17x15: This Is Why I Don't Date Customers

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_01] This podcast contains adult language and content. The stories shared in this podcast are told from the perspective of the authors. Their accounts and opinions are personal and do not reflect the stance of the production team. If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show.

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_01] This happened in middle school. I had recently moved from the boys have cooties stage in my life to wanting a boyfriend, but not really understanding the realities of what that actually meant. I was also pretty unpopular as a kid. I got picked on a lot. I had developed a crush on this guy. We'll call him Mick.

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_01] Mick was the son of a teacher. He was hugely freckled, a redhead, and a heavy-duty geek. As such, he was in the same social position as me. We often spent time with the same tiny group of people in school. To double down on this, he was the only guy in the school band to choose to play the flute like me. So we sat together in class.

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_01] Being the preteen idiot that I was, I thought this meant we had a lot in common and were meant to be together. So I asked him to be my boyfriend. We had one incredibly awkward movie date that was chaperoned by his mother and a few slow dances at the school dance.

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_01] But in the short month that we quote-unquote dated, I realized that he had issues. He was quick to get angry. He was verbally abusive and asked me to lie to people about what we did on our date and where we went. That kind of thing. When I confronted him, he waited until nobody was looking to shove me into the lockers. He kept trying to talk about guns and violent movies, which I had no interest in.

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_01] When I broke up with him during lunch, a week or two later, he kicked me under the table and dumped his lunch all over me. I thought that would be the end of things, but I was wrong. A few days later, the school counselor asked me about my boyfriend. I trusted her and I told her everything that had gone down. Shortly afterwards, Mick got in trouble for his behavior and was given a suspension of a few days. He was also told to leave me alone.

[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_01] Several days after the suspension was over, he had what I guess was a mental breakdown during gym and ran out mid-class. I only saw part of it, but he had been yelling, crying, and swearing. All of which I found deeply unnerving. A few days later, I noticed that he wasn't in any of my classes. Mick was nowhere to be seen, and rumors swirled that he had stayed home sick.

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_01] I believed them, until the police and bomb squad showed up during our band's party. Our band was doing a fundraiser by selling different products from the catalog, and our band director had promised us a party when we hit our goal. Well, we hit our goal. Band practice ended early, so we enjoyed some chips, soda, and cookies.

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_01] It was during the party that I noticed a crowd around the windows. And when I got a chance to look outside, I could see multiple police cars in the parking lot, and what looked like a bomb squad vehicle with officers entering the building. Shortly afterwards, our band director ordered us to close the blinds and lock the doors, giving us some random bullshit about a safety drill.

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_01] This was well before school shootings had become an occurrence in the U.S. We stayed locked in our class for an hour, although it may have been longer. I found out later that my boyfriend had lost it over me breaking up with him and his suspension for abusive behavior on school grounds. So what did he do? He made multiple bombs, broke into the school, and placed them in my locker, as well as that of another girl in our class.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_01] He also placed one of the bombs in the school parking lot under a car. How the police got involved, I'm not certain of, but the rumor was that he called it in and left a note in the school somewhere. Thankfully, none of the bombs worked, but that's how a middle school relationship with a nutjob nearly caused a school bombing.

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_01] I live in a complex, and my unit is technically conjoined to another one. Same building, but split in half, if that makes sense. So all of our yards are side by side, and the garden beds and all of the backyards are roughly two feet taller than the ground level. I'm a 22-year-old female, and I live with two other people and my dog. I know there's a person who watches me from the garden at night,

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_01] both when I'm outside and inside. Sometimes I'm able to hear them, and I've even seen them move before. It started happening around six months ago, and I think they're getting braver. The first instance I remember, I was taking my dog outside at night to do his business. We have a hanging chair in our backyard that's close to the garden,

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_01] so I sat down on it and was watching TikToks on my phone. I could have sworn I heard someone cough. I paused my phone, looked around, and I tried to listen for any noise, but I didn't hear anything. That is, until I was just about to press play. I heard what sounded like someone stepping on something crunchy, like leaves and sticks. This immediately made me feel sick.

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_01] I quickly went back inside with my dog. Little instances like this have been going on rather constantly since then. Recently, however, a new weird thing has happened. I was outside with my dog. I was getting the creeps, as has been the case lately. I went to go inside, but as I closed the back door, I saw this little white light peeking out of the bushes.

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_01] This immediately struck me as weird because the streetlights behind my unit glow orange, not white. And we don't have any garden lights. I couldn't figure it out. Now, I saw this little white light twice, two times in a row when going outside, but I haven't seen it since, so I'm thinking it may have been a camera. My dog reacts to whoever it is. On one occasion, my dog suddenly stopped,

[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_01] stared at the garden, his whole body stiff, let out a growl, and then barked and wagged his tail, all while staring at the bushes. On another night, I turned my flashlight on and shone it straight into the garden, but I couldn't see anything. Then, tonight, I went out again with my dog, so that he could do his business, and as I was sitting out there, I heard what sounded like somebody making a popping noise with their mouth.

