Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast - 8x18: Weirdo in the Woods - Let's Not Meet

Episode Date: June 6, 2022

Stories in this episode:  - The Angry Truck Drivers, by M (1:59)  - Something Doesn't Feel Right, by Ginger (10:52)  - Stalker Story, by Hunter (17:53)  - Creepy Katie, by Brielle (24:18)  - Untitled, by Kristin (31:47)  - A Story From Ireland, by Big Gloiner (37:50)  - Weirdo in the Woods, by Q (44:58)  Extended Patreon Content:  - Pizza Man and The Camaro Boys, by CJH  - Former Friend, by Aspen  - The Night He Broke In, by Tonya  -UPCOMING LIVE SHOWS- SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022 - LONG BEACH, CA - LONG BEACH CONVENTION CENTER (CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS)  THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2022 - SEATTLE, WA - NEPTUNE THEATRE (CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS)  FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2022 - PORTLAND, OR - POLARIS HALL (CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS)  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 extended, ad-free episodes of Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast with bonus stories every week at a higher bitrate along with 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! Don't forget to check out this week's episode of my other podcast Odd Trails for your true paranormal fix as well as the first episode of my new podcast the Old Time Radiocast all at https://crypticcountypodcasts.com.  Wow your audience with Canva Pro, the easiest way to create presentations! Right now, you can get a FREE 45-day extended trial! Just go to Canva.me/meet. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp and my listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/MEET. Check out NativeDeo.com/meet, or use promo code MEET at checkout, and get 20% off your first order today, and don't forget to check out their sunscreen for those bright summer days!    All time stamps are approximate and may not be 100% accurate after 90 days due to changes in ad placement.  - 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/andrewtatelive 

You're already there, hero. But if you want to take it to the next level, turn up Bull Loose in your backyard. Whoa! Bull Outdoor can help you design, build, then deliver the outdoor kitchen of your dreams. Think of all the fun you'll have. Grills, pizza ovens, sinks, ice chests, refrigerators, and more.

All designed to last a lifetime. Start customizing now at bullbibikiu.com That's bullbibikiu.com and turn a bull loose in your backyard Ah, you're here. Good. A ghost couldn't make a grave make John Strangle meet a death. Light out everybody. I'd like to tell you about my new podcast, The Old Time Radio Cast. On this show, we take the most horrifying tales from the golden age of radio, clean them

up, and remaster them for your listening pleasure, preserving the very best era and audio entertainment with stories of suspense, mystery and horror. Here you will find the most terrifying episodes of your favorite old-time radio shows like Suspense, Dark Fantasy, The Whistler, and many more. Listen with the whole family, or dare to turn down the lights and listen alone. Every week, I will be presenting a double feature of exciting and historic radio broadcasts on the old time radiocast. Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts today. You know what, what would happen next if this was a horror story?

That's what, what would happen next? It did. That's what I have next. It did. My name is Andrew Tate, and this is season eight episode 18 of Let's Not Meet a True Horror Podcast. Music This takes place my senior year of college. I went to a medium sized state university and a mostly college town. I was in my small two-door car driving to one of the campus buildings for class. The drive from my

apartment was mostly normal until I reached one of the busier roads. I was at a red light waiting for the green arrow to turn left. When I finally got the green arrow I proceeded forward and turned on to the main road. As I'm turning, a big black truck coming from the opposite direction blows the red light and turns right. It wasn't just that they blew the light, they also swirved into my lane and I needed to swerve into oncoming traffic. My next coming turn was a right so I picked up the pace and passed them.

I got into the right lane in front of them. I gave them plenty of space, but I was fuming. As I approached my right turn, I stuck my arm out the window and gave them the bird. I did this right before my turn because I figured they would see it and just keep moving forward. I'm on campus at this point, headed towards class, I make two turns and come to a stop sign. There were other cars before me so I waited my turn.

I look in my rear view mirror, and I see the black truck right behind me. I'm not sure if it's the same truck that I flipped off though. I take a right turn and the truck follows. Now out of precaution, I drive past the parking lot that I usually park in. If it is just some random truck, it should travel another direction eventually. I reached another four-way stop and took a right, so did the truck. At the next opportunity, I took a left. So did the truck. At this point, a gentleman kicks in because I'm sure I'm being followed. I keep weaving through campus with the truck following close behind. And that's when I think, let's see how willing they are to continue following me. Maybe if it looks like I'm leaving town,

they'll give up and go on with their day. I get to the intersection on the edge of campus that leads to the road out of town. I roll through the stop sign and floor it. My little 2008 Chevy Cobalt sped forward and I reached 60 as soon as I could. At this point I have thought to call the police, so I pull my phone out of my hoodie pocket and being the clutz that I am and scared, I drop the phone and it falls under the seat. At this point I could either try and reach for the phone and possibly crash or just keep my eyes on the road and mirror.

