‘The Watcher’ on Netflix True Story: All About Terrifying House at 657 Boulevard in Westfield NJ

Do you know what’s creepier than having a bad neighbor? Having an unseen stalker who keeps writing you letters. That’s the haunting true story that stands at the center of The Watcher, Netflix‘s limited series from Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, which is now live on the streamer.

It’s a story that seems too insane to be true. And on some level, it is. The Watcher’s first trailer includes all sorts of flourishes that this actual family didn’t have to endure, like an adult man hiding in the dumb waiter. Consider this your guide to what happened at the real 657 Boulevard.

Is The Watcher on Netflix Based on a True Story?

Disturbingly, it is. In the summer of 2014, Derek and Maria Broaddus purchased a six-bedroom house at 657 Boulevard in Westfield N.J. They were prepared to tackle some home renovations and perhaps deal with a frustrating neighbor or two. Instead, they were met with a nightmare that felt straight out of a horror movie. Within three days of purchasing the property, the couple received their first letter from The Watcher, an unknown person who proclaimed to “be in charge of watching” their new house.

The letter and the ones that followed only got more disturbing from there. The Watcher claimed that there was something hidden within the walls of 657 Boulevard and that the house craved “young blood,” a reference to the Broaddus’ three children. This mysterious person also reprimanded the Broadduses for the work they were doing on the house, writing, “You don’t want to make 657 Boulevard unhappy.”

This first letter included several identifiable details about this family before concluding, “there are hundreds and hundreds of cars that drive by 657 Boulevard each day. Maybe I am in one. Look at all the windows you can see from 657 Boulevard. Maybe I am in one. Look out any of the many windows in 657 Boulevard at all the people who stroll by each day. Maybe I am one.”

Altogether, The Watcher sent four letters to the Broaddus family. As they investigated these odd occurrences, the family learned that this figure had also sent letters to John and Andrea Woods, the couple who previously owned the house, and another family living in the neighborhood. Both the Woodes and this unnamed neighbor threw their letters away without thinking much of them. But the more the Broadduses investigated, the more odd details they noticed. For example, a couple living behind 657 Boulevard kept two lawn chairs oddly close to their property line. Even stranger, those chairs pointed toward 657 Boulevard. They started to believe Michael Langford, one of their neighbors who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was their primary suspect. They also became suspicious of a man who lived nearby and played, what were described by his girlfriend as, “some really dark video games.”

The Broadduses took the letters to the cops on several occasions but were met with little help. Then came the lawyers. On the family’s request, a lawyer sat down and questioned the Langford family. They also filed a lawsuit against the Woodses for failing to disclose these letters, which was later dropped.

Was the True Story at the Center of The Watcher Solved?

That’s the creepiest part of this real-life story. No one has been arrested for these letters, and no suspects have been publicly identified.

The saga of The Watcher stopped the Broaddus family from ever moving into the house. At one point, they proposed tearing it down and dividing the property into two houses. That idea was shot down by the neighborhood planning board, and the fight about this lot led to the family learning that some of their neighbors thought they were faking the letters themselves.

Eventually, the Broadduses were able to rent out the house. That’s when the fourth and final letter came, which indicated that revenge comes in many forms. “Maybe a car accident. Maybe a fire. Maybe something as simple as a mild illness that never seems to go away but makes you fell sick day after day after day after day after day. Maybe the mysterious death of a pet. Loved ones suddenly die. Planes and cars and bicycles crash. Bones break,” it read.

Though no one was ever caught for these disturbing notes, the Broadduses were able to put this story behind them. In 2019, they sold 657 Boulevard for about $959,000, according to Zillow. The originally bought $1,355,657 on it and spent about $100,000 on renovations.