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_01] This scared me so bad, I ran inside. Now, I haven't called the police, even though I know it may sound crazy, because I've experienced stuff like this in the past, and the police have done nothing. For some reason, my partner believes it's one of our neighbors, which I guess it could be, but I'm not so sure. I'm also not in the financial position to put up cameras, but I'm thinking about adding a light to the actual garden itself to hopefully scare this person off

[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_01] and bring me some comfort. So to the person watching from my garden, please go away, and let's not ever meet. I'm a European woman, and I'm currently staying in a South American capital. Being a foreigner,

[00:09:21] [SPEAKER_01] I guess I stand out a bit, but I didn't feel threatened or in danger at all during the month that I've spent here. That is, until yesterday. I was alone and waiting for the bus at around 3 p.m. It was a Sunday, and no one else was around. This man then appeared in the distance. He immediately struck me as looking shady, although I can't put my finger on why.

[00:09:48] [SPEAKER_01] Probably because it looked like he was walking straight towards me, even though the pavement was pretty wide. I pretended that I didn't see him, and I waited for him to pass, but instead he came right up to me and asked for money. I answered him very firmly that no, I didn't have anything to give him, and I stepped back a bit, keeping my head up and trying to show that I wasn't disturbed.

[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_01] He kept coming closer to me, which obviously made me feel very uncomfortable. He started pointing his finger at my face, saying, I will kill you, repeatedly. Now, I knew that I might be in danger, even though this guy didn't have any visible weapons. I had no idea what he was capable of, especially since he was extremely close to me. I was still trying to get away from him calmly, because I didn't want to show him

[00:10:46] [SPEAKER_01] that I was panicking. I looked all around for someone who might be able to help me, but the street was deserted. The guy kept following me, saying, I will kill you, and that's when I saw a bus coming. I waved it down, and when it pulled up to me, its doors were already open. The driver's assistant told me to hurry up and get in. He had seen what was happening from a distance and told me not to worry, that we just needed to get away from this guy.

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_01] This all happened in the span of 30 seconds, but a lot could have gone wrong in such a short amount of time. I'm glad I remained relatively calm, and I'll probably invest in pepper spray for the future. If you're dragging by 2 or 3 p.m. every day,

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[00:13:08] [SPEAKER_01] That's D-O-S-E-D-A-I-L-Y dot C-O slash meat for 35% off your first month's subscription. Try it for three months and see how you feel. This happened when I was 17 or 18. My high school had an early college program where if you had the grades and got accepted, you could basically leave regular high school starting junior year

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_01] and attend the local community college instead. So I got into it and I started college at 16. By the time this happened, I was in my second year there and was pretty comfortable on campus. I had become friends with a girl named Emma. She was 19. We had a class together and afterward, we would usually sit at a table outside the classroom and study or talk about our next classes.

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_01] Eventually, this guy who I'll call Ethan started sitting with us. Ethan was 30 and at first, he wasn't obviously creepy. He was just kind of off. Emma and I both noticed it, but neither of us could really explain why. He would sit with us while we studied and basically talk at us the entire time. He asked a lot of questions about what we were doing, where we were going, what we had planned for the weekend,

[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_01] things like that. He also talked about his girlfriend constantly. And I mean constantly. His girlfriend this, his girlfriend that, stories about them, things they did together. And because of that, neither Emma nor I thought that he was trying to hit on us at the time. One Friday, I told Emma that I was going to walk around the soccer field before my next class. The field has a walking path around it and I rarely see people on the trail

[00:15:06] [SPEAKER_01] besides a handful of older folks. So, I walked it alone, came back, and went to class. The next week, Emma and I were sitting at our usual table when Ethan came over. When I eventually got up to leave, Ethan asked us if we wanted to walk around the soccer field. And yes, before anyone says it, I know. I've been lectured thoroughly about this decision. I said yes,

[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_01] because I assumed Emma was coming too, and I was already planning on walking anyway. But Emma said that she wasn't going, and for some reason, instead of saying, oh, never mind then, I still went. The second Ethan and I got far enough away from the building, he asked me what kind of car I drove, and that was pretty much the exact moment when my gut went, oh, shit. I gave him a vague answer and started to panic.

