Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast - 9x17: An Eerie Event in the Woods - Let's Not Meet

Episode Date: November 28, 2022

Stories in this episode: - Leave Me Be, by Caroline (0:50) - An Eerie Event in the Woods, by G (16:22) - I Think my Manager Drugged me, by Cattty (25:26) - Creepy Uncle, by Anonymous (34:07) - Guy in the Red Van, by Jeremiah (41:07) Extended Patreon Content: - A Story from Sweden, by Quan - A Story from Greece, by Despina - Unknown Number, by Ash - Tim, by EM - Hawaiian Parking Mistake, by Three Girls go to Hawaii 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 crypticcountypodcasts.com. For a limited time, buy any 3-month Mint Mobile plan and get 3 more months FREE by going to mintmobile.com/meet. You can get $15 off your purchase of a Skylight Frame when you go to SkylightFrame.com and enter code MEET.  If you’re 21 or older you can join millions of players around the world. Download Slotomania, the #1 FREE slots game, on the App Store or Google Play Store and get one million free coins. Make the switch to PrettyLitter TODAY! Get 20% off your first order by visiting Prettylitter.com and using promo code MEET. - 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/crypticcounty  

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.

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 nine, episode 17 of Let's Not Meet a True Horror Podcast. I'm 20 years old and from Copenhagen, Denmark. I am definitely a long time lurker. This is my favorite podcast of all time, so much so that I've listened to all the episodes several times.

Now as a 20 year old girl living in an elitist society like Denmark and especially Copenhagen, I have my share of horror stories, but this is the one that stands out for me. I was so shaken, but also very angry. It's a bit fast paced at times, but this is how I remember it. In February 2020, I traveled with my then boyfriend, who will call Christian, to his grandmas in Sevenok's England. Sevenok's is a very calm and quiet place, so I didn't see any threats in going there. As per usual, there are always creeps in

every town, right? Christian and I were going to stay in Sevenok's for a week, take the train to London every day, and return at night to sleep. Then repeat. Christian's grandma was a delight. I'm not from a native English-speaking country, so when she heard me speak English, she was very impressed. Now I'm not perfect. By any means, I smoke cigarettes as all the other adolescent people do in Denmark. I have OCD, Asperger syndrome, autism depression Depression and Exitie. And as a side note, girls with autism are more likely to develop depression, so living in a leadest society does not help. But I'm very glad I live in Copenhagen.

Unlike so many others with these diagnoses, I am just like the next girl. In other words, you can't under any circumstances tell that I have these five diagnoses. It just means that in an irregular situation, as this certainly is, I might react differently. I went out for a walk and to have a smoke. I had my airbods in and I was listening to Let's Not Meet as I usually do when I need to escape from my thoughts when they get too rowdy. I walked for about 15 to 20 minutes before noticing two men walking behind me. Now it's pure instinct as a girl to be very aware of your surroundings. This incident is an excellent example of why we do this.

Anyhow, I kept a steady pace and lit up another cigarette. I could hear them speaking to me, then they started yelling after me. I thought to myself, they must be drunk or something. It was Friday after all. They kept on yelling at me to stop and have a chat. I was debating on whether to stop and tell them to leave me alone or keep on walking. As I am a very headstrong woman, I turned around and I took a drag from my cigarette before taking one of my airpods out. I asked what? Trying to sound inconvenienced and annoyed that they were disrupting the podcast that I was listening to.

They were smirking and clearly drunk. They couldn't even walk in a straight line, and they were supporting each other. We'll call these two guys Charlie and Daniel. She's pretty isn't she? Charlie asked as he turned to Daniel. They looked me up and down. For reference, I was wearing a teddy bear jacket in my boyfriend's jeans with Air Force I sneakers, so I wasn't wearing anything really that special since it was coldest fuck

at that time of year. What's your name, Daniel asked me? Like I wouldn't lie to him. Agnes I replied, as this is a typical Danish name. You're not from around here, are you, Daniel asked? I shook my head. Now I'm 175 cm for Americans out there who don't use the metric system. I'm 5'9". I'm above average in height, and I'm quite athletic, meaning despite my habit of smoking, I'm five foot nine inches. I'm above average in height, and I'm quite athletic,

meaning despite my habit of smoking, I could easily run from these two drunken men." Do you need help with anything? I asked while taking another long drag from my cigarette. You can help us, yeah, Charlie said. Come with us. Daniel said and nudged toward the path between the two large houses next to us. I took another drag from my cigarette and said, no, have a nice night, then turned around and put my airpods back in. We were talking to you, they yelled, come back Agnes. From past experiences, I know what to expect from drunken men, but predatory men who are drunk are the worst.

