10x09: Rural Highway Creeper - Let's Not Meet

[00:00:00] This podcast contains adult language and content. If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show. My name is Andrew Tate and this is Season 10, Episode 9 of Lets Not Meet, A True Horror Podcast.

[00:00:50] When I was around 10 years old, a neighboring small town was hosting one of those pop-up carnivals. It was the kind of carnival where folded up, smaller amusement rides were brought in on semi-trailers. There were a few thrill rides, like this octopus looking thing that had passenger compartments

[00:01:09] on each arm, and riders were spun around while being raised and lowered. There were kids rides like merry-go-rounds and different types of automobiles, and of course the ever popular Ferris wheel. There were probably a dozen rides that lined the five or six blocks of the main street.

[00:01:29] My parents had friends in this small town. A place they frequently patronized was a particular waterhole on the main street. It worked out that they could socialize and have some drinks while their children were occupied at the carnival.

[00:01:44] My older sister, younger sister and I were released to go about our business but our parents asked that we check in with them every so often in the typical 90s latchkey fashion. I felt like we were at the carnival for hours.

[00:01:59] Being able to do so much unsupervised, I relished the freedom that I was afforded on this particular night. I did as I was told, ran into the bar between every other ride to say hi to my parents and check in, then back to the carnival I went.

[00:02:15] Eventually the carnival started to die down. The lines were shorter and families with little ones had returned home so the crowd was thinning. I set my sights on the swings, another classic amusement ride with dozens of playground style swings that hung from chains that fastened in the front.

[00:02:33] The ride spun around at just the right speed, not too fast and not too slow. It was refreshing and it made you feel like you were floating. I had a few tickets left and decided that the swings were where I was going to spend them.

[00:02:47] At some point, I was the only person riding the swings. I'd take a ride and it would slow to a stop then I would hand the ride operator another one of my fee remaining tickets to ride again. I didn't even get out of my seat.

[00:03:02] Two or three rides in, the ride operator started sparking up a conversation with me. It was easy to talk while I was riding because the swings didn't move that fast and our voices easily traveled for us to hear each other during the entirety of the ride.

[00:03:18] First he commented on how much I liked the swings, and then he questioned if I was going to use my tickets elsewhere before the carnival closed for the night. He wanted to know which ride I liked best, which one I didn't like, and which one I

[00:03:32] wouldn't ride again. It was all harmless, just innocuous conversation. Then I was out of tickets. As the ride stopped, I went to unbuckle the lap restraint but the operator told me that it was okay if I took another ride.

[00:03:49] He said it didn't matter since there wasn't a line. I was pretty excited. Anything free was good. As it turns out this free ride was anything but. There were fewer people around so the operator started getting more brazen with his questions.

[00:04:07] He asked me who I was at the carnival with and where I lived. He wanted to know how old I was and where I attended school. I was only ten years old at the time and I don't remember anyone having the stranger danger conversation with me.

[00:04:24] I have, however, always had inherently good radar. Something in my young mind told me that I needed to lie to this man. I told him I lived out of state and was attending the carnival with my aunt and uncle.

[00:04:39] I don't know why I thought that was a safe thing to do. I just didn't want to tell him the truth. I didn't want him to know that I lived close by and was currently alone, at least proximity wise.

[00:04:52] I disengaged myself from the conversation since I was getting that icky feeling about his questioning. I started keeping things vague, responding with I don't know or mhm. As the ride slowed down for the very last time the operator came over from his post

[00:05:10] to help me unbuckle my lap restraint. He was talking very quietly to me now. He still prodded me for details while offering information about himself. Once the lap restraint was off, the operator, rather than step back and let me out of the seat, stood over me.

[00:05:30] He was holding his hands in front of the two chains of the swing, essentially blocking me in. I would have to physically push him if I wanted to get up. He continued telling me things about himself, how he wasn't from around here.

[00:05:47] He said that he traveled a lot and loved to meet new people. I began to panic. I kept my eyes down and said as little as I possibly could. I just didn't know how to react.

[00:06:00] Out of nowhere, I then hear my dad's voice booming, calling out my name. My gaze darted around the carnival until I saw him. The operator immediately dropped his hold on the chains of the swing and I bolted.

[00:06:14] Turns out, as my dad had told me years later, I hadn't checked in with my parents in a while, which prompted him to go out and look for me. My dad saw what the operator was doing and yelled as loudly as he could to get our attention.

