Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast - 16x07: Valentine Nightmares

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

Stories in this episode: He Walked Over A Mile int he Freezing Rain for Me | Anonymous (0:38)My Psycho Ex Girlfriend | Anonymous (13:14) Bumble Match Turned Killer| danifishy (22:15) Secret Admirer | ATru05 (28:19) "I'm Looking for a Girlfriend" | Illy Stylez (32:21) I Left All Dating Apps and Never Went Back | olive (36:14) The Boyfriend I Didn't Know I Had | xgemmax (41:15) Extended Patreon Content: The Officer | Elm13Different Names, Different Ages | Darian50 Shades of Sketchy | KatRural Regrets | MikeDue to periodic changes in ad placement, time stamps are estimates and are not always accurate.Want Bonus Weekly Stories? Hate Ads? Join our Patreon for only $5 a month for over 100 hours of bonus content, and it's all ad-free!Join the Discord:https://discord.gg/84WXQud4gEFollow:- Twitch - https://twitch.tv/crypticcounty- Website - https://letsnotmeetpodcast.com/- Patreon - https://patreon.com/letsnotmeetpodcast- Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/letsnotmeetcast/Ready to stop paying more than you have to? New customers can make the switch today and for a limited time, get unlimited premium wireless for just $15 per month. Switch now at MintMobile.com/MEET. Right now, Momentous is offering our listeners up to 35% off your first order with promo code MEET. Head to livemomentous.com, and use promo code MEET for up to 35% off your first orderYou’re going to love Hungryroot as much as I do. For a limited time get 40% off your first box PLUS get a free item in every box for life. Go to Hungryroot.com/MEET and use code MEET.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.

Hey Ontario, come on down to BetMGM Casino and check out our newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. Don't miss out. Play exciting casino games based on the iconic game show. Only at BetMGM. Access to the Price is right fortune pick is only available at BetMGM Casino. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you,

please contact Connix Ontario at 1866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. 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. This story took place between 2007 and 2009. I lived in a tiny town where my mom also grew up and knew most everyone that I encountered either by name or at least by their appearance.

I was a precocious youngster and was also involved in gifted and talented programs. throughout elementary school and high school. Most of my close friends were boys who were two to three years older than me, and during my freshman year, we all ate lunch with our teacher from our gifted and talented program once a week or so. Anyone who wanted to come in and sit in on our discussions

was always allowed to do so. The teacher facilitated these discussions by bringing up particular songs or movie scenes that she thought might stimulate conversation debates, etc. We were a close-knit group of dorks though, and honestly, others never really joined us, even though the invitation was always extended.

I always doubted anyone would join it anyway. One of the boys with whom I wasn't close but knew of named Randall came most weeks, but he usually sat silently at the back of the room. I learned from my friends that he was a clinger. He was essentially helpless in social situations and often completely absorbed in sci-fi and fantasy worlds

both from books and from his own creation. He also always wore a suit to school, which didn't help him fit in either. My mom knew his parents and has since confided in me that she was afraid of his dad when they went to school together. I remember she told me that she wouldn't be surprised if their home life was strained to say the least. least. Randall was a senior at this time and had been banned from using school computers after

some serious infraction that almost got him completely expelled. I'm unsure of what he did though. Maybe he hacked some emails, changed some grades. Whatever he did, it was something non-violent, but still worrisome because of the violations of confidentiality and the obsessive effort involved. so when anyone else would use the computer, he would often stand over their shoulders and watch. The first and only face-to-face interaction that I had with him came at an awkward moment for me. I had been called into the principal's office,

with my parents and teacher that I didn't get along with for a conversation about my attitude. I had just come from the bathroom, where I had been crying. Randall was standing outside of the bathroom, and he asked if I was okay. Now I didn't know him, and I didn't feel like talking, so I just nodded, turned my back to him, and went back to class. I honestly didn't know if that moment triggered something for him, or if it was something earlier. But soon after that, I started getting calls from unsaved numbers every single night.

I have never liked talking on the phone, so I didn't answer most of these mysterious calls. but on the rare occasion that I did, a soft-spoken male would greet me and ask if he could speak with me. I always hung up and eventually saved the number as do not answer. Some of my friends, our mutual acquaintances, told me that Randall had a history of fixating on tall blonde girls, especially those involved in extracurriculars like cheer or the dance team.

and I happened to make it on the dance team that March. He graduated in May of that year, so I thought I had probably heard the end of it. The next school year, although he was supposed to be in college several states away, I would occasionally leave my final class of the day to see him waiting in the parking lot near my car. I never confronted him

and would always ask one of my male friends to walk out with me. He must have known I was deliberately avoiding him because the calls from Do Not Answer became more frequent and more erratic. Heavy breathing was left on my voicemail. I got several calls in a row that didn't ring more than once. On Valentine's, he waited for my friend Raina outside of school with a small box of chocolates.

