17x11: The Couch Creeper

0:00I want to share something that really caught my attention as a parent. I've learned that myopia, near-sightedness, is becoming much more common in kids, and it's not something you want to ignore. If it goes unchecked, it can have an impact that goes way beyond schoolwork. What really matters is starting with an eye exam. An eye doctor can tell you what's going on with your child's vision and walk you through options that are designed specifically for kids like Esselaer-stellas-Lenses. I like that Stellas-Lenses are made for children and fit right into every day life. They look like regular glasses, but they're part of a more thoughtful approach to managing myopia. If you're a parent and you've been meaning to book an eye exam, this is your sign. Visit Esselaer.com to learn more about Stellas-Lenses and to find an Esselaer expert eye care professional near you. Hey, it's Kelly Rowland. You may not know this, but I have exema. So I get how it can steal your time. But why let exema take over when you can talk to your doctor

1:00about epglyce? Epglyce, lubricism app, LBKZ, a 250-mg per 2-ml-liter injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older, who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kg with moderate to severe eczema. Also called a topic dermatitis that is not well-controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin, or topicals, or who cannot use topical therapies, epglyce can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you are allergic to epglyce. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have newer, worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with epglyce. Before starting epglyce, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Paid partnership with Lili. Respect your time. Ask your doctor about epglyce and visit epglyce.com or call 1-800-LiliRx or 1-800-545-5979. This podcast contains a adult language and content. The story shared on this podcast are told from the perspective of the authors. Their accounts and opinions are personal and do not reflect the stance of the production team. If you have a story to share, send it to Let's Not Meet Stories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show.

2:21This happened a while ago when I was a kid. It was around 1999. I was about 10 or 11 years old. Back then, my family and I often would go camping in the summer or fall as a tradition to try and reconnect with each other while soaking up the nature around us. Since it was 99, video games and the internet weren't as popular yet. And I was already more of an adventurous outdoor type of kid. I always appreciated a little journey into the woods to do some deeper exploring. Plus, it was always a great opportunity to share moments with my father, mother, and my sister. We often stayed at the same campsite every year. We really liked it because it wasn't too far from home, had well-maintained spots, and featured a pretty big public area with a pool, a park,

3:25water fountains for the kids, and general activities that we could do during the day. That year, the summer was absolutely beautiful with unbelievable weather, so the camping season ended up being much busier than usual. Sadly, this also meant that our regular campsite was at capacity, and no spots were available for the weekend we planned to go. We were all packed up and dead set on camping, which left my younger sister and me upset about the cancellation, so my father decided to look for another spot as quickly as possible to ensure that we would still have great memories of the trip. Without being too precise, we were located in Canada, very close to the US border. The region was extremely vast with pretty dense forest all over. My father figured he would easily find something else. If no other official campsite was an option, we would simply explore the woods until we found a secluded spot that looked comfortable

4:28enough to pitch a tent and grill some marshmallows over a fire. Surprisingly, it took a very long time to find a good spot that seemed like actual wilderness, as in not land from a private property, and the general terrain was pretty rough, too rough to set up tents. My father had recently purchased a new truck that allowed him to easily maneuver through these deep wooded trails, but this also meant that we ended up further into the forest than we normally would have. In his opinion, it was the perfect occasion to try camping in an actual wild setting, but I remember my mother starting to get uneasy about being so far into some unknown woods. Given how far we were from the main roads at this point, she started to press my dad to settle on the next acceptable spot. No more than 10 or 15 minutes later, we stumbled upon a weirdly clean clearing. The spot was so perfect that it almost seemed out of place.

5:31The sun was hitting it in a cinematic way, as if we had just found a small piece of paradise. My sister and I were giggling as we jumped out of the car, and we immediately started to run around while my father and mother unpacked and set us up for the next few days. My sister and I quickly ended up a bit further down in the woods, but we remained aware of how far we were from the campsite. Also, it was still broad daylight, so nothing felt risky. We started to play a sneaky game of hide and seek in a patch of woods we had never visited before. It was thrilling, and it also had me scanning the area much faster than I usually would. All of a sudden, while looking through the dense trees for a hence of my sister, I spotted what looked like a person far away, slowly walking behind a big tree. They weren't necessarily hiding, just casually walking behind the tree, and not reappearing.

6:34It felt very weird to see someone that deep in the woods, but the thing that really caught my eye was the person's appearance. It seemed to be a woman, but pretty small and frail, wearing what looked like a sleeveless dress made of either really cheap or rough fabric. Also, from the fraction of a second that I caught a glimpse of her, she seemed to have a shaved head. I don't know why, but this detail really stuck with me. I was obviously creeped out and quickly thought that I should get my sister who was still hiding so that we could head back to the campsite. I used a different path to cut more directly toward the campsite, calling out for her. Maybe five minutes later, when I was about 500 meters away from our tents, I found what looked like some ancient well. It was made entirely of stone and stood about four feet high. I got closer to take a peek inside and found that it was closed off with what looked like a manhole