[00:06:29] It worked, and I managed to get away from what could have been a very traumatic encounter. My parents hugged me a little tighter than normal that night. I don't remember them taking us to another small town carnival after that or allowing

[00:06:43] our latchkey upbringing to be as liberal as it had been before. To that creepy carny who likely had deplorable things on his mind as he cornered a 10-year-old girl, let's not meet. When I was 24, I had just moved back into my parents' out in rural northern Minnesota.

[00:07:14] I had always been an avid runner and was preparing to run my first full marathon. I should note that this event happened a mere two weeks after the murder of Molly Tibbetts made national news. She was killed after turning down a man while she was on a run.

[00:07:31] He abducted and killed her because of this. I left my parents' house, which was about 8 miles north of town. I was about 5 miles into my 12-mile route on a small state highway. Not many cars traveled there during the day.

[00:07:45] This made it a great time to run with little traffic to dodge. I noticed a large white suburban with very dark tinted windows drive by from behind me. The car slowed a bit when it passed and I assumed it was because of the sharp corner

[00:08:02] so I just continued running. About 5 minutes later, I heard and saw that same car coming around again. This time the suburban was driving toward me. They were going slower this time and it freaked me out.

[00:08:18] I had my fair share of catcallers as well as creepers while I've gone out running in the past but I hoped that it was just some bored teenagers as it was summertime. The car sped off once they passed me and kept running.

[00:08:33] A few minutes later, I heard a car coming from behind me again going very slowly. Already knowing who it was, I turned to look and it was the same suburban driving less than 10 miles per hour past me.

[00:08:47] This made me panic as I left my pepper spray at home. I just kept running as the car went by trying to decide if I should turn around or keep running to my brother's house. Either choice was a solid 6 miles away at this point.

[00:09:02] As I was thinking about this, the suburban was driving back towards me going even slower basically idling. I instantly froze and stopped running. I made a mental note of the license plate, pulled out my phone with 911 dialed and was ready to press call.

[00:09:20] My fight or flight kicked in and I decided that I was going to put up a fight. Keep in mind, I couldn't see anybody in this car. Still, I decided I was going to stare down where the driver would be.

[00:09:33] I gave the longest death glare that I could. It took about a minute for the car to slowly pass me. I stared at the dark tinted windows where the driver would be the whole time. They kept driving and took off as they passed me.

[00:09:48] I instantly started crying and shaking when they rounded the corner. I was in the middle of a long run with no houses nearby. So I called my brother repeatedly until he answered and I asked him to come get me.

[00:10:00] He ran to his truck and drove to me right away. I didn't want to be a sitting duck so I kept jogging towards town which was in the same direction as my brother's house.

[00:10:11] I kept him on the phone with me and prayed that the suburban wouldn't come by again. I knew there was a busier highway only about a mile up the road. I made it there by the time my brother showed up and brought me home.

[00:10:25] I told my parents about it later and we decided to call the highway patrol to report the vehicle. I said that they would look into it since I provided them with the license plate but I never heard anything back.

[00:10:37] I never run on rural roads anymore and I always make sure that I have something to defend myself with when I go out for a run now. So to whoever decided to continually creep by me while I was on a run, let's never meet again.

[00:11:08] This happened to me in the early summer of 2019 in Missoula, Montana. Some friends and I were going to a concert at a local bike shop. It was a large space that was a community co-op place that doubled as a public event

[00:11:23] venue since it had the space for it. There was even a small stage set up there. My friends and I met up and had a fun night at the concert. We had drinks throughout the night since they were serving alcohol.

[00:11:37] I don't drink often and I don't go out often where lots of people are drinking since I'm a nervous person and I don't feel comfortable around a lot of people when they're drunk.

[00:11:47] I went out because I wanted to have a nice evening and enjoy the music with my friends and I didn't intend on having a super crazy night. I have a lot of food allergies and one of them is wheat so I don't drink beer.

[00:12:00] I stuck to canned ciders while two of my friends got beers from the keg that they had on the drink station. I had a total of maybe two ciders the whole night then switched to water while all my other friends continued drinking more.

[00:12:14] We all lived close enough that we walked to the concert and the few who drove parked at my house. Being a nervous person who doesn't enjoy social functions, I just people watch. Concerts are always lots of fun for people watching.

