7x14: The Dark Side of the Mouse - Let's Not Meet (Feat. National Park After Dark)

[00:00:00] This podcast contains adult language and content. The stories in this show can be frightening and disturbing for some. Listener discretion is advised. If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show.

[00:00:16] My name is Andrew Tate and this is season seven, episode 14 of Lets Not Meet, A True Horror Podcast. We have some new guests to the show this week. Danielle and Cassie join us from the podcast National Park After Dark.

[00:01:04] It's a show that truly blends together the macabre and the outdoors. But more on that later. For now, enjoy the show. I wanted to submit this story of mine to the podcast and I'd like to remain anonymous.

[00:01:32] I'm a big fan of the show and listening helps me get through my work days. Well, this happened when I was around 14 years old. I'm a female and I was living in Virginia at the time. I've rarely told anyone about this story. It was just so strange.

[00:01:51] I had gone to a play being held at our local university with one of my best girlfriends from school and her mom. A lot of people from her mom's work were going as well. So she brought her daughter and a friend, me.

[00:02:07] It was being held at an outdoor theater. And when we arrived, people were mingling around a bit on the lawn before the play started. As showtime was nearing, my friend and I began looking for a place to sit.

[00:02:23] Away from her mom, of course, since we were cool teenagers after all. There weren't too many people in attendance. Probably about 35% of the seats were filled. We picked an empty row about halfway to the stage while her mom was seated somewhere toward the back.

[00:02:42] I distinctly remember my friend sitting to my right. And as the play began, a gentleman appearing to be in his mid to late 20s came and sat in the seat directly beside me on my left. I immediately got this sinking feeling since again, we were sitting in an

[00:03:02] entirely empty row and there were plenty of empty seats around that he could have chosen. I thought to myself of all of the empty seats he chose to sit right next to us. My heart was racing, wondering what was going to happen next.

[00:03:19] He just sat there silently watching the play. He didn't even look over at us. He didn't smile or say anything at all. Out of my periphery, I was able to see that he was wearing one of those

[00:03:34] Out of my periphery, I was able to see that he was wearing what appeared to be business casual clothing, glasses, and he had dark hair. My friend and I exchanged panicked glances. We tried our best to watch the play and what was probably 45 minutes felt like an eternity.

[00:03:55] And he didn't move. Then much to our relief, intermission came. It was beginning to be dusk at this point. Everyone got up to use the restroom and mingle a bit more. So we immediately got up and walked as quickly as we could to find her mom and

[00:04:15] tell her about this weird guy. We found her and pointed him out while he was just a handful of yards away standing by himself. She said she recognized him from work, but didn't seem as concerned as we were.

[00:04:31] We were 14 after all, and on the surface there could have been some explanation. Like he might have possibly thought we were older than we were and was trying to flirt, albeit a strange attempt by sitting there silently.

[00:04:46] Still, I had a bad gut feeling and I just couldn't shake it. My friend and I told her mom that we were going to use the restroom and we would be right back. She seemed too preoccupied with coworkers to go with us.

[00:05:02] The restrooms were down a windy brick, shrub lined path. And as I said, it was getting close to dark. In hindsight, it was probably a bad idea, but there had been other people walking to

[00:05:14] and from the restrooms and we needed to go and we were just going to come right back. Unfortunately, as my friend and I started walking down the windy path, we didn't see anyone else. Except for that man making an immediate beeline behind us.

[00:05:34] It was too late to turn around and go back by this point because he was behind us by only about 30 to 40 feet. My friend and I both saw him start to follow us and we whispered to each other, he's behind us, what do we do?

[00:05:51] Walk faster, one of us said. We picked up our pace. Now a brisk walk. As we did, he did the same exact thing. My heart was about to beat out of my chest at this point and I was covered in chills as we walked even faster.

[00:06:10] Within a few more seconds, we both said to each other, run. We started running away from him and he started running to chasing us down this path. Again, after what felt like an eternity, we reached the small restroom building.

[00:06:27] Think of it like the restrooms at a park with just a few stalls. We got inside and no one else was in the women's restroom, but he obviously didn't know this and didn't try to follow us inside.

[00:06:43] We were out of breath and absolutely panicking, asking one another, what should we do? How are we going to get out of this terrifying situation? We waited and waited until someone finally came in. So we waited a bit longer for them to be finished, then followed them out.

