14x01: My New Friend is a Cult Recruiter

Want a bourbon with the story?

American-made wild turkey never compromises.

Aged in American oak with the darkest char.

Our pre-prohibition style bourbons are distilled and barreled at a low proof to retain the most flavor.

Most bourbons aren't.

Well, we aren't most bourbons.

Wild Turkey 101 bourbon makes an old-fashioned or bold-fashioned for bold nights out or at home.

Now that's a story worth telling.

Wild turkey, trust your spirit.

Copyright 2025, Capari America, New York, New York.

Never compromise, drink responsibly.

We all have that piece.

The one that's so you, you've basically become known for it.

And if you don't yet, fashionistas, you'll find it on eBay.

That Mew Mew red leather bomber, the Custo Barcelona cowboy top, or that Patagonia fleece in the 2017 colorway.

All these finds are all on eBay, along with millions of more main character pieces backed by authenticity guarantee.

eBay is the place for pre-loved and vintage fashion.

eBay, things people love.

This podcast contains adult language and content.

Listener discretion is advised.

If you have a story to share, send it to Let's Not MeetStories at gmail.com.

Enjoy the show.

I'm a twenty three year old female, and I'm a bartender.

I have experienced some crazy situations where I have been genuinely scared for my life, but the one I am about to share has got to be the worst.

One day I was working a double at the restaurant.

At around eleven a.m.

the FedEx guy came in with a package that needed to be signed for.

So he came in and I signed for the package.

Then as he turned away to leave, I told him have a good day with a smile and continued my shift as usual.

It was either Friday or Saturday.

I can't remember which specifically, but the restaurant got busy as the day wore on.

As it got later, both the restaurant itself and our parking lot were full.

I see many different people daily, and at some point, the FedEx driver returned.

During this second interaction, he wasn't in his uniform, so understandably, I didn't recognize him.

When he came in, he sat down at the bar and I started talking to him, as I do with all my customers.

Then I proceeded to get him a drink, an appetizer, another drink, an entree, etc.

As our conversation unfolded, it started rather normally.

He asked me how long I had been working at the restaurant and if I liked it there.

It felt like regular conversation with a bar guest until his questions started to become not so regular.

Eventually he asked me if I had a boyfriend and I said yes, so he changed the subject, but he kept backtracking.

He was complimenting me, saying how beautiful I was every couple of minutes.

Can I have your number?

he asked.

asked.

No, I don't think that my boyfriend would appreciate that, I replied.

Well, what's your last name then?

We could just be Facebook friends, he insisted.

He became even more pushy as he continued pressing me for my phone number or social media details.

I just kept laughing it off and politely declining.

Then he said, I was actually here this morning dropping off a packet with FedEx.

You signed for it.

so I came back just for you.

I smiled, and while maintaining my customer service voice, I said, of course, oh yeah, I remember you.

Then I walked away, laughing it off.

I then stepped into the back to vint to my manager.

I let my manager know that this guy was being extra pushy and it was making me feel uncomfortable.

About an hour later, he finally paid his tab and left.

It was around 7 p.m.

and the restaurant was still busy.

We didn't close until 10, so I was just thinking that was it.

After we wrapped up dinner service, the remaining customers slowly trickled out until the restaurant was finally empty.

At around 10.30, I was cleaning the bar.

The whole front of the restaurant is made of large windows that face the parking lot, and when I looked up, I saw a car in the parking lot.

The FedEx delivery driver, who had left hours earlier, was standing just outside next to the car.

He was walking around it, and from what I could tell, it seemed like he was cleaning out the back seat.

He had his doors open, and he was leaning in and out of his car with a bag in his hand.

As soon as I realized it was him, who supposedly had left almost four hours prior, my heart sank.

Why was he still here?

Why was he cleaning out his back seat?

I started to freak.

My manager and I were the only people left in the restaurant, so I ran to her and told her everything, including his comment about coming back just for me.

I told her that he had seemingly left four hours ago and made her come out from the back so that I could point him out to her in the parking lot.

She said that she was going to call the police, but my boyfriend and I lived in an apartment that was only five minutes away from the restaurant, so I told her not to worry about that, and said that I'd just call my boyfriend to come to the restaurant to get me.

I did just that, and my boyfriend told me he'd be there soon, so we hung up.

My manager made me sit in the office until he arrived.

So I didn't get to see the following events go down.

My boyfriend, who was very protective, later told me that he pulled into the parking lot and saw the FedEx driver sitting in the driver's seat of his car.

My boyfriend walked up to his car, knocked on the window, and motioned for him to roll it down.

He did, and my boyfriend said something along the lines of, you need to get out of here.

Now this is where the scariest part happens.

This guy responded to him in a different language, mumbling and acting like he didn't speak English, to which my boyfriend said, I know you speak English, man.

You've been talking with my girlfriend all night, and I need you to get out of here.

The FedEx guy continued to ramble on until my boyfriend raised his voice and said, you have 15 seconds before I pull you out of this car.

That's when the guy finally put the car and drive and sped off.

I was on edge for weeks after this interaction and even considered switching jobs.

It's just so sketchy that he was still in the parking lot that long after cashing out his tab.

