9x03: Morel Mystery Man - Let's Not Meet

[00:00:00] This podcast contains adult language and content. If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show. My name is Andrew Tate and this is Season 9, Episode 3 of Lets Not Meet, A True Horror Podcast.

[00:00:28] Hey folks, as a reminder, this week I'll be doing live shows starting with Seattle, Washington at the Triple Door on Thursday, August 25th. Then I'll be heading over to Portland, Oregon on Friday, August 26th at Polaris Hall. Tickets are still available for both shows.

[00:01:07] Just head over to letsnotmeetpodcast.com slash tour or follow the link in the show notes and grab yours soon. I'll be performing a full unheard episode of stories that are sure to send you home paranoid and entertained. I hope to see you there. Enjoy the show.

[00:01:36] I've listened to this show for a long time now and have always debated sharing this story. While it's maybe not as disturbing as others shared here, I hope that it can serve as some kind of cautionary tale to younger people out there.

[00:01:53] I'm 36 now and this story has stuck with me for the last 20 plus years so it clearly made some kind of significant impact on me. Maybe it can make an impact on someone else. This incident took place in the late 90s.

[00:02:12] I was about 13 or 14 years old at the time. It was summer break. While I definitely enjoyed outdoor activities, going to the park, climbing trees, going from friend to friend's house to see who was home, playing volleyball or going swimming,

[00:02:30] I've always been a bit more of a homebody and enjoyed spending a good deal of time on my computer. Few things are more iconic of the late 90s than the nostalgic AOL dial up tones and hearing the familiar, welcome you've got mail.

[00:02:51] One of my real life friends, I'll call her Nicole, also enjoyed chatting online so often times we would go to each other's houses and spend hours in our favorite chat room called the buzz. We made several good friends in the buzz.

[00:03:10] There were even two guys that I started dating online and these relationships progressed to talking on the phone just about every single day to eventually meeting them in real life. The meetings were supervised and as safe as they could be.

[00:03:29] The first one was accompanied by Nicole and her mom in a public place and the second was at my own house but only after my mom had spoken to the guy and his parents on the phone several times and was satisfied that he wasn't a threat.

[00:03:46] Let me pause here to quickly say that yes, I am now aware that it was incredibly naive of me and my mother to give our home address to a complete stranger. However, my mom was a very, you're going to do what you want anyways, at least you're

[00:04:06] under my roof kind of parent. She was a single mom and she was doing her best to raise two daughters after my dad had passed away. This whole dating online thing was brand new and it was foreign to her.

[00:04:22] I mean, at that time, it was new and foreign to a lot of people and she did what she thought was best. Thankfully, both of these meetings were fine and these guys were who they said that they were.

[00:04:37] They were both a couple of years older than me, 16 and 18, which wasn't great but they were fairly normal people and I was never in any physical danger when I was with them. I counted myself very lucky.

[00:04:53] I knew the potential danger of meeting people that I didn't know but I was also at an age where I felt invincible. That bubble eventually burst. One of the friends that Nicole and I had made in the buzz was named Zach.

[00:05:11] Zach was around our same age and had a girlfriend in real life so he would mostly ask us for girl advice and would listen to our boy drama and whatever else was going on in our lives at the time.

[00:05:26] We felt very comfortable talking to Zach and eventually we decided that we trusted him enough to give him my phone number so we could actually speak to him. I'll never forget that first phone call. Hello? Um, hi is this Elle? Yeah. Hi, it's Zach. Oh hi!

[00:05:50] Wait, Nicole is here too. Let me have her pick up on the other phone. Hi girls, it's so nice to hear your voices, he said. We could not say the same. Zach's voice was strange.

[00:06:09] It sounded like his voice was cracking and he seemed to have some kind of speech impediment or something. My blood was running cold while my face felt hot. Something just seemed wrong, but what could be wrong? This was someone that I had spent hours chatting with.

[00:06:31] I knew that the boys around my age were starting to go through puberty, their voices were changing. Maybe that's what was happening with Zach. Nicole had also felt that something was off, but not wanting to be rude we chalked it up

[00:06:46] to him just having a weird voice, but still being a good person. After all, he was still our friend. We probably talked on the phone a couple more times over the next couple of months and continued chatting online as usual.