[00:12:31] I had noticed one of the people who was serving drinks several times throughout the evening. He was short, he had a stocky build and sandy blonde hair with a beard. He never approached me or anyone in my group but our eyes met several times.

[00:12:47] It kept happening while he was at the drink table or in the crowd. I tried to disregard that since I had locked eyes with several other people as well. We were at a concert with about 200 people, it was bound to happen at least with a few others.

[00:13:03] Later on in the night, I noticed my two friends who drank the beer were acting a bit off but I assumed it was because they had more to drink than me. I didn't find anything out of the ordinary to be alarmed about as far as their behavior

[00:13:17] and actions go. I wanted to get out of there sooner rather than later but everyone else in my group wanted to stay and chat with other people that we knew that had shown up.

[00:13:28] I felt sober enough to walk on my own so I said goodbye to my friends. It was still early enough and I was going to be walking along well-lit routes for the 10 minutes that it was going to take me.

[00:13:39] Even though it was getting close to 10pm, the sky still had some sunlight left before the darkness set in. I texted my boyfriend at the time to let him know that I was on my way home since it was

[00:13:50] a habit for me to do so when I went out. I had exited the main doors and made it halfway down the block from the venue when I heard somebody shout from behind me, hey wait!

[00:14:02] It was the man who had been serving drinks and had locked eyes with me. He was now running towards me. I was weirded out and instantly put on edge. Why was he choosing now to run out of a crowded place to come and talk to me?

[00:14:17] I thought maybe I had dropped something and he was returning it until he caught up to me. He introduced himself and I said hello and gave him my nickname already knowing I wanted to give as little information to this person as possible and end the encounter as soon

[00:14:32] as possible. He apologized for the weirdness of his timing and choosing to talk to me and asked how my evening went. I once again answered as concisely as possible. When I realized he wasn't going to stop talking to me, I continued walking. He continued walking too.

[00:14:52] Fuck, I didn't expect him to follow me. It was at this moment I internally kicked myself for thinking that it was a good idea to leave my pepper spray at home. This was most of my internal thought process the rest of the way home.

[00:15:09] Just wishing I had changed that one decision. That's what you get when you prioritize being cute over being safe. It was the first time in months I had not carried it with me. I'm never going to make that mistake again.

[00:15:23] He was making innocuous conversation and I could smell beer coming off of his breath. It was also at this moment I noticed the empty beer glass still clutched in his hand. I only had a dinky little purse that held my ID, keys, lip balm and my phone.

[00:15:41] I had tucked my phone away before he got close to me because I didn't want him to have an easy in to ask for my number. It somehow made sense to me at the time.

[00:15:52] Even though I was taller than him and more sober, I went into panic mode and just nodded and smiled at him while trying to say as little as I could. I was hoping that he would get the drift and leave me alone since we were a few blocks

[00:16:06] away from the concert at this point. I hoped that he had friends that he wanted to get back to or something. Unfortunately, no such luck. It wasn't until we were several blocks out, away from the noise of the venue and street

[00:16:22] lights, that he even bothered to finally ask if it was okay for him to walk me home. I did not feel comfortable saying no. Being the only two people on a quiet residential street, I wish I had. I wish I had kept my phone out.

[00:16:38] I wish I had called my friends. I wish I had said no and started running or screaming but all I was thinking about was if I said no, he might try to attack me. I had no way of defending myself beyond my own two hands and legs.

[00:16:55] I thought that I could use the fact that he might be guessing I was more inebriated against him if he decided to do anything. I don't fully remember anything that he said since I was so focused on getting through this encounter safely.

[00:17:09] I know he told me a lot of information about himself. He was from Tennessee and he said that he worked on a weed farm. I took that moment as an opportunity to talk about something that wasn't directly related to me and we talked about medical marijuana state laws.

[00:17:27] I was trying to keep the conversation directed away from any information about myself. I kept trying to walk faster and he kept weaving closer to me. I just sidestepped or backed away so he never actually touched me.

[00:17:42] He might have bumped into me at one point but I made a big show about needing him to be further away from me after that. As we got closer to my house, I started to panic more and I was running out of ways to

[00:17:55] keep the conversation directed away from me. I didn't want him to know where I lived. He was creeping me out. We got outside of the area from where I lived and I deliberately stopped closer to a building that wasn't mine.