She said it looked like they had been opened and possibly tampered with and then taped back together so she threw it away before I even saw it. I trusted her judgment and shrugged it off as some kind of attempt at movie-style romance. He also messaged her on Facebook, asking her to procure some of my writing. I fancied myself a poet in high school,

and he wanted to have it bound in leather and give it to me as a birthday gift. She declined, but told me about it. I stopped posting poems on Facebook, and I haven't published creative writing online since. Sometime in the summer, my best friend and I got a Facebook friend request from someone with a weird female name. I later found out that he had lifted the name directly from his favorite sci-fi book. We both found this strange, and Raina began a conversation with the account.

The person told Raina that she was having a hard time making friends in her state school, which was about seven hours from where we lived. but she said that she had become close with the girl from our high school who had graduated and attended the same college. This account had several friends from our high school but none from the college that she supposedly attended. After a few days the account became in a relationship with Randall, which everybody found strange.

One of the boys who knew Randall well and with whom I was also close with made a call-out post titled Fake Female Account is Randall. Shortly after that, all traces of the fake account were deleted,

as was Randall's profile, which I had blocked when he initially began to call me the year before. He made a new account not long after that and I blocked that one as soon as my friends told me

that he had been updating his status within minutes of mine to include the next lyric of whatever song I had posted that day. You know when songs were acceptable status updates. This was when I finally let my mom know what was going on. I told her about the calls and how he had been waiting outside of school. She called one of her friends on the force.

Two officers were then at his house where he lived with his parents and told him that, especially since I was underage and he was not, he should avoid any further attempts to contact me. Randall was enraged. His statuses went from relatively benign, Reliant K lyrics to the ravings of someone intent on violence. I don't have any saved screenshots of what was said, but I do remember reading some of them using Raina's profile

and feeling a lump of dread in my stomach that solidified like day-old oatmeal. In hindsight, I have no reasonable explanation for not telling my parents sooner. My mom had friends in law enforcement in our town, and my dad would have gladly beat his ass. However, this happened from when I was 15 until about 17 while I was experiencing other stuff

like having my first serious boyfriend and getting my driver's license, so I wasn't about to let some creep who couldn't take a hint ruin my precious albeit limited freedom. One day during my senior year, while I was exercising said freedom, I was smoking with my boyfriend at a sketchy park in town

when I got a call from my mom. Where are you? she whispered. I'm at the park, why? I replied. Just stay there until you hear from me or dad, okay? She cautioned. Okay, what's up, though? I asked. Randall is here, she explained. She then hung up.

Now, although I was smoking at the park, it wasn't because it was a nice day, It was mid-January, and rain and ice were coming down in sheets. It had been for days. But, you know, teenagers, with their hormones and their penchant for stupid decision-making, I was bound and determined to get high and full around in the backseat of my car. Bad weather be damned. And I mentioned this because Randall had walked to my house,

a mile out of city limits from his house in the center of town, in the torrential downpour. He knocked on the door, and when my mother, answered, he said that he was looking for me. She invited him in out of the weather, but he didn't say anything else to her. My mom gave him a ride home in her car and sent the cops to his house again, which was more effective than the first visit, because I never heard from him after that. My dad then bought me a taser, which I kept in my car until it expired, and I wasn't allowed to be at home without my boyfriend or one of my sisters present until I graduated high school.

I did, however, see Randall again a few years ago, working the night shift at my hometown Walmart. I was there to get a Red Box movie, but I was so shaken by seeing him walk in that I sped home without even getting a movie. I am so grateful that my experience didn't end with more damage. I think I had a shield of naivety that allowed me to disregard Randall

as a real threat for most of the time that he was fixated on me. Honestly, I had considered him much more socially inept than dangerous until he walked more than a mile to my house in an ice storm, just to chance a glimpse at me. To this day, I still wonder what compelled him to pursue me so relentlessly when there was never any indication that he was accomplishing anything. You've heard me talk about Hungry Road on the show before, and that's because it genuinely makes my week easier. as someone balancing work and everything else that's going on, having meals planned, groceries chosen, and everything delivered without even having to think about it, that's a huge stress reducer.

What I've really liked lately is how much it's adapted to me over time. I recently ordered a spicy peanut chicken bowl that I probably wouldn't have picked on my own, but Hungry Root nailed my flavor preferences. And that's a cool part because Hungry Root actually learns what you like and it keeps refining the cart each week based on that. It plans my meals, fills my cart, and it just makes sure that everything fits my goals in my schedule. They have a great variety too. They have over 50,000 chef crafted recipes to choose from every single week, and a lot of them are ready in like 15 minutes.