These two guys gave me a malicious vibe, the way that they were smirking and looking me up and down, it made me feel very uneasy. I don't want to sound too proud or anything, but I'm a tall girl. I have a slender frame, long brown hair, high cheekbones, big eyes, and I have curves. I've been hit on multiple times before. It doesn't bother me when people are envious or even googly-eyed, but I most definitely did not like the vibe that these two men were giving me. I turned down the volume of my podcast through my cigarette and kept my pace. I

looked back, and they were still following me. I zipped my pockets to secure the few belongings that I brought with me, in case I had to run. This went on for ten minutes. I was so focused on the men following me that I unconsciously walked further away from town. I could hear them laughing just a few meters back. I sent Christian my location via messenger. Now when I'm out, he always has his phone around since he has experienced how man can be towards me.

There were no other people around anymore. I don't know the number to call in England for the police, and I cursed at myself for being so ridiculously stupid. I suddenly heard loud and heavy footsteps behind me. I shot ahead and ran. Then I tripped over something and flew through the air. I could instantly feel that I had scraped my right knee to the point where the blood slowly turned my jeans red. As a response to the stress, I started crying.

Just leave me be, please," the tears streamed down my cheeks and I asked, what do you want from me? Charlie and Daniel stood in front of me, looking at me. Charlie and Daniel stood in front of me, looking at me. They looked at each other, and then kneeled down beside me. Poor Agnes! Does it hurt?" Daniel asked, looking at my knee. No, I said, but I yelped, when Charlie pushed a few fingers into the open wound, making it bleed even more. I started laughing a little. What so funny, Charlie asked as he pressed his fingers down again, using his disgustingly

long nails to irritate the wound. I just couldn't stop laughing. I know for a fact I'm smarter than the two of you combined and I cut myself off and started speaking in Danish to throw them off. They looked really confused so I continued in English. You two are the lowest of low since you feel the need to hunt a girl down. I stopped crying and laughing. I was angry now. Just fucking angry.

I do not like to feel helpless. Look where we are now. No one's going to come out here and help you." Daniel said, as he put his dirty shoe on my wounded knee. Your fragile little bird, he continued, as he stepped down on it. Unsatisfied, I didn't help or anything. So, we better take you with us," he concluded. I was questioning how some people can be so cruel to another person simply for existing. Okay, I agreed while rummaging through my pockets for my cigarettes, but first, do you want a cigarette?

I asked while holding up two of them. I could finally feel the heavy pounding in my leg. I got up and handed Charlie and Daniel one cigarette each, trying to conceal the fact that I'm disabled now due to my leg. All I could do was hope Christian could call someone since I was actually very scared now. The three of us lit up a cigarette, and they turned their backs to me. My instincts were telling me to run for my life, but I knew I wouldn't be able to run anywhere even though all my instincts told me to do so.

By this point, there were only lights from the street lamps. I looked down at my leg, and there was a hole about the size of a tennis ball, and I shit you not, I could feel my knee pounding as the blood soaked into my jeans and slowly but steadily streamed down my leg. Charlie and Daniel turned to me. My heart was pounding out of my chest, I was thinking, holy shit, this is real. Is Christian not coming? Did his phone die?

What if no one ever finds me? My head was about to explode as I tried my very best to maintain my icy exterior. You're not coming home with us, Daniel said, as I saw something shiny he had on him. We're going to stay out here and do our business. Do our business, what does that mean? I felt my expression drop and the blood ran from my face. This really felt like the end. Let me have one smoke then. The nicotine is helping the leg. I stalled and hoped that they would let me. Charlie put his hand on my face, squeezing his thumb and index finger

on my cheeks. I pulled my head back, but he wouldn't let go, so I bid him. This earned me a slap. The bitch bit me, fuck me, Charlie held. As pathetic, broken, and scared as I felt, I live a cigarette, and I took a long drag, trying to hold back tears. I saw a car coming from town, and I just ran from my dear, fucking life. I can't even begin to describe the feeling I got when I saw that car. I ran out into the middle of the road like a maniac and waved my arms around with the cigarette hanging out of the corner of my mouth. The car stopped and rolled the window down. It was a woman. I completely forgot where I was and started speaking Danish.