[00:07:01] When we got outside, 10 or 15 minutes must have gone by and it was completely dark. As we turned the corner to start back up the path to the play, this guy stands up from behind the bushes and starts walking behind us again.

[00:07:17] We were absolutely shook that he was still there. Since there was a person or two around at this point, we sped up and got in front of them to get away from the guy.

[00:07:28] We found her mom where she was sitting towards the back and sat with her the rest of the play. He didn't try to sit with us again. Needless to say, I don't remember a thing about the play. Just this disturbing memory that I've had ever since.

[00:07:43] The whole car ride home, we told her mom what had happened. She definitely thought that it was weird and said that she would try to find out about him from work. And I was dropped off at home and filled in my parents about it.

[00:07:56] When I saw my friend at school the next day, she was very disturbed and didn't want to talk about it. I asked if her mom was able to find anything else out about the guy.

[00:08:09] And she said some people that her mom asked just said that he was a little weird and socially awkward, but that she didn't know anything else. I suppose there wasn't much that anyone could do about it and it was just swept under the rug.

[00:08:26] However, whenever I'd try to talk to my friend about it, she wanted nothing to do with the topic. This continued for the rest of the time that I knew her. It remains this creepy memory to me that only those closest to me have ever heard

[00:08:40] and I'll never know what would have happened if someone had not come to that restroom. To the guy who chased two 14 year olds, let's never ever meet. This happened more than a year ago during the time my girlfriend and I were in

[00:09:07] This happened more than a year ago during the time my girlfriend and I, both 22 at the time, were renting an apartment in Amsterdam for five months. This incident took place in January during the last month of our stay.

[00:09:21] It's genuinely one of the scariest things that's ever happened to me. It was around 1am and my girlfriend and I were in bed. She was fast asleep already but I was still scrolling Instagram. Suddenly, our doorbell rang.

[00:09:37] Now to give you an idea of where we were located in our apartment complex. We were on the second floor of the building and there were two apartments on each floor. When you walk up the stairs, there was one apartment to the left and one to the right.

[00:09:53] Across from us was a neighbor that we hadn't really seen much of during our stay. When we did see him, he always came off as a bit weird. Some evenings he would be very drunk.

[00:10:06] My girlfriend and I are a lesbian couple and when he found out about this when we moved in, he had asked some weird and offensive questions. Our downstairs neighbor had seemed okay but we hadn't talked much to them either.

[00:10:20] One floor above us were the storage rooms, one for every person living in the apartment complex. Some weren't in use though and the doors were even unlocked which had always seemed weird to me and my girlfriend. There was a doorbell system downstairs at the main entrance.

[00:10:37] Everyone had their own personal doorbell as well. The one that rang this night was the one downstairs. My girlfriend jolted awake. The harsh buzzing sounds boomed through our apartment. I was immediately on edge. She was mostly annoyed and wanted to go right back to sleep.

[00:10:55] The person downstairs kept ringing our doorbell though. I got more and more unnerved, wondering who in their right mind would keep someone awake like this. In order to answer the downstairs doorbell system, there was a phone in our apartment across from the front door.

[00:11:11] Part of me wanted to pick up the phone and find out what was going on but my girlfriend convinced me to wait. We then faintly heard the doorbell in our downstairs neighbor's apartment as well before ours went off again.

[00:11:26] The walls in our building were very thin and the apartments were in bad shape overall so we could hear the doorbell quite well. Suddenly, I got scared that something was wrong in our building. Maybe there was a fire?

[00:11:39] Did we really want to be the ones burning alive because we were too stubborn to pick up the phone? I asked my girlfriend if I could just find out who was in front of our door. She agreed.

[00:11:51] I got out of bed in nothing but my underwear, something that I would come to regret later on, and walked to the phone. I picked it up. Hello? There was a man downstairs.

[00:12:03] He told me in a weird mixture of Dutch and English that he was worried about a friend of his that lived in our building. He said that his friend had been very drunk earlier in that evening and wasn't

[00:12:14] answering his phone anymore so the man downstairs wanted to come inside to check in on his friend. Now, before you judge my next actions, here are some arguments to defend myself. One, I immediately thought of our weird neighbor across the hall. It didn't seem too far-fetched.

