16x11: Paper Bag Man

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This podcast contains adult language and content. Listen to your discretion is advised. If you have a story to share, send it to let's not meet stories at gmail.com. [Music] Back in late 2023, I began seeing a man in my neighborhood walking his dog. I would see him in the morning when I went to work, maybe two or three times a week. He was an average looking man, maybe in his 60s. Whenever I did see him in the morning, I would then see him again when I came home. Since I worked in eight to five jobs, I didn't think anything of this. I simply assumed he and I had similar schedules. He always wore the same blue jacket, which I didn't think much of because it looked like a raincoat or some kind of windbreaker jacket. So I figured that's just what he threw on when he went to walk the dog. He would stare at me a lot when he walked by, but I just thought he was a lonely guy. One day, I asked him if he had received the end of year letter from our HOA. He seemed confused. I repeated the question and he said that he had not received anything. I wrote this off as well because people check their mail at different times, so he was clearly caught off guard by my asking. By this point, I started seeing him more often and had been seeing him daily for months, but we never spoke. He genuinely seemed shocked that I had spoken to him, though, so I just told him to be on the lookout for it. He stared at me blankly for a moment and then went back to walking his golden retriever. I then began seeing him even more after this. By Christmas time, I was seeing him at least once a day if not twice. I treated him like every other neighbor and did a quick neighborly wave whenever I saw him walking his dog. The following March I separated from my husband. He moved out and took our dog with him since he owned the dog before I came along, which was rough but understandable. Since I was alone and I was sad, my mom came and stayed with me for a bit. She wasn't working, so she was going to be at my house during the day while I was gone. Now she noted the same guy walking by all the time. She noticed he always stared and she thought it was a bit odd. She waved hello to him a few times, but he never did anything other than stare and walk his dog. She said since he walked his dog often and was seemingly on a schedule, he might have had early onset dementia or she thought maybe he was sick somehow in using the dog as a way to get some exercise or stay active. We agreed that it was a bit odd but harmless. And then after a month or so, my mom went back to her house and I was back to living alone. One thing I loved about that house was the fact that the backyard backed up to a national park. Beyond my fence were trees and forest. After my husband and the dog laughed, I would be sitting in the backyard and I would hear what sounded like footsteps. It was almost always late at night when I would be sneaking out for a late night cigarette before bed. I was drinking a good amount at the time, so I figured a few things. One, I was paranoid. Two, I was probably hearing raccoons, possums, or anything else in the woods. And three, having a dog would have been nice because it would have scared off critters. Hearing footsteps didn't happen every night though, and these instances happened far enough apart that I was just able to write them off. But I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. My fence had horizontal planks rather than the typical standard vertical style. There were larger gaps between the planks that you could see through, especially if you were right next to it. And one day, I looked over the fence in the daylight for signs to see if anyone had been back there. The national park kept fire breaks cleared between the edge of the park and the back of the homeowners properties, so it was difficult to tell if anyone had been there or not. Shortly after this, I started noticing that lighters and cigarettes were missing from my backyard. I would swear that I had an almost full pack before going to bed, but when I would check the next day, the pack that was nearly full would be half empty. But as I said, I was drinking pretty heavily at the time, so I wrote all of this off due to my heavy drinking. Around this time, my cousins started coming over and helping me do some handy work around the house on the weekends. The neighbor guy in the blue coat continued walking his dog every day. He would stop and watch my cousins from the sidewalk as they did work at the house. He would let the leash out for his dog to come up to them, but they never pet his dog because it smelled awful. I told my cousins my mom's theory and said that he was probably sick or a bit odd, but ultimately pretty harmless. However, they did not agree. And the next time he let his dog onto the driveway, my cousins told him to fuck off. From what they told me, he just stared at them for a while and then walked off. After that, the man would still stare, but his general demeanor became even creepier. When I would drive by, he would stop and watch me. He would physically turn his body to follow my car as I went by. I would wave in a neighborly way as I had always done to be friendly, but he just stood there coldly, unflinching. Around June, a friend of mine moved in. She was going through a divorce as well, and I was happy to have someone to share the space with and hang out with after work. We had a lot of fun drinking and burning fires and the fire pit in the backyard. And then it began again, the sound of footsteps in the woods. We were both pretty drunk, so when we heard it, we ran inside