9x16: Out of the Shadows - 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 16 of Lets Not Meet, A True Horror Podcast. This story takes place in 2019.

[00:00:53] It's a long story, but it was one of the most bizarre things I have ever been through. And I felt like it was time to share. I was 28 years old, a single mother who had been divorced for 2 years.

[00:01:06] I met this man that we'll call Devin on an online dating app. We ended up seeing each other for about 7-8 weeks. What's bizarre about this story is that it has nothing to do with the time that we were seeing each other but it's about what happened after.

[00:01:23] During the weeks we were dating, we saw each other about once a week. It was nice, but I didn't feel a strong connection with him. Honestly, it felt like he wasn't that into me either. I decided to tell him that it wasn't going to work out.

[00:01:38] I told him that he didn't do anything wrong, but I just didn't feel like we were a good match. He seemed a little upset, but nothing out of the ordinary.

[00:01:47] He seemed like a normal guy and the fact that we only saw each other for a short time, I figured all was well. I certainly never expected what was to come in the following weeks and months.

[00:02:01] Devin had texted me a few times asking if I would give him another chance. I didn't think much of it at first because I can understand someone wanting to try again. However, I didn't waver and I told him that I was sorry. I wasn't interested.

[00:02:17] I didn't hear from Devin after that so I figured that was the end of it. After a while, Devin began calling and texting again. I was getting frustrated because I had made myself very clear and he wasn't respecting my wishes.

[00:02:33] This time when he was reaching out to me there was a change in his demeanor. He was being very disrespectful. He said, I bet you're out on a date right now. Already moving on so quickly.

[00:02:44] I hope he enjoys you and I'm sure you'll probably be sleeping with him. I know that's the kind of woman you are. I was a bit shocked since he had never talked like that. Of course, I blocked him. The next part happened over several weeks on and off.

[00:03:01] I started getting calls from unknown numbers at all hours. Devin also made fake Facebook profiles so that he could send messages to me. After that didn't work out for him, he switched strategies.

[00:03:13] He started acting like he hasn't been harassing me and said, hey, I'm coming to your area tomorrow. I made dinner reservations for us. I'll be there at 5pm. I can't wait to see you.

[00:03:24] He lived 45 minutes away and I told him not to even bother driving all that way. I would not be meeting up with him. I told him I didn't know why he thought that was appropriate.

[00:03:35] A few hours later, I got a slew of hateful messages from Devin about how inconsiderate and horrible I was for not meeting with him. He even tried to guilt me by telling me that he got a speeding ticket on the way to the area.

[00:03:48] He got mad and said that it was all for nothing. All I could do was keep blocking him through whichever method he was trying to use to get in contact with me. Then I received a 4-page letter in the mail from him.

[00:04:02] It was a story that he wrote. His story was about how we met and it described our time together. He even said he had fallen in love with me. It was so strange, especially since, like I said before, he didn't even seem that interested in me.

[00:04:18] After that, I didn't hear anything for a few weeks, so I hoped that it was done. But the scary part? This was only the beginning. One day I was in bed when I got a random message that said, I'm here. Come to the door. My heart sank.

[00:04:35] I went to the door and stepped out onto the deck since my neighbors are always outside. I didn't feel comfortable letting Devin into my house. He began going on about the same things, wanting another chance, letting me know that he loves me, etc.

[00:04:51] I once again told him no. I told him that he needed to leave me alone. Whenever I told him no, he would blankly stare at me. I began to feel afraid that he was going to snap. His eyes just looked wrong.

[00:05:05] He asked if he could at least just stay the night because it was his birthday the next day. He asked for birthday sex. The least I could do was go on a date with him. I was appalled.

[00:05:20] Then he asked to lay in bed with me, promising that he wouldn't even touch me. I was declining everything, but he just continued, I'll just lay on your couch. I just want to stay the night.

[00:05:33] This went on for two hours, but I was continuously telling him no and that he needs to leave. I'm not sure what made him snap out of it, but he suddenly walked away, got in his car and left.

