Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast - 9x22: Treeline Stalker - Let's Not Meet

Episode Date: January 2, 2023

Stories in this episode: - Stalked by my Crazy Cowoker, by Stephen Gregory (0:50)  - Coked Out Cook, by Julia (12:32) - The Van Man, by Prerana (23:52) - Mountain Lions, by David (32:38) - Treeline Stalker, by Kay & Leif (41:25) Extended Patreon Content: - Creepy Mr. Smith, by M - Inmate Attacker, by Correctional Officer - Creepy Chris, by Anonymous - The Blank Profile, by Anonymous 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. - Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/433173970399259/ - Website - https://letsnotmeetpodcast.com - Patreon - https://patreon.com/letsnotmeetpodcast - Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/letsnotmeetcast/

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 22 of Let's Not Meet a True Horror Podcast. Let me start this off by saying, I'm a 21-year-old male who works as an assistant manager at a popular local grocery store in South Louisiana. Last year was possibly the worst year of my life, so far at least. It all started two years ago after I had been fired from another grocery store, a smaller one, and a rural area.

A coworker of mine, a guy that I had known the few years I worked there, offered me a job helping renovate apartments at an apartment complex managed by his mother. We'll call him Jamie. Jamie seemed to be a pretty cool guy at first. When we'd work the same shift, we'd shoot the shit. I'd tell him about my life, personal matters with my girlfriend, typical stuff. Jamie was in his mid to late 20s. He was a good listener. He was pretty upset when I got fired over some total bullshit, but that's not relevant. After Jamie had gotten me a job working for

his mom, we ended up working together more frequently. We got to know each other even better. He had some issues with boundaries, typically asking me invasive questions about my sex life with my girlfriend. I would answer in spite of my total discomfort. His standard reply was, well, I just hope you two are using protection. I sensed that something was off about him, but I chalked it up to him being socially awkward. He didn't have too many friends if any at all. I ended up getting a job at my current place of employment.

He knew about it and openly encouraged me to go for the position. I was offered a job by a customer at my previous job. Jamie jokingly said, my mom's going to be hurt when you're leaving her. We didn't talk for a few months after that. No texting, no meetups. He wasn't really somebody that I saw myself hanging out with socially outside of work anyways. Then, I texted Jamie in January of the following year. I needed some employment verification from my previous employers in order to get alone

for a house. He got the information that I needed, for which I thanked him profusely. The grocery store Jamie and I worked at together closed down. He worked primarily as the maintenance worker at that apartment complex, managed by his mom. He texted me one day about the house that I had purchased, asking to see pictures. I obliged, not thinking anything of it. I wondered if he was expecting me to invite him over, as I said, we weren't friends like that. I didn't hear from Jamie again for a few months. I had moved into my new house. It wasn't

located in the best neighborhood, but it was nice and good enough for me. I wanted my independence. I wanted to be able to spend time with my girlfriend without having to worry about my mom or my stepfather. It was mid-summer when I heard from Jamie again. It was just the usual, hey, how are you doing? Check in questions. He and I still spoke, but only via text. We shifted to Snapchat messaging. I added him as a friend without thinking anything of it.

That was when things started to spiral. He texted me constantly, wanting to hang out with me. I was busy with work, my girlfriend, family, and my actual friends. I didn't have time to shoot the shit with him, especially since at this time my girlfriend and I were having relationship problems. I was at a point in my life where I wasn't feeling very social. I went to work then back home and watched TV. I didn't have much of a life. One night I was staying up late after a long day of work,

and Jamie started messaging me. A conversation eventually steered toward my new house. He said he wanted to see what it looked like on Google Earth, so he asked me for my address. I didn't feel comfortable giving it to him, so I didn't. Jamie flipped out on me. He said, well, maybe we should never talk again. It was strange. But he was strange. He never respected my boundaries.

He said that I should just block him. I told him, no, I should just block him. I told him, no I don't block people." Jamie said that he was more upset about my reasoning for not giving him my home address. I told him flat out that I just didn't want him showing up at my home unannounced since he always wanted to hang out. He gave up on it and started to chill out. We continued to talk from time to time. He started telling me more about his home life. Jamie still lived with his mother.