[00:12:34] He was the drunk friend that this man was worried about. Two, despite the motto, be weird, be rude, stay alive, I still suddenly felt very awkward in denying this man entrance while he expressed concern for his friend.

[00:12:50] So even though I didn't know, couldn't see the man downstairs, and despite his story being kind of weird and his speech hard to understand at times, I pressed the button that unlocked the front door downstairs.

[00:13:04] The moment I did this, my gut feeling that something seemed off was confirmed. The man started laughing really loudly and yelled, Ciao, into the speaker. The sound of his manic laughter was so loud that even my girlfriend who was sitting upright in the bed could hear it.

[00:13:25] Immediately, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. We are looking at each other terrified. I knew this was all wrong. When I heard his footsteps running up the stairs, I checked to see if our front door was locked. It freaking wasn't.

[00:13:42] While cursing myself, I retrieved the keys from my coat pocket and turned them in the lock. Meanwhile, I could still hear this man's footsteps running upstairs because of my panic to lock the door as fast as possible. My hands were shaking like crazy.

[00:13:58] I was praying to myself, please not our front door, please not our front door, please. But as soon as I had that door locked, the man was at the top of the second stairs. He ran up to our front door and pounded on it.

[00:14:15] I stumbled back into our living room, open the door, you whore. The door rattled in its hinges. I almost shot myself. I wanted to get back to my girlfriend, but in order to do that, I would have to walk past the front door.

[00:14:30] I wish I was dressed in more than just my underwear now. I felt so vulnerable in that moment. I took a deep breath and made a run for it. I ran past the front door, past the people that would allow me to see who was at the

[00:14:45] front door. But I was too scared to get that close to the maniac on the other side of the only thing that kept me safe. My girlfriend was hiding under our sheets, shaking with fear.

[00:14:57] I crawled into bed with her and whispered, we have to call the police right now. She was shaking her head. No, we can't make a sound. He has to think we aren't home.

[00:15:10] Meanwhile, we could hear the guy taking a few steps back, running up to our door and throwing himself against it. Sometimes he would be silent for a few seconds before the pounding started again. He also kept demanding that the door be opened.

[00:15:28] I expected the door to break open at any second. I honestly thought he was going to kill us. My girlfriend and I held on to each other and we were just frozen in fear.

[00:15:40] We had no weapons and didn't want to make any noise, fearing that he would hear us through the thin walls. Suddenly it got very quiet. With trembling hands, I picked up the phone from our nightstand and called the police. It was now around 145 a.m.

[00:15:58] They luckily took us very seriously and immediately sent a patrol car over. They said that the police who were coming would call us. They hung up and we waited. Minutes went by. Not wanting to be alone, we decided to call my dad.

[00:16:15] Luckily for us, he was still awake. He was very spooked by our story. All of a sudden, while talking to him, we heard footsteps in the main hall. Not loud ones, but very quiet ones. Like someone was sneaking around. Oh my God, Dad, I think he's still here.

[00:16:34] I cried. My dad called the police from his place and they informed him that it was them making their rounds through our apartment complex. Kind of annoyed that they had accidentally spooked us like that, I thanked my dad for checking.

[00:16:47] The policemen left without really speaking to us, but they did tell my dad on the phone that everything had been checked and they couldn't find anyone. Kind of relieved, we hung up the phone.

[00:16:59] My dad had drunk one beer too many that night and was unable to pick us up, and I could tell he felt bad about that. After that, my girlfriend and I tried to relax, but we knew we wouldn't be able to sleep.

[00:17:12] We kept thinking that he would come back. Every noise startled us. I also started to wonder if maybe he was hiding out in one of the storages upstairs. After an hour, we gave up and called my girlfriend's mom in hopes that she'd be awake.

[00:17:27] She was, and she drove half an hour to come pick us up. We made sure there was someone staying over at our place during the next few nights after that, which helped us feel more safe.

[00:17:38] Needless to say, we were very happy to almost be moving out of that apartment. Luckily for us, the strange man never came back. We never found out what his reasons for entering was either. Was he on drugs? Drunk? Was he having a psychosis?

[00:17:56] I couldn't help but wonder, what if I had looked through the room and found him? What if I had looked through the peephole at whoever was on the other side of the door? Would I have recognized him then?

[00:18:08] Or would I recognize him later in someone who passed me on the street? I guess I'll never know. To this day, it was still the scariest thing to have ever happened to me or my girlfriend. This happened a few months ago.

