Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast - 15x19: The Bumble Date From Hell

Episode Date: November 10, 2025

Stories in this episode: Betrothed in Buffoonery | Laugh_With_Me (1:26) Brush Beater | Anonymous (9:16) I Think I Saved My Friend | Ok_Beyond_7697 (15:27) Cabin in the Woods | Anonymous (27:38) I Just Wanted My Soda | Lion (34:28) He Was Almost My Landlord | MissMarchpane (39:48) Driving in Circles: The Bumble Date From Hell | Anonymous (44:37) Extended Patreon Content: "How Much For You?" | Ellie The Uninvited Guest | Ren Why I Hate Bus Rides | Hayley Two Let's Not Meet Stories | Lia H. 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 [e-mail].    Right now, DripDrop is offering podcast listeners 20% off your first order. Go to dripdrop.com and use promo code meet. Follow Against The Odds on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Against The Odds: Tsunami in Thailand early and ad-free right now on Wondery+.  Take Zero chances with FÜM Zero today, available for just $24.99 USD. Just head to TryFum.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/ 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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please contact Connix Ontario at 1866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. But MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Hey, everybody. Because of the recent government cuts to the FAA and all of the flight cancellations that have followed, it's not going to be possible for us to make the upcoming tour dates happen. It's a spur of the moment thing. I know this got dropped on all of us and I know that a lot of people are going to be missing their flights and the holidays are just going to be very rough. I'm really sorry to everyone who was planning to come out. I know that's disappointing to hear and I hate having to do this. Everyone will be refunded for their ticket purchases as soon as we can get the started and we'll be looking at rescheduling possibilities after the holidays and when things get back on track with the airlines. I really do appreciate all of your patience and understanding in the meantime. Look for some updates this week on all of your refunds. In the meantime, everybody, enjoy the show. This podcast contains adult language and content. Listener discretion is advised. If you have a story to share, send it to let's not meet stories at gmail.com.

There were things wrong with Dirk. There were things wrong with Dirk. Unfortunately, I didn't know that at the time. And I was one of only three girls at my school. Because of the gender discrepancy, I wasn't shocked when the only roommate available ended up being Dirk. He and his father showed up briefly a few months

before school started while my mother was helping me move in. His father was crude, foreboding, and bullyish, while Dirk was skinny, short, and almost shy when I met him. He wore a polo shirt, slacks, and black socks with sandals. He seemed wholly inoffensive. I decided that I could live with him without too much stress, and my mother assured me that his father was a sweet guy once you got past his rough exterior.

She later admitted that he was actually a controlling dirt bag. Dirk and his father left to go back home with assurance that Dirk would move in with me in a few months when school started. My mother was leaving to go home as well and as we were saying our goodbyes through the car window she casually remarked Dirk's father hopes you'll turn him around

he really needs a good influence and then she hit the gas What? I cried out grabbing the door handle She towed me a few feet before realizing I was clinging to the car, so she hit the brakes and continued. Oh, it's just that he has some trouble with the law, that's all. Again, I echoed, what? Well, you know, that's why he decided to go to a college out of his state.

The sheriff of the town that he lives in pretty much chased him out of there, my mother explained. I stood there, mouth agape, trying to form some kind of, response. My mom just smiled, waved, and bid me good luck, then took off, and thus it began. Dirk moved in as planned, but his yuppie suburbanite facade was gone. He swaggered in shirtless wearing a bandana, combat boots, and camo pants. He proceeded to lay down the rules. According to him. Women were to be totally subservient to men. Therefore, he said it was my duty to pick up after him, do his laundry, and serve him food. I stared at him for a few seconds and burst out laughing. But he wasn't joking. Living with Dirk was difficult. He constantly stole my food, and he left

teeth marks on the butter. He also relentlessly pursued the landlady in hopes of seducing her out of requiring his half of rent, so she stopped picking up calls from our apartment. The worst was the mess, though. I came home one day to literal remnants of McDonald's right at the door. The carryout bag was on the welcome mat, and the burger wrapper was just past the threshold.

There was mustard and ketchup, sprinkled festively on the carpet, and a slouching tower of crusty lettuce, tomato, and onion dribbled down the side of my couch. There were chewed remnants of burgers crumbled on the coffee table and greasy prints where he wiped mayo off of his hands. There were smears everywhere. I called him out about this and asked what the hell.