[00:07:04] Once school started I had significantly less time to go online, so I hadn't really noticed that Zach had been unusually absent in the chat room. I figured he was probably busy with school as well and we would catch up whenever we had the time.

[00:07:24] One day I signed into AOL, I heard that, you've got mail, and I checked my messages. There was an email from Zach. That was odd, since it didn't look like a chain letter or anything else he would normally just message me directly.

[00:07:42] When I opened the email I saw that it was addressed to multiple people, me, Nicole, and many other email addresses that I didn't recognize. I don't remember the exact wording, but the body of the email was something like this. Hey guys, it's me.

[00:08:01] I've been away for a while and there's something that I need to tell everyone. I'm not who you think I am. My name isn't Zach. I'm Brian. I'm not 14. I'm 40. But I'm still the same guy you've always been talking to. I'm sorry I've lied to you.

[00:08:20] I hope that you can forgive me and we can still be friends. I understand if I never hear from any of you again, but I hope I do. I felt sick to my stomach. What the hell did I just read?

[00:08:36] Nothing made sense anymore, but somehow things started to click. I thought back to our first phone call. Of course his voice sounded strange. He was a 40-something year old, full grown man trying to sound like a 14 year old boy. My mind started racing and panicking.

[00:08:53] He obviously had my phone number and my real name. How much more information had I given him over time? Did I tell him where I lived? Went to school? Would he somehow be able to use my phone number to track me and find me?

[00:09:10] How could he betray all of us like this? Why did he do it? And what the hell made him think that there was even a remote possibility of us remaining friends? I signed off and called Nicole, asking her if she had gotten the same email.

[00:09:28] She opened it, and we spent the next hour freaking out about the whole situation and trying to calm each other down. We never spoke to him again. At some point he emailed everyone a link to his webcam in case we wanted to see who he really was.

[00:09:45] We never looked. Nicole and I still joke to this day about how lucky we are that he never found us, and that we somehow avoided being murdered considering all of the poor decisions that we made back then.

[00:10:00] Even though we knew that it was scary at the time, the real gravity of the situation only set in when I was much older. There's a part of me that wishes that I remembered more information about him so that

[00:10:14] I could look him up now just to see what kind of person he truly was. To anyone listening to this, please trust your instincts. If you think something is off about a person it probably is, and fuck being polite when it comes to your safety.

[00:10:31] You might feel invincible, but things aren't always what they seem. While I can't say what his intentions were in befriending a bunch of kids online and then confessing his real identity to all of us, I can say that they most likely were not innocent.

[00:10:50] So to Zach or Brian, the probable AOL predator who sounded creepy as shit trying to change his voice to imitate a prepubescent boy to make young girls feel comfortable with him for god knows what reasons. Let's never meet.

[00:11:25] A couple of summers ago I ended up working in the small garden outside at my work since our workload slows way down in summer. I worked at a factory that was surrounded by olive trees and other trees like apricot, peach, cherry, pear, and apple.

[00:11:46] On the tree line, on one of the short ends of the small rectangular garden there were a bunch of tall thick weeds and shrubbery directly after the front tree line. On the garden fence itself at that end, thick tangled grape vines had overgrown the fence

[00:12:05] for the garden and on the chain link perimeter fence for the property line in that area. It was a particularly hot day as it was July, the hummingbirds buzzed near the feeders and the birds were singing their summer songs.

[00:12:21] I greeted our factory dog Buddy who was lazing outside in the garden in the shade of an olive tree. He gazed up at me with his neon like blue eyes and wagged his black and white fluffy tail at me before dozing off again.

[00:12:37] I continued to chat with Buddy as I worked, just off in my own safe little world. As I worked though, I began to vaguely notice the sound of bushes and shrubbery rustling slightly.

[00:12:52] I blew this off as just a breeze, but after a few more minutes I realized that the rustling sounds were pretty much constant and after briefly glancing around myself at the other trees I noticed that there didn't appear to be any breeze on that hot July day.

