Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast - 5x15: Am I Being Stalked? - Let's Not Meet (Feat. Heather Ashley)

Episode Date: February 15, 2021

Stories in this episode: -Person In Black - Anonymous. -Home Alone With A Newborn And An Unwanted Guest - Presley. -Almost Taken At Sam's Club - Max. -Untitled - Chris Hall. -Near Death By Road Rage In Oakland - K.F. -Tanning Salon Sniper -  Holly Mae. -I Need Help. I Think I Am Being Stalked - Abbz1833. Check out our guest Heather Ashley's show Big Mad True Crime on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever your podcasts! All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission of their respective authors. Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast is not associated with Reddit or any other message boards online. To submit your story to the show, send it to [e-mail]. Get access to weekly bonus episodes of Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast and a bunch of other great exclusive material and merch at patreon.com/letsnotmeetpodcast. This podcast would not be possible to continue at this rate without the help of the support of the legendary LNM Patrons. Come join the family! Try EveryPlate for just $1.99 per meal plus an additional 20% off your next 2 boxes by going to EveryPlate.com and entering code meet199. To try Shudder free for 30 days, go to shudder.com and use promo code meet. Head over to chilitechnology.com/meet for ChiliSleep’s best deal, available to my listeners for a limited time! They make innovative, hydro-powered solutions that fit over your mattress to control bed temperature and trigger deep sleep. When you support our sponsors, you support the show!  - Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/433173970399259/ - Twitter - https://twitter.com/letsnotmeetcast - Website - https://letsnotmeetpodcast.com - Patreon - https://patreon.com/letsnotmeetpodcast - Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/letsnotmeetcast/ - Twitch - https://twitch.tv/retroxpizza/  

Amplify your career through training and development solutions specifically designed for federal government professionals. From courses to help you attain or retain certification to individualized coaching services, to programs at home, your leadership skills, and business acumen. Management concepts optimizes your professional development. Online in-person, individually, or groups. It's training that's measurably better. Learn more at managementconcepts.com. That's managementconcepts.com. This podcast contains adult language and content.

The stories in this show can be disturbing and frightening for some. Listener discretion is advised. If you have a story to share, send it to Let's Not Meet Stories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show. My name is Andrew Tate and this is season 5 episode 15 of Let's Not Meet a True Horror Podcast. … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … This happened to me a few years ago. I had decided to go back to college in my late 20s, and I was up late one night working on finals. I was taking three literature classes, and

as all English majors know, those final papers can pile up into a huge mound of work at the home stretch. So I was working away at the kitchen table and lost track of time when I realized I was out of cigarettes and coffee. There's a gas station around the corner from my house and even though it was dark I really didn't think much of it. Sure, I'm a woman in its night, but it's literally a two-minute walk. And I'm not someone people mess with, generally speaking. It is also important to note here that I know my neighbors pretty well, at least by sight, and I'm not easily scared. As part of Southern California is what forensic files would call a bedroom

community. So I go around the corner and my favorite gas station attendant is working. His older and reminds me that it's one AM. I didn't realize it was so late or I would have woken my mom up to take me around to get my things. I get my coffee and my cigarettes and we chat for a minute or so. The gas station is around the corner from the house and across the street on that far corner. There's an open field on the opposite side of the street. And as I walk out of the gas station,

I see a person at the edge of the field, kind of near where the houses start to build back up. They were wearing all black, form-fitted clothes, but I couldn't see their face. Immediately I felt like something was up. I couldn't tell you, even now why this person scared me. Maybe it was that they were standing completely still and seemed to be staring in my direction. I don't know. So I turn around and go back to the well lit gas station.

I waited in front of it for a few minutes, peek around, and I see no one is there. So I start walking home again. I get halfway down the block and I see that this person is now standing in front of the house on the corner of my street on the opposite side to where I live. The feeling that things aren't quite right increases and this time I turn around and go back into the gas station. I tell the attendant what's going on. He says that I can stay inside as long as I need to. We chatted for several minutes, and then I left again. This time I can see from the corner that they seem to be standing, facing me, from the house on the corner at the other end of the block. Now, I don't want them to see where I live, so I turn back in. Halfway to the gas station, I convince myself that this person will be gone if I turn back and check.

So that's what I do. Except now, they're leaning on my fence and laughing. on my fence and laughing. I literally dropped my coffee and sprinted back to the gas station. By the time I got inside I was crying. The attendant told me to come around the counter and wait until his break so he could take me home. I sat there for 30 minutes or so before he was able to take me home. We drove slowly and didn't see anyone. He's a real dad type and has one of those camping flashlights that beams at about 500 lumens

or something crazy. He checks every hedge, every tree as we drive. Nothing. I can tell he believes me though, because he keeps telling me that it's going to be fine, and he was going to call his own son who was in the Marines to come by and check on me, which he did.

