The Watcher

"The Watcher" streams on Netflix for the Halloween season coming in November and has Ryan Murphy as the creator with the caption reading "This is my idea of ...

The views expressed here are that of the respective authors/ entities and do not represent the views of Economic Times (ET). [Maria](/topic/maria)contacted the previous owner, who denied experiencing anything like this. The longest-serving monarch, UK Queen Elizabeth II, breathed her last in Balmoral Castle on September 8, aged 96. The person who wrote the letter informed me that he was responsible for watching over the house at 657 Boulevard. The story goes on to show that the family finally ends up selling the house within two years of occupying it due to being flooded by letters from the Watcher. It is expected that

The shingle-style house with Dutch Colonial features has six bedrooms and four bathrooms, spanning 3,869 square feet. When Derek and Maria Broaddus bought the ...

Just days later, Tamron Hall covers the news on the [Today show](https://www.today.com/video/homeowners-sue-over-threatening-letters-from-the-watcher-469303875669). The prosecutor's office decides to follow up on a lead from the previous investigation—female DNA had been found on one of the envelopes—asking neighbors on Boulevard to voluntarily submit DNA samples for comparison. [responds](https://www.thecut.com/article/the-haunting-of-657-boulevard-in-westfield-new-jersey.html) to the Broadusses, telling them that they received one letter days before closing the sale but threw it away. The author taunts Derek and Maria about their rejected proposal, and suggests they intend to carry out physical harm against their family. [The Watcher](https://www.housebeautiful.com/design-inspiration/real-estate/a28680321/657-boulevard-westfield-new-jersey-watcher-house-sold/) has officially hit the streaming service. More than 100 Westfield residents attend the meeting to voice their concerns over the plan. The Woodses attorney, Richard Kaplow, says his clients were not legally required to disclose the note they received prior to closing the sale of 657 Boulevard. February 21, 2015: Less than a year after buying the home, the Broadduses decide to sell 657 Boulevard. For example, the envelope was addressed “M/M Braddus,” and the sentences had double spaces between them. When Derek and Maria Broaddus bought the home in June 2014 for nearly $1.4 million, their excitement quickly turned to dread as they began receiving threatening letters from “The Watcher.” The anonymous harasser claimed that the home had been a point of obsession for their family for decades, and that since their father's passing, they had been put in charge of watching over it. According to their son, Bill Shaffer, the couple paid about $23,000 for the home. June 5, 2014: The Broadusses receive their first letter from The Watcher, which is dated June 4, 2014.

With a cast that boasts Naomi Watts, Bobby Cannavale, Mia Farrow and woman of the moment Jennifer Coolidge, the story opens with the Brannock family moving into ...

As Derek Broaddus told a reporter from The Cut, the troubling situation had sunk deep into his bones and the family just had to live with it: “It’s like cancer. And now even more people will be pouring over the story and potential suspects with the Netflix adaptation of the events. The Broaddus family went to the police and the search for the perpetrator began, focusing on the neighbours, who may have had a vantage point. All the investigations stalled, as The Cut noted: “The letters could be read closely for possible clues, or dismissed as the nonsensical ramblings of a sociopath.” A priest was even called in to bless the house. The letters continued, and so did the suspicions of everyone around them, but even DNA testing of the letters couldn’t identify the culprit. Do you know the history of the house?

The cast of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan's latest Netflix show 'The Watcher' discuss telling a story based on real events in wake of the duo's hit 'Dahmer ...

“You don’t really want to trigger anyone,” actor Henry Hunter Hall added of the pressure he felt to tell the real-life story on screen. “My daughter is one of those online sleuths. “The story itself is just a jumping off point for what he wants to do.” “I find it wildly fun. “There’s a lot of people that are very invested in this story that are waiting for it with bated breath and, I dare say, they want the exact story to be told,” he said. The story is based on that story, but really, it’s a Ryan Murphy creation,” Cannavale told The Hollywood Reporter about how he prepared for the role at the New York City premiere on Wednesday. “I love this genre,” she added. Far more theatrical and much more of a rollercoaster.” But Martindale said the real people on whom the show is based shouldn’t be worried about their portrayals. Soon after meeting their strange neighbors — portrayed by [Mia Farrow](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/mia-farrow/), Terry Kinney, Richard Kind and [Margo Martindale](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/margo-martindale/) — the couple begin receiving sinister letters from someone named “the Watcher.” Through the letters, the stalker starts to terrorize Dean, Nora and their kids. “I don’t think they’re depicted in a bad way,” she said. About his character, Dean, Cannavale added, “I worked very closely with Ryan in coming up with this guy.

When Nora and Dean Brannock roll into Westfield, it's like they've reached the promised land. Angels may as well be singing. Dumb smiles play on their faces ...

[Andrea and John Woods](https://www.nj.com/union/2017/08/watcher_house_prior_owner_wants_lawsuit_tossed_say.html) had received their own Watcher letter before they left, the Broadduses filed a [civil suit](https://www.nj.com/union/2015/06/lawsuit_bring_me_young_blood_stalker_told_westfiel.html) against them in 2015, and were [countersued](https://www.nj.com/union/2017/08/watcher_house_prior_owner_wants_lawsuit_tossed_say.html) for defamation. It is a disruptive time and they have to really grapple with, ‘Is this the right thing?’” “The American Dream is there because it is possible, and we’ve all dedicated ourselves to work because of it, because it’s achievable,” says Watts, who hails from Australia via England and Wales. [Olivia Newton-John’s “Hopelessly Devoted To You”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HDkw100sXQ)). “Welcome to the product of your greed,” the mystery writer continues. Do you know [what lies within the walls of 657 Boulevard?](https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2022/09/the-watcher-is-here-see-naomi-watts-and-bobby-cannavale-in-series-based-on-nj-true-story.html)” [young blood](https://www.nj.com/union/2015/06/lawsuit_bring_me_young_blood_stalker_told_westfiel.html) I requested?” the anonymous author wrote. [Mia Farrow](https://www.instagram.com/realmiafarrow/), has an ax to grind, since she’s president of the local historical preservation group. [The Watcher,](https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2022/09/the-watcher-is-here-see-naomi-watts-and-bobby-cannavale-in-series-based-on-nj-true-story.html)” a new limited series on [Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/title/81380441), shows how it all goes so very wrong for the Brannocks in a narrative based on the real-life story of the family who tried to make Westfield’s 657 Boulevard their home. “I found the story to be incredibly gripping,” says Watts, 54, a two-time Oscar nominee. [watched the house](https://www.nj.com/union/2017/03/watch_strikes_again_4th_letter_sent_feds_prosecuto.html) in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s,” The Watcher wrote, staking a kind of claim to the property. “I mean, like, ‘How dare somebody try to f--k with the American Dream that I’ve worked so hard to have?’ I think that that idea is scary for people.