[00:05:48] I felt so uneasy I was worried that he was going to try and break into my house later that night or something. He seemed so angry and hateful. He wasn't taking no for an answer.

[00:05:59] That night, I remember stacking wooden TV trays against the door just in case he came in so that they would fall and make a loud noise and wake me up. Thankfully, my kids were with their dad that night.

[00:06:11] This was the first time I was afraid to sleep alone in my house. A couple more weeks went by and I hadn't heard a word from Devin. One night, I was returning home at around 1030 at night after being out of town for 12 hours.

[00:06:26] I pulled into my driveway and saw this humongous branch from my tree. It had fallen into my yard. I opened my car door and got my phone out to take a picture of the branch.

[00:06:37] As I was doing this, I saw the shadow of a man coming around the corner of my car. I heard somebody say, hey you. Once I recovered from the small heart attack, I realized that it was Devin again. Where did he come from?

[00:06:53] I didn't see his car anywhere. He just walked out of the shadows acting all happy-go-lucky. He asked again why I wouldn't just give him a chance. I was terrified and had my keys in between my knuckles in case he was planning to hurt me.

[00:07:09] He had driven 45 minutes to my house and parked almost a block away just to watch and wait for me. I have no idea how long he staked outside of my house. I told him that he was scaring me and asked him to leave me alone.

[00:07:24] He attempted to follow me up onto my deck and I told him not to come any closer. Then he said the weirdest thing ever. He pointed at me and said, one day you're going to see me and think, that should have been my husband. Then he ran off.

[00:07:43] I went inside and quickly locked all of the doors and windows. I was afraid I was going to wake up to him pouring gasoline all over me so that he could set me on fire. I unblocked his number so that I could send him one final text.

[00:07:55] I told him if he ever contacted me in any way, shape or form again, I would contact the police. He didn't respond. The next part of the story is even more bizarre. I happened to update my FOID card because it didn't have my new address on it, that's

[00:08:12] my firearm identification card. I didn't want to have a gun anymore but after what had been happening, I decided I needed one for protection. I was told that my updated FOID card would be delivered the same day that Devin walked out of the shadows.

[00:08:29] I checked my mailbox after he left but there was no card among the other mail. I thought to myself about how Devin probably went through my mail since he was creeping around, he probably stole it.

[00:08:41] A week later I got a notification from a dating app, the one that I met Devin on. It said that I had a message, it was from him. I still hadn't received my new FOID card when he messaged me.

[00:08:53] Now on a whim, I decided to ask him about it. This man admitted that he did have my card. He said he saw an envelope on the ground outside of my house before he got there.

[00:09:05] He said that he put it in his back pocket and forgot about it before he left. I knew this was a lie but I was curious if he really had it.

[00:09:14] He said that he would happily give me the card, if we would go on a date, ending with at least a hug or a kiss. What the fuck? I wanted proof he had it so I could take it to the police since stealing someone's mail,

[00:09:30] let alone their FOID card is a federal offense. He told me the last few digits of the ID number on the card and the expiration date so I knew that it was true.

[00:09:41] The next day I went to the police and the courthouse for an emergency order of protection. I was granted one. I told the judge about the FOID card situation. He stated that he would require Devin to bring the card to the court hearing or send it to me.

[00:09:56] Devin ended up mailing it to me. He never got in trouble for that and that still annoys me. Two weeks later, there was a hearing for the actual order of protection since the emergency order was only temporary.

[00:10:10] Devin showed up at the hearing wearing a suit and holding a briefcase like it was some crime drama TV series. It was so odd. I told the story and gave all of the evidence that I had of being harassed and stalked by this man.

[00:10:25] All Devin could do was tell the judge that he never hit me or hurt me. He kept saying he should not have this order against him. He was very arrogant. The judge didn't appreciate Devin's extreme narcissism when Devin tried to talk to the judge like a child.

