. Since then, my situation has greatly improved. I ended up moving out to take care of my mom, and I recently got my own place. I'll never put my trust in another neighbor for pet sitting or house sitting ever again. It still blows my mind. that I had some douchebags stealing from me and stalking me.
Starting point is 00:12:08 This story just solidifies the fact that everyone should trust their gut. There were so many times that a red flag was waving right in front of my face, but I dismissed it. I just thought I was being crazy. At first, I wasn't going to share this since I find it hard to believe myself. I'm a 25-year-old woman, and this occurred recently. I live in a big house with my dad. Our house is at the end of a driveway, and three homes share this driveway. I should mention that the neighbor who lives in front of my house is a drug dealer.
Starting point is 00:13:02 I've lived here my entire life, and he's been dealing drugs for as long as I can remember. One Thursday evening, at around 8.30, I was in my bedroom, which is located close to the front door of my house. I suddenly saw lights in my window, so I looked out the curtains and saw an old blue and green pickup truck slowly driving up my driveway until it stopped near my window. I thought that it could have been a late delivery person but if that were the case it was strange that they were in an old truck and making deliveries at night
Starting point is 00:13:39 I had the TV on loud as I was getting dressed to go see if there was delivery when I heard a man's voice inside my home I couldn't make out what he was saying I was in my room with the door closed while he was in the next room it was my living room
Starting point is 00:13:58 now I didn't freak out because I thought it was my dad coming to tell me that someone was here so I started yelling over the TV dad is that you after I turned the TV down I could finally hear him clearly I heard this man say can I come in the guy was right outside my door I was now scared because I knew it wasn't my dad I didn't even answer him but this This person literally started turning the doorknob to my bedroom door as I was running to get my pepper spray. He never opened the door, but I held the pepper spray at what I thought would be his eye level. I then opened the door, ready to blast him, but there was nobody there. But then I heard the front door shut.
Starting point is 00:14:52 I ran to the other end of the house to wake my dad up, who slept through this whole commotion. After I got my dad, he went into the living room, and we looked out the window as a truck slowly backed into my neighbor's driveway. He sat there for a minute with the lights on, and my dad and I just watched. It was dark, so there was no way to see his license plate. After a minute or so, he left very slowly. It was so strange that he even stayed. I didn't call the police because I was. was told by people around me that it was pointless. After all, there wouldn't be anything
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Starting point is 00:17:05 Let me just say that I was young and naive when I met him. I'm currently 18 years old, and I was 16 at the time. I was never in a relationship before him. I was a bigger girl, and I always found it challenging to connect with guys. I met this guy on Snapchat, and I didn't realize it then, but he was love bombing the hell out of me. I was so lost in the feeling of being wanted that I ignored all of the red flags. After only a week of talking, he convinced me to meet him at his house to hook up, even though he lived almost an hour away from me, and I was a new driver. He was quick to show me extreme signs of
Starting point is 00:17:50 narcissism, and he also admitted that he believed himself to be a psychopath. He was also possessive of me and manipulated me into thinking that he was the only one there for me. He made me cut off my friends and even made me distance myself from my family. He cheated on me so many times. I caught him three of those times. At that point, we had been together for 18 months. He told me that out of those 18 months, he was faithful to me for only three of them. This was bullshit, though. I know that he cheated on me the entire time. I had proof of it, but in the end, he kept lying to save his ass. I have extreme abandonment issues due to my father, and these issues aren't only about the fear of being abandoned, but I also have a deep fear of being the abandoner. I never want to abandon anyone who needs someone.
Starting point is 00:18:47 As such, I thought that he needed me. He was going into the Marines. His ship date was late June of 2024. A few days before he shipped off, I proposed to him. I know I shouldn't have, but if you've ever been emotionally abused, then you understand that you simply can't think about yourself or your safety. You think about what is best for your abuser so that they're happy. We made it through boot camp
Starting point is 00:19:18 And we sit letters to each other During the whole 13 weeks It felt so magical to know that somebody loved me Enough to stay true to our relationship Through something as difficult as being in the military He was still quiet and reserved He always was I never saw a problem with it though
Starting point is 00:19:36 Since he was his true self And he was with me I loved him so much That I saved money to drive down to California to see him graduate. It was amazing. I genuinely considered those days to be some of the best days
Starting point is 00:19:51 of my life at that point. When he came home from California, he lived with me. He had a bad relationship with his parents and he gave me the impression that he had nowhere else to go. This was my mistake because once he moved in,
Starting point is 00:20:06 I was truly trapped. He then did R.A. from late August until late October last year, and then he was shipped back off to California for his schooling, so we were long distance again. Okay, now fast forward to March of this year. One day I woke up and checked my phone, and I was poking around on Instagram.