Are we supposed to hate the Brannocks so we won't mind when they are tormented by their stalker? A recap of 'Welcome, Friends,' episode 1 of the Ryan Murphy ...

Naturally, Dean throws him out, and the best part of all of this is Pearl just being like, “Was he in the dumbwaiter? I can’t imagine the Westfield PD is going to be thrilled with this depiction of patronizing Detective Rourke Chamberland (Christopher McDonald) assuring the Brannocks that this is “maybe the safest town in America” (does anyone actually think that?) where the only crime worth noting is “a couple of disappearances.” He says it’s a prank. I absolutely lost it at Dean’s “How fast do you think a suicidal ferret would have to run into a wall to get enough momentum to crush his own fuckin’ skull?” Personally, I would be on the first train back to the city if someone broke into my house and murdered my pet. This is when we meet Sprinkles, and I write in my notes, “He will be the first to die.” Nora gushes over the air quality, and again I say there is no way an artist would be this over the moon about leaving Manhattan to move to New Jersey! Dean wants his kids to “have a yard to play in.” Dean, your daughter is in high school; she is not going to “play in the yard.” But sure! Karen tells us about how her ex sucked, and I’m not sure how relevant that is to the plot, but I would watch Jennifer Coolidge do pretty much anything, so I’m not mad about it. Dad is furious about this because he’s having a Don’t Worry Darling fantasy in which he moves his family to the suburbs so he can live in the past where teenage girls are not allowed to wear makeup for it will make them harlots and she must stay a child forever. Dean decides to just take out all their savings and burn through their 401(k)’s or whatever you have to do when you are spending too much money on a house and boom: The house is theirs. We also have children: Carter, a boy who was gifted a ferret named Sprinkles to ease the transition to the new home, and Ellie, a 15-year-old whose entire personality is “likes to be on her phone” and “wants to wear makeup.” Karen is Jennifer Coolidge, and when I saw her onscreen I said out loud, “Oh hell, yes.” Karen and Nora went to RISD together back when Nora was “crunchy” (read: less beige). [At the behest of that family](https://www.thecut.com/2022/10/the-watcher-657-boulevard-update.html#_ga=2.136065849.985561773.1665451855-2008340438.1629751243), the family in the series goes by a different name and resembles their real selves as little as possible. If you drink every time someone says “dumbwaiter,” you will be absolutely blitzed by the end of this episode.

Naomi Watts discusses her love of true crime, the joy in working with Jennifer Coolidge and why viewers will be hooked by her twisted new Netflix thriller ...

Based on Laurence Leamer’s bestselling book of the same name, the story explores how Truman Capote betrayed a number of his closest female confidantes when he used their lives as fodder for a novel, and features an all-star cast including Chloë Sevigny as CZ Guest, Diane Lane as Nancy “Slim” Keith and Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill. Watts is equally complimentary about the “high calibre actors” in the wider cast. “I think the cast is extraordinary,” Watts says. “She and I play old friends who haven’t seen each other in a long time, and our lives have taken very different turns, and then we’re suddenly back in the same in the same room in the same town,” Watts explains. “You can imagine the joy when I heard that she became a cast member,” smiles Watts. “And it’s great for Nora – she’s moved to a place where she’s not surrounded by the friend group that she had in the city, so she welcomes the connection.” Working alongside Coolidge, who recently scooped her first Emmy for her role as kooky socialite Tanya McQuoid in The White Lotus, was a “wonderful” experience for Watts. First published in The Cut in 2018, The Haunting Of A Dream House follows real-life spouses Maria and Derek Broaddus who in 2014 moved into their dream home in the New Jersey suburb of Westfield, only to be stalked to a sinister degree by an anonymous ‘watcher’. I’m always drawn to mystery and fear and thrills and even horror sometimes, so it felt like a good combination of things.” “Definitely Ryan being on the end of that call that first time was a good reason to say yes,” she says. Here, its lead star Naomi Watts chats to Stylist’s entertainment editor Christobel Hastings about her love of true crime, the joy of working with Jennifer Coolidge and why viewers will be hooked by her new series. After reading it, she “got very caught up in it”, and got on the phone with Murphy to seal the deal. [Naomi Watts](https://www.stylist.co.uk/tag/naomi-watts), who is continuing her long-running streak of scaring audiences nearly 20 years after finding breakout stardom in 2002 classic The Ring.

The Watcher season 1, episode 1 recap - "Welcome, Friends". This article contains major spoilers for the Netflix series.

On the other side are Mo ( [Margo Martindale](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0553269/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3)) and Mitch ( [Richard Kind](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0454236/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0)), who aggressively harvest arugula on whichever side of the fence they feel like. The letter arrives on the first morning and is signed by “The Watcher”. The episode’s title, “Welcome, Friends”, is taken from it, but the letter isn’t particularly friendly; it implies the house at 657 Boulevard has an eerie past, that there’s something in the walls, that it has been watched for generations and will continue to be watched, and that “young blood” should accumulate in it. [Mia Farrow](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001201/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t10)) and Jasper ( [Terry Kinney](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0455767/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t4)) Winslow, the latter being the local eccentric who seemingly has no compunction about strolling into someone else’s home like it’s his own. [The Watcher](https://readysteadycut.com/2022/10/06/the-watcher-release-date/), even though it’s [based on a true story](https://readysteadycut.com/2022/10/13/is-the-watcher-based-on-a-true-story/), is very much a [Ryan Murphy](https://readysteadycut.com/2022/09/21/dahmer-monster-the-jeffrey-dahmer-story-review-lurid-and-uncomfortable/) production. They focus on the pool and the nearby lake and the big bedrooms and bizarrely overlook the creepy girl standing ominously in the garden, the neighborhood rumors about all the terrible things that have happened there, or the old-fashioned dumbwaiter that’ll definitely be used for a scare or a plot point down the line.

Reeves Wiedeman tells VF about reporting the story on which Netflix's “The Watcher” is based, the primary theories, and his hopes for unmasking the culprit.

But yeah…I think one thing that made the story so intriguing to people is it does feel like it should be able to be solved. And then trying to talk to people in the town. But they still owned the house and were trying to figure out how to get rid of it and move on from that. It was just letters showing up in the mail. Westfield, like any town, is a place where people like to gossip about the biggest story in town. As a reporter, how obsessed did you get with the story? She had this idea after the story had initially had its viral moment in 2015, after the lawsuit that the Broadduses had filed had been made public. Initially what we were doing was trying to figure out how people felt about living next door to this house, or living in the same town. And they were still trying to figure this out. In anticipation of the true-crime adaptation, VF spoke to Wiedeman about his experience reporting the story, whether The Watcher targeted him, and his hopes for the case finally being solved. I’m just kind of watching it all happen, so to speak, to use that word. [“The Watcher,”](https://www.thecut.com/article/the-haunting-of-657-boulevard-in-westfield-new-jersey.html) which detailed their saga and the ensuing investigation into The Watcher’s identity.