and laughed it off. This happened a handful of times over the next few months. I heard things even more often when I was alone, though. I roommate split her time, so she was never with me during the weekends. She had noted the creepy guy with his dog. He seemed to be walking his dog when I left for work at around 730 in the morning and again when she was leaving for work at around 830. He would let his dog come over to her. At first, she would pet the dog, but she stopped because, again, the dog smelled so bad. She noticed that the man never spoke. He always just stared, so she started feeling creeped out as well. She said that he seemed friendly enough until she stopped petting the dog. After that, she noticed that his stairs shifted, and to being cold and hateful. He began stopping and physically shifting his body as he watched her drive by, just like with me. Then one day, I saw him down past the entrance of the neighborhood and at the tree line leading into the forest. He was clearly walking into the woods. That was when everything clicked. That was when I realized why he seemed to be wearing the same clothes every day. Why did he seem to be there with his dog every day? Right when we left the house. Why did both of them smell so bad? And also finally an explanation as to why I was hearing things in the woods. I began to panic. Surely there wasn't a man living in the woods watching me, right? Surely he hadn't been watching me through the fence for almost a year at this point. The whole time this was happening, the house next door was empty. It was a rental and the previous tenants had left, so it just sat there. I started thinking back and I began seeing the man sometime after the previous tenants moved out. Now I tried my best not to panic and started looking into trail cameras to film behind the fence. So I told my roommate about my theory and she said I sounded crazy at first. She jokingly started yelling out for him to go away and leave us alone. Then we literally started hearing footsteps in the woods right at that moment. So we ran inside. Before I could even order a camera, the homeowners next door rented out their house. It was just days after I told my roommate what I thought was going on. A family with a dog in two kids quickly moved in after that. The last time I saw the man walking his dog was the morning that the family moved in. I remember this pretty clearly because I came home from work and saw the moving truck. When I introduced myself to the new neighbors, I talked to them about the woods behind the house since they didn't have a fence. I asked if they found anything back there. They said that they did, but it was just random junk. They threw it out and I didn't say anything more. I contemplated telling them about the man but I figured I would just sound crazy. I believe this man was living behind their house and watching me through the fence. I never saw him again after they moved in, but I think he knew that his cover was blown so he must have moved on to watch other people. I stayed in that home until about October 2025. And even though I literally never saw the guy again after that, let's not meet. When I was in college, a few of my high school friends and I still loved hanging out on the weekends. This often consisted of us going to buy alcohol and then we'd sit in our local woods and have a few drinks together. One Saturday in July we decided to head out to a forest a few miles away. It was daylight and we planned to explore as much as possible before it got dark. The forest was quite dense in most places and much of the daylight would be shrouded in shadow even as the sun was at its highest, but it was calm and peaceful. The forest was located behind a prison which added an element of fear, but seeing as it was daylight we didn't think too much about it. Once we stepped into the forest we pushed our way through the dense trees for around 45 minutes and we were chatting away and just catching up with each other as friends do. Not long after this we saw something through the trees and the distance. When we reached it we realized it was a cabin. It was a hexagon shape with thick log walls and sticks also mud for a roof. We noticed a huge deep fire pit next to it. There was trash everywhere though. It looked as though it had been recently used. We were unsettled but luckily it was still daylight and the forest still felt calm. We shared thoughts about who could have built it and even suggested it could have been an escaped prisoner who wandered into the forest after escaping. Looking back now it's highly unlikely an escaped prisoner would hide in the forest directly behind the prison they just escaped. The cabin didn't have a door so we knew there wasn't anybody inside but we did head inside anyway to see what we could find. And when we all stepped in we noticed a lot of tools hanging on the log walls. There were rusty saws, hammers, screwdrivers etc. This unsettled us a bit more and we debated about leaving before whoever built this returned. But because we were young adults and there were four of us we thought that we'd be okay and just decided to stay. But to take these tools head even deeper into the forest and attempt to build our own cabin. After a few hours we only managed to put up a few logs before we got bored so we decided to call it a day and head back home. However we left the rusty tools where we had started building our cabin and neglected to return them. A week later we decided to head back to the forest and find that cabin to see if anything had changed. Before we set out we bought a load of hairspray and marshmallows from our local store so that we