[00:18:09] I made it clear that I was going inside my house alone. After a few awkward goodbyes, I waited until he started walking away to walk between the building I stopped in front of and the one that I lived in.

[00:18:22] I waited until he was out of sight then quickly darted into my actual building and down the stairs to my apartment. I immediately texted my friends about what happened and they let me know that my two friends

[00:18:35] that were drinking beer were feeling ill so they were helping them get home. I called my boyfriend and asked him to come over since I didn't feel safe being alone until my friends came back.

[00:18:47] I remember thinking to keep the lights off in the apartment in case he was still out there. I waited a few more minutes then told my friends that I was freaked out and going elsewhere for the night.

[00:19:00] Then I ran to my car and took off as soon as I could. I almost felt like I was overreacting as I thought about everything but I was doing what made me feel the safest.

[00:19:12] I assumed it would all just be a silly misunderstanding that I could look back on and laugh about. The next day, I woke up to texts from the group of friends that I went out to the concert with. My two friends that were drinking beer had been drugged.

[00:19:29] One of them had to go to the hospital and confirmed that they were given a date rape drug. We were all able to confirm our recollections from the night and after talking to other people in attendance at the show we were able to pinpoint who had done this.

[00:19:44] It was the man who had followed me home. He had several allegations of drugging and assaulting people which we found out about in the following days and weeks after this happened. We spoke to the owner of the venue and he was banned.

[00:19:58] They even changed their policy of how they serve drinks. It all felt a bit weird since one of the things that I remember him telling me was that he was returning to Tennessee soon so getting him banned from a place in a town and state

[00:20:13] that he would soon be thousands of miles away from felt so useless. I realized the next day that he had probably seen me with my friends who got drinks from him and assumed that I also had one of the spiked drinks.

[00:20:28] Listening to this podcast brought back this memory. I realized that because he followed me that night I kept my friends and anyone else who might have possibly been drugged safe. I'm grateful but I also wish that he had suffered more consequences for his actions.

[00:20:46] I feel like telling this story could be a way to make what he did haunt him just as it has continued to haunt me. So to the asshole who drugged my friends and hoped that he had drugged me while following

[00:20:58] me home in hopes to do god knows what, let's never meet again because I fight now and I always carry my pepper spray and taser because of shitbags like you even when I'm trying to be cute.

[00:21:13] When I was in college at 20 years old I was lucky enough to spend a semester abroad in Cork, Ireland. I lived in an apartment with five other female students in a run down apartment complex on the bank of the River Lee.

[00:21:37] It was a great location close to the school and downtown. While the apartment wasn't luxurious, I didn't spend much time there between class, club crawls, and tourist traps in Dublin. Our apartment was on the first floor and the building had a front and side entrance.

[00:21:56] When returning from school I sometimes used the side entrance so I often ran into the guy who lived in the apartment next to the side door. I met him during my first week living there and he said hi to me as I walked out.

[00:22:10] I said hi back and the brief exchange seemed friendly enough. He was full of friendly people. This guy was in his mid-thirties and not Irish. I don't know where he was from but it seemed like English was his second language.

[00:22:26] One day he introduced himself and reached out to shake hands. I introduced myself and shook his hand, but he wouldn't let go. His grip was firm and tight. He leaned in pulling my arm closer and asking for my phone number.

[00:22:43] I lied and said that I had just arrived and I didn't have a phone yet. He said that was okay and asked if I had a boyfriend. I didn't but this is an uncomfortable position so I said that I did. Back home he asked, yeah, I lied.

[00:23:02] Well you're here now and he's there. Can I be your boyfriend here? He responded. Really freaked out now I managed to free my hand and excuse myself with some excuse about having to get to class. I started to avoid that entrance.

[00:23:21] Talking with my roommates I soon learned I wasn't the only one with an experience with the creepy guy who lived by the side entrance. We tried to leave the apartment in pairs or groups as often as possible and avoided the side entrance.

[00:23:36] Luckily it was easy enough to slip in and out of the front. I was lucky enough to have a single bedroom in the apartment with a window that faced the street, although it was street level.

[00:23:48] There was a tall spiked iron fence and a small depression of rocks and stones that kept anyone from getting close to the building. I felt safe enough to keep my window open at home or while sleeping and I tried to remember to close it when I left.