Starting point is 00:20:27 It felt like I was looking for something, but I wasn't sure what. If you have ever been cheated on and stayed, you just become paranoid, so I was kind of attributing my feelings to that. But then I noticed that he had two Instagram accounts, one of which he blocked me on. I created another Instagram account
Starting point is 00:20:49 just so I could watch his followers and his posts, and then he started following more and more women. That same day, he had posted a story on his main account that was hidden from me. He posted a joke about cheating on your dumb girlfriend. As far as I'm concerned,
Starting point is 00:21:10 you can't joke about something like cheating when it's something you've already done. So I sent him a message explaining just how unfunny it was and how he knows how much his cheating traumatized me. After that, I was done, so I started messaging the girls that he was following on his other account and learned that he was on dating apps as well. After that, it was officially the end of us.
Starting point is 00:21:37 We talked for a few days after that, and then on April 2nd, I took his belongings to his parents' house, blocked him, and told him to never contact me again. Everything was silent for a few weeks, and I was healing. But then, one night and late April, I got a text from an unsaved number that just said, Package arrived. I was confused and responded with a question mark. The number then told me there was something on my porch.
Starting point is 00:22:07 When I opened my door, there was a notebook sitting there. Mind you, it was 11 p.m. So I was freaked out. The entire notebook front to back was filled with letters from my ex, but I refused to read them. Turns out, he had gotten out of the Marines on an other than honorable discharge,
Starting point is 00:22:28 and he moved to the city next to mine. He hated my town, and how desolate it was, but he moved 20 minutes away just so he could be close. He could have moved anywhere, but he just had to be close to me. Also, he doesn't have a car, so he rode his bike 13 miles just to drop this notebook off on my porch. I gave the notebook to my parents and replied to the unsaved number and said to never contact me again. I also said to never come near my house again, or else I'd be calling the authorities.
Starting point is 00:23:04 Then I blocked the number. At 1.30 a.m., I got another message on my phone from a different number. than before, which said, Can you honestly tell me you've enjoyed this past month? It took this psycho only three hours to change his number and start texting me again. I then sent him a very long, nasty message describing how great my life was without him and again told him not to contact me. I then changed my number, my garage code, and my front door code.
Starting point is 00:23:35 A few weeks later, I got three letters in the mail from him, all of which had a very possessive tone. In one of the notes, he went into detail about how he was going to kill himself. He said he would be gone by the time I received the letters, so I called in for a welfare check on him, and he was alive. He told the officer that he was just upset when he sent the letter.
Starting point is 00:24:01 I told the officer to tell him directly that if he contacted me again in any way, I'd be filing a stalking and harassment report. and lo and behold a week or so later I got a message on Facebook from a very fake account all of its posts and information were clear indicators that it was him the message was urging me to read the notebook
Starting point is 00:24:24 that he had left for me so unfortunately I had to read it and holy shit when I say he's crazy I mean he is crazy in the notebook he admitted to his lies and he also admitted that he had done a lot of illegal activity. He also said he's cheated on every single girl he's ever been with. The whole notebook only traumatized me more, so I went to the police
Starting point is 00:24:51 station and I filed a report. Two days after I filed the report, I got more letters in the mail from him. In one of the letters, he admitted that he had been watching me from a hill outside my house, and the other letter was him trying to return our engagement rings to me, which I included with his belongings. He told me that it was smart to change my phone number, but he was going to keep sending me letters until he won me over since I couldn't change my address. I noticed these two letters were sent from a different state, which meant that he had moved away. I was happy to know that there was some more distance between us, but every week I kept getting more and more letters.