I've always been so sketched out about the fact that he was cleaning out the back seat too.

too.

To the creepy, FedEx guy who returned as a bar guest and lingered for way too long.

Let's never meet again.

This story dates back to spring twenty sixteen.

At the time time I was in my late 20s, and I was young and fit with long blonde hair.

I was a total hippie chick who quit her job to travel the US with my then partner.

Since it was pre-pandemic, it was just before the van life and tiny home movement really took off.

We left our home in the Midwest in January of that year.

After all the holiday celebrations were done, we said goodbye to our friends and family.

Then, by April or early May, we made it to southern Texas and decided to check out Padre Island National Seashore.

For those of you unfamiliar with Padre Island, it's a seashore that you can drive right onto with your vehicle.

My then partner and I were in a 26-foot-class C-1976 Chevy Motorhome.

We drove onto the island at nighttime and woke up the next morning to the most insane and phenomenal experience.

The ocean was a mere 15 feet away.

I mean, the visual was so breathtaking.

I'll never forget it.

We arrived there on a Thursday or Friday, and the beach was beyond packed.

Another thing that I should mention for those who are unfamiliar with Padre Island, it is also where many Texans, particularly high schoolers and college kids, flock to for their spring break.

From our understanding, spring break was the week before we got there, but it was so packed that it seemed like it was possibly still going on.

Either way, the area was very busy, and we had an awesome weekend partying away.

During this trip we noticed that workers for the park would often drive down the beach.

They are very protective of the sea turtle population there and would slowly drive by in marked vehicles a few times a day.

When we woke on Monday morning, we found that the entire island had emptied out.

What I mean by this is that it was literally empty.

When you looked to the left and right, there was no one.

We were the only ones to be seen out there for what seemed like miles.

It was a gorgeous morning, so I walked my dog quickly and then came inside to sit at our pop-up dining room table to do some journaling.

Meanwhile, my ex was asleep on the couch in the very back of the motor home.

Our windshield was facing the beautiful ocean, so of course I took a seat and looked towards the amazing view.

About fifteen minutes into my journaling, a grey beat up pick up truck drove by quickly heading towards the direction of the park entrance.

That was the first activity I had seen on the island that morning, but I didn't think anything of it.

However, about five to ten minutes later that same truck came driving past our RV.

This time it crept much slower.

The man driving the pickup was going so slow, in fact, that we made eye contact for several seconds as he cruised by.

It seemed like he was intentionally driving closer to our vehicle in order to see inside better.

Alarm bells should have been ringing for me at this point, but I kind of just shrugged off the whole thing.

I was very much in my free spirit phase, and wasn't easily put off by too many things.

Now this is where it gets creepy.

So obviously this guy needed to turn back around since he was driving away from the park entrance.

I knew this, but I was honestly just minding my own business, so I essentially put him out of my mind immediately.

But then, several minutes later, as I figured, I saw the man come back.

However, this time, he pulled up directly to to our RV with his truck.

Our vehicles were essentially nose to nose at a 45 degree angle.

It made it seem like he was going to give us a jump or something.

It wasn't far-fetched for him to think that we possibly needed a jump, as we were in a vehicle from the seventies on a salty beach, but this also effectively blocked us in.

At this point, my heart dropped and I began to get scared.

I screamed my ex's name immediately, and he sprang up from the the couch since he could hear the panic in my voice.

I'll never forget how quickly he got up and how he had his arms spread across the camper while he ducked down to see through the windshield.

He was six' five and very bearded.

Once the driver in the beat-up truck saw him, he sped off like a bat out of hell.

I'm 1,000%

sure the only reason the man took off like that was because of my ex.

As he sped out of there, my ex and I just looked at each other.

We were dumbfounded, as that was the most unusual encounter on our trip yet.

This really freaked me out, but I calmed down eventually and it took several minutes for my heart rate to return to normal.

Surprisingly, we stayed for another week after that.

We even stayed in that same exact spot.

The idea never entered my head that the man could return with reinforcements for me or us.

I was so very naively fearless back then.

It wasn't until later that another fact dawned on me.

When my ex and I arrived on Padre Island over the weekend, we only pulled out one camping chair.

That singular camping chair was in plain sight next to our RV outside.

When we stayed at other campsites, we had never done that.

We always put both chairs out.

But we ended up only using one chair as there was plenty of driftwood to sit on when we had our bonfires.

When I thought about that, I realized that to onlookers, it easily seemed like I could have been by myself.

I'm fully convinced that that scary man in the gray truck absolutely thought I was a young girl staying on the island alone.

This detail, in particular, is why I still wonder, almost ten years later, what he had in mind for me that morning.

Every business has an ambition.

PayPal Open is the platform designed to help you grow into yours with business loans so you can expand and access to hundreds of millions of PayPal customers worldwide.

And your customers can pay all the ways they want with PayPal, Venmo, Pay Later, and all major cards.

So you can focus on scaling up.

When it's time to get growing, there's one platform for all business, PayPal Open.

Grow today at PayPalOpen.com.

Loan subject to approval in available locations.

Top reasons technology pros want to move to Ohio, a thriving tech industry with high-paying jobs for programmers, developers, database architects, and more.