He helped raise his young niece and nephew after his sister left. His brother was a drug addict. Honestly, I felt sorry for him. I never initiated contact with him, but I always responded when I could. I even talked to him about my relationship problems with my girlfriend, but only after he asked me about it. He started bringing up my house again. I still wasn't comfortable with Jamie knowing where I lived, so I still didn't tell him.

He found it through a website called Family Tree Now. That little shit revealed that he discovered my home address by texting me a picture of my house. I was livid, but still didn't think too much of it. He said he wanted to prove to me that he wasn't some kind of psychostalker, but he was acting exactly like a fucking psychostalker. His brain was operating on some kind of twilight zone logic, but he still seemed harmless. I told him I didn't want him to come to my house unless I invited him, which I was planning to never do at this point. One night while I was cooking food with a bunch of friends at one in the morning, Jamie texted me asking, what's with all the cars? What the fuck? Then he asked

if he could join the party. I told him, no. He asked once more, and I again simply answered, no. If I knew about everything that was to come later that year, my answer would have been, fuck no." A few weeks later, he sent me this long message on Snapchat. It was a highly personal, detailed confession that he had been stalking me. No shit. I saved it because I didn't have time to read it. I had friends coming over that night. I showed it because I didn't have time to read it. I had friends coming over that night. I showed the message to a friend who immediately told me to go to the police.

I refused. I had bad experiences with the cops, honestly. I messaged Jamie back and said that I wanted him to leave me alone. I told him never to contact me again. He agreed and added that he was done with me as well. What a crock of shit! He offered to let me track him via fine my location to give me a sense of security. I agreed. Later that night he ended up recanting his confession. He said that it was an exaggeration. I stupidly fell for it. I knew about his home life and his rough childhood,

so I guess I just felt bad for him. I didn't want to believe that he was a bad person. Two months later, while I was on my way home from work, Jamie came out to me via Snapchat. He told me that he was gay and that he had feelings for me. Now I'd always suspected that he was gay, so I wasn't surprised, but the second part did have me a bit shaken. I remained calm. I was the only person that he told so I wanted to be supportive. I simply told him that I was completely straight.

I told Jamie that I was still very much in love with my girlfriend, although we were having problems. Fast forward a few months, my girlfriend and her mother freaked out, saying they received a text from an unknown number that said, I had been abusive to my previous girlfriend. The text warned that I might be a danger to my current girlfriend. This was obviously fucking bullshit. I had told Jamie about my issues with my previous relationship, but none of them were ever physical or abusive in any way.

That fucker got my girlfriend's mom's phone number. You guessed it. Through family tree now. He texted my girlfriend and said that I was a wife, Peter, with a burner number. My girlfriend tried contacting Jamie, but he didn't answer. I contacted him and managed to get a reply. He denied everything at first, but confessed a few days later. I knew that it was him.

He warned me before that he had done something terrible to me, but didn't want to tell me exactly what it was. He showed remorse, so I didn't cut him off completely. My girlfriend and her family had had enough, though. I tried being there for him, but it was too much. He was too much. I had to block him. He ended up creating multiple accounts on Snapchat, too many to count.

He wouldn't leave me alone. I was exhausted in every sense. He would show up at my work, saying that he was in the neighborhood even though he lived in the next town over. I approached Jamie one day and told him he was banned from coming back to my workplace. He left and I didn't hear from him for a few days. My girlfriend was spending time at her parents' house since we were on break. I had several friends over to my house, a bunch of guys in their late teens early 20s. One of my friends

asked me, doesn't that car down the road belong to that Jamie guy? I stepped outside to look. It was. That goddamn lunatic was sitting in his car a few houses down on my street. At this point, I was scared. I didn't know what he was capable of. No one thought to call the cops. None of us had any good experiences with the police nor did we think that they were particularly useful. We decided to handle the situation ourselves. My friends and I left my house, charging toward Jamie's car. He was in this little Volkswagen

Jetta. I was carrying a handgun. I aimed it towards his car windshield, and I told him to get the fuck out of there or I was going to shoot. My friends were hitting and kicking his car, screaming at him the leave, or there would be hell to pay. He started his car and peeled out of there, almost running a few of us over in the process. I haven't heard from Jamie since, honestly. I couldn't be more grateful. I feel like I have my life back. I'm not sure if I'll ever see him again,

but I know I'll be ready if I do. Even after everything that's happened, I can't help but still feel bad for the guy. I'm pretty sure that he had some mental issues. Still, it's not an excuse for the hell that he put me through. I want the best for him, and I hope he gets the help that he desperately needs. So Jamie, my former coworker, I wish you the best, but let's not ever meet again. MyPlate's dot com's got something for everyone with over 500 Texas license plate designs to choose from like Boulder T the biker who loves his rescue kid. I personally last played on my ride for my little binks. Judy W the tailgator who loves to grill before the big game.