[00:24:06] About a month into the semester I noticed hand prints on the thin layer of city soot that accumulated on my window. Looking at them I realized that they were from somebody on the outside pressing their palms onto the glass as if trying to look inside.

[00:24:24] Whoever it was would have had to stretch their arms out through the fence to reach the glass. I freaked out a bit, but then I thought about the group of students on the second floor that we hung out with.

[00:24:38] They were good people and called us from the streets to get our attention if they were going out to see if we were home. I figured it was one of them and brushed it off. I wish I hadn't.

[00:24:51] Maybe a week later I was sitting on my bed near the window reading a book when I heard tapping. Startled, I looked up. It was the man who lived by the side entrance waving at me from the street. Come outside, he said. I told him no.

[00:25:08] He yelled again and with my heart pounding I shut the window and closed the curtains. He kept tapping on the window. He did this for at least a minute. I could hear him persuading me to join him outside. I sat there until he gave up and left.

[00:25:27] I realized he knew where my apartment was now and precisely where my bedroom was. I kept my curtains closed permanently from then on. As I got busier, I spent some nights sleeping on my friend's floors and several weekends

[00:25:43] on short trips to England and Scotland so I didn't really think of that guy much anymore. I didn't run into him for a while. I was hoping that he got the hint. I was glad to miss seeing him around. Until one night. I got home very, very late.

[00:26:01] Maybe 3 or 4 in the morning. My friends had walked me home and saw me safely into the apartment complex front door. More than a little drunk and exhausted, I went into my bedroom, took off all my clothes and collapsed on my bed.

[00:26:17] As I lay there, hoping sweet sleep would keep my room from spinning, I suddenly heard the apartment's front door open. This wasn't unusual since I lived with 5 other people. Everyone came in and out all the time. But it was very late for anyone to be getting home.

[00:26:37] Then I remembered 4 of my roommates were gone for the weekend and the 5th was staying with her boyfriend. My eyes sprang open and I felt the adrenaline overpower the liquor in my blood. Someone was in my apartment. That's when the door to my room opened.

[00:26:59] The hallway light was on and I could only see a man's silhouette. He stood in the doorway and stared at me. I clutched the duvet around myself and I realized I was trapped, naked and alone in my apartment.

[00:27:15] The window was too small to climb out of and this guy was much bigger than me. I decided if I was alone, I was going to be loud so I sat up and shouted, no. I saw him flinch and then step back.

[00:27:31] He said something that I couldn't understand and I shouted over him, no, this is my room. He tried to talk again but I shouted louder over him, get out. He stumbled back into the hall a bit where I could see him clearer. It was the creepy neighbor.

[00:27:50] I screamed shrill and loud, get out. He grabbed the door handle and shut the door. I was sitting up in bed alone again in the dark of my room. I heard him walk down the hallway outside my door and then I listened to the apartment

[00:28:08] door open and close again. In a moment I was up and throwing on a sweatshirt. I whipped open my bedroom door, turned all of the apartment lights on, checking every corner. No one was there. He was gone. I checked the apartment's front door which I found alarmingly unlocked.

[00:28:30] I snapped the deadbolt and put the chain on realizing my drunk self must have forgotten to lock the front door. Somehow this creepy guy interpreted that as an invitation. I spent the rest of the night in my bed waiting for daylight and any of my roommates to return.

[00:28:49] I told my roommates when they returned and we all agreed to double check the locks from then on. The semester ended soon after and a few friends and I left Ireland to spend a few weeks traveling Europe before going home. I never saw that creepy guy again.

[00:29:06] I hope he finally got the hint, but just in case he didn't. Creepy guy who lived in my Irish apartment building, let's not meet ever again. This happened in the spring of 2021. It started out just like any other typical day.

[00:29:39] My husband left for work and I went into the kitchen to make some eggs for breakfast. I started listening to a podcast as I chopped my veggies and started the stove. I remember glancing at the microwave clock and reading the time as 8.37am.

[00:29:55] The sun was shining and the weather was predicted to be a beautiful spring day in upstate New York. As I cracked two eggs into the skillet, I was surprised to hear the sound of my doorbell.

[00:30:08] Since COVID we have been getting a lot of packages delivered so I thought the mailman was early that day. My two small dogs, both Pomeranian mixes, were going nuts, barking. I grabbed my mask and opened the door a crack to see out.