With an extremely confused look, she asked, do you speak English? I explained to her what happened, and she leaned out the window to look at my knee. She said, do you know the address of where you need to go? I'll drive you. I thanked her so many times. We talked for a little while, she told me that all the small towns have creeps like this, and she couldn't be more right. The drive wasn't long, and I was back within an hour or so of when I started my walk.

I thanked the woman a million times more and asked if she smoked. She said that she did so I gave her the rest of my cigarettes. My head was racing when she pulled out of the driveway. I sat down on the steps, lit another cigarette from a new pack, and reached up to ring the doorbell. Christian opened the door and said, I was just going out to look for you. He trailed off when he saw my leg. I looked up at him and started to cry. He was a sensitive guy. He closed the door and just sat there with me on the steps, holding me.

I told him everything. His phone died and it was charging in our room while he was cooking with his grandma. We didn't report it to the police because I sure as hell was never going out there alone again. I don't know where I would have wound up if it hadn't been for that woman who had stopped and gave me a ride. To everyone listening in, when you're traveling, find out about the area that you're staying in, know who to call and always keep people around you.

Please be safe and be aware of stranger danger. To the doctors out there, I cleaned my wound out. Christian's grandma is an old nurse. It's now been a while since this happened. I started therapy for this one, but also some other things. I know not all men are like Charlie and Daniel, but this has really made me scared and jumpy around men. So to those two men, Charlie and Daniel, the shit that you two put me through, I hope you get caught with your pants down before you hurt another person. Let's not ever meet again.

Don't let the summer heat bake in road grime any longer, hand to your nearby Zips Carwash to clean up and cool off. And listen to this, now when you buy your next carwash online at zipscarwash.com, you pay even less. and cool off. This story means a lot to me because one of the friends I shared this experience with has since passed away. I usually find it difficult to adequately explain the particular kind of horror my friends and I experienced that night. Hopefully, I can do our nightmare justice in telling this story, so here goes nothing. Years ago, as young adults, my friends and I were traveling absent-mindedly around the country

as a lifestyle. We decided one summer to converge on the west coast to attend a sort of witchy kind of festival in the woods. We were all pretty into metal at the time, and figured that it would be cool, even if the festival was a bunch of hippie stuff. We all met up in Portland, Oregon, and hopped into our friends van. There were seven of us in total. This was right before the era of smartphones being ubiquitous. All of us had flip phones except for one friend who had his mom's palm pilot. We diligently looked up and wrote out our directions then headed south on the

highway. Our exit was for Wolf Creek. I don't remember the exact number of the exit, but for the purpose of this story we'll call it exit 87. A while into driving, we took exit 87 for Wolf Creek. We pulled into a gas station and decided to double check the next steps in our route. We asked for the Wi-Fi so that we could look at the email from the festival with the directions on my friend's palm pilot. The directions in the email said that we needed to take a left off the freeway exit, go under a stone bridge, then drive a mile or so down the road. Then we had to take a turn at a dirt road, and the entrance area was supposed to be marked with a bunch of colorful ribbons. The directions sounded simple enough. We followed those instructions to a T and found

ourselves in a maze of dirt roads, chasing a trail of ribbons down one of many offshoots into the dense forest. At one point, the color of the ribbons changed from pink to orange, and we wondered if that meant something, but convinced ourselves they just ran out of pink ribbons. The road came to a dead end with a loop to turn around. We were stumped. We were expecting a parking lot with a bunch of other vehicles. We got out of the van and looked around. We didn't see anything until one of us happened to spot a ribbon, a few yards into the woods. We rushed through the thick trees, following a trail of ribbons, ribbon after ribbon. But the trail went dark somewhere out there, so we returned to the van

clueless. We figured the change and the colors of the ribbons had to mean something, so we backtracked to a split in the road and departed down the other fork in the road. Then it happened again. We ended up following more ribbons to another dead end. This time we turned our music down and rolled down the windows to listen, just in case we could hear any noises. Instantly, we were floored by the immense sound of drumming nearby in the forest.