7:37cover that had a crudely shaped handle welded on top of it. A big, rusted chain was looped through the handle. It looked really out of place as it was the only man-made structure that you could see from miles upon miles at this point, and it stuck out like a sore thumb in these dense woods. I was really weirded out, so I called my sister's name even louder. I heard my mother. She was yelling that my sister was already back at camp and told me to come back immediately. My sister was visibly upset. Her eyes read from what I assumed was a recent crying session. This was confirmed when my mother started to ask me what had happened and why I would scare my sister like that. I was really confused. I tried to explain myself and even tried to tell her that I was a little scared, saying I think I saw a weird woman with her head shaved wearing dirty rags. This immediately got my sister even more worked up. At this point, my mom simply scolded me

8:43for making up stories and teasing my sister with big brother shenanigans. I tried to bleed my case, but I quickly decided to just shrug the whole thing off convincing myself I had imagined things, and that my sister was just spooked by something mundane. The day went on normally, my sister calmed down and forgot about the earlier scare. We had a lot of fun together, given that it was 1999, there were no phones in sight, just us together enjoying ourselves and taking in the great outdoor air. After we cooked dinner, we made a pretty big fire and eventually went to bed. We had two tents set up, both big enough for two people. It was me and my mom in one tent and my father and sister in the other. Everyone was pretty tired from the unexpectedly long journey to get there, so we fell asleep pretty fast. I'm not sure how long I had been asleep when I

9:44suddenly woke up and what looked like the middle of the night. It was pitch black, with only very faint moonlight shining through an unexplainably open tent flap. Still dazed, I just stared at it puzzled, then I felt my mother's hand. She slowly moved it up my left arm before gently grabbing my shoulder. I was still very groggy and confused due to waking up in an unfamiliar place, and I was trying to get my bearings, not even knowing if I was still dreaming or not. My mother slowly started to sit up, and without a word guided me toward the tent flap that was already half unzipped. Not questioning her, I also sat up and followed her. Maybe it was just a reflex due to being sleepy. I saw her silhouette slowly crawl out of the tent right in front of me, so as to make it easier for me to get out. I opened the flap completely by quickly pulling the zipper. And then from the back

10:44of the tent I heard my mother groggly call out, sweetie, what are you doing? Everything all right? I completely froze, paralyzed with fear, confused. I just sat there completely still, looking in her direction with shallow breath. Suddenly worried, she pulled up her flashlight and clicked it on. The light beam on my face snapped me out of my stillness, and I started to look around in a panic, trying to figure out what had just happened, but having trouble putting together a string of words that made any sense. When she shone the flashlight inside the tent, I noticed that it was really messy, dirt, and leaves were all surrounding me. My mother reached out to me and tried to call me down. I just blurted out that she had been right there on my left side trying to guide me out of the tent, and that I had seen her exiting the tent. The commotion woke my father and sister up. They came over to see what was going on. Because I was visibly upset and freaking out, my sister

11:50welled up again still on edge from the day before. It made for a hectic night out in the woods. We refused to go back to sleep, and we were generally too frightened to enjoy ourselves anymore. After a quick breakfast and our parents failed attempts to calm us down, we packed up that morning and made our way back to the main road. As I mentioned in the beginning, I sort of automatically suppressed that memory pretty fast. I convinced myself that I had been dreaming and woke up without knowing it. Maybe I had been sleepwalking barefoot outside the tent and made a mess coming back in. Even though I have never sleepwalked. But I still don't know for sure what happened that night out in the forest during our yearly camping tradition. I'm a 27 year old male. This happened six months ago. My girlfriend was staying at her parents,

13:04so I was at the flat alone. At around 3am, I was woken up by a loud slam. I quickly jolted up and saw my bedroom door was wide open. I then saw this bald man walk straight past my room and into the living room. I must have forgotten to lock the front door that night. Well, I jumped out of bed and immediately decided to stand in front of the front door. I figured since there was only one way out, if he had taken anything, I could try and stop him. In my haste, I had also made the subconscious decision not to put any clothes on so I could get to the door quicker, so I was standing there completely naked. Anyway, this guy came stumbling back to the door. He had a handful of loose cans of Stella cradled in his arms. He also had a half smoked cigarette in his mouth and a plastic shopping bag hanging from one of his hands. I asked what he was doing in my flat to which he replied,

14:08I'm really sorry, I'm so sorry, though he could barely get the words out as he was clearly absolutely inebriated. I asked him to show me the contents of his bag, which didn't have any of our stuff in it before proceeding to let him out of the flat. I made sure to lock the door this time. I'm assuming he was just completely wasted and walked into the wrong flat. One funny detail. There was a point where one of his cans slipped from his grip and he had to bend down to pick it up, making him direct eye level with my bare waist. It was probably very awkward and I'm sure the poor guy doesn't even remember so I don't think he's been completely scarred. After that, I got back into bed and I could hardly sleep at all for the rest of the night. My heart was absolutely thumping. I will say it gave me some confidence in my fight or flight response.

