4x05: Last Cabin on the Right - Let's Not Meet

[00:00:03] My name is Andrew Tate and this is season 4 episode 5 of Let's Not Meet a true horror podcast Two and a half years ago I was what you might call the right hand for my boss who owned the motel that I worked for Technically as head housekeeper

[00:00:33] But I had recently begun training to run the full spectrum of the motel including all things office and front desk Overseeing staff and minor maintenance so that my boss could take a vacation It was a 42 room mom-and-pop place set back off the road

[00:00:52] So it was pretty peaceful for the most part There were still a few motley ones every now and then but that's at any motel in small-town, USA But as intimidating as the new responsibility sounded with only two other staff members to worry about it was a cakewalk

[00:01:10] The day comes for the boss to take her leave and I'm now in charge of her life's blood sweat and tears And I'm pumped for the opportunity to show what I was made of She left Friday morning and the rest of the day ran like clockwork

[00:01:26] until around 830 that night that is I Also lived on the property in an apartment which would allow me to run back and forth to the office For guest check-ins and any office duties that I needed to tend to

[00:01:39] So when the ring-the-door bell alerted I looked at my phone and I saw an older gentleman Maybe early 60s. He was staring through the door looking for an attendant

[00:01:52] I spoke through the camera and let him know that I would be there in 30 seconds and started on my way to the office as I would with any guest while checking them in I made small talk about his trip and

[00:02:04] Gave the lowdown on where all the good food was in town I Got him squared away in the computer and showed him how to get to his room

[00:02:14] As he was getting his credit card situated back into his wallet. I thanked him for staying with us and called him. Mr. Logan He looked up at me and smiled He said I should call him Joe as he made his way out of the office

[00:02:30] Less than 30 minutes had passed and I get a call from room 135 Joe's room He proceeds to tell me that he would like to use the desk lamp But there's no light bulb and asked if I could please get him one

[00:02:44] Which immediately threw up a red flag because I had cleaned that room myself And I made it a habit to check every light bulb in the room And I know for a fact there was a light bulb there because I used that desk lamp while I was cleaning

[00:02:58] I Told him that I would bring one down and he immediately said that he would rather come up to the office to get it

[00:03:04] the office was attached to an apartment type space that my boss lived in during the week and it was very dark in the back and Set up in a way that it would have made it very difficult

[00:03:14] If not impossible to see through the door and into the apartment considering that I was the only employee on the property Having him come to my very secluded office in the dark wasn't going to happen

[00:03:25] I felt more comfortable with taking it to his room. This was an old drive-up style setup So there were other guests around in that area that were sitting outside That could help me if I needed it

[00:03:39] So when he says that he would rather come up to the office I told him that I would have to bring it to him because my boss would kill me if I made a guest change a light bulb he says he understands and I breathe a little easier

[00:03:53] He's not going to get me cornered in this secluded office to do. God knows what I Grab the light bulb and before I can get to the front door. I look and there he is Looking through the glass door Staring me down in the most unsettling way

[00:04:07] The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I physically started shaking. I opened the door and just said let's get your lamp working and

[00:04:18] Started walking past him. He then said that he thinks he forgot to sign his credit card receipt and can we go double-check? I Tell him I had already dropped the receipt

[00:04:29] But that I would check it in the morning and get it from him if I needed it then That was total crap He made a big deal about finding his good pen to sign it with we both know that he signed it With that rejected idea

[00:04:44] We continued to his room as I walked in I kicked the doorstop wedge that I brought with me under the door So it couldn't close without assistance and he did try

[00:04:56] But I think he figured it out and moved away from the door as I put the bulb in the lamp and turned to leave I noticed that the original light bulb was halfway sticking out from under the couch pillow. I Picked up my pace

[00:05:10] Chose to say nothing and left I made sure that he didn't see where I went because I Sure didn't want him to know that I lived there or which apartment was mine 30 minutes later and the phone rings again

[00:05:24] Of course, it's Joe this time he would like extra coffee for the morning I tell him that I'm unable to get into the housekeeping supply room because the housekeeper accidentally took a key home That's a total lie

[00:05:39] But I wasn't going back over there. He had me legitimately scared He called me two more times that night But I changed my voicemail to the motels information and let him leave a message. I