My plates sports my team color, yeah. Whatever you're looking for, we got that at MyPlate.com. In 2018, I was living in a studio apartment in the downtown area of my college town. Being downtown, I was in an apartment building that was above shops and bars. The first floor of my building happened to be a candy shop. There was a stoop with about eight steps leading up to the door to my apartment building. The door automatically locked and could only be opened with the key or the buzzer. There was a separate door that was shared with the staff at Subway and a cheap diner that only opened with the key. I loved that little apartment. It felt

like I was the star of my own indie movie. I lived alone and spent most of my time on campus taking classes, out drinking with friends, or working at a local chain restaurant. The rare chances I had to be in my apartment by myself were precious to me. One night, my friends through a party complete with jungle juice and beer pong. I had recently lost a lot of weight, so I was getting more confident in my clothing choices. On this particular night, I chose to wear a short black dress. I made my way through a crowd of people to get to the porch where my friends were smoking cigarettes. Or so I thought. When I got out there, not only were my friends not there, but the porch was completely empty.

I had picked up a habit of keeping all my belongings with me during parties to ensure that I could leave whenever I wanted to. I had finished my alcohol and didn't bring any weeds, so I realized I had the perfect opportunity just to leave quietly. My friends found out at some point that I decided to leave. It was kind of my signature move. Thinking back, it was pretty fucking risky for me to leave unannounced and walk home alone. This habit of leaving quietly was so common for me. My friends began thinking nothing of it when I happened to go missing. Everyone would just assume that I left.

I was dead set on being independent back then, I also had social anxiety, and I would over-exhaust my masking abilities. I needed to be able to exit at will. After I gave him the old Irish goodbye, I started the walk to my apartment. I lived kind of far from my friends, so I walked about 15 minutes. For the most part it was well lit, but there were areas where I would routinely pick up my pace and try to avoid eye contact with whoever was hanging around. I'm grateful that nothing terrible happened to me.

If my mother knew where and when I was walking alone, she would chew me out for putting myself in danger. I walked almost everywhere in my college town. For the most part, it was silly to get a car with how close everything was. The only times I used my car was to make the long drive back home. I also used my car to go to my host job at the restaurant near a busy traffic circle in town. I worked at a chain restaurant that everybody knows, but I'll omit the name as it isn't the best reflection of their employees.

Something I learned from working there is that for some reason, there's always this sexual tension among co-workers in food service. I have no idea why, but I have had it confirmed by friends who were working in other restaurants. There was an older man that worked behind the grill who gave a cheerful hello every time I started a shift. One day he slipped me a note, giving me his number. He told me not to tell anybody about this note. Another kitchen employee basically forced me to give him a ride home, asked me how old I was.

I let him know I was 21 at the time. He then asked if 30 was too old for me. There were a few waiters who made passes at me or joked in sexual ways. Sometimes it was flattering, but sometimes it was creepy. Then, there was Sean. There was something off about Sean from the moment I met him. All I knew about him was that he had a child and a fiance. His eyes, they looked like two black holes and he always appeared strung out. He watched me a lot. I know from listening to Let's Not Meet that everyone is pretty familiar with the feeling of being stared at. I know from listening to Let's Not Meet that everyone is pretty familiar with

the feeling of being stared at. I frequently felt that feeling of being stared at by him. I assumed that he hated me for some unknown reason. I tried to stay away from him, especially while working during rushes, because the entire kitchen staff was a pack of angry dogs during rushes. Sean and I really never had any conversations until one day he came up behind me while I was changing out a bucket of sanitary solution. Hi, neighbor. Sean said.

I whipped around confused. Uh, hi. I said back. I saw you downtown the other day. Did you know that I live in the building next to yours? He asked this smiling blankly. Oh Really? That's cool. Did you move into that building with your fiance? I asked. He seemed irritated that I brought her up. I

Mean, I don't know if she's going to continue to be my fiance, but yeah, he explained reluctantly. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject, I replied. His face seemed to try and reset and return to the blank smile. Nah, I don't worry about it. We should hang out sometime, he suggested. Oh, maybe I quickly responded, rushing to finish what I was doing so that I could get out of the kitchen. I was always too awkward and nervous to outright reject Eman's advances. I learned early on in life that men don't always respond well to rejection. Other than that conversation, Sean and I hadn't talked much.