So whether I want something quick after a long day or something a little more involved on the weekend, there's always an option that fits. And the quality stands out too because hunger root screens out over 200 additives, including high-fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners. and preservatives. I already get enough of that in my life. I don't need it in my groceries. They source high-quality meat and seafood with no hormones or antibiotics, offering organic produce and non-GMO options. Plus, they carry brands that I trust, like Oatley, Vital Farms, stuff like that. And listen, I know that a lot of New Year's resolutions fade after February,

but Hungry Root makes eating healthier so easy that sticking with it past January has felt realistic. I don't feel like I have to reset. It's sustainable. You're going to love Hungry Root as much as I do. For a limited time, get 40% off your first box, plus get a free item in every box for life. Go to HungryRoot.com slash meat and use code meat. That's HungryRoot.com slash meat, code meat, to get 40% off your first box and a free item of your choice for life. My family lived in a small, rural beach town in Delaware. The kind of place that exists in a strange limbo between old school fishing traditions and the modern tourist rush. In this town, the Atlantic wind is a constant presence, and the few locals left in the winter feel like they're the last

people on earth. It was a place where everyone knew your business and everyone knew Marianne. I had known Marianne my whole life. She was the girl who lived two streets over, the girl I went to elementary school with and the girl I first kissed behind the town's old lighthouse. We weren't childhood sweethearts, though. We didn't start dating until freshman year of high school. For a long time, she was my whole world. She was beautiful, with wild, tangled, blonde hair that seemed to be a perfect match for the ocean air. Her eyes were a striking pale blue, but even at 15, I could feel the shadow that followed her. She was a little. She was a striking pale blue. She was, unbelievably possessive. She would get so upset if I was with my friends and not her that she would

call dozens of times in a row. Her voicemails were always full of furious accusations and sobbing apologies. She was so insanely jealous that even a casual conversation with another girl would set her off and a cold silence would fall between us. It was that kind of love that made me feel like I was a thing she owned, not a person she was with. The final straw came one evening at a bonfire on the beach with a group of friends. I was talking to a girl named Sarah, who had just moved into town. It was completely innocent, just a conversation about school and summer jobs. But Marianne saw this. Her body went completely rigid. She walked over and grabbed my arm with a shocking strength, then dragged me away from the fire down to the waterline.

She started screaming. Her voice was a raw, furious shriek, accusing me of trying to cheat. The humiliation was so intense that I broke down right then and there. I realized that this wasn't just teenage drama. It was something broken and terrifying, so I ended it right there on the beach, with the cold waves of the Atlantic lapping at our feet. I told her I couldn't do it anymore, that her jealousy and rage were too much for me.

Her face went slack and the anger was replaced by a look of sheer, gut-wrenching panic. You can't do this, she pleaded with a fragile whisper. We're forever. We are from here. I thought that that was the end. I thought that eventually the pain would fade and she would move on. But I was wrong. And I should have known because in a small town, there really is no escape.

The first thing she used to get to me was the one life form in my life who made me feel sane. His name was Arnold. He was a two-year-old terrier mix, a scruffy little rescue with a loyal heart and boundless energy. He was my shadow.

He slept at the foot of my bed, waiting for me by the front door when I got home from school, and he would bark his head off at the mailman. He was my constant source of and unconditional love. In the weeks after the breakup, the strange encounters started. I received calls from unknown numbers that would just be filled with her sobbing.

Then there were times when I would see Marianne in the distance on the beach, just watching. And then it started to involve Arnold. I'd be out in the yard playing fetch with him, and I would catch a glimpse of Marianne in her car, parked across the street from my house. She wouldn't look at me, though. I knew she was watching him. Then came the psychological terror. One day I came home to find a new dog toy on the front porch,

a red rubber bone, which was one of Arnold's favorites. I just figured she was being weird, but a week later I came home, an Arnold's favorite toy, the one that I had just seen on the porch, was now on his dog bed. But this one was old. It was covered in mud.

with deep teeth marks that I didn't recognize. I could have sworn the toy was brand new. I showed it to my mother. She just shrugged and said, It's an old toy, honey. He probably dug it up from the yard. But I knew that he hadn't. The final soul-crushing turn,

the one that still gives me nightmares, happened on a cold gray Saturday in November. The town was a ghost town. And a cold rain was starting to fall. My parents had gone out for groceries, and I was home alone with Arnold. I had to run to the local hardware store to get some supplies,

and I was only gone for about an hour. Arnold was home, of course. I had left him with his favorite blanket in front of the fireplace, a routine that he knew well. As I pulled up my driveway, I saw a strange sight. The front door was slightly ajar.

Now I knew that I was, I had locked it. And I felt my stomach drop. I ran to the door calling Arnold's name, but there was nothing, no bark, no excited pitter-patter of his feet, just a chilling, deafening silence. I pushed the door open and stepped inside. The house was exactly as I had left it. The fire was still going, and Arnold's blanket was still on the rug. But he wasn't there. I ran from room to room yelling his name, my voice raw and desperate. I went through the entire house, through the garage, and into the shed, but he was gone. Tears of pure terror were streaming down my face as I ran back to the front porch. I looked at the front door, and that's when I saw it. It wasn't a note or a

small gift. It was a single tiny terrier paw print, carefully stamped on the white paint, and below it was the word written, mine. I stood there for a long time, the rain hitting me in the face, the word burning itself into my mind. I didn't have to guess what she had used to write it. The sick, twisted terror that washed over me was a hundred times worse than any fear I had felt before. This was a violation.

