The Watcher

The show takes some artistic liberties, such as the un-welcoming to the neighborhood. The real-life Broaddus family is reimagined as the Brannocks on TV, with ...

The real-life Broaddus family is reimagined as the Brannocks on TV, with one of the lead actors from New Jersey himself. Remaining Time 0:00 Current Time 0:00

NETFLIX series The Watcher follows a family tormented by a mystery stalker - but viewers have found it hard to keep up.Based on a true story, Derek an.

[Netflix](https://www.thesun.co.uk/topic/netflix/) on Thursday - and viewers are already all saying the same thing about it. After a series of letters threatening their family and claiming to be watching their children, the couple understandably tried to sell the house. [campaign of terror](https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/19209659/the-watcher-house-westfield-new-jersey-letters/), with the new series following their terrifying encounters. [Derek and Maria Broaddus](https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/20092513/who-are-maria-derek-broaddus-where-are-they-now/) received a series of creepy letters, starting in 2014, from an anonymous know as "The Watcher". The Broaddus' house in New Jersey was the subject of a The Watcher viewers all say the same thing about creepy new Netflix series

Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale play the lead role in this Ryan Murphy series based on a true story.

In the end, the story feels very repetitive and the climax is unsatisfying. Another performance worth mentioning is that of Noma Dumezweni who is just perfect for the role of the sleuth. Now, Ryan Murphy, who is riding high on the success of his true-crime series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, has revisited the case and created a seven-episode series that not only deviates from the true story it is pegged on but focuses more on the many subplots, rendering it a little longer than required. The first letter read, “Do you know the history of the house? Review: The latest Netflix series The Watcher is based on a real-life story about a couple who bought a sprawling six-bedroom house at New Jersey’s Westfield, only to receive threatening letters from a stalker who knew everything about the house and the family, especially the children. We get an insight into the backgrounds of these characters, but they have hardly any bearing on the core narrative of the series.

The Watcher true story is something viewers of the Bobby Cannavale Netflix thriller really want to know. Did the Brannock family really get stalked like ...

Was Candy Montgomery a real person and how much of the show is true? The murderer from Netflix’s Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story](https://www.goodto.com/entertainment/how-did-jeffrey-dahmer-die-how-old-was-he-netflix)(opens in new tab) Prior to the home actually selling in 2019, Derek and Maria Broaddus attempted to sell it to a developer to tear it down and build two new properties on the site. The real Watcher House is also located at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey, and this has been changed to Hempstead, New York for the series. The true story from Netflix’s Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story](https://www.goodto.com/entertainment/how-did-jeffrey-dahmer-get-caught-true-story-netflix)(opens in new tab) [How did Jeffrey Dahmer die and how old was he? Yes, The Watcher is based on the true story of Maria and Derek Broaddus who bought a house in New Jersey in 2014. It’s alleged they used an LLC (limited liability company) to make the sale of their new home, to keep the location private and prevent The Watcher from tracking them down. In time they will,” The Watcher began referring to the family - including the children - by their names. This was then the Broaddus family decided they were definitely not moving into the house, and put it back on the market. The next anonymous letter claimed the house 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. However, everything changes when they receive a mysterious letter in the mail, from a person calling themselves The Watcher, telling the family they have watched the house for years - and will be watching them when they move in. Is The Watcher a true story?

Derek and Maria Broaddus, the main characters of both real-life and fictional stories, had just started renovations in their new house at 657 Boulevard in ...

The horrific and somewhat unsatisfying end of the story is that there is no end. "I watched as you watched from the dark house in an attempt to find me," he wrote. The Watcher described the layout of the house, listed the names and ages of the kids, and again hinted at their kidnapping. You might think it was a "welcome to the neighborhood" note. But the rest of the letter gave Derek and Maria chills. Derek and Maria Broaddus, the main characters of both real-life and fictional stories, had just started renovations in their new house at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey when they received a strange letter addressed to "The New Owner".

To recap, The Watcher focuses on the Brannock family, who move into a new dream house only to be disturbed by ominous letters from an anonymous stalker.

The real-life Broaddus family (who inspired the Brannocks) sold the house in 2019, five years after they originally bought it, and a new family moved in. As it stands, the real Watcher has never been caught. Still, despite multiple investigations by the police and private detectives, The Watcher has never been identified. The last we see of Karen in the series finale, she's running away from 657 Boulevard screaming after encountering The Watcher. Based on a [true story](https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/a41555628/the-watcher-true-story-netflix/), the show has already jumped right to the top of viewers' watchlists, with fans becoming thoroughly invested in the real events. The original story was first published in a 2018 article on

Viewers of true crime series or movies mostly find them more thrilling because they know that the chilling incidents depicted actually happened to real ...