[00:13:12] I then figured at this point it was probably Buddy sniffing around in the bushes or something, but there went that idea when I realized after I turned back towards the garden entrance for a shovel that Buddy was right there still lazing in the same place.

[00:13:31] Now if you know dogs, then you know that Buddy should have been losing his shit right then. Yet he was just resting. I decided to give it a couple more minutes just to make sure.

[00:13:45] It could have been my husband who also worked at the factory with me or my boss or another co-worker for all I knew, but as I nonchalantly paid attention to what I was hearing I could tell that the movements were slow and deliberate.

[00:14:00] Whoever or whatever was in the grapevines and bushes was moving precisely. My heart began to race as I imagined a bear or a mountain lion stalking me. So then I snuck out of the garden entrance and stepped over a couple of feet to investigate.

[00:14:20] It was pretty difficult to see through the thick shrubbery beyond the olive and cherry trees. I had to really focus, like when you try to see one of those hidden 3D images. Once I did though, I started to see movement beyond the grapevines and the bushes and weeds.

[00:14:39] After a few seconds, I began to be able to make out a shape. It was the shape of human legs. Whoever was in there was wearing a pair of medium faded blue jeans and black hiking or maybe work boots.

[00:14:56] All I can think of at the time is, holy shit, it's a person! They were moving away from me and towards the railroad tracks beyond the chain link perimeter fence. The only thing I could think of to do would be walk around the perimeter and up to the

[00:15:13] railroad tracks to see the person from a slight vantage point. I knew that the person would be trapped by the perimeter fence, which was hidden by the grapevines. Once I got up there, I saw a man crouched down next to the chain link fence staring right at me.

[00:15:31] He was so strange because he was wearing those medium colored blue jeans and heavy black boots that I mentioned earlier, but he also sported a black beanie, a dark hooded sweatshirt and a backpack, all despite it being over 100 degrees that day.

[00:15:51] Because he stared at me with dark beady, close set eyes, I managed to ask him, who are you? Why are you here? But he just stared at me unblinking with this pale face and didn't say a word. He just sat there frozen unmoving.

[00:16:11] Looking back, I don't think he blinked or moved at all. So I gave up after a few seconds and went into the factory to tell someone. I found my husband first, but he pretty much just dismissed it. So I went to my boss.

[00:16:26] We both went back out to the garden to investigate but no one was there, just Buddy casually wandering into the bushes towards those tracks. Buddy being a dog should have been alarmed and yet he wasn't, which was weird to my boss as well.

[00:16:44] Just then though, my other coworker arrived with his dog who was promptly sent to investigate the area. Meanwhile the other coworker went inside of the factory to get the forklift which he drove outside to us.

[00:16:58] Then we had my husband lift the forklift as high as he could while my other coworker stood on the forks to have a vantage point in which to be able to really get a good look around

[00:17:08] for the guy or maybe a car leaving or something but he didn't find anything. Once we got back into the factory and inside the boss's air conditioned office, the boss had something interesting to tell us about the night before.

[00:17:25] First off, he informed all of us that we had no running water in the whole industrial park. The interesting part came when he explained why there was no water. Apparently the night before, a couple of guys tried stealing a big rig or something from

[00:17:43] one of those businesses located up past the park. When they tried to escape with the truck, after nearly getting caught, they tried to jump the thing across a small creek where the water main was coming into the industrial park.

[00:17:59] They of course did not make it and they ended up smashing the water main to all of the businesses in the park. I have no real idea if the intruder amongst the grape vines was related to that incident

[00:18:13] or not, but we did call the sheriff just in case and they came out to look and report. They got a description of the intruder from me. Of course, none of the outside security cameras caught it since it was behind the tree line.

[00:18:28] It was all amongst the heavy shrubbery. So I guess we'll never know. These events all took place outside my home at the time, which was on the literal last block of a major city right across the street from the beach.

[00:18:57] The building was framed on four sides by the beach, the woods, a construction site and a few other sleepy houses, as well as a muni line. Think the subway but above ground.