[00:16:04] [SPEAKER_01] Then he started asking me questions about my parents, family, and other personal stuff, and that's when I suddenly became very aware of the situation I had put myself in. Ethan was a lot bigger than me, and I also have a bad leg. So if this man decided to do literally anything weird, I was absolutely not outrunning him. Not great planning on my part. At that point, I started answering questions vaguely,

[00:16:33] [SPEAKER_01] or just making things up. I also started talking about how my dad was this giant guy who did manual labor. You know, a very normal conversation, and definitely not me hinting to Ethan that my father could throw him into traffic. I eventually started talking about Marvel because that's one of my comfort topics, and apparently my stress response is becoming a walking Marvel encyclopedia. At this point, though, I was still wondering

[00:17:02] [SPEAKER_01] whether I was being paranoid or not. Ethan said that he was really into Marvel, too, so I decided to test something. I asked him, Have you seen the third Doctor Strange movie? Now, there is no third Doctor Strange movie. He immediately said yes. Then I started making up an entire scene. I said something like, Oh yeah, I really liked the part where blank happened. And he said, Yeah, me too.

[00:17:33] [SPEAKER_01] Okay, so he was a confirmed liar, and I had no idea what other stuff he lied about. That was basically the moment my internal monologue became, Cool, awesome, love this, I'm screwed. The walking path eventually splits. One direction takes you farther toward the road and away from the main campus building. The other loops back towards the school. Ethan started walking

[00:18:02] [SPEAKER_01] towards the road. I immediately went the other direction. He stopped and asked, Oh, are you not going this way? I told him no. I had stuff I needed to do before class, and I needed to head back. He said okay. Then he turned around and followed me. So now I'm walking back toward the building at a pace that my hip was absolutely not built for. We finally got back to the doors of the school, and Ethan suddenly said

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_01] that he knew what town I lived in because he lived there too. And did I want to carpool? I never told him where I lived. I said no and got the hell inside. I tried calling Emma, but she didn't answer, so I called another friend and I told them what was happening. Eventually, I went to one of my professors and explained everything. They were very concerned. I told Emma everything afterward,

[00:19:01] [SPEAKER_01] and from that point on, we were both pretty much done with Ethan. No more awkward politeness. No more letting him sit there while we studied. No more tolerating his conversations. If he tried to come over, we would just shut it down. We were both very clear that we didn't want to interact with him anymore. And somehow, that's when things got even weirder. Emma and I eventually figured out which car was his, and the best way

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_01] I can describe it is that it had serial killer vibes. That's obviously not a technical automotive term, but it's the only one I have. It just looked like the exact car you would see in the opening of a serial killer documentary. And then we saw a bumper sticker. After hearing this man talk non-stop for weeks about his girlfriend, you can imagine our surprise when his bumper sticker said, Sorry girls, I'm gay.

[00:20:02] [SPEAKER_01] Emma and I were both thinking, What is going on? You've spent the last month giving us a detailed history of your relationship with your girlfriend, so, what's happening? He also had this really intense stare that Emma and I privately started referring to as crazy eyes. I'm not trying to diagnose him with anything. He just had this very intense way of looking at you that became significantly less fun once we were

[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_01] actively trying to avoid him. Eventually, Emma told me that Ethan had started waiting outside her classroom. That's when we went to the campus police. They told us to document everything and report it to the vice president of the college, so we did. The administration told us that they were going to call Ethan in and talk to him. Then, I went home and had to tell my parents and was very nearly grounded. They immediately

[00:21:01] [SPEAKER_01] researched the guy and discovered that Ethan had gotten out of jail that nay for fourth-degree assault. Wonderful. Exactly what I wanted to discover about the man who recently tried to get me to walk farther away from campus with him. And then things got even creepier. My family figured out where Ethan lived, which was next door to my ex-boyfriend. Now, my ex-boyfriend and I had broken up the previous summer, but I had been at his house

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_01] pretty frequently when we were together, and at the time all this happened, I was still driving the exact same make and model of car I had driven while dating my ex. So suddenly, Ethan knowing my hometown and immediately asking me what kind of car I drove felt a lot weirder. Meanwhile, the college was emailing him repeatedly, telling him he needed to meet with the administration or his classes would be suspended.

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_01] He ignored them and kept coming to his classes. Even after Emma and I made it extremely clear that we wanted nothing to do with him, we didn't want him anywhere near us, but he kept trying to get close. During one biology lab, he stood directly behind me and put his hand in the middle of my back while reaching for something. Technically, was it inappropriate? No. Did every nerve ending in my body immediately

[00:22:30] [SPEAKER_01] want to leave? Yes. My dad eventually found Ethan on Facebook and messaged him, and he wasn't exactly gentle about it. However, in response, Ethan told my dad that he was just trying to be friends with us and claimed that he always studied with Emma and me. He did not. He sat next to us and talked the entire time while we studied. There's a difference. For a while, Emma and I

[00:23:00] [SPEAKER_01] hoped that maybe he would eventually get the hint and everything would calm down, but he didn't. One Monday, we were sitting in class and Ethan was there, even though from what we understood he wasn't even supposed to be on campus anymore because he had ignored all of the administration's messages. Suddenly, a police officer walked into the classroom, came over to Ethan, and escorted him out. As far as I know, Ethan wasn't arrested, but after that day, we didn't see

[00:23:29] [SPEAKER_01] him again. Now, you would think that would be the end of it. It was not. Later, while I was telling my family everything, my younger sister looked at a picture of Ethan and went, he looks familiar. Apparently, the summer before this semester even started, my family had gone out to eat. Ethan had been our server. To this day, I have no idea exactly how many of these things were coincidences.