So I do the letter. I look behind me and lo and behold the truck is speeding up. The truck closes the distance between us much faster than I expected. Clearly their vehicle had much more horsepower than my car. I should have known that. Now before the road narrows from four lanes to two, the truck pulls up next to me. I look over and I see two men in Kamo with unkempt beards. They're staring daggers at me when they reach down and pull something out. It was a revolver. My blood went cold.

I have been in road rage incidents before, but it's always been someone who was all bark and no bite, but these people were armed. They were mad that I had flipped them off. I tapped the brakes, and they're now in front, and to the right of my car. They start driving into my lane again. These fuckers are trying to pull me over. I'm alone and on the edge of town my phone is out of reach, and there are two armed men trying to get me off of the road.

I can't call for help, I can't fight them, even if I tried playing bumper cars, they were in a truck and I was in this little to-door. I have nothing to defend myself with. My only option was to flee, but my car could never outrun their truck. I slow down and start pulling over. They do as well. Once I saw that they were slowing down, I hit the brakes a little quickly, so they rolled a little bit further ahead of me.

I sit for a moment. My car is stopped and now they've stopped their truck. Their brake lights go off, and I see that they have put the car into park. Now my heart is racing. Both doors open, and I see their legs kick out. The second both of their legs hit the ground, I take my foot off the brake and slam on the gas. I make the fastest U-turn I had ever made.

I cross three lanes of traffic and speed into town. My first thought was to go to the police, but it was deep in town and had multiple stoplights between me and the station. I can't call to let the cops know that I'm on the way because I can't guarantee that I'll be able to make it into the police station before they catch up and do God knows what. So I look back and see that the truck was trying to flip a U-turn as well. Thankfully, there was oncoming traffic and they had to wait. This bought me a few precious seconds.

I still can't call for help. I can't reach the phone. I can't run forever though. So I pick the next best thing. Hide. I swing a quick left onto the same road that I came from. At this point, I was back on campus. This area of campus was at the edge, so there weren't any dorms or classrooms nearby, but there were other administration buildings and parking lots full of cars.

I swing into one of the parking lots and drive to where there are multiple cars and trees to block seeing me. I pull between two bigger cars, throw my car into park, and cut the engine and duck down. I want to make sure that I'm not seen and I want to grab my cell phone. I dial 911 and get the operator on the line. Hello, my name is Insert Name, and I'm being chased by a truck. I'm hiding in my vehicle in the campus parking lot. I don't know if they'll find me. Can you please stay on the line with me just in case? Unfortunately, I don't remember much about the conversation with the operator. I do remember that they were nice. She asked me if I got the license plate, and I said that I didn't. We chatted for a few I said that I didn't.

We chatted for a few minutes, and I didn't see anyone pull into the parking lot. The operator advised that I should call 911 if it ever happens again. I thanked her for her talking to me, started my car, and then began to head back to class. My phone gripped in my hand. I make it to the proper lot, then park my car. I grab my stuff and head into class. My adrenaline was pumping and my hands were shaking a bit. The whole walk I was looking around to make sure that I didn't see any black trucks. I make it to class, still early, and run into one of my classmates, he gives me a look and asks what's wrong.

I kind of trauma bombed him and told him everything. His eyes grew wide and he just said, holy shit, you're still going to class? I took a minute to think about it and I realized that I had calmed down a lot. Something about being in a familiar building and telling it to another person really helped bring me back to a regular place. Yeah, I think I'm okay ish now. I headed into class and it was actually a fun day. By the end of class, I was back to normal and feeling like myself again. I head back to my car and never encountered the black truck again. Since the incident, I've been a little bit more mindful of who I have flipped the bird when I'm driving. I moved to a big city shortly after and sold my car. That definitely

helped. Looking back, I'm proud of myself for thinking quickly in that situation. I'm also pissed because who pulls out a gun and chases down a college student over flipping the bird? My guess is the truck and the aggression was compensation for other shortcomings that they have if you know what I mean. Whatever the reason, I'm glad that I got away, and let's not meet. In July of 2019, I had just gotten a new puppy, 7, and was potty training him. 7 woke up around 3.45 am on a Sunday morning with his cries that I knew he had to go potty. We live in an apartment, so I couldn't just let him out. I had to walk him.

