Here's How Netflix’s ‘The Watcher’ Differs From The True Story
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below."
A new true crime series is topping Netflix's charts these days, and it's sure to satisfy all your spooky season cravings. The Watcher follows a young family who is obsessively stalked by an anonymous letter-writer after moving into their dream home in suburban New Jersey. And unfortunately for everyone, it's based on a true story.
The new limited series dropped on Oct. 13, but the original story actually finds its roots in a 2018 article from New York Magazine called The Haunting of a Dream House. The article details how the Broaddus family began receiving anonymous threats that included creepy details about their children and their new home.
Things got so intense that private investigators and the police got involved to figure out who was writing the letters.
Here's everything you need to know about what really happened to the Broaddus family after they bought 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey.
Is 'The Watcher' a true story?
Yep. Although Ryan Murphy took some artistic liberties to create an engaging, suspenseful horror series, the plot is rooted in truth.
A person who dubs themself "The Watcher" apparently became obsessed with 657 Boulevard and the family that purchased the house.
What is the Netflix series ‘The Watcher’ based on?
The limited series is based on a 2018 article from New York Magazine entitled The Haunting of a Dream House. The piece, written by Reeves Wiedeman, was later republished in The Cut. It’s a long, creepy, and thoroughly disturbing read.
Listen to House Beautiful's Dark House for a more in-depth look at the real story of The Watcher house:
Who is the real-life family from 'The Watcher'?
In 2014, Derek and Maria Broaddus decided to buy a $1.3 million "dream home" in Westfield, New Jersey, where they hoped to raise their three young kids. Derek, a senior vice president at an insurance company in Manhattan, was eager to give his family a nice suburban life. And Maria grew up in Westfield, so she was looking forward to moving close to her family.
But after purchasing the home, the Broadduses began receiving threatening notes before they even moved in, per Distractify. And Derek later said that his quest to find the culprit felt never-ending. "It’s like cancer,” he told a New York Magazine reporter in 2018. “We think about it every day.”
The family never actually moved into 657 Boulevard.
Although the show takes place at 657 Boulevard, the family never officially moved in IRL. Shortly after getting the first letter, they opted to play it safe and stay in their old home until it was sold before moving to Maria Broaddus' parents' house.
They ended up renting 657 Boulevard out and sold it in 2019 for only $959,000 even though it was originally worth $1.4 million, per TODAY.
The Broaddus family had specific requests for Netflix.
The real family allowed the streamer to tell their story, but they asked for a few tweaks, The Cut reported. They requested that Netflix not use their real names and wanted the actors who played them to look as different from them as possible.
The family also said that they won’t be watching the show, and found the trailers “stressful enough,” according to The Cut.
Who is in the cast of 'The Watcher'?
The Watcher is stacked with an impressive cast. Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale play Dean and Nora Brannock, a.k.a. Derek and Maria Broaddus. Isabel Gravitt plays their daughter, Ellie Brannock, per IMDb.
Jennifer Coolidge plays the family's realtor, Karen Calhoun. And Mia Farrow plays one of the family's neighbors, Pearl, according to Collider.
Was John Graff a real person?
The Watcher introduces a creepy character named John Graff who lived in the house before the Brannock (i.e. Broaddus) family.
John Graff, played by Joe Mantello, is not a real person, but he's loosely based on a murderer from the 1970s named John List, who shot and killed his wife, three children, and mother at his Westfield, New Jersey, home on Nov. 9, 1971, Michigan Live reported.
After the murders, List moved to Virginia and remarried, but he was caught and arrested in June 1989 after he appeared on an episode of “America’s Most Wanted” with an age-adjusted image of what prosecutors thought he might look like, according to The New York Times.
He was charged with five counts of first-degree murder for which he received five life sentences. List died in New Jersey in 2008 when he was 82, according to The New York Times.
In The Watcher, a detective, Theodora Birch, tells Dean Brannock that Graff killed his family members after receiving letters from The Watcher while living in the house in 1995. In reality, List (or Graff) lived in a mansion roughly two miles from the home.
Then, in the third episode, the fictional Graff appears in the Brannock’s kitchen, pretending to be a building inspector. He later pretends to be part of the Westfield Preservation Society before his identity is discovered in episode 7.
Where does 'The Watcher' take place?
The infamous house is located at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey, and boasts nearly 4,000 square feet, six bedrooms, and four bathrooms, according to Zillow. It is not currently on the market.
The home was built in 1905, so it's over 100 years old at this point. It sits on "a wide, tree-lined street with some of the more desirable homes in town," according to New York Magazine. The stalker noted in one of their ominous letters that “the Boulevard used to be THE street to live on…You made it if you lived on the Boulevard.”
Westfield is located 45 minutes outside New York City and is mainly inhabited by well-off families, per New York Magazine. Westfield has more than 30,700 residents and is 82 percent white, according to the latest US Census data.
Where was Netflix's 'The Watcher' filmed?
Although the actual 657 Boulevard is in New Jersey, the Netflix show mainly filmed in a suburb of New York. The house used in the series is located in Rye, according to The Cinemaholic.
The Watcher was almost entirely filmed in Westchester County and New York City.
When did the first letter arrive?
In total, the writer sent four letters over the course of a year and a half. The first letter appeared before the Broadduses ever moved in. Three days after they closed on the house, in June of 2014, a white envelope with block letters showed up in their mailbox. It was addressed to “the new owner,” according to Time.
What did the letters say?
The first letter that the Broadduses received welcomed them to their new neighborhood. But it continued in a...less friendly manner.
"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," the first note read. "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 identified their family car, commented on their construction plans, and called their three children "young blood."
"Who am I?” the stalker wrote in the note. “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."
The typed letter concluded with a mysterious sign-off. “Welcome my friends, welcome. Let the party begin.” And finally, it was signed in cursive by “The Watcher,” The Cut reported.
In total, the family received three letters from "The Watcher," each including more specifics about the family with threats.
The Broadduses quickly got the local police involved and soon the whole neighborhood was aware of the incidents. While the police thought that a neighbor could be the culprit, there was never any hard evidence. Other people have developed their own theories, even suggesting the Broadduses were perhaps trying to back out of their big purchase after having some buyer's remorse.
The family eventually moved out and rented the home to another family. They officially sold the house in 2019 at a $400,000 loss. To date, the new residents haven't reported any mysterious notes, according to Distractify.
Was The Watcher ever caught?
Despite getting the Westfield Police Department, a retired NYPD officer, a forensic linguist, and a former FBI agent involved in the case letters, the anonymous letter writer was never identified.
The mayor of Westfield described the police department’s investigation as “exhaustive” leaving “no stone unturned” in 2015, according to a 2022 article in The Cut. However, the police hadn’t even spoken to some of the family’s neighbors.
The Broadduses hired other experts, and eventually, their case was turned over to the Union County Prosecutor’s Office. Despite investing more time and money into the case, they could not determine any new evidence or leads, The Cut reported.
After the initial article was published in 2018, the prosecutor’s office tried to crack the code and took DNA samples from the neighbors to match them to the saliva found on one of the envelopes. Although the DNA determined that the letter was licked shut by a woman, none of their neighbors’ swabs matched the sample, according to The Cut.
The case has still not been solved.
You Might Also Like