could build a fire in the fire pit that we had found. By the time we got to the forest it was quite late and the sun was starting to set. This was our plan all along though since we wanted to have a glowing fire in the dark with our drinks and snacks. When we reached the cabin we noticed it had been completely destroyed. All of the logs were torn down across the site. We wondered what could have happened but we figured that when the person or people who built it returned and found that their tools had disappeared they decided to tear down their cabin since it had been found. We were worried about someone coming back when the fire was lit but we still wanted to stick to our plan as much as possible. Since the forest was so dense we decided to move to a different site and hoped that the forest would conceal us as much as possible. So we walked for around 30 minutes to find a new spot, dug a pit and lit our fire. For a while we had a great time. We had a few drinks, roasted marshmallows and one of my friends brought his guitar and played a few songs. After an hour or so we saw flashlights between the trees some distance away. This was followed by shouting. We then noticed a few men were heading towards us but because the forest was so dense it was slowing them down. We looked at each other and tried to come up with an idea. We knew the forest would be too hard to navigate in the dark especially to the south where it became even thicker. One of my friends and I really wanted to run but our other two friends thought that they'd be caught anyway so they were just going to try and hide in the area or just try to reason with these guys who were coming toward us. My friend and I who wanted to run ran for it but we didn't want to head to either side of the men because they would cut us off so our only option was to go south deeper into the woods, the thicker part of the forest. We had a flashlight of our own but we tried to hide as much of the light as possible so that the men following would either lose us or not see us. After a grueling twenty minutes of running through thick forest which gave us scratches on almost every part of our bodies we reached a barbed wire fence. We looked back and we couldn't see anything but we could still hear the men's voices in the distance. We knew we didn't have long until they caught up to us and this fence went on and on both ways so we decided to climb the fence in hopes that the men wouldn't follow. So we then both started to climb. I was able to take my hoodie from around my waist and use it to cover some of the barbed wire but inevitably some of it did cut us. We were able to make it over to the other side and instead of continuing south we decided to travel along the fence until we found a way back through and around the men. We had no idea what was happening to our other two friends and we debated calling the police when we were able to but we weren't allowed to be out there lighting fires and we didn't want to reveal that we were out there doing that and get into trouble. After walking along the barbed wire fence for a while we came across a section where we could hop back over safely and into the dense part of the forest. We didn't have a signal on our phones and we couldn't call either of our friends to see if they were okay. We continued a little while longer and came across an exit to the forest. We couldn't hear anything from behind us but then we saw some houses off in the distance. We decided to either head to the house and under the street lamp. before deciding what to do next. But as we got closer, we could see that our friends were already under a street lamp near the houses. We ran up to them and asked them what happened. They went on to say that they decided to hide, since my friend had his guitar and couldn't effectively run with it. This worked. The men arrived at the fire while our friends hid behind some logs just outside of the light of the fire. They said that the men looked to be a lot older than us and seemed to be very aggressive. They also said that the men were holding what they thought were crowbars or something similar. As the men were shouting for us and talking, our friends were able to quietly make their escape. As they were walking towards the edge of the forest, they noticed a pickup truck parked on a logging trail with its lights on and no one inside. We think this was probably their truck. They then ran out and towards the houses where they eventually found us. We went back to that forest a few times after that, but we haven't seen those men since. We never really ventured that deep into the forest again, and we've only been back there during the day. You ever have one of those nights where your brain just won't turn off? You're exhausted, it's late, and you're lying there running through every weird interaction you've ever had in the last decade. Yeah, I know that feeling very well. I do it every single night, especially after spending some time with the stories on this show. So I want to tell you about something that's actually been helping me with that. It's called mood, and they make federally legal hemp-derived cannabis products that ship straight to your door. Gummies, flour, pre-rolls, edibles, all grown on small, pesticide-free family farms here in the US. What makes them different is that their stuff is actually built for specific moments. They have gummies to help you sleep. Gummies for focus, for feeling happy, you fork. My personal favorite is the Sleepy Time Advanced Gummies. Now it's not just THC. It has CBD, CBN, Ashwagonda, Magnesium, and they'll just kind of shut your brain up. You drift off, and you wake up clear. No