[00:10:43] Devin thought that he was smarter than everyone. He thought he could charm his way out of this. It was almost comical because no one was spying it. The judge granted the order protection which lasted for two years.

[00:10:57] Devin immediately appealed and I was able to see the court documents he submitted to the judge saying that this would ruin his career and reputation as an insurance agent. Devin went on about how he's a great man and how much he respects women.

[00:11:13] He even said he wanted to join the military to serve this amazing country but he couldn't do that with this order on his record. This man never expressed any interest in the military before. He has a master's in finance and wanted to run his own CPA firm.

[00:11:29] He was doing everything possible to gain sympathy. He requested they at least remove the searchable case information from the internet so that potential clients wouldn't be able to see it when they looked him up.

[00:11:42] He even sent the court instructions on how to have the content removed from Google. All of his appeal attempts were denied. He spent almost $2,000 fighting the case. He eventually stopped and I never heard from him again.

[00:11:57] I got a dog and a gun after this incident because I won't be caught defenseless. Even now three years later when I get home late at night I look around more than anyone normally would before getting out of their car just in case that asshole is there.

[00:12:14] This shift from nice guy to crazy guy happened when things ended because that's just how narcissists function I guess. When they don't get their way all hell breaks loose. So Devin you crazy narcissistic weirdo let's not ever meet again.

[00:12:43] This happened to me back in 2002 when I was about 7 years old. I'm 26 now. I've been following your podcast and listening to the stories for quite a while now. Hearing so many different stories from so many different people reminded me of the time

[00:13:00] that I had a let's not meet experience of my own. I thought I should share as well. Let me give you an idea about the setting. I'm from India and I live in a well known city in the country.

[00:13:14] My family had just moved into this new neighborhood which was pretty big with a number of apartment towers clubbed together which we call the residential society. I was a fairly introverted person but I had made a few friends since I moved to this neighborhood.

[00:13:33] I was friends with a group of all girls ranging from the ages of 5 to 8. Our residential society was a private area so our parents didn't fear us running around alone on the main streets.

[00:13:47] It was completely okay for us to go play within the society premises without any adult supervision. It all started on a pretty normal day. I was out with my friends playing hopscotch when I suddenly noticed somebody looking in our direction.

[00:14:02] Now you might think what's so strange about that? Let me tell you. It was a grown man who looked like he was probably around 27 to 28 years old. He was with a group of men and he was calling out to me.

[00:14:16] Many of the flats in the buildings were rented out to college students and bachelors so it was common to see men, solo or in groups, in our society. My friend and I were so busy with our games that we hadn't noticed a bunch of guys standing

[00:14:32] opposite where we were sitting together and chatting. The man calling out to me was not calling out my name but rather trying to get my attention. I tried to ignore it at first thinking that I probably misunderstood and it wasn't me he was calling out to.

[00:14:52] Again I heard him say, hey you, the curly haired girl. I was the only one in our group who had curly hair so I looked over at him. He beamed a big creepy smile at me and waved.

[00:15:07] I did not know this guy nor had I ever seen him in our neighborhood so there was tons of confusion plastered on my face. My friends were now looking back and forth between me and the man with the same confused expression.

[00:15:21] We completely forgot that we were playing hopscotch. The guy came up to me and said, trying to sound friendly, hi it's you isn't it? How have you been? I haven't seen you in so long. Say did you get a haircut? It looks so good on you.

[00:15:39] He also referred to me as baby. Again this is a grown man, I'm 7 years old. Just a kid, a little girl. Being an introvert I was always anxious about talking to someone new so naturally I cowered in front of him.

[00:15:58] I couldn't get a single word or sound to come out of my mouth. It was as if my throat was suddenly closing up. I thought if I didn't reply maybe he would get bored and leave me alone.

[00:16:10] But he was still looking me over with the same creepy beaming smile. I managed to muster up all my strength and meekly said, no, and shook my head not making eye contact. Instead of saying anything else he turned around and left. My friends asked me what just happened.