So I threw on a hoodie and put on my slides. I didn't turn on any lights because I didn't want to wake myself up completely. I told myself, don't take your phone because you'll just end up scrolling through social media. Then be outside longer than you have to. I told myself, don't lock the front door so you don't have to pull out your keys when it's time to get back in. I live on the third floor so I took the elevator down to the lobby and made sure that I didn't close the lobby door all the way either because I

didn't want to pull out my keys. So I'm walking my puppy and we get halfway down the street. And I thought, well, it's so quiet, I must be the only person out right now. When I was just a house away from the corner and my pup was doing his thing, I started to hear a car. It was like it had a broken muffler. And I thought to myself, you spoke too soon. This car was on the same street and coming towards me. He made a ride on the corner where I was, and it was like time slowed down to a crawl. I got full body chills. I could feel the driver staring at me, but I couldn't see his face. His window was down, and his arm was resting on the door, and for some reason, I don't know why, but I noticed he was wearing a flannel shirt. And even

though it was early in the morning, wherein the valley, it's super hot, no matter what time of day it is, especially in July. My body wanted to run, but my brain was saying don't run yet. My body wanted to run, but my brain was saying, don't run yet. Once he completed the turn, I grabbed my pup and headed back home. Once I got to the driveway, I could hear the car again. He was coming back. I thanked God I didn't close the door all the way, and when I got to my elevator, I felt safe. Think about my apartment.

There are two ways to get in. One is the side door that leads you to our stairs or the other one is the front door that leads you to the lobby slash elevator. They're next to each other. When I exited the elevator, I heard the side door slam shut and I ran into the apartment. I locked the door and then headed to the bathroom that has a window that faces the street that I just came from. What I saw made my face turn red and hot to the point that I felt my ears throbbing. This was the kind of fear I had never experienced. There,

sitting idle was the car with the broken muffler. It was still running. Did he come back for me? I was safe in my home. There was no way for him to know which was my apartment, and then God didn't turn on any lights. So I went back to bed and when I laid down, my ex-husband asked me if everything was okay.

And I said, yeah, but do you want to hear something crazy? I told him what happened, and he told me, I need to have the manager check the cameras in the morning. So I did, and he showed me how the man actually ran up the stairs to the second floor and looked around. And then did the same thing on the third floor. He eventually gave up and left. She notified the police since the man was trespassing and the police advised her to make sure that she fixed the side door lock because they had a call that same day of a man that got into a townhome down the street from us through an open sliding door.

They entered a woman's bedroom, but they were scared off by her adult son, and that man matched the description of the guy in the security footage. At Croger, you can find the highest quality products at a great price in every aisle every day with Croger brand. So you can stock up on your household favorites that are tried, tested, and loved by you. Because when you get the products you love at great prices, it feels like winning. Shop now, in-store, or online. Kruger, fresh for everyone! I started going to a small, local anime convention when I was just 13. My dad would go with me, and he would normally stay with me until I felt that I was safe

enough to be alone, and then I would just check in with him throughout the day. After checking out all of the vendors and taking photos, people there would play games. One of the games being Ninja. Now I won't go into the rules of it, but I loved the game. I would play for hours straight. I made a lot of friends there. Every year when I would go to the convention, that game was what I looked forward to. When I was about 15, I made friends with a guy who will call Shane. Shane always played ninja with me,

and he would hang around with me and my friends for the day. He was much older than me, in college, I believe. But I didn't really think about that at the time. I know I should have, but I was just happy to be making friends with the same nerdy interests that I had. We were friends for about three whole years. At first the friendship was pretty normal. We texted every day and talked about anime, and then the next conversation, and then what costumes we were going to wear. It didn't take long, though, for things to get weird. He told me that he liked me. I told him thanks, but I see him as an older brother. Things were a bit awkward after, and it became harder to talk to him. We didn't talk as much, and I started replying

even less. One night when we were texting, he told me how hurt he was, and that he tried to kill himself by crashing his car because I didn't love him back. I don't even remember what I said, but I remember just feeling full of guilt, like it was my fault, that I didn't see him romantically. I started distancing myself from him even more, texting less and less. Now he lived over an hour away, so I never really had to worry about seeing him in person. The more I stepped back though, the more aggressive he got. Texting my phone back to back until I responded, and if I stopped responding, he would call me back to back until I answered. At all hours, even midnight, on school nights.