[00:19:10] It's the very last stop on the muni, so unless you catch it at the right time of day or at the height of tourist season, the area is basically empty on the sidewalks. The house itself has an initial patio door, which doesn't fully close if you don't slam

[00:19:28] it, and then the entry area with the staircase leading up to the second locked door that leads to the apartment. Experience number one. I get home from work one day at about 9pm and immediately get into a small spat with one of my roommates.

[00:19:46] After about 30 minutes I decide to leave the house to cool off. I had planned on sitting on the porch outside but as I looked across the street at the ocean, I decided that it would be more peaceful there.

[00:19:59] I had never been to the beach at night for safety but as I looked at the well-lit parking lot and having no one in sight, I decided that it would be alright.

[00:20:11] In the one block span from my house to the beach, there was a little wooded path that started on my street and dumped you out at the crosswalk for the beach. It also intersected with other pathways that took you down the coast.

[00:20:27] I sat for a bit, everything was fine and after a while I started the one minute walk back to the little path. All of a sudden I look up and I see a man walking briskly on the intersecting path, looking right at me.

[00:20:42] I speed up a bit and try to ignore him and as we hit the section where the two paths intersect, I end up being about a foot away from him. He calls out to me, Hey, I want to talk to you.

[00:20:56] I ignore him and after a few more steps he reaches out his hand and he grabs part of my hair saying, Hey, come here. I immediately yank my hair out of his hand and book it to the last block, sprinting to

[00:21:11] my house and I can hear him running behind me now. I turn the corner sharply and am briefly out of his sight. Luckily the initial entryway to the patio had been left open by accident and I run through the door and slam it shut.

[00:21:28] I hear his footsteps stop outside, followed by silence. As I go upstairs and look through the front window, I see him walking away into the construction site. Experience number two. I had a friend that lived a couple of blocks from where I was, along the same stretch of

[00:21:47] beach. After hanging out one day, I decided to head back home around sunset. I've walked this route many times and it's just barely light outside still, only a five minute walk so I figure I'll be home before it's dark.

[00:22:04] As I cross the intersection from their house, I notice a white van parked on the corner that's not usually there. It's covering a little garden that I like to look at on my way back. I can just barely make out two people in the front seat.

[00:22:21] I think it's odd but okay whatever. I pull out my pepper spray. I cross the street, passing the van and now I have my back to it. As soon as my foot hits the pavement on the other side of the street, I hear the van start up.

[00:22:38] I turn my head just slightly and I see them, illegally, turning onto the street where I'm now walking. They creep the van beside me slowly, just behind me but within peripheral vision. I decide to stop and let them pass me.

[00:22:54] I pause and pretend to be looking on my phone and I see them stop driving immediately. This was a no from me and I broke into a run. The van is now following me to a small vintage motel about one building away that I know

[00:23:10] has an open entrance courtyard so I approach it and I turn quickly into the yard and run up to an archway entry for one of the units. I stop at the first few steps, catching my breath and I open my phone with the front

[00:23:26] camera to use it sort of as a mirror so that I can see what the van is doing. They had backed up into the entry of the motel and were now sitting there. They stayed for a few minutes.

[00:23:41] Then the one on the passenger side opened the door and started walking towards the motel, I put this phone flashlight on and I immediately pulled my phone back, listening to the footsteps and readying myself to start banging on the motel door, hoping someone is inside.

[00:24:00] I wait in the silence for a long time, long enough for it to get dark. I finally look out again and both the man and the van are gone. I call an Uber to take me the last two blocks. I never saw them again. That's number three.

[00:24:17] I have a friend over and we want to dab, it's a form of smoking weed if you didn't know. It's about 10pm, my roommates don't like dabbing in the house because of the smell so he and I go to his car parked out front.

[00:24:32] We're in there having a good time when I notice a person walking down the block, pulling on car door handles. I notify him and we watch as that same person comes up to his car and yanks on his back door.

[00:24:49] He honks his horn and they back up for just a minute, then walk up to his driver window and knock on it, making the motion for them to roll it down. Just as I'm about to tell him not to, he rolls down the window but just a bit.

[00:25:06] The person is clean looking, normally clothed and asks what day it is and then what time it is, to which my friend answers. They then stand there and stare at us. He tries to usher them away, even offering them money.