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_01] Maybe he remembered me from the restaurant or recognized my car from seeing it at my ex's house. Maybe he somehow heard what town I lived in. Maybe some of it had completely innocent explanations. But when you put together him knowing where I lived, him asking about my car, trying to get me farther away from campus, following me when I turned back, waiting outside my classrooms, continuing to get closer to us after

[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_01] we very clearly told him to stop, the assault record, him living next door to my ex, and the random discovery that he had already interacted with my family before we even met at school. Well, I'm perfectly happy never finding out exactly what his intentions were. I'm 19 now, and it's weird realizing that this was already about a year ago. And yes, I know going on that walk with him was incredibly stupid. Trust me,

[00:24:59] [SPEAKER_01] that lesson was learned immediately. So my PSA to anyone who ends up in a situation like this, if somebody gives you a weird gut feeling and you can't explain why, you're allowed to listen to it. And I still don't know what would have happened if I had taken the other path. When I was eight years old, I was at my

[00:25:29] [SPEAKER_01] grandma's for summer vacation. My grandma lived alone in a two-story house. As a kid, I was terrified to sleep alone, so my grandma and I slept together in the ground floor bedroom. I've always been a deep sleeper, and that night, something suddenly woke me up. I looked towards the big window at the foot of our bed, and I saw a man cutting the window screen with the knife. For a second, I just stared

[00:25:59] [SPEAKER_01] at him, not believing what I was seeing. Then, I tried to silently push my grandma awake. I think I was in shock, hence why I didn't scream. My grandma began to wake up, and the sound of her moving in bed made the guy freeze. I got up, and I screamed at her that there was a man at the window. My grandma turned just in time to see him pull his knife out of the screen and start

[00:26:29] [SPEAKER_01] running. My grandma immediately closed the windows and called our neighbors to ask if they could see someone outside our house. house. The lady living behind us told us that she saw a figure jump off the back gate just as she had turned on the lights. I don't know why we didn't call the police or what happened after that, but I do remember that a few days before the incident, we heard knocking at our door in the middle of the night.

[00:26:59] [SPEAKER_01] It was a hard banging sound. My grandma had switched on the lights and looked out from the peephole but there was nobody there. So we went back to sleep. That was the end of the story, at least for me, for years. However, recently, I was talking about this incident with my grandma and my family members and this is when one of them let it slip that around the time that this happened, two women

[00:27:29] [SPEAKER_01] in the same area had been murdered. One was found stabbed, beaten, and robbed just a few kilometers from our house. It was behind a local dairy shop. I don't know where or how the other was found. As far as any of us know, that man was never caught.

[00:28:06] [SPEAKER_01] I think I almost died twice in one evening. This happened when I was in high school. I was a sophomore, about 16. It was a regular summer night. I agreed to meet a friend in town, which was a 20-minute drive, so I departed from my house and hit the interstate. While driving, I was flipping through the radio channels. This was, of course, a teenager thing to do. You pay more attention to the radio than the road. Rookie

[00:28:36] [SPEAKER_01] mistake. Well, I was sailing down the highway in the left-hand lane, going about 75 miles per hour while also flipping through the channels, and I suddenly saw red lights out of the corner of my eyes. When I glanced up, I was horrified to see that the red lights were actually semi-brake lights. A semi-truck in the left-hand lane, my lane, had completely stopped on the interstate, and I was hurtling at that stopped vehicle at

[00:29:05] [SPEAKER_01] 75 miles per hour. The next part happened in a flash. I immediately slammed on the brakes and turned to the right so that I could move into the right-hand lane, but I quickly noticed that the semi-truck wasn't the only vehicle that was stopped. Further ahead, another semi was also stopped, but this one was in the right-hand lane. Additionally, stopped a little ways behind this semi was another car. The highway was completely

[00:29:35] [SPEAKER_01] blocked, but luckily these three vehicles were distanced far enough from each other that they made a thin channel leading directly to the shoulder of the interstate. I have no idea how I did this, but I weaved my way through this channel at a very high speed. There were two semis to my left and the car to my right as I zoomed past and somehow made it to the shoulder. There's no explanation for how I handled this other than

[00:30:05] [SPEAKER_01] God being with me. It wasn't my time to die quite yet, I guess. I had survived the first swing of death himself, but unluckily for me, death was just getting started. After I made it safely to the shoulder of the interstate, I sat in my car and had a panic attack. I was gasping and my chest was heaving, but it felt like I couldn't get enough air in my lungs. I 100% could have died if

[00:30:34] [SPEAKER_01] I didn't notice the crowded vehicles in time. Although my vision was blurred from panic, I could tell that the semis had begun to move, with the rest of the vehicles following. It was at this moment that I saw what had caused the total traffic stop in the first place. Directly ahead of my vehicle was a dated SUV that looked absolutely stuffed with different kinds of objects. I couldn't quite make out what they were, but it was a lot.