So, backtracking to the night that I gave my friends the old Irish goodbye, when I got close to my apartment building I saw a man sitting on my stoop smoking a cigarette. It was past midnight and I was drunk, so I was not interested in talking to anyone, but this man was sitting in my way. As the man became clearer in my view, I realized that it was Sean. He popped up to his feet with a big grin on his face and wide, bugged out eyes. I just smiled politely. Did you just get home from the party?

You look pretty in that dress. I've never seen you all done up," Sean commented. Oh, yeah, thanks. I said nervously. It was fun, but I'm tired now. I was trying to hint that I didn't want to continue this conversation much longer. He took a step towards me, and my heart rate jumped, as I reflexively took a step back. Whoa, whoa, nothing to be scared of.

He reacted with his hands up. I was just going to ask you for a hug. I did not want to hug him. I hate being touched by 99.9% of people and this situation made me even more uneasy about it. I folded easily under the pressure, and I gave end to Sean quickly. I gave him a limp awkward hug and took a step up the stoop toward my door. Well, I'm going to go smoke a ball and pass out, I said trying not to seem scared. Can I come?" he asked.

Blashing a frighteningly calm smile. He took a step onto the stairs with me. Oh, I only have enough for me, and I'm super tired. Sorry. I said, taking another step up. He took another step up with me. Oh, come on, let's just hang on a little bit. He pressed. I've just been playing video games and doing coke all night. I could use a friend.

What about your fiance? Is she not around? I asked. Faking interest while taking another step. He stepped up again. She's around. He said, Can I have another hug? He asked, already leaning in. My breath stopped as he hugged me. He was getting a good feel along the way. After he let go of me, I tried to chuckle politely and took a few more steps up.

Only two more steps to the door, I thought. I think you should let me come up with you. He said with the same eerily calm smile. He met me on this step that I was standing on. Really, I'm so tired I just want to go to sleep," I said, plotting my next steps to get into the building safely. He seemed bothered by my rejection, and I was starting to freak out. I considered the worst possibilities. What floor do you live on, he asked? Second floor, I lied.

I had no idea why he chose that moment to ask me, but I wasn't about to let him find out that my apartment was only locked with a flimsy deadbolt. I took the last steps up and put my hand on the door. Wait, can I get one more hug?" he requested. My heart was about to implode with how fast it was beating. He slid his arms around me again and took a handful of my ass this time. As soon as he let go, I turned to unlock my door. I blocked the door as it opened and gripped the inside handle to make sure that it locked behind me before I raced up the stairs. Before I turned to the next flight of stairs, I glanced down at him. He was staring at me through the glass now. When I got back to my room, I

locked the door immediately and shoved a chair under the handle. After some deep breathing exercises and smoking a bowl, I finally calmed down and was able to move on with my night. I mostly forgot about the whole thing until I had to go to work again. I told some of the co-workers, and I made an even bigger effort to stay clear of Sean. There were one or two more times, where he startled me with his high neighbor greeting, but I eventually graduated and moved back to the other side of the state where he couldn't bother me anymore.

So to Sean the Koched Out Cook, who waited for me in the dead of night and took every opportunity to violate my personal space, 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 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. I live in India and this happened two years ago. I was in the second year of my undergraduate program. I lived in a dormitory at the university as I was from a different city. My dormitory was shared with one other girl. We'll call her Ginny. She ended up being my best friend. Our dorm was inside the university campus right behind our academic building, which was situated in the center of the campus, so naturally our dorm was also situated in the center of the campus, but on the backside.

On the right side of our dorm there was a basketball court. A adjacent to this basketball court was a huge football slash cricket court. On the left side was an open area filled with trees. Our campus was surrounded by a lot of trees in general. The campus had two gates, a main gate, and a second gate which was always locked. Each gate had two security guards, 24-7. The main gate was on the right side of the academic building. If you walked straight from the main gate, you'd pass a huge parking lot. At the end of this parking lot is where the basketball court was.