15:10You never really know what you'll be like in this sort of situation. I was sort of proud that I thought to block his exit. I'm perhaps not the most masculine of men, so that was some nice affirmation from you experience. This was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. It was completely jarring to see a stranger casually stroll into my living room in the dead of night. Let's be real. Modern life is not gentle on your body. Processed foods, stress, terrible sleep schedules, my liver is probably filing a complaint against me weekly at this point. So here's DOS for your liver. It's a clinically backed liver health supplement, but it's not a capsule or a powder. It's a daily two ounce liquid shot that actually tastes

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17:17or enter meat to get 35% off your first subscription. Your body does so much for you. Let's do something for it. That's D-O-S-E-D-A-I-L-Y.co-meat for 35% off your first month subscription. This happened in March of 2024 when my family lived in North Carolina. My dad's business partner owned a large mansion and the southern Wisconsin, and whenever my dad had to travel there for work he'd let us stay in the house. We had visited several times before, so it wasn't unfamiliar to us. The house itself was enormous. It had three levels, a basement full of storage and old decorations. The main living area on the top floor where the front entrance and the kitchen were located and the middle floor where my family stayed. My brother and I shared a bedroom on that level. One afternoon, after I had finished my homeschooling, everyone else had left the house.

18:22My brother went to the gym, my parents headed out to grab lunch after my dad got off of work, and I had the entire place to myself. I took a shower before settling into bed to watch an episode of Chicago Med with my headphones on, and that's when I heard it, a loud noise from upstairs. I pulled my headphones off and sat perfectly still listening. Nothing but silence. I figured I had imagined it. Until I heard it again, it sounded like someone dragging a heavy chair across the kitchen floor directly above me. A chill immediately ran down my spine. Normally, I'd tell myself I was overreacting. I listened to way too many true crime podcasts and horror stories. My imagination could get the better of me. Still, I opened Life 360 to see if maybe one of my family members had come back without me noticing. But no one had. Every single one of them was miles away. This realization made the house suddenly feel a lot bigger and a lot emptier.

19:30The mansion sat in the middle of the woods. There were a few neighboring houses, but they were spread far apart. It wasn't the kind of place where someone would accidentally wander inside. Then I heard it again, more scraping, then footsteps, slow, deliberate footsteps moving around the kitchen directly above my bedroom. At that point, Panic completely took over. I grabbed my brother's small pocket knife from his nightstand and locked my bedroom door. The problem was that the bedroom door had large glass panels in it, so I quickly shut the wooden shutters that covered them. Then I remembered something even worse. The attached bathroom connected to another part of the house through a second door. I rushed over to lock it, but the lock wouldn't work. No matter what I did, it refused to catch. I stood there trying to hold the lock in place with one

20:30hand while clutching the pocket knife with the other. My hands were shaking so badly that I could barely get my phone out of my pocket. For a split second I thought about calling one of my friends. Instead I called my mom, and by then I was crying. As quietly as I could I whispered that I thought someone was inside the house. My mom had me on speakerphone, so my dad heard everything. I've never heard him sound so frightened. He asked if I was absolutely sure someone was there, and then I heard the footsteps again. They were still directly above me. My dad told me to run to his bedroom because it had three locks on the inside, but the thought of leaving the room that I was already hiding in terrified me. If someone really was upstairs I didn't want to run into the open. My mom agreed that I should stay where I was, so I did. I sat against the bathroom door trying to hold the broken lock shut while my parents

21:32turned the truck around and raised back to the house. Meanwhile my dad was frantically calling his business partner's wife who managed the property. She checked with the cleaning staff and confirmed nobody was supposed to be there. Then she mentioned something that made me feel even worse. The security cameras weren't working. They had been out of service. I remember sitting there praying convinced that someone was going to come through that door before my parents made it back. Eventually I heard my mom's truck pull into the driveway, but even then I didn't move. Only when my mom came downstairs and called my name that I finally opened the door. I've never been so relieved to see my parents. My dad immediately searched every room in the house. He checked the kitchen, the bedrooms, the basement, every closet. There was a single person inside. As I tried to explain everything I heard, my mom suddenly realized something. When she had left

22:33earlier to take my brother to the gym, she had forgotten to lock the front door. To this day I have no idea what I heard. Maybe someone came inside, realized they weren't alone after hearing me on the phone and slipped back out before my parents arrived. Maybe it was something else entirely. I'll never know. What I do know is that someone or something was moving around directly above my head while I believed I was completely alone in a house deep in the Wisconsin woods. The very next day my mom, my brother and I drove back to North Carolina. My dad stayed behind to finish work, but I never returned to that house. After the terror that I felt that afternoon, I didn't ever plan to. So if there really was someone inside that mansion with me that day, let's never meet.

23:37This happened about a year ago, but I remember it as if it just happened minutes ago. My mom, sister and I were driving to a town about 20 minutes away to meet my grandparents for dinner, but instead of taking the freeway like normal, we took side streets. Southern California traffic is no joke, especially during rush hour. So there we were, driving through one of the sketchy or parts of town, when our mom saw a man with a distinctive haircut and the lane to the right of us and pointed it out. The style of his hair was entirely bald except for one patch right on the base of his neck and one in his front hairline, which was flipped up and styled into a bit of a 2000s foe hawk. We just shrugged it off and didn't think anything else of the man until we pulled beside him at the stop sign a minute later. Then I noticed this man was covered in blood. Not in a way like he had injured himself, though. It was more like it had splattered all over him