[00:16:32] I explained that I didn't know him and shrugged it off so we went back to playing. Fast forward a few days, I had forgotten about the entire bizarre incident. Then one afternoon I was on the swings in the playground waiting for one of my friends to show up.

[00:16:50] Then it happened all over again, that same weird guy showed up out of nowhere and greeted me. I thought to myself, oh my god what? You again? Who are you? Why are you trying to talk to me? Are you trying to follow me?

[00:17:05] He approached me and stood right next to me. I looked around wishing someone was there to help me since he was taking advantage of me being alone. This time he put his arm around me and whispered into my ear, come on tell me your name.

[00:17:21] We can be really close friends. Now I am visibly scared. I replied in a shrill voice, I don't know you, I want to go home. I tried to wiggle myself free but he was pretty strong compared to me. He squeezed me into him even more.

[00:17:42] I wanted to scream and push him away. It felt like I was having one of those nightmares where you want to scream but no audible noise comes out of your mouth. That's how it felt but it was real life.

[00:17:55] Before I could do anything else, he stood me up and began walking me along with him. His entire friendly demeanor had changed. He said, no don't try to go anywhere, I'm talking to you. Why didn't you talk to me the last time I saw you?

[00:18:13] With every word he said I felt his fingers digging deep into my forearm clutching me closer and closer. Come with me to my house, I want to show you something. My parents had always warned me, ever since I was little about stranger danger.

[00:18:30] They told me never to go anywhere with an unknown person no matter what he says or she says to me. Alarm bells were ringing in my head and they rang louder with each and every second. Adrenaline pumped through me as I felt this urge of fight or flight.

[00:18:49] The creepy guy was still blabbering but I wasn't paying any attention. I knew it was now or never. We had gotten too far from the playground when I gathered every bit of strength and courage inside me and I pushed him away with full force.

[00:19:05] I screamed big and loud, no! And I ran. I just kept running. I heard him shouting after me but I didn't care. I didn't look back. I didn't understand what he was yelling at me either.

[00:19:19] I ran all the way to my building and only stopped when I reached my flat. I collapsed on the ground and heaved heavily, trying to catch my breath. I felt like I had made a narrow escape because who knows what sick tormented kind of things

[00:19:37] the man was thinking in his head about me. I was so fucking scared I didn't utter a single word to my parents or my older brother about this incident. I never saw this weird guy or his friends in my neighborhood after that.

[00:19:53] I'm so thankful that my mom and dad always taught me to be aware of the horrors of strangers even at a young age. I didn't report him to the police or anyone else but I hope he never tries this stunt with any other girl.

[00:20:05] So to the creepy man who acted as if he knew me and wanted me to go to his house with him, I don't know what your intentions were with me and I never want to know. Let's not meet again.

[00:20:21] It was the summer of 2017 when my friends from Singapore and Vietnam traveled to spend some time with my boyfriend and I in Palawan, Philippines. Palawan is world famous, known for its white sand beaches and laid back island life.

[00:20:50] I was vacationing for a few days at the beach with my boyfriend, we'll call him Dino, and five of our friends flew over to join us. We stayed in a house that was close to the city.

[00:21:01] The first day was spent island hopping and checking out some of the local restaurants for dinner. On our second night, we decided to check out our local bar around midnight or so. It just happened to be conveniently located in the city center only about a 10 minute

[00:21:17] walk from the house where we were staying. It was what you would expect from a bar in a semi-provincial area, nothing great or fancy but it was filled with tourists and locals alike. It definitely wasn't a place you would go to if there were actually any other decent

[00:21:35] options but it was where everybody else was. The bar was already packed when we got there. Each of us only had one bottle of beer so none of us felt drunk or anything, tipsy maybe. We didn't stay long after surveying the surroundings.

[00:21:53] After a bit of dancing, we found ourselves lining up for the toilets and then heading toward the exit. I remember the feeling of the cold air on my face and taking it in with a deep breath.