[00:30:26] I had expected to see our mailman or even one of the neighbors, however, it was a young man, probably in his late 20s or early 30s. Right away I got a strange vibe from him.

[00:30:39] He seemed a bit nervous or anxious as he explained that he didn't have his cell phone on him and wasn't feeling well. He asked if he could borrow my phone to call a family member. My knee jerk reaction was to say no.

[00:30:55] I wish I had listened to my gut and just shut the door. My husband and I live in one of the nicest neighborhoods in our small town and our house is located at the end of a dead end street.

[00:31:10] Despite my gut feeling, I had a moment of guilt so I decided to be nice. I told him to wait a second as I shut and locked the door. Then I went and grabbed my cordless phone from our landline.

[00:31:22] I opened the door just enough to hand him the phone. I told him I'd give him some privacy before shutting the door again. I didn't lock it this time, I just stood by the door with my back against it.

[00:31:35] I remember thinking I didn't want to give him my cell phone because what if he stole it? I had distorted glass around my door so I could generally see what he was doing.

[00:31:47] It had maybe been 15-20 seconds since I had given him the phone but one of my dogs would not stop barking. So I turned slightly to shush him then I heard the sound of the door handle on the front door. The stranger was attempting to open my door.

[00:32:06] Now this handle can be tricky to open so he couldn't open it too easily. I had just enough time to firmly plant my hand on the door pressing it closed just as he successfully opened it.

[00:32:19] I grabbed the lock and turned it as I shouted in panic, what are you doing? He stammered that his friend didn't answer the call. He hurriedly set the phone down on the front porch and took off.

[00:32:32] I waited for his car to fully drive away before I opened the door to retrieve the phone. I immediately texted my husband who suggested that I call the police. I called and they sent out an officer. I showed him the ring doorbell footage and he took the report.

[00:32:50] The officer thought that there was something up with this guy. I didn't notice it when it happened but the guy had his hand in his sweatpants pocket the entire time he talked to me. The officer lectured me about never opening the door to strangers.

[00:33:05] He suggested that we check the phone number he called. So I hit redial. I had the phone on speaker so that the officer could hear as well. It rang a couple of times then went to voicemail.

[00:33:17] It turns out it happened to be the phone number of a restaurant I called the night before. I froze. He did not attempt to make a call. This restaurant was one hour away. There was no way he'd be trying to call anyone there to help him.

[00:33:34] I was so freaked out. The officer told me that I was lucky and then went on his way reminding me to keep my alarm on even when I was home and always lock my doors. I immediately locked all the doors and set the alarm.

[00:33:51] So many questions raced through my mind. Who was he? Why did he pick my house? Was this guy on drugs? Was he after my cell phone? Did he plan to rob me? Was he just casing the house or is he coming back?

[00:34:07] So to the person who made me feel unsafe in my home, let's never meet again. This happened this past November while my mom and I were traveling back to the California Central Coast from Arizona. She lived on the California Central Coast for a year.

[00:34:34] I live in Arizona and I haven't been able to visit in a while. She asked me to return to California with her for a few days as she was participating as a vendor at a local holiday bazaar and needed help as a big turnout was expected.

[00:34:49] I agreed and we headed off the evening of Thanksgiving. I spent most of the seven hour drive in and out of sleep due to us leaving late. Once we arrived at my mom's house around midnight, I forced myself to wake up and sat in my seat.

[00:35:05] I looked around momentarily and noticed a particularly dark area directly next to my mom's house. I wasn't sure what it was. I wasn't sure if it was part of the house, yard, or carport but it gave me a pretty unsettling feeling.

[00:35:23] My mom got out and began unloading the bags. She left the hatch and the rear passenger door of the car open. She said that she'd be right back and was going inside her house to get bins that she

[00:35:34] would use to house her inventory and some other items that she needed for the event. I waited for her outside still in the car where I could keep an eye on things and help arrange everything in the car once everything was out.

[00:35:49] I was still groggy and sleepy as I sat there but I was alert to my surroundings. I heard what sounded like light footsteps on gravel. I looked around through the front windshield, the driver's side window, and then through

[00:36:05] the back of the open hatch but I didn't see anything. I figured it was probably just a cat or a dog moving around outside. I got a strange feeling and felt like I needed to put my shoes on.

[00:36:20] Due to the long drive, I didn't even have my shoes on. Once I slipped them on, I heard the sound of footsteps on gravel again but it was a little louder this time. I looked around the same way that I did before.