[00:31:04] [SPEAKER_01] Then I saw a man who looked to be in his early 50s. He had long, graying hair and a beard to match, and he was wearing a baseball cap and a camouflage jacket. This man began to make his way towards my vehicle. I already had a very bad feeling about this, so I put the vehicle in drive and started to leave. However, I couldn't make an escape as there were too many cars speeding past me. I was trapped

[00:31:34] [SPEAKER_01] on the shoulder with this man. When he got to my window, I rolled it down about a fifth of the way. Never roll your window all the way down. I asked him what the trouble was. He explained that he had run out of gas and didn't know where to get some. I simply told him that if he were to walk up to the exit ahead, he could find a gas station just to the right. He didn't even consider this as an answer. The man immediately

[00:32:03] [SPEAKER_01] started pressuring me to let him into my car, saying things like, just take me to this station, I'll pay you for it. Please, you're all I have right now. Then more directly said, just let me in your car. I kept saying that I wasn't allowed to let strangers into the car, and that he couldn't come in. I had an awful feeling, and due to this feeling, I was doing everything I could to keep him out of my car. Remember, I was 16.

[00:32:34] [SPEAKER_01] Finally, I had an idea. I asked the man to excuse me for a moment while I called my father for permission to give him a ride. Of course, I had no intention of actually letting him into the car, but the lie bought me some time. I immediately called my dad, but he didn't answer, so I resorted to calling my brother. When I unloaded the situation onto him and desperately asked what to do.

[00:33:04] [SPEAKER_01] While I was on the phone, the man was in front of my vehicle, staring at me with impatience and a hint of rage. My brother first blamed me for stopping it all, even though I couldn't have avoided it, but then he told me to get out of there by any means possible. The man came back over to my window so I quickly hung up and rolled the window down just a crack. Look man, I said, I can't give you a ride. I'm actually going to be late for symphony

[00:33:34] [SPEAKER_01] rehearsal. I'm sorry, I hope you find someone. I didn't have rehearsal. It was a weekday during the summer, but I couldn't think of any other excuse. The man's eyes filled with rage and he exclaimed, you mean you can't help me at all? Then his rage changed to panic and he said, oh, my mom's going to be so mad at me. Please just let me in your car you won't regret it. I wouldn't regret it? That was the statement that confused me.

[00:34:05] [SPEAKER_01] What was I dealing with here? Was he trying to guilt trip me? To this day, I'm not even sure, but that last line sent a chill down my spine. I told the man I was sorry, but I had to go, and I quickly stepped on the gas. This was when the man turned vicious and yelled, well, this is just great. Then he yelled at me, get back here. As I was driving away, I felt the most freeing feeling of my life. I had escaped

[00:34:35] [SPEAKER_01] a man who seemed to have no good intentions. I had maybe even escaped death once more. I looked in the rearview mirror and I saw standing in the very middle of the interstate, both hands in the air trying to stop people. He had placed himself in the direct line of traffic in order to stop it. At this moment, I knew he was crazy. Absolutely crazy. I immediately called 911,

[00:35:04] [SPEAKER_01] and according to the operator, three other people had reported the same thing. They asked me if I wanted a follow-up call, but in order I wish I had requested that call. For a week, his vehicle was still parked in that same spot on the shoulder, but he was gone. I sometimes wonder if anyone else had to stop, or if he caused any injuries or deaths. I also wonder

[00:35:34] [SPEAKER_01] if he still walks around a free man. Did I know that he was dangerous? Not at all. There wasn't a guarantee, but I there was definitely something off, and I felt it.