[00:05:52] Never even checked them bad customer service for my first night running the place alone But I really didn't think my boss would entertain the idea of penalizing me after she heard the whole story

[00:06:05] The next morning starts out just as quiet as usual. I was running audits when Joe showed up at the door. I Wasn't scared this time because one of my housekeepers was getting coffee in the kitchen and I had more people coming in to check out

[00:06:21] Joe asked me to go to breakfast with him. I explained that I'm on the clock and Have a business to keep afloat from my boss, but thank you for the offer

[00:06:31] I'm not sure exactly what went down in the next two hours because I was working but somewhere in there Joe's car Quit working He was trying to get to the next town over which is significantly bigger than my town for one reason or another

[00:06:47] Anyway, he starts getting unreasonably angry that his car won't start saying things like how am I supposed to do this without a fucking car? and whatnot Then it dawns on him that there is a car dealership right next door and he starts off in that direction

[00:07:04] But before he gets too far, he sees me coming out of a room and he says you're gonna marry me Just you wait and see We're going to Vegas All while smiling and chuckling So I chuckled too because there is no way he's being serious. I hoped I

[00:07:25] Continued on with my day after about five hours. I get a phone call from the dealership asking if mr. Logan had checked out. I Said he was booked for one more night

[00:07:35] And he proceeds to tell me that Joe took a car for a desk drive and was supposed to return in 30 minutes But he hadn't returned and is not answering his phone calls

[00:07:45] They asked if I could check his room to see if his belongings were still there. I obliged I opened the door after knocking with no response and I found that the room was completely destroyed

[00:07:56] Papers all over the place trash on the floor pictures off the wall the whole nine yards But I wasn't sure if the papers were Something that he would come back for or if he bailed and just left all that stuff behind

[00:08:10] Aside from the papers the only other personal belongings were a pair of swim trunks and a pair of socks Again, was that worth coming back for? So I tell the dealership that I'm not 100% sure that he's even coming back and they call the police

[00:08:26] After another couple of hours the police show up at the motel Joe in tow I had decided since he had paid up until the next day that I would just leave his stuff in case he returned Which I honestly didn't think would happen

[00:08:39] He goes in and starts to take his things out of the room and that's when a cop comes up to me and being a

[00:08:44] Small town he knows me. So he pulls me aside and says you need to thank God every night that you're still alive and well, I Responded okay, but what makes you say that?

[00:08:55] He says that man had every intention of taking you with him tonight and going somewhere that you'd never be looked for I don't know that he would have let you live

[00:09:04] He's a sick man. We're taking him for a psyche Val and then to County if he's okay for the general population He then says that I should call my boss and let her know what was happening and maybe take my own vacation

[00:09:14] In case they can't make the car theft thing stick since the dealership no longer wanted to press charges Given his psychological state and that was technically the only law that he broke

[00:09:24] They also said that they would patrol the motel every hour or so and check on me if he's released I was completely taken aback by this whole ordeal and to this day

[00:09:34] I wonder how he planned on getting me out of there and what he planned to do if he did He was released after 24 hours, but I never saw him again and I'm okay with that I'm going to start by saying that this was a wildly publicized case

[00:10:07] So a few details will be changed But the main part is still accurate Also, I'm on mobile. So sorry for any errors a Few weeks ago. I worked at a popular hookah lounge in my town We had many regulars

[00:10:25] So, of course, I got to know many of the people and I made lasting friendships with the few Among those regulars was a group of people. I wasn't terribly fond of Except one girl Rachel Rachel was the kind of girl who I enjoyed talking to

[00:10:41] I just didn't approve of the people that she hung out with or the decisions that she made But it was her life. So what place did I have in saying anything? Eventually Rachel started dating another regular named Ben who was part of my friend group

[00:10:58] This is when we got a lot closer and she started to trust me and confide in me even more Eventually Rachel and Ben broke up and it devastated Rachel I clearly remember her messaging me to hang out and her crying on my shoulder for half an hour

[00:11:16] During their relationship Rachel stopped hanging around the shady people as much But of course afterwards she went back to them and started partying a lot and doing God knows what? She stopped talking to me much and eventually started dating some other guy in the shady group named Greg