Starting point is 00:25:37 I never want to see this guy again. I'm terrified of him. I still look over my shoulder thinking that he'll be there, even though he's moved. Every time I get a call or a text from a random number, I think that it's him and begin to panic. I even have nightmares about him. I hope he stopped sending me letters or ends up in jail
Starting point is 00:25:57 because he surely will do the same thing to another girl if he isn't stopped. I'm a 19-year-old female, and this happened recently when I was with a friend of mine, who was also 19. We were biking home at around 3 a.m. on a dimly lit street, very close to where we live. One side of the street was lined with houses while the other side was a dense forest that was pitch black beyond the tree line. Off in the distance, we spotted a red car
Starting point is 00:26:42 with one broken headlight parked ahead. As soon as we got closer, the car started moving. It passed us very slowly. Then it made a U-turn and drove right past us again. Even in the dark, it was obvious that we were two girls alone at night. So we were very alert as we put some space between us and this car.
Starting point is 00:27:06 As soon as we got to the sidewalk, we noticed a girl standing partially hidden behind a white truck. She was watching the same red car, and it was creeping towards her. Then she ran off. She ran up the sidewalk and turned onto a bike path that cut through the forest.
Starting point is 00:27:25 Two men then immediately got out of the river. red car and followed her onto the bike path. My friend and I didn't feel right about this, so we decided to follow and try to help that girl. We were so concerned about her that we put our survival instincts on the back burner. We reached the path entrance and saw the red car just waiting there with the driver inside. The driver was a guy who was wearing a white bucket hat. He looked straight at us and then sped away for the driver.
Starting point is 00:27:58 down the street. The bike path was pitch black when we walked in. There was a fence on one side and the dense forest on the other. This was when I started to hear slow, deliberate footsteps keeping pace with us. I knew this was definitely not an animal, as the footfalls were heavy enough to be a person. We kept walking on until my friend spotted a girl ahead of us. my friend shown her flashlight at her and called out
Starting point is 00:28:29 hey are you okay the girl just looked over her shoulder and stared at us for a moment with this unreadable creepy expression she never responded to us and she just ended up taking off and running deeper into the darkness at that point our survival instincts finally kicked in
Starting point is 00:28:49 so we turned around and sprinted back out of the bike path the way that we came screaming. We called the police as soon as we got back onto the street. Within minutes, three police cars arrived. They asked questions, and one of the ghost cars
Starting point is 00:29:05 drove down the forest path. About five minutes later, they returned and showed us a photo of the girl. The cop said that they found her with a man, and it made no sense to us since less than ten minutes earlier we had seen her running away completely alone. They also said
Starting point is 00:29:22 neither of them would identify themselves or explain why they were there. It was all very strange, but they ultimately just brushed us off and said that we were free to go home. As we walked away, we saw three people being put into a police car. This was even stranger because the cops had claimed that they had only seen the girl, and she was with some guy. I can't help but think that the girl and the guys were somehow working together. My gut is telling me that this was a setup of some kind.
Starting point is 00:29:55 And I think the only reason they didn't go after me and my friend was because we were screaming. I have no idea what was going on, but I can't stop replaying it in my head. I was on a road trip with my best friend. We were traveling through some of the northwestern states in the U.S. My friend liked having a plan, and while we did, she also learned how fun it was to just do things
Starting point is 00:30:29 my way, which is more spontaneous. She's always preferred itineraries, while I like keeping my eyes out for signs that seem interesting and following them to see what happens. We were at the end of our trip and trying to get home by the following afternoon so that she could have a birthday dinner with her family. I was doing most of the driving during the trip and that evening I decided to get a nap in and then drive through the night while she slept.
Starting point is 00:30:59 I did exactly that and had no problems. But I stopped off for another nap midway and got coffee at a coffee stand. I found it in the middle of nowhere in Oregon. It was somehow open at 3 a.m. A few hours later, at around 5 a.m., I saw a sign on the side of the highway that said, historic covered bridge next exit.