It is also interesting to note that when the Broadduses planned on selling the house to a developer, it was met with vehement rejection in a meeting of the Westfield Planning Board. The loss would be more because the Broadduses also had the property renovated in the hopes of living in it one day, which they never could. Eerily, this means that The Watcher could still be out there. The Broadduses discovered that a similar letter was sent to the previous owners of the property — John and Andrea Woods, who concealed the fact from the Broadduses. The writer of the letter hinted that there could be something hidden behind the walls of the house, which was built in 1905. The Watcher apparently was watching the family and the children closely whenever they arrived at the house. After trying to sell off the property unsuccessfully, the Broadduses finally managed to get it off their backs in 2019 for USD 959,000 — a loss of close to USD 400,000. The police investigated the neighbourhood and collected DNA samples. Neighbours are not of much help, and the family suspects that any one of them could be The Watcher. The story of The Watcher revolves around a house. They planned to move into the six-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom estate with their children. Viewers of true crime series or movies mostly find them more thrilling because they know that the chilling incidents depicted actually happened to real people.

Inspired by true events and based on The Cut article by Reeves Wiedeman, the series tells the story of Dean and Nora Brannock (based on the real Derek and Marie ...

In 2020, the house sold for a whopping $1.93 million but is now estimated to be worth around $6.25 million according to However, this plan was rejected by a local planning board which included a number of the Broadduses’ neighbours. The real house in the case of The Watcher is located at 657 Boulevard in the idyllic suburb of Westfield, New Jersey. But the family never fully moved into 657 Boulevard as they feared for their safety after receiving the ominous letters from the Watcher and within a year of purchasing the house, they put the property back on the market. Where is the real house from The Watcher and what happened to it? As shown in the series, The Watcher’s ominous letters repeatedly refer to the family’s new home and the secrets it holds but where is the real house the series is based on and what has happened to it?

But the beautiful house at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey, was nothing short of a nightmare for the family. The Netflix mini-series “The Watcher” is a ...

They believed that it was greed that made them buy the house because that was the kind of people that the house attracted. Dean believed it was Kaplan, whom he had seen in the tunnel that he found in the basement. The tunnel was a long one, and there was a bed in it. John Graff had murdered his family in 1995, and in the meeting, the man mentioned that he had started living in Whitefield in 1995. The Brannock family gave up on the investigation when they realized that they could not come up with an answer and had no evidence to back their claim. Flanagan read the letters that the Watcher had sent to the Brannock family, she confirmed that it was Roger Kaplan. He asked his students to write a letter to the house owners of the houses they admired. Nonetheless, Dakota agreed to cooperate and provided his DNA sample to compare it with the DNA found in the letter. John decided to do what the Watcher was asking of him. They wondered if the owner of the house knew the history behind the walls of the house and the reason why the basement was left unfinished. Dakota went to the police station with his mother and a lawyer. The house has been watched over since the 1920s; someone took up the responsibility of watching it in the 1960s, and now it was the writer’s turn to watch the house.

Netflix's The Watcher tells the story of the Brannock/Broaddus family, but who is the Watcher who sent the letters and what happened next?

The couple have declined offers of television interviews and documentaries, choosing instead to keep a level of privacy and move on from their experience. However a new family ended up buying it, and the Broadduses asked that a message be passed on from them: "We wish you nothing but the peace and quiet that we once dreamed of in this house," it said. In 2019, after already deciding against moving into it and renting it out, the Broaddus family decided to sell the home. Both Derek and Maria got in touch with the police at the time that the letters started appearing. "I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming," the author of the letter went on to say. But how much of the story actually is true, and how much has been amped up – Murphy-style – to get us all talking? It was while these works were happening that the letters would plague them. I am now 93 years old." Both Derek and Maria are still affected by the ordeal with The Watcher. The Langford family lived quite close by, and was previously put forward with a focus on Michael Langford. It is now my time." In 2018, New York Magazine published a story from feature writer Reeves Wiedeman entitled '

As the episodes progress, the Brannock family attempt to piece together the identity of the Watcher but are met with obstacles at every turn. One of the most ...

Instead, his family resided at a property known as Breeze Knoll, which burned down in 1972, a year after the murders took place. On top of that, List did not live in the same house the Watcher targeted, 657 Boulevard. It should be said, however, there are some notable differences between the real story of List and that of the fictionalised John Graff. He introduces himself as ‘John’ and claims to be a building inspector – although when Dean questions the contractors working on the house about him, they reveal there’s no inspector with that name, leading him to believe the man he met was the real John Graff. After murdering his family, List disappeared, assumed a new identity and evaded detection for almost 18 years until he was arrested in June 1989. One of the most suspicious characters they uncover during their search is John Graff, a former resident of their house, who Dean believes to have met in episode 3 while claiming to be a housing inspector – but just who is John Graff and was he a real person in the case?