[00:25:26] Without saying anything, the person walks down the block and once they reach the intersection between the construction site and the woods, they roll their head back up to the sky and start screaming at the top of their lungs as they back away out of sight.

[00:25:45] I take this opportunity to dart back into my house as my friend watches, making sure that I close the patio door. A few hours later, one of my roommates comes home very drunk and, as we figured out later,

[00:26:00] they failed to make sure that the patio door shut all the way. Morning time comes and I wake up. There's an empty apartment. I open my phone and I have a singular message from my roommate from three hours ago.

[00:26:16] It stated that when they left for work this morning, there was a person that they didn't know sleeping inside the patio area. They thought it was a drunk person who lived in the neighborhood and entered the wrong

[00:26:26] house by mistake and eventually didn't find enough of a reason to call me or wake me up. I immediately go to the entry of our apartment, pulling the door open fast.

[00:26:38] To my surprise, the person who had been talking to us in the car the night before is just casually lying across the staircase, fiddling with something. I scream hey loudly and they immediately hop up and run out of my patio door.

[00:26:56] I run down the stairs after them and then I open the door. They're standing across the street just smiling at me and they start giggling. Then they give me a little wave and run off.

[00:27:09] I close the door hard and go back up the steps to see what items they had left. Sitting on the steps was just a few coins, some weird wire type objects, think bobby pins after you bend them, a lighter, a pocket knife. I never saw them again.

[00:27:31] Unrelated to my stories but shortly after I moved from that area, a teenage girl was abducted from that same corner where I saw the van and after a car chase, police found a severed head in the freezer of a house along my block.

[00:27:48] All of these events happened years ago and it's pretty wild to look back on and remember how terrified I felt in these times. So there are my stories I hope you all enjoyed. Several years ago in the mid-20 teens, I had a frightening experience while attempting

[00:28:21] to hunt for the delicious highly sought after elusive morel mushroom. I live in a state that just so happens to be in the perfect region and climate zone for these rare and special mushrooms.

[00:28:36] My state also has more rivers than any other state creating large swaths of remote land ideal for mushroom growth. Mushroom hunting can be a slow, uneventful process that can leave one empty handed. It can also be exhilarating and rewarding but equally as dangerous at times.

[00:29:01] Terrain tends to be difficult and unpredictable. Tumbling upon private land or another hunter's secret stash could easily lead to a confrontation. Thieves and undesirables wander these remote areas as well. Being prepared and keeping your wits about you is a must.

[00:29:20] On a late spring day around lunchtime, conditions were favorable for mushroom hunting as it rained recently. The temperature was just so and I felt inclined to go for a hunt. Because it was last minute, I didn't have anyone to go with.

[00:29:39] My family had pleaded with me to never go alone and my experience on this hunt showed me why they were so insistent. And I'll never go alone again. I chose an expansive, old, beautiful riverside public park in a busy area which gave me a false sense of security.

[00:30:00] While cruising around scoping out potential hunting grounds, I was taking note of all of the people I was passing, mostly looking to spot other hunters that might give me a hint of where to begin. I circled the park multiple times to get my bearings.

[00:30:18] While driving, I noticed this same bright blue hatchback circling. I assumed that the gray haired man was another hunter. Eventually, I parked and began to prepare for my trek which took some time because I would be away from the car for a while.

[00:30:37] While getting ready, nothing seemed to miss and I felt positive and hopeful about the bounty that I was sure to find. I wish I could say that I found Morels but this is less about that. It's rather about who found me.

[00:30:53] I departed towards the river, onto a path in a dense area. It was cool and damp and the ground was still slick with rain. The sun was covered by a thin veil of clouds with a bit of lingering haze all around.

[00:31:09] As I entered the forest, my heart started beating from excitement. The thrill of the hunt was coursing through my veins. Though it wouldn't be long before my excitement turned to fear.

[00:31:23] I came to the edge of a swell and the only way to go was down this hill slope, towards the flood plains below. Those areas can contain the right decay for proper mushroom growth.