This was a final gut-wrenching statement that she was never going to let me go. She had just taken the one pure thing that I had in my life and used it to leave her mark on me forever. My parents went to the police station immediately. The sheriff's name was Ted. He was a friend of my dad's, and he listened. He promised to do everything that he could,

but when he came down to it, there wasn't anything he could do. There were no witnesses and no DNA evidence on the door, no fingerprints left behind or anything. All he had was one teenager's word against another's. He had to tell us, with a heavy heart, that there was no evidence to arrest her. The nightmare didn't even, end there, though. After the police couldn't help, Marianne started targeting my parents.

She didn't leave a trail she just left behind a series of perfectly placed reminders that she knew them just as well as she knew me. A note with my mother's birth date would appear on the windshield of her car. My dad's favorite hat would be found on a telephone pole near his job. The chilling message was clear. She had observed my entire life with the same obsessive intensity she had observed me with. The fear was no longer just mine. It was theirs, too. One day my dad came home, and he told us we were leaving, and we were moving to the west coast.

We were going to a place where we didn't know anyone. We packed up our lives, and we left behind the small town in memories, both good and terrible. It's been years. I'm now an adult. I have a life on the other side of the country, but I can still remember the feel of the space where Arnold used to sleep. I still think about that little terrier paw print. And every time I look at a picture of myself from my teenage years,

I see a face full of hope and naivety. However, that was all shattered long ago. The fear isn't that she'll find me. The real horror is knowing that I can't leave her behind because she carved her name into my soul the day she wrote that on my front door. About five years ago, around fall, I started using dating apps seriously

because I really wanted to branch out and meet new guys. I moved back home after I graduated from college that May and the world was still in the early stages of COVID. I was lonely. By that point, I had only ever used Tender and a friend of mine told me I should try Bumble instead. At first it was fun. I matched with a few nice guys,

but the conversations sort of died off after a while. I still wasn't forming any real connections with anyone, though. One of the guys I matched with asked for my Snapchat. I gave it to him so that we could move our conversation over there. We also followed each other on Instagram. Now that kind of stuff is always harmless to me, and I didn't think much of it. Our conversation didn't end up lasting very long anyway, and we stopped talking after just a few days.

He was a little strange, and I would be. turned off by it. Fast forward a couple of months, and I got a message from him on Instagram out of the blue. He told me he unfollowed me because of my support for Joe Biden in the election, and then he proceeded to spam me with probably over 40 messages trying to convince me to change my views. I am a very liberal person, and if I had known he was like this, I would have never even spoken to him, let alone friended him on social media. He kept telling me people have blocked him from doing this before

and he pleaded with me to understand where he was coming from. His last few messages to me were memes to ease the tension of what became a one-sided conversation. It was so bizarre since he and I hardly talked, so I'm not sure what made him feel comfortable messaging me like this. I didn't respond. I didn't even block him. I just opened the messages so that he could, see that I saw them and then I unfollowed him.

The next morning I got notifications telling me, this message has been unsent by the sender for every single message. I was able to screen record it and I sent it to my friend to show her what happened because I thought the whole thing was so creepy and strange. It was over after that and this guy never really crossed my mind again. So I moved on. Several months later, I was scrolling through Facebook and I was, I saw a post from a local news station, it was shared from the town where this guy was from.

We lived in the same state, and he lived about an hour away from me. It was a news article about a guy who shot and killed an 87-year-old woman who lived in his apartment complex with a semi-automatic rifle. He was also trying to get other residents out of their apartments until he was shot and killed by another resident to protect the others who lived there. As I continued reading about this, the guy's name and face seemed so familiar. And then it clicked. This was the same guy from Bumble. I went back to my camera roll to the screen recording of the messages I had taken several months prior and officially confirmed it was him.

I'm not quite sure how to describe what my response was, but I got really sweaty and my heart began racing when I made the realization. It was extremely disturbing knowing that I spoke to this man and even had a weird experience with him. It's been a few weeks since I found out and I still feel weird about it. I was just reading about it again recently since more details had been reported since the initial shooting. Sometimes I think about the what-ifs,

like what if I had responded to this message the way that I wanted to and called him a creep and a weirdo and pissed him off to the point of violence would he have tried to harm me? I really hope that the woman he unfairly murdered is resting in peace. Please be wary of people on dating apps and stay safe.

At this point in the year, your routines have probably become a reality, and when it comes to supplements that you're taking consistently, trust matters. But choosing the right supplements can be confusing, especially in a low-regulation space.

where products don't always have to list everything on the label. I've been going through all kinds of different supplements for years. But that's why I partnered with Momentus because they've built a reputation as the high-trust brand in a low-trust category by holding themselves to a higher bar, what they call the Momentus standard. It's their commitment to doing things the right way, not the easy way.