Clean it up, that's your job, he told me, as a matter of factly. Why do you keep making messes like this? I demanded. If I didn't, you wouldn't have anything to do, he replied. I have homework and all kinds of other stuff to do, I retorted. He scoffed at me and told me that we both knew that women only went to college to find a man with a degree. I stared at him like he was some kind of alien insect until he got uncomfortable and slunk back into his room. Eventually, I began dating a mutual friend of ours named Alex. One day, Dirk'd walk in on us, making out on the couch.

He screamed, punched the wall, injured himself, and fled into his room. After Alex left, he came storming out with the cordless phone. He thrusted it at me, and once I realized someone was on the line, I said, Hello? You need to break up with that boy and start dating my son, Dirk's father demanded. Um, no, I replied. Unless you're seeing my son, you're not allowed to date, young lady, Dirk's father said. I hung up, and after that, Dirk only continued ambushing,

me with the phone regularly. I would usually just blow a raspberry into the receiver and hang up, but now and then, Dirk would get clever and claim that it was Alex to allow his father to get a shot in. What's wrong with your dad? I yelled at Dirk one day. Dirk responded with a full-blown temper tantrum. His father had promised him that since women only attend college to find men, getting their degrees, he had picked him out a pretty one by moving him in with me. He had assured Dirk that I would immediately drop out of school to tend to his every need. His father also said that after he graduated and after the local sheriff had cooled off, we'd move back and get married. I would become a servant for him and his extended family.

I was speechless. Dirk then began breaking into my room and stealing my knives after this. he stole this particularly wicked-looking hunting knife and its sheath from me he wore it everywhere and when he spoke to me he would always pull it out and gesture with it I wasn't intimidated this kid was 90 pounds

also as he was continually stealing my knife and blade collection he missed the fact that I actually owned a sword after he stole knives from me he would sharpen them on the furniture The first time I caught him doing this, I snatched it back, but apparently the knife was his whole personality. He needed to get one of his own, so he went to the dollar store, bought a cheap butcher knife, painted it silver, and wore it in a sheath made of duct tape, so that he could continue

to be armed while speaking to me. One day I noticed my car's hood was askew. I opened it and found little dings and pivots all over my engine block, sprinkled with flex of silver paint. I called a mechanic who verified that it was nothing but cosmetic damage, but he said it appeared someone had tried to stab my engine to death. I immediately moved in with Alex after that. It sucked because we had only been dating a few weeks, but Dirk's attempts to smite my car seemed like the final red flag. He would later admit to intending to cut my brake line. but he said he didn't even know where it was. After I moved out, Dirk started dating a 21-year-old girl

and promptly spent all of his money on alcohol. Then he flunked out of school and was forced to move back in with his father. Alex turned out to be just as crazy, but that, my friends, is another story. I'm a first-grade teacher in a high poverty area. This is rough territory with a lot of gangs, heart drugs, and other crimes. It was early September, and I had a new student, whom I'll call Grace. She was very timid, had low self-confidence, and always seemed nervous. I kept a very close watch on her,

because I knew that these could be warning signs of abuse. On Monday, as I took my class outside to play, I noticed strange-looking marks on Grace's legs. Little round indentations trailed from her calves to her thighs, and it was clearly visible as she was wearing shorts. The spots were red and looked very painful. I thought she might have some kind of skin rash, so I asked her, how did you get these marks?

Grace then nonchalantly told me I was being bad after school on Friday so Daddy had to take the brush to me again I was dumbfounded but honestly a bit confused a brush and then I understood her father had beaten her with the bristle side of a paddle

and he was striking her hard enough to leave indentations on her skin that were still visible two days later Now I'm a mandated reporter, and I take it seriously, so I called Child Protective Services, and they were there that afternoon to talk to Grace and photograph her injuries. I was out of the picture after that, and CPS took over, so I didn't get any updates on this situation, and I had no idea what happened. Grace never returned to school. However, her father did.

He showed up one evening, as I was preparing to leave school at around 5.30. He parked his truck in such a way that I couldn't move my car. And then he jumped out of his truck, clutching a baseball bat. He screamed at me about how I had terrified his daughter since she was in his custody. He told me that I was a nosy bitch who didn't know my goddamn place, and he said he was going to show me exactly what bitches like me deserve. Now, I knew he meant it. The man had cold eyes, and I knew that.

that if he could, he would do serious harm to me. I didn't know what to do at the moment. I couldn't run from him. He was massive, had at least 100 pounds on me, all muscle. If I locked myself in my car, I'd be a sitting duck while he smashed my windows in with the bat. So I said goodbye to my dignity and started screaming for help. I'm petite, but years of teaching

have given me the natural lung power of a megaphone. So I can be loud. As soon as I started screaming, people across the street heard me and came to see what was happening. The great part of working in a small community is that you know everyone and they know you, especially if you're a teacher.