The attendance wife sent their son over with food that I usually only get when I see my family in upstate New York, and the sun checks all around R.E.R.D. All he found were footprints in the muddy area in front of our fence. That was about four years ago. I haven't had any issues since, but I am convinced that this person had ill intentions. To the gas station attendant, thank you for being so caring and kind, and to the creep

and black, let's not meet. For reference, I work at a small ski resort in northeastern Pennsylvania, and I am a female in my 20s. This encounter takes place after I finished working a night shift at around 10 pm. The ski resort that I work at has the shittiest employee parking lots. So instead of driving my sedan, I borrow my little brother's SUV so I don't get stuck in the snow again. This information is relevant

because I refuse to put more gas in his car than I use. If you have siblings, you'd understand. Anyways, I was about to leave the parking lot when I see that I piercing orange gas tank light up on the dashboard. I begrudgingly decided to drive to a gas station because I had zero miles left and I live about five miles away.

The gas stations in my town all close around 5 p. 5pm on Sunday, so I had to go out of my way to be able to fill up. I'm driving down a dimly lit mountain, and by driving I mean I have it in neutral and turned off the heat to make sure that I'm not wasting any gas. When I finally arrive at the gas station, I see that this is one of those gas stations that closes the store part after a certain time, but they leave the pumps on credit card purchases only. Whatever no biggie.

Who even carries cash anymore? I almost immediately notice that there is one other car in the parking lot. And you'll never gas what kind of car. That's right. A big white rusty creeper van. Quite a cliché, universe. Thanks. I pull in in front of a gas pump, hop out, and start swiping my car and opening the fuel

door. This is when I hear a car door close. It was almost like when you're trying to sneak out and you close the door carefully so that your parents don't hear, but it still makes a noise. This immediately alarms me. As I am a true crime aficionado and I listen to a lot of shows like Let's Not Meet, more than I listen to my boyfriend speak. I'm gripping my pepper spray like it's my job thinking about all the mace reviews that I read about their pepper spray, not discharging when they needed it too. I'm internally crying. An older man probably in his 50s,

but seemingly incredibly fit, walked up behind me and asked how my day was going. I replied politely as I was raised to, and decided to cut my fill up short and only put in the $10 that was already in the tank. He grinned and asked if I needed some money to fill the rest of the tank. I declined and said that it's my brother's car and he only wanted $10 worth. At this point, it's nine degrees Fahrenheit and I'm wrapped in a big ski jagged in pants with a beanie and a gator-style face mask for the cold but also the pandemic.

He asked what I looked like underneath. I said, pretty average, have a good night and reached for the door handle. He put his hand on my door and angled himself so that I could not open it, or get away, sealing me in with his other hand on the mirror. He took his greasy hand and pulled my mask down and goct at me. You seem more than average to me." He said he wanted to see underneath the rest of my layers too, and I told him that I had a boyfriend and he scoffed, then spat in my face.

The door handled yank backwards and opened, and he said, let me get that for you, baby. And he said, let me get that for you, baby. Like an idiot, I said, thank you, as if this prick had done me a favor. I quickly slipped through the door, being sure to grab the handle from the inside of Polet Closed Behind Me. Before I could even shut it, he shoved his boot and door and asked if I wanted some company as he reached in and pulled my hair. I said no and told him my boyfriend was meeting me here. This only seemed to excite him more and he said he would love to meet him. I ripped my hair away, shoved his foot out of the door and closed, then locked the door.

Still trying not to cry, I turned the key and looked out the window to check that he was still there. He malved something to me that looked like, I know where to find you if I need to. I sped home and sobbed the whole way there. I reported it to the police, but they said they couldn't do anything as the van had no plates, and they never saw the guy's face. The worst part is that one week later, I saw an article on Facebook about a girl I went to high school with who was spotted being kidnapped at that same gas station. They found her barely alive the next day in a nearby ravine. She was beaten, raped, and left there. I don't know for sure if it was the same guy, but I feel horrible

knowing that she had to cope with that. I also feel selfish and horrible thinking about how it could have been me. They haven't caught the guy yet, so until then, I'll be getting my gas in the day where there are a lot of people around. To the man who stole my sanity, let's not meet again. Amplify your career through training and development solutions specifically designed for federal government professionals, from courses to help you attain or retain certification to individualized coaching services, to programs at home, your leadership skills, and business acumen. Management concepts optimizes your professional development, online in-person, individually, or groups. It's training that's measurably better. Learn more at managementconcepts.com.

That's managementconcepts.com. That's managementconcepts.com. Amplify your career through training and development solutions specifically designed for federal government professionals, from courses to help you attain or retain certification to individualize coaching services, to programs at home, your leadership skills and business acumen. Management concepts optimizes your professional development,

online in-person, individually or groups. It's training that's measurably better. Learn more at managementconcepts.com. That's managementconcepts.com. My guest this week is Heather Ashley of the podcast Big Mad True Crime. If you love Let's Not Meet, you're absolutely going to love this show. They tackle big cases, little cases, everything in between, all by request. Yes, all of these cases that they cover are by request. And they discuss all of the little details of the cases that you thought you knew. I love Heather's performance. She's a

fantastic podcaster, really down to earth, a great personality, and I was very excited when she said that she wanted to be on the show and make sure you check out her show, Big Mad, True Crime, wherever you get your podcasts. Enjoy. Before we begin this story, there's a few things you need to know that are pertinent to the story. Firstly, my husband is a state police officer and primarily parks in front of our house. Our driveway is incredibly narrow and in order to be able to park in the garage, no one can park behind you or they would have to move their car.