[00:36:06] [SPEAKER_01] Back when I used to work for a large public four-year university, I would frequently visit some friends who lived at an apartment complex near the school. They were a married couple with a baby daughter. They're now amicably divorced, and the baby is now a preteen, so this was definitely a while ago. Whenever I was over, the husband Josh and I would sit on the balcony and relax after work, while Elsa, the wife,

[00:36:36] [SPEAKER_01] would mostly stay inside the unit with the baby. That is, when we weren't all inside hanging out together. The balcony overlooked a bit of woods that sat between the apartment building and the school's main entrance, and the balcony wasn't very visible from other buildings in the complex, which suited us just fine. On one of these nights, as going the relative peace and quiet

[00:37:06] [SPEAKER_01] on the third floor balcony, we suddenly heard an ear-splitting shriek coming from the woods below. It sounded like a young woman giving her best effort to make sure that someone could find her body whenever what was happening was over. There was quiet, then this screaming broke out again, and after a few seconds, a third time. I immediately thought of this 28-year-old woman who

[00:37:35] [SPEAKER_01] was stabbed to death in an alley in Queens in 1964. It was a prolonged attack, one that was reportedly witnessed or overheard by multiple neighbors. But while some of them were trying to call out, many were either indifferent to the noise, unsure of the severity of the attack, or otherwise unwilling to get involved. This case has come to be associated with the bystander effect, the basic

[00:38:05] [SPEAKER_01] idea of which is that the more people who are around to witness something that might require intervention, the less likely any one individual is to unleash their inner Batman because there is such a diffusion of responsibility over all the people there at the scene. Essentially everyone stands around like a background extra waiting for a protagonist to do something heroic. I was jolted from my pedantic reverie when Josh

[00:38:35] [SPEAKER_01] shot past me through the sliding glass door and into the apartment to put on his shoes and rush back out. I followed but Elsa caught me by the arm. I could see in her eyes that she heard the screaming as well and she pleaded with me. But I shook my head and I told her to call the police and followed Josh down the stairs. I wished I had something to use as a weapon and I mentally tried to review as

[00:39:05] [SPEAKER_01] much as I could of what my roommate at the time had taught me about hand to hand combat. I was feeling woefully unprepared and at the time incapable of turning around. It felt like a moment where the choices I make define who I am. I knew that I would always feel shame and regret if I didn't try to help the woman who had screamed out. When I got to the ground level I caught up to Josh who

[00:39:35] [SPEAKER_01] was looking into the woods straining his eyes against the low light. I called the police myself hoping that a few calls from the same area about the same disturbance might bring on a sense of urgency. The call dropped but the police called back immediately and I told them where we were and what was happening. Everything was quiet at that point but we started walking along the edge of the woods looking and listening for anything that could help us locate the woman her attacker or

[00:40:05] [SPEAKER_01] god forbid her remains above us a window slid open revealing the silhouette of a woman looking down at us backlit by her kitchen light she yelled down what's going on down there I've called the police I yelled back up to her good so did we we heard it too she asked what we thought the screaming had been Josh and I looked at each other and back up at her as we collectively realized that none of us wanted

[00:40:35] [SPEAKER_01] to say out loud what we thought it might have been I had heard that foxes can sound like distressed women but I personally think that they still sound more like an animal than a human and I mean we all knew what it sounded like we couldn't see or hear anything unusual and eventually we made contact with an officer who took our statements and contact information relieved that the situation had been handed

[00:41:05] [SPEAKER_01] over to the people who were ostensibly better trained and equipped to deal with it we went upstairs and back to the balcony we watched the police officers flashlight beams pan back and forth across the depths of the woods for a couple of hours as blue lights filled the spaces between the trees from the busy street across the woods signaling the arrival of more police the next day at work I got a call from a number that looked vaguely familiar but it

[00:41:35] [SPEAKER_01] wasn't in my phone I answered and found that it was the local police number from the night before the person on the other end asked me to tell my version of the events once more for the record I don't know if he was trying to see if there were any discrepancies in my story from the last time I officially told it but I went through everything again as well as I could remember it the police didn't have any new information at least none that they were willing to share

[00:42:04] [SPEAKER_01] and I was never called into court or anything like that I guess the main thing that still bothers me about it even today is that I'll never know what actually happened out there this happened about 15 years ago I had just graduated from college

[00:42:34] [SPEAKER_01] and was broke my boyfriend at the time helped me land a job bartending because he and his buddies closed the bar on a regular basis so they had some pool with the bar owner I was trained by the daytime bartender a beautiful lady in her forties who was from Ireland she had the best accent and was amazing the first day I was training my then boyfriend got pissed at me because

[00:43:04] [SPEAKER_01] he wanted me to come outside and say hello to him I couldn't because I was training so he proceeded to chew me out because of the audacity of me ignoring him since he had gotten me the job in the

[00:44:06] [SPEAKER_01] as a sheet and he immediately apologized for even talking to me. He told me how he thought I was beautiful and how he'd love to get to know me, but that my boyfriend was seriously scary as fuck. Well, fast forward nine months later. That guy, the Irish lady's son, the guy who'd seemed so nice,

[00:44:29] [SPEAKER_01] was arrested for murdering his girlfriend. He had lied to her and claimed to have stage four cancer. She was giving him money for his treatments because he didn't have medical insurance, but when she finally began to pull back her financial support, he stabbed her to death. They caught him attempting to board a plane back to Ireland. So that's my story of how a murderer

[00:44:56] [SPEAKER_01] apologized for trying to ask me out because he was afraid of the guy I was currently dating and why you should never, ever date a customer. When I was around 15 years old, I was hanging out with my friend Taylor.