Ohio is the silicon heartland with the top tech brands and thousands of startups too.

Shorter commute times mean more time for you.

And since your dollar goes further in Ohio, it's like a cheat code for success.

The tech career you want and a life you'll love.

Have it all in the heart of it all.

Learn more at callohiohome.com.

In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you.

Don't let them down.

Unlock Elite Gaming Tech at Lenovo.com.

Dominate every match with next-level speed, seamless streaming, and performance that won't quit.

And push your gameplay beyond limits with Intel Core Ultra Processors.

That's the power of Lenovo with Intel Inside.

Maximize your edge by shopping at Lenovo.com during their back-to-school sale.

That's Lenovo.com.

I was reminded of this story recently.

I'm a female and this happened when a friend of mine and I were 15 years old.

This was the early 90s and we were letting loose at a theme park that was so populated that it was easy to think that something scary would never even happen.

Her mother and stepdad took us there as it was a designated work and school holiday, even though rain was expected.

Due to the rain, I thought that fewer people would be there, but there were a lot of people there that day.

My friend and I had been up for almost 24 hours as we were on a massive sugar high.

We were all over the place being loud and manic, laughing at stupid shit.

Upon realizing this, my friend's mom made one thing clear.

If the park employees thought that we were being unruly enough to be kicked out, we would be exiled to the car in the parking lot where we would freeze our asses off while they continued to have fun for hours on end.

This was long before cell phones and the internet.

And we didn't bring any books or anything, so that would have been hell for us.

So we kept that in mind as much as we could.

My friend and I ended up finding a ride that we really liked.

So we kept riding that one ride.

While we were still repeating this ride, it started to get late so the park cleared out significantly.

Usually after midnight, ride operators would allow us to stay on a ride and go through multiple times as closing time was approaching and nobody was there.

My friend and I were crashing and very sleep deprived at this point, and likely looked intoxicated for all intents and purposes.

These two guys running this particular ride kept making us go through the maze of the line to get back on the ride.

It took minutes of us rushing to get off the ride, through the lined maze, and back to the front.

Each time they made us repeat this, we got more and more tired and borderline delirious, so we were laughing even more.

What I didn't realize was that there was a method to the madness.

The fourth time we went through, the guys running the ride asked us to come over over to their side of the ride, but we pointed out that we couldn't because we didn't want to jump the track.

They led us on the ride again, and when we got off they were right there, each taking one of our arms and forcibly guiding us into a part of the ride where only employees were permitted.

It took me a minute to realize what was happening.

These guys were on the tall side and at least college aged.

I thought that they were twins at first, but realized they just looked very similar due to wearing the same theme park uniforms and having identical haircuts.

My friend and I were still giggling when I saw the looks on their faces.

They looked determined, and their heads were on a swivel.

The lights were all still on at the park and the music was blaring, but we realized we hadn't seen anyone else walking around in hours.

We hadn't even seen the maintenance staff perpetually working on cleaning the park, and nobody was operating food stands.

It was a ghost town.

The next thing I knew, one of the guys was walking off with my friend, and the other guy pushed my back against a door.

This was not good.

When I realized that we were in serious trouble, I got a shot of adrenaline and a flash of insight.

Even though there were cameras everywhere and we would be able to identify them, they seemed to want to take this huge chance and mess with us still.

I knew that my best bet was to act dumb, like I had no idea what was going on, so I gave a fake giggle and pretended to stumble into the guy who was with me.

I started acting like I was about to puke, so he backed away from me and pointed to a trash can.

I went the other way and saw my friend was frozen with a terrified look on her face.

I made my way over to her and swooped her up on my back like I was giving her a piggyback ride.

She notoriously froze in certain situations due to her childhood trauma, so this wasn't my first time doing this.

Then I shot out of there with her on my back.

The park was closing soon, so once I was out of there, I started running towards the gates.

I was running so fast that my legs started giving out.

As we were nearing the front, my friend was slowly coming out of her frozen state, and when her mom spotted us she waved us over.

While we never told her mom or my mom what happened, I told my dad's friend, who had a daughter who worked at the park's offices, that I wanted to interview her for my English class.

A week later he gave me her number.

When I called her, I immediately blurted out what happened and asked her not to tell my parents.

I gave her all the details, and she told me not to worry, and assured me that these guys would be let go and banned from the park before the next day.

I went back to the park later that same year with a boyfriend and never saw either of those guys again.

I'm very thankful that my dad's friend's daughter took my claims seriously.

She told me that she understood as she had worked in the park as a teenager.

I'm still friends with that lady all these years later.

We occasionally use my story to warn her kids and grandkids that bad things can happen anywhere.

I'm a female and this happened when I was in junior high school.

I was seventeen years old when I met Leo, who was eighteen.

He was an immigrant from Guatemala, and was new to my school.

We had several classes together, and we both very much enjoyed choir.

One day we were coming back from a choir trip and I mustered up the courage to sit with Leo on the bus and start a conversation.

He charmed me immediately.

We talked for three hours and enjoyed passing the time together.

When he gave me a cute origami boat with his number and Snapchat written on it, I knew that I had fallen hard.

We spent the next ten days messaging and snapping each other every single day.