And if you walked straight past that, you'd see our dormitory. On the left side of the academic building, there was this huge park. We called it Japan Park, because it resembled the bamboo park in Japan. Instead of bamboo stalks, there were big tall palm trees. Imagine a jungle of palm trees split by a concrete road down the center. At the end of that road was the second gate. In the park there were marble benches for students to sit down or chill on or study on. Every evening after drinking some chai tea, Ginny and I would go for a walk around the

campus. We started from the main gate then we walked all the way to the second gate, then we would return and repeat. We did this until we were bored, or our legs hurt. One evening, Jenny didn't feel like walking, so she sat on one of the marble benches. I decided to walk back and forth from her and to the second gate. While I did that, I noticed that there weren't any security guards at the second gate. I figured that they must have gone to the main gate to chat with the other security

guards and they would be back soon. I also noticed two seniors that I knew sitting on a bench working on their laptops. Something else I noticed was a white van parked right outside that second gate with its doors wide open. There was a man who seemed to be sleeping with his eyes open inside the van. He appeared to be in his late 20s, and he was well built. However, I could tell by his body language that he was on something. He was just lying there so less. It didn't seem normal. I tried to think nothing of it, and turned back to walk towards Ginny again.

At this point, I was positive that it was just Ginny, the two seniors, and me in the park. A majority of students left campus around 6 since that was when the academic building closed daily. So normally the crowd was near the parking lot. I don't remember what time it was exactly, but it had gotten pretty dark. I started to walk around back towards the second gate.

I noticed that the man was not inside the van anymore, but those doors were still wide open. Again, I tried to think nothing of it, however, it still bothered me. I had that gut feeling about it. This time, as I turned to walk back towards Ginny, I saw movements in the palm trees. The movements were vaguely visible as the outdoor campus lights were on. Those lights struggled to pierce through the palm tree jungle. I still shrugged it off, thinking that it must be a bird or something. I was wrong.

Let me tell you, the gates and fences surrounding the campus were huge. They were very tall, so tall that it seemed almost impossible for any individual to climb it, and jump in, unless they were highly skilled. With that in mind, I thought, there's no way that that van man could have jumped in. I walked another round, and I noticed the movements in the palm trees were getting a bit more prominent. I saw a dim silhouette of a person this time. I rushed back to Jenny and I filled her in on what I was seeing. She decided to come look with me. As we walked toward where I saw that silhouette, we saw

the man. It seemed to be that same man that I saw outside the gate, the van man. His back was facing towards us. We panicked big time and we looked at each other confirming what we were seeing. Our flight mode kicked in right away. We remembered the two seniors. We ran towards them, calling their names. They sprinted towards us and dragged us with them, telling us to run to the guards. When we reached the guards, they were just chilling clueless about what had been

happening. The seniors enlightened the guards about the scene and what they said was really disturbing. It was indeed the van man I had not been mistaken. The seniors said that they saw him in his van outside the gate as well. One of them said he looked like he was lost in his own world. They didn't think anything of it just as I hadn't. They assumed that he wouldn't jump in and harm anyone, but he did. Unfortunately, the guards didn't notice the van man had gotten inside the campus. They checked the CCTV footage and they saw that he did get inside. He moved behind the palm trees to get close to the seniors.

Once the van man was close to them, he tried to get their attention by saying, pst, to them. When they finally noticed him, they were scared shitless. They couldn't even move from their spot, let alone run away. This van man took advantage of the situation he whispered. D-girls want to go for a ride with me in my van? He then unzipped his pants. Their flight mode kicked in.

The van man began chasing them, but when he heard me and Jenny calling for them, he decided to turn back and escape. I vaguely saw him escaping. I kid you not from what I saw, the way he climbed that gate and jumped out so effortlessly, he was like Spider-Man. It forced me to think that this for sure was not his first time doing something like this. All of the guards rushed to the park and looked thoroughly for anyone or anything, but they found nothing. They immediately called the University authorities and the local police. The police came right away, looked around the park, and finally took our statements. We didn't have anything useful to offer the police,

as we couldn't properly see his face nor could we see his license plate number. The CCTV footage only captured very little of his face as he jumped in since he quickly sprinted behind the trees. The footage also captured his back as he climbed out. We didn't realize he was a very tall individual, at least until we saw him in the footage since he was hiding behind the trees the whole time. Nothing came of it, however, our university upgraded security protocols and precautions. Additional security guards were hired as well. I didn't want to think about what might have happened if everyone's flight mode had not kicked in right on time. Always be aware of your surroundings, folks,