A couple of fathers of former students came over to help right away while a nearby woman dialed 911. Grace's father calmed down though. He kept screaming about all of the things he was going to do to me for turning him into CPS. even when the police arrived he continued this tirade

they arrested him but i'm not sure what the charges were i don't think they got him for assault since he never touched me and for the rest of the school year i had an armed escort walk me to my car after school again it's a small community and our police are wonderful interestingly enough i had someone from one of our local gangs tell me that they were keeping watch because I taught his little sister earlier, and she liked me. That was a surreal moment. So to the crazy abusive troglodyte, let's not meet again.

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Dripdrop.com and use promo code meet now. I'm a female, and back in May 24, I was 32, and I was let go from a job because the company that I was working for was downsizing. When this happened, I received severance pay, and I got a good portion of the money I had saved in my retirement fund with the company as well. Since I had this little chunk of money, I decided to take a small break before looking at listings and applying for of the job. My best friend, who was 28 at the time, had just inherited a car from her family back in California, and she wanted to fly there to pick it up and drive it back to New Orleans. She's from California originally, and she was missing home a bit, so she wanted to spend

around two weeks in California before driving across the states back to New Orleans. After staying in California for two weeks, she also planned to take about two weeks to drive back, so that she could take her time and see some sights along the way. Since I was job-free and had never seen California before, she asked if I wanted to join her for the journey. She even offered to cover my plane ticket, and she said that she would pay for all of our hotel and Airbnb stays and the gas so that all I'd have to do was get my own food.

I thought that her offer was overly generous, but she assured me and said, that it wasn't going to put a dent in her finances at all since she had a ton of money saved up and was well off in general. Also, she thought that she'd feel safer going on a road trip with a trusted friend, and as a bonus, it would be a really fun friend trip for both of us, so I agreed. As someone who was born and raised on the East Coast, I thought California was a huge change. Being out there was pretty amazing. I especially, loved the fresh air and lack of intense humidity. After collecting the car my friend inherited and spending

some of the time in California, we started driving east through Nevada and Utah, and then we ended up in Wyoming. Right after crossing the Wyoming border, we stopped for gas and some snacks. We weren't hungry enough to go into the diner next to the gas station. My friend loves photography, though, so she wanted to pull up to the Wyoming Welcome Center that was just across the street to take a picture of the surrounding cliffs and the railroad that was cutting through the lower canyon. Let me paint a picture for you.

Aside from the small gas station and neighboring diner, there was the little Welcome Center across from them with the Welcome to Wyoming sign. But the entire area was pretty empty, so it was just us parked at the Welcome Center and there were maybe two other cars parked at the diner across the street. While my friend went to snap pictures of the canyon and railroad, I stayed in the car to lounge because I wasn't feeling that great.

I was hit with vertigo spells and migraines and was trying to rest it off. But then, out of nowhere, this guy sauntered up behind my friend. He didn't even call out to her as he was approaching to alert her of his presence. He only said something when she whipped around and suddenly saw him. Even though I was reclined in the passenger's seat of the car, I sat up immediately. I couldn't hear what the guy was saying to her, but I could tell that she was responding as calmly as possible to whatever he was saying. She also made a slight hand signal to me while I was in the car,

so I grabbed my keys out of the ignition since it was the only weapon I could think of on the spot. Plus, I didn't want to risk having him bolt for the car and drive off with it. When I got out of the car, the guy seemed surprised to see me, and his entire demeanor seemed to become shifty. Hey, what's up? I asked in a tone that was direct, but casual. He said that he was just wondering if she could help him take a picture of himself with his phone by the Welcome to Wyoming sign. Now, my friend and I could have said no, sorry.