Plus, there's a truly amazing cast to get excited about too, including Jennifer Coolidge, Bobby Cannavale, Naomi Watts, Mia Farrow and Margo Martindale. As for ...

One viewer wrote, "Watching The Watcher as if I'm not home alone most nights and already constantly feel like someone's watching me." Plus, viewers are even reporting feeling fully scared to be home alone after watching - which is a pretty good review for a thriller, we reckon. It seems like viewers agree, with fans taking to Twitter to shout out just how chilling the show is.

Netflix's The Watcher tells the story of the Brannock family, who move into their new home in a well-to-do neighborhood only to receive ominous letters in ...

All of the windows and doors in 657 Boulevard allow me to watch you and track you as you move through the house. Greed is what brought the past three families to 657 Boulevard and now it has brought you to me. It has been years and years since the young blood ruled the hallways of the house. Will they sleep in the attic? It is far away from the rest of the house. Only some excerpts have been published, but the writer insisted that there was something literally in the walls of 657 Boulevard and often spoke about the house, like it was sentient. They were unable to get the permits and their relationship with the local council and neighbors soured even further. The letter claimed that the writer had been tasked with watching 657 specifically and that they were the third generation of their family to do so. This was just the beginning of a horrifying experience for the Broadduses. The Broadduses bought the house in Westfield, New Jersey in 2014 for $1,355,657. This is the real story about Watcher House. The missives are from someone calling themselves “The Watcher,” who claims to be watching the Brannock's house specifically.

The neighbors (played by, among others, Mia Farrow, Richard Kind, and Margo Martindale) take an instant dislike to the Brannocks, making each of them initial ...

By the time we reach a coda demonstrating the trauma and dislocation both Dean and Nora feel, it’s almost hard to know how to take it: Their world is one of so little gravity that it’s hard to understand, based on the oddity and randomness we’ve seen up until the show’s ending, why these characters in an unrelatable, ultimately unremarkable fiction didn’t just bounce back. To wit: The couple at its center, as written, are somewhat vain and careless in their pursuit of a home beyond their reach. In Murphy’s typical way, there are plot twists — deaths and revivals, with the specter of the supernatural seeming to wax and wane. The grandness of the Murphy method collides with the truly interesting elements of the Watcher story. Here, the people the Brannocks meet often open from a position of outré hostility, ironing out much of the magazine story’s insight about the ways in which suburban rage veils itself in politeness. “Halston’s” gilded retelling of recent-ish celebrity culture recalled “Feud,” with the adversaries, perhaps, being the designer and his own ego.

They're not interested in character, mood, or anything really but a metronomic revealing of twists because they think that momentum is the only thing that ...

[The Shining](/reviews/great-movie-the-shining-1980)” or “ [The Amityville Horror](/reviews/the-amityville-horror-1979)” (as it should be really) in that it’s primarily about the unraveling of a patriarch more than an actual, tangible threat. (Just a warning that almost none of this actually happened.) I generally have no problem with creators taking a true story and using it to build something artistically interesting, but “The Watcher” just keeps expanding and expanding, adding new rooms to this TV story in a way that'a haphazard and often unnecessary. The true story of “The Watcher” is a haunting one because of the primal fears it taps into. “The Watcher” is the kind of thing that would have been a network TV Movie of the Week in the ‘70s or ‘80s, which means it’s a Netflix original series now. Lines like “Do you know what lives in the walls of 657 Boulevard” and “Do you need to fill the house with the young blood I requested” naturally sent the Broadduses into a full-blown panic. The writer of the letters was clearly very familiar with the home and the lives of the Broadduses, including personal details that made it clear he or she was watching the house.

The Watcher ending explained. This article contains major spoilers for The Watcher season 1, episode 7, "Haunting".

It stands to reason that Pearl was the original Watcher, used the letters to send John mad, and then somehow recruited him into the fold to assist with tormenting future occupants into keeping the house untouched. When Pearl suggested that Jasper may have written the Ode to a House letter on the typewriters at the public library, which is where “Bill” apparently works, she could have been telling the truth, since that connection makes total sense. Anyway, the Brannocks sell the house — to Karen. And of course, all manner of weirdnesses occur when she moves in, including a letter from the Watcher, the bath taps being left running, her dog being killed, and a strange, hooded figure roaming around. She knew the private old couple who sold Dean and Nora the house. She knows all of the women of color who are members of the country club and — nobody should be proud of this, she says — there aren’t very many. Meanwhile, the Westfield Preservation Society has expanded to include Mo and Roger Kaplan. She made up John Graff and hired the man who pretended to be him. With this news, Dean goes to visit Mo to apologize for sending her the letter, and to give his condolences over Mitch, who has apparently died of an embolism. And now the only way to get it back was to convince Dean and Nora to sell. Because Theodora was the primary earner, she had to pay alimony. But really, it was only the beginning.

In the series, streaming now, Dean and Nora Brannock (played by Bobby Cannavale and Naomi Watts) move to an idyllic New Jersey neighborhood where they assume ...

Former students claimed to The Cut that he had talked in his classes about the obsession he had with a home in Westfield and had written at least 50 letters to not the owners, but the home itself. In October, New York Magazine’s [The Cut](https://www.thecut.com/2022/10/the-watcher-657-boulevard-update.html) reported that when the new owners moved in, the Broadduses gave them a note via their real estate attorney: “We wish you nothing but the peace and quiet that we once dreamed of in this house.” They also included a photo of The Watcher’s handwriting just in case any new letters arrived. [the Broadduses sold the home](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/09/nyregion/the-watcher-house-sold-new-jersey.html) for $959,000, resulting in a $400,000 loss for a house they never lived in. The new letter was more aggressive than the previous three with the writer complaining about the media attention the Broadduses had brought to “my neighborhood,” but celebrated how the locals had “saved the soul of 657 Boulevard with my orders.” The Watcher even threatened revenge on Derek and Maria, seemingly plotting their deaths: “Maybe a car accident. (The complaint was later dismissed by a judge.) “You wonder who The Watcher is? They were unable to find a buyer due to the creepy letters, which the Broadduses chose to disclose to anyone who came and looked at the property. The writer questioned whether they would let their kids, who the writer referred to as “young blood,” play in the basement. In time they will.” This time around, The Watcher referred to the Broadduses by name (misspelling their surname as “Mr. Let the party begin.” It was signed “The Watcher” in a typed cursive font. Inside was a typed note that started cordially enough, according to the 2018 [New York Magazine](https://www.thecut.com/article/the-haunting-of-657-boulevard-in-westfield-new-jersey.html) story that inspired the Netflix series: “Dearest new neighbor at 657 Boulevard, allow me to welcome you to the neighborhood.” “I will find out.” (The police reportedly searched the home and found nothing in the walls.) [Naomi Watts](https://time.com/4838709/naomi-watts-quick-talk/)) move to an idyllic New Jersey neighborhood where they assume their kids will be cocooned from the evils of the world.