We also started sitting next to each other in every every class that we had together and started eating lunch in the library.

During this time, I began to notice a few red flags but quickly opted to ignore them since I assumed I was being crazy.

The first thing I noticed was that anytime I invited him to an activity outside of school, he would blatantly refuse.

There was never any excuse or reason, his answer was simply nope.

I invited him to several things, even some with my family, but he never considered any of my invites.

The next thing I noticed was that he would ask me questions but never allow me to answer them.

He would just ask another question that was often more invasive than the original question right when I was beginning to respond.

For example, he'd ask something like, What are you doing today?

And I'd start to reply, Oh, I'm

only to be cut off by by an invasive question like, How many boyfriends have you had?

It was really strange.

After we had been talking for almost a few weeks, I was walking my dog when I got a strange message from him.

It said, I had a dream, and I want to tell you about it.

Initially I was thrilled and curious, but then when he started sending me a bunch of messages, I got sick.

The dream went on to describe a bunch of very detailed sexual fantasies about me.

All of them were sickening and objectified my bodies in a way that no one would be comfortable with.

He started telling me the types of nude photos he wanted to take of me and the things that he wanted me to be doing to myself in them.

It wasn't sexy.

It was scary.

Then he told me how he wanted to start meeting up in secret several times a week.

He said he didn't want anyone else to know about this.

That was just too much for me, so I responded.

No, please never talk to me again.

And I blocked him on everything.

Two months before he graduated, in one of our classes, he announced that he would be moving to California.

Throughout those two months, he constantly tried to talk to me at school the way that he did at first, when we were harmlessly flirting, but I shut it down and told him I wasn't interested.

I figured I was in the clear after that, but that was not the case.

All summer long I got messages from random numbers saying things like, You look pretty in that pink shirt.

What did you just order?

I ordered the burger.

It sure is a nice day for the fair, right?

Even though the numbers were random, the sender of these messages wasn't.

It had to be him.

Anytime I went out with friends, he was there.

I would never see him, but he would message me something specifying that he was exactly where I was.

Meanwhile, he was also posting photos on his Instagram of supposedly being in California.

He was sharing his new life there, including how he found a new job and a place to live, but none of his pictures had his face in them.

After that, I decided to delete all of my socials.

I also changed my number.

Eventually, after I graduated, my family moved to a new town and I followed.

Leo clearly no longer knew where I was, yet I would still get messages and emails from him.

Also, it was brought to my attention that he created several fake profiles trying to stalk my friends and family.

This continued for three more years until one day he just stopped.

I never heard from him again.

I eventually got back on social media, but I created new profiles and made everything private.

I'm now married and killing it at my job, but I will never forget this awful experience.

Every few years it surfaces and plays through my mind on repeat for months.

So, Leo, let's not meet.

Every business has an ambition.

PayPal Open is the platform designed to help you grow into yours with business loans so you can expand and access to hundreds of millions of PayPal customers worldwide.

And your customers can pay all the ways they want with PayPal, Venmo, Pay Later, and all major cards so you can focus on scaling up.

When it's time to get growing, there's one platform for all business, PayPal Open.

Grow today at PayPalopen.com.

Loan subject to approval in available locations.

Top reasons your career wants you to move to Ohio.

So many amazing growth opportunities, high-paying jobs in technology, advanced manufacturing, engineering, life sciences, and more.

You'll soar to new heights, just like the Wright brothers, John Glenn, even Neil Armstrong.

Their Their careers all took off in Ohio, and yours can too.

A job that can take you further and a place you can't wait to come home to.

Have it all in the heart of it all.

Launch your search at callohiohome.com.

At Azure Standard, we believe healthy food shouldn't be complicated.

That's why we've spent 30 years delivering clean organic groceries and earth-friendly products to families who care about what goes on their plates and into their lives.

From pantry staples to wellness essentials and garden-ready seeds, everything we offer is rooted in real nutrition, transparency, and trust.

Join a community that believes in better naturally.

Visit Azure Standard.com today and discover a simpler, healthier way to shop for the things that matter most.

This happened fairly recently.

I was trying to catch a train to go to the city for a night of drinking with some friends.

Unfortunately, the trains weren't running to the city center that day for whatever reason.

So they were running a bus service instead.

I toddled toddled off, looking for where the replacement buses were in the train station.

After wandering for a while, it seemed like I was on the right track.

Just as I had found a very promising corridor, I heard running footsteps coming from behind me.

I glanced around until I found a man sprinting and coming to a stop right beside me.

He asked me if I knew where the replacement bus service was.

I replied that I wasn't sure, sure, and added that I was probably just as lost as he was, as I was trying to find it myself.

I thought that that would be the end of our interaction, but he continued walking beside me.

Fair enough, I thought.

We were both looking for the same thing, so I figured he thought that we would stand a better chance finding it together.

In retrospect, I wish I had turned around and darted into the bathroom or something like that.

It turned out that the corridor that we were in did lead to the replacement bus, and we happened upon the driver, who was standing outside the doors.

He assured us that we had plenty of time to board and seat ourselves on the bus since we were the first ones there.

Then he opened the doors and led us into the completely empty bus.