But you never know how some people are going to react to being told no. He also happened to have a hand in his pocket, and I couldn't tell if he was holding a concealed weapon or not. As crazy as it seems, we agreed to help him out. While she played nice girl and chatted with him on the way to the sign, I followed closely behind both of them to keep an eye on him. As we made our way toward the sign, the guy kept faltering in his steps like he was.

trying to slow down enough until we were ahead of him, but I didn't allow that. Whenever he stumbled or slowed down, I would just stop and wait until he resumed walking. He never looked back at me, but he was acting so tense and fidgety. Meanwhile, I had the car keys between my fingers just in case I needed to jab him if he flashed on us at a moment's notice. I also glanced at the diner across the street to make sure that we remained in view of it, though who knows if any of the few witnesses would actually assist. I wanted to be ready just in case they went into bystander mode, so I stayed extremely alert. This was imperative because if anything happened, it wasn't like there was a high

chance of law enforcement appearing out of thin air to resolve any issues. The entire time that we walked towards the billboard, I listened to their conversation as well. The guy claimed that he was in the States on a business trip with his co-workers and said that he was from Brazil, but to me he sounded Slavic. I'm not saying you can't be Slavic and live in Brazil, I just wanted to share the details that I noticed. He had a slight tan, very short dark hair, and a lean build. He was about six feet tall, maybe slightly shorter. My friend and I are both around 5'5, and I'm more built muscle-wise.

I've been told that I look a little intimidating for a woman, which perhaps was a good thing in this situation. My friend asked where his co-workers were, and he claimed that they were at the diner across the street, yet he hadn't parked his car there, which I thought was odd. His car was parked closer to the road of the Welcome Center. My vertigo and headache were completely forgotten as this was happening. I was running on pure adrenaline.

Everything was happening in slow motion, and my mind was racing with every possible scenario that could happen, so I was trying to mentally prepare myself for what could happen next. When we got to the billboard, he gave my friend his phone, and she took a picture of him, twice. When he came back to look at the photos, he said, These are good, nice, thank you so much. Then he started rambling and asking how we liked America.

He also asked if we had ever traveled outside of the country before. I was becoming even more uneasy because we were still just standing by the road, so I kept glancing to see if any cars were coming. I swear we stood there for five minutes before he finally started to walk back to his car, in a slow shuffle, I might add. It was like he was purposefully stalling once again, and it seemed like he was trying to get behind me. However, I wasn't allowing that to happen. While his back was turned, I bent over. to quickly stuff some gravel and sand into my pocket. I wanted every weapon at my disposal. We then walked a little more, and I bent down again while he wasn't looking to pick up a fist-sized rock,

and I hit it barely out of sight so that he couldn't see it. My mind was also preparing to rationalize beating this guy's skull in if I had to. When we got back to the parking lot, my friend and I stopped, and he finally looked back and stopped before glancing back at his car, then back at us. He then continued rambling and making more conversation. He didn't urge us to go to his car, but he was once again very clearly stalling. He would literally finish a topic, go quiet for a couple of seconds, and then ask us another question and bring up another topic. It went on for another five minutes, and then I finally said, well, we had better get back on the road. We have people expecting us.

He looked uneasy, but eventually responded, Oh, okay. Thanks for the help. Goodbye. He then turned to walk very briskly to his car. My friend almost headed right for our car, but I stopped her and said, wait, I want to make sure that he drives away before us. Remember, he said that his co-workers were at the diner across the street. Plus, I didn't want to run the risk of getting in our car and being followed. The guy proceeds to sit in his car for a few minutes, and my friend and I pretended that it we were just talking, just in case he was watching us. After some time, he drove off,

while we stayed exactly where we were until we couldn't see his car anymore. Then we went back to our car. We felt that something was off. My friend said that she felt the guy was going to try and abduct her. She said, I'm glad that I brought you with me on this trip. Holy shit. You had the response of a German shepherd when you sat up in the car and I signaled you. I've had close calls, but I've always managed to de-escalate a situation before it gets physical. And this seemed to be yet another one of those times. That being said, I had never been more prepared to kill someone in my life. Needless to say, we both bought ourselves some mace at the next stop. Thankfully, we didn't run into any further problems on our trip, but I'll never forget all the

details that happened during this encounter. Something was just way off with that guy in the way that he was acting towards us. Who knows? Maybe he was scared of us. Or maybe he was scared of me particularly after I stepped out of the car. The thing is, he lied about having a friend at the diner. He took off by himself. Maybe he thought that we were Thelma and Louise.

Whatever the case may be, that's entirely fine by me. I'd rather a man think twice out of fear before praying on a woman. In conclusion, if you have to go on a road trip, try to have someone with you if possible, and stay alert whenever you stop somewhere. Stay very aware of your surroundings, and if there's a potential threat lurking about, keep a sharp eye on it and be prepared to use anything that's at your disposal.