Luke David Blumm as Carter Brannock, Isabel Marie Gravitt as Ellie Brannock, Bobby Cannavale as Dean Brannock and Naomi Watts as Nora Brannock in "The Watcher.".

Neighbors were asked to voluntarily submit DNA to compare to that found on one of the envelopes. Despite reducing the price multiple times, they were unable to sell it. “My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s. The coupled purchased a six-bedroom home in Westfield, New Jersey for $1,355,657 and spent about $100,000 on renovations. It is now my time.” After finishing up a day of painting, Derek Reeves went to check the mail and found a letter addressed to “The New Owner.”

Derek and Maria Broaddus purchased 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey in 2014. Before they moved into the property, they began work on the house and this is ...

Since selling their house, the Broaddus family have remained in the area and moved into the new house. However in real life the family never actually moved in six months after receiving their first letter from The Watcher. Right so in the Netflix show, the family are shown to move into their new home. Over time, two more letters were sent to the house by The Watcher and as a result the Broaddus family hired a private investigator to solve the case. In the letter, The Watcher revealed they had been watching the house for the last two decades and also identified the three kids. The Watcher is inspired by the true story of the Broaddus family, whose story blew up after it was told in an article published in 2018 by The Cut.

Jennifer Coolidge, Bobby Cannavale, Naomi Watts and Mia Farrow are phenomenal in Netflix's latest true-crime series. But nothing can save this from being ...

Strip away the phenomenal acting talent, and some of the more outre decisions to liven up the source material, and what is left is a seven-hour whodunnit about a typewriter. The Watcher is a world away from the daring, groundbreaking originals that Netflix used to seemingly conjure up from thin air. It is also jarring that the Broaddus’ home is in no way an attractive property. At the very least, the cast is absolutely berserk. More than anything, it is this cast that holds The Watcher together. I’d be staggered if anyone can remember a single thing about it come Christmas. From the outside it looks like Tony Soprano’s McMansion, and the inside is riddled with secret rooms, hidden tunnels, pianos that appear to play themselves and something that can only really be described as Chekhov’s Dumb Waiter. Personally, I’d rank this somewhere in the upper-mid range of his work. Forget that the story had already been made into a movie – 2016’s Lifetime film The Watcher (“Overall not a bad movie to kill time on a Sunday afternoon”, reads a typical Rotten Tomatoes user review) – this had Murphy written all over it. It is not in charge of me. Which, you have to admit, is an automatic Murphy slam-dunk. So you can imagine the absolute joy he must have felt when he first read Reeves Wiedeman’s 2018 New York Magazine article entitled [The Watcher](https://www.thecut.com/article/the-haunting-of-657-boulevard-in-westfield-new-jersey.html).

Derek and Maria Broaddus, the main characters of both real-life and fictional stories, had just started renovations in their new house at 657 Boulevard in ...

The Watcher described the layout of the house, listed the names and ages of the kids, and again hinted at their kidnapping. The letter got extra creepy when the author of the letter described the couple’s three children as “the young blood” and expressed his intention to kidnap the kids. Derek and Maria Broaddus, the main characters of both real-life and fictional stories, had just started renovations in their new house at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey when they received a strange letter addressed to “The New Owner”.

On Sept. 21, Ryan Murphy unveiled Dahmer—Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, a true-crime thriller that has since become, depending on your metric of choice, ...

The Watcher is in part a reversal of that movie; it’s the suburbs that feel strange and sinister to people used to living in the city. Collectively, they’re a microcosm of a culture that tells us to mortgage every aspect of our lives in order to attain the trappings of wealth. So it makes sense that, on a thematic level, everyone is the Watcher, even largely well-meaning people like Theodora, in this panopticon of a society. She casts herself as the house’s previous owner and says that she sent the letters, invented the Graffs, reverse-engineered the Watcher based on her own knowledge of the town’s quirks. Murphy and Brennan pay conspicuous homage to Rosemary’s Baby, from Farrow’s presence on the other side of the young-old binary to the basement baby sacrifice to the name Dakota shares with the [Lifetime movie called The Watcher](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5497458/), but also the number of kids and their ages. Dean allows the stresses of his career and new home to gradually transform him into the prototypical rich, white, conservative suburban dad. Unsolved when the original article ran, the case [remains a mystery](https://www.thecut.com/2022/10/the-watcher-657-boulevard-update.html) in 2022. One disconcerting aspect of the article is that, rather than uncovering too few suspects in a town that prides itself on safety, it finds too many. [eerie New York magazine article](https://www.thecut.com/article/the-haunting-of-657-boulevard-in-westfield-new-jersey.html) from 2018, The Watcher follows a family that buys a dream home in the wealthy suburb of Westfield, NJ, only to find that someone else has already, in a sense, laid claim to it. [Naomi Watts](https://time.com/4838709/naomi-watts-quick-talk/)) and Dean Brannock (Bobby Cannavale) and their kids, 16-year-old Ellie (Isabel Gravitt) and her little brother Carter (Luke David Blumm), are surrounded by weirdos. Time will tell whether The Watcher turns out to be a hit with subscribers (though I’m betting it will be).