It had to be at least 100 people drumming. The sound was deafening to the point where it sounded like it was just a stone's throw into the forest. The seven of us collectively rolled our eyes and thought, of course, they're having a drum circle. We were hemming and hawing about the obnoxious west coast hippie stuff, but nonetheless, we felt certain that this enormous drum circle must be where we're trying to go. We considered walking into the woods to ask these people where the hell we were supposed to park but eventually decided that we couldn't be too far from the entrance.

We spent five to six hours driving around with the windows down, trying to listen for this drum circle to locate it, to no avail. At times we were close enough to hear it, but the roads led to nowhere. My friend kept saying how nauseous he was, but just attributed it to feeling socially anxious about going to a big event. Eventually we found a road that led to a locked gate. We convinced ourselves that we were wandering around too long, and they locked up the gate for the night because, by this time, it was quite late. A few of my friends hopped the gate to find someone to unlock it for us.

A friend and I stayed behind in the van while they were gone. We realized none of our electronics were working, not even the battery-powered devices like cameras and flashlights. A while later, my friends came back. They said they just walked and walked, and there was no sign of anything. At this point we were very low on gas. We debated spinning the night in the labyrinth of dirt roads with a sign on the windshield, hoping to try again by the light of day. Eventually, we did decide to just go back to that gas station, fill up, and check the directions on the Palm Pilot once more. When we got to the gas station, we realized that we had gotten off at exit 87. But we were meant to get off at another exit exactly 100 miles away.

Exit 187. Both exits were confusingly named Wolf Creek. Maybe it was the nature of trying to attend a specifically witchy or magical event, but we couldn't shake the feeling that we were possibly being lured into some kind of trap. It felt as if we had fallen into some kind of weird mirror world, causing us to dilute ourselves into believing that we were in the right place. We may have let our imaginations run wild, but it's also no secret that rural Oregon can be pretty unfriendly to non-white people, especially if they look like freaks. Who were the hundreds of people drumming in the woods?

Were they an unusually large group of innocent hippies having a good time in the woods? Or was there something more in cities going on? To the cultists, hippies, or whoever was in the woods in rural Oregon. Let's not meet. Wake up your taste buds with Java Jolt, the newest pint-sized flavor from Blue Bell. This delicious coffee ice cream blends dark chocolate flavored chunks and a coffee fudge swirl. It's the Jolt you need to make it through your day. So skip the coffee and grab a pint of Bluebell's Java Jolt. Look for Bluebell ice cream at your favorite grocer if you can't find it, ask for it.

This story has been rattling around in my head for years. I'll likely never know how much danger I was truly in. And that's the scariest part. To set the scene my manager Greg was leaving for a new job. On his last day he invited me and a couple of other people out for drinks. Generally I don't drink with people that I work with. In this case I felt compelled to at least show up for one drink since it was his last day. We had worked together for four years doing customer service. We weren't that close, but did have some rapport. Usually sarcastic banter, and some back

and forth chatting about the days of ends. A little insight into his character. Greg was the kind of guy who thought that nagging women was the ultimate way to flirt. Since we worked in the public, I unfortunately got to see him shoot his shot on quite a few occasions. He was always trying and always failing to score. After my shift that day, I went home, I changed and arrived at the bar later that evening. It was a new bar for me since I had never been there before. It had a cowboy theme, but it was giving off ghost town, vibes not saloon.

I've never been a heavy drinker so I ordered a cider and sat at the bar with Greg and a few other co-workers who showed up. Here's where things start to get hazy. A couple of other patrons showed up. They joined us at the bar and got to flirting with me and my co-workers. It was all pretty mediocre stuff, but once there was a loll in the conversation, Greg put another citer in front of me. I had said that I was only staying for one drink,

but I felt bad that his going away party had flopped. So I took the drink begrudgingly. Two drinks in, and being a five foot two woman I was feeling a bit of a buzz. The bartender was a dolly parton type with big blonde hair and red lips. She was wearing daisy-dooks. She was interjecting here and there during our conversation. In one of the classic flirtatious moves, Greg began complaining to the bartender about the music. He told her he could play some better stuff that would get people dancing.