[00:11:35] Of course that relationship went south due to reasons unknown to me But Rachel ended up filing for a restraining order against Greg a few days later Rachel went missing and was never heard from again

[00:11:47] It was awful. Her family started showing up to talk to me to ask if I'd seen her I hadn't but apparently somebody told them she was seen downtown somewhere It broke my heart one day during a busy shift

[00:12:01] Someone we both talked to sometimes showed up and talked to me about Rachel's disappearance He told me that he had heard her being seen somewhere and wanted to know what I knew about it He even asked me if I heard anything bad that happened to her

[00:12:16] I'm assuming he thought since I didn't work at a regular hangout spot of hers that I'd hear something I told him that I hadn't and we hugged before he walked off to talk to other people

[00:12:27] Months passed before I heard anything else about Rachel her family showed up from time to time asking about her but nothing changed Around a year after her disappearance. The police had a breakthrough in the case and her body was found

[00:12:42] After some investigating the police discovered that Greg hired the person that came to talk to me to kill Rachel And he did He hid her body and continued life as usual

[00:12:56] The fact that I spoke with him after the fact and even hugged him still weighs on my conscience It's been years and I'm still so upset about it He's in prison and I'll likely never see him again, but it still hurts. I spoke to her family about her

[00:13:13] Having hugged the man who killed her. I wish I had been a better friend for her Maybe I could have saved her. I could have insisted that she not hang out with those people

[00:13:25] And I'll blame myself for her murder, but I do wish I could have done something Had I been a more insistent friend, maybe she'd still be here But who knows all I know is that for whatever reason if I do see him again

[00:13:38] It won't be a good thing for him He knew she was dead and he still asked me if I had seen her or heard anything about her. I hope you suffer This happened about 11 months ago when my wife and I got married in June

[00:14:07] I'll never be so grateful that I have a habit of locking doors Our wedding day was coming to an end Family and friends were slowly starting to depart as my wife Diana and I took pictures and chatted with some of the guests

[00:14:21] Who stayed a little longer and were having a good time? It was a great day. A lot of fond memories were made But what was least expected is what happened that night as we were on our way to our honeymoon

[00:14:37] As me and Diana said goodbye to the last of the guests around 9 p.m. We got into the car and headed home We had our bags packed prior to the wedding for Cancun and we were ready to go

[00:14:51] I live in Washington and we were in a bit of a hurry because instead of flying out of Seattle Airport Like we normally do it was a lot cheaper for us to drive up north to Canada and fly out from a Canadian Airport

[00:15:06] Also, my wife and I thought it would be fun if We had a little road trip to Canada and then we just flew from Canada to Cancun Plus it was only a three and a half hour drive for us and cheaper. So we headed out around 12 a.m

[00:15:20] We had a great time driving blasting music talking about Cancun and just being excited for a new chapter in our life Diana slowly started to fall asleep before being exhausted from the wedding and whatnot We were halfway to Canada at this point

[00:15:39] We were no longer in a city area, but more of a wooded area with fewer cars and fewer people The more that we drove practically seeing no one on the road by that time. It was around 3 a.m

[00:15:52] We had some extra time on our hands and I was starting to fall asleep, too So I pulled over to a gas station to get some Red Bull to keep me awake When I pulled into the gas station, I noticed that it was completely empty

[00:16:05] I parked the car to find that Diana was asleep. I Told her I'm taking the keys and I'm going to lock her inside and that I'd be right back I'm not sure if she could hear me

[00:16:16] But she kind of motioned her hand around the way that people normally do when they're just too tired to care I came back around six minutes later to find my wife

[00:16:26] Shaking and crying I was confused and freaking out a bit because I wasn't sure why she was crying She couldn't even get words out at first Later once she calmed down She told me this

[00:16:40] Apparently she did hear me when I told her that I was taking the keys and that I'd be right back And as she was sleeping, she was awoken by a tapping on the driver's side window Being too tired to get up or even open her eyes

[00:16:55] she lazily went for the unlock button on the passenger side of the door as She was going for it. She froze a thought passed her mind Then she remembered Didn't he say that he took the keys? Why would he need me to unlock the door for him?

