The Watcher House -

By Ssmartino – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=157186813

The Watcher of Westfield, New Jersey is an anonymous individual who stalked the owners of the house at 657 Boulevard, Westfield, New Jersey, from 2014 to 2017. The individual sent them multiple harassing letters signed “The Watcher.” The owners never moved in out of fear for their family’s safety.

In June 2014, Derek and Maria Broaddus bought a six-bedroom house at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey, for $1.3 million. Shortly after closing but before moving in, the couple received the first of four anonymous typewritten letters. The letter writer said that his or her family had been “watching” the house for generations and revealed knowledge of the Broadduses’ three young children—referred to in the letter as “new blood”—as well as the house’s layout and renovations.

Over the following weeks, the Broadduses received more letters, the messages becoming increasingly disturbing, referencing past owners, their children, and claiming a pseudo-spiritual connection to the house. Sections of letters read, in part:

Dearest neighbors at 657 Boulevard, allow me to welcome you to the neighborhood. How did you end up here? Did 657 Boulevard call you with its force within? 657 Boulevard is anxious for you to move in. 657 Boulevard has been the subject of my family for decades now and as it approaches its 110th birthday , I have been put on charge of it and waiting for its second coming. My grandfather watched the house in the1920s and my father watched it in the 1960s. It is now my time. Do you know the history of the house? Do you know what lies in the walls of 657 Boulevard? Why are you here? I will find out.

It has been years and years since the young blood ruled the hallways of the house…Who am I? I am the Watcher and have been in control of 657 Boulevard for the better part of two decades now…I pass by many times a day. 657 Boulevard is my job, my life, my obsession. And now you are too Braddus [sic] family. Welcome to the product of your greed! Greed is what brought the past three families to 657 Boulevard and now it has brought you to me. Have a happy moving in day. You know I will be watching… Let the party begin.

The Broadduses contacted the Westfield Police Department, who initially focused on the Langford family, longtime neighbors who lived next door, but found no evidence linking them to the letters. DNA recovered from an envelope suggested the sender may have been a woman, but did not match any suspects. Private investigators and former FBI agents were also unable to identify the author. Some members of the community became skeptical of the Broadduses’ account, speculating that the letters may have been a hoax. The letters became increasingly threatening, and in 2019, the Broadduses, who never moved into the house, sold it for $959,000.The young couple who bought the house from the Broadduses have not been contacted by the Watcher.

The letters were considered well-written and literary, though their typographical errors may suggest a writer with erratic tendencies. The Watcher’s identity remains unknown, and no charges have ever been filed in connection with the case.

In 2022, the Netflix series The Watcher debuted, based loosely on these events.