For me, that comes with their protein and their creatine. The protein comes from grass-fed European dairy cows, and their creatine uses the purest form of creatine monohydrate. Every formula is made with clinically backed highly bioavailable nutrients, with no fillers and no artificial sweeteners. Plus Momentus is great with testing and transparency. Every product is independently certified by NSF for sport and informed sport, meaning it's tested for contaminants, heavy metals, banned substances,

and verified for label accuracy. So you know exactly what you're putting in your body. and if a product doesn't meet their standard, it never ships. In a space where trust is rare, Momentus is redefining what trust looks like. Right now, Momentus is offering our listeners up to 35% off your first order with promo code meat. Head to livemomentis.com and use promo code meat for up to 35% off your first order. That's LiveMomenus.com promo code meet. This happened a week ago to give you a little backstory and context.

I work for a nonprofit that is pretty involved in the community. We participate in public events in the field, and we go to a lot of conferences as well. Because of the nature of my external facing position, I work several of these events. Two weeks ago, we had a booth at a large public event downtown that I worked for the entire day. We were there promoting our public awareness campaign.

I talked to a lot of people and gave out information and merchandise, Pretty typical stuff. Last week, I got a call from a number that I didn't recognize. I get these all the time, so nothing was unusual there. It's usually telemarketers, political calls, etc., but I never answer. But this one left the voicemail which said, Hey, this is Robbie. Give me a call back at, and then he left his number. It was strange that he didn't leave more details other than his first name and number.

But because of the personal nature of the messages, I thought, I must know this person or he must know me, and it just didn't ring a bell. So I called him back. He picked up right away. I let him know that I received his voicemail and was returning his call. He thanked me for calling and said that he was really hoping to meet me. I was confused and I didn't really know how to respond.

So I just let him keep talking. I don't remember exactly what. what he said verbatim, but it was something like this. This is a little embarrassing. You don't know me, but I saw you at the event last weekend, and I wanted to meet you. I thought we might have locked eyes at one point, so I asked around, spoke to some of your co-workers, and got your name and number. I hope this isn't creepy. It was absolutely creepy.

I gave out my business cards at these events, and people can find me on the website, but under no circumstances is my personal information. ever given out. My coworkers would never have given anyone my personal cell phone number. All of that is strictly against our policy, besides being common sense. Nonetheless, I asked him who gave him that information. He said that he didn't catch their name. I told him that my coworkers would never have done that, and I asked him how he really got it, and who he really was. He then tried to backtrack a bit, saying he just wanted to talk to me because the work I do seems interesting.

I then politely but directly told him I didn't know who he was, and I told him not to contact me again. After I ended that call, I immediately texted all of my coworkers who were there that day just to make sure that they hadn't, in fact, given out my cell phone number. They all assured me that they didn't. They were just as thoroughly creeped out as I was when I told them why I asked. As I was texting my coworkers, I got a text from Robbie. He said, Okay, I didn't actually see you at the event. I'm just a secret admirer.

But if we fall in love, wouldn't this be a great backstory about how we initially met? Now, I had my questions. If he didn't see me at the event, how did he know where I was, If my coworkers hadn't given him my info, how did he get it? How did he think I was going to react when he reached out? I thought that by asking these questions, it would only continue to engage him, so I blocked his number. So far, I haven't heard from him any other way.

I have no idea who he is or how he got the information he has, so to my secret admirer, let's not meet. This happened about seven years ago while I was dog-walking. I was living in a pretty nice and quiet residential neighborhood that also had a few medical offices peppered among the historical houses. One particular building had a small underground parking lot with a set of stairs leading down to it on the grassy side of the building. I had both my dog booze, a Frenchie, and my dad's dog, Cooper, a chihuahua.

They were both making a beeline for the grass on that side of the building to do. their business. We passed by a stairwell, and I just happened to glance over and see an older man standing at the bottom of the short stairwell. He was staring at me blankly and creepily. It struck me as strange, but I just proceeded with the dogs. We were located between midtown and downtown, and it wasn't out of the ordinary to see people passing through or lurking about since we were near a bus line, so I figured he must have been waiting for the bus or something like that. He faintly said, hey, so I responded, hi, as I kept walking. The dogs and I continued walking along the grass a little ways, and the man then emerged from

the stairwell. I could see that he was moving towards me out of the corner of my eye since I was still trying to keep an eye on him as I was watching the docks. He stopped about five feet from me and said, I'm looking for a girlfriend. Without looking directly at him, I replied, Can't help you there, ensuring to put some sass into my response. At this point, my dog, the Frenchie,

decided this was the perfect time to go. Of course, great timing. I figured maybe the guy would just go away, but he walked a few paces closer without saying anything while continuing to stare at me. When I bent down to pick up after my dog, he was suddenly standing just three feet behind me. He then said,

Well, I guess I'm not really looking for a girlfriend, just someone to have some fun with. You know, a good time. I answered very sharply. Uh-huh. With this interest. I didn't like the fact that he was close to me, so I turned and gave him the side eye.

He then continued, you're really cute. I replied with a curt thanks and then walked to the corner. He kept following us, so I started looking around for other people. Thankfully, as I got to the corner, with him following closely behind me,

there was a family crossing in the opposite direction. I was familiar with this family, so I made a point of greeting them. When I got to the opposite corner, the dogs wanted to sniff around some more, so I casually looked back, and the man was just standing there in the middle of the sidewalk with his hands and his pockets glaring at me.