[00:31:38] Just as I set my sights and took my first few steps down that steep decline, I heard the rhythmic crunching of twigs and branches. I slowed to a stop a short distance down the hill, gazing back towards from whence I came.

[00:31:54] In that moment, I saw a man walking directly towards me. I froze not really knowing what to do, waiting for him to say something. He didn't say anything but continued advancing closer. He was still 40-50 yards away and my mind was racing with scenarios of what would soon

[00:32:13] happen or why he was following me. I began to question his motive for being in the woods. Was he a fellow hunter? Did he want to hurt me? Or something more sinister?

[00:32:28] He wasn't dressed in a manner one would for hiking in the woods, nor was he checking his surroundings for any other morales that may be hiding in plain sight. He only stared at me. Then another fleeting thought crossed my mind.

[00:32:46] I remember being told by older people in the LGBT community that in decades past, gay men in a conservative state like ours would sometimes cruise parks in hopes of finding a little same-sex woodland companionship.

[00:33:01] He was finally close enough for me to clearly see his face and my heart sank as I realized this was the same man in that blue car that I saw recently, circling.

[00:33:12] Now as a gay man myself, I wondered if I had unwittingly sent some kind of signal as our vehicles passed. In that moment, he wasn't showing me any signs that companionship was what he wanted. At least not anything consensual.

[00:33:30] Now we were maybe 15 feet apart as he stood looking over me at the top of the hill. He hesitated and a momentary standoff ensued. He didn't speak, blink or move a single muscle.

[00:33:45] I sized him up and though he was a bit bigger than I, he was out of shape and about 20 years older than me. Not knowing what else to do, I finally took a step again heading down the hill on my original path.

[00:34:00] After a couple of steps, I looked back to see the man making his way down after me. I picked up the pace. The hill grew ever more steep, wet and muddy. I began to lose my footing as the man attempted to keep up.

[00:34:15] The terrain had become downright treacherous and running was no longer an option as I slipped and skidded away from him. I began to feel pain in my ankles and legs from stumbling over debris. Then I took another look to discover that the man was falling behind.

[00:34:34] I continued to move away from him, all while keeping eye contact. He finally stopped bracing himself against a tree, though I didn't stop. I slowed while trying to prepare for what was his next move. To my surprise and relief, he turned around and started to walk away.

[00:34:55] I felt some immediate relief and took what felt like my first full breath since I caught a glimpse of him. But I wasn't out of the woods yet, literally. Now it was my turn to follow him.

[00:35:09] I wanted to keep an eye on him so as not to be blindsided on my way back. But I was a good deal behind him, and now he was nearly running. Slowly but surely I lost sight of him but thankfully was near the clearing by the parking lot.

[00:35:27] I ran to the car park, my eyes darting around, looking for anyone who would help in case he popped out. I was feverishly checking all of the faces and cars in the area but none of them were his. Where had he gone?

[00:35:43] How could he have vacated the area so quickly? I wasn't that far behind him, or so I thought. It didn't really matter anymore. I hopped in my car and locked the door. While I tried to start it, my limbs shook.

[00:35:59] As I drove as fast as possible, I thought about how upset my family would be hearing this scary story, and I couldn't shake the chills from sheer terror. The entire drive home, I carefully monitored my surroundings constantly checking the rear view for that blue car.

[00:36:18] I wanted to be angry that yet again I would come home empty handed from a mushroom hunt, but was and am still overcome with gratitude having eluded the man following me that day.

[00:36:32] To the man in the blue car, let's not meet in the park, in the forest or anywhere ever again. I work four 10 hour days, so I always have a three day weekend. I wanted to get the yard work done Friday morning and be able to enjoy the weekend.

[00:37:04] I always go through the garage door which is on the far end of the house from where I will be. The front door is closed and locked. This will be important for later. I was the only one outside since most of my neighbors were at work or school.

[00:37:22] A few months ago, a car crashed into my neighbor's wall. Since my house is on the corner, I always pay attention to what's going on. This day I noticed a man in an electric wheelchair coming towards me. I've lived here 20 years and I've never seen him before.