24:39while he was doing who knows what. We tried to reason with ourselves and figured maybe he was a painter and he had an accident at work and needed to change, but then we saw something even more disturbing. Not only was blood splattered all over his polo shirt, but it looked as though he had rubbed it up and down the tops of his arms as well. However, the most disturbing part was when we looked at his face. The blood was smeared onto his face and what looked like the shape of the cross. The deliberate smearing is what really got us. Before then, we thought whatever happened could have been an accident, but that wasn't an accident. While we were staring at his face, he decided to look over at us. I realized how it probably wasn't smart to stare at someone who we suspected might have harmed someone, but we just couldn't look away. My sister claimed that he looked right at her

25:41in the back seat, smiled eerily, and quote unquote looked into her soul. She said he was devoid of any kind of emotion in his eyes and she had never seen anything like it before. Of course, we called the police to report the man and even the operator seemed shaken by what we were explaining to her. We let her know that the man did not seem to be hurt at all and told her that we thought it was someone else's blood that he was covered in. Unfortunately, we never heard anything back from the police in that town. We'll never know if he was just a painter who had an accident at work and thought that it would be fun to scare us, or maybe he was some psychopath who needed to go home and clean himself up. Sometimes upgrading your routine doesn't mean changing everything. It's just about finding one thing that you can do a little better. If hair health is something you've been

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27:52See thicker, stronger, faster-going hair with less shedding, and just three to six months. Right now, NutriFull is offering our listeners $10 off your first month subscription, and free shipping when you visit NutriFull.com and enter promo code meat. That's NutriFull.com spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L.com promo code meat. I'm a young woman and am currently working as a barista. I'm also the youngest person there since all of my coworkers are over 40. This is relevant. I work the closing shift which of course is when all of the creepy stuff happens. Anyway, I was in the coffee shop working by myself and my supervisor was in the back handling stock records. It was really slow that late at night, so I was reading at the counter and drinking an iced latte. Suddenly I noticed a shadow over me.

28:53I looked up to see a man standing there. I hadn't heard him come in. His footsteps were feather light. He was just staring at me, so I said, hi, how can I help you? He looked to be in his late 30s with a thin face and hair, and he was wearing sporty clothes. He asked me a bunch of questions about my book which I kind of brushed off and about the packs of gum we sell. Asking me which one was my favorite. I was polite. He smiled in order to mocha cold brew, which was easy enough. I rang him up. And he swiped his card as I started making the drink. As soon as I grabbed a cup and started, he leaned over the espresso machine and said, wait, do you know how to make coffee? Obviously I do, so I told him, yes, I do know how to make coffee, but we have cold brew pre-made in the fridge. It's hard to articulate what he said next and how he said it, but he looked me in the

29:56eyes and asked, can I watch? I was kind of freaked out by his intense stare and the way that he was gripping the counter when he said it. So I squeaked out a sure and made the coffee quickly. He walked around to where the pickup and grub hub counter is. He was looking at me very intensely. Then I glanced over and saw that he had his phone angled at me and my stomach dropped. Thank God that's when my supervisor walked up behind me to the register. She told the guide that the transaction hadn't gone through and he said, oh, okay, you have to pay, she told him, and he replied, let me finish watching first. She looked at me weird, but I just finished the cold brew and handed it to him. He intentionally, basically, held my hand, and at this point I just wanted to hide in the freezer. He went back to the counter and I can't stress how intensely he was staring at me

31:01the whole time. No, not me, but my body. He wouldn't look at my supervisor. The three of us stood there as he swiped his card multiple times, then he got out another card, and finally it went through. He muttered under his breath, two for you, one for me, and while that was weird enough on its own, I'll never forget what he said next. We'll see you later tonight. With that he sipped his coffee, licked his lips turned around and walked out of the shop. My supervisor made a face, and I asked her, that was weird right. She agreed, and I stayed in the building to wait for my Uber instead of sitting outside, as I usually did. I talked to friends and family that night, and they asked me a bunch of questions. Someone thought maybe he was on a video call and not talking to me, but he didn't have headphones in. His phone was silent, and he wasn't wearing any glasses, which

32:02ruled out metaglasses. I had never seen him before, which was also weird, since all of our customers are regulars. It's a hidden spot, and really hard to find, so it's always slow, and nobody ever comes in that late. Am I overreacting? My supervisor and I chalked it up to him just being a weird guy, but I don't know. I've had many creepy things happen to me throughout my life, but I think the thing that sticks with me the most is when my school had a lockdown. This was three years ago, and I can still remember every detail vividly. It was nearing the end of school, and honestly, I didn't care about class at that point.