[00:17:14] That's when she heard a woman's voice mumbling from the driver's side window She turned herself around to look out the window and saw a woman long black hair

[00:17:26] Wide eyes and a crooked smile on her face. She couldn't hear anything. She was saying at first, but soon it became clear She just kept repeating in a mumbled tone Are you tired? over and over again She freaked out and told the woman to leave her alone

[00:17:45] the woman laughed and Told my wife she was tired too. The woman never took her eyes off of her and Tried the door handle at this point. My wife was close to tears and attempted to call me

[00:18:00] but as she did she heard what sounded like a phone buzz and Realized that I had left my phone in the car with her out of options My wife started to honk the horn trying to scare off the woman while also Maybe getting my attention

[00:18:17] The woman still had her gaze on her and started mumbling more while laughing and trying the door handle over and over She then mentioned something about someone named Sarah and asked my wife if she knew her After a few more minutes of mumbling she left

[00:18:36] To my wife's words the minute that she left I came out of the gas station. So my wife just broke down I don't know how I didn't hear the honking of the car and I still feel bad for leaving my cell phone in the car

[00:18:50] My wife also added that one of the creepier things about the woman is that she didn't look homeless or dirty Or anything. In fact, she seemed completely normal and well-kept my wife said that she'll never forget the woman's wide eyes and

[00:19:07] The gaze that she had on her with that crooked smile It also chills me to think what would have happened if my wife never realized that I had the keys or if she never heard me when I told her I was locking her inside and

[00:19:22] Opened the door while faced the other way I don't know what the woman's intentions were, but if I couldn't hear the honk of the horn, I'm not sure I'd hear the screams

[00:19:33] To this day. I'm thankful that I have a good habit of locking doors and I'd recommend no matter how long you're going to be gone To do it yourself This past New Year's was mine and my boyfriend's four-year anniversary

[00:20:01] We typically don't do much. So this year we decided to make it special by planning a romantic getaway At the time the two of us were living in Seattle and wanted to rent a cabin in a snowy small town for the weekend

[00:20:17] We found a cabin on Airbnb with a hot tub and we were sold The cabin was of course the last house on the road to get to it You had to drive down a small removed private road that ended in a roundabout

[00:20:32] Off the roundabout was a long uphill driveway leading to our cabin We got out of the cabin and it was snowing and beautiful The cabin itself sat on top of a garage and you need to take stairs to get to the backside of the property

[00:20:47] to get to the front door When we go inside, we see that there was a booklet with all of the cabins info outlined The book said that during the snowy season don't be surprised if their Contracted snow plowers showed up to clear off the driveway

[00:21:06] Okay, sounds good. We unpacked and realized that there was no service on either of our phones But the booklet told us that there was a landline in the cabin if we needed anything We spent the first night by the fire playing board games and drinking wine

[00:21:22] The weekend was exactly what we needed We planned to spend the next day in town and that night I booked us a reservation for a nice dinner We were gone almost all day only returning briefly to get dressed up to enjoy some good food

[00:21:39] Dinner was great and we were excited to head back to the cabin for some champagne and hot tubbing While at dinner the temperature dropped and it snowed for the first time that day coating everything in a fresh layer of powder

[00:21:54] We drove down the private road and got to the driveway at that point My boyfriend stopped the car headlights shining in front and asked if I noticed new tire tracks. I Looked at the driveway hoping to quickly disregard the quote-unquote new tire tracks, but there they were

[00:22:13] Immediately, we remembered that the snow plowers could have stopped by but the issue was that we saw the tire tracks because of the snow and Who plows in the dark? We also knew that once we were at the cabin we had no service on our cell phone

[00:22:32] So we figured that we would just head back to town and message the Airbnb host and ask them if it was one of their friends that may have stopped by We waited for a while in town for a reply from our hosts, but we didn't hear back

[00:22:46] We could have called but at that point it was past 10 and we didn't want to be bad guests We figured we blew the whole thing out of proportion and might as well just head back to the cabin after all

[00:22:58] I'm big in the true crime spooky subreddits and horror movies. So I was probably just psyching myself out My boyfriend drove us back and this time we actually drove up the driveway Towards the top of the hill part of the driveway and noticed something else