[00:37:42] He doesn't seem to be in any distress, so I continue to pull weeds along the sidewalk. When he gets closer I say hi to him, but he doesn't respond. I then realize he has stopped behind me where I cannot see him. I immediately stand up and turn around.

[00:38:03] He's probably in his 50s. I don't know what it was about him, but a little voice is telling me not to get close to him. He starts to whisper. I tell him I can't hear you.

[00:38:19] He motions for me to come closer, but there's no way I am getting any closer. He whispers again and motions again. I say no. He gives me the creepiest chuckle I've ever heard. It reminded me of a bully who knows something that you don't.

[00:38:41] I look around and I still don't see anyone. Not a single car has gone by since this man showed up. I feel like there's someone with this guy, but like I said I can't see anyone.

[00:38:55] He keeps whispering and you can tell he's getting irritated that I won't do what he wants. All of a sudden he puts his hands on the armrests and starts to stand up. What the hell? He can walk? I immediately back away.

[00:39:14] When he realizes I'm backing up, he sits back down. He's now motioning for me to come closer. Now just because I'm blonde doesn't mean that I'm an idiot. I tell him no. I'm trying to figure out how to get into my house but I'm scared that he'll trap

[00:39:31] me in the garage. I have three big dogs that will protect me, but of course they're in the house. I wish I would've ran for it, but when he started to stand up I was so shocked that I missed my chance.

[00:39:48] He continues to motion for me to now follow him. I say okay and I slowly start to follow him. I'm keeping my distance as he watches to make sure that I'm still there following him.

[00:40:02] I have no intention of going past my RV gate so I need to get a plan soon. I continue to follow slowly and he decides I'm really following him so he goes faster.

[00:40:16] I wait until he's a few houses away and turn back to grab my trash bag and gloves. I look up and he turns around and he's now coming back at me. Fast. Why the hell is he coming back? This proves my little voice was right about him.

[00:40:32] I have no idea what he plans on doing next so I manage to get into the garage and hit the button to close it. I get into the house and I lock the garage door, keeping my dogs with me.

[00:40:45] I closed the drapes and I have no idea what he did next, but over the next few days I ask some of the neighbors if they knew him and nobody did. I never saw him again.

[00:40:57] So remember, always listen to that little voice warning you of danger, even if they first appear harmless. I moved to a new house a couple of years later but I still keep an eye out on who's around me. Creepy chuckle guy let's never meet again.

[00:41:29] For a little context, I'm a 21 year old gay guy who just moved to a relatively small town in Portugal like many Brazilians like me do looking for better conditions in life. I've always been very reserved as a person and never really did anything that people

[00:41:47] my age usually do. When I got here I decided I wanted to change that. I mean I'm young in a new place full of possibilities, what could possibly go wrong? A day after I got into my new apartment I downloaded Grindr on my phone.

[00:42:03] I started to chat with this really attractive guy that was older than me. After a few hours of chatting on the app he gave me his number and told me his actual name which I won't be saying here, but I can assure you all, he's not named ThickDaddy21

[00:42:20] like it says on his profile. After a while of texting he asked if I wanted to meet up. I was nervous. If you know anything about Grindr you know that hooking up with a complete stranger is

[00:42:34] basically the reason most people use the app, but as I said before I've never really done that. I'm the kind of person who likes to get to know a guy before.

[00:42:44] As nervous as I was about it I said yes and gave him my location because he said that he couldn't host. I wasn't really sure about letting a stranger get into my house in the middle of the night, but I guessed that he wouldn't try anything.

[00:43:00] There are about 4 cameras in the hallway plus 5 families living right next door. If he tried anything I could ask for help and he could also easily be identified on the cameras. I guessed that he would be stupid to try something.

[00:43:17] 15 minutes later he came in and he looked as attractive in real life as he did in the pictures. I'm not going to detail what happened next, we were both in my bed chilling after we were

[00:43:29] done when his phone rings and I see his contact is saved as wife. He picked it up and all I could understand was, yeah yeah no worries I can bring it home, love you.

[00:43:43] Then he turned to me and said, sorry my wife is waiting for me at home but I'll see you tomorrow maybe. I was so shocked, I didn't even answer. He just got out of the bed and left. I felt horrible.