[00:18:23] My brother and I were on our way to get our COVID shots. Unfortunately, this place was on the other side of town. This side of town was known for its crime. It wasn't the safest place to be walking around alone. Anyway, our Google Maps weren't working.

[00:18:47] We ended up in the wrong place. It was actually about a five minute drive from our home. We were driving through the city, and we saw a man with a gun. We were driving through the city. It was a dark place.

[00:18:57] It was actually about a five minute walk away from where we should have been. Where we ended up was this old factory. It looked like there was no one around. There were a few cars, but we figured that they were for the building next door.

[00:19:12] Anyway, we got out of the car to walk around and into this factory. Mind you, sometimes COVID shots were inside buildings, so we were walking towards the entrance, thinking that we were at the right place. We arrived at the entrance of this old, run-down factory.

[00:19:28] I thought that I heard a sound coming from this bush that was behind us. As I turned around, a man gets up and asks us if we need help. As soon as our attention drifted from the entrance, a van comes screeching around the corner.

[00:19:46] The way that it parked was exactly like a kidnapping from some kind of horror movie. A man rolls down his window and asks if we need any help. He asked where we were going. My fight or flight kicked in, but my brother's didn't.

[00:20:02] They noticed that we were hesitating to answer the question. The next words that came out of the man's mouth that was in the van still haunt me to this day. He said, come closer. I'll help you find the place.

[00:20:17] As I said, my brother's fight or flight had not kicked in yet, so he actually started to walk towards the van. And as he did, the man from the bushes came out and started walking towards my brother.

[00:20:30] I quickly grabbed my brother and pulled him out of the way, and we ran towards the entrance of this old factory. As we were running, I heard not two, but maybe five men yelling at me. They were asking, what the fuck? We're only trying to help you.

[00:20:44] Get in. Get in. They start trying to catch up to us. Luckily, I don't know how, but someone from inside of this old factory, they heard all of this and ran out to come and ask if we needed help.

[00:20:57] Without even thinking, I grabbed my phone and started to take photos of the men. But unfortunately for us, they sped off and none of the photos were clear. We started to walk back to the car thinking that the coast was clear.

[00:21:13] But as we were walking around the corner, there were about four men parallel parked in that God damn white van ready to grab us. If you think this is the end, I'm sorry to disappoint, but it's not.

[00:21:29] We ran back to the car and left to the correct place to get our COVID shots, though we were shaking. We started to wrap our head around what in the world just happened.

[00:21:39] As we were getting onto the freeway, I saw a white van that looked very similar to the one that almost kidnapped us as I was about to plug my earphones in. I just assumed maybe I was overthinking. I saw that man that made my blood run cold.

[00:21:54] We made eye contact for a second. And as soon as he saw us, he sped up and drove the most recklessly I'd ever seen anyone drive. But that's not the worst bit.

[00:22:05] I didn't see the one man, but there had to be at least six huge men in that car. Now, I honestly don't know what was watching over us that day. But thank you, because if that security guard didn't come out to help us, I don't

[00:22:19] think I would be here writing this today. And to the six men who tried to kidnap us not once but twice, I hope you rot. And please, if we ever meet again, just be ready because a photo will be the least of your problems. Let's not meet.

[00:22:45] I grew up in a quiet suburb of a medium sized, sleepy seaside city in British Columbia, Canada. At 17, I was an overconfident, if not defiant, hippie chick who drove my protective mother to tears. This story occurred in 2001 and remains the scariest moment of my life.

[00:23:15] I would often walk the seven kilometers home from my busy social engagements in the downtown core very late into the night. I would take a quiet seaside walking path away from one of the main roads because it felt safer at three in the morning as a lone female.

[00:23:34] I did this for several years without any incident. One such night, I made it through the path peacefully and had emerged to snake through the quiet neighborhood streets. Just three blocks from home, I had to cross a four way stop.

[00:23:51] In the silence of that blinking red light, I noticed a car parked in an odd location. It just seemed out of place, a bit too close to the intersection, but clearly not attached to either of the houses that sat on its four corners.

[00:24:08] I thought it strange, but brushed my instinct aside and crossed the road. I was within 10 feet of this vehicle that had appeared empty until three dogs started barking loudly in the backseat. It shocked me.