[00:23:15] My stomach dropped as I noticed footprints on the property We backed down the driveway and took a closer look to see if there were more footprints

[00:23:25] From what it looked like someone had drove up the driveway reversed down parked then got out of the car and walked onto the property Since we now had also driven on the tracks We couldn't find where the footprints ended

[00:23:40] The property was quite large with tons of trees and brush and we knew that these footprints could go anywhere That moment we saw footprints we decided to call the police we figured it was better safe than sorry

[00:23:53] We would just have an officer and go onto the property with us to check everything out We drove down the road till we got service called the police and waited for their arrival The policeman showed up and we followed him onto the property

[00:24:06] The officer scanned the property and determined that there was no one out there Obviously, we were a little shaken up and a lot embarrassed We thanked the officer and he left

[00:24:16] Needless to say neither of us wanted to sit in that hot tub in the dark woods after what had happened Instead we locked the doors and watched movies Champaign-less we were both tired from the day and passed out pretty quickly at 3 a.m

[00:24:30] We both woke up on the couch with the TV on and all the lights laughing about how the night didn't turn out as we planned as My boyfriend went to brush his teeth We then heard a noise It sounded mechanical and only lasted for a few seconds

[00:24:49] We looked at each other and froze the garage door There are very few reasons that someone would need to open the garage door of a guest occupied Airbnb at 3 in the morning

[00:25:01] Like I said, we woke up with all of the lights on and the cabin had a lot of windows We knew that if someone was outside They knew that we were there and they could see us. I immediately grabbed the landline and dialed 911 again

[00:25:16] We sat crouched in the Airbnb praying for the police to arrive we knew that whoever had made those tracks was still on the property and this time they were making noise as

[00:25:28] I sat talking to the operator. We heard a bang on our balcony as if someone threw something up onto it. I Was losing my absolute shit when the operator told us that the police were nearby

[00:25:41] All of a sudden there they were we saw the police lights and we watched them search the property Soon, we heard banging on the door. It was the police We were okay At the door were two policemen one in front of us and one a little behind

[00:25:57] Kind of kicking around the snow and I guess looking around I immediately noticed the police officer in the back as the officer that did the initial check on the property The police officer told us that not only was the garage door shut but it was locked and

[00:26:12] Again, there were no signs of someone on the property We discussed leaving but the police officer said that the road conditions were too dangerous at that time of night

[00:26:20] I looked at the police officer who had come out to the property twice and I felt that I had deeply disappointed him My boyfriend and I went back inside again locking all of the doors and tried to sleep

[00:26:32] The next day we were leaving while we survived the night and I didn't feel right in the cabin anymore It was forever the spooky cabin in my head and I wanted to leave as we packed We heard the same noise that we heard at 3 a.m. Oh

[00:26:50] It was the heater a heater that sounds just like the garage The sound lasts the same duration as well My boyfriend looked at me and immediately said you need to give up on your murder shows and walked away as

[00:27:08] For the banging on the balcony. It was just a perfectly timed fall of a pinecone I promise I'm not paranoid I think back on this story a lot and I'm embarrassed about how little came of it But I'm also incredibly grateful for the same reason

[00:27:25] But whoever drove onto the property and walked around thank you for triggering all of my nightmares and please stay home Oh, yeah. Also, let's not meet Thank you for listening to this week's episode of let's not meet a true horror podcast

[00:27:59] This week you have heard the phone call the light bulb and the test drive by reddit user chaotic 7878 I faced my friends murderer and I had no idea by reddit user mother of cats 94 I'm glad I have the habit of locking doors by reddit user local frat guy

[00:28:18] And finally last cabin on the right by reddit user eight toenails All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission of their respected authors

[00:28:29] If you'd like to hear your story on the show email me at let's not meet stories at gmail.com If you want to get access to all of the bonus material head over to patreon.com Forward slash let's not meet podcast for hours and hours of additional content

[00:28:44] You'll get all of the past present and future bonus episodes of let's not meet I want to give a shout out to the patron of the week Jennifer Bourne. She's been supporting me since early 2018 that's insane. I've never Supported anyone or anything for that long?

[00:29:01] I just want you to know that I really do appreciate you and for everyone else I'll see you next week for a brand new episode of let's not meet