I decided to take a random seat about halfway to the back of the bus, situated myself next to a window, and got ready to put my headphones on.

So, where did this guy choose to sit sit in the completely empty bus?

Well, right next to me, effectively trapping me in a row of seats.

While I thought that it was a little weird at the time, I figured that no harm would come of it.

He asked why I was heading to the city centre, and I told him that I was meeting with some friends there for a girls' night out.

Then I put my headphones on and started searching for a good song to listen to.

He insisted on joining us, but I told him I didn't know him well enough to invite him, and it was a girl's only thing anyway.

He replied that we could get to know each other on the way and that he'd buy me a drink when we got there.

I thanked him for the offer, but declined and explained that I just wanted to see my friends.

The bus had started moving at this point, and there were a few others on board.

He proceeded to badger me with questions, all of which I ignored or only gave single-word answers to.

As his questioning continued, my replies became variations of I just want to listen to my music now and I'm not interested in talking, sorry.

Then he started complimenting my body.

He was telling me that I was beautiful and repeating I really like you over and over.

He wasn't getting the hint so I trimmed my responses until all I was saying was leave me alone every so often.

As if my vocal cues weren't enough, I was also giving him visible cues by shrinking away from him, but he kept leaning in closer.

Since this bus service was out of the norm, I had no idea where the next stop was, but I knew that the city center was ages away, and I was trapped in the seat by this guy, so I was really starting to panic.

The guy then ramped up and told me that he loved me as he leaned up on me and made kissing noises from his lips.

That was the moment when the hero in this story finally intervened.

A man who appeared to be around my age was sitting a few seats back.

He approached us and the conversation went as follows.

Excuse me, mate, the hero chimed in.

She's asked you multiple times, and you need to leave her alone.

Fuck off, exclaimed the guy, leaning on me through gritted teeth.

You need to move away from her.

She's clearly bothered by you, the hero continued.

Mind your own business, we're fine, the creep insisted.

The hero then turned to me and asked, Do you want him to move?

Practically pinned against the window, visibly scared, I sheepishly replied, Yeah.

Then the creep stood up, stormed up to the hero, and shouted Do you want to fight?

Do you want to fucking go right now?

The hero then replied, No, I'd rather you get yourself under control and leave her alone.

The creep was visibly readying himself to start throwing punches when the driver called back to us and said, Is there a problem?

Do I need to kick anyone off the bus?

The creep quietly shook his head, skulked further back on the bus, and relocated to a seat just a few seats behind the hero, much to my relief.

I mouthed several thank yous to my hero who just smiled like it wasn't a big deal.

The creep tried to follow me off the bus, but my friends intercepted me immediately.

We iced him out and he walked away defeated.

I was very lucky that that guy was on the bus.

I'm glad that he intervened when he did.

I used to live in an awful neighborhood where there were constant issues.

My partner and I were living there with my partner's brother, his wife, and their newborn baby.

They had a strict no-smoking in the house rule, and no guests were allowed to go beyond the kitchen to protect the new baby.

The layout of the house is important to know, so let me briefly explain it.

We were living in a townhouse on the corner, and our driveway was tucked behind the house, essentially in the backyard, so my neighbors' backyards were directly in front of where my car was parked.

Due to the no-smoking rule and not having a proper backyard, this meant that I often sat in my driveway to smoke with my friends.

Sometimes we would hot box, and sometimes we would crack the windows.

One night, my partner's brother was parked right beside me.

My best friend, who we'll call Cece,

was parked right behind me.

This meant that my car was totally blocked in the driveway.

Cece and I were out there getting our smoke on when we heard fighting from up the street.

This wasn't anything short of unusual for nighttime in this active neighborhood.

The next thing that we heard was someone hollering out, He stabbed him, he stabbed him, followed by screaming and sobbing, then an audible yelling.

A short while later, about nine police cars showed up, and the many people who were at the house where this was happening scattered.

Smoke was coming out of my car, and if I opened my door, it would have been worse.

I didn't want to draw attention from the police, so Cece and I stayed put.

We figured that this was probably our safest option.

Soon after that, a man appeared in the darkness.

He was crouched against the house, peeking around the corner towards the police.

Cece and I stayed as still as we could in my car as the man hadn't seen us yet.

We quickly caught his eye, so he got on the ground and crawled from the side of the house until he was in between my partner's brother's car and my car.

So there was only a mere foot and a half between him and Cece.

He leaned against my partner's brother's car and pulled up his hoodie, revealing both a gun and the handle of a knife.

He then slowly brought his finger up to his pursed lips as if to say sh

We stayed put as he continued to maneuver around the cars, the house, and the trash cans.

We watched as he slinked away while listening to the police who were still across the street and three houses down.

Eventually the man disappeared into the shadows entirely via the neighborhood backyards.

A few minutes later, I turned on my car so that I could use my Brights and see if he was still around.

My Brights cut into the next three backyards and I didn't see him, but Cece and I continued to stay in my car for another twenty minutes before booking it into the house.

We woke up my partner's brother, who walked Cece back to her car with a baseball bat before thoroughly searching our side yard and the driveway.

To the man who hid from the police by my car, I hope we never meet again.

My mom and grandparents used to live in the same town for ages.