and never let your guard down, and always believe your gut instincts. So to the strange, creepy man who dared to climb inside our campus and planned to do God knows what, I hope you are somewhere where you are incapable of harassing people and let's never 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 that, 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. I was rude tripping out West by myself hiking at various national parks and sleeping in a tent in different campsites. I'm not really into hiking or camping and I wouldn't really call myself outdoorsy, but I thought that it would be a fun experience to get away from the city and see some cool

sites. I did some research beforehand and had a few specific spots that I wanted to check out at each national park. When I arrived at the first park, I found out that one of the trails I wanted to hike was closed, so I found another one, a shorter trail to hike. Eventually I headed to my campsite to check in at around 4 in the afternoon. The campsite was in an area shared by a lodge and several cabins, so it was a bit nicer than most campsites that I had been to. When I checked in, the clerk

behind the desk gave me the lay of the land and told me about a few trails nearby. He pointed out a trail and said, this trail takes you to observation point, which is one of the best views of the whole park. My ears perked up. That was one of the places that I wanted to see, but I heard that the trail that led up there was closed. He told me that the lower trails in the park were indeed closed, but from the campsite's location there was an open trail. I asked him to give me more details. I also asked if he thought that I still had time to make the track since it was already later in the afternoon, and I still needed to set up my tent.

He assured me that I would be able to make it to observation point in time for sunset, and he gave me all the information that I needed. I set up my tent, then drove a few miles down a dirt road to the trailhead. The drive to the trailhead was extremely rough and bumpy, so I took it slow since I was in a rental car. I was just a few minutes into the drive when I saw a huge lifted truck speeding down the road in my rearview mirror. The truck was quickly right on my bumper, and I immediately felt embarrassed. I figured

it was just someone trying to make it in time to see the sunset, so I moved over and allowed the truck to pass. The man in the truck pulled up beside me and lowered his window. He asked me if I needed any help. I'm looking for the observation point trailhead, I replied. The man said that he would show me the way so I followed him down the road. It wasn't that simple of a drive, but we arrived at the trailhead. I saw the man park so I drove a few yards past the trailhead and parked in a different spot. I unloaded my gear and got ready to begin the hike. As I started walking, the man ran up behind me and asked if I wanted to hike with him. He introduced himself as Eric and said that he hiked all

the time. I'm the type of person who trusts their intuition. From the second that he approached me, I had a terrible gut feeling. Something was off about this guy, I thought to myself. But since he seemed nice enough, I reluctantly accepted the offer to hike with him. For context at this time I was in my mid-twenties. I'm about six foot, and I weighed around 160 pounds. Eric was much taller and bigger than me. About thirty minutes into the hike, Eric was talking my ear off, story after story. He told me all about the other hikes that he had been on, and he was showing me pictures

of himself and random fields. I pretended to be interested, and he asked me what other things I had planned during my trip in the coming days. I've been out here for a few days, I'm driving home tomorrow," I told him. This was a blatant lie. I had six more days of road-tripping ahead of me. If you're free tomorrow, we should check out this cool off-trail spot that I know about, he suggested. At this point, I was growing more anxious. I couldn't shake the unsettling feeling that

I had in the pit of my stomach. Something was off about Eric. It gave off such a creepy energy. I just wanted to get the beautiful view, enjoy the sunset, and go back to my tent. We were nearing the end of the three mile hike to observation point when Eric pointed out footprints and animal droppings, claiming that they were from mountain lions. He went on for 15 minutes about how dangerous mountain lions are. He commented on how fresh the tracks seemed to look. He told me a bunch of different stories about mountain lion attacks that he had heard of. In hindsight, after a simple Google search, I discovered that there

have never been any reported mountain lion attacks in this specific park. But at the time, Eric's claims had been extremely frightened. He told me he would protect me if we encountered one. had be extremely frightened. He told me he would protect me if we encountered one. We finally got to the lookout, and the sun was just going down. The view was beautiful. Eric asked me to take a picture of him, so I did. Then he asked if I wanted a picture of myself, and I said no thanks. Eric asked me if I wanted to smoke some weed with him, and he pulled out a joint. I politely declined. My anxiety was already through the roof, and I didn't want to have a panic attack from smoking with a stranger who was giving off such a weird energy.