Notifications on my phone started to make me anxious out of fear that it was him. So I blocked his number. Then his friend texted me. His friend threatened to kill me because I didn't love Shane. I blocked him too. It got to the point where even my friends had to block him. Now after all that, I thought that was it. But I wouldn't be sending this in if it were that easy. I was on Wattpad one night, yes the app for Home Hate Fan Fix, when I remembered

that Shane told me he wrote poems and posted them there. I never really cared for Poetry, so I never read his. I should also say that at this time I was about 16, and I hadn't heard from Shane in almost a year. Being curious, I found his account and started scrolling through the poems. They were just your typical edgy boy poems, you know the ones, until it became something darker. There were poems about me, multiple, him talking about how I'm lost, and he will guide me, but I'm too broken to notice. Him wishing my partners at the time would break my heart, so I would choose him instead. Him wishing that I would get assaulted, so I would know how it feels to

be hurt. And still, that wasn't even the worst. It was poem after poem switching from saying that he loved me, to he should have assaulted me when he had the chance. I cried and I told my friends the next day. They were just as shocked as I was. But we thought that since I had blocked him, and they had blocked him, and while this was scary, I was. But we thought that since I had blocked him and they had blocked him, and while this was scary, I was safe. So we dropped it. Six months passed, and I'm laying in bed on my phone. My dad comes into my room and very

sternly asks, who is Shane? Confused and not even thinking about it, I asked who he was talking about. He shows me his phone, and it was a message on Facebook. It was from Shane. He said that he wanted to call and that it was about me. I told my dad to block him and said that he was an old friend but he got weird so I stopped talking to him. My dad left and the ending of this is what he told me. He said that when he went to the garage he called Shane asking what he wanted. He told my dad that he wants to know where we live. He said he had been driving around our town for over an hour now and can't find our house, and that he wanted to talk to me. My dad hung up and quickly called the

cops. He sent screenshots of the messages to them, and the cops drove around looking for him. When my dad was done talking to the cops, he talked to me and asked me what was really going on and explained what Shane had told him. I showed my dad the poems that Shane wrote about me and told him everything. He gave those screenshots to the police as well. I never found him in our town again, so I guess he just left. But the friend who turned out to be a stalker who drove over an hour away to try and find me, I never want to meet you again. I've been a listener of Let's Not Meet since my sophomore year in high school.

Now that I've finally graduated, I think it's time to tell my story. The story about a girl that went to my middle school and high school and is now finally out of my life. I also want to say that now I'm fairly sure and certain that this girl didn't have the best home life and was probably mentally ill. I don't know to what extreme, but it was quite apparent. But that still doesn't make what she had done any better or excusable. It all started back in sixth grade.

I was eleven and had some classes with one of my former best friends who all call Sailor. Sailor and I had the same dance and chorus classes as electives. We were pretty excited and made some other friends that also shared these same interests. Two other friends are very important to this story. One who I'll call Lisa the other I'll call Opal. Me, Sailor, Lisa and Opal became fast friends. We all had the same dance class, which was our last class of the day. Katie was also in that class. Right off the bat, Katie became kind of obsessed with our group, but specifically with Sailor me Lisa and Opal really just me and Opal could see that Katie was very

Obsessive over Sailor we could see that Katie was always clingy and From what sailor would tell us of their friendship? We began to tell her to stop being her friend Apparently Katie would call Sailor's house multiple times per day. She would constantly text her. We all had tablets back in those days and would want to hang out with her. She even said, and I quote, I would go lesbian for you. Sailor entertained her for a while before finally listening to us and attempting to break off the friendship. And we started to call her creepy Katie. Now, to the crazy parts. It was November and our first dance recital. We were excited and nervous and we were all talking and getting

ready in the changing room at the high school. This is where the recital was taking place. People were changing, putting on makeup, and practicing, of course. Well, Katie decided that it would be a great idea to show us some videos on her tablet. Now, warning. This shit is graphic. She showed us videos of her putting her cat in a backpack and swinging it around her room. We were stunned. She also showed us other videos of a similar nature that I won't describe. We were obviously horrified and we weren't really talking or paying attention to her anymore. She then decides to start filming, as girls were changing. Needless to say, our

dance instructor caught her, and all phones and tablets were banned from being out in the dressing rooms. After we got done dancing, and we're waiting for the show to end, still in the dressing room, Sailor decides to officially break off their friendship. Katie fucking lost it. She went ape shit literally. She was bouncing and screaming and jumping across chairs and all over the room. Needless to say, she was pissed and we were frightened. I can't remember everything that occurred after that until this next event.