“When I was growing up,” actor Richard Kind told Vulture, “there was a kid, Vinny; he used to take mice and rats and tie them to little army soldiers and throw ...

When asked to elaborate, Martindale said strictly, “No, because that would probably bring bad feelings to that girl.” Also at the premiere was Sandra Bernhard, who stars in the upcoming season of Murphy’s There were a lot of occurrences like this in this sleepy little town.” Kinney went on to even describe one instance he used for his own role in The Watcher, saying, “I kind of pulled from this guy who used to walk by our house for my character because he was a very benign person. “Maybe when I was in school at the University of Michigan; there was somebody on my dorm floor,” she said. For Terry Kinney, he says he grew up in a town that had more than one horrific thing happen: “I went to a Catholic grade school with a guy, and I was reading the newspaper one day and I saw, ‘Awful Murders in Lincoln, Illinois,’ and it was the kid I went to grade school with. He was always eccentric; he was a guy that memorized part of the Encyclopedia Britannica. And for some of the cast, a freaky next-door neighbor isn’t anything new.

Nora believes Jasper is the Watcher. Dean thinks it's Mitch and Mo. But when a previous resident mentions cultists who drink baby blood, things get much ...

Andrew explains, helpfully, that he did a little recon and the cult likes to drink the blood of children because of the FEAR that’s in their blood. In case you are interested in the alarm teen’s theories, he thinks the Watcher is Jasper but also that Jasper is harmless. The important intel from Andrew at this point is (1) they sold the house to “some LLC” and (2) “Jasper is a good guy, he always brought me my mail.” Okay, the mail is kind of a critical part of the whole situation, Andrew. Renovations continue apace at the Brannock household, which horrifies Pearl (the trees!!!) and infuriates Mo, who has it out with Dean over the jackhammer and such. you need to sell your house immediately.” Nora says she misses New York and Karen says, “Did you know that New York City is going to be underwater in like, five years?” When they check into the motel, even the receptionist is like, “Jesus, what are you DOING here?” (Paraphrasing only slightly.) Dean tries to sell the kids on the motel by telling them it has a pool… Nora and Dean — who still wear beige and white almost all the time, clinging to their fantasy, yet some grays are creeping in — have a very odd conversation. Nora and the kids are staying at a motel, ostensibly because Carter has asthma and the reno dust troubles his delicate senses (poor kid, seriously), but really because the house is a scary place full of Jaspers. She has this convoluted and unnecessary backstory about drinking and being a jazz singer and I’m not convinced you need to know any of this except it’s an opportunity for Dumezweni to chew that scenery. The funniest part of this scene is when Nora says they can’t spare $7,000 (apparently the show’s favorite quantity of cash; this is also the sticker price the alarm teen quoted for their security system) because “we need that money for the renovation.” Yes, definitely invest in the haunted house you don’t even feel safe enough to sleep in, the site where fair Sprinkles was slaughtered while you all slept. He straight-up tells the Brannocks that they should DIY this crisis because he’s not having taxpayer money (as if the Brannocks are not, you know, themselves taxpayers) allocated to solving this particular issue. Unless that dog is the Watcher, [this is not providing the necessary atmospheric detail you think](https://slate.com/culture/2010/06/pick-up-just-about-any-novel-and-you-ll-find-the-phrase-somewhere-a-dog-barked.html)!

The Watcher season 1, episode 2 recap - "Blood Sacrifice". This article contains spoilers for the Netflix series.

Andrew and his wife moved out with Caleb, to a one-bed in the city. That night, Mitch shoots Mo and then himself; apparently, she had cancer and he couldn’t face the prospect of living without her. In the meantime, Dean moves Nora and the kids into a motel while he remains in the house. The final straw was when Caleb cut himself, and Andrew found Margot sucking the blood from his finger, apparently having emerged in the house through a secret passage that Andrew himself could never find. The difference, though, is that Andrew and his wife allowed Mitch and Mo to babysit their son, Caleb, and while there, he repeated seeing the old folks of the neighborhood amassed in a circle, wearing red robes, and drinking blood from a baby whose throat they had cut. Aside from listing the house as being for sale to try and scare up a lead that way, the only reasonable solution is to hire someone to look into the matter.

The Netflix series The Watcher is helmed by Ryan Murphy and based on the true story of the Broaddus family who bought a home in Westfield, New Jersey, ...

But they also no longer have to deal with The Watcher, which is truly priceless. Finally, in 2019, the Watcher House was sold to an anonymous buyer for $959,000. The couple then tried to get permission to pull down the house and break the property in two building lots. Will the young blood play in the basement? The series fictionalizes the nightmare the Broaddus family experienced, but the house itself is very real. The colonial style house cost $1,355,657 for 3,920 square feet in 2014.

Who is The Watcher of 657 Boulevard in Westfield, N.J. in the Netflix show? Here's what you need to know about the ending of the thriller and how to ...

Find [NJ.com](http://nj.com/) [ on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/NJ.com). John shot and killed his entire family and flees the area, never to be seen again. Dean suspects John to be The Watcher early on. [nj.com/tip](http://nj.com/tip) Dean and Nora began to spiral as they become obsessed with finding out who The Watcher is. Dean and Nora are left with a void of emptiness as they never find out who is truly watching them. Was it a dream? Follow him on Twitter: [@ChrisBurch856](https://twitter.com/chrisburch856). The audience is able to infer John Graff is The Watcher. “The Watcher” ending explained: Who is “The Watcher” in the Netflix series? Their marriage is in jeopardy, Dean slightly loses his mind and his job, and Nora grows angry and wants to sell the house. What is “The Watcher” on Netflix about?

Ryan Murphy's true-crime adaptation 'The Watcher' dropped on Netflix Thursday — read our Episode 1 recap, then grade the premiere.

The Watcher’s identity remains a mystery by the end of the hour… In the wake of The Watcher’s first letter, things at 657 Boulevard grow more concerning, and quickly. Both Carter and Ellie notice a man in one of the bedrooms, silently looking out the window to the front yard. Nora and Dean take the letter to the police station, where the detective they meet with is largely useless. (Episode 1 only skims the surface of Dean and Nora’s money troubles, but this much is clear: They can’t afford to buy this house, and they’re putting a lot on the line financially to do so.) — about the owners of a suburban New Jersey home who were stalked and threatened by an anonymous letter writer calling themselves The Watcher.