Starting point is 00:31:23 I thought, that sounds awesome. Plus, the timing was perfect since I felt like I could have used a break and some fresh air. So I got off at the next exit and followed this little road to find the bridge. The bridge was only wide enough for one car at a time. I drove through it and realized, I'd have to turn around at some point, so I just flipped a U-turn down the road, drove back through it, and pulled into it. a gravel lot a little way up the road. My friend was still sleeping, so I just turned off the car, rolled my window down, and left the keys in the ignition. I walked over to the bridge and noticed
Starting point is 00:32:01 that there was a sign with some information, so I was reading it, and it said something about the early settlers, and it also explained that the creek was called Grave Creek, since a girl from the party of settlers had either died or been buried there. I can't remember the details exactly, but the creek was named for her. As I was reading the sign and looking at the bridge, it was really quiet. It was that early part of the morning
Starting point is 00:32:31 where the sun was starting to rise, but everything felt like it was still at a whisper in nighttime mode. Just think of what it's like when you're camping and wake up really early. It was like that It was just peaceful and quiet And I was enjoying the fresh air While getting a bit of a history lesson
Starting point is 00:32:49 I had a rock in my shoe So I leaned against a little white fence That separated me from the bridge And took my shoe off While I was tending to my foot I happened to look up And I saw that this woman Was quite literally crawling out from under the bridge
Starting point is 00:33:06 And I'm not kidding It felt like my whole body instantly Was full of adrenaline and everything in me was screaming at me to get out of there. Now, for some context, I'm a tall, very strong woman. I've always been that way. People don't usually try to do anything to me because it's evident that I can hold my own.
Starting point is 00:33:27 As a result, I hardly ever get intimidated by strangers and I definitely don't get intimidated by other women, but this was terrifying. I was looking at her, and she was oddly, immaculately clean for having just crawled out from under a bridge. She was bald, wearing a strapless sundress, and had the biggest eyes I had ever seen in my life.
Starting point is 00:33:50 Also, she would not stop smiling. She had this big perpetual grin, like the Cheshire cat. I never saw this grin leave her face. The next thing I knew, she was standing about two meters away from me. I was having a full-blown pants, panic attack. I kept thinking about how I wanted to run and scream, but I tried to play it
Starting point is 00:34:14 cool even though I was very anxious since she pretty much snuck up on me. I knew my friend was still asleep, and the car was a good way down the road, so I kept my panic to myself. I still had my shoe off, though. I wanted to hide my unease from her, so I decided to take the other one off, so she wouldn't think that anything was up, and I didn't want her to think that I felt threatened by her. So I started removing non-existent rocks from the other shoe as she approached me and started telling me her life story. All I really remember her saying was that she and her mom used to come out here to the covered bridge all the time, but her mom had passed away. I told her I was on the road with my friend and let her know that our trip was winding down.
Starting point is 00:35:05 and we were due home that day. Then, as I put my shoe back on, I said, It was nice talking to you I should get going. I need to get back to my friend. I then calmly and casually started making a break for it. I felt like I was in the clear because she said goodbye as she headed to the other side of the road. I was at a safe distance from her,
Starting point is 00:35:31 so I turned my back and quickened my pace to get back to the car. Then I heard her voice from behind me Ask if I had a cigarette I turned around and answered her and realized In the 10 to 15 seconds that I had my back to her She began walking towards me again She was much closer than before I panicked a bit more
Starting point is 00:35:53 But I kept it all internal Since I was still trying to keep my cool I told her that I didn't have a cigarette And explained that neither my friend nor I smoked cigarettes Oh, that's good, she said. It's bad for your health anyway. She then turned back to the other side of the road. I then got into my car, and I never in my life started, locked the doors, rolled up the windows,
Starting point is 00:36:17 and whipped it into gear as fast as I did right then. My friend who had been sleeping woke up as I was getting back into the car. I didn't tell her what was going on. I just started driving. As I was getting out of there, this woman was just standing in the middle of the road mindlessly grinning at me. It was the most scared I had ever been in my life. Everything about her was just so unnerving and wrong. My friend dozed back off and I proceeded to spend the next two hours driving, even though my whole body was trembling for some reason. When my friend woke up at 7 a.m.,
Starting point is 00:36:54 she offered to take over so we swapped. I told her what happened at the covered bridge while she was asleep, and she was shocked. Turns out, she had woken up for a bit while she was alone in the car. She said she peeked out the window and saw me, but didn't realize I was talking to someone. She knows that I don't get rattled easily, so she was very surprised when she realized how shaken up I was, even hours after the fact. It took about four hours to calm down from the interaction, and honestly, I spent the following year, paranoid. that that woman from under the bridge would somehow show up again somewhere else. I'm a 22-year-old guy, but this happened last year. I was active in the fan community for a band that I love,
Starting point is 00:37:59 and I had seen them live multiple times. I often posted about them online and recognized a lot of their fans just from their usernames and comments, even though I didn't know them personally. One of those people was a girl who will call Nadia. I think that I had seen her name in a comment section before, but I had never spoken to or interacted with her directly.