My grandma was a physician.

She's retired now.

And my mom is a child psychologist.

There aren't too many stores in our area, so the two of them frequented this one popular store, and all the cashiers knew them very well.

One winter day my mom went to that store as usual.

A little girl who appeared to be maybe eight to ten years old, approached my mom and stood next to her as she was picking something up from a shelf.

My mom looked at the little girl, expecting her to say something or ask for something, but the girl just stood there.

My mom held on to the items she had just picked up and moved over to another shelf.

A few seconds later the girl followed, and again stood silently next to my mom, looking at the items on the shelf along with her.

My mom found this to be strange, so she moved again.

She kept moving, and finally lost the girl for a few minutes.

Then she saw the girl with a saleswoman.

The girl was pointing at my mom and saying something, but my mom ignored it, went to the cashier, paid for her stuff, and left.

When mom returned to the store the next day, the saleswoman approached her and said that the girl was asking them to call the police since she said that my mom was acting creepy towards her.

They decided to check the cameras, as the staff at the store knew my mom and my family very well.

They even knew where we lived and everything.

When they reviewed the camera footage, they saw that the girl was the one who was following my mom around the store and approached her first.

It wasn't the other way around, like the girl was saying.

The girl left quickly after talking to the salesperson that day.

She exited the store by herself, and two men were waiting for her outside.

A few weeks after all of this, my mom saw that same little girl on our street.

She had two men on either side of her.

My mom considered confronting them, but they were passing by very quickly, and our street was nearly empty when she saw them, so she didn't think that it would be wise to engage.

After that, my mom never saw the little girl or the two men again.

Every business has an ambition.

PayPal Open is the platform designed to help you grow into yours with business loans so you can expand and access to hundreds of millions of PayPal customers worldwide.

And your customers can pay all the ways they want with PayPal, Venmo, Pay Later, and all major cards so you can focus on scaling up.

When it's time to get growing, there's one platform for all business, PayPal Open.

Grow today at PayPalOpen.com.

Loan subject to approval in available locations.

Kevin and Rachel and King of M ⁇ Ms and an eight-hour road trip and Rachel's new favorite audiobook, The Cerulean Empress, Scoundrel's Inferno.

And Florian, the reckless yet charming scoundrel from said audiobook.

And his pecs glistened in the moonlight.

And Kevin, feeling weird because of all the talk about pecs, and Rachel handing him Peanut M ⁇ Ms to keep him quiet.

Uh, Kevin, I can't hear.

Yellow, we're keeping it PG-13.

M ⁇ Ms, it's more fun together.

Top reasons your career wants you to move to Ohio.

So many amazing growth opportunities, high-paying jobs in technology, advanced manufacturing, engineering, life sciences, and more.

You'll soar to new heights just like the Wright brothers, John Glenn, even Neil Armstrong.

Their careers all took off in Ohio and yours can too.

A job that can take you further and a place you can't wait to come home to.

Have it all in the heart of it all.

Launch your search at callohiohome.com.

Deborah had to have surgery.

I had hip surgery in November of 2024.

Her United Healthcare nurse, Crystal, checked on her.

We do a routine call after surgery, and I could tell that she was struggling.

Deborah needed help.

My infection markers were through the roof.

And Crystal knew what to do.

I called the hospital and said she's coming in and got Deborah the help she needed.

Crystal and United Healthcare saved my life.

Hear more stories like Deborah's at UHC.com.

Benefits, features, and/or devices vary by plant area.

Limitation and exclusions apply.

So all of this started after I joined one of those Meet New New Friends apps.

Now I'm not a loser, I swear.

I moved to my current city during the pandemic and have a work-from-home position, so I haven't been under the prime circumstances to acquire and nurture a social life.

I matched with this random girl who we'll call Annie.

I can't remember if I saw her first or vice versa.

Anyways, honestly, I was paying more attention to the profiles rather than the pictures, and she seemed okay.

Once we got to talking, spirituality came up somehow.

I can't remember how this happened either, but to be fair, either one of us could have brought it up.

I had recently been seriously following Norse paganism, but it wasn't something I was seeking to explore with other people.

It was mostly a private thing for me, but that doesn't mean that I was closed to the experience entirely.

So when Annie mentioned having an LGBTQ neurodivergent pagan femme coven, I remember thinking, okay, wow, that's either very specific or very broad.

But hey, why not?

Maybe it'll be fun.

So we agreed to meet first before I attended the event with them.

The only weird thing that stuck out in our text conversation was that she said her partner was in some sort of bizarre Scientology rehab.

At first, I assumed this was a place where one could recover from Scientology.

I tried to get more information.

I asked her if her partner was still a Scientologist, but I couldn't get an answer.

When I met up with Annie in person, we met for an hour and a half coffee.

I think I would have seen red flags if we had more time during that initial meetup.

There were little things that I kind of clocked on my radar, but nothing seemed that weird.

I did find, however, that I kept giving her the benefit of the doubt, and I regretted not circling back to ask about the whole Scientology thing.

I also intended to Google Scientology rehab, but I kept forgetting to do so.

I have since googled that term, but never found anything tangible about rehabilitation for ex-Scientologists, so I wish I had done that sooner.