[00:22:04] A few minutes later, we were all piled outside, well everyone except for Dino. We spent a few more minutes waiting until we went back inside to look for him. We first searched inside the toilets but no luck.

[00:22:19] I remember squeezing myself into the crowd going back and forth to cover as much of the space as possible. Then I stood at the spot where we last saw him. At that time, we were all just a bit confused so we all went back inside and tried calling

[00:22:35] his mobile which just kept on ringing but wasn't being answered. We didn't have any choice but to walk back to the house hoping that we would find him there. This seemed to be the most logical conclusion. We figured he probably thought that we went on ahead.

[00:22:54] Of course he wasn't there, otherwise there wouldn't be any story to write about right? After making some more useless phone calls to Dino, I was getting tired. My friend Darian and I walked through the dimly lit road that led from the house to

[00:23:12] the bar quite a few times. Darian and I traced back the path that Dino would have traversed assuming he went ahead of us. We were looking inside a few late night eateries along the way hoping to find him somewhere

[00:23:27] so that we could finally hit the sack and get some rest. We were all worried. I was frantic, tired and frantic. While this late night search was happening, flashes of morbid imagery came to mind. I pictured him lying motionless somewhere in the dark, his fingernails being plucked out

[00:23:47] one by one, blood oozing from his fingers. I was feeling despair, annoyance and anger welling up inside of me. I felt weak, dizzy and helpless all at the same time. I started calling hospitals in the area to check if someone injured had been recently brought in.

[00:24:07] I think it was around close to three in the morning when I finally laid down in bed. I fell asleep instantly due to stress and exhaustion. After what felt like only a few minutes of shut eye, I heard some frantic pounding on the bedroom door.

[00:24:23] It's a few minutes before six in the morning. I opened the door and found the house caretaker wide-eyed telling me that a young man was reportedly rushed to a nearby hospital. He had been picked up by some local officials just a few minutes ago.

[00:24:40] The caretaker added that said person had been stabbed. I felt so numb. This was really bad news. It could very well be my boyfriend. I quickly changed my clothes, got my wallet, my phone and I rushed to the hospital with the caretaker and another friend.

[00:24:59] We had to drive to another village about 15 minutes from where we were. The hospital was a run-down dilapidated structure as was common in most parts of rural Philippines. I walked fast, not bothering with niceties and just made my way to a room crowded with

[00:25:15] nurses and men in uniforms. There right in the middle of the room was an operating table with Dino on it. Dino had dirt and scratches all over his face, arms and legs. He howled at the sight of me and our friend.

[00:25:30] He was holding gauze to his left shoulder to stop bleeding as the knife had just been pulled out. He was shaking and his sobs filled the room. I stood beside him to comfort him, still feeling numb but I was also in shock.

[00:25:47] It was all so much and we all hadn't had nearly enough sleep. Dino stayed at the hospital for a few hours while we waited. The doctor showed us the x-ray. The knife wound was just a centimeter away from puncturing Dino's right lung.

[00:26:05] The doctor said that Dino was quite lucky to still be alive. By evening we were all back at the house. Everyone gathered around Dino. This was his story, parts of which we were able to corroborate as we viewed some of

[00:26:19] the CCTV footage from the local police at the station the next day. The moment that he got out of the toilet, he couldn't see me or our friends. So he went to look for us. He didn't see any of us around.

[00:26:33] We were all probably still inside of the bar, going to the bathroom and waiting for each other. The CCTV footage recorded him waiting outside for a bit, then he went back inside. He came back outside again, hesitated, then eventually crossed the street and started

[00:26:50] walking in the direction of the house. On the footage, it looked like he was blacking out. That was the last we saw of him on the footage. The next thing Dino could remember was being on a pedicab with someone trying to hold him

[00:27:06] down and someone else hitting him in the face hard. The driver was going very fast. He remembered blacking out again. The next thing, he's sitting on a sofa with someone sitting right across from him. They were smoking crack. He blacks out again.