An interview with 'The Watcher' cast members Naomi Watts, Bobby Cannavale, Mia Farrow, Jennifer Coolidge, Margo Martindale, and Noma Dumezweni about 657 ...

“I would be out the moment that letter came. Oh, I would not have stayed there for a second.” “Just the curiosity about what is the workings of that killer’s mind?” I want to know somebody else is more afraid than I am.” Other people may be more afraid than the actors in The Watcher, but perhaps no one is as prepared to deal with the possibility of being stalked by some anonymous weirdo. In a [recent update](https://www.thecut.com/2022/10/the-watcher-657-boulevard-update.html#_ga=2.268606836.481760117.1665450095-849310626.1619458888) to the original article, Wiedeman reported that the house was eventually sold (at a loss) to a younger couple and that The Watcher’s identity has still not been determined. I would [be] very afraid if I were them.” The letters sparked controversy in the Westfield community and spooked the couple so much that they never moved in. The series is replete with eccentric neighbors (Margo Martindale plays Mo, who immediately finds a reason to dislike the new family on the block; Mia Farrow’s Pearl is a local historian who seems to know a great deal about 657 Boulevard), jump-scare encounters involving dumbwaiters, at least one social-climbing real-estate agent (that’s Karen, the character played by Coolidge), and plenty of reasons to give Dean and Nora Brannock (Bobby Cannavale and Naomi Watts) severe buyer’s remorse. I would have them, actually, across the street at the neighbor’s house, coming off their trees, so it would give a point of view of my house. “Will the young blood play in the basement?” the mystery writer asked in one letter. I would have cameras everywhere. The first room I’m having built in here is a safe room.’ I would be jacked with cameras.

To recap, The Watcher focuses on the Brannock family, who move into a new dream house only to be disturbed by ominous letters from an anonymous stalker.

The real-life Broaddus family (who inspired the Brannocks) sold the house in 2019, five years after they originally bought it, and a new family moved in. As it stands, the real Watcher has never been caught. Still, despite multiple investigations by the police and private detectives, The Watcher has never been identified. The last we see of Karen in the series finale, she's running away from 657 Boulevard screaming after encountering The Watcher. Based on a [true story](https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/a41555628/the-watcher-true-story-netflix/), the show has already jumped right to the top of viewers' watchlists, with fans becoming thoroughly invested in the real events. The original story was first published in a 2018 article on

But the beautiful house at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey, was nothing short of a nightmare for the family. The Netflix mini-series “The Watcher” is a ...

They believed that it was greed that made them buy the house because that was the kind of people that the house attracted. Dean believed it was Kaplan, whom he had seen in the tunnel that he found in the basement. The tunnel was a long one, and there was a bed in it. John Graff had murdered his family in 1995, and in the meeting, the man mentioned that he had started living in Whitefield in 1995. The Brannock family gave up on the investigation when they realized that they could not come up with an answer and had no evidence to back their claim. Flanagan read the letters that the Watcher had sent to the Brannock family, she confirmed that it was Roger Kaplan. He asked his students to write a letter to the house owners of the houses they admired. Nonetheless, Dakota agreed to cooperate and provided his DNA sample to compare it with the DNA found in the letter. John decided to do what the Watcher was asking of him. They wondered if the owner of the house knew the history behind the walls of the house and the reason why the basement was left unfinished. Dakota went to the police station with his mother and a lawyer. The house has been watched over since the 1920s; someone took up the responsibility of watching it in the 1960s, and now it was the writer’s turn to watch the house.

Luke David Blumm as Carter Brannock, Isabel Marie Gravitt as Ellie Brannock, Bobby Cannavale as Dean Brannock and Naomi Watts as Nora Brannock in "The Watcher.".

Neighbors were asked to voluntarily submit DNA to compare to that found on one of the envelopes. Despite reducing the price multiple times, they were unable to sell it. “My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s. The coupled purchased a six-bedroom home in Westfield, New Jersey for $1,355,657 and spent about $100,000 on renovations. It is now my time.” After finishing up a day of painting, Derek Reeves went to check the mail and found a letter addressed to “The New Owner.”

Jennifer Coolidge, Bobby Cannavale, Naomi Watts and Mia Farrow are phenomenal in Netflix's latest true-crime series. But nothing can save this from being ...

Strip away the phenomenal acting talent, and some of the more outre decisions to liven up the source material, and what is left is a seven-hour whodunnit about a typewriter. The Watcher is a world away from the daring, groundbreaking originals that Netflix used to seemingly conjure up from thin air. It is also jarring that the Broaddus’ home is in no way an attractive property. At the very least, the cast is absolutely berserk. More than anything, it is this cast that holds The Watcher together. I’d be staggered if anyone can remember a single thing about it come Christmas. From the outside it looks like Tony Soprano’s McMansion, and the inside is riddled with secret rooms, hidden tunnels, pianos that appear to play themselves and something that can only really be described as Chekhov’s Dumb Waiter. Personally, I’d rank this somewhere in the upper-mid range of his work. Forget that the story had already been made into a movie – 2016’s Lifetime film The Watcher (“Overall not a bad movie to kill time on a Sunday afternoon”, reads a typical Rotten Tomatoes user review) – this had Murphy written all over it. It is not in charge of me. Which, you have to admit, is an automatic Murphy slam-dunk. So you can imagine the absolute joy he must have felt when he first read Reeves Wiedeman’s 2018 New York Magazine article entitled [The Watcher](https://www.thecut.com/article/the-haunting-of-657-boulevard-in-westfield-new-jersey.html).

The Watcher star Naomi Watts has admitted she waited "quite some time" for American Horror Story's Ryan Murphy to cast her.

But I will get around to it. I mean, he's got such a gift for it. she added, going on to admit that she has been "sort of willing that call to come for quite some time". But it's very different people, and a different time. "It's very different from The Watcher," she added. So there's just always lots to be gleaned from fear and mystery and thrills, I think.

Naomi Watts attended the premiere of Netflix's 'The Watcher' in a green striped Lanvin dress and Gianvito Rossi heels. She was accompanied by the series' ...

Watts is also set to star in another Ryan Murphy series, “Feud: Capote’s Women,” debuting in 2023. The actress appeared on “The Drew Barrymore Show” on Tuesday to give Barrymore a menopausal facial massage. Creative director Bruno Sialelli took inspiration from founder Jeanne [Lanvin](https://wwd.com/tag/lanvin-2/)’s Art Deco aesthetic and interpreted it with ancient Egyptian references.