33:09It was our school's evening assembly time, which is around one o'clock, but I had decided to ditch it and hide out in the bathroom instead. I was playing on my phone when I started to hear laughter outside the bathroom. I came to the conclusion that the assembly had ended, but decided that since the day was nearly over, I would just ditch class and watch a movie on my phone. I was waiting for the hallway to go silent, so that I could get out and walk to a nearby dairy queen. About ten minutes had passed when suddenly I heard our principal over the intercom. It was a lockdown announcement. I didn't care much for lockdowns, considering they were all always practice, so I just sat in the stall and waited. In our school, the lights are connected by the power box in the main office. The bathroom had gone pitch black, so I assumed they had shut off all the lights. But I was starting to get worried, because usually, only the classroom lights were

34:12turned off during lockdown drills. I texted my friend, and she responded right away, telling me that the lockdown was real. Everyone was asking where I was. I told her I was in the bathroom, and she said that I needed to hide. I obviously had nowhere else to hide, but the stall that I was in, so I turned my brightness down low and texted my mom. She didn't answer, so I texted my friends again. She told me someone who said that they were a student was banging on the door and asking to be let in. Both my classroom and the bathroom were on the same floor, so I turned off my phone and tried my best to see if I could hear anything. That's when the bathroom door opened. Let me tell you, I've never felt fear in all my life like the fear I felt that day. I heard someone peek through the stall next to mine, climb in, and shut the door. I held my breath for what seemed like forever. Then, shakeily asked who was there.

35:15It was silent for a bit, and then a guy told me that he had been looking for a place to hide, when he heard someone running around and banging on doors. The guy did sound around my age, so I decided I was okay for now. We sat in silence for what seemed like forever, when finally we got another announcement, telling all students to exit the school in an orderly fashion through the back, where cops were waiting to scour the area. I exited the stall and was surprised to see that the other guy did not. I asked him if he was coming, and he said that I could go on ahead, and that he would be out in a bit. The lights began to turn on, and I took out my phone to text my friend. She answered right away and told me that apparently, a kid who went to our school and was a great above us had tried to rob a nearby bank, stabbed the teller, and ran to our school to hide. The police had sent out an alert, and our school was notified. I slowly looked up at the stall where

36:18the guy was. I couldn't know for sure, but I decided to text my friend just in case. I told her there was a guy in the bathroom with me who wouldn't leave, and she told me to get out of there. As soon as I opened the door, I heard the stall door open, and someone booked it to the end of the bathroom where the window was. I poked my head back into the bathroom and saw a guy, my height, trying to squeeze through the window. He saw me and jumped down. He put one hand in his pocket and the other on his lips. I never ran so fast in my life as I did when I ran out of that bathroom and out the back doors of our school. I found a police officer and told him what happened. Luckily, the bank teller he had stabbed was okay and survived, and I'm pretty sure they caught the guy in the forest near our school and arrested him. I still can't believe that I was literally a stall down from the guy I was trying to hide from.

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38:36That's bilorraine.l-a-r-i-n-e.com slash meat for up to 50% off. This happened in the early 2000s when I was around 12 years old. My dad had passed away about two years before leaving my mom's sister and me on our own. To help me cope with my father's passing, my mom took me to the animal shelter to pick out a dog since having a large dog was something that I always wanted. And one of the cages was a small shepherd and husky mix, huddled in the corner that I fell in love with right away. When this incident happened, he was one year old, 90 pounds, and my very best friend. My mom worked nights and my older sister, taking advantage of the fact that my mom was at home, would constantly go out and leave me by myself. I didn't mind, though, because she couldn't really boss me around. When she was home, she would try to tell me what to do and when to go to bed.

39:43Plus, we lived in a small middle-class suburb with a low crime rate, so I wasn't really scared to be home alone either. Anyway, I was sitting in the living room playing video games, and I got up and headed to the kitchen to grab a drink. In the kitchen, I had a clear view through the back door and could see that the garage was open. Thinking that I had just left it open after putting my bike away, I headed out the door to close it. My dog was sleeping in the basement because he liked to lay on the cool floor during the summer months, so I stepped out the door and made it about five feet. When I noticed in the darkness, there was a crouched shadow moving around in the garage. I froze, trying to get my eyes to adjust to make out what the shadow was. It finally hit me that I saw the figure stand up and turn towards me. I was terrified and felt like I had been glued to the spot.

40:44I knew that this person could see me since the back porch light was shining above me. At that moment, the figure started running towards me. I was too scared to move and let out more of a yelp than a scream, but that was all it took from my dog. And the next thing I knew, my dog was behind me, snarling and growling. I could tell the person who was running toward me was a man, but it was too dark to see his features. Since I suddenly had this 90-pound beast behind me, he turned and ran for the back fence with my dog right behind him. The guy made it to the fence and since it was only about four feet, he hopped right over it before my dog got to him. After he got away, my dog came running back to me and we went inside, where I'd barricaded the doors. I don't know why, but I didn't call the cops and never told my mom or sister about what happened. One thing that did bother me was that he had to have

41:48known I was inside because the lights were on and the blinds were open. So why take the risk to hit a house when someone was clearly home? The next morning after my mom was home, I went outside to finally close the garage and noticed that the man had been going through my dad's toolbox. I locked up the garage and never told anyone about what happened. I then walked my dog to McDonald's and I got him a burger and an ice cream cone for being a hero. I have an American bully who is terrified of just about everything, so I've never thought of her as my protector. If anything, I've always figured I was the one protecting her. My boyfriend works late and every night she barks when she hears the garage door open.