He mentioned that he had drugs other than weed, then teased me for not wanting to join him. At this point, I just wanted to go back to my tent since it was getting really dark. I told him we should go back. He said, yeah, just five more minutes. I was really creeped out by this guy, but I figured hiking back down together would be my safest bet since I was scared out of my mind about the mountain lions that were supposedly nearby.

I suggested that we go back again. Just five more minutes," Eric said, again. We'll leave soon a promise. He smoked the entire joint by himself. He continued to offer other drugs to me despite my consistent refusal and dissentrest. He seemed like you really wanted me to be in an impaired state. We should drop acid. We could watch the stars, insisted. Now I was beyond freaked out, and I just wanted to get out of there. I asked him once again, can we go?

Instead of his usual five more minutes reply, he said he wanted to tell me another story. He talked about a group of kids who apparently dropped acid at night on this same trail, and he said that they all jumped to their deaths. It was so dark at this point that I couldn't really see his face, the way that he was telling this story utterly creeped me out. I've never felt such a dark, almost demonic presence around me in my entire life. I fully believed this man intended to harm me. I began to panic. I said, I'm heading back now. Have a good one, man. He told me to wait and said that I would be missing out on all the fun.

I ignored him and began the three-mile hike back by myself in the pitch black darkness. I held my flashlight in one hand, and my small utility knife was clutched in the other. After I rounded the corner of a few yards away from Eric, I took off and in all out sprint. I was finally listening to my gut and I didn't want to wait and see if Eric would follow me. I've never run so fast before in my life. It was a miracle that I didn't trip on any rocks or branches. I estimate that I ran for about 30 minutes before making it safely back to my car. I sped back to the campsite, got into my tent, and tried to calm myself down. Looking back, Eric never threatened me. He never made any sexualized remarks, and he

never even touched me. But somehow I knew from the moment I met him that something was off, and I could be in danger. To Eric the creepy man I met on the hiking trail, I hope you ran into a mountain lion on your drug-fueled hike back down from Observation Point. Let's never meet again. This summer, PXU Energy is back to the ultimate summer path, starting 50% off energy charges all summer. Everybody's on for automatic energy savings. Plus free energy on the hottest day. Don't you see?

Free days are now the coolest days. In this summer's hottest flux cluster, guaranteed to keep you cool. The savings are coming from inside the house. I used to live in South Eastern Ohio, far from the cities and close to a national park. Living in rural areas really inspired a love of nature in me. I developed hobbies that involved spending time outdoors. My favorite outdoor activity has always been camping, and I have now camped in several different areas across the country including the Mahabhi Desert. After I adopted my dog a a German shepherd mix named Leif in 2017, I started bringing him on all of my adventures.

We would do everything together, and when it came time for me to graduate from college, I even took my graduation pictures with him. College ended for me earlier that year, and so did the lease on my apartment. My bills were piling up, and I wasn't making much money at my part-time jobs. I was forced to move in with my parents. After I graduated high school in 2016, they started adventuring as well. They moved to Texas for a few years, but when I rejoined them, they were living in South Carolina. I was excited to move and live somewhere new, but when I rejoined them, they were living in South Carolina. I was excited to move and live somewhere new, but I quickly realized that there wasn't

much nature there. At least the nature there wasn't the nature that lived up to what I was used to in my rural home up north. My ideal camping areas are ones where you don't have amenities or camp neighbors. Everything in South Carolina seemed so overdeveloped. I was getting depressed from the city life. I woke up one day and decided that it was time to disconnect and spend some time out in nature.

I went on to my usual website to find coordinates for an unofficial but legal campsite, and I found one an hour and a half away in Georgia. It was perfect, far from any towns and open enough for my dog leaf to romp around and play. I immediately started gathering up all my camping supplies. Then I sent the coordinates of where I would be to my partner and my mom, and I packed my stuff and my co-violet into my car. Leaf and I arrived at the campsite at around four in the afternoon. As soon as I pulled onto the dirt road that housed the campsite, I knew that it was going to be perfect. The sight itself was filled with trees all over, and it was surrounded by a dense pine tree forest. After I parked, I put my phone and airplane

mode, and I hung hammock while Leaf set out to find the perfect stick. After I set up, I started reading a new book that I had just bought, and I sit on a beer. I threw a stick for a leaf every now and then. It was perfect and peaceful, exactly what I had been craving. Between stick-throws, I started hearing something in the treeline about 30 feet into the dense forest. It sounded like something was being dragged through the bush. It sounded like something was being dragged through the bush. I looked over at Leith, who was alert and staring directly into the woods. I couldn't see anything, but just to be safe, I climbed into my car and I hauled the horn a few times.