Starting point is 00:38:26 One day, she followed me on Instagram, and I didn't think too much of it at first. A few days later, she DM'd me in response to a story that I posted that featured a song by the band. At first, it seemed like a normal chat between fans. She said she liked the song and then started asking things
Starting point is 00:38:44 like where I had seen them live, how many times, and where I was from. All of this made sense and context, so I didn't think anything of it. She mentioned that she was from another country, and she said that she had never seen them live. But then it started to get weird. She began asking me more personal questions,
Starting point is 00:39:07 like my age and if I had siblings. She also asked other things that felt out of place. I gave her simple answers, and when I asked her anything in return, she either ignored it or dodged the question. Something was off, so I started pulling back and stopped answering her. That was when the long-members.
Starting point is 00:39:27 messages started. She began sending me these long messages that had at least 10 paragraphs. These messages were huge blocks of text about how men had treated her badly, how no one appreciated her, and how she's always smiled through all of it. I had only just met her, and we never really had any real conversation, so it felt like she was trauma-dumping on a stranger who had never invited her for that kind of interaction. Then a mutual acquaintance from the fandom, whom I did know a little of, saw me at a fan meetup for the band.
Starting point is 00:40:07 She lived near me, we'll call her Leah. Leah said, Hey, Nadia said you've been ignoring her. It's hurting her feelings. I was shocked. I told Leah that I had only started talking to Nadia the day before. I explained that I barely knew her
Starting point is 00:40:24 and expressed that this was really freaking me out. Leia then told me Nadia had claimed that we had been talking for a week. Again, it had been one day. She also mentioned that Nadia was 16 and had a habit for falling in love with every guy she ever talked to. Leia even showed me a screenshot of a message Nadia had sent her, where she said she wanted to hold me and kiss me until I fell asleep. I was honestly disgusted. Nadia also had sent me a photo of herself that wasn't exactly not safe for work,
Starting point is 00:41:03 but it was pushing the boundary of what I'd consider appropriate, especially considering her age. I should have blocked Nadia right then and there, but instead, I replied and told her I wasn't comfortable with what she was sending or the direction things were going. She replied with another giant message. This time she explained how she found my profile, through the band's posts
Starting point is 00:41:26 and had been watching my account for about a month and a half. She also said that she was in love with me. Again, we never met. We hadn't even had a full conversation. All we did was exchange a few DMs. I didn't reply, but a few days later, she sent me an image of a bride and groom
Starting point is 00:41:46 kissing with the caption. One day this will be us. That was when I finally blocked her. I haven't heard from her sense, but it still creeps me out when I think about how long she had been watching me before we briefly spoke. The parisocial boundary crossing, the obsessive messages, and the love confessions after just one conversation were all deeply unsettling. Nadia, let's not meet online or otherwise.
Starting point is 00:42:24 This happened a few years ago when my boyfriend of four years had just dumped me. I was using this website called Meet Me. I used it to meet people in my area while I was in college. My profile clearly stated that I was not looking for anyone to explicitly date. I just wanted to meet new people. Being recently dumped, I was really trying to put my self. out there, which was challenging, as I'm not the type of person who enjoys going out. In my area, there is a popular dance-a-thon that the university I attend did every year to raise
Starting point is 00:43:08 money for a children's hospital. Someone messaged me on Meet Me and asked if I had heard of it. I told them that I did know about it since my dance team usually performed at it every year. He told me he was actually one of the children who had received support from the event. when he was younger. I thought that this was really cool, so I asked him a little bit about his experience with that and genuinely thought that it was interesting. After a while, that conversation kind of went dead,
Starting point is 00:43:37 and I didn't really have much else to say. I also just wanted to go to sleep, so I let him know that it was getting late. About 10 minutes after I laid down and tried to get to sleep, I got another notification. I glanced at it quickly and noticed that this guy had sent me a novel.