[00:27:25] After that, he remembered he was running. It was dark outside, but he was running for his life. He stumbled on an unpaved rocky dirt path and something hit him hard in his right shoulder. He didn't realize at the time that feeling was a knife stabbing him.

[00:27:41] He was kicking hard and was able to hit someone. He then got back up and ran fast to where he could see some light. He eventually climbed a tall bamboo fence and then had to crawl under some structure.

[00:27:55] He heard some noise, whispers, and shuffling feet, which soon disappeared. He blacked out again. The next moment he remembered was hearing noises around him. Townspeople had flocked around him. Apparently, he had landed inside the yard of a local village official. He was found crouching under a chicken coop.

[00:28:17] Townspeople looked at Dino. They knew that he wasn't local. He reportedly looked very scared. He was crying and mumbling, so they brought him to the nearest hospital with the knife still stuck inside of him.

[00:28:31] We spent the following day talking to local police and checking out the vicinity of the village where Dino was found. We were shown some pictures of some people of interest, but my boyfriend couldn't remember any of them.

[00:28:44] We tried to calm down and make the best of the next few days. We wanted to at least relax and enjoy the amazing beaches of Palawan, but this was obviously something we couldn't shake off.

[00:28:57] We had a few good laughs, dinners, and drinks after that, but Dino started having nightmares. I don't want to elaborate on how incapable the local police have been with our case. Let's just say that there's no hope of ever having this case solved.

[00:29:14] We'll never find out who the abductors were and what they wanted from my boyfriend. So local police and kidnappers, let's never meet again. This story took place in the mid-80s when I was a college student on the west coast.

[00:29:48] To many listeners, it will have a ring of familiarity, sounding like the plot of a suspense film that was popular around that time. But as really did happen to my family, I assure you the real experience was equally as terrifying as the movie though.

[00:30:06] It was shortly after Christmas. My family had gathered for the holidays at a resort in the mountains for a ski holiday. After Christmas, I returned to school on the west coast. My dad flew directly to Europe for meetings and my mom and sister returned back to the

[00:30:24] family home in Chicago. When my mom and sister got home, my mom noticed that one of the doors that led to the backyard was slightly ajar. She silently chastised herself for not checking all of the doors before leaving on vacation.

[00:30:43] She assumed that the wind had blown it open. My sister went to bed and my mom went to her room for the night. Now my mom was in bed reading when at 11pm, the phone rang. On the other end of the phone was a horrifyingly familiar man's voice.

[00:31:05] He said, Welcome home. I hope that you and your daughter had a nice vacation. Now I say horrifyingly familiar because this was someone who had been stalking my family for months. He was calling to harass my mom whenever my dad wasn't home.

[00:31:26] It was very unnerving for her and she had reported these calls to the police on multiple occasions. That night, my mom replied to the caller, Just a moment, I'm getting my husband. To which the caller replied, I know that he didn't come home with you.

[00:31:47] She hung up the phone but then it rang again. This time the call came through a second phone line. She picked up and it was him again. She hung up and called the police, explaining what just happened.

[00:32:03] At some point she mentioned the door that led to the backyard had been found open after returning from vacation. The police asked if the house had two phone lines, which it did. The police asked my mom if it's possible he might be inside the house somewhere, calling

[00:32:21] from one line to the other. It was entirely possible since both of our phone numbers were unlisted in the directory. My mother raced to my sister's room, scooped her up and locked them in the bedroom together.

[00:32:38] Within minutes the police were there with a K-9 unit conducting a thorough search of the house. Luckily, the man was not found in the house that night. While the police were in the house, the caller called once again.

[00:32:54] The detective took the phone from my mom, identifying himself as being from the CPD. The caller quickly hung up. The detective explained to my mother that the fact that the caller had called again was good news. It confirmed that the caller wasn't actually inside the house.