[00:43:58] He never told me that he was married and nowhere on his profile on Grindr did it say it either. And again if you know anything about Grindr you know that there are plenty of married

[00:44:07] men on there which I think is a very weird thing and it's wrong of them. But if you're okay dating a married person that's on you but I feel terrible knowing that I could be the reason this whole family could be destroyed. Also I felt lied to.

[00:44:23] I would never agree with any of this if I knew that he was married and he probably knew that or else why would he hide this? I then went on Facebook and searched for his name and I quickly found his profile.

[00:44:38] He had several pictures with his wife and even some with two guys that seemed to be about my age who I assumed were his sons. My feeling of guilt became anger.

[00:44:50] I was mad at him for putting me in this position by not telling me and also at myself for not getting to know him better before hooking up. I then texted him saying that we couldn't meet again and also saying that I'm mad at

[00:45:03] him for lying to me and that if he wants to ruin his family that's on him but I did not want to be a part of it. He then texted me saying he was sorry he lied but he was afraid I would say no if I knew

[00:45:17] he was married. Which is true, I would. He then said he understands that I might feel guilty but that there was nothing to worry about as his wife had no idea and that she would never find out. I didn't believe this guy.

[00:45:34] I really didn't want to spend my night explaining to a married guy why he shouldn't cheat on his wife so I blocked his number. A few hours went by and I was watching some TV when I got a text from an unknown number. It said, Hi it's me.

[00:45:52] Please let's meet I like you. It was him using a different number. Did you really get a new number just to add me? Leave me alone. I said no. He then replies with, No lol I'm using my son's cell phone. Again I could not believe this guy.

[00:46:13] All I wanted was for this to be over already. So I didn't say anything I blocked his new number and I switched off my phone to avoid being contacted by him again. The next day I was done with my work and was about to go home.

[00:46:29] When I got to my apartment I noticed that the door was open. I was freaking out. Did someone break into my apartment? Were they still there? What did they take? I slowly opened the door and walked in carefully to check if whoever broke in was still inside.

[00:46:48] I then saw this figure sitting on my couch. It froze. Shit, they are still here. Before I had time to react the person turned to me and I could see their face. It was the man from Grindr. I became mad. What the fuck?

[00:47:07] Did you break into my house? Are you insane? Leave me alone. I shouted. He then shook his head and said calmly, No, I found your spare keys. Look before you say anything I just want to explain. I responded, I don't wanna fucking hear you, psycho.

[00:47:26] Get the fuck out of my face. He then silently left. I got a new lock on the door the next day and found a better place to hide the spare key. Days went by and I did not hear from him.

[00:47:41] I thought that I would never see him again. Until one day I went out for dinner in a nice new place that had just opened in town. When I got there I saw him sitting with his family. They were all chatting and laughing and having a great time.

[00:47:58] Before I even had time to leave the place he spotted me. He smiled and called me by my name. He actually asked me to sit with them. I also heard him say, This is the new intern that I told you about, to his wife.

[00:48:18] I didn't think twice before leaving that place without saying a word. Again the town is relatively small so it's not impossible that I'll see him every now and then. But to the married man who tricked me into becoming Mr. Steal Your Boy, who broke into

[00:48:34] my apartment and tried to make me lie and pretend to be a friend to his wife and his kids. Let's not meet. Let's not meet podcast to join and support the show today. This week you have heard AOL chat room creeper by Hey L yourself.

[00:49:19] The lurker by a listener that asked to remain anonymous. Creeps at the beach by all day a day for 20. Morrell mystery man by buddy Sims. Creepy chuckle guy by Michelle. And finally, he broke into my house by a listener that asked to remain anonymous.

[00:49:38] 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.

[00:49:49] As always if you have a story to share send it to let's not meet stories at gmail.com. Make sure you check out the new episodes of my other podcasts, the old time radio cast

[00:49:59] as well as odd trails at cryptic county podcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts. And while I'm excited to see you all in Seattle and Portland, I'm also excited to be sharing another lost stories episode with you guys next week.

[00:50:13] So everyone stay safe and I'll see you then. This happened back when I was 13 and in middle school.