[00:24:27] My adrenaline surged and for good reason, as just as soon as they stopped, I heard a dog bark. Just as soon as they started, a hand reached out and clamped one of the dominant dogs snout shut.

[00:24:44] My heart started racing, though I tried not to appear scared, maintaining my pace as the street smart person I was. Then the car door opened and out stepped a man without any of the dogs.

[00:25:00] Now, if you were to look at my neighborhood from above, imagining a capital E, my home sat at the elbow of the middle line of that E. The road that we were walking down makes that E into a digital eight. If you get my meaning.

[00:25:21] So there would be no reason for a random stranger sleeping in his car to wander down any of those streets. He actually had nowhere to go. Knowing this, I quickly thought, take the second street, not the first street, just to

[00:25:36] make dead sure that he's following you and you're not overreacting. As women, we are constantly weighing our odds of safety. I dared not glance to see, but I could hear his footsteps about 15 feet behind me on my streets in my hometown.

[00:25:56] I quickened my pace, but never full out ran for fear of appearing weak. I turned down my essentially dead end street, my house dark, but in sight. The man followed and turned down my street as well. My fears were confirmed. He was indeed following me.

[00:26:18] He obviously had bad intentions and it was my fault for tempting fate. I was thinking this to myself. Somehow I made it through our side gate and through the back door, locking it behind me.

[00:26:30] I didn't dare switch on any lights, but I walked silently to a window, staying out of sight and peered out. He stood there on the street illuminated by the amber glow of the streetlight just 12 or so feet away, staring at our home.

[00:26:47] Eventually, he slowly walked away, continuing down our dead, quiet street. I didn't sleep that night or wake anyone, nor did I call the police and report anything to the authorities. I felt overwhelming shame that this was my fault for being so bold in the face of the

[00:27:10] ever present potential for gendered violence. Days later, my mother who worked shift work as a nurse my entire life asked me, do you know who's been slamming our gate in the middle of the night these last few days?

[00:27:27] No one in our family would ever allow that gate to slam as we were all trained in silence so that she could rest post shift. It was muscle memory. Do not slam the gate.

[00:27:41] Death gripped me as I realized it must have been the man from the four way stop returning to mess with me. Years later, there was a report of sexual assault in a local park. The predator reportedly had three dogs.

[00:27:58] To my knowledge, they never located him and I still wonder if this is the same man and his dogs. In all honesty, I still feel guilty. I am still bold in the face of that ever present threat of gendered violence, but I weigh the

[00:28:13] risks far more delicately now. So to the man at the four way stop, I hope you are decaying in prison somewhere and let's never meet again. One school night in the late fall, my two older brothers were home alone playing video games.

[00:28:42] While my sister and I were at our church's youth group, my brother's room was in the basement and it seemed like just another uneventful night. It was normal for them to be home alone.

[00:28:53] My mom knew that they could take care of themselves and we lived in a really safe area out in the country. We never even locked the front door if someone was home and we even left our keys in the ignitions of our unlocked car.

[00:29:06] As they were playing video games, they heard the front door open and someone walk in. They just assumed it was my dad because they heard heavy footsteps like someone was wearing boots. My dad owned a construction company and wore big heavy work boots.

[00:29:23] However, my mom was not home alone. She was with her two older brothers. They were playing video games and they heard someone walking in. However, they didn't hear the door shut. It was October in Montana and that meant it was basically winter so it was odd that he

[00:29:44] didn't shut the door. My brother said he started feeling weird. They heard the heavy footsteps walk through the entryway, into the dining room and down the hallway. Then, into my room, which was directly above my brother's room.

[00:30:04] Both of my brothers said they suddenly felt a sinking feeling in their stomachs. They both looked at each other, confused. Something wasn't right about this. They both stood up and continued to listen. The footsteps circled around in my bedroom for about 10 seconds, then stopped.

[00:30:29] My brothers ran over to their closet and grabbed their BB guns, the only weapons that they had access to. My oldest brother yelled, Hey! And the heavy footsteps started to quickly shuffle out of my room and towards the front door.

[00:30:45] They cautiously walked out of their room and up the stairs, listening to the footsteps run out the door. When they got to the top of the stairs, the front door was wide open and it smelled like an atrocious body odor.