[00:36:35] This time I looked through the open rear passenger side door and I saw a man with a hood on. He had a bandana concealing his face. He was standing behind a tree in the alleyway staring directly at me. This man was only about 15 feet away from me.

[00:36:54] I turned around and faced forward in my seat. I began to panic and thought, what do I do? I looked back at him and I noticed that he was inching closer. Then I thought to myself, the horn. My mom or somebody will hear me and they'll come outside.

[00:37:13] I reached over and honked the horn for about 5 seconds and then released it. I waited for somebody to come outside but nobody did. I turned around once more to look at the man.

[00:37:25] I was hoping that the noise and the potential of getting caught would have scared him away but there he was unmoved, still standing beside the tree. I saw that he was trying to peek around the tree trunk to see if anyone had come out then

[00:37:40] he inched a little bit forward from beside the tree. This scared me even more so I reached over, lay on the horn and didn't stop until I saw someone. Finally, my mom came out of the house and shouted, are you okay?

[00:37:56] I yelled, no there's somebody standing over there. The man still stood there unmoved from his spot. Then my mom walked towards the car. I opened my door and got out. My mom whispered, get out your spray, referring to the pepper spray that I kept on my keychain.

[00:38:16] I grabbed it after I saw my mom exit the house. I replied, I have it in my hand already. My mom walked in the man's direction and stood about 10 feet from him. She turned to me and said, call the fucking police.

[00:38:31] Followed by, you know what, let's get this stuff back in the car and let's get out of here. Then we threw all of our things back into the car. As we were doing this, the man was still standing there just watching us.

[00:38:46] At that moment, I felt this huge wave of anger wash over me and thought, why bother us? We weren't bothering anybody. We were minding our own business and here comes this man trying to intimidate us. I faced him and watched him as he did this to us.

[00:39:03] I was ready to fight or pepper spray him if he dared come closer. He didn't move forward, but his body language looked like he was contemplating something sinister. Once we had everything back in the car, my mom said, get back in the car.

[00:39:19] I'm going to lock you in so I can go back and lock the front door of the house. I climbed back in the car, still watching the man. When my mom locked the car, he turned and walked down the alleyway away from us.

[00:39:33] My mom locked the front door and then got back in her car. As we drove away, I broke down, feeling fear, relief, and anger all at once. I believe he stood in that dark area when we first pulled up to the house.

[00:39:51] This was single-handedly the scariest encounter of my life. I have no idea what that man had planned or if he had any weapons on him, but thank God we got away unharmed. Hooded man with the bandana covering his face, planning God knows what. Let's never meet again.

[00:40:24] This story happened around three years ago. I was 25 and I had just broken up with my boyfriend. We didn't end on great terms. He was emotionally and physically abusive. Our breakup was less than civil.

[00:40:38] So following the breakup, I immediately downloaded Tinder and decided the best way to get over him would be to occupy my time with new people. I checked my messages one day after work and I got a message from a guy who lived in a nearby town.

[00:40:52] I live in a suburban area around Houston and the guy that I was messaging was a little way out in a small town outside of Rosenberg. This isn't where the story gets scary though.

[00:41:04] I met this guy and I got in his car with him and his cousin to smoke weed. Was this the smartest choice? No, absolutely not. But I was 25 and I felt untouchable. Our time together started to wind down and I needed to head home before my parents started

[00:41:21] questioning where I was. It was around 6 in the evening and since it was late summer, I still had a good amount of time to get home before sundown. I was driving home and I was going down this long, and I mean long road.

[00:41:35] Other cars were on the road but they were few and far between. Suddenly I felt one of my tires start shaking like it was about to fall off so I pulled over. Now I was high and in a slight state of panic.

[00:41:51] A little backstory, about 7 months before this I had a nasty blowout in the middle of rush hour. This was on one of the busiest freeways in Houston. Since then anything involving my tires has stressed me out.

[00:42:03] After pulling over, I pulled out my little spare tire and I moved stuff around to change the tire that was shaking. While I was doing this, a man in a pickup truck pulled over and asked, hey do you need help?

[00:42:16] I told him, if you would like to help it would be appreciated but I also have it under control. He looked at the tire that I was trying to change and told me that it looked fine and he said that I didn't need to change it.