To my surprise she handed him the auxiliary cord and let him put on some shitty country music. Yeah, as I said, it was so dead in the bar that she let us pick the songs. Knowing Greg wanted us to get up and dance, we did. The other guys who were sitting near us got up as well. I admittedly can't dance, but I was down with swaying to what I thought was the beat. On the floor, Greg comes up to dance with me, and that's when I noticed how drunk he is. He brings me in for a big hug.

Although he's thin, he's way over six feet tall, so I was instantly engulfed. He started telling me how he thinks I'm beautiful. He asked if he would have had a chance with me if he wasn't my boss. This was so awkward and out of left field that I defaulted to our usual conversation style. I sarcastically told him, you're drunk, and you wouldn't I started to feel like I was in a state of frustration, I started to feel like I was in a state of frustration, I started to feel like I was in a state of frustration, I started to feel like I was in a state of frustration, I started to feel like I was in a state of frustration, I started to feel like I was in a state a few songs I wanted to head home, my field of vision had shortened to maybe two feet in front of me.

Having a coherent thought was a huge task. I remember trying to pay my bill, but I couldn't find my cards. They weren't in my wallet. The bartender was looking at me, and I just kept saying, why am I so drunk? I shouldn't be this drunk to myself as I fumbled around in my bag. During this, one of my co-workers came over, and I listened to them, and the bartender have a conversation, but I wasn't really absorbing anything. The bartender found my card in a wallet left behind by another bar patron. The part of me that was conscious wanted to argue how absurd that was, but that part

also felt like it was behind two feet of glass. I numbly let her use my card to pay for my drinks and then I took it back. I wanted to get outside and get some fresh air so I stumbled into the night. I knew I needed to call a cab, but I also couldn't smoothly string my steps together. Greg found me outside. I imagine I was just staring at my phone. He called me a taxi and we both got in. He tried to get me to crash at his

place, but I was adamant about being dropped off at my own. Luckily, the cab driver was familiar with our city because all I was saying was my street name over and over. I was dropped off. I opened the door to my place, lay down on my bed, and fell asleep. I opened the door to my place, laid down on my bed, and fell asleep. The next morning I tried piecing things together, still confused, and a little angry that I had gotten so out of control. Later Greg texted me something like, did you make it home safe last night? And I responded, yeah, just went home and went to bed. He responded, haha, well, I wish you were in my bed last

night with a winking face. I took one look at that cringey message and thought, you aren't my manager anymore. I'm blocking you. That's exactly what I did. I never saw or heard from Greg again. I've had years to think about this incident, but I've never arrived at a conclusion that I'm satisfied with. If I think about it too long, I spiral out as to why two drinks had me acting like a zombie. I'll never be able to prove that there was something in my drink that night, but I'm glad that I made it home safely. something in my drink that night, but I'm

glad that I made it home safely. So Greg, wherever you are, 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 individualize 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 management concepts.com. I've been listening to your podcast for a year now and I think I've listened to every single episode to date. I often wondered if this particular story would be a good fit for the show, but nonetheless,

it's creepy. So here it is. A little backstory. I had an uncle who I now know isn't really blood related to me. My mom would always seem to be more protective of me when he was around. She once told me that he had asked if I could go on a ride with him on his new motorcycle, just him and I. To which my mom quickly answered, hell no. Growing up, I never thought that much of him,

but looking back, I'm so glad my mom had always been the type to be extra paranoid when it came to her kids. At the time of this creepy incident, I was a young 14-year-old girl. My parents were in the midst of a terrible divorce, so I was in a bit of a rebellious phase in my life. At 14, I smoked weed for the first time, drank alcohol for the first time, and lost my virginity. I was too young for all of that, I know.

One normal day after school, my friend and I were hanging out with her boyfriend and another male friend of ours. We were outside on the stairs leading up to my apartment. My mom was at work, so it was just the four of us, sitting around and hanging out as teenagers do. All of a sudden my uncle randomly walks up with a small target bag in his hand. This was unusual because I have never hung out with him without my parents around and

it was during their work hours. I know he knew that my mom was at work. He was someone from my dad's side of the family. Now that my parents were divorced, why would he be showing up at my moms? I remember his demeanor was exceptionally weird. He stopped in the distance and asked me if I would come over to him since he had something for me. I wish I could say that I ignored him and went into the apartment but I didn't.