42:52Last night, I took some melatonin because I wanted to get to sleep early, but around 10-55 pm, she suddenly started barking like crazy. At first, I told her to settle down and go back to bed. Then I heard the front doorbell just once, but over and over again, followed by loud knocking. The thing is we never use our front door, ever. We always come through the garage. My first thought was that maybe my boyfriend's garage door opener had stopped working, but I hadn't gotten a single call or text from him. Meanwhile, my dog was absolutely losing her mind. We lived in a gated community, so I generally feel very safe. I walked downstairs with my dog, looked through the people and saw someone standing outside. Since I'm pretty short, I could only get a limited view. Then I heard a man yelling, help me.

43:54He kept ringing the doorbell, pounding on the door. For a split second, I actually wondered if my boyfriend was trying to scare me with some elaborate prank. We have one of those hotel-style security latches that lets you crack the door open just a couple of inches while it's still secured, so I unlocked the deadbolt, left the latch engaged, and opened the door slightly. The man immediately repeated, help me. I asked, what do you need help with? But he wouldn't answer. Instead, he grabbed the door knob and started violently jerking it, trying to pull the door open. My dog, who was normally scared of everything, sounded more vicious than I had ever heard her in my life. My slammed the door shut as hard as I could, locked everything in yelled that I was calling the police. Even while I was on the phone with 911, he continued pounding on the door and repeatedly ringing the doorbell. The dispatcher could hear everything happening in the background. Part of me felt guilty because I genuinely didn't know if

44:59he was injured and needed help. But if he really needed help, why wouldn't he answer my question? Why keep trying to force the door open instead of telling me what was wrong? And why wasn't my dog barking enough to make him back away? He kept banging on the door until the police finally arrived. From inside, I watched the officers place an elderly man into the back of a patrol car, and that's when I learned he was actually my neighbor from across the street. A man I had barely ever seen. Apparently, he had dementia and had wandered away from home. Instantly, all of my fear turned to guilt. I felt terrible for calling the police, and for the stress it must have caused his wife. I also felt embarrassed for how terrified I had been. But after thinking about it, I realized I really didn't have any other choice. All I knew at the time was that a strange man was outside my house late at night,

46:00repeatedly ringing the doorbell pounding on the door, refusing to explain what was wrong, and actively trying to force his way inside while I was home alone. Looking back, I also know I made one huge mistake. I never should have opened the door at all, even with the security latch engaged. The police ended up having him transported to the emergency room to be evaluated, and thankfully everything was okay in the end. I still feel awful for his wife, and for what their family must have been going through. So while this didn't end with a criminal arrest or a home invasion, it was one of the most terrifying experiences I've ever had. So to the man desperately trying to get into my house that night, let's never meet again. Every couple I know has the same exact fight over the thermostat. One person's freezing,

47:01one person's sweating, and somebody is miserable at 2am. In my house, it's usually me. That's the exact problem Orion's sleep is trying to solve. Orion is a smart sleep system that fits right over your mattress you already have, and adjusts your temperature to help you sleep. It's personalized to use specifically you and your partner can each set a totally different temperature, so nobody's compromising or freezing each other out. Turns out temperature actually plays a big role in sleep quality, we talked about this on the show before. You get it right, and it can help you with deep sleep, REM sleep, and how often you wake up overnight. Here's how it actually works, you pick a temperature anywhere from 50 to 115 degrees for your side of the bed, and the top or sense is how your body is responding while you sleep, adjusting and getting smarter about it, the longer you use it. A good night's sleep matters a ton to me, especially with how late some nights get around here. So a product like Orion was perfect for

48:01someone like me. It ships free, comes with a 30 day trial and a full refund if it's not for you, plus a two year warranty, basically a low risk experiment where you track your own sleep data for a month and only keep it if the numbers actually move. Right now Orion is offering our listeners 15% off at OrionSleep.com slash meat. That's O-R-I-O-N-Sleep.com slash meat for 15% off. Get better sleep backed by your own data at OrionSleep.com slash meat. I want to share something that really caught my attention as a parent. I've learned that myopia, near-sightedness, is becoming much more common in kids, and it's not something you want to ignore. If it goes unchecked, it can have an impact that goes way beyond schoolwork. What really matters is starting with an eye exam. An eye doctor can tell you what's going on with your child's vision and walk you through options that are designed specifically for kids like

49:06Esselaer Stellist Lenses. I like that Stellist Lenses are made for children and fit right into every day life. They look like regular glasses, but they're part of a more thoughtful approach to managing myopia. If you're a parent and you've been meaning to book an eye exam, this is your sign. Visit Esselaer.com to learn more about Stellist Lenses and to find an Esselaer expert eye care professional near you. Before I switched to wealthfront, my APY was probably 0.1, like it was a joke. I was literally getting pennies. Once I switched to chitching, with a wealthfront cash account earn up to 4.2% APY on your cash. The high APY with wealthfront was a clear winner. There are no petty fees. Every month there's this much that I'm getting an interest and I didn't have to do anything. My money is working hard on its own and I can trust wealthfront is taking care of me. Earn more on your uninvested cash with a wealthfront cash account. No account fees, no minimums, and no strengths attached. Get started today at wealthfront.com. Clients were paid