[00:45:21] [SPEAKER_01] She had just gotten a car, so of course we wanted to go out. We also wanted to get something to drink, and her sister's friend Lacey was 21, so Taylor called her up. Once we told her why we wanted to score some booze, she said that she wanted to go with us, and that we could just ride with her so she could be our designated driver. It was a bit odd because we had never hung out with Lacey without Taylor's older sister being there,

[00:45:50] [SPEAKER_01] but we genuinely hadn't thought far enough ahead about how Taylor would drive us after she had been drinking, so we said okay. Taylor came over to my house, and by the time Lacey showed up, it was around midnight. There are no streetlights and not many houses around, so we couldn't really see anything until we got into the car, but once we did,

[00:46:15] [SPEAKER_01] we noticed a man in the front seat whom she hadn't mentioned to us at all during the earlier phone call. She said he was her new boyfriend, and that he wanted to come with us because he didn't think it would be safe for three young girls to be out alone so late at night. We looked at each other, thinking, okay, whatever, and then got into Lacey's car.

[00:46:42] [SPEAKER_01] Lacey told us that in the next county, there was a park downtown that was a really nice place to hang out. It was about 45 minutes away, so we started drinking in the car on the way there. We didn't really do things like that very often, so it didn't take much for us to start feeling the alcohol. The entire time, Lacey's boyfriend was giving me weird vibes because he literally didn't talk at all.

[00:47:10] [SPEAKER_01] He just sat there staring out the window. I assumed it was just me being paranoid, so I ignored it. The other thing that gave me weird vibes, though, was that my phone had died during the drive, but Lacey wouldn't let me use her charger. The county we were going to wasn't a small town like ours. It was more of a city. Just not a huge one.

[00:47:37] [SPEAKER_01] This meant that there would be buildings and some lights around the park, and cars would be driving around. Not a lot, but enough that one would pass every few minutes or so. And this meant that we weren't completely alone in the middle of nowhere. We had been at the park for maybe 10 minutes when things got creepy. Taylor and I were hanging out on the playground, sitting on the swings and stuff like that,

[00:48:03] [SPEAKER_01] while Lacey and her boyfriend just sat there at the picnic tables watching us and occasionally talking. I kept looking over at Lacey's boyfriend because he was still giving me weird vibes, and that's how I noticed that he hadn't stopped watching us the entire time. Even when Lacey was talking to him, he just stayed locked on us. Like I said, not even 10 minutes later, this man walked up to us.

[00:48:33] [SPEAKER_01] He was probably in his late 20s, and he immediately gave off sketchy vibes himself, because he came out of nowhere and was dressed in a black hoodie with the hood up and black jeans. This was odd because it was around 80 degrees that night. The three of us girls were wearing tank tops and shorts. But again, we just brushed it off, because I know there are people who will wear stuff like that even when it's 100 degree weather.

[00:49:04] [SPEAKER_01] Anyways, Lacey's boyfriend called us over. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but as we were walking over, I noticed the man looking at Lacey's boyfriend and kind of nodding at him. But to us, Lacey and her boyfriend acted like they didn't know this guy. This random man asked us if we smoked, and we said that we did occasionally, like with friends, but not often.

[00:49:31] [SPEAKER_01] He offered us some, and Taylor said yes because we were having a good night. We assumed he'd just hang out with us at the park and smoke. But no, he said that he came alone and didn't want to smoke by himself, so he told us to follow him and we'll go spark. We were hesitant but figured we'd just go behind a building or something in case a cop drove by. As we started following him,

[00:49:59] [SPEAKER_01] I literally got the worst feeling in my stomach, like I was about to throw up, and something told me to stop walking. I grabbed Taylor's hand to try and stop her too, but the other three didn't even notice because they were in front of us. I whispered to Taylor that I had a bad feeling and told her I didn't want to go with them and felt like we needed to leave. We just kind of stood there watching them walk for a minute,

[00:50:28] [SPEAKER_01] and we saw that they had walked to a wooden gate that led to an alley. That was the defining moment for me that we were not following them. They eventually noticed that we hadn't crossed the street with them, and Lacey and her boyfriend came back to get us. Lacey grabbed Taylor's hand and her boyfriend grabbed mine, way more aggressively than he needed to. They were trying to get us to walk with them,

[00:50:56] [SPEAKER_01] but I didn't trust Lacey at this point, so I told her I felt like I needed to throw up. I said it was probably just the alcohol and that we would meet them over there. Her boyfriend kept looking back at the other guy, who was standing in the alley watching us. They tried to get me to go to the bathroom alone and said that they would take Taylor to the alley and they would wait for me. But I said that I wanted her to come with me, so I wasn't going to be alone.