The things that stuck out to me during that first meeting with her were relatively benign out of context, but the first thing I noticed was that she wouldn't answer any questions about herself directly.

This was not from lack of asking.

I'm the kind of person who is conscious of when the attention is all on me.

So it made me uncomfortable that I didn't learn anything specific about her, really.

Most of what she said had to do with her spiritual awakening, which in and of itself sounded pretty weird.

She said she had a realization that she was like a lighthouse that was drawing people up toward their personal enlightenment.

I thought that this was strange, but I chalked it up to it being personal to her, as her personal beliefs are subjective.

Reincarnation came up as well.

Reincarnation is a big part of paganism.

She told me that she didn't think she had any past lives and was a, quote, new soul, unquote, which didn't make a lot of sense but I figured not my circus not my monkeys

this vaguely supernatural element that she was placing on herself was strange and a lot of people want to feel special but that didn't mean I had to believe it myself

at one point during this conversation I told her about this random woman that I met at a pagan festival who tried to con me

she wanted to charge me so that she could consider me under her wing or whatever.

But I didn't need someone to protect or guide me, so I declined.

As I was telling my story, I could tell that Annie felt conflicted.

I could tell that she wanted to agree, but didn't.

Finally, she said something about how it was only inappropriate because the student shouldn't choose the teacher.

So I clarified that I didn't want a teacher.

Besides that part of the conversation, her responses were otherwise very mirroring.

But I'm not a moron.

This was giving me a weird sense that she wasn't being honest with me and that she was telling me things that I wanted to hear.

So I told myself that she was probably just nervous.

So I could tell things were a bit off after that first meeting, but I didn't want to be paranoid.

I don't trust people easily, and I know that.

So I was trying to loosen up and be more chill, which wound up being a big mistake.

So then I went to this event that she invited me to, and it was immediately weird.

I mean, immediately.

The second I set foot in that house, I was uncomfortable.

It was filled with people but completely silent.

Everyone was looking at me.

I laughed a bit and said hi as I was passing people, but nobody was responding.

Yet there I was awkwardly dropping my keys and phone, trying to settle in while everyone was just watching me.

Eventually I took a seat on this short couch since there was no room in the large circle.

Everyone was in this small living room.

There were about twenty people circled up.

There was a cushion on the couch, so I sat on that as the leader started talking.

As she was going on, I was looking around at the people there, since I was curious.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that the leader was trying to look at me, but the girl sitting in front of me was partially obscuring our view of each other, so the leader was leaning to try and meet my gaze.

Finally, I felt awkward enough, which pushed me to engage, so I shifted over, leaning against the arm of the couch.

Staying perched on the cushion while leaning quickly got uncomfortable, so I shifted again.

I spread myself out a bit more.

The leader ended the speech with,

so essentially, just spread out, I guess.

This was clearly directed at me, and my fidgeting, but it was said with some humor, so I wasn't sure what to make of it.

Everyone introduced themselves, and each person was their own unique brand of neurodivergent.

I'm ADHD, but I personally don't subscribe to labels beyond the requirement to stay medicated.

I've been medicated since 2015, so it's not a new diagnosis for me.

That was the only question we were asked about ourselves beyond our name.

Then the leader guided the group through this meditation, and some people were making these weird breathing sounds and humming.

I understood since it was a spiritual meditation, but unfortunately, due to my ADHD, in general, I couldn't couldn't focus to save my life.

So I couldn't follow the guided meditation.

I was sitting there with my eyes closed, barely paying attention because that's all I could really do.

But I caught the part where the leader said that we should think of anything that we would want to ask her or need from her, which got my attention.

I remember thinking, what the fuck do I need to ask her?

Other than where are the snacks?

I paid $8 to come to this thing and there wasn't a single snack to be seen.

Once the meditation ended, Annie and the leader walked around to give us materials for an activity.

Annie gave me two long pieces of twine and the leader gave me two sticks.

As the leader was handing me the sticks, I asked her where the snacks were.

She said, in the kitchen, on the table, where snacks tend to be.

Now, I'm a sarcastic person, so I thought that maybe that was just her brand of humor too.

So I laughed and played along, saying, oh, right, I think I should be able to find them there.

She replied with a deadpan, unsmiling, mm-hmm,

and then walked away.

I assumed that she was just a dry person, but then I saw her laughing with the other girls.

This is when I realized something was off.

As the activity commenced, she went back over to Annie and started stroking her back, kissing her hair, and giving me this creepy smile.

It was very strange.

I was so uncomfortable that I wanted to get up and go, but I didn't want to disrupt the damn activity.

The activity itself was the last straw, though.

They wanted us to think of something that brought us pain.

They wanted us to think of something that we would want to discard from our lives.

Then they wanted us to demonstrate how bad that thing we picked made us feel as we slowly twisted the piece of twine around the stick.

I was glancing around, trying to gauge what others thought of the activity since, to me, it was something I'd only ever do with my therapist, but some people were emotionally melting down before long.

I wasn't comfortable doing the activity for obvious reasons, so I sat there awkwardly with the sticks and the string in my lap.

I was the only one not doing it, which was glaringly obvious.