Since my husband works nights, he sleeps during the day and I try not to wake him up. I was going to quite a few doctors appointments during the day because I was pregnant and I was having some minor pregnancy complications. Also, our basement is connected to the garage and our basement steps are sketchy. It's an old house and I don't want to fall down them while pregnant or even not pregnant for that matter, so I usually parked in the driveway. Since I was usually there first, my husband wouldn't park behind me in case I needed to leave during the day. Lastly, my husband and I share locations with one another. We started doing that when I was pregnant and going back and forth once a week to see my parents in my hometown, which was an hour away.

There were quite a few areas without service, and it made me nervous driving without someone knowing where I was, just in case. Okay, so here's the story. It was 2018, and as I stated before, I was pregnant with my daughter. I was a first-time mom. We live in Indiana in a quiet little town. The neighborhood we lived in was quiet and nothing much really ever happened. Our neighbors were nice enough and we never had any problems. Yet. The guy who lived across from us, we'll call him Tommy, was a hairdresser. I knew this because my hairdresser told me that one day when I was getting my hair done and he walked into grab some stuff from his station before leaving. I had seen him a few times outside and knew it was him. After he left, my hairdresser said that she was getting ready to fire him

because she had evidence that he'd been stealing and doing other sketchy things. She didn't elaborate on those other things but I didn't ask. Not too long after that, my husband and I started noticing that there would be random cars coming and going from his house. The people who would visit him never stayed long and we hardly ever saw Tommy.

I figured he was doing hair out of his house and seeing clients there. Every so often, we'd see the same car, but again, they never stayed long. One day, my husband decides to run a few of the plates of the cars that were there more frequently than the others. Come to find out, those plates belonged to some people who weren't in good standing with the law. They were in trouble for drugs, and one was on probation. We kind of tucked that into our back pockets and left it alone.

I mean, as long as they weren't bothering us, it was what it was. One night, my husband was out working and he stops to chat with a city officer that he knows. He casually brought up Tommy and the activity going on at his house just to see if the officer knew something that he didn't. Also, my husband loves to spill the tea and loves when the tea is spilled. Come to find out, their drug officers are actually sitting in that house and waiting for the right time to bust it. They had two officers pretending to be dealers, and it was just a matter of time.

Tommy was selling meth out of his house. Now, before you say anything like, but he lives across the street from a cop. We are well aware. However, most people doing that kind of thing think that the officer won't patrol where he lives. Either that, or there's no warrant to even search the house if he wanted to. It wasn't happening directly in front of my husband, so there wasn't a whole lot he could do.

Anyway, about a month passes and my husband and I are sitting in our living room. He's working on his computer by the window where you can see Tommy's house. I was sitting on the couch and we hear this commotion outside, yelling and then this big bang. It sounded like someone had shut a door super hard.

We exchanged looks of what the fuck was that, and my husband looks out the window to see several police cars surrounding Tommy's house. It had happened, he was finally getting busted. There were at least seven patrol cars and two of them were state officers. So, my husband, being the nosy person he is, puts on his shoes and goes out to talk to the state officers. Not too long after, I see them leading Tommy out of the house in cuffs with two other men in tow. He was being arrested. My husband came back to the house and that was the end of that, or so we thought. Several months later, Tommy is back at home and he's under house

arrest. He's apparently made a plea that he would help bust other dealers for the cops and was able to stay at a jail if he did so. Meanwhile, I'm hugely pregnant and do in the next month so I have my own shit to worry about. Still going to my appointments except they're twice a week at this point and my mind is occupied elsewhere. One day I'm walking out to my car and I notice that my driver's side mirror is turned in. I figured my husband might have done it by dragging the trash bin from the top of our driveway to the end to be picked up and accidentally bumped it and moved it in.

I pushed it out and never gave it a second thought. As I said before, our driveway is really narrow so it wouldn't be a shock if that's what happened. But it kept happening. Every day, it would be turned in. I asked my husband about it, and he didn't know anything about what I was talking about. I brushed it off to being weird and moved on. The time comes and I have my daughter.

A month later, my husband goes back to work after his leave and I'm at home alone with the baby at night now. I've almost completely forgotten about Tommy and his drug house by now and I'm more focused on sleeping through the night with an almost newborn. One night, my husband leaves for work and I put the baby to bed in her crib. Her room is by the front door and if you walk through her room out of the other door on the other side of her room, you come out to a hallway and that's where the bathroom in my husband and I's room is. Our house basically makes a circle. He walks out of the front door and I close it behind him. Because our house is so old,

so are the doors. The front door only stays shut if you have the deadbolt locked. Otherwise, it swings wide open. This information is important. So I close and lock the door behind him, then put my daughter down in her room. I did a few things around the house to wind down and to make sure she's asleep before heading off to our bedroom to change into night clothes and get settled in. For some reason, I felt the need to check my husband's location. I usually forget we share locations because we have for so long, and I hardly ever check it unless I don't hear from him for a long time while he's at work. But this night, I did.