Leith is very well trained, but I'd rather not put his recall to the test while we're far away from home in a strange area. I didn't hear the noise again, so I assumed this worked, and I just went back to relaxing. The rest of the evening was peaceful and uneventful. I made some food on my camping stove and I gave leaf dinner. The weather called for rain so I packed some things back into the small SUV. I planned to sleep in it with leaf. After I got everything put away, I held the door open for leaf and he jumped in. I shut the door and did one last sweep of the area.

It was decently dark at this point. so I turned on my phone's flashlight, and I was satisfied to see that I had gotten everything. I opened my car door and climbed inside. As soon as I opened the door, Leif jumped out, and I noticed that he was shaking, growling, and looking very concerned. He stood right in front of me facing toward the tree line. He resumed his growling and that's when I heard it. Right at the tree line, probably six feet in front of my car there was a rustling, some loud cracks, and then nothing. Leaf bolted back into the car just in time for the most terrifying noise I've ever heard in my life.

Something just out of sight, hidden behind the trees in the darkness, screamed. It was a horrible, guttural, ear-piercing screech that didn't seem human. I jumped and the hair is on my head stood up. I immediately leaped into the front seat of my car, started the engine, and whipped out of that field so fast. I thought I might flip over. I pulled onto the dirt road and felt a immense anxiety that I was being followed. I felt like I had to get out of there and fast. I tried to pull my phone out and call someone, but I didn't have service yet. I drove for about 20 minutes before finally finding service to get a hold of my partner

who freaked out just as much as I did. She had protested this camping trip, saying that a young girl going camping in the woods alone was a bad idea, but she never expected this kind of danger. I made it home safely, and I went to bed. I brushed off what happened that night simply so I could sleep and resume my regularly scheduled life. It's been about five months now, and I've told the story to a few people, most of whom just cringed and voiced their concerns about me going camping alone. One person I shared it with had an interesting take.

He told me that there are predatory cats in that part of Georgia, and that the initial dragging I heard could have been the first sign that it was stalking us. The second occurrence was likely before it planned to attack. I'm no wildcat expert, but I personally don't think that's what it was. It's creepy to think that a predator or something else with unknown intentions was hunting me and my best friend. I have not been scared away from camping, but I will definitely be bringing a gun with me as opposed to a knife next time. Whatever was out there that night, be it dangerous, like a wildcat or otherwise, let's not meet. Don't forget to stick around after the music of your Patreon for your extended ad-free

version of this week's episode. And if you'd like to get access, head over to patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast to support the show and sign up today you'll get access to a lot of bonus content. This week you have heard, stalked by my crazy coworker by Steven Gregory. Coked Out Cook by Julia. The Van Man by Preyrauna. Mountain Lions by David. And finally, Tree Line stalk Lions by David and finally TreeLine

Stalker by Kay and Leif. 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. As always if you have a story to share, send it to let's not meet stories at gmail.com. I'll see you all next week for a brand new episode. Stay safe. To be continued... You know it, your wife knows it, your friends know it. Yep, there's no getting away from the fact that there's an outdoor kitchen shaped hole in your life. And it's time to put things right. Thankfully, bull outdoor products are ready with everything you need to create a world-class outdoor cooking space.

Bull outdoor kitchens and accessories add value to your property and extra fun to your world. If you're gonna do it, do it right. Turn a bull loose in your backyard. y un gran mundo. ¿Si vas a hacer esto? ¡Dónde está! ¡Tú, boludo en tu backyard! BolBBQ.com en suficiencia en diversos órganos y muerte prematura. Un nuevo estudio de investigación ofrece el potencial para luchar contra la enfermedad de células falsifórmas. Visite Ruby-SECD-Stary.com para obtener más información sobre una opción de tratamiento en investigación para la enfermedad de células falsifórmes. El estudio ahora está reclutando personas de 18 a 50 años en Dallas. Visite Ruby-SECD-Stary.com.

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