Here's Who People Think Sent Those Creepy AF Letters In 'The Watcher'
Netflix’s top true-crime show, The Watcher, just bumped the Jeffrey Dahmer limited series from the streaming platform's No. 1 spot, and there's a good reason for it. It's spooky as heck. The new series details the freaky story of a family who moved into their dream home in Westfield, New Jersey, only to be repeatedly stalked by someone who was dubbed by the media as "The Westfield Watcher.”
The show, which features A-listers like Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale, is (terrifyingly) based on the real-life story of Derek and Maria Broaddus, a couple who bought a $1.3 million house at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey in 2014. The Watcher, which was a story first reported and published in New York Magazine and later reprinted in The Cut, explores how soon after the Broadduses big purchase, they started receiving terrifying, creepy letters from an anonymous person threatening their family. In total, they received three letters from someone who seemed to be watching their house, knew what was going on inside, and had knowledge about their family and kids.
"657 Boulevard has been the subject of my family for decades now and as it approaches its 110th birthday, I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming,” one letter said, per The Cut. “My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s. It is now my time. Do you know the history of the house? Do you know what lies within the walls of 657 Boulevard? Why are you here? I will find out."
Other creepy snippets included, “I pass by many times a day. 657 Boulevard is my job, my life, my obsession” and “I will rise again. I will be patient and wait for this to pass and for you to bring the young blood back to me. 657 Boulevard needs young blood.”
And then there was this terrifying excerpt: “Will the young blood play in the basement? Or are they too afraid to go down there alone. I would [be] very afraid if I were them. It is far away from the rest of the house. If you were upstairs you would never hear them scream.”
The couple moved their things in but never actually lived in the house because they were too freaked out, per CNN.
OK, so who was “The Watcher”? The case has never been solved, and the identity of the person sending the letters has yet to be uncovered. But of course, there are a few theories floating around out there. Here are a few:
THEORY 1: It was a neighbor. A Westfield neighbors said that a man who lived next to him was a possible suspect, per CNN. The Broaddus family hired a private investigator and an ex-FBI profiler to try to find the identity of The Watcher, and Derek Broaddus testified that the investigation concluded that it was “someone in their 50s or 60s” who lived nearby, per CNN. The PI also said that the neighbors didn’t “seem normal,” CNN said.
THEORY 2: It was a competing buyer. The home is in a coveted (and wealthy) area, so some people think the letters were sent by someone who missed out on buying the house or who wanted to get it at a reduced price. "I personally think it's like a joke... I feel like this would have come up prior some time if 'the Watcher's' story was real, that his grandfather, his father watched the house," neighbor Andrew Smith told NJ.com. "A lot of neighbors, they all think they know who it is, someone who lives locally." The Broadduses later sold the home at a loss in 2019, according to Patch.
THEORY 3: It was someone with a grudge. One Reddit post points out that "The Watcher" story is very similar to that of a basketball coach whose family received similarly terrifying letters after a wealthy family was mad that the coach didn’t play their son. They suggest that "The Watcher" actually had issues with the previous owners (who later admitted they received a letter before the home was sold) and were hoping the former owners would be sued by the Broadduses or forced to take back the property.
THEORY 4: It was the Broadduses. After the house finally sold, Derek tweeted that he’s “still waiting for my apology” after a theory floated around suggesting the family actually wrote the letters themselves. Some people theorized that the Broadduses may have had "buyers remorse," per The Independent.
THEORY 5: It was the private investigator. Okay, this one is only an option because in the series, the family hires a private investigator named Theodora who says she was the one who sent the letters, but she only said this to try to give the family peace of mind. The real family did hire a PI and got the FBI involved, but there's no evidence they were involved.
Of course, everyone has their own theory, but these ones have gotten the most traction.
The style of the letters reveal some clues.
The experts hired by the family have pulled together some telling details about the identity of "The Watcher" based on the style and tone of the letters. According to the NYMag story, the creeper met the following criteria:
They were probably older (the sentence structure was old-fashioned).
They were well-read (the language was quite "literary," per The Independent).
The person made lots of typos, suggesting they might be erratic.
They might have watched Game of Thrones (based on the language they used).
It was a woman (per DNA findings on the letter, The Cut reported).
But, to date, authorities have not been able to figure out who, exactly, is responsible for the letters. Stay tuned for more emerging "Watcher" theories after the movie premiere.
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