grouginess. I don't know how they did it, but it definitely works. Despite what you may have heard in the news, THC products like moods are still completely federally legal to buy online. It ships discreetly right to your door, no dispensary, no awkward conversations, and everything's backed by a 100-day satisfaction guarantee, and first time buyers get 20% off by using the code "meat" at checkout. Head to mood.com. Find the functional gummy that matches exactly what you're looking for and let mood help you discover your perfect mood. And don't forget to use promo code "meat" when you check out to save 20% off your first order. Try it today at mood.com. For Lauren even. Like your efforts are futile, and you can spend a fortune trying to find fabulous people, only to get flooded with candidates who are just fine. Fortunately, Zippercruder figured out how to fix all that, and right now you can try Zippercruder for free at zippercruder.com/zipp. With Zippercruder, you can forget your frustrations because we find the right people for your roles fast, which is our absolute favorite effort. Fantastic! Don't forget that's zippercruder.com/zipp. This happened years ago, but it comes up whenever my friend Kate mentions this guy. I was 14 at the time, and Kate was the same age. Now, my guy friend had a friend. We'll call him Duke. He had some violent tendencies, as well as stalker issues, and he had had a crush on me for some time. I read tarot, and he wanted a reading. Turns out what he asked was true to a point. I wasn't interested in him, and there was no way I was going to date him. So, he found another girl to throw his creepy affections on. My friend Kate. It started somewhat harmlessly with a few phone calls in the afternoon, and some love notes in the mail. They went to different schools, so they didn't have any run-ins or meetings at lockers or anything like that. But he also managed to leave roses for her on her porch. But then, he got clingy. He started leaving jewelry that he had stolen in her mailbox. Then he would leave pictures of them that he glued together, taped to the outside of her window. He also started calling her at midnight and standing outside of her house at around 6am degree her first thing in the morning. He would even stand outside her window playing music when it was raining. The cops were often called on him, and he was taken home to his mom's embarrassment. She was overwhelmed by this, and she didn't even know what to do. During this particular incident, Kate was at my house. We were hanging out and having fun. I had invited her for a sleepover, and then the doorbell rang out of the blue. It was 9pm, which was past time for any visitors not sleeping over to be coming by. A fair roll set by my grandma. Kate and I looked at each other then dicked outside. There we saw Duke standing under my carport. We saw his shaggy brown hair and muddy brown eyes. He was wearing a dirty white t-shirt, some blue jeans, and flip-flops. A chill went down my spine, and I don't know why, but I opened the door. I guess to be polite. "Hi, Duke. Nice to see you," I said. "Hi, Cara. You're looking pretty," he replied. "Thanks. It's a little late. Why are you here?" I asked. A strange creepy smile then stretched across his face. It was like he thought he found a prize. "I found out Kate was here. Can I see her?" he asked. Now Kate's mom knew by now not to talk to Duke when he came over. Let alone tell him where she was. She knew to just call the cops. I then asked, "Who told you that?" Duke replied. "Kate's mom. Can I talk to her?" He sounded insistent, but I closed the door slightly before replying. "Look, it's late, maybe tomorrow." I then closed the door even more, but he pressed his hand against it, and challenged. I really need to talk to her, Cara, now. I pressed harder on the door, but he was strong. I insisted. No, Duke, it's late. Just go away. I was able to slam the door shut since Kate ran up and pressed her weight on it, and I threw the dead bolt on and locked the bottom lock. As I looked at the people, he just stood there. The porch light kept coming on and off occasionally, but he didn't move for about ten minutes. Then he started knocking. I wanted to handle this myself to prove that I could, but the situation was getting out of hand. The light knocking turned into banging, which became pounding. I didn't think that old door was going to hold. He even began kicking it, and that's when my grandpa came down the stairs. He's a big bear of a man and won't tolerate anyone breaking doors or anything. In his hand was a hunting rifle. I was actually scared for Duke in that moment. I turned to my grandpa and asked, "Grandpa, what are you going to do?" My grandpa responded, "I'm going to make him leave." "Are you going to shoot him?" I asked. "You're not going to shoot him, are you?" I really didn't want him to go to jail, nor did I want him to have to explain Duke's death to Duke's mom. My grandpa replied, "Of course not. I'm just going to scare him." My grandpa then threw the door open and pointed the gun at Duke's nose, which I'm pretty sure made him piss himself. Then my grandpa said, "You're not going to be talking to anyone tonight. You get out of here and go home. I can guarantee your mom's worried." He then told him to never set foot on the property again. As my grandpa jostled the gun, Duke slowly shuffled down our driveway and onto the street. The cops were called shortly after, and he was taken home. He didn't come back to my house, and left Kate alone after that. I never want to meet Duke again, and I'm sure Duke never wants to meet my grandpa again. I'm a woman in my 50s, so I grew