From show creators Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, and based on the New York Magazine article “The Haunting of a Dream House,” the Netflix original series The ...

It was beautiful. It was going to be in Ryan Murphy’s world that he had created, and it was going to be with these great actors. It was replaced by a tracksuit. It was thrilling to see where she comes from with it. I’d like to see what it looks like. What does it take to convince you to do something? MARTINDALE: It really is. Was it your co-stars? You know that when you’re doing a Ryan Murphy project, with the little that we knew – Margo also only got one episode – I knew that I would be wearing black, that it was going to be great, and that I was going to have a strange character. Was it your character? It was going to be in another realm. Was it Ryan Murphy?

The seven-part series tells the story of Dean and Nora Brannock (played by Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale) who buy their dream home for their family. When they ...

Elsewhere in the episode it is revealed Karen is the one to buy the house off the Brannocks. Karen then finds a letter addressed to her in the dumb waiter from The Watcher. When telling Maureen it was Theodora, she reveals there was no neighbour who lived at the house called Theodora and it was a different couple. Theodora tells Dean she then discovered her husband had hidden away over a $1million in royalties which meant she didn't need to sell the house in the first place. When Dean goes to visit their private detective Theodora at the hospital she confesses to being The Watcher. This is everything you need to know about the ending of The Watcher on Netflix.

Netflix's The Watcher tells the story of the Brannock/Broaddus family, but who is the Watcher who sent the letters and what happened next?

The couple have declined offers of television interviews and documentaries, choosing instead to keep a level of privacy and move on from their experience. However a new family ended up buying it, and the Broadduses asked that a message be passed on from them: "We wish you nothing but the peace and quiet that we once dreamed of in this house," it said. In 2019, after already deciding against moving into it and renting it out, the Broaddus family decided to sell the home. Both Derek and Maria got in touch with the police at the time that the letters started appearing. "I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming," the author of the letter went on to say. But how much of the story actually is true, and how much has been amped up – Murphy-style – to get us all talking? It was while these works were happening that the letters would plague them. I am now 93 years old." Both Derek and Maria are still affected by the ordeal with The Watcher. The Langford family lived quite close by, and was previously put forward with a focus on Michael Langford. It is now my time." In 2018, New York Magazine published a story from feature writer Reeves Wiedeman entitled '

Derek and Maria Broaddus, the main characters of both real-life and fictional stories, had just started renovations in their new house at 657 Boulevard in ...

The Watcher described the layout of the house, listed the names and ages of the kids, and again hinted at their kidnapping. The letter got extra creepy when the author of the letter described the couple’s three children as “the young blood” and expressed his intention to kidnap the kids. Derek and Maria Broaddus, the main characters of both real-life and fictional stories, had just started renovations in their new house at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey when they received a strange letter addressed to “The New Owner”.

On Sept. 21, Ryan Murphy unveiled Dahmer—Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, a true-crime thriller that has since become, depending on your metric of choice, ...

The Watcher is in part a reversal of that movie; it’s the suburbs that feel strange and sinister to people used to living in the city. Collectively, they’re a microcosm of a culture that tells us to mortgage every aspect of our lives in order to attain the trappings of wealth. So it makes sense that, on a thematic level, everyone is the Watcher, even largely well-meaning people like Theodora, in this panopticon of a society. She casts herself as the house’s previous owner and says that she sent the letters, invented the Graffs, reverse-engineered the Watcher based on her own knowledge of the town’s quirks. Murphy and Brennan pay conspicuous homage to Rosemary’s Baby, from Farrow’s presence on the other side of the young-old binary to the basement baby sacrifice to the name Dakota shares with the [Lifetime movie called The Watcher](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5497458/), but also the number of kids and their ages. Dean allows the stresses of his career and new home to gradually transform him into the prototypical rich, white, conservative suburban dad. Unsolved when the original article ran, the case [remains a mystery](https://www.thecut.com/2022/10/the-watcher-657-boulevard-update.html) in 2022. One disconcerting aspect of the article is that, rather than uncovering too few suspects in a town that prides itself on safety, it finds too many. [eerie New York magazine article](https://www.thecut.com/article/the-haunting-of-657-boulevard-in-westfield-new-jersey.html) from 2018, The Watcher follows a family that buys a dream home in the wealthy suburb of Westfield, NJ, only to find that someone else has already, in a sense, laid claim to it. [Naomi Watts](https://time.com/4838709/naomi-watts-quick-talk/)) and Dean Brannock (Bobby Cannavale) and their kids, 16-year-old Ellie (Isabel Gravitt) and her little brother Carter (Luke David Blumm), are surrounded by weirdos. Time will tell whether The Watcher turns out to be a hit with subscribers (though I’m betting it will be).

Netflix's new Ryan Murphy true crime series "The Watcher" is based on a story of a real house and stalker in New Jersey.

](https://www.northjersey.com/story/money/real-estate/2017/10/19/report-watcher-house-lawsuit-dismissed/778783001/) In the real story, the Broaddus family had not moved into the house when the first letter arrived and never actually lived there, scared off by the letters. Here are three major differences between the Netflix adaptation and the true story (mild spoilers for the first few episodes follow): The couple receive their first threatening letter only after they've moved into the house with their two children, one of whom finds it. [producer Ryan Murphy](https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2022/10/10/netflix-dahmer-got-wrong-what-friend-of-the-family-got-right/8195714001/) has jumped to No. The real watcher was never found.

A review of The Watcher, the Netflix limited series starring Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale as a couple who moves into a lovely home, only to be terrorized ...

The longer you watch The Watcher, the more you start to feel like Dean, untethered, like you’re living in a world that has become completely cockeyed. Yes, there is a long list of quibbles and questions that can legitimately be raised about just about everything that happens in this series. How easy it is to get sucked into true crime, whether it involves you personally or is something you’re consuming as content — this is a dynamic that The Watcher understands well. couple that vibe with an obvious desire to capture the zeitgeist of the COVID era. Nora’s a bit of a social climber, while Dean is impulsive and not always honest, which bolsters the notion that we should be wary of everyone in this auspicious Jersey Zip Code. Unlike Dahmer or much of American Horror Story, this Murphy project doesn’t overdo it with the gore. Watching The Watcher is undeniably a rush, so much so that even when certain plot twists don’t make sense — and trust me that many of them do not — it doesn’t even matter. Consequently, a series of events that was genuinely bizarre becomes even freakier once the writers start sprinkling in even more wild details. Eccentric local historian Pearl Winslow (an astutely cast Mia Farrow) and her intellectually disabled brother Jasper (Terry Kinney) also have a tendency to pop up unannounced, sometimes even in the house’s dumbwaiter. The details in the letters — about the Brannocks’ children, Ellie (Isabel Gravitt) and Carter (Luke David Blumm), and the family’s behavior — become increasingly specific and disturbing. Murphy, Brennan, and their fellow writers and filmmakers (several of whom also worked on the duo’s extremely popular [Dahmer](https://www.vulture.com/article/dahmer-monster-netflix-series-review-true-crime.html)) throw a kitchen sink of issues and true-crime tropes into these episodes, as well as a kitchen island controversially accented with butcher-block countertops. [story Reeves Wiedeman wrote for this magazine](https://www.thecut.com/article/the-haunting-of-657-boulevard-in-westfield-new-jersey.html) about a couple who bought their dream house in Westfield, New Jersey, only to be terrorized by anonymous letters from someone who creepily called themselves “The Watcher” — is subtextually a commentary on a variety of contemporary fixations.