[00:31:02] Both being scared, they ran over to the front door and locked it, and then checked every door in the house and made sure they were locked. Soon after that, my mom, little sister and I got home, and we were locked out of the house.

[00:31:20] My mom knocked on the door and my brother opened it crying. They both told her what had happened, and my mom called my dad and told him to come home as soon as possible.

[00:31:34] I remember walking through the house and seeing dead leaves and mud tracking through the hall and into my bedroom. It was only in my bedroom, and it still smelled like BO. I don't remember if my parents reported the incident to the police, but we made sure

[00:31:58] to start locking our door. A few months later, some family friends who lived only two miles away had a terrifying incident. One night, their oldest son, who was the same age as my oldest brother, woke up in the middle of the night to use the restroom.

[00:32:19] He walked into the hallway to find a man, standing outside his younger sister's open bedroom door, staring in. The son screamed and ran back into his room to grab a samurai sword that was displayed on his wall.

[00:32:35] This woke up everyone in the house, and he chased the man out of their house. They called the police, and the police found that the intruder cut open the screen door and busted the lock to get into the house. This event traumatized the family for years.

[00:32:57] I don't know if these two events were related, or if the area we lived in just wasn't as safe as we had thought. Regardless, to the mystery intruder, let's not meet. This is my short true story of one of the most horrifying times of my life.

[00:33:33] The summer of 2020. I left right before COVID got bad to stay in our camper with my husband while he was out of town working. I packed up our three children, one daughter and the twin sons, and headed to southern Oklahoma.

[00:33:49] As we drove through the city, I looked at the stores and restaurants and took mental notes on the places that I might like to stop. One day, when Jay was at work, I decided that I would take the kids to a store not too far from our campground.

[00:34:05] It was a medium-sized store, similar to a TJ Maxx or a HomeGoods. When we walked in, I noticed a woman in a sweatsuit. She was thin, her mask covered most of her face, her eyes were dark and piercing, though.

[00:34:22] As we shopped around, twins in my shopping basket, I could feel her eyes watching us. I didn't think much of it because a lot of people are fascinated with the fact that I have twins.

[00:34:35] People ask questions or comment on it often, so I didn't think anything of it. That is until she blocked me in an aisle and asked me, I just told her I did and smiled politely, scooting by awkwardly as she stared me down.

[00:34:53] As I was walking away, I heard her under her breath. He looks like my son. I thought maybe I had heard her wrong. My kids look nothing like her. I get the creeps, but I just decided that I would take the kids to a store not too far

[00:35:10] from our campground. I was blatantly obvious that she was stalking me. Everywhere I moved in the store, she was right behind me. Down every aisle, she's passing on the opposite end. Very quickly, I began to panic, but don't want to leave after all.

[00:35:31] I walked away, and I saw her face. I didn't know what to do. I began to panic, but don't want to leave out of the store for fear of her following me to my car.

[00:35:44] What if she has someone waiting in the van and is purposely trying to scare me out? I duck off in the book section of the store when I hear a voice. Do you have a phone? Can I borrow your phone?

[00:35:59] I'm creeping over the bookshelves, watching her ask strangers to use their phone. I think to myself, maybe she's calling for a ride. But my reassurance fades when I lock eyes with her. I can see her talking quietly with someone on the phone, but I can't make out what

[00:36:19] she's saying. I glance away, but it's too late. She hangs up and starts screaming at me, asking me if I have a problem. What my issue was. The store goes quiet, and I blurt out, yes, I have a problem. I'm afraid because you're stalking me and my children.

[00:36:39] Since the moment that I walked in that door, she was stalking me. But everyone is staring now. She doesn't say anything, and as I'm screaming for a manager or security, she makes her way out of the store. I'm now shaking. I don't even want to check out.

[00:36:58] I have to have someone escort me from the store and stand with me to load my kids up. After I get in and drive away, I suddenly was overwhelmed with a sick stomach, thinking maybe she was part of some kind of child kidnapping ring or something.

[00:37:13] I decided that I should call the police department and report the situation, for the sake of other unsuspecting people with children. When I get dispatch on the phone, I start to tell her my story. She stops and then asks me, do you have twins? I tell her yes.

[00:37:32] It turns out, she was asking for everybody's phone in the store so that she could call the police on me. Because I stole her son. I was beyond shocked. When I was in college, I spontaneously applied for an internship at Disney World.