up in the 80s. Living in Sydney, I was with my mom, my dad, and my two younger sisters. On the occasion that my parents decided to go out, we had family to look after my sisters in me. By the time I was 12, my parents decided that they would finally trust me to babysit my sisters. As such, this story occurred on the very first time my babysat. My parents decided to go out for dinner and see a movie on a Saturday night. They had found a midnight screening of one of their favorite movies from their childhood, so they knew they wouldn't be home until around 1 or 2 am. At around 11, my sisters and I were still up. It was pretty late for us, but we were just staying up to watch TV with the lights off when we heard some rustling in our front yard. We chalked it up to some wind or a cat, so we didn't worry ourselves with the noise all that much. But then, about two minutes later, there was a bang on the front door, which was unsettling since it was much louder than a normal, friendly visitor. Three of us were terrified. We were a bit more collected than I thought we would be, and we stayed silent and turned the TV off. Even in the 80s, with way fewer stranger danger advisories than there are now, there was still no way in hell I was going to open that door for anyone, especially that late at night. And I knew that it wasn't our folks. And then there was another bang at the door. I decided to brave it, just a little, and I made my way over to the front door. My sisters followed. Unfortunately, the door was almost completely wooden, with just some thin strips of heavily covered and frosted glass panels, so from the outside no one could really see us. As the three of us were crouched there, we could barely make out a figure at the door. And before we knew it, the door knob started rattling, and whoever this person was, tried to enter the house. Not knowing if they knew that we were home, and too scared to make it obvious, I had to do something. Luckily, I had a wooden door stop, so I quickly grabbed it and tried to quietly jam it under the door so that it would hopefully stop it from being opened. Our only phone was right at the front door as well, so I was too scared to use it in the event that the person outside might hear us. So I ushered my sisters upstairs to our parents room where we huddled together. I knew we could see the front stoop from our parents window, which didn't have blinds just heavy curtains. I couldn't resist looking, and my sisters of course felt the same, so we ended up slowly putting our heads under the curtains so that we didn't have to pull them up, and we looked out at the front. What happened next has fueled our nightmares for life. We saw this old man and his eyes were focused right on us from the second we looked out. It was like he knew exactly where we were in the house, and he was waiting to catch our gaze. He had the most menacing, scowling face. We saw that he was holding something, a brown paper bag. He held it by the top, making it obvious that something was inside, and slowly lifted it beside his head. Then he lifted his other arm up with the finger pointed at the bag, and very slowly moved his forearm back and forth, creepily gesturing to whatever was in the bag. The whole thing lasted maybe five seconds before we all ducked our heads back inside, recoiling in fear. I stood up about a minute later and moved to the very edge of the window, praying, "I might see more without him seeing me through the side of the curtain." So I looked out again, and he was gone. My sisters and I huddled together, scared for ages. We were on the floor of our parents' bedroom. I don't remember much after that. I just remember our parents coming home and us telling them what happened in hysterics. I think our dad called and made a police report, but that was about it. He was never seen by any of us again. I have and forever will be desperate to know who that man was and what he wanted from us, and most importantly, what the hell was in the bag. To the creepy old man, I'm glad we didn't meet again. Since the last time you actually looked at your phone bill, I can remember looking at mine just sitting there staring at it thinking, "What am I even paying for?" The free streaming service that I never use, the premium perks that somehow cost me more? Honestly, it's a racket. So I switched to MetMobile, and honestly, I feel a little silly for waiting so long. Same premium wireless service, same high speed data, a limited talk, and text running on the nation's largest 5G network, all for just $15 a month. I brought my own phone, activated with ESIM in like five minutes, and I kept my number, and I just started saving, no contract, no nonsense. Big wireless carriers have been counting on you not questioning the bill. Mint exists specifically to fix that. If you like your money, MetMobile is for you. Shop plans at mintmobile.com/meat. New customer offer for the first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra cement mobile for details. I've been a student and to lose for three years now. This happened during my first year. Unlike many I don't live in student housing, but in an apartment my father rented. It all started one day when I was coming home from the supermarket. I passed a blonde man who appeared to be around 40 years old. He was easily 1.8 meters tall, just shy of six feet for the American listeners. He was wearing completely worn out work boots that left marks on the ground, which is a detail that will be important for later. I noticed him simply because he was looking at me very strangely as if he were judging me. I ignored it though and just went home. From then on I ran