Netflix's 'The Watcher' episode 3 John Graff family murder sequence is based on the real John List murders in New Jersey, where a man made himself lunch ...

Agents went to the man's home and discovered that Clark was actually List, who'd built a new life for himself in the Virginia suburbs. List left a note, indicating that he ended their lives to protect them from an uptick in evil in the world. He was [arrested in 1989](https://apnews.com/article/0abc5141429eda579004f6cf677bbae6), convicted and sentenced to five life terms in prison. As Theodora narrates, we see a flashback that reveals John Graff is the same present-day John who made himself a cold cut lunch in Dean's kitchen, and we learn that his psychological descent began after he lost his job and started siphoning money from his mother's savings account to keep up the illusion that he was employed. He later killed his mother on the second floor, waited for his daughter to return home from school before shooting her as well, and ultimately traveled to his son's basketball game, drove him back to the house, and shot him when they walked through the door. Their conversation grows increasingly unnerving, with John urging Dean to take his family to a Lutheran church down the road while babbling about cyclical chaos breeding world destruction, until Dean becomes hostile and John departs.

Bobby Cannavale's character makes a shocking discovery in an episode 3 sequence that drew inspiration from the real-life John List family murders.

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Ryan Murphy's new Netflix series The Watcher show takes an unsolved mystery to extremes. Here is the true story of 657 Boulevard.

Kaplow was a teacher a couple of towns over from Westfield, and he did actually write letters to a house in Westfield, as in the show. However the Woods felt their letter was a bit weird but not actually scary or threatening and had only had one letter and nothing before that in the 23 years they lived in the house. But the realtor did not buy the house from the Broaddus’, initially they rented it and then five years after their purchase they sold the house to a young family at a massive loss. There’s no suggestion that they were in a cult that sacrificed babies, though this kind of wild speculation is likely to have been inspired by some of the theories that appeared online after the story broke and went viral. Theodora is a fictionalized version, so the jazz singer, heart attack, cancer, taking the blame for The Watcher stuff is not real. But these were love letters to the house, not threatening ones, and it wasn’t 657 Boulevard but a different building. The letters sent to neighbors after the Broaddus’ left 657 Boulevard were also real and they were sent by Derek (Dean in the show). In real life they were called Derek and Maria Broaddus, in the show they are called Nora and Dean Brannock (played by Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale). Like Dean in the show, Derek in real life became absolutely obsessed with the case which negatively affected his life and relationships while it was going on. Matriarch Peggy Langford was in her 90s and lived with several of her adult children, including Michael, and Abby, both in their 60s. [The Watcher,](https://www.netflix.com/title/81380441) inspired by the true story of the Broaddus family who bought a very expensive house in Westfield, New Jersey and received a series of threatening letters from someone calling themself “The Watcher”, takes a slightly different approach to true crime. This also means that the subplot romance between Ellie (Isabel Gravitt) and Dakota (Henry Hunter Hall), the young man who installs their security system, isn’t based in reality.

Bobby Cannavale's character makes a shocking discovery in an episode 3 sequence that drew inspiration from the real-life John List family murders.

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But Theodora does have a theory. She thinks that Dakota has a motive to harass the Brannocks since his business is security, and nobody wants security unless ...

We get an answer to the first problem straight away, at least: Dean runs into Dakota outside, and he straight-up confesses to both installing the camera without Dean’s knowledge and disseminating the footage as revenge. This is weird since a) there isn’t a camera in the bedroom, at least not one Dean knows about, b) he doesn’t recall the incident at all, having presumably slept through it and c) the girl looks exactly like Pat Graff, John’s allegedly slutty daughter, who you’ll recall is dead. Dean has a bee in his bonnet about Dakota anyway since he knows something is going on between him and Ellie — she was earlier sending him pictures of her in just a bra — and he keeps contriving reasons to return to the property and flirt with her. She knows he’s not racist, which she admits when he confronts her about it, but in her words, “This is what you get.” Dean faces losing his job, and both he and Nora are immediately considered racists in the community. This one is a fat envelope with the words “Watch Me” formed on the outside in magazine cutouts, like a ransom note. Dean heads straight to her photo album — and not her messages, weirdly — and spots the sexy pictures being exchanged back and forth, so he heads downstairs and goes ballistic, grounding Ellie for the foreseeable future.

It revolves around Dean and Nora Brannock, an American couple who purchase their ideal house, 657 Boulevard, in Westfield, New Jersey. But they soon lose their ...

There was a likelihood that Karen was the Watcher because she didn’t appear to be scared to buy the house despite the frightening messages. She was the only selfless in the crowd of greedy eyes whose reputation as a Watcher was not deserving at all. However, that moment of satisfaction was short-lived as Theodora passed away soon, and it came to light that she was not the Watcher and just intended to give Dean a sense of relief. They shifted to the New York house, and Dean even joined therapy, but he could not forget the mystical beauty of the house. From the beginning, Karen appeared to be a lovely friend but ultimately revealed herself to be a villain. She falsely confessed the crime of being a Watcher and represented herself as the culprit. She was nearly certain that her husband was attempting to sell the home by sending her these letters, but she subsequently learned that everything was well-planned and had nothing to do with Dean. His internal struggles led him to do this and hide his failure in front of his family. Nora’s confusion is understandable, given that her husband, Dean, kept secrets from her and wrote the last letter as a Watcher. Dean did not want to let the dream mansion go easily, but when he was unable to make a partner in the law firm, he sent his wife Nora one last letter as a watcher, threatening her to leave the house. The hidden subterranean entrance in the house, too, was frightening enough for the couple. It was revealed that the previous owner of 657 Boulevard also received these letters.

After the second letter, episode 2 of The Watcher sees the Brannocks really shaken. They go to Chamberland once again and plead with him to investigate ...