As the dogs moved on, I felt him watching me as we continued walking down the next block. I remember thinking, fuck this guy, we're not about to end up on the first 48. So I started zigzagging back to my actual street, all while occasionally looking back to make sure that we were no longer being followed. Luckily, we made it home without any further incident,

but to that creep who emerged from the stairwell looking for a girlfriend, let's not meet again. About seven years ago, right before I met my now husband, I joined a few dating apps. A few of my friends had wonderful experience with the apps, and that's how they met partners who became their spouses. So I figured I'd give it a try myself. I was 21 at the time, and I had lost quite a bit of weight,

so I was ready to put myself out there for the first time in my life. But I didn't take it too seriously. I let the men come to me, and eventually there was one guy who caught my eye. For the sake of the story, we'll say that his name is Watson. Watson was 23 and very handsome, according to my opinion back then. We matched on Bumble, and we kept talking for quite a while.

It turned into texting, then phone calls, and then he started asking me to meet up with him. I felt like I should have been excited when he started asking to meet up, but once he started suggesting that we see each other in person, I was overcome with this inexplicable feeling. I just felt this off feeling in my gut. I thought maybe it was just anxiety, but later I found out why I felt this way. After blowing off plans and saying I was busy multiple times. He got mad and blocked me on everything. That was fine with me. I felt a bit bad, but I was 21, and experiencing someone getting mad at me over dodging plans gave me the

crapes. So I figured good riddance. Fast forward six months, and I had met and started dating my now husband. I got a message from Watson on Facebook, and I let him know that I had met someone new. I wished him well, and he got angry with me again. He was acting very oddly for someone who hadn't even met me in person. He called me a bunch of names and was swearing a ton, so I just blocked him. Then came the spam accounts and new Instagram handles so that he could continue with the name calling, which became threats. Thankfully, he eventually backed off, and when he stopped with everything, I was so relieved,

I hadn't dealt with someone like this before or after, so I was genuinely scared. A year later, I was at Target shopping for some new shoes and makeup. After I checked out, I headed to the car, keys in hand. I had just opened my door after loading my trunk when I heard someone yelling my name. I turned around thinking it was a friend or a co-worker, but it was Watson. I definitely went into fight-or-flight mode, and I was ready to fly. I got right into my car without saying a single word to him. The last thing I saw was him in the middle of the Target parking lot,

chasing after my car. It's been years since I've seen Watson in that Target parking lot, and thankfully I haven't heard from him or seen him since, and I sincerely hope that I never have another creepy encounter with him. And this is just a PSA to all the guys out there. Don't chase girls. We hate that. Every group has someone who insists on doing things the hard way.

That friend that's paying for a subscription they forgot they had, that one refusing to update their phone because it still works. And now the one who's somehow still overpaying for wireless in 2026. Mitt Mobile is here to help with that last one. Stop paying too much just because that's how it's always been. Mint gives you the premium wireless that you would expect, like unlimited talk, text, and data on the nation's largest 5G network. without the inflated price tag.

When you compare what big carriers charge to what Mint offers, the gap is obvious. Same reliable coverage, but without the bloated monthly bill. And that's exactly what I was looking for when I made the switch. For a limited time, get 50% off 3, 6, or 12-month plans of unlimited premium wireless. Bring your own phone and number, activate with ESIM in minutes, and start saving immediately. No long-term contracts. Ready to stop paying more than you have to? New customers can make the switch.

today and for a limited time, get unlimited premium wireless for just $15 per month. Switch now at mintmobile.com slash meet. That's mintmobile.com slash meet. Upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for $6 months, and $180 for 12-month plan required, $15 a month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra, initial plan term only. Over 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy, capable device required, availability, speed, and coverage varies. Additional terms apply I believe I was about 16 when this took place, and I was in sixth form college here in the UK. So I guess it all started in the spring or summer of 2001. It was a Saturday night when I got a text asking what I was up to that night and if I wanted to go out. I had no idea who the text was

from as the number wasn't saved in my phone and didn't have a name at the end of the text. I texted back and got a call. When I picked it up, I heard my friend Ong's voice. I was happy to hear from her as we went to secondary school together. I went on to college and she decided to do other things, so we didn't see each other regularly anymore. Also, she didn't have social media and refused to have a mobile phone. I praised her for finally getting with it and getting a phone,

but she burst my bubble when she said she was using a friend's phone. We had a quick chat, but it was probably about 10 p.m. So I declined and said that I'd go out another time. Around midnight, I got another text from another unsaved number. I figured it was Aung, contacting me again, but it wasn't. The text read something along the lines of, hey, this is Daniel, Aang's friend. I'm bored and stuck here until Aung wants to leave. I hope you don't mind me texting you. I didn't, since at that age, I used to be up until stupid late. I was always up at all hours on the internet,

and as he was a friend of my friend, I didn't see a problem. So he texted me for a bit. It was a nothing conversation, and then at around 2 a.m. or so I got a call. It was him, and he said that I sounded nice, and he wanted to have a chat. That was still fine with me. I was wide awake, so we had a chat.