[00:51:26] [SPEAKER_01] They kept looking at each other, and the boyfriend seemed upset. But eventually, they let us go, and we went to the bathroom across the park. As soon as we got into the bathroom, Taylor started crying and said that she felt unsafe. The problem was that our only way home was Lacey. We were terrified. Somehow, I had sobered up at this point, so I was trying to get Taylor to calm down. The park bathroom building had these slits at the top,

[00:51:55] [SPEAKER_01] I'm assuming because the bathroom didn't have AC and it let the air in and out. So I stood on the sink, and through the spaces in the ceiling, I saw Lacey and her boyfriend standing by the road. It looked like they were whispering, and the boyfriend looked mad. The other guy, who, mind you, said he was alone, got into a car that was parked directly in front of the wooden fence. And you know how, when you open a car door,

[00:52:24] [SPEAKER_01] the lights come on inside? Well, when he opened it, and the lights came on, I saw four other men sitting in the car. They were all looking in our direction. I immediately knew that we had to get out of there. I was terrified. Thankfully, the girls' bathroom door was on the other side of the building, so they couldn't see the door or us until we walked a few feet out. So we had a plan to sneak out and run to the nearest building containing people.

[00:52:55] [SPEAKER_01] I checked out the slits again to make sure that they weren't close, and the strange guy plus the four men were now walking in the direction of the park. Taylor was still crying sitting on the floor, but I told her we had to go right now. We kept close to the bathroom building until we got to the opposite side and then took off running. We ran for what felt like 10 to 15 minutes until we found an open convenience store. We went inside

[00:53:24] [SPEAKER_01] and locked ourselves in that bathroom. I used Taylor's phone to call my mom, who told us to stay in the bathroom with the door locked no matter who wanted to come in until we heard her voice. This entire time that we were in the bathroom, Lacey was blowing up Taylor's phone with what I'd estimate were nearly 50 calls and texts. My mom made that 45-minute drive in 20. She yelled for us, and we ran out sobbing.

[00:53:53] [SPEAKER_01] I've never hugged my mom so hard in my life. We got in the car and explained what happened. I must have said I'm sorry a hundred times, but she wasn't mad at us. She said that she was happy we were safe. We begged my mom not to call the cops because we were scared we would get in trouble. But obviously she did anyway, and rightfully so. I don't know what came of it, though, because we would have heard from Taylor's sister if Lacey or anyone she knew

[00:54:22] [SPEAKER_01] got arrested or anything like that. But she never said a word. Not even a few days later, a girl's body was found in the exact alley, and it sent shivers down my spine when I read the news. Now obviously, I don't know whether it was connected to that group of people or anything like that, but it was still scary. And after we told Taylor's sister, she completely cut off Lacey,

[00:54:50] [SPEAKER_01] and we never heard from or about her again. Now that I'm older, I realize how many warning signs there actually were telling us that we may have been in danger. Literally from before we even pulled out of the driveway. Nowadays I'm very cautious of any warning signs, and I trust my feelings 100%. I still get a bad feeling when I pass that park.

[00:55:18] [SPEAKER_01] I don't know if it was some sort of trafficking plan or what, but there was definitely something not right about it, and I'm glad I trusted my gut that night. I would much rather overreact and be wrong than underreact and be dead.

[00:55:34] [SPEAKER_01] If you'd like to get bonus stories every single week and you're tired of ads, make sure you sign up at patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast to get access to ad-free versions

[00:56:04] [SPEAKER_01] of all of our episodes at a higher bit rate, plus extra stories every week in our episode extensions recorded just for our patrons. If you're already a patron, make sure you stick around after the music for your extension. If you have a story to share, send it to let's not meet stories at gmail.com and be sure to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts, Odd Trails, my true paranormal podcast, and the old-time radio cast at crypticcountypodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Also, follow me on Twitch

[00:56:33] [SPEAKER_01] at twitch.tv slash crypticcounty. This week you have heard Middle School Boyfriend by JustDucky314. I Know You're Watching Me by QuietObserver25. Threatened With Death by Lullaby1. A 30-year-old guy tried to get me into his car by Overwillingness4096. A Man Tried to Get Into Our House by Nah What? I Think I Almost Died Twice in One Evening

[00:57:02] [SPEAKER_01] by Four Share. A Woman Screaming in the Woods by Skullmaster Bone Lord. This Is Why I Don't Date Customers by See-A-Witch1984. And finally, Sketchy Man from the Alley 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. We'll see you all next week. Everybody stay safe.

[00:57:58] [SPEAKER_01] This happened in 2018. For context, I'm... We'll see you all next week.