Curious onlookers began to arrive at New Jersey Thursday to drive by the address of 657 Boulevard in Westfield, the house on which the new drama from true crime of Netflix, The Watcher.
The series, starring Bobby Cannavale, Mia Farrow and Naomi Watts, premiered the morning of that day and tells a highly fictionalized version of the nightmare suffered by the Broaddus familywho bought the house in 2014. Derek and Maria Broaddus and their three young children intended to move into the house, which they bought for $1.35 million.
But just days after closing the deal, Derek says the family started receiving a series of creepy letters signed “The Watcher.” [el vigilante]which included details such as the names of their children and snippets of conversations that could only be learned if someone was too close to the house.
The Broaddus family never moved into the house.
The creepy case was narrated in 2018 by The Cut and included the home address. Since then, the street has seen frequent visitors passing by, similar to people driving by the Amityville House of Horrors, another Dutch Colonial-style house with a sinister history just 60 miles (96 km) to the east in Long Island.
But there were “many more” on Boulevard on Thursday, a neighbor told The Independentand that was just the first day of the series premiere.
The Watcher was the number one series on Netflix on Friday.
The Westfield Police Department and Mayor Shelley Brindle did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Independent.
While the Netflix series takes enormous creative license—inventing characters, details, stories, and actually most of the plot—the actual story is chilling.
The first white envelope Derek discovered in the family mailbox was addressed to “The New Owner.”
“How did you end up here?” the letter read. “Did 657 Boulevard call you with its inner power?”
The author of the letter added that the house “has been the object of my family for decades and now that it is about to turn 110 years old, I was put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming. My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched it in the 1960s. My time has come. Do you know the history of the house? Do you know what lies within the walls of 657 Boulevard? Why are you here? I’m going to check”.
In a total of three letters, the Broadduses claim that the writer mentioned details that apparently could only have been witnessed and heard in the vicinity of the house.
“I see they already flooded 657 Boulevard with contractors so they can destroy the house like it was supposed to be,” the person wrote. “Tsk, tsk, tsk… bad decision. You don’t want to make 657 Boulevard unhappy.”
The writer added: “You have children. I have seen them. So far I think there are three that I have counted”, and he threatened with the following: “Do you need to fill the house with the young blood that I asked for? Better for me. Was your old house too small for the growing family? Or was it greed to bring me your children? Once I know their names, I will call them and draw them to me.”
The writer ultimately referred to the children “by birth order and by their nicknames,” even mentioning one of the children in particular, reportedThe Cut of New York Magazine.
Derek Broaddus told the publication that he was “depressed” as he and his wife tried to figure out what to do. She said her main goal was to avoid putting the children “in harm’s way.”
That was no doubt a difficult decision, given the malevolent tone of the correspondence.
“Years and years have passed since young blood ruled the halls of the house,” the Watcher wrote. “Have you found all the secrets it keeps yet? Will the young blood play in the basement? Or are they too afraid to go there alone? I would be very scared if I were them. It is far from the rest of the house. If you were upstairs, you’d never hear them scream.”
“Will they sleep in the attic? Or will they all sleep on the second floor? Who will be in the rooms facing the street? I’ll know as soon as they move. It’ll help me know who’s in which bedroom. So I can plan better.”
“All the windows and doors on 657 Boulevard allow me to watch and monitor you as you move around the house. Who I am? I am the Vigilante and have been in control of 657 Boulevard for the better part of two decades. The Woods family gave it to you. It was their time to move on and they kindly sold it when I asked.”
“I pass many times a day. 657 Boulevard is my work, my life, my obsession. And now you too, Broaddus family. Welcome to the product of your greed! Greed is what brought the last three families to 657 Boulevard and now it has brought them to me.”
The Broaddus family asked the previous owners if they had also received such letters. The Woodses said they received only one during the 23 years they lived in the house, and it arrived in the mail just before they moved out.
The occupants who preceded the Woods family also said they had no problems during their 28 years in the residence. Margaret Bakes Davis, who grew up in the house, tells The Independent that all the fuss was “a bit strange, I think, especially because it was a wonderful time for me, for our family … There were no problems.”
“It was like [la serie] Mayberry RFD It was a beautiful place to grow. I had a wonderful childhood. Nothing happened when we lived there. Absolutely nothing”.
However, all that changed years later, during the Broaddus’s tenure. The parents of three contacted the police and there were several suspects; the family also hired its own investigator and consultants. But the mystery was never solved and they eventually sold the house at a loss in 2019.
The identity of “The Watcher” remains unknown to this day.
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Tourism for ‘true crime’? The house in New Jersey that inspired the series ‘The Watcher’ attracts several visitors