[00:33:14] It was likely that the caller wasn't even in the area since at that point the area was surrounded with patrol cars and lights. They were flashing everywhere. That gave my mom and sister a bit of comfort.

[00:33:30] The police did ascertain in the course of their investigation that the individual had in fact been inside the house while my family was away on vacation. The calls continued. Then some months later, the caller was ultimately caught.

[00:33:48] Now I don't recall the details of how he was caught, but I remember his backstory. He worked for the company which my dad was the CEO of. It was a large company, and my dad had never even heard of this guy.

[00:34:04] The guy had been fired from the company at some point, and in his mind, it was my dad's fault. Security was beefed up considerably after that experience given my dad's extensive travel schedule. The ordeal came to a conclusion with no particularly negative outcomes other than the trauma experienced

[00:34:27] by my mom and sister. Now when we tell the story, it seems almost incredible, but things like this really do happen and it really is interesting to reflect back on. To the mystery caller who traumatized my family for all those months, let's not meet.

[00:34:59] I had just gotten out of a long-term relationship. I was doing the single person thing and running around with friends. My friends and I made plans to go to the theater one night to see a disco version of Midsummer Night's Dream because disco Shakespeare.

[00:35:19] It was a nice evening and I was hungry so I decided to eat close to the theater before meeting up with my friends. I parked in a well-lit parking lot, even though it was the middle of the afternoon.

[00:35:32] I knew it could be really late by the time that we would be leaving to go home since we were also planning on going to see the fireworks nearby on the river that night.

[00:35:42] As I walked to the restaurant, a somewhat scraggly looking guy gave me the Joey Tribbiani How You Doin? I nodded and smiled but did not slow down. I walked past him, into the restaurant and sat at the bar.

[00:35:59] I'm not much for taking up a table when I'm by myself, particularly when I plan on being leisurely with my meal. I ordered my food and broke out my book. There were several people at the bar and one was a lady that was sitting about three

[00:36:16] or four stools away from me. I registered her talking to someone at some point during my meal and realized it was the guy from outside. He was sitting on a bar stool between us, talking very excitedly to her.

[00:36:33] I noticed she left but again, I was reading, eating and enjoying my glass of wine. It was at that point that I noticed the man began to talk loudly to the bartender who was responding to him with short dismissive answers and going on about his job.

[00:36:53] I wasn't really listening but the conversation got my attention when the scraggly man said, Oh yeah? Well, I kill my own rabbits, I use a slingshot and I've gotten pretty good at it. What in the world?

[00:37:09] I live in a southern state but I haven't picked up on killing rabbits as a normal event. I made the mistake of looking up when he said this and that's when he started talking to me.

[00:37:21] He asked the question that all public book readers hate to hear, So, what are you reading? Look when I'm reading it means don't talk to me. I don't even remember what I was reading but I answered and tried to go back to my book.

[00:37:38] He continued, What are you doing tonight? I told him that I was going to disco Shakespeare with my friends. He asked if we had an extra ticket for him and I said no, no extras. He said that he'd see about buying one himself.

[00:37:56] He said that he liked Shakespeare a lot but his favorite book was Catcher in the Rye. Of course it is Mark David Chapman, of course it is. He quoted some Hamlet to me and then said how he felt close to Holden Caulfield, which

[00:38:16] as everyone knows is a huge red flag. Then he asked if I liked fishing. I said that I didn't. He said, I think you would if you tried it. We should go fishing right now. You have time before the play?

[00:38:34] He started telling me about how he had property with a huge lake that had a lot of fish. The whole conversation had been walking that line between weird and normal. He said that in his pond there was a huge carp that was eating all his other fish and

[00:38:52] he had been trying to get it out. He couldn't catch it but he had heard that using a used tampon as bait would catch it for sure. I can't even imagine what my face must have looked like right then.

[00:39:08] I said, I don't know anything about how that would work or who would offer something like that. He said, oh well, I have another plan with a net and some grappling hooks. I can wait until he comes by.