50:06$1,000 for their testimonials creating a conflict of interest. How come so many? 3.3% they say PY as of January 30th, 2026 is representative, variable, and earned on funds swept to program banks. 0.65% new client boosts for three months on up to $150,000. Direct deposit $1,000 a month and fund an investing account for a 0.25% increase. Cash account offered by wealthfront brokerage LLC member Phinra SIPC in out of bank. These and eligibility requirements may apply to certain checking features of the cash account. I was a sophomore at my university when this story happened. I lived in student residences. My residence was girls only, but it wasn't a sorority or anything like that. In my roommate and I, actually became pretty good friends. It was Friday and we were excited about the weekend. The weather was good, so we decided to head to a nearby beach for a quick swim. I can be quite absent-minded sometimes, and on this occasion, I forgot to take my keychain out of my shorts before dipping into the water. Unfortunately, the key to get into our

51:07building was electronic. It was a key fob. Well, as soon as it was submerged in the salt water, the circuits got destroyed. When we returned to our building, I tried using the fob to get in, but of course it didn't work. I wasn't looking forward to having to pay for a replacement, but it wasn't that big of a deal since I knew I'd be hanging out with my roommate for most of the weekend and could just use her fob until I could get a replacement. Even if I had to get into my building without my roommate around, I knew I could just wait for one of the other girls who lived in the building to let me in. The lock to our actual dorm room used a physical key, so at least I had that. The evening rolled around, and my roommate and I decided to go to a party at one of the local frat houses. We had done this quite often, and it was usually a good time. When we arrived, there were two guys standing at the front entrance. One of them was tall and handsome,

52:10and smiled at us as we approached. The other was a short guy who didn't seem to pay any attention to us. The tall one asked us if we were here for the party. He seemed nice enough, so when he asked if they could show us around the building, we agreed. Keep in mind, it was still light outside, and there were a lot of people around, so it's not like we were following these guys into some creepy back room or something like that. The frat house was more like a square complex, with a giant courtyard in the middle, and all of the bedrooms surrounding the courtyard on all sides. The guys took us to the games room, which had a TV, Nintendo, some board games, a small kitchen, and a couple of couches. It was kind of cool because the room was on the floor level, and connected outside to the courtyard. This is important to the story. The wall adjacent to the courtyard was all glass, so we could see everything going on outside.

53:15There was also a sliding glass door, so it would be easy to cross the courtyard to the other side of the building, which is where the event space was. The event space also had glass walls, so you could see inside. And that's where the main party was. We saw dozens of people drinking, playing beer pong, and listening to loud music. The guys asked us if we wanted to hang out in the games room for a while before heading to the party area. My roommate and I both figured sure why not. We spent maybe an hour chatting. My roommate is super extroverted, so most of it was just listening to her tell stories and talk about random facts that she had recently learned about celebrities and that kind of stuff. I noticed that the shorter guide didn't say much, and through my peripheral vision, I was pretty sure that he kept staring at me. I accidentally made eye contact with him several times. It was an intentional, and I wasn't trying

54:18to flirt with him. What really creeped me out was that whenever I caught him staring at me, his expression was like that of a child visiting Disney World for the first time. The best way I can describe it is that he had a sense of wonder on his face. Jaw dropped, star struck, that kind of thing. It was weird. I wasn't dressed up or anything, and I'm not exactly the most attractive person, so I don't know why he would be looking at me like that. It was like he had never seen a female before. It had gotten dark by now, but we still felt quite visible since the party across the courtyard had about 100 people at this point. The game room, where we were, was easily visible from the party. The tallest guy then asked if we wanted drinks. We all said yes. Then he looked at my roommate and asked if she wanted to help him get the drinks. I was a bit surprised when she said yes,

55:22but I figured she was crushing on him, so I wasn't too annoyed. I figured I'd get handle hanging out with this creepy guy alone for a few minutes, especially since we were in such good proximity to the party, and everyone there could easily see us. Once we were alone, the guy suddenly pulled a pair of binoculars out of his pocket. I remember thinking this was a really weird thing for this guy to bring to a party. Then he asked, do you want to play a game? Without waiting for me to answer, he crawled down and slid under one of the sofas. I immediately stood up and backed away since it was so creepy how suddenly he had done that. I couldn't even see him anymore since the couch had fabric that hid the area underneath it. Then I noticed the fabric on the side of the couch flap up. His binoculars slightly peaking out, staring through the glass at the party. He started describing details of what all the girls he

56:27could see were wearing, not even like sexually or anything, just saying things matter to him. Tall girl, maybe 5'8", wearing blue jeans and yellow blouse, brown hair, probably 18, short girl wearing a black dress and black hair, probably 20, maybe 5'4. He kept going on like that as if he were in the military on some scouting mission or something. He then asked me if I could turn out the light so he could see better. I told him no, but he kept insisting, saying it would just be a minute. I reluctantly said fine and turned the light off in the room we were in. He listed off a couple more girls than silence. I waited for him to pick out another girl to describe, but he didn't say anything. A alarm bell started going off in my head so I quickly turned on the light again. I couldn't see the binoculars sticking out from the side of the couch anymore,