It showed he was in the town that was about 7 minutes from where we lived. I put my phone on the charger and changed for bed. As I sat on the bed putting lotion on my hands and watching TV, my dog, a sweet bass at town, who's literally scared of her own shadow, perks her ears up and looks towards the closed door of the bedroom. That's not uncommon as our house is old and it creaks a lot. I continue doing my thing and she lowers her head and makes this low growl. Let me tell you something. I have never heard that dog growl before and I haven't heard her growl sense. That worried me. I checked the baby monitor and my daughter was sound asleep. I paused the show I was watching to see if I could hear anything but I didn't.

I tell my dog to stop being weird and go back to what I was doing. But she does it again, except this time the hair on her back is sticking straight up. This is not like my dog at all. All of a sudden I start to feel very weird. It's almost like the temperature dropped and everything got still in very strange. No sooner after I feel that, I heard my front door open and footsteps shuffling inside. At first I thought it was my husband. Since we live in an area that has weird service and he drives fast, sometimes his location doesn't catch up. It said he was at Walmart before he was at home

walking through the door, but my gut was saying that it wasn't him. I call my husband and ask where he is and he tells me he's in the next town over and my blood runs cold. This person who walked through that door wasn't my husband. I started to shake. I tell him that there's someone in the house.

As soon as I tell him that, I hear whoever is, leave in the storm door, slam shut. Simultaneously, I hear another set of footprints outside in our driveway running towards the street. Our bedroom windows look down on the driveway and I had one of them open because our room gets stuffy at night. My husband tells me to stay in the bedroom, grab the gun from the nightstand and keep

an eye on the baby monitor. I hear him run lights and sirens to the house while he's on the radio to dispatch to get a hold of city police who can get to me faster. He told me to wait until I hear the officer knock to leave the bedroom, so I did, and holy shit if that five or so minutes wasn't long. I held the gun in my right hand in the baby monitor in my left. Both hands were shaking so hard that I remember thinking, you won't be able to shoot straight even if you had to shoot someone.

My heart was pounding in my ears and my dog wasn't doing so hot either. She was pacing back and forth by the bedroom door whining. I hear a knock on the front door and an officer step in and say, city police, is it okay if I enter the residence? As soon as I heard that voice, I felt a wave of relief. I leave the bedroom and look around the corner just in case because I was scared it would be the intruder pretending to be the cops. I saw it was an officer and told him what happened. He said that the door was wide open but the storm door was shut. I explained that the only way to open the door was to unlock it and the only way to keep

it shut was to lock it. Another officer came up the basement steps which shocked the shit out of me. Why? Because the basement is connected to the garage, and he would have had to open the garage door to get in. But I didn't hear the garage door open. He informed me that it was already open. They searched the house from room to room

and my husband came home. I told them all would happen again, and they concluded that there were possibly two of them that were planning to ambush me, one from the front of the house and one from the back. My husband also said that he thought it was related to Tommy because Tommy saw him at his house while he was getting arrested. My husband assumed he was pissed and thought that my husband tipped the cops off so Tommy sent people to our house while he was getting arrested. My husband assumed he was pissed and thought that my husband tipped the cops off, so Tommy sent people to our house while he was gone. They must have heard me on the phone

with my husband and got scared and ran off. They also thought that he might have picked the lock or knew where the spare key was, which would explain why the mirror on my car was always turned in. The spare key was under a rock in the garden next to where I parked. There wasn't enough room to kneel down and stand up again without knocking your head on the

mirror. My daughter slept through the whole thing, thankfully. I know for a fact her door closest to the front door was cracked open because I left it like that. To think about what could have happened to me or even worse, what could have happened to her still makes me physically ill. As for Tommy, he's back in jail. He broke his house arrest and has been in and out of jail for a few years now and just recently went for a long time. We got a security system put in a week later and I started sleeping with a gun by the bed. The most satisfying thing for me was when the ADT tech asked me if I wanted to sign for

the front of my house that said that it was protected by security. I told him that I did and that I put it out there. I waited until I saw Tommy in his front yard getting ready to mow. I went outside, let us cigarette and hammered that sign into the ground while I stared him down. He looked up, saw what I was doing, and immediately went back inside. For about two weeks after that, I couldn't let my husband leave me alone for work without shaking and near tears. We put a dresser in front of my daughter's door that was the closest to the front door,

and I left the other door of hers closest to our room open while she slept for a long time. In fact, I didn't start shutting it until a few months ago. I was terrified of it somehow happening again and I would be stuck not being able to get to her fast enough. I triple-check the doors in the house and the garage door and I have a gun next to me when I'm home alone and sleeping. I probably won't ever sleep without one near me again. So to the two people who broke into my home and attempted to ambush my daughter and I,

you better hope we never meet because I don't give warning shots. I just shoot. Amplify your career through training and development solutions specifically designed for federal government professionals, from courses to help you attain or retain certification to individualized coaching services, to programs that hone your leadership skills and business acumen. Management concepts optimizes your professional development, online in-person, individually, or groups. It's training that's measurably better. Learn more at managementconcepts.com.