[00:42:28] I replied, look I know my car and I know that this needs to happen, if you don't want to help that's fine. He told me that he could help me change the tire and asked me to pull onto a dirt road about 20 feet away.

[00:42:42] I agreed because I was high and didn't think about the possible dangers. So I pulled onto the dirt road and stayed close to the main road because I had at least a little sense. I pulled everything that he would need to change the tire out of the car.

[00:42:57] He started to change it and I tried to make small talk to ease the awkwardness that I was feeling. He interpreted my small talk as jitters and said, you don't have to be scared, it's not like I'm going to do anything. He flashed this weird smile.

[00:43:15] I brushed it off because I wasn't sure if this situation was weird or if maybe I was being paranoid. Then he told me, it's a good thing you don't have kids in the car, stuff like this can freak little kids out sometimes.

[00:43:30] I quickly told him, yeah I'm so lucky, I was on my way to pick up my son and I'm glad this didn't happen after I got him. Now I have no kids but something in my gut told me that this was the best move.

[00:43:45] He looked at me like he didn't believe me and inquired, oh you have a son? What's his name? I immediately replied, Logan and tried to drop it. He took the hint and we were silent for just a few minutes. Then he asked if I had a boyfriend.

[00:44:03] I have a fiance, my son's father and I are getting married next year. I replied. Meanwhile there is no real fiance. He then asked me where I lived. I lied and told him I lived down the street from the local high school, which was on the

[00:44:18] exact opposite side of town from where I actually lived. He replied, oh cool, I live in that area too, maybe we'll see each other around sometime. Yeah, maybe, I said half-heartedly. He was almost done changing my tire so I rolled the messed up tire into my trunk.

[00:44:38] The man got extremely close to me, grabbed my arm and sternly said no, I've got it. It made me a little more panicked. My high transformed into full on paranoia and alarm bells buzzed in my mind. I backed away, laughed it off and said, okay sure.

[00:44:59] I made sure to keep a distance between the two of us. Once the tire was in my trunk he closed it and I was all set to go. He said that he would wait by his truck as I made a u-turn on the dirt road.

[00:45:12] He wanted to make sure that the tire was good. He asked me if I was sure I didn't need him to follow me to the gas station to fill the tire with air.

[00:45:21] He also offered to follow me home and asked for my number to check up on me. I told him my fiance would not like that but he insisted. I said, I'll take your number and I'll message you when I'm home. He accepted this but appeared slightly annoyed.

[00:45:38] I got into my car and turned around while he stood outside of his truck. I decided to stop and thank him one more time. I stopped beside him and extended my arm out my driver's side window for a handshake. He pulled my arm towards him.

[00:45:54] He then leaned into my car and tried to kiss me. I recoiled immediately and jerked my arm away from him. What are you doing? I have a fiance! I yelled. He said that he didn't believe me. I peeled out onto the main road.

[00:46:12] Thank God he wasn't in his truck yet. I flew down the road going 70 well above the 50 mph speed limit. I maintained this speed until I saw the nearest public place, a hotel on the side of the road.

[00:46:25] I drove to the back of the building where my vehicle wouldn't be visible from the road. I sat there in fear for about an hour. I was scared that he would follow me home and find out that I lied about where I lived.

[00:46:38] At this point my high wore off entirely and I could finally think rationally enough to be aware of my surroundings on my way home. Shortly after this incident I had all four tires replaced and told myself I would never put myself in that type of situation again.

[00:46:56] So to the roadside guy who tried to kiss me after he changed my tire, let's not meet again. Thanks everyone for listening and don't forget to stick around after the music for your extended ad-free version of this week's episode.

[00:47:22] You can join at patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast and get access to all kinds of bonus content. This week you have heard Beware the Carnie by Jess, Rural Highway Creeper by Anonymous,

[00:47:35] A Drugged Creep Walked Me Home by Eustasia, Creepy Guy Who Came Into My Apartment by Rachel Watkins, He Didn't Even Make a Call by Monica, Stalked on the Central Coast by Ashley J, and finally Roadside Creep by Kelsey.

[00:47:51] All 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.

[00:48:01] As always if you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. And don't forget to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like Odd Trails, my True Paranormal Podcast, Welcome to Paradise It Sucks, as well as the Old Time Radiocast.

[00:48:15] We'll see you all next week for a brand new episode. Please stay safe.