Katie was still in our dance class, and it was now around January or February. We had done our best to avoid her, and of course, be nice when we had to interact with her. I don't know who found out or saw, but she was quickly moved out of our class because she had been drawing pictures of me, Sailor Lisa, and Opal. Pictures of us with guns to our heads. Blood. And oh, I guess you get the picture. It was violent. After that event, we never really saw or talked to her again, until the next year when she was in our class. We didn't know how or why she was considering what she had done the previous year but she was and she was still being creepy Katie. That year the friend group broke apart with sailor choosing Lisa

over me and Opal moving schools. So I was lonely. I tried my best to be civil and move on. Katie persisted that year though. She was still being creepy towards me and also a boy in our class that I was friends with. Katie continued to go to the same school, even in high school. And although we didn't have any more classes after eighth grade, whenever she saw me she gave me this bone-chilling stare. The last semester of our senior year,

she completely vanished. I haven't seen her in months, but I'm glad. Creepy Katie, I hope we never meet again. Fresh produce is the best produce. That's why at Crogr, we invest in local farmers to bring you the freshest seasonal picks. So no matter how you shop, your local produce always tastes 100% fresh, or you get a 100% refund. Guaranteed. Croger. Fresh. For everyone. Save big on your favorites with the Buy 5 or more Save a Dollar each sale, simply buy 5 or more participating items and save happened at the end of 2021.

I live with my boyfriend and my dog. I work a corporate 9-5 job and my boyfriend is a custom woodworker. He typically works 10-4, but on Wednesdays he works until 9pm teaching a woodworking class with two of his co-workers. Typically on these nights by myself, I will walk my dog, cook dinner, and then do some homework and be asleep before he even gets home. On this particular night I was dozing off and was almost asleep. When I heard my phone ringing, a little past 9 p.m.

It's my boyfriend. Weird. I pick up and he says, you'll never guess which has happened. I assume he's in an accident since people in Denver drive like total assholes." He said, "...Nope. All of my tires are slashed. Can you come pick me up?" I instantly am wide awake and very confused. I will never understand why somebody slashes tires. What benefit do you get out of that other than being a dick? He then goes on to say every car in that parking lot has slashed tires including one of his co-workers. This ends up being a total of 10 cars, most of which belonged to a business that was connected to his work. I ask him where he is, and if

he can see the suspect and he says that he and two of his co-workers are in the parking lot, and they haven't seen anyone, not knowing how long ago that this happened. I get dressed and leash up my dog since he couldn't be trusted home alone at the time. We get into the car and drive about 10 minutes to his work. I would also like to point out that my boyfriend works in a pretty rough part of Denver, so I am not thrilled to be driving myself there, but it is what it is, and he would do this for me. I have this awful feeling in me because I have no idea what was used to slash these

tires. Who this person is? Why they did it, and how long ago they did it, so I'm extremely anxious. I get to his work parking lot. He and two co-workers are all standing in the parking lot. I get out of the car and I let my dog out as well to greet them. We talk for about 5-10 minutes, just about how weird this is and how no one's car was broken into. We don't understand the motive. Thankfully one of his co-workers parked in the garage so his car didn't get affected, so he gave the other co-worker a ride home. Now there are two entrances to this parking lot, one leading to the highway and one leading

to the back roads. His co-workers leave through the exit to the back roads and we leave through the one that goes to the highway. As we're headed to the exit, I stop the car and look to my left to make sure that nobody is coming. As I look, I see this shirtless man with blue eyes and blonde hair, probably around 30, coming towards my car. 30 coming towards my car where he was coming from has sidewalks so I thought he was just walking along the sidewalk and was going to cross in front of my car. I thought this until I realized that he was screaming at me. I didn't catch what he was saying as my windows were rolled up though As he's yelling and walking

towards my car, I see him unfolding this insanely huge knife. The blade itself was probably one foot long. He pulls this knife from behind him and slams it into my window. Without even seeing if somebody was coming, I floored it out of that parking lot as my boyfriend called 911. The thing that is unusual for me is that I run very, very cold, so I never have the AC going on in my car. Wherever I go, I always have the windows down. I don't know why, but this particular time, I had all the windows up. If they were down, seeing the size of that knife, I would have gotten my face slashed. This man was clearly the one who slashed all of the tires, and was clearly on some type