into him every time I went grocery shopping. Seriously I saw him every single time. He was always there looking at me the same way. But up until then I didn't really think too much of it. To me he was just a strange guy. It was becoming a problem because I would start leaving university and would see him sitting near the entrance. Now I often wore a university sweater when I was grocery shopping. So maybe that was why he was sitting there. Clearly this made me uncomfortable, especially since he seemed to be looking for someone. I ignored him and continued on my way home. And now we arrive at the moment of the incident. That must have been 10pm when I started to make myself something to eat. I then went to take out the trash. When I got to the ground floor I saw boot prints. I think you can guess who they were from. I hurried back inside when I saw these and very quickly went to bed. Then in the middle of the night I woke up startled. I don't know what made me go look through the people on my door, but being very paranoid by nature and just having a bad feeling I went to the door. And there he was. It was the guy I had been seeing at the grocery store. He was in front of my door sitting against the wall, seemingly asleep. My heart was pounding. I was frozen with my eye glued to the people. I wasn't able to move. After a few seconds he slightly stirred and then slowly sat up. He wasn't asleep. He positioned himself directly in front of the door and remained perfectly still. I think he must have heard me approach the door. Then without warning he placed his hand on the door handle and tried to pull it down. Luckily it didn't budge. He tried again though, this time even a harder, but still the door would not open. It was locked. At that moment I didn't dare breathe. I felt like he knew I was there right behind the door. He then pressed his ear against the wood as if trying to hear the slightest sound coming from inside. He then took a step back and gave the door a light knock. It wasn't hard enough to alert the neighbors, but it was loud enough to make me jump. He then murmured something, but I couldn't make out what it was. He tried to open the door again and then tried the doorbell. Then a second time Obviously I didn't answer Suddenly he looked up at the people and smiled It was as if he knew I was there His smile chilled me After a few seconds he finally walked away down the hallway into the darkness Obviously I couldn't sleep that night The next morning when I left my house I found new boot prints right in front of my door But the strangest thing is that I never saw them again Not in front of the supermarket not at the university. I never saw them ever again Honestly, I don't know if I should have called the police or even a friend because he didn't really go through with anything But still I've since moved apartments and I've even changed Neighborhoods. I hope they never cross his path again This happened about nine years ago and when it comes to mind it creeps me out So I was on an adult dating website one of the fetish types. I was just looking for something fun nothing too serious Anyway, I was naive and gave out more information than I should have I was chatting with the guy and at some point He asked me what I did for work At the time I was working at a McDonald's so I told him so He asked which one and without even thinking of it I went ahead and specified which location I did work at We chatted on and off We hadn't been chatting for too long But I also gave him my phone number and he talked about how he wanted to meet me on my break and have some fun I told him no thanks since I didn't want to bring that lifestyle to my job I checked my messages again just before I was due to clock out from work and It was lucky for me that I did he mentioned that he was at my job and he told me what he ordered I think it was a big Mac meal. I was like Okay, well don't expect me to do anything with you. I'm not interested He then got upset and refused to accept that I wasn't interested I was scared because I had sent him a picture with my face But I had never received one from him I wasn't too interested in him so I didn't really push to have him send me one back because I didn't feel like it was likely I was going to meet up with him Plus his interests weren't aligning with what I was looking for Thankfully, I hadn't told him I worked schedule so he didn't know that I was about to clock out So after I did I told one of my managers that I was on a dating website and one of the guys I was talking to had just showed up I explained that I had no idea what he looked like and said I was going to hang out in the break room for a bit She didn't judge me. She just said that that would be fine So I waited about half an hour before I left I didn't have a car at the time and I had to walk home I was really afraid he would see me and try to pick me up in his car Luckily no one followed me while I was walking so I was in the clear This opened my eyes and made me more aware of the information I give out to strangers Now I just give vague responses until I know people better So to the creepy guy from the dating app. Let's not ever meet [MUSIC PLAYING] Three years ago, I moved into a student apartment one hour away from my parents home. It was for my studies and I was 17 at the time. I had negotiated for a long time with my parents to live on my own and study independently. Since the school I was attending was far from home. At first they were reluctant, but they eventually agreed. The apartment was small, but I liked it. It gave me my first taste of freedom and independence, and I was able to decorate it the way that