It was all right, we had a laugh and talked about nothing for a while and eventually said goodbye. The next morning I got another text from him. I replied to that, and he proceeded to text me all day, and then he gave me another ring later. I found out more about him. I found out that he worked in the local shopping center in a certain store that I went to all the time. I found out about the kind of stuff he liked, which wasn't anything that I liked, but that was fine with me.

We also talked about where we lived as we were living in different towns that were about 20 minutes apart by bus. He knew what I looked like as Aung had showed him photos of us that she had, and he also had seen my Friendster page, which had more current pictures of me. He, like Aung, didn't have social

media back then, so I didn't know what he looked like, but he described himself. Based on his description, he could have been literally any boy in southeast London at that time. I didn't really care what he looked like, as I wasn't interested in him like that. I just found our chats interesting. Well, this carried on for a week or two. He kept texting me and calling me to find out more about me, and he asked me loads and loads of questions which seemed harmless at the time. Around this time, I had some time off from college for Easter, and he started suggesting that we meet up as we both had free time. I told him that I couldn't because I had to do some coursework.

This was only half true. While I did have coursework, I always put it off to the last minute, so most of my time off was spent just being lazy and sitting around the house. He clearly didn't get the message, though. and he started to text me constantly. If I didn't reply fast enough for him, he would send more texts, or he would call.

I told him I was very busy and would text him when I had time, but he just wouldn't let up. After a few days of that, he texted me and said, I'm in your area, let's meet. I told him I was busy and that I couldn't. He said that was okay,

but then kept bombarding me with texts, urging me to meet him, but I kept saying no. Two days after that I got another text saying he was in my area again, and we had to meet. Again, I said no. At the end of that week, he was there again and again. I kept saying no to his requests to meet up. At the start of the following week, he reached out again saying that he was in my area,

but this time I just ignored the text. Later in the day, I got a call, from a local number. When I picked it up, it was him. He said that he was there and he wanted to hang out. He also let me know that I didn't reply to his text. I told him I wasn't home and said that I would text him when I was free. I found out the number he called from was a public telephone that was on the main road that connects to the road that I live on. Well, the constant text were annoying, but I let them slide as I had no intention of actually meeting him. and they were only texts.

But to find out that he was actually in my area and knew right about where I lived, all of the harmless questions he was asking before suddenly didn't seem so harmless. It all made sense to me. He was narrowing down where I lived, and based on my answers, he managed to narrow it down to the street,

as I do have a college at the bottom of my road and a park at the top. These were details that he knew. He knew which bus I got on from college and the stop that I got off at, which further narrowed down the part of the street that I lived on. He used to ask about clothes that I wore and the accessories I had. He even asked what patches were on my backpack, so he would definitely know it was me if he saw me. As I thought about all of this, I realized that this was not cool at all. so I told him that I wasn't going to meet him anytime soon

I told him I was busy and said that he needed to chill the hell out I didn't need the hassle I was really put off after connecting all of this so I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue speaking to him it was so weird and I really should have told him to fuck off at this point but I just thought if I lessened my contact with him he would get bored and piss off on his own accord

When school started again, I felt safer in knowing that he couldn't just be in my area when he had college quite far from me. So I knew I wouldn't run into him. But I avoided the shop I usually went to, which was near my college. After all, there wasn't anything there I couldn't get elsewhere. And I just wanted to avoid the shopping center

that he worked at altogether unless I had to go there. And that usually only ended up being during school lunchtime, so he wasn't there. anyway. This wasn't because I was scared, I just didn't ever want to meet him, and I was starting to get pissed the more than I thought about it. I didn't want to meet him because I knew I'd probably end up being nasty to him. The texts continued over the next few weeks, but I didn't reply to the majority of them. When I did, my responses were polite and stated that, as I had exams soon,

I didn't want the distraction. I then began to ignore his messages. but the messages didn't stop. Another phone number I didn't know would text me. I would respond and ask who it was, only to find out that of course it was him texting me from his mom's phone. He was pissed off that I would reply to that text and not his, and this was becoming a fucking joke.

One Saturday night, my mom rang me as I was coming home from a gig. She told me that a boy I went to primacy, school with called Morley, rang to speak with me, and asked if he could call again. She told me that before the call ended, he asked if I had a boyfriend. I was surprised, since this seemed to imply that perhaps Morley liked me back in primary school, and I had no idea that he did. We also hadn't spoken since I left school, but our mom still chatted occasionally, so I had no clue what the hell that was all about.

I got a call from Morley the next day. He apologized for ringing me, but told me that he really needed to ask me a question. Then he asked me if I had a boyfriend. I said that I didn't, and then he asked me if I knew someone named Daniel. I told him that I had been speaking to someone called Daniel, who started as someone who was pleasant to chat with,

but I explained that it turned into way too much. then he went on to tell me that Daniel goes to his sixth form and is loosely associated with his friend group as no one really liked him then Morley explained that they were talking about girls and Daniel was going on about his girlfriend Morley's friend group

was then asking questions about Daniel's quote-unquote girlfriend and he told them who she was what she looked like, what she was into and where she lived, etc. Morley didn't think too much of it, but when Daniel came back to school after the holidays, he had a bunch of clothes in his bag.