Starting point is 00:43:57 He started his message with, Look, I'm going to be honest, I really want to keep talking to you. In fact, I'd really like to take you on a date sometime. You seem like a really nice girl, and you seem very sweet and interesting. I think that we could get along extremely well. As his message continued,
Starting point is 00:44:16 he expressed that he felt alone in this world, and his explanation was very long-winded. He sent this brick of text with zero, punctuation, so it took me a while to decipher. He was about seven years older than me, and I was only 20 at the time. I responded and told him that I wasn't interested in tried to say goodnight again. Then he responded with another novel, and he said something to the effect of, I don't think you understand. You're perfect for me. You were made for me. I'm sure of it. God speaks to me, you know. God wants us to be together, and we will be. One. One,
Starting point is 00:44:54 day you'll be mine. Now, I was trying to be polite, since he was nice when the conversation started, but I've now realized that I was just being naive. As such, I kept responding in trying my best to let him down easy. But he continued, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but God has already decided about this. Someday in the future we will end up together, and you will realize it soon. Who are we to deny him of his plan? He also said that We were going to have three children We were going to have two boys and one girl
Starting point is 00:45:31 God spoke their names to him And wrote them down when he was seven years old And he still has them on paper He then asked Do you know how I know you're going to be my wife It's because you told me your name too And I wrote your name down as well You will be my wife
Starting point is 00:45:51 Don't make a mistake God is talking to me now and he's saying your name to me I can't let you leave at that point I blocked and reported him then deactivated my account and went to bed very creeped out
Starting point is 00:46:07 by the next morning he found me on Facebook and started messaging me there he was going on and on and his messages came pouring in all night I was freaked out so I was pretty aggressive when I told him to leave me alone. And then I blocked him on Facebook as well. I removed all of the social media apps from my phone for the next few days. After all of this, I asked my roommates to stay at home
Starting point is 00:46:37 with me. They agreed and I told them what happened. I was genuinely afraid that this guy was going to come and find me. I mean, he was local. And when our conversation started, I told him my major in some of the clubs that I was in, so I felt like he could have shown up anyway. thankfully he didn't and that was the end of it but to the creepy dude from meet me let's not meet our final story contains some strong depictions of violence listener discretion is advised before my dad went to prison he used to deal drug Due to this, I remember having to move all across the Dallas Metroplex from one hot house to the next. Eventually, his life of crime caught up with him, and he was sentenced to 20 years
Starting point is 00:47:36 behind bars, just a month shy of my fifth birthday and the first days of school. From my understanding, about eight months prior to his incarceration, the following event transpired. Before any further, I should mention that my dad was rather braggadocious with his behavior. He had a small group of loud-mouthed cronies who leached off of him. He was never shy about flaunting his money. In hindsight, he should have realized the target that he was putting on his back, but in the moment, he was living too large to care. The night that this happened is something that I remember vividly and in detail,
Starting point is 00:48:19 even though I was so young. It was a cold night, and the heater inside wasn't doing a good job of quelling my shivers. As such, I was bundled up in a coat while I snuggled beside my mother on the sofa in the living room. Our couch was situated against the wall adjacent to our front door. My younger brother, who was nearly two at the time, was on the carpet in front of us, playing with his toys,
Starting point is 00:48:47 and our dad was on the end of the other couch, Counting what appeared to be a large stack of $100 bills. My mother was telling me a fairy tale that she was making up as she went along, and I was rubbing her belly as she was pregnant with who was going to become my youngest brother. Then, all of a sudden, we heard three loud noises. The front door, which was to my right, was kicked in from its hinges, and three men wearing ski masks burst through its empty frame. With their guns drawn, they immediately began shouting orders.
Starting point is 00:49:25 Get on the ground. Get on the ground. Everything began to spin, and time seemed to slow as my young mind tried to grasp what was happening. One man stood with his pistol pointing towards us, while the other two men ransacked the house, looking for my dad's stash. Frustrated from a fruitless search, they trounced back into the living room, grabbed my pregnant mother by the arm, and pulled her into the hall.