That's managementconcepts.com heat before you hit the road with AC Pro at your local O'Reilly Auto Parts store. I had a memory popping to my head a few weeks ago. I asked my mom about it today and she verified and filled in some details that I did not know. When I was about two or three, my family didn't have a lot of my, so my parents worked a lot. So on weekends, one of our family activities would be to walk around Sam's club, having family time and getting the week or months worth of shopping done in one go. On this particular day, we were walking around the shop as usual. I was always excited as during this time they had free mini-donate stands, and it was a nice treat, just for me, as my sister was only a baby. We were walking down an aisle when I either wondered off a bit or someone or something

caught my attention. I obviously don't remember much, like any words or anything, and that's what makes me think I was probably pretty young, maybe two or three. I was big for my age, and I learned to walk early, but I didn't start to talk until later. I remember feeling a hand grab mine and walk away to the cart. At the time, I must have assumed it was my dad's hand or something, as I didn't look up from what I was doing. The hand placed my hand onto the side of a cart for me to hold on to, and started walking

towards the door of the Sam's Club. I distinctly remember that the cart was empty, so I was looking around at other aisles as we walked, completely unaware who I was with. Here is where my mom filled me in on some of the details of the day. By this time both her and my dad had realized that I wasn't with them and began looking for me. Luckily, I had not walked too far away as they walked the main island shouted for me as they saw me holding onto a strange man's cart heading for the front door.

I remember looking back and seeing my mom and dad and having a sinking realization in my stomach that I had been walking with a stranger. I looked up and saw a large bear of a man. He was unshaven, and was giving me what I now know to be the most lascivious grin I had ever seen at the time. This was the first time I ever felt dread. Thinking about it gives me goosebumps to this day. By let go of the cart and ran back to my parents, still feeling the dread, but crying in relief. This memory has popped into my head more than a few times over the last 30 years, but I never asked my parents about it until today.

My mom said, after that happened, she had taken my sister and I to continue shopping and my dad went to confront the man. He claimed something along the lines of, I had walked up and grabbed onto his card and just started walking along with him. At that time, I couldn't explain what happened. So they were suspicious, but basically there was nothing they could really do to refute his story.

So we went our separate ways. From the dread I felt, and the image of the man's face seared into my memory, I'm sure whatever his plans were, it would be bad news if that man had made it out of the store with me until. So I'm sure glad my parents realized that I was missing fast. While I was working at a Vietnamese restaurant as a server, this couple would come in. The guy was rude most days, and she was quiet and barely spoke, always looked would come in. The guy was rude most days and she was quiet and barely spoke, always looked irritated or upset. He was the kind of guess that was difficult.

Asking for one thing, then when you bring him that item, he would purposely ask for something else so that you'd have to run back and forth. If you've ever been a server, you know the type. Anyway, every time they were together, they would always be arguing or upset with each other, it seemed. My coworkers and I wondered why they were even together because all they did was argue, it didn't make sense. One day in particular when they came in, things got pretty bad. It was a fairly busy day and half the restaurant was filled with people. They came in, sat down in ordered, and he had gone to the bathroom and she checked his phone They came in, sat down in order, and he had gone to the bathroom, and she checked his phone. When he got back to the table, she started

arguing with him. They got louder and louder, and he jumped out of his seat and threw his chair back. The restaurant got quiet, and he stormed out yelling obscenities at her. She ended up leaving shortly after. Hours later, he came back, but alone this time, about 15 minutes before we closed, so we let him know that the restaurant would be closing soon. He sat down and ate his food quietly, occasionally looking up at us. The remaining guests started to leave. He was the last person left and he didn't seem like he was in a hurry to leave. 25 minutes past closing time, he asked for it to go container. He didn't say much, but I just remember having an uneasy feeling. But he ended up leaving 30 minutes after we closed only because the owner asked him to. A couple months had gone by with no sign of the couple. I figured they'd

broken up or something. I even asked a co-worker if she had seen them lately and she said she hadn't. It was a little weird, but we didn't think anything of it. About a month later, he showed up to meet up with some of his guy friends. We barely recognized him because his hair was completely different. It was longer and dyed darker. After that, a few more months went by and we hadn't seen either of them. One day my co-worker sent me a text telling me why we hadn't seen him around.