of drug that caused him to act so erratically. This man went on a rampage that night. There's a security camera in my boyfriend's work parking lot that caught him driving into the parking lot with a stolen car, slashing all of the tires, and pouring gasoline on only my boyfriend's car. We found out there were two other 9-1-1 calls about him as he slashed tires and several other parking lots that night Due to the amount of true crime that I listened to I subconsciously knew to remember his face during the crime So I called the police station and identified him in a photo lineup He's now being charged with the felony

photo lineup. He's now being charged with the felony. So to the man with a giant knife who slashed my tires, poured gasoline on my boyfriend's car, and tried to slash my face, let's not meet. Hi there, I'm Irish, and if you don't know, during the 70s and 90s, there was a conflict in Northern Ireland between various paramilitary groups and government forces. This conflict became known as the Troubles. Northern Ireland is officially part of the UK, but many people living there consider themselves to be Irish instead of British. This, of course, led to division in the region between the mostly Catholic Irish Republicans and the mostly Protestant, Ulster, Loyalists. There were many paramilitary groups on both sides during the conflict.

The most famous of these groups is definitely the Irish Republican Army, but there were many others that weren't as famous internationally, particularly the loyalist side. One such group was the Ulster Defense Association, which was newer than the loyalist groups, but still as violent. Anyway, time for the actual story. Before I was born, during the mid-90s, my parents decided to visit a friend of theirs for the day in Belfast, a city in Northern Ireland. Their friend lived in a Protestant neighborhood, and my dad is noticeably Catholic since he's

from Southern Ireland, and his accent gives it away. My parents took the train to Belfast, and when they arrived, they went to a local pub for lunch before setting off to their friend's house. As they were coming up to the house, my mother noticed that people were giving them dirty looks from all directions, and when they tried to ask one of the locals for directions to their friend's house, the person in question just ignored them and kept walking on. My parents finally did arrive at their friend's house, greetings and other pleasant trees were exchanged as their friends invited them in.

They had dinner and then they went to the living room to talk and have dessert. Now, in the living room, there was a huge window facing the front lawn of the house, and you could see out into the street through it. This detail is crucial to what happens next. It was beginning to get somewhat dark, and my mom walked over to the window to try and see the sun setting. But, as she was looking out, something caught her eye. There was a car parked across the street with their engine turned off, and what appeared to be two people in the front seats. My mom thought nothing of it at first, but then

she noticed that they seemed to be looking at the friend's house. My parents' friend came up behind her to ask what was up, and then she also saw the car across the street. Her face went pale, and she pulled my mom away from the window. She asked her if she had talked to any locals or been around the rest of the neighborhood. My mom told her that before going to the house they had to stop at a local pub for lunch and tried to ask a local for directions to the house. My dad must have overheard their conversation because he chimed in and said that he had

actually asked some of the patrons at the pub if the Guinness in Belfast was as good as the Guinness in Dublin. My parents friend then looked at both of them with a horrified look, and explained that this neighborhood in particular was controlled by the Ulster Defense Association, a Protestant paramilitary group that was notoriously anti-Catholic. Turns out my dad and his big mouth had inadvertently alerted the residents of this unapologetically Protestant neighborhood that he was Catholic due to his southern Irish accent. My dad then looked out the window and, as he puts it, his stomach dropped and his blood

ran cold. The street lights had all turned on, shining upon the car and the two figures. My dad then claims that he saw the two figures in the car now had Bala Klavasan. As soon as he let my mom and the friend know, their friend immediately sprang into action and quickly led them to the house's back door. She drove both my parents back to the train station where they bought a ticket back to Dublin. They thanked their friends and got on the train. To this day, expect for that friend of theirs. 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 AT&T fiber.

The straightforward pricing has inspired me to be more straightforward. Me too. 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 gigillionaire with AT&T fiber.

Limited availability in select areas. Visit atct.com slash Hypergate for details. My name is Q, like the letter. By childhood friends, most of, if not all, are still my friends to this day and still call me by that nickname. We are mainly still friends because of where we grew up and how we grew up. See we grew up in poorly run HUD Homes in New York with the help of Section 8, Government Funded Housing, which is basically a pretty way to not call them the projects, but they

were and we knew it. We weren't ashamed, in fact, we were kind of proud of that place, still are. But see the irony of this whole situation was that the apartments were dead center in the suburbs. We repissed poor kids growing up in a rich neighborhood. See, it's ironic. We're more like brothers than friends. Our bond was forged through struggles that we all shared. But anyways, I digress. This story takes place in the mid-90s. I was around 10, not a young man, but not quite a boy. You know, that weird stage. Our habitat held 16 buildings, divided into fours. It was always bustling with activity,