[00:38:04] It was sort of like an exchange program, except instead of getting a job, I got a job. Instead of spending a semester at another university, participants moved to Orlando to work in the Disney theme parks. In my opinion, there were three types of people that attended this program.

[00:38:23] One, people who applied on a whim, not really knowing much about the programs. I fell into this category. Two, Disney fanatics who had been dreaming of doing this program their entire lives.

[00:38:37] I met kids whose moms and dads did the program way back in the 80s and now they were following in their parents' footsteps. They watched hours of YouTube videos that shared tips on how to get accepted into the competitive program.

[00:38:51] Some had applied three, four, five times, and sometimes more before getting in. For many, this was their first job and first time living away from home. Finally, type three, party animals who were more interested in Orlando's nightlife than the theme parks.

[00:39:08] There were a lot of students who just used the program as an excuse to party in Florida for a few months. When you mix everyone together, it's a recipe for chaos. Especially when not only are these groups working together, they're also living in the same space.

[00:39:26] Disney had four different apartment complexes where they offered cheap housing for all of these interns. These locations were well-known among locals in the area, and so scammers and other shady people often lurked nearby the complexes, hoping to take advantage of drunk partiers

[00:39:44] coming home or the kids who were too nice to tell them to fuck off. The apartment complexes had 24-hour security, but there were quite a few incidents. It didn't help that one bus stop was located outside of the complex's gates.

[00:40:03] Once, when walking home from a late shift, my roommate's friend was stopped by a man who was exposing himself to her. He pointed a knife at her. Luckily, she was able to run away. Luckily, she was able to run away. Safely, but quite shaken up.

[00:40:22] But anyways, on to my story. I was placed into this tiny two-bedroom apartment where I lived with five other girls, all foreign exchange students. I got along with them well, and we went out to clubs together from time to time.

[00:40:36] There was a party bus that waited outside of the apartment complexes almost every night. Sometimes it was free or cheap, just a $5 fee to ride. The bus would take you to and from different clubs depending on the day of the week.

[00:40:50] This bus was not affiliated with Disney at all, and I'm honestly surprised that they were even allowed to park in front of the apartments. One night, I took this party bus to a club that was popular amongst underage program

[00:41:05] participants because they were known for being lax about checking ID. I'm calling it a club, but that's a generous description. In reality, it was a Mexican restaurant by day and at night.

[00:41:18] All the tables and chairs were pushed to the sides of the room, and they created a dance floor. This club was 18+, meaning that if you were 18, you could get in and dance, but you would have the dreaded black Xs on the backs of your hands.

[00:41:34] If you were 21 or over, you would get the wristband to let the bartenders know that you could drink. There were two separate lines for this club, a line for getting the Xs drawn on your hands and one for the wristbands.

[00:41:49] My friends encouraged me to get into the wristband line even though I was underage. I thought there was no way in hell that I'd pass for 21. Even the most relaxed bouncer would see my baby face and roll their eyes.

[00:42:04] As we passed this water bottle full of vodka back and forth between us on the party bus, I took large gulps. I wouldn't be able to drink once we arrived to the club and had to toss the water bottle before entering.

[00:42:19] As we went to get in line, my roommates giggled and pulled me into the 21-plus line. I laughed, already pretty drunk, and just shrugged. The worst that could happen was the bouncer would tell me that I was in the wrong line.

[00:42:33] Lo and behold, when I presented him with my underage ID, the large man barely even glanced at the date. He smirked at me, eyes crawling up and down my body, and simply said, You're hot. I grimaced as he bestowed upon me the coveted drink wristband.

[00:42:55] I walked inside triumphant. It was a miracle. I could buy cheap, shitty margaritas. One problem, that I was too drunk to realize that I was too drunk. I'd chugged so much vodka on the ride over anticipating that I wouldn't be able to drink at the club.

[00:43:13] I was sloshed. But drunk me didn't care and proceeded to slurp down tiny margarita after tiny margarita. I thought to myself, it's fine. They're small. But, as we all know, a bunch of tiny drinks add up over time. It was a fun night.

[00:43:31] My roommates and I ran into a ton of different people that we knew. I met so many new friends, their faces all started to kind of blur together at the end of the night.