I wanted. I also made friends quickly and I met my best friend, Eva. Everything started when a boy moved into the apartment next to mine. I didn't notice him initially. It was only when I came back from my weekend at my parents that I saw a new door mat had been placed at the door next to mine. One evening, I was in the common room, which was this place with couches, a mini-bar, and a foosball table. It was basically a place in the building where young people could hang out and pass the time. I was there with my friends when a boy entered the room. At first glance he looked shy and a bit lost. Eva suggested that we invite him to join us so she got up and came back with him. He sat with us and we went around introducing ourselves. For the rest of the evening he was quite reserved and didn't talk much, but I didn't pay much attention to it. As we went back up to our apartments, Eva discreetly told me, "Did you notice that he kept looking at you?" I think he likes you. I just smiled because at that time boys didn't particularly interest me. I was focused on my studies, so I essentially just brushed it off. One's day was mail day, so the following Wednesday I went down to the mailbox to get my mail. There wasn't anything special just a postcard from my aunt who was traveling to Italy and a few ads. I flipped through them and a piece of paper fell out with my first name written on it. I opened it and written in pin, the note said, "You dress so well. You are more beautiful every day." I smiled and imagined myself in a romantic TV series, but I really didn't think anything of it. I also mentioned the note to Eva, though. We just laughed about it. One evening after that, while I was at work at this small restaurant near my school, the guy ended up coming in. I worked a bit to earn some pocket money for groceries during the week, and so I could occasionally treat myself to some shopping. While refer to this guy is Dylan. When Dylan came in, he sat at the bar, and I went over to take his order. He was very smiley and talked a lot, even though I had other customers to take care of. It was only at the end of my shift at closing time that I realized he had stayed for two hours. I found this to be strange, but I tried not to think too much about it. We wound up walking back to our apartments together. I was about to say goodbye before going into mine, but he hugged me. This surprised me. He then said, "I'm happy to have a friend here. You're one of the only ones." I was surprised, since we barely knew each other. The next day I went to school and I ran into him in the hallway. He came over to talk to me, and we chatted between classes, but the conversation was only about me. He asked questions like, "What city do your parents live in? What's your class schedule? Do you have a boyfriend?" But then I asked him questions about himself. He dodged them, and he always brought the conversation back to me. In the days that followed, I kept running into him every morning on my way to school, and evening when I got home, and sometimes even in the school hallways, even though before we hardly crossed paths. I found it very strange that I suddenly saw him everywhere. I talked about it with Eva and a few friends, but they all told me that maybe he just had the same schedule as mine. I had thought that the little note I received in the mail might have come from him, but I didn't mention it. One day while I was cooking at home, the doorbell rang. I thought it might be Eva coming to pick up some other things, but when I looked through the people, I saw Dylan, and he was already smiling. I hesitated to open the door, but I reluctantly did anyway. He was holding a box of chocolates. He handed them to me and said, "This is to thank you for being a golden friend." I didn't really know what to say, so I just thanked him and closed the door. That evening while I was zoning out in front of the TV, something clicked. I was eating the chocolates when I remembered that the day before I had gone grocery shopping with a friend. "We passed by the candy aisle, and she bought chocolate. I had told her what my favorite chocolates were. But since they were expensive, I said I was going to have to wait until next month to buy some." What was strange was that I hadn't seen Dylan in the store at any point, and I don't remember telling him that I loved this type of chocolate. The exact ones he gave to me. It bothered me a bit that he somehow knew this about me. But I thought maybe he had asked Eva, so I talked to her about it, and she told me that he had never gone to see her, so we both found it strange. As the days went by, I kept running into him more, and every time he saw me he'd come to talk to me, and honestly it was becoming annoying. I talked about it with some friends who simply told me to tell him the truth. They told me to tell him that it bothered me, and that he needed to keep his distance. So one morning, in the school hallways, I went up to him, stressed, but I told him the truth. I said, "Dylan, you're really kind, and I know we're neighbors, but I feel like you're following me, and I think you're getting a little too close with me, even though we barely know each other." Please understand that this isn't against you. I'd just like you to keep your distance. His face fell at that moment. He looked angry and a bit sad. It was hard, but it was better that way. Just before the end of your holiday period, my cousin came to visit me and stayed at my place for two days. We had a good time together. I ran into Dylan less and less. When I did see him, he didn't even look up at me. I think he was hurt, but I preferred that over having him