But since I wasn't doing it, I had the opportunity to watch Annie and the leader.

And it was chilling.

Annie was doing some weird pyramid gesture with her arms above her head.

There were a lot of references to her being a lighthouse or some sort of guiding figure throughout the meeting.

That's when it suddenly occurred to me that Annie had been using the friendship seeking app just to bring people into their group.

This realization hit me when I noticed that she was the only person who seemed to know everyone, yet no one knew each other.

Even the fact that she referred to this group as an LGBTQ neurodivergent pagan femme coven during our first meeting now made sense.

They weren't being specific.

They were casting this wide net, and it made my stomach turn.

So, I was done after I realized all of that.

But I couldn't get up since people were now opening up and sharing their experiences, pouring their hearts out.

This was the most fucked up part of it, in my opinion.

It was manipulative of them to conduct a releasing ceremony that forced people to feel and expose their trauma, especially at the very first meeting.

I knew I wanted to get out of there, but I didn't want to disrespect those who went along with the activity.

So many people were emotional from opening up.

Someone was literally crying onto my shoes that I left by the door.

So I had to wait for the best time to ask someone to pass them to me.

When I finally got up, I told everyone that I had to go get something from my car, and then took off.

As I left, I texted Annie and told her I wouldn't be back and that I hoped she found quote-unquote her people.

Afterward, the girl who ran it texted me and I let her know my concerns about having that kind of activity with such a vulnerable group.

She let me know that she had certifications and said that I was the only one who had a problem with the activity.

Then she accused me of projecting my trauma and even had the audacity to apologize for the imaginary trauma she assumed I had.

All in all, our conversation went nowhere, but I let her know I disagreed with what they were doing and would absolutely not be returning.

I also said that I thought it was wrong that they were using the friendship app to recruit people into the group, but she denied this entirely.

As I was putting myself past this, I logged back onto the friendship app, since I had new matches and messages.

One of them seemed normal at first.

We were talking about video games and she asked me about Zelda.

Zelda is my default name on a lot of social media and people typically assume it's because of the video games, but I'm actually weirdly obsessed with Zelda Fitzgerald since I'm a lit nerd.

Anyway, she said, I would love to get together and hear more about what Zelda means to you.

Alarm bells were ringing when she said that because who talks like that?

So I took a look at her profile, and there was no mention of spirituality.

And I just outright asked her about Annie in the group, and it turns out she was a part of it.

I found this particularly interesting, since the leader of the group denied using the app to recruit, yet the very next person I talked to on the app was also in the group.

Anyway, in conclusion, please be careful of any spiritual ceremony or practice that demands vulnerability from you, especially if it's being directed by certified people instead of medical professionals who don't know much about you beyond your name.

Annie, let's not under any circumstances ever meet again.

Thanks for listening and 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 that bonus content, head over to patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast, where you'll get access to ad-free versions of all of our episode and bonus content with stories you won't hear anywhere else every single week.

Again, that's that's patreon.com forward slash Let's Not Meet podcast.

This week you have heard Creepy FedEx Driver by WhisperWhite22, A Man Thought That I Was Alone on Padre Island by Saucy Bev,

The Ride Operators by Cats Against Humanity,

I Got Stalked for Years by the Boy I Crushed On in School by Roho Princess A.

Creepy Man Cornered Me by Deep Recognition 679.

Man Hid from the Police With Me by Dog Mama21.

Was a child used to frame my mom by Crazy Confusion 3817.

And finally, My New Friend Turned Out to Be Recruiting for Some Kind of Cult Leader by Harlequin.

All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission of their respective authors.

Let's Not Meet a True Horror Podcast is not associated with Reddit or any other message boards online.

If you have a story to share, send it to let's not meetstories at gmail.com.

And be sure to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like Odd Trails, Cryptic Encounters, and the Old Time Radio Cast at crypticcountypodcasts.com or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

We'll see you next week.

Everyone stay safe.

This happened in the mid-90s when my sister Stacey was over at her boyfriend's that night after midnight.

Top Reasons Advanced Manufacturing Pros Wanna Move to Ohio.

So many advancement opportunities for technicians, machinists, managers, operators, and more.

How about a powered-up paycheck and an amped-up career?

Plus the energy of big-time sports.

And after work, plenty of ways to unplug.

The career you want and a life you'll love.

Have it all in the heart of it all.

Build your future at callohiohome.com.

Drew and Sue and Eminem's Minis.

And baking the surprise birthday cake for Lou.

And Sue forgetting that her oven doesn't really work.

And Drew remembering that they don't have flour.

And Lou getting home early from work, which he never does.

And Drew and Sue using the rest of the tubes of M ⁇ M's minis as party poppers instead.

I think this is one of those moments where people say, it's the thought that counts.

M ⁇ Ms, it's more fun together.

Running small and medium-sized businesses is tough work.

Business owners need to be sure that their ads are working just as hard as they do.

Amazon streaming TV ads makes makes your marketing dollar go even further.

With Amazon Ads, trillions of browsing, shopping, and streaming insights help small and medium businesses reach the right customers that matter.

Your ads can show up during the shows customers are actually watching, and measurement tools show you what's working the best.

Game the Edge with Amazon Ads.