You're standing on a beach when you notice something strange. The horizon doesn't look right. At first, all you can see is a thin white line. Then the line starts to rise. When you realize it's not the horizon at all, it's a 30-foot-tall wall of water, and it's racing straight toward you. What would you do?

On the day after Christmas in 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake hit the coast of Indonesia. triggering a devastating tsunami. It struck Thailand without warning. No alarms, no cell phone alerts, no evacuation. In this season of Against All Odds, experience one of the deadliest natural disasters and history through the perspective

of those who did everything they could to survive. Follow Against the Odds on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Against the Odds, tsunami and Thailand, early, and ad-free right now on Wonderry. Plus. I'm a 34-year-old male, and this happened a few years ago after I had an extremely stressful

week at work. I decided to book a cabin on Airbnb at the very last minute on a Friday night. Once I had the place booked up, I packed up my dog and I drove us up to the cabin, which was about an hour and a half away. Along the way, I stopped and got a bottle of water. in a town about 20 minutes from the cabin. Then I went and got food at a restaurant that was just about a minute down the road. The general area, where I was, had very small town vibes.

I arrived at the cabin at around 7.45 p.m., so it was just light enough outside to start a fire, and I did. The cabin was down a long gravel road that was about a five-minute drive from the main road, so it felt pretty secluded. I know some places way out there are very desolate, but this cabin was only about 20 minutes from civilization. There wasn't any cell service around the cabin, though. It stopped a minute down the gravel road as I was driving in.

I didn't mind this at all since it was nice to decompress after a stressful work week. The reviews of this place were all great. It had electricity and clean, updated bathrooms. The microwave and fridge weren't anything very. fancy, but they were clean. There was also a nice front porch to sit on, and there were windows on every wall of the building which looked out into nothing but woods. The woods completely surrounded it.

The driveway came up the back side of the cabin and stopped right alongside the cabin to the right. My dog and I sat around the fire until about 11.30. I put the fire out, went inside, and got into bed with my dog while I messed around on my phone. My dog kept snapping to attention after hearing noises outside. I just thought that the creaks and the snaps that we were hearing

were just the woods doing their thing. After about 45 minutes of lying in bed, I heard a light knock at the door. To say that I was terrified is an understatement. My heart dropped to my gut. I didn't answer it, but I heard a light knock again about 30 seconds later. This made me wonder if something was wrong with the Airbnb. Since there was no cell service, I thought maybe something was up,

and the owner just came over since they couldn't get a hold of me. I don't know, I was just trying to rationalize why on earth someone would be out there knocking on the door of a secluded Airbnb so late at night. In scenarios like this, it's so typical for all sorts of thoughts to run through your head. The door was solid and locked, but there was a window to the right of it,

which looked out onto the porch. I turned the porch light on, peeked through the window, and saw a guy standing there. He didn't necessarily seem scared, but he seemed like he may have been inebriated. he wasn't smashing down the door or screaming or being disorderly or anything like that but he immediately saw me when i looked out the windows were old and a bit shitty so i could tell

that he'd be able to hear me through them even if they were closed without saying anything he motioned his head toward the door as if non-verbally asking to be let in why i asked i had a bit of an I mean, who the fuck is this? He finally replied, For sex. In my head, I remember thinking, What? Then I replied,

That's inappropriate and you need to leave right now. I have GPS on my cell phone and I'll call the police immediately. I actually didn't have GPS on my phone, but I've always been a fast thinker. I hoped that it would scare him off and it seemed to have worked. since he then quickly turned around, stepped off the porch, and left. The cabin was essentially one open room, so I quickly walked back over to the bed and laid down again, heart pounding.

I didn't know if he was going to go get a gun or something and use that to break in or what. Directly across from me was the window that looked out onto the driveway. I could see the running lights that turn on before you actually turn the lights on in your car, and I could see them backing up. I was just frozen there in bed as I thought of stuff that I had to use as a weapon.

This was at the beginning of COVID, and there was rubbing alcohol and a lighter right there on my bedside table. My plan was to light him on fire if he somehow got inside. I got up a few minutes later and pushed the dresser and chair in front of the door.

The cabin was elevated, so I wasn't terribly worried about the windows except for the one on the porch. I then laid back down in bed with the lights off, but I was wide awake and terrified until the sun came up. He never came back, though. I packed up and left as soon as it was bright enough and messaged the owner of the Airbnb as soon as I got cell service. They said that nothing like that had ever happened,

and they offered to help me file a police report. I didn't because I lived far away. and I figured it had to have been an isolated incident. The whole ordeal has left me with a few questions, though. How did the man know that I was there? The only thing I can think of is that he must have followed me from this small town where I had stopped about 20 minutes away.