kids, bike riders, jump-ropers, elderly couples walking, pick up games everywhere of all sports. Barely a dull moment. Yes, we were monetarily poor, but filthy rich in almost every other way. Attached to the back side of our apartment complex was a small patch of wooded area that the town owned but never developed. It was like they almost didn't develop it on purpose to keep us separated from the mansions barely 100 yards away. Like we were drug-addicted cousins that everybody knew about, but acted like they didn't, and never spoke of. So naturally as a bored boy with no father figure, and a mother who worked two, often three

jobs to support us. I got into a lot. Of course I ventured into the woods often. This day was a muggy day, maybe July. Not exactly sure, but it was summer vacation. That time in particular, I was playing with the next-door neighbor, Adam. I don't know if I actually thought of him as my best friend, or if it was just by easy accessibility and geographical placement, but nevertheless he was my good buddy. We scampered along as young ins do. The

only supervision was our shadows that trailed behind us. We made our way by the woods but not into them, probably in search of toads or the occasional snake to catch. It was a test of bravery. Also, our favorite pastime. And the midst of our Cermet quest, an acquaintance of ours that lived a few buildings over approached me. He was only a year or two younger, and I had seen him around. He spoke,

Hey, I want to show you something in the woods. It was like he was only speaking to me, not even noticing Adam. I thought it was a bit odd because we never really communicated much, but we knew of each other. Me being me, and open for new friends I accepted his invite. I'm not sure what I exactly thought. I'm not even sure if I questioned, but I was in. I knew the woods well, and it was midday in the summer, so I wasn't too weirded out.

It wasn't like a middle-aged man in a trench coat wearing sunglasses and a fedora at 11 B.M. It was a boy who was younger than me, and somewhat familiar in my, what was essentially backyard. I shielded my face with my arms as we pushed through the greenery, not too deep inside, but deep enough for the foliage to conceal us. Enough to camouflage any untrained eyes from the outside looking in. But myself, I could still see the parking lot, packed full of outdated rusty sedans and

beat up minibans. Curious to see what my newfound friend wanted to show me, I've followed blindly. Behind a large tree, three boys presented themselves, and like a magic trick, poof, my new friend was gone. Looking back, he was clearly just some kind of pond to get me in the woods. They probably paid him off in football cards or ice cream. I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. I'll never know. But I was caught off guard. Being an only child and often left alone, growing up in the environment that I grew up in, even at that age, I had street smarts, more than most, especially more than the yuppies that lived in the cookie-cutter developments barely a football field away. I knew instantly something was up and not right. Out of the three boys, clearly much older than me by at least

half a decade or more, I only recognized one. He was pale, dark-haired, deep purple bags paid mortgage to where his eyes lived. He looked like a vampire. He held a stick in his hand. It was more of a broken tree limb. Hell, he might as well have been Jack Torrance roaming the halls of the overlook hotel with an axe. He gave me the same creepy vibes. Something was endowedingly off with this kid. They all circled me, like lions slowly intimidating their injured prey. It was almost taunting.

That was enough. I wanted no part of this. I was out. I turned around to leave, but they pounced Two of them easily contained me to this day. I have no recollection of their faces only his Only that dead look in his eyes like he was lost, but laser focused at the same time Like he was here, but not Almost as if he could see something that no one else could. The other two grabbed me and held my arms outstretched like Jesus on the

cross. I obviously fought with what I had, but they were older and had already hit puberty, so I was no match. I wasn't strong enough. I was a deer caught in a bear trap, waiting, watching as my predator slowly crept to his prey. I felt hot pricks of anxiety stabbing my arms in neck. I'd like to hope that I hid my fear well, but I don't really recall. I played, though. I always had to. It's just how I was raised. My mom always said, even if you're scared, don't let them know. I knew that the weirdo vampire fuck

went to high school and I would eventually attend that school. But that's all, nothing more. In the background, Adam was calling for me. I didn't respond to his first cat call. I just maintained eyes with this, whatever he was. Those eyes, I've never seen look like that, even to this day. I swear he didn't even blink. Adam calls out once more, and I called back. Adam! Adam! Then a crack.

I see a bright white light, a flash, a quick one. Like someone took a picture. It was gone as fast as it came. My vision blurred in my ears rang. It was a high-pitched e-sound. I heard their voices, but they were muffled. Weirdo Dracula, kid, had hit me in the head with that stick. It didn't just hit me, though.