I walked over to him to see that he had something for me. He handed me this small bag, and when I looked inside, it was a vibrator and a bottle of a lube. I don't remember reacting much because my friends were right there, witnessing the entire thing. I knew that they would most likely ask me later what was inside the bag, and I knew this wasn't something I was not going to flaunt to my friends. He then looked up at me and said, I heard you lost your virginity and I wanted to bring this to you so you can do it to yourself.

He just left after that. My stomach dropped. I didn't know what to say or do. I remember walking into the house, bringing the bag into my room and hiding it. I felt like I had done something wrong, accepting my uncle's gift. I felt like if my mom knew, I would get in trouble or something. Fast forward to now, I'm 33 years old. I was talking to my dad one day, thinking I'm telling him about this incident for the first time. He told me that he had already known about it after it happened. I don't remember telling

him or my mom. I think I tried to block most of it out of my memory because it was very traumatic at that time in my life. My dad told me that he had called my uncle up and threatened to kill him if he ever came near me again. Looking back, I remember seeing my uncle at this coffee shop slash donut place that I stopped by in the mornings before school every day, but after this happened, I never saw him there again. I haven't seen him around town since. I never thought much of it until now. What could have happened if my mom let me go on that motorcycle ride with him alone?

What would he have done? Would I have come back? What if I walked to school alone? What else would he have done or said if I didn't have my three friends with me that day? What if I had just been home alone? I'll never know. And I'm glad I'll never know. So to the creepy uncle who thought it was okay to give a 14 year old girl a vibrator, I

hope we never meet again. Don't let the summer heat bake in, road-grime any longer, hand to your nearby Zips Car Wash to clean up and cool off. And listen to this, now when you buy your next car wash online at zipscarwash.com, you pay even less. That's right, we save you money off our amazing washes plus you also get to skip the line and use our Express Lane service. When you're ready to shine, skip the line and save time and money with your online wash code.

Find your nearest location at zipscarwash.com then drive and shine today. I was about 17 at the time. It was in the fall of 2004. My brother, who's a few years older than me, and my friend, decided to go out for some fast food. It was about 9 or 10 o'clock at night, so it was dark and some of the places were already closed. The city that we live in has a main drive with commercial buildings and restaurants on either side. There are two lanes of traffic going one way, two lanes going the opposite direction, and stoplights stationed at the intersections.

My friend decided to drive us in his 90s Toyota Camry. My brother was in the passenger seat and I sat in the back. As we were cruising down the road, we put on some punk music and cranked it. We uneventfully cruise down the strip hitting red lights here and there along the way. We were in no hurry. We were driving in the right lane, so it would be easy to just pull into a food joint on our right. We approached another stoplight and as we slowed to a stop, a red van pulled up and stopped right next to us in the lane to our left. My friend and brother were just talking and joking around with each other. I would chime in here and there from the back seat.

I peered over to look at the van next to us and I saw that the driver was by himself. He was looking over at us with an unusually intense demeanor. He was continually looking back and forth between the stoplight and us. I thought that it was odd how focused this guy was. He seemed to be angry and I thought that perhaps maybe my friend who was driving accidentally cut him off or break-checked him without realizing it. Whatever the reason was, this guy looked upset and I had a bad feeling in my gut. My brother and my friend weren't aware of what I was observing from the backseat. As the light stayed red and the punk rock music played, my friend began to do some

air drums and turned his head to look at the angry guy next to us. As he did, I was expecting my friend to notice this guy glaring at us, but my friend just glanced quickly and went back to air drumming. Totally oblivious. I looked at the guy in the van again, and he seemed to have gotten even more agitated. Now, I don't think he noticed me in the back seat because I was watching him the whole time, and he never looked at me. The light was still red. The next thing I know, my brother, in the passenger seat, decided to recline his seat. I began thinking to myself, please don't look at the dude in the van, please don't look.