[00:39:24] I'm going to throw the net down and stab him with the hooks. He kept pushing to have me go fishing with him. He said, I'm sure you have time to go fishing with me. I'll bring you right back after.

[00:39:38] I told him that I was sure I didn't have time. I wasn't dressed for fishing and I didn't like fishing or killing things. He said, oh you don't know what you're missing. There's a great deal of satisfaction in killing your own food.

[00:39:55] I kill rabbits, squirrels and you know, people say you should stick to the seasons and stuff but there's no better feeling than eating a fawn. I know it's illegal but baby animals taste better. At this point I started furiously texting my friends but trying to act calm because

[00:40:17] this guy is not right. He kept veering off into creepiness that I wanted no part of. He said, I know, since you can't go fishing, let's go watch the fireworks. I assured him that I was doing that with my friends.

[00:40:34] He said, I know a really secluded spot down by the river, nobody ever goes there. I honestly don't remember a lot of what he was saying after that because I was texting my friends and telling them where I was so that someone could come and get me.

[00:40:49] This whole situation had already gone too far for me. He said, how about you come swimming at my pool tomorrow? I said that I definitely had plans. He replied, just give me your number so I can call to see if your plans have fallen through.

[00:41:09] I hesitated because I had seen a refusal to this type of thing go very bad before. I gave him my office number which incidentally was the fugitive division for the local police department.

[00:41:24] I hadn't been in my division long and I didn't know any officers or anybody in the department well enough to call for help. I sent a 911 text to a guy friend of mine and waited for the cavalry.

[00:41:38] At this point, I was hoping one of them would walk in and they would see me in distress. The scraggly guy poked my number into his phone and then glared at me. He had called my number to see if it was a real number.

[00:41:56] He started yelling at me, your phone isn't ringing, this isn't your number. I'm now glancing at the bartender who gave me a sympathetic look but didn't take a stand. I assured him that it wasn't the phone I had with me but it was my number.

[00:42:16] He then slid his business card over to me which said, the window ninja on it. He said, let's go walking. By this time I was not leaving that barstool. I was clinging to it like a life raft.

[00:42:33] He was a lot bigger than me and so far nobody in the bar had shown any signs that they would jump in if he escalated things too much. I said, no my friends are coming to pick me up. They're on their way. You won't go walking with me?

[00:42:51] You won't give me your right phone number? What should I do now? He then grabbed the back of my head and licked me from my neck up to my face and walked out. I was so stunned that I couldn't even react. I was shaking all over.

[00:43:12] And now I had been licked by a stranger who implied wanting to use my used tampons as bait for a fish that he wanted to kill. My friends finally came and one of them found me and escorted me to their car.

[00:43:30] Later on I talked to a co-worker who yelled, you call us next time. And I knew he meant it. I took window ninja's business card to work with me the following Monday. My co-workers and I looked him up in the public databases.

[00:43:47] Turns out he was a registered sex offender. Not that it was a huge surprise. Just typing all of this out made me lightheaded. But I know that I dodged a huge bullet. So to the window ninja, let's not ever meet again.

[00:44:08] Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast. If you're a patron, don't forget to stick around after the music for your extended ad-free version of this week's episode.

[00:44:36] If you'd like to get access to the Patreon for hours and hours of bonus content, head over to patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast to sign up today and support the show. This week you will have heard Out of the Shadows by Talia.

[00:44:50] Creepy Stalker Frenemy by JP. A Beach Holiday Turned Near Death Experience by Paolo. Phone Call Stalker by TK. And finally, Window Ninja by Alice. All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission of their respective authors.

[00:45:09] Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast is not associated with Reddit or any other message boards online. As always, if you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com.

[00:45:20] And don't forget to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts, Odd Trails, a true paranormal podcast and the Old Time Radiocast at crypticcountypodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts. I'll see you all next week for a brand new episode. Stay safe.