follow me everywhere and talk to me nonstop. On the day I walked my cousin to the train station so that he could go home. I came back and ran into Dylan in the hallway on our floor. He said hello, and I said hello back. And then before I went to my apartment, he asked, "Was that boy your boyfriend?" I told him no, and I explained that he was my cousin who had come to visit me for the holidays. He then went back into his apartment without saying anything. A few evenings later, when I got home, there was a bouquet of flowers placed on the table in my kitchen, with a small note that read, "Happy Holidays." I immediately realized this was from Dylan, but what bothered me was that the bouquet was inside my apartment. Dylan did not have the keys to get into my place and above all, he had no right to do it. I immediately picked up the bouquet and went to bring his doorbell. I'll admit I was angry. After I rang the bell, he opened his door and I said, "Listen, I'm not going to repeat myself. I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in you, and I don't want your presence either. So please, don't waste your money. Give this bouquet to someone else." His face fell again and he just replied, "Okay." I asked him how he managed to leave the bouquet in my apartment and he simply told me that the building caretaker had opened my door so that he could put the flowers inside. I didn't look any further into it after that, and just went back home. A few nights later, I was asleep in my bed when the doorbell rang. I got scared so I woke up with a start. I looked at the time on my phone. It was 3 a.m. I wondered who could be disturbing me at this hour, so I got up quietly and looked through the people, but the hallway was dark. I couldn't see anything. I stepped back slowly, and then there was a soft knock at the door. From the other side, I heard someone whisper, "Open up. I just want to explain myself." It was Dylan's voice. I was scared because it wasn't normal to do that kind of thing at 3 a.m. At first, I wanted to check that my door was locked, but if I made a noise, he would know that I was awake. So I went to the bathroom, which was the only room in my apartment that I could lock. I thought that he would leave, but he kept knocking on the door harder and harder, which scared me even more. So I sent a message to Eva, but of course I didn't get a reply, which was understandable since no one was awake at 3 a.m. especially during the school term. I then heard a metallic noise. That was when I realized he was trying to force the lock open. My heart began to race, so I decided to call the police. I was so stressed that I could only give my address, my floor, and my door number. The operator told me that she would stay on the line until the police arrived. I could hear him pulling at the handle, so I knew time was running out. What would happen if he managed to open the door before the police arrived? Belonger I waited the harder, the blows on the door became. At one point, I heard loud footsteps in the hallway and someone shouting. My heart finally calmed down when I heard knocking at the door and a man shouting. Open up this is the police. When I got up, I looked through the people and it really was the police. I opened the door and Dylan was on the ground handcuffed. He was furious. One officer dealt with him while the other took my statement. I told him everything from the beginning to end. They said that they would call me when they had more information. Then came the holiday period. I stayed at my parents' house for two weeks and honestly, it did me a lot of good. The police called me back and I was shocked when they told me that they had searched Dylan's phone and laptop and they found a lot of information about me. Dylan had found all my social media accounts and even my parents' Facebook accounts. I also learned that he had previously assaulted his ex-girlfriend several times and that she ended up having to go to the hospital because of him. After that, I finished my studies but I moved into a shared apartment with Eva. Today, I'm 19 years old. I still live with my parents and I admit that I'm afraid to live alone again. I don't know when I'll have the courage to do it. How would you have reacted in my place? Stick around after the music if you're a patron for your extended version of this week's episode. If you want to get access to patreon.com/let'snotmepodcast, you'll get access to add free versions of all of our episodes at a higher bit rate. Plus bonus stories in those extensions every single week that you won't hear anywhere else. Again, that's patreon.com/let'snotmepodcast. Be sure to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like Odd Trails and the Old Time Radiocast at crypticcountypodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts and follow me on Twitch at twitch.tv/crypticcounty. This week, you have heard Creepy Backyard Man by Gigglebox06 being hunted in the woods by Tangerine Abel 74-79. I just want to talk to her by Athen Kett Creepy Man with the brown paper bag by PreparationVisual 586 The Shady Guy from To Lose by WIW Caval The Guy from the Dating Site by Candy and finally moved out at 17 didn't know I was being watched by Isma. All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with a permission of the respective authors. Let's not meet a true horror podcast is not associated with Reddit or any other message boards online. If you have a story to share send it to let's not meet stories at gmail.com. We'll see you next week. Stay safe. I have always been aware of my surroundings and still into this day because I've had a lot of great things that I've had.