He swung for the fences. I dropped. My knees gave out. I was dizzy and confused. What was happening? Why was this happening? I don't know this teenager. Not even fully sure of his name. What

the actual fuck was his problem with me? His friends didn't even let me fall. I just dangled there. I was fading. I felt tired. They held their tight grip. Kept me stretched out. Arms wide open. Both my legs dropped, my shoulders burned, feeling like my arms were going to pop out of their sockets. My ears stopped ringing, but my dizziness continued. Most likely early symptoms of a concussion. This weirdo casually casually spoke to his two side-kicks almost softly. He said, undo his pants. Out of nowhere, my mother was there. Full sprint just behind Adam, almost tripping over him, frantically calling my name. I could hear the

desperation in her voice, the panic, and the fear. I've never heard that tone come from her. They scattered, gone, like roaches, when you turn the lights on. I finally met the ground. My shoulder's still burning, but I was free. Still groggy. I examined my parting gift. It felt like a golf ball that was growing out of my skull. It was underneath my scalp. I examined my parting gift, it felt like a golf ball that was growing out of my skull,

it was underneath my scalp. My mom found me, collected me off the ground and took me home. I don't know if I passed out, but the time between Adam calling my name, and the time that my mom arrived, it almost seemed like an instant. Here's the thing, the distance to get to my apartment and back to my location on foot from the woods would have taken at least 7-8 minutes. And that's if everything went absolutely perfect. So to this day, I still don't know what fully happened, when and if I did get knocked out or blacked out. Or fuck, locked it out. But I continued on, as kids do. I brushed it off as a fight, I guess. It didn't shake me too much, kids are resilient, right? Well, some years later, maybe seven

or so. This weirdo Dracula kid, he stabbed his mother 77 times to death, right down the street, and one of those fancy mansions. He was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. He was sentenced to imprisonment in a mental health institution. Adam moved away shortly after that, and I have to thank him today. Who knows what would have happened if he weren't there. Oh, into this weird O' Dracula kid? I'm a big boy now, so for your sake, let's not meet again. 18T Fiber presents A Straight Forward 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 Gigillionaire? Yeah, I have 18T Fiber. The straightforward pricing has inspired me to be in the Southern California area on July 30, I am going to be at the Long Beach Convention Center for the mid-summer scream horror convention. I'll be part of a Storytellers panel along with Brandon Linear, my co-host from Odd Trails, as well as Sapphire Sennala, Shelby Scott, and a few others. It's going to be a lot of fun. We're going to be telling you some spooky stories, and we will be hanging out in a booth all day.

Signing stuff, giving stuff away, just hanging out. I'd love to chat and meet all of you and tell you some spooky stories in person. It's going to be a lot of fun. Again, that's July 30th. It starts at 11 a.m. and it goes to 7 p.m. I don't know the exact time that will be going on, but stay tuned, I'll keep you guys updated. It would be so great just to see all of you there are able to make it. It's going to be a lot of fun. Don't forget

to check out the new episode of my Paranormal Podcast Odd Trails, which comes out today, as well as the first episode of my new podcast, the Old Time Radio Cast. As I said earlier in the trailer, I've taken all of these old time radio shows, the kind that I used to drop in the RSS feed during the first run of Let's Not Meet It. A lot of you were a fan of, and I'm remastering them and cleaning them up so it's a much more enjoyable listening experience. It's just one of my hobbies I've been doing forever, so I figured I would just share that with all of you. I'm excited to launch this podcast and don't forget to subscribe on whatever platform you're using to listen to podcasts. Thanks everyone for listening. This week you have heard the Angry Truck Drivers by M.

Something doesn't feel right by Ginger. Stalker Story by Hunter. Creepy Katie by Briel. A story by Kristen. A story from Ireland by Big Goyner And finally Weirdo in the woods by Cute 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

As always if you have a story to share, send it to Let's Not Meet Stories at gmail.com. And if you want to get access to the extended ad pre-version of this week's episode as well as all the past episodes, head over to patreon.com forward slash Let's Not Meet Podcast to support the show today. See y'all next week for a brand new episode. Stay safe. I have two stories for you. These stories take place in 1999. 18T Fiber presents A Straight Forward 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 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 wine. I'll fetch you a betteriber. 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 giggilionaire with AT&T Fiber. Limited availability in select areas. Visit atct.com slash hypergig for details.