He was in prison for a couple of months for domestic violence charges, but it gets worse. She then sends me a news article with his mugshot. His hair was a mess. He looked like he hadn't slept. He had ligature marks around his neck, and he was smiling. He looked evil. I scrolled down in the title of the article read, man arrested in connection with the death of a 28-year-old woman. I was in complete shock and disbelief. I had just seen them a few months earlier. I guess you never know what a person could be capable of. So to the guy who murdered his girlfriend,

let's not meet ever again. 2015, just days before Christmas, my husband and my one and a half year old son and I were driving to my brother-in-law's house for a family dinner. We were driving through Oakland, California near the Fruitvale-Bart station when we crossed paths with a lunatic driver. We came to a four-way intersection and had come to a complete stop when another car, black with tinted windows, large rims, music blaring, base thumping, you get the idea, approached the oncoming stop sign. We assumed that they were going to stop, so my husband started to drive forward. However, the other car decided that they were above the law, did not stop, and began to

turn left in front of us. We stopped abruptly, and obviously honked our horn. I was sitting in the back middle seat with my son, and had a perfect view of the male driver yelling at us from his car. Without making a single gesture to the other car, we continued on through the intersection and down the road. After driving a block down the street, I heard someone yelling. I turned around to see the car still stopped at that intersection and the guy out of his car yelling at us. A few minutes later, I realized that he decided to follow us.

We came to a red light and he pulled up right next to our car. He got out and started hitting our car and began yelling at us. My husband ran the red light and turned left only to pull up to another red light. The black car pulled onto the sidewalk on the right side of our car. God out again and again hitting and kicking our car, yelling things like, you want to fight? Do you want to get shot? I was certain that he had a gun and he was going to shoot us right there, even surrounded by other cars and pedestrians.

My husband kept his gaze straight forward, never giving the guy the satisfaction of our attention while I frantically dialed 911 from the back seat. The whole time, my toddler was giggling and thinking that I was trying to play with him. However, eventually the psycho said, you're lucky you have a baby. He then got into his car and drove away over the sidewalk and onto a busy street. So the guy with serious road rage but a weakness for babies, let's not meat. About 10 years ago, I headed to a local tanning salon one evening after work.

My plan was to tan in the regular bed for 10 minutes and then head into the spray tan beds afterwards. After my 10 minutes were up, I put on my bottom layer of clothes. It was winter and carried my bag, shoes, and jacket to the front desk to let the staff know that I was ready for the spray tan. As I walked up to the desk, I noticed the girl working there was crying while she was talking to someone on the salon phone. Not wanting to be nosy. I stood back waiting for her to finish her call. That was until I heard her say,

yeah, the other girl just came out of the room. She's here with me now. Of course, at this point, I'm thinking what the hell, but still reached out for the phone as she handed it to me. She whispered, Do you have a cell phone? At this point, something kicked in and my, oh fuck, radar went off. And I knew that something was wrong.

I pulled my phone from my bag and handed it to her. As she started to turn around and walk down the hallway, she whispered, I'm sorry, just do what he says. I could feel my blood pounding in my head as I put the phone up to my ear and said hello. On the other end, I heard a man's voice who calmly said, listen, I have a rifle pointed at your head right now. If you don't do exactly what I say, I'm going to blow your brains all over the fucking wall. As I stood there trying to decide if some creep was just fucking with me or if my life and the life of the other girl were truly in

danger, I made the realization that I needed to move quickly. The salon's walls were made entirely of glass windows and doors, and the rooms with the tanning beds were the only way to get out of sight. Still thinking that this might all just be some prank, but not taking any chances. I step back into the room that I had come from just moments before. As soon as I was out of sight from the glass doors, the man on the phone says, no, bitch, get back to where I can see you. Holy fuck. Completely awake and aware that this man really was able to see everything inside of the salon.

I kicked it into high gear. I booked it from that room and ran down the hallway to find the girl that worked there. I could hear her talking to 911 on my cell phone. I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the other room with the tanning bed and locked the door. I still had the salon phone, and as I put it back to my ear, I heard the man cursing and screaming that he was going to kill us, and we needed to go back into the lobby area, or we were as good as dead. No, sir. Ain't happening. The other girl was still talking to the dispatcher, and they said that the police would be there any second.

Right on cue, there was a banging at the back door to the alley, and we were reassured that it was the police. Keeping low, we ducked out of the room and did a half army crawl to the back door. The police had arrived and told us that the perimeter check had been done, and they weren't able to find any evidence that someone had been targeting us. They asked about any exes that we might have had who might possibly want to scare us along with a bunch of other questions. That part was a blur. And after they assured us that we were no longer in danger, they walked me into my car. You better believe that I did zig-zags all the way home to make sure that

no one was following me. I even pretended to park at another apartment building and waited for several minutes before turning onto my street. I definitely checked my shower under my bed behind my furniture and my rear-view mirror for the next several weeks. One of the strangest parts of this story, though, is that the girl that worked there didn't have any shoes on when the police arrived. The man on the phone had told her to take them off. He never explained why, but I can only assume it was to slow her down if she tried to run. Nothing ever came of the incident despite me calling and trying to get updates. I did however stop tanning, maybe that will save me in more ways than one in the long run.

So to the man who threatened to blow my brains out on the tanning salon walls, let's not meet. Amplify your career through training and development solutions specifically designed for federal government professionals, from courses to help you attain or retain certification to individualize coaching services, to programs at home, your leadership skills and business acumen, management concepts optimizes your professional development. Online in-person, individually or groups. It's training that's measurably better. Learn more at managementconcepts.com. That's managementconcepts.com.