Everyone asked him where he had been as they wear uniforms. Daniel was bragging about how he had come straight from his girlfriends. He said that he had stayed around her house a lot during the holiday and told them about the intimate things that he did with her in detail. He used to entertain these guys with all kinds of stories about this girlfriend, and after a while he finally showed them a picture. My picture. Morley was livid on the phone.

He said the stuff Daniel was saying that we had done was just plain nasty, and he said that he didn't think any of that stuff that he was saying about me was true, but he just wanted to confirm, and then he told me that he would ring me back in a few days. Daniel was still trying to speak to me since he had no idea

Morley had been in contact with me. I never answered, though. I set his number to divert since it wasn't possible to block numbers on phones back then. I ignored all of the texts that he sent me after talking to Morley and I didn't even open them.

I got home from school that following Monday afternoon. It was about six in the evening, and I got a call from Morley. He was again pissed off, but this time, he was also delighted. He told me he just got home and that Daniel had come back to school

with clothes in his bag again that morning. He said Daniel was saying that he was at my place again, and as he started sharing details about what we were doing, Morley spoke up. In front of everyone, Morley said, You've never been to her house. Daniel quickly insisted, Of course I have.

Morley then replied, It must have been a fucking windy house, as he knew for certain that Daniel had never been to my house, and for the U.S. listeners, a windy house is like a children's playhouse. Little did Daniel know. This was freshly confirmed as Morley and I had spoken the day before. Daniel was standing there trying to brag about returning from my place when I had already confirmed that I wasn't even his girlfriend. I also confirmed that he had never met me. He had only spoken to me. I also explained how I refused to meet him

and have been pretty much ignoring him as he kept turning up in the area where I lived trying to spot me. Now this didn't go down well for him and Daniel ended up looking like a complete asshole. That night, calls and texts wouldn't stop rolling in from his mom's number. He wouldn't stop calling.

I told my mom everything after Morley called as she wanted to know what it was about. I finally gave my phone to my mom at 11 p.m. She picked it up, and Daniel was in a panic, saying he needed to talk to me, but she said no. She told him how inappropriate it was for him to call at this time, and not only that, but she also told him to never call me again. His mom's number was then put on divert,

but I was still getting voicemails. I texted him and told him to leave me alone. I told him that I knew what he did and let him know that I didn't want to know him. He went quiet at around 2 a.m. And then started calling again from a third number. I was asleep, but my mom was awake. The call woke me up, so I called her into my room. She picked up the phone and went off on him.

She said she knows all about what's been going on, and she told him to leave me alone, or else there will be trouble. He still texted after that. My mom was beyond livid. At 6 a.m., she rang his mom's mobile, woke her up and told her all about what her son was up to. His mom was initially pissed off about being woken up so early,

but when my mom laid it out, his mom just went quiet, apologized, and said that she would deal with it. I didn't hear from him again after that. Ong called me shortly after all of this. I hadn't spoken to her since that first night, which was probably just over a month since her last call. She said she found out about what happened,

and I think she heard it from his mom as she wanted to know the validity of the call that she received from my mom Aung said that she was sorry she explained that Daniel wasn't even really her friend they just knew each other from primary school and he lived close she told me that he just turned up at her house one day

and imposed himself on her her mom would always let him in even though she never wanted her to Aung's mom liked Daniel so Aung always tried her best to put up with him Aung also let me know that in the past when Daniel was in secondary school he became obsessed with a girl in their area

he used to stalk her and this girl's mom complained to his mom about it but since he was young then they kind of brushed it off and I think everyone assumed he just didn't do stuff like that anymore but clearly he did so Daniel

while I hope you learned from this I dread to think what you are like now let's not meet stick around after the music of you're a patron for your extended ad-free version of this week's episode. If you want to get access, go to patreon.com forward slash let's-not-meet podcast. To sign up and support the show today, you'll get access to ad-free versions of all of the episodes at a higher bit rate, plus bonus stories in those extensions every week.

These are stories you won't hear anywhere else. Again, that's patreon.com forward slash let's-not-meet podcast. And check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like Odd Trails, my true paranormal podcast and the old-time radiocast at crypticcountypodcasts.com. Follow me on Twitch at twitch.tv.tv slash cryptic county and send your stories into let's-not-meet stories at gmail.com to hear them on the show. This week you have heard he walked over a mile in the freezing rain for me by Anonymous, my psycho ex-girlfriend by Anonymous, bubble match turned killer by Danny Fischie,

secret admirer by A True05. I'm looking for a girlfriend by Lily Stiles. I left all dating apps and never went back by Olive, and finally, the boyfriend I didn't know I had by Gemma. 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 of the message boards online.

And again, if you have a story, make sure you send it in to Let's Not Meet Stories at gmail.com. We'll see you next week. Everybody, stay safe. I was 21 years old. I was living on the outskirts.