

“Once I know their names I will call to them and draw them too me.” The letter had no return address, but closed with an ominous line: “Welcome my friends, welcome. “Was your old house too small for the growing family? Or was it greed to bring me your children?” the mysterious stalker wrote. The letter-writer seemed to have done their due diligence on the Broaddus family, scolding the couple for making renovations to the home and threatening to kidnap their three children. “I will find out.” (The police reportedly searched the home and found nothing in the walls.) “Do you know what lies within the walls of 657 Boulevard? Why are you here?” the writer asked. It is now my time.” The letter questioned whether the Broadduses knew about the history of the 3869 square foot single family home. My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s. The anonymous writer claimed that the home located 45 minutes outside of New York City had “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 tone of the message quickly became far less friendly. Inside was a typed note that started cordially enough, according to the 2018 New York Magazine story that inspired the Netflix series: “Dearest new neighbor at 657 Boulevard, allow me to welcome you to the neighborhood.” Three days after the couple closed on their Westfield, New Jersey home in June 2014, they received their first letter from a person known as “The Watcher.” The white envelope with big block letters was addressed to “the new owner” of the six bedroom, three and a half bathroom estate that was built in 1905. The Brannocks seen in The Watcher are based on the real life couple Derek and Maria Broaddus. When did The Watcher send the first letter?