I'm a gay man and I'm not necessarily feminine presenting, but if you have the eye, you can definitely tell. So maybe he got the vibes and connected the dots from there. I've also been wondering, how did he manage to get his car down that long gravel road quietly without any lights on? Maybe he had his lights on as he drove in, but if that were the case, did I really not notice him with that window right there? I find it hard to believe since it was pretty quiet out there except for the woodland noises. I swear, I didn't hear anyone. I've had the same

Pikachu backpack for several years and I got it at a store where the target demographic is essentially little kids. This place primarily caters to little girls and they also sell accessories and plush toys. I even got my ears pierced there when I was seven. I swear, this setup is important.

It's a tiny detail, I know. In my small town, 7 p.m. is considered late night, so aside from the local arcade and a few other establishments, everything is closed past 8. One of the few places open late was the grocery store. One night, my mom and I wanted a soda, so we headed over there. I was about 16 years old at the time, so I was old enough to go into the store by myself just to grab a thing or two of Faygo. and leave. Just as usual, I walked around the store. I kept an eye on my surroundings,

but nothing seemed too out of the ordinary. I saw a few creepy men in the vicinity, though. I knew that I didn't want to be stopped for a late-night chat by a man old enough to be my father or my grandfather, so I just proceeded to get the sodas and snacks. My hands were kind of full, so I walked to the open register.

When I got there, The conveyor belt was full of junk food, grilling food, and alcohol. So I just stood there. This guy ahead of me had a cart with quite a few bagged groceries already in it, so he had been in the process of checking out for a while. He was also chatting up the cashier,

who was a very nice lady who had been working at the store for a while. If I'm being honest, it was more like he was talking at her. He was talking about his life, the recent out-of-state move that he went through, and the party that he was having. The cashier was nice, but she was just trying to do her job,

and by our town standards, it was late. Meanwhile, this guy was just talking like he was talking to the whole store. He wasn't exactly yelling, but he was projecting with this tone that made him seem like he was full of himself. He was making everything that he was saying sound like it was something very important. I didn't care, though.

I just stood there with my mildly heavy 12-pack of soda in one hand and chips in the other. And I had no place to set them down. I was just waiting to have space on the conveyor belt to place the little blocker down along with my groceries. Eventually, this guy noticed the little 16-year-old girl behind him. He turned around completely to face me and said, hello. I said hello back

I wasn't interested in a conversation with a stranger but he kept looking back at me while talking to the cashier he also occasionally looked me up and down it was gross the man then turned back to me with a smirk he asked what character is on your backpack he made this hand gesture

indicating that he wanted me to do a little spin so that he could see it Oh, it's Pokemon, it's Pikachu, I said, as I spun around showing off my back. Then I faced him again and continued. My mom bought it for me at Clare's three years ago, when I was 13. I added my age because I noticed he wasn't realizing that I was a kid. The cashier knew I was a teenager and she looked horrified, but the man continued talking about his recent move and his party. He even gestured to the alcohol as he came.

carried on. The cashier then sped up so that she could get him to quickly check out and go. The man paid and left, but it was too dark to see where he went off to. I then stepped up to the cashier to pay for my groceries. I was feeling a little unsettled about the man and thought about checking in with her to see if she was okay after interacting with him. But I ultimately decided she probably wouldn't want to talk about it. I just looked down and quietly waited to pay. She asked if I was okay and I looked up and told her I was. Then she asked if I had someone waiting for me in the parking lot. I told her my mom was in the car waiting and I pointed out my mom's car to her. The relief that I saw in the cashier's eyes knowing someone was waiting for me was

indescribable. We then set our goodbyes and I left, but I stayed inside of the cashier and the security cameras as my mom pulled up to the front of the store. The cashier didn't take her eyes off me until I got in the car. I hope I don't meet that guy again, especially because of his weird hand gestures suggesting that I should be drinking the alcohol that he was buying. I have too many weird stories involving men, especially from when I was a minor. I'm a female, and this happened back in 2016 when I was 23. I was moving from New York City to Boston. Two of my college friends, also female, agreed to live with me, and we started looking for an apartment.

We were fond of one place in particular, out in the suburbs next to the Forstead area. I got to talking with the landlord, an older man who seemed to be in his 70s, and mentioned that I repair antique dolls. He excitedly said that he had a doll that his mother's uncle had brought back from Germany during World War I. He told me that the elastic holding the arm had worn out.