57:30but as I turned to see if he was climbing out, I noticed the binoculars were now sticking out of a different part of the couch and aimed directly at me. I demanded to know what he was doing and why he was looking at me, but he didn't say anything. He was just staring into a featureless black depth of binocular lenses that were pointed right at me. I was so creeped out that I just left the room through the sliding glass door and ran across the courtyard, entering the party to look for my roommate. I searched for about 10 minutes and even checked the bathrooms, but I couldn't find her anywhere. This was right before everyone had cell phones, so I had no way of contacting her. I remember looking back over at the game's room, but the lights had been turned off again. The thought of that guy still watching me from the couch in the dark room made me panic. I decided to just leave the party alone. I know that makes me sound like a bad person,

58:32and in retrospect I should have stayed to make sure that my friend was safe wherever she was, but I was only 18 at the time. My friend had also done this to me before, ditching me to be with some guy without telling me, so it wasn't exactly unusual behavior from her either. I walked quickly back to my dorm. I looked for my keys, but I couldn't find them. Again, I know I'm absent minded sometimes, but I swear I had them in my pocket. I knew they had been there because I remembered that only maybe 30 minutes earlier, I had pulled them out and put them back in, and I know for a fact they wouldn't have fallen out. Luckily I didn't have to wait outside long before another girl from the dorm was coming back into the building. She let me in. However, I didn't have my key to my dorm room, so I knew I would just have to wait for my roommate to get back. Again, we didn't have cell phones, so the only thing I could do was wait on the couch and our lobby area next to the front door.

59:38The front of our building is fully glass, and being on the couch gave me a nice view of the outdoors. I remember sitting there gazing at the different campus lights along the paths, seeing students walk in the distance laughing. This calmed me, and I eventually dozed off. I'm a pretty heavy sleeper, and I often find myself falling asleep quickly, even when I don't intend to. I woke up to my roommate poking me, saying my name. I opened my eyes to see her smiling at me. Hey, sleepyhead, she said. I asked what time it was, and she said 4am. Now I won't go into details, but she said she ended up having a really good night with that guy. I told her about my experience with the creepy one, and she was shocked and apologized multiple times for leaving me alone with him. We fell asleep in our own beds soon after. In the morning we got up and headed down for breakfast.

1:00:45When we got to the lobby, we were surprised to see a crowd of girls at the front door. They all seemed to be staring at something and whispering. When we approached, we saw that they were looking at the couch, and when we saw it, our jaws dropped. The couch in our lobby, the exact same couch I had napped on the previous night, had been cut to shreds. It looked like someone had taken a knife to it. Then I noticed something that shook me to my core. My keys were lying on one of the pillows. I know that makes it sound like I had my keys all along, but I know for certain I had checked all of my pockets that night, and they were not there. Also, if the keys had been there the whole time, why would they still be sitting on a pillow, unmoved, when the rest of the couch had been ripped apart by a knife? I know I can't prove anything, but I'm 100% certain that that creepy guy from the

1:01:45previous night had stolen my keys from my pocket when I wasn't looking, and I think he was the one that did that to our couch. After talking to my roommate about it over breakfast, we came up with an explanation of what likely happened. The creepy guy had stolen my keys and then followed me back to my dorm room. He probably kept his distance, waiting for a good time to sneak in. I'm sure he was watching me through those binoculars, probably hiding under a bush or something. We figured that when I fell asleep he probably tried to get into the building with my key fob, which luckily didn't work. Thanks to all the saltwater. The only missing piece to the puzzle is how he managed to get into the building afterward when my friend and I had gotten to bed, but somehow he did, and for whatever reason he decided to attack the couch and leave my keys there. It scares me to think of what might have happened to me if my fob hadn't been destroyed earlier that day. Would I have ended up like that

1:02:49couch? I reported the whole story to campus security, but unfortunately our dorm didn't have any security cameras at the time, so as far as I know, nothing ever came of the report. Whoever that creepy guy was, I hope he's no longer hiding under couches and dark rooms watching people. If you're tired of ads and you want bonus content, be sure to sign up for our Patreon at patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast. You'll get ad free versions of all of our episodes at a higher bit rate, plus bonus stories and our extensions. Stories you won't hear anywhere else. Again, that's patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast. If you have a story to share make sure you send it to let's not meet stories at gmail.com and be sure to check out the new episodes of my other

1:03:53podcasts like odd trails and the old time radio cast at crypticcountypodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts and follow me on twitch at twitch.tv slash crypticcounty. This week you have heard terrifying camping story from my childhood by ludo ludo ludo. Stranger stumbled into my flat by a majora's laptop. A scary thing that happened to me in Wisconsin by Stari Bear. Murderer in the car next to me by tx27. We'll see you later tonight by a skittle spider four. A guy with a knife at school by dollface 001. Home Alone by i wish i was a pumpkin. Late night visitor by bensipency banga. And finally couch creeper by mr. evil guy. 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 or a podcast is not associated with Reddit or any other message boards

1:04:54online. We'll see you next week for a brand new episode of Let's Not Meet. Stay safe. I'm not exactly sure how to start this. I guess I should mention that. There's nothing like being in the stands cheering on your favorite team. Game time is your hack to unlocking amazing tickets in just a few taps. It's easy to use and the game time guarantee means you can trust you'll get 100% authentic tickets at the best price. Fees are always included, so what you see is what you pay. Take the guesswork out of buying sports tickets with game time.

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