AT&T Fiber presents a straightforward moment. You're wine. Thanks. I'll pretend I know what I'm doing before saying it's good. And I'll pretend I don't know you're pretending. Are you a Gagillionaire? Yeah, I have AT&T Fiber. The straightforward pricing has inspired me to be more straightforward.

Me too. Ugh, this wine. I'll fetch you a better one. Straight forward is better. No equipment fees, no data caps, no price increase at 12 months. Live like a Gagillionaire with AT&T Fiber. Limited availability in select areas. Visit ATT.com slash Hypergate for details. I'm currently writing this to see if any of you can help me determine if I am being stalked.

Sometimes I think I might be overreacting. Sometimes I think things could all be a coincidence, but I still feel uneasy about it. I'm hoping that if I share this, that someone might be able to give me an explanation. Or maybe someone has gone through similar circumstances and can offer advice. I couldn't really find much about the situation where the stalker wasn't known. Here's a list of strange things that have been happening to me over the course of the last six months. Number one, the first thing that happened to me was a message I received from a family member, or so I thought. I got a message through Facebook from a great aunt. I don't talk to her often, but she is pretty close with other members of the family that

I am close to, so I wasn't surprised that she would reach out. I recently graduated college, so she asked me what I was up to now. Questions about my job, where I lived, boyfriend, etc. I answered all of her questions as detailed as I could and tried having a good conversation with her. I told them the area in which I lived in the city, but obviously didn't give them my address because she didn't need that for anything. But I talked to her for a few days while she continued to ask about my personal life.

Then out of the blue, I tried sending a message to her but the messenger app won't let it go through. I'm not sure why I can't send the message at the time. I assumed maybe she deleted her account because it got hacked, or she decided to stop using social media. I saw this already happen once. My uncle had an account that got hacked, and so people were getting weird links in messenger from his account. So he just straight up deleted it. Then he made another account and things were fine.

I chalk it up to just that and move on. But then a couple of months later, I'm scrolling through my messages on the messenger app, and I see those old messages. They are kind of faded, though, like Facebook is showing the count is no longer around. I figured I wouldn't need them anymore, so I just deleted them. I then decided to keep scrolling and delete other messages that I don't need anymore. And this is when I stumbled upon another account with the same great aunt's name. I got confused and wondered if maybe she had a new account. But then I look at the messages

and realize she had sent me a happy birthday message a month before the other account message to me asking about my life. I realized there are two different accounts in her name. I click on the happy birthday message and it brings up her account. There are pictures on it from over 10 years ago. I message her and she tells me that she has always had that account and has never used another one online. So I had told a bunch of personal details about my life to a fake account that was using her name. Even if it was a simple case of fraud like they wanted to rip off my credit cards or something, then why did they not ask any questions or even hint at something like that?

All they wanted to know were my personal details about my life. Number two, fast forward a couple of months later, and I decide to rent a garage from my landlord, which is next to my apartment building. I know it is stupid that we have to rent a garage stall separate from renting our apartment. So I start parking my car in it, and a few days after I start using it,

I wake up one morning to find that my garage door is open. For about the next month, I wake up, get ready, go down to my garage, and the door is wide open. This happens about once a week for a month. It's random days, though, and usually in the middle of the night that it happens. So I don't notice until I walk down in the morning. I also want to add that I haven't accidentally hit a button and after this started happening, every time I closed the garage door,

I watched it go down to make sure that it stayed. I have ruled out the most logical explanations. The third time I found the garage door open, I realized that the light on my rear-view mirror inside of my car was on, like someone had turned it on and went through my car. The whole month, this was happening I never once found anything missing from my car or the garage. It hasn't happened now for two weeks. Number three. My boyfriend at one point lost his keys.

About three weeks ago, he was getting ready for work and realized his keys were gone. He ended up walking to work and had to leave our apartment door unlocked because he didn't have a key to lock up and I was already at work. When we got home that night, I made sure we looked all over the apartment to make sure that there was nothing missing and also for his keys. Everything seemed fine. My boyfriend had found his keys in the garbage after looking a little bit longer. I didn't know how they could have gotten there, but they did.

After watching TV for a few hours that night, I realized we hadn't checked the balcony. I went to check the balcony door. I couldn't see the lock on the door at first because our screen door is in front of the sliding glass door, like the closest to the inside of our apartment. So, I slide the screen door over, which doesn't lock, and I notice right away that the lock is unlatched on the sliding glass door. I slid the door open just a crack

and peaked onto the balcony because I got nervous. I couldn't see anything, so I closed the door and locked it. I just want to mention that my boyfriend and I have a rule to always lock that door. I have never left it open unless it was the summertime. I also want to mention that this is winter now and we probably haven't opened that door in a couple of months. I know I did not leave it unlocked. I know these things could all be a coincidence, but it's just odd to me. It makes me feel uneasy. I don't know if anyone has had similar experiences.

I've read a lot about stalking situations and learned a lot about stalking in general while in school. So I know that victims oftentimes know their stalker, but I honestly can't pinpoint a person in particular, which is why I'm not sure what to think about this situation. Number four. So this is kind of an update from the past week. Another thing that has happened that I need to mention. None of the other things seem to have continued on.