I said I could definitely fix it and we exchanged contact info. He insisted that the repair would have to take place at his house since he was nervous about moving a fragile antique. At the time, I didn't think anything of this, but now that I'm older and wiser, I know doll doctor-house calls are not the norm.

Ultimately, my friends and I decided to rent a different place closer to the city proper, but I didn't want to lose a prospective client in need of doll repair. So I called him a week or so after we got settled in. Once again, he seemed delighted to hire me to have his family heirloom fixed. Nothing seemed odd until I asked for his address to work out how to get there.

Don't worry about it, he said. I'll pick you up. What's your new address? My eagerness cooled a little. I tried to put him off by saying that I didn't want to bring him out of his way and told him it would be no problem for me to get myself there,

but he kept insisting. He never told me what town he lived in. He just repeated over and over that he would pick me up and it would be no trouble at all. Eager for the business and a bit embarrassed about my paranoia, I caved. I told him my address and we arranged a date and time for him to pick me up.

Over the next few days, literally everyone in my life told me to call and cancel. My housemates asked if I had lost my mind. My mom and sister both told me I was driving them mad with worry. Since everyone seemed so concerned, I started looking for an excuse to call the whole thing off. It didn't feel right to me. I called the man the evening before the appointed day and left the message saying that something had come up. I added that if he was free the following Monday,

my housemate would drive me over so he wouldn't be inconvenienced. The next day, when our appointed time rolled around, I was sitting in my living room working on a sewing project and a car pulled up in front of the house. I looked out the window and my heart jumped when I recognized the old man sitting in the driver's seat. He didn't look up, so he didn't appear to see me. He just sat there for what felt like a century until he finally started the car and drove off.

I didn't see him after that, and he never contacted me about getting his mother's precious doll repaired. I had a bad feeling about the situation, and ultimately I think I did the right thing. The part that creeps me out the most is, I almost had this man as my landlord. To the old man who tried to pick up a young woman in your car and driver to an unspecified location, let's not meet again. I know you guys are familiar with true crime and scary stories. Every case has a moment where things could have gone differently. One choice, one switch. Fume Zero is that moment for you.

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Some time ago, I decided that I needed to get back out there and start trying to meet people. I wasn't necessarily looking for a relationship, and meeting people at the bars wasn't working for me. So as most single college girls end up doing, I downloaded a dating app. I met a lot of people and talked to them online, and it gave me the confidence to actually go out on a date now and then. I didn't meet up with most of the guys in person, but there were a few. Most didn't lead to a second date, but there was one that was worse than the rest. I met this guy, Alex, and we made plans to go out to dinner.

He said that he wanted to take me to this nice restaurant in the town between us, but when the day came, he never answered his phone. The next day he reached out to me with this whole story about how he got stuck at work and forgot his phone at home. This seemed like it was just an excuse, so I wasn't really buying it but he asked to reschedule Against my better judgment I said yes

So the rescheduled day came And he told me to meet him at his house But that he would drive us to this restaurant Where he had made reservations He said to come hungry Like three times and kept reminding me Not to eat beforehand Now I don't really like meeting people

for the first time at their home, or getting into their car. But we had been talking for over a week, so I figured what the hell. But when I was close to his place, he called me and told me to park in the parking lot down the road. This was a strange request, but I assumed maybe he had limited parking around his house, so I shrugged it off. The trouble is, I never told him what kind of car I drove, but he pulled into the parking lot right, behind me. After he parked two spots down, I got in his car and we started heading to the restaurant. I didn't know where we were exactly.

I wasn't familiar with the town we were in, but I knew the restaurant we were headed to, and it shouldn't have taken more than ten minutes to get there via the major highway. But almost 25 minutes later, we were driving down some dark back road. So I looked at him and said, Hey, where the hell are we anyway? He proceeded to tell me that he hadn't told me the full story. Apparently, when he called to make the reservation, he had to call them three times before anyone actually answered.

And when someone did answer, they told him that they had moved their location, and they told him the intersection. My stomach dropped when I realized he had passed that intersection. I also realized that he didn't have an address punched into his GPS, even though the GPS was running. So I pulled out my GPS, put in the name of the restaurant, and not only did it seem to be nowhere nearby,

it also said that the business was closed for the day. At this point, I should have told him to bring me back to my car, but I stayed, and we hung out and talked as he continued to just drive. Eventually, he said, said he, quote-unquote, couldn't find the restaurant. So he said, don't worry, I know what place we can go. And then we drove farther into the darkness until he pulled over next to a trail leading into the woods. He told me that was where we were going to stop, and we had to walk the rest of the way. He said that we were going stargazing.