[00:43:40] When it was time to leave, I'd gotten separated from my friends in the stampede of people swarming the exit of the restaurant. I staggered around outside looking for a familiar face. The problem was that almost everybody looked familiar since I chatted with probably half

[00:43:58] of the people in the club that night. I was about to try and get back inside when a black sedan pulled up next to me. As the brakes squealed, a man jumped out of the passenger seat. Another man emerged from the backseat.

[00:44:16] There were two more dark silhouettes in the car. Hey, come on, let's go. The man in the passenger seat smiled at me and gestured to come closer. I squinted, wondering if I had spoken to these people that night.

[00:44:30] He was wearing nice jeans, a button-up shirt with a ton of cologne which was standard club fashion. I couldn't tell if I knew him or not. But I must have, right? Otherwise, why would they be talking to me like we were old friends?

[00:44:46] I wondered if maybe my roommates had run into a friend who offered to give us a ride home. Then we wouldn't have to take the party bus. That would be great. I kind of hated the party bus. Oh, are you guys with… I said before I was interrupted.

[00:45:03] I was just about to ask if they knew my roommates. But before I could speak, the backseat guy, his hand shot out and snatched my wrist hard. His grip was so tight that I would probably get a bruise the next day.

[00:45:18] As he pulled me towards him, the passenger seat guy swept his arm around my shoulder and began to usher me towards the car. The movements from both of the men were so smooth, so synchronized. It made my blood run cold.

[00:45:32] It was as if they had done this a million times before, like they rehearsed this. Before I could even react, I heard a high-pitched squeal of excitement. Oh my god, hi! I haven't seen you in ages! Oh my god, hi! I haven't seen you in forever!

[00:45:49] A girl nearly tackled me into a hug, slurring her greeting and almost knocking both of us off balance. She had barreled into me so quickly that the backseat guy let go of my wrist in surprise. As she hugged me, she whispered in my ear, I'm saving your life.

[00:46:09] Her voice was gravelly and serious, and definitely sober. When the hug was over, she took me by the hand. I've been looking for you everywhere. You are so not going to ditch me and hang out with some random guys tonight. Come on!

[00:46:25] The other man reluctantly let his arm drop off of my shoulders as my guardian angel led me away. I glanced back only once and saw that the men were glaring so angrily at our backs that I almost threw up every tiny margarita that I had consumed that night.

[00:46:42] I never saw those men again. Almost as soon as my savior pulled me back towards the club, I ran to my friends and she disappeared into the crowd. All was well. We got home safely and I never went back to that particular club again.

[00:46:57] A few years later, I heard that it had been shut down after it was busted for selling drinks to minors. I'm not sure what those men had in store for me, but I'm sure it wasn't good.

[00:47:09] I also have no idea how that girl knew that I was in danger. I think the scariest part of this story was that I probably would have gotten into that car with those men if they hadn't been so forceful.

[00:47:21] If I had the chance to ask if they were my friends or if they were friends with so-and-so and if they said yes, I would have gone willingly. Stay alert and always stick with me. Stay alert and always stick with your friends when you're going out drinking.

[00:47:42] To the guys in the car who tried to grab me, let's not meet. And to my guardian angel in the black bodycon dress, thank you whoever you are. Special thanks to Cassie and Danielle from National Park After Dark for appearing on the show this week.

[00:48:15] I love learning about the beauty and the inspiration to reconnect with all of these national parks around the country. But as they say, with more and more people entering our parks, more and more of them never leave. It's such a fascinating and frightening podcast.

[00:48:43] If you enjoy their performances this week, I know you're going to enjoy it. So don't forget to check it out and support our guests. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast.

[00:48:54] This week you have heard the story by Miss G334. I Let the Wrong Man In by Annie from The Bleep. The Classic White Van by Anonymous22. Four Way Stop by Bri. An Untitled Story by Just W. Twins by A.R.

[00:49:13] And finally, The Dark Side of the Mouse by V. 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.

[00:49:28] And as always, if you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. And if you're a patron, stick around after the music for your extended ad-free version of this week's episode.

[00:49:40] And if you want to sign up, head over to patreon.com forward slash Let's Not Meet podcast to sign up and support the show today and get access to all kinds of bonus content. I'll see you all next week for a brand new episode of Let's Not Meet.

[00:49:54] Stay safe. I'm a long time listener and have played with the idea of sending this story in for some time.