I completed some of the security measures that were mentioned to me. I appreciate all of these suggestions so far, but yesterday, I was dog sitting alone at my mom's house, and I got a phone call. I looked down at the phone and said, no caller ID. Now, I often get calls from random numbers, but not often calls like that. I usually never answer either because it is usually telemarketers. I got this bad feeling in my gut, but I had to know who it was. So I picked up.

It was a man on the other end. At first, he was just breathing for a very long time. But after I had said hello a couple of times, he said hello back. But in this very low, quiet, creepy voice, it was almost like he was surprised that I answered. I asked who was calling, and he started to chuckle and asked me, who are you? As if you were mocking me, I asked again who it was. And that is when he said something very disturbing to me and I hung up. This is the only phone call I've ever gotten like that. It just scared me to think of how he could have gotten my number, but I just have a bad feeling that

this could be related to the other incidences. Now, I didn't do anything about the call at first because I didn't know if it was a one-time deal. I ended up getting a second call from a blocked caller ID a week later. I got this call right before I was about to walk to my car after working the night shift, so it was pretty dark outside. I didn't answer the call this time, though. Worry me that these calls were both made to me when I was alone. It was dark out, both times.

And I was about to go to a different location. If they keep the same pattern, I'll be getting a call this weekend. So I'm a little afraid. I also got a Facebook message from a random person I went to high school with, but someone that I never talked to. They asked how I was doing. I thought it was weird, but maybe she was just doing one of those pyramid schemes, so

I just said, high back to be nice. The message ended up getting reported, and it turns out it wasn't actually from that person that I went to high school with. It could have been just a simple spam situation, but the conversation didn't go far enough for me to actually know for sure. I also want to add that I wouldn't have shared any personal information even if the conversation did continue. I learned my lesson the hard way. I recently reached out to the police and I now have something on file which helps a bit. There isn't much they can do at this point though. I wanted to share a bit of information

that I learned this week though. So if anyone else out there feels they may be dealing with a situation like this, they will know too. Even if someone calls you one time and says something sexual and nature or suggests any unwanted contact. You can report that to the police.

It also isn't a scary process either. I was nervous to call them, but it was actually fairly quick and easy. I had to go through 911 to file a report, but the dispatcher forwarded me to an officer. You then basically just describe what happened and they file the report. They give you a case number too.

So if anything else happens, you can call back and update them with that number. Even if something seems like it might not be that big of a deal, don't wait for it to happen again to report it. Starting to keep track of everything and reporting it early on is really important. Just in case it continues to happen in the future. Anyways, I hope everyone is safe out there.

AT&T Fiber presents A Straight Forward Moment You're wine? Thanks. I'll pretend I know what I'm doing before saying it's good. And I'll pretend I don't know you're pretending. Are you a Gigillionaire? Yeah, I have 18T Fiber. The straightforward pricing has inspired me to be more straightforward. Me too.

Ugh, this wine. I'll fetch you a better one. Straight forward is better. No equipment fees, no data caps, no price increase at 12 months. Live like a Giga-Gillionaire with AT&T Fiber. Limited availability in select areas. Visit at patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast for bonus episodes every single week, including

a bunch of other extras and exclusive merchandise. Again, that's patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast to support the show and get access today. Thanks to Heather Ashley for joining me on this week's episode. Don't forget to check out her amazing True Crime podcast Big Mad True Crime wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening. This week you have heard, person in black by London fog,

a story by a listener that asked to remain anonymous, home alone with a newborn and an unwanted guest by listener Pressley. Almost taken at Sam's Club by Max, a story by listener Chris Hall, near death by listener Chris Hall, near death by road rage, and Oakland by listener KF. Tannings Salon Sniper by Holly May. And finally, I need help, I think I am being stalked by Ambs 1833.

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. If you have a story you want to share, as always, send it to Let's Not Meet Stories at gmail.com. I'll see you all next week for a brand new episode of Let's Not Eat and Have a Happy and Safe Valentine's. 18T Fiber presents A Straight Forward Moment You're wine? Thanks. I'll pretend I know what I'm doing before saying it's good.

And I'll pretend I don't know you're pretending. Are you a Gagillionaire? Yeah, I have AT&T Fiber. The straightforward pricing has inspired me to be more straightforward. Me too. Ugh, this wine. I'll fetch you a better one. Straight forward is better.

No equipment fees, no data caps, no price increase at 12 months. Live like a Gagillionaire with AT&T Fiber. Limited availability in select areas, visit AT&T.com slash Hypergate for details. AT&T Fiber presents a straightforward moment. Your wine? Thanks. I'll pretend I know what I'm doing before saying it's good.

And I'll pretend I don't know you're pretending. Are you a Gagillionaire? Yeah, I have AT&T Fiber. The straightforward pricing has inspired me to be more straightforward. Me too. Ugh, this one. I'll fetch you a better one. Straight forward is better.

No equipment fees, no data caps, no price increase at 12 months. Live like a Giga-Gillionaire with AT&T Fiber. Limited availability in select areas, visit AT&T.com slash HyperGig for details.