Now, the spot was beautiful and all, but that whole day he just kept crowsy. joking jokes about how he wasn't a serial killer, and he kept making me promise that I wasn't going to steal his keys and take his car and leave him there. Well, once we got to the clearing to Stargaze, we were talking. And he just kept telling me these big elaborate, detailed stories, and then abruptly ended them with, just kidding, that never happened.

It wasn't the first time, but after two hours of this shit, I realized he had been just kidding about everything that he had said. I realized I didn't really know a single true detail about this guy. After we were done, we decided to go watch a movie at his house. He was all for it, but then he changed his mind and suddenly pulled the car over in front of a park with a playground. He said he'd rather go there instead of going to his house. He kept trying to dare me to run naked through the park

and he asked me these weirdly sexual, personal questions that were so oddly specific. Then his tone shifted. He demanded to know if I was going to kiss him before the night was over or not. He said he needed to know since he wanted to put on chapstick first. He even made me dig through my purse to look for my chapstick. I told him I didn't have any, so he said,

that's fine. Why don't you crawl on over here and show me what you've got? He then patted his lap. I told him I wasn't comfortable with that, with it being our first date, and on top of that, I asked him to consider the setting. We were at a playground where cops were frequently patrolling. This was beyond creepy and inappropriate. He then proceeded to reach around me and try to drag me over to him, using my butt as leverage. I told him again that I had no intention of sleeping with him or anyone else on a first date. He then said that's fine, but added, how about a little two-minute preview? He then tried dragging my head to his lap, but I had seen enough red flags at this point so sirens were officially going off in my head.

I was furious. I was surprised to see this kind of behavior from him, since he had spent several days telling me how much he hates when men try to force themselves on women. He also told me he didn't understand how anyone could do that, let alone get pleasure from it, and yet here we were. This was after, he said, he didn't want to sit too close to me while we were stargazing. He was claiming that he didn't want to make me uncomfortable, so it was like a switch had flipped. I told him that trying to force me wasn't going to make me any more likely to agree, and that I thought he was supposed to be a gentleman, like he had been leading me to believe. He told me that he thought I was scared of how big he would be, and that if I didn't want to use my mouth, there were other

options. He again tried to grab my hand, and I told him again that was not going to happen. He pouted about it. I then racked my brain trying to think of an excuse to get him to drive me back to my car. Then he pulled out his phone and opened a text message thread. He wasn't hiding his screen, and I could see that the last three messages were sent by him. He then looked at me and told me that he got a text from his uncle, who he lived with, saying that something happened at the house and he needed to get home as soon as possible. I was done with this guy well before this point, but regardless, I hated being lied to. If he wasn't having a good time, he should have just called in a night.

Why lie? Why I make up false intentions and then deliberately do the exact opposite of what you said? To make things worse, he dropped me off at my car in the dark parking lot at midnight and then just drove off before I even got into my car. Obviously, there wasn't going to be a second date, but here's the kicker. I drove by the old location of the restaurant that we were supposed to go to. It had never moved, and it was right on the highway where I thought it was. So, to creepy Alex from Bumble, I don't know why you kept changing the venue during our date and acting so dodgy, but please, let's not meet again. You suck. Patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast to support the show.

Today, you'll get access to ad-free versions of all of the episodes at a higher bit rate, plus bonus stories every week in those extensions that you won't hear anywhere else. Again, that's patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast. And be sure to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like Odd Trails and the old-time radiocast at crypticcountypodcast.com and follow me on Twitch at twitch.tv slash cryptic County. This week you have heard, betrothed to buffoonery by laugh with me, brushbeater by Anonymous. I think I saved my friend by OK Beyond 7697. I got a knock on the door in the middle of the night in a cabin in the woods by Anonymous. No, sir, I don't want to go to your party. I just

wanted my soda by Lion. He was almost my landlord by Miss March Payne. And finally, driving in circles, The Bumble Date from Hell by Anonymous. 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 of the message boards online. If you have a story to share, send it to Let's Not Meet Stories at gmail.com. We'll see you next week. Everybody stay safe.

This happened a couple of years ago, but it still freaks me out. I was working at a barbecue restaurant in my local...