My brother looked into the van next to us, but just like my friend, he was totally oblivious. The light turned green and we continued driving forward. We were ahead of the van as it stayed put and barely moved. forward. We were ahead of the van as it stayed put and barely moved. I slightly turned my head to use my peripheral vision to see what this van was doing. Just as I feared he purposely, drove slower until we got to the intersection, then slowly crawled through that intersection, changing lanes to get behind us. It was then that I knew something was about to go down. I chose not to say anything to my friend or brother, I continued to observe the guy behind us as discreetly as possible by keeping my head down and turning at an angle

to use my peripheral vision to keep eyes on this guy. He didn't tell get us, but rather casually followed behind. Since we were in the right hand lane, I figured, okay, maybe he's going to turn right onto one of these driveways into a Walmart or a best fighter something. As we cruised along, he followed, and then my friend changed lanes into the left lane. The van changed lanes as well. We moved back into the right, and the van did as well. We finally decided where we wanted to go and realized we had already passed the food joint just a mile back.

So we got back into the left lane again and decided to turn around in a closed parking lot of a Starbucks. It was coming up on the left. When we moved into the left lane, the van followed again. This is finally when my friend caught on. One of the odds someone else would be pulling into a dark Starbucks parking lot right behind this. Before pulling into the Starbucks, we had to wait for traffic.

An opening big enough for one car came, and we would still be able to pull through as long as we hurried. We accelerated to quickly turn into Starbucks. Surprisingly, the van behind us punched it as well, and barely made it, while still being right on our tail. My friend looked into his rearview mirror and noticed but didn't say anything. I was already in full panic mode on the inside. We pulled through the closed drive-through and drove around the Starbucks. The van followed. We turned back onto the main drive to head back in the direction we came from, with the van following close behind. My friend finally blurted out.

Guys were being followed. I explained everything that I had noticed up to this point, and I let my friend and brother know that this guy was upset about something. He was pissed off. We accelerated, and the guy in the van accelerated as well. This guy had been playing it nonchalantly at first. Maybe he wasn't sure if he knew that he was going to follow us, but at this point, it seemed like the game was on. It was obviously a predator, and we were the prey. As we sped up over the 35 mile per hour speed limit, the

van immediately pulled into the lane adjacent to us and accelerated in an attempt to pull up next to us. We were driving about 40 and we saw the van pull up beside us. My friend shouts, hang on, I'm going to hit the e-brake. Then, boom, e-brake initiated, The car skidded and screeched to a stop as we all lurched forward in our seats. Hitting an E-brake mid-drive isn't as chaotic as you might think it is, but it stopped us quickly. The van went blowing by, and as it passed us, we could see the rage contorted face of this guy. He was screaming at us. We couldn't really catch what he was saying, though. We watched as he began to slow down to possibly turn around. Thankfully, he had already driven further

down the road and there was no place for him to turn around. He couldn't just stop since we were in the middle of this main drag and cars were coming up behind him. We remained where we were, skated to a stop. Then I saw him punch it and take off. We decided to turn into a closed car wash that we had happened to stop in front of. We pulled in, we pulled in and around the back of this small building to stay hidden from the road. My friend turned off the car and the lights. We all finally exhaled, as it felt like we had been holding our breath the entire time. In a panic, we discussed our options and the possible scenarios. We had a feeling it wasn't over yet. We wondered

what in the heck we did. And why this dude was so adamant about following us. There were three of us, so he had to have had a weapon or something to make him so confident to confront three guys at once. I explained that I thought that the man in the van took off to hurry up and find a turnaround point. And if he was watching in his rearview mirror, he may have seen us pull into this car wash. All three of us considered fearfully, he may come back. Should we stay here and sit? There was no way out from behind this small carwash, from where we were parked. We would essentially be sitting ducks.

If he had a gun, he could easily mow us down unseen in the darkness behind this carwash. We thought maybe we should attempt to get back on the road, but we were too nervous that he might be somewhere waiting for us to drive by. My friend turned the car on and drove back around the car wash to pull back onto the main drag. Slowly and anxiously we approached the edge of the driveway to exit back onto the main drive. We all had that feeling like in the movies where we know that the creature is out there somewhere, maybe even closer than we realize. And it could pop out in any moment.