He is lining up to do more damage than good to the family and his fracturing relationships in the sinking boat that is his family is not a great sight. This show is shaping up to be a compelling mystery with moving parts about family dynamics and the idea of drowning oneself with paranoia. The Italian is stout in talking back to her and says he can do whatever he wants in the house. Everyone is under the scanner and in the traditional whodunit style, we now even have a PI to spice things up. We still do not know if she is involved in the bid to remove the Brannocks from the house. The family sans Dean goes back to the motel. This is a true crime drama and the true crime in The Watcher is not seeing more of Jennifer Coolidge. He says that Nora just wants to leave the house behind and go back to the city. Rose started to go through the same episodes that Dean has gone through in the house. The family returns the next day and when they hear ambulances outside the house, Nora and Dean go out to inspect. The family gets a room in a motel nearby and Dean goes back to the house to sleep to let the workers in the next day. When he goes out, no one is there, but we can see someone standing in the shadows and watching him.

Dean meets John, a former resident of the house who kind of went a little crazy and killed his whole family. A recap and review of season one, episode two ...

And if Jasper is supposed to be an adult (since we’d been told he was working at the grocery store for years on end without incident until 1995), why would he have been friends with the son? His son is a golden child (sports boy) and his daughter (“the school whore”) is pretty. John gets mugged and assaulted on the way home from work one night, prompting his mom, who just inherited a bunch of money, to help him buy — you guessed it — a house in the suburbs. Theodora responds with a non-answer about how John’s life was a facade and only the Watcher knew the truth. It takes Dean a VERY long time to figure this out, but we all know from the get that “John” is not a “building inspector” and is only here to say ominous, bizarro stuff while holding a knife. She asked Detective Chamberland for all the files on the house, and he was all, “I was waiting for you to ask me that.” I mean … Yet again we are reminded that Dean is the dumbest dumb-dumb who ever dumbed, because when he sees a total fucking stranger making a sandwich in his kitchen who identifies himself, vaguely, as “John the building inspector,” he does not so much as ask any of the construction workers who are right there in the basement if they let John in, nor does he ask John for any identification whatsoever. What follows is a looooong digression about John, who we already know is the man who pretended to be the building inspector because television is a visual medium and John is played by the same actor, with the same styling … Obviously, when this chat ends, Dean goes downstairs to yell at the contractor about it, and the construction dude tells him none of the building inspectors in town are named John and anyway they wouldn’t come to scope out a project until it was completed. I always think it’s funny in shows like this where we’re supposed to believe the protagonists are making all these sacrifices just for the good of their children (e.g., spending too much money while living in a haunted house), but then we basically never see them interact with those kids beyond the bare-minimum logistics (“Honey, get in the car, you’ll be late for school”) or to berate them for some unforgivable act of teendom (“Stop texting”). As the rules of TV-teen hook-uppery require, he hides in the closet and escapes through the window. Personally, I think maybe she is tense because her house is being stalked by an anonymous creeper who broke in and murdered Sprinkles the ferret.

The new show about the house at 657 Boulevard is based on the real-life Broaddus family from New Jersey.

Even after several price reductions, they were unsuccessful and eventually rented out the home until 2019 when they found a buyer, who purchased the home for $500,000 less than they paid for it in 2014. [true crime](https://www.countryliving.com/life/entertainment/g40744242/best-true-crime-shows-to-stream/) (and have already binge-watched [Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story](https://www.countryliving.com/life/entertainment/a41336634/what-happened-to-serial-killer-jeffrey-dahmer-crimes-victims-death/)), you're in luck. Real-life couple Maria and Derek Broaddus bought their dream house in Westfield, New Jersey, in 2014 for $1.35 million (not quite the $3.5 million price tag in the series) and began renovating it. After the Broaddus family bought it in 2014 and began receiving the threatening letters, they never moved in and tried to sell the property in 2015. [Netflix](https://netflix.com/) dropped a brand-new show [The Watcher](https://www.countryliving.com/life/entertainment/a41463239/netflix-the-watcher-cast-premiere-date/), and it is a star-studded horror series. Just like in the show, they soon began receiving anonymous letters in the mail.

Ryan Murphy and Netflix bring a star-studded cast to The Watcher, a true life tale of horror.

His The Watcher character is a teacher named Roger Kaplan. Michael Mouri is an actor best known for his prolific TV output since his debut in the mid ’70s. Mantello is best known for being one of the original cast members in the Broadway production of Angels in America. Outside the bounds of animation, Martindale has popped up in major roles on projects like Justified, The Americans, and Million Dollar Baby. He played Tim McManus on HBO’s Oz and has had recurring roles on CSI: NY, The Mentalist, Elementary, and more. The Watcher casting Margo Martindale as Mitch’s wife Maureen is a masterstroke. She is also set to appear in the upcoming Little Mermaid remake. Pearl and her husband Jasper are a loose interpretation of the real life Langford family. Dean Brannock is based on the real life individual Derek Broaddus. Her character is based on the real life individual Maria Broaddus. Watts is known for her starring roles in major films like Mulholland Drive, The Ring, King Kong, and much more. More important than any of those blockbuster factors, however, is the cast of The Watcher.

According to a 2019 report by CNN, the real people who received the ominous letters, Derek Broaddus and Maria Broaddus, never actually lived in the six-bedroom ...

A report by [Distractify](https://www.distractify.com/p/broaddus-family-now) reveals that the Broadduses moved to a different home in Westfield and allegedly bought it under an LLC to protect their family's safety. When the Broaddus family sold their story's rights to Netflix for the series, they made two specific requests at the expense of their safety. They initially purchased the home for a little more than $1.3 million in 2014 and sold it for roughly $959,000, per its [Zillow](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/657-Boulevard-Westfield-NJ-07090/40090611_zpid/) listing. Multiple reports claim that the letters from The Watcher were investigated by the Westfield police department, the Union County Prosecutor's Office, an ex-FBI profiler, a private investigator, and, of course, the Broaddus family. Per CNN, The Broadduses attempted to sue the Woodses in 2015 for "fraudulent concealment, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress," as well as other problems they'd faced since moving into the property. "It has been years and years since the young blood ruled the hallways of the house. In one of the letters, they suggested they'd spent time in the home in the 1960s, decades before the Broadduses moved in. [The Cut](https://www.thecut.com/2022/10/the-watcher-657-boulevard-update.html), the Broaddus family moved their belongings into 647 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey between June and August 2014, but they never lived there because of the threatening letters they kept receiving. Will the young blood play in the basement? The Broadduses have since moved from the $1.3 million property, but are still looking to crack the case and find the culprit behind the disturbing letters — especially because one of their neighbors received a communication from The Watcher, too. If you're binge-watching The Watcher and find yourself wondering what the real Derek and Maria Broaddus are up to now, look no further. With the new Netflix show introducing more people to their story, the Broadduses may be able to finally solve their case.