Starting point is 00:49:55 They were screaming at her to tell them where the goods were, and through sobs she informed them that there was a safe in the bathroom. They then made her lead them to where the keys to the safe were, and then back to the safe. They held her at gunpoint the entire time and demanded that she opened the safe for them. unfortunately she was so scared that her hands were trembling and as a result she wound up dropping the key and it fell into the air vent below infuriated the man with the mask behind her bashed the top of her head with the butt of his pistol which caused her to faint upon impact
Starting point is 00:50:34 this injury has had lasting effects on her as she has seizures and the left side of her face is permanently paralyzed. The next thing I saw was the man violently dragging my mom by her hair from the bathroom and into our playroom at the end of the hall. Then the other two men corralled my father, brother, and me
Starting point is 00:50:55 from the living room floor and attempted to lead us into the same place where my now unconscious mother had been dragged. However, my brother was screaming. He was terrified and didn't understand what was happening. The man who had dragged our mom
Starting point is 00:51:10 stomped up to him and once again took a fistful of hair and proceeded to roughly yank him into the room with us. They had us all lie face down on the hard wood and then left the room as they turned their attention to the safe, occasionally stepping back in to ensure that we were obeying their commands. They also kept harshly reminding us not to move.
Starting point is 00:51:34 As I was lying there, I remember not being scared anymore. I saw my power wheels trucked beside me and thought that maybe I could run the men over with it. This was mainly because I didn't realize the gravity of everything. I was unaware of my mortality and the very real possibility that they could kill us. It was in the throes of these ignorantly blissful thoughts that my father, who had guns planted all over the house,
Starting point is 00:51:58 jumped up and ran into the hallway. I then heard three pops. There was gunfire being exchanged, and it quickly moved to the other end of the hall and then out into the front yard. Then there was silence. I didn't move other than shake my mom, who was beginning to come too.
Starting point is 00:52:19 It was at this point that the fear finally hit me. Mom, wake up. I think Dad was shot. I think he got killed, I cried. A moment later, though, after what seemed to be hours, my dad emerged from the playroom doorway, unharmed, and told us that it was safe to get up.
Starting point is 00:52:38 The police came soon after, as there were reports filed by neighbors who heard the gunfire. My dad was arrested for the small amount of narcotics that the now open safe still contained. The police found one of the robbers badly injured a couple of streets over on somebody's front lawn. He died that night in the hospital, and when his identity was revealed, it came as a shock. He was the brother of one of my dad's best friends. Word from my dad's circle then reported that one of the other men who broke into our home that night
Starting point is 00:53:13 was the best friend and he was going to avenge his brother after my dad was released from jail for his own possession charge he was looking for his best friend who was also still looking for him luckily though they never found each other and my dad was eventually arrested again shortly thereafter
Starting point is 00:53:33 I never knew what happened to my dad's best friend or the other man who broke in and held us up that night and God willing I hope I never will so to the three men who cowardly robbed us and caused permanent injury to my mother for my sake and yours let's not meet Stick around after the music if you're a patron for your extended version
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Starting point is 00:54:30 You can get tickets at let's not meetpodcast.com slash tour or follow the links in the show notes. And finally, be sure to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like Odd Trails, My True Paranormal Podcast, Cryptic Encounters, and the old-time radiocast at Cryptic County Podcasts.com, or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow me on Twitch at twitch.tv.com.
Starting point is 00:54:51 This week, you have heard Creepy Neighbor by Stunning Vanilla 7916. Fake delivery man by helpful cat ears. My ex has been stalking me by Dino Stores. Help at 3 a.m. by Majestic Band 6913. The Old Bridge by Curiosity Doors. We're in love by Intelligent Test 476. God said you're my wife by Critch, 1123. And finally, to the men who hurt my mother by Nick Rochelle.
Starting point is 00:55:23 Send your stories into let's not meet stories at gmail.com to hear them on the show. 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 is not associated with Reddit or any other message boards online. We'll see you all next week for a brand new episode of Let's Not Meet. Stay safe. I'm a long-time listener, and I just came across a story in season.

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