With the arrival of a fresh week, movies and web series are wondering what's new they will be witnessing on the OTT platforms to make their weekends full of entertainment. Similarly, October's second week is also bringing a plethora of new movies and web series on multiple OTT platforms, however, The Watcher remains the top among all seeing its star cast, makers, and the concept of the web series. After the success of Dahmer, Emmy Award winner Ryan Murphy is back with another thriller on Netflix. Ever since The Watcher Trailer was released, fans around the world have been eagerly waiting for Naomi Watts starrer chilling web story. Apart from Hollywood actress Naomi Watts, actors like Bobby Cannavale, Luke David Blumm, Terry Kinney, Michael Nouri, Emily Juliette Murphy, Yuko Torihara, and more will be seen in pivotal roles. Like the trailer suggest, The Watcher revolves around a family who has bought their dream house, however, they started to get terrorized after they find out that they have been watched continuously by a stalker or let's say 'The Watcher'. As the concept of Ryan Murphy's web series sounds familiar, fans are wondering whether The Watcher is a true story or The Watcher is a real story or not.
The answer to this question is yes. The Watcher is a true story based on the infamous 'Watcher' house in New Jersey, America. The Watcher is a real story inspired by the chilling story and sinister experiences of The Broaddus family who bought the infamous 'Watcher' house in New Jersey in 2014. For the unversed, the Broaddus family, led by Derek and Maria Broaddus, bought the Watcher House 3,920 square feet in 2014 for $1,355,657. However, before they moved in sinister happenings shook the entire family.
The Watcher House which is located at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, N.J. had no threatening and scary history. However, anonymous letters from a stalker forced the Broaddus family to abandon their dream house and sell it at a loss of approximately $400,000. The lavish house which is actually situated in New Jersey was allegedly stalked by an anonymous person, who claimed to be 'The Watcher', hence the name. Terrorized by the continuous sinister happenings, the Broaddus family ultimately sold off the property at a much lower price in 2019, almost five years after they started their attempt at putting it back on the market. The new homeowners chose to remain anonymous after they purchased the house.
Notably, The Watcher House happenings were first published in an article in The Cut of the same name in 2018. The family had handed over the stalker's letter to the organisation in which it was written, "Dearest new neighbour at 657 Boulevard, Allow me to welcome you to the neighbourhood."
"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. 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," the letter added.
Did the Broaddus family approach the Police?
Yes, Derek went to the police with the letter, however, he was advised not to discuss the contents with his new neighbours. Derek and Maria also emailed the previous owners of the home who said they had received a similar note just before they moved out but hadn't experienced anything like that in the 23 years they had lived on the property, so they chucked the letter away.
The Police, on the other hand, brought in the Broaddus' neighbor Michael Langford for questioning because of the vantage point his home had over the Broaddus' home and the neighborhood view that he was part of an eccentric family. However, Langford was eventually cleared as a suspect. Ultimately, the family hired private investigators, and he found that the Watcher might have been an old person. However, nothing concrete came up and the family finally sold their house, despite bearing a heavy loss.