And that's exactly what happened. All of our stomachs dropped as we realized we had made the right decision, but barely in time. We saw the red van flying back toward us. He was getting ready to pull into the car wash while we were waiting to make a right turn back onto the road. A patch of traffic just so happened to stop him from entering the car wash, but at the same time the traffic prevented us from exiting. As we waited for the gap in traffic, we were essentially face to face with this guy. He was screaming and shouting absolutely furious.

We couldn't tell what he was saying still, and our emotions were intense, and all of our minds were racing because none of us could even say anything out loud. We were just staring at this extremely hostile man, praying and hoping that we would get an opening in traffic before he does. He had two lanes to wait for, and since we were turning right, we just needed one lane to open up. I felt like our lives were in the hands of my friend who was driving. Looking at the oncoming traffic, to find our opening, we realized that both lanes would clear at the same time. I remember thinking how crazy this whole situation was.

We were in what felt like the battle of life and death. Cars were just driving by with people going about their regular lives, having no clue that they just passed by a car of three young men who may very well be in the news the next day. I was also thinking, please, someone has to notice that there's something seriously wrong here. Help us. But still, no outside observer recognized the situation that we were in.

I started to wonder how many times I've been a casual passer by to somebody's traumatic experience. The traffic was close to clearing for both us and the van when my friend made a sudden and quick decision. I felt the car jerk forward, and my friend made a sudden and quick decision, I felt the car jerk forward, and my friend shouted, I'm going now. He then punched it and squeezed it to a small opening of traffic, barely missing being hit. I'm not sure if the car that we cut off honked at us or not, but we were able to get back on the road and just take off. Looking behind us, I saw the van

waiting for a few more cars to go by. My friend continued to floor it, and we were driving at about 60 miles per hour now, but we didn't care if we got stopped by a cop because we would just explain everything that had just happened. I saw the red van behind us, starting to make its way back towards us. However, we had gained quite a bit of distance from him. We quickly found a road off the main drag that led to a residential area. We turned onto it and began to zigzag our way through the

maze of streets until we felt we were safely hidden in the jungle of cookie-cutter homes and cars. We parked, turned off the car and lights and waited. Our adrenaline was still surging, but we felt much safer. We decided to wait for five minutes before slowly creeping back out of the residential area. We parked next to a house near the main road where you can see a good amount of traffic going by. We kept the lights off and watched all the cars go by for a bit to make sure that we were in the clear. Our emotions transitioned from fear to exhilaration and relief. We couldn't believe what happened.

It was absolutely crazy. As we were sitting there, talking to each other, about the what-f's, while observing vehicles passing by we saw it, the red van drove by. Oh, way, this guy was literally patrolling the road for us. Since we had to jump on him, we decided to drive closer to the main drive and just watch how far down he was driving. When he was a good distance away, we decided to quickly jump back on that main road. We drove to a Walmart that was just one stop light away.

We pulled into the Walmart parking lot and went inside for refuge. We hung out there for about 45 minutes before heading home. Thankfully, that was the last time we saw the guy in the red van. I don't know what we did. Maybe my friend playing air drums was interpreted as throwing up some type of gang signs. I don't know. Maybe my brother reclining back and looking over at him came across as some kind of taunt. Whatever the reason was, he felt emboldened to pursue three guys by himself. So to the guy in the red van, why were you so angry?

And let's not meet again. Don't forget to stick around after the music if you're a patron for your extended ad free version of this week's episode. And if you want to get access to that as well as all of the other bonus content, we've got hours and hours of stories there for you. Head over to patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast. To sign up today and support this show, this show is not possible without all of the amazing patrons over at patreon.com forward slash slash, let's not meet podcast.

This week you have heard, leave me be by Caroline, an eerie event in the woods by G. I think my manager drugged me by Catti, creepy uncle, bioliciner that asked to remain anonymous, and finally, Guy in the Red Van by Jeremiah. 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 towards online. As always, if you have a story to share send it to Let's Not Meet Stories at gmail.com

and don't forget to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts, Odd Trails, a true paranormal podcast, as well as the old-time radio cast, and don't forget my upcoming podcast, Welcome to Paradise, it sucks you can subscribe on any platform that you get your podcasts. We should be launching sometime in January, I'm really excited about that one, I think you guys are really gonna love it. It's very similar to Let's Not Meet, but with some very interesting spends and some surprises along the way. I'm excited to share that one with you guys.

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