Netflix's new Ryan Murphy true crime series "The Watcher" is based on a story of a real house and stalker in New Jersey.

](https://www.northjersey.com/story/money/real-estate/2017/10/19/report-watcher-house-lawsuit-dismissed/778783001/) In the real story, the Broaddus family had not moved into the house when the first letter arrived and never actually lived there, scared off by the letters. Here are three major differences between the Netflix adaptation and the true story (mild spoilers for the first few episodes follow): The couple receive their first threatening letter only after they've moved into the house with their two children, one of whom finds it. [producer Ryan Murphy](https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2022/10/10/netflix-dahmer-got-wrong-what-friend-of-the-family-got-right/8195714001/) has jumped to No. The real watcher was never found.

A review of The Watcher, the Netflix limited series starring Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale as a couple who moves into a lovely home, only to be terrorized ...

The longer you watch The Watcher, the more you start to feel like Dean, untethered, like you’re living in a world that has become completely cockeyed. Yes, there is a long list of quibbles and questions that can legitimately be raised about just about everything that happens in this series. How easy it is to get sucked into true crime, whether it involves you personally or is something you’re consuming as content — this is a dynamic that The Watcher understands well. couple that vibe with an obvious desire to capture the zeitgeist of the COVID era. Nora’s a bit of a social climber, while Dean is impulsive and not always honest, which bolsters the notion that we should be wary of everyone in this auspicious Jersey Zip Code. Unlike Dahmer or much of American Horror Story, this Murphy project doesn’t overdo it with the gore. Watching The Watcher is undeniably a rush, so much so that even when certain plot twists don’t make sense — and trust me that many of them do not — it doesn’t even matter. Consequently, a series of events that was genuinely bizarre becomes even freakier once the writers start sprinkling in even more wild details. Eccentric local historian Pearl Winslow (an astutely cast Mia Farrow) and her intellectually disabled brother Jasper (Terry Kinney) also have a tendency to pop up unannounced, sometimes even in the house’s dumbwaiter. The details in the letters — about the Brannocks’ children, Ellie (Isabel Gravitt) and Carter (Luke David Blumm), and the family’s behavior — become increasingly specific and disturbing. Murphy, Brennan, and their fellow writers and filmmakers (several of whom also worked on the duo’s extremely popular [Dahmer](https://www.vulture.com/article/dahmer-monster-netflix-series-review-true-crime.html)) throw a kitchen sink of issues and true-crime tropes into these episodes, as well as a kitchen island controversially accented with butcher-block countertops. [story Reeves Wiedeman wrote for this magazine](https://www.thecut.com/article/the-haunting-of-657-boulevard-in-westfield-new-jersey.html) about a couple who bought their dream house in Westfield, New Jersey, only to be terrorized by anonymous letters from someone who creepily called themselves “The Watcher” — is subtextually a commentary on a variety of contemporary fixations.

Ryan Murphy's new Netflix series The Watcher show takes an unsolved mystery to extremes. Here is the true story of 657 Boulevard.

Kaplow was a teacher a couple of towns over from Westfield, and he did actually write letters to a house in Westfield, as in the show. However the Woods felt their letter was a bit weird but not actually scary or threatening and had only had one letter and nothing before that in the 23 years they lived in the house. But the realtor did not buy the house from the Broaddus’, initially they rented it and then five years after their purchase they sold the house to a young family at a massive loss. There’s no suggestion that they were in a cult that sacrificed babies, though this kind of wild speculation is likely to have been inspired by some of the theories that appeared online after the story broke and went viral. Theodora is a fictionalized version, so the jazz singer, heart attack, cancer, taking the blame for The Watcher stuff is not real. But these were love letters to the house, not threatening ones, and it wasn’t 657 Boulevard but a different building. The letters sent to neighbors after the Broaddus’ left 657 Boulevard were also real and they were sent by Derek (Dean in the show). In real life they were called Derek and Maria Broaddus, in the show they are called Nora and Dean Brannock (played by Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale). Like Dean in the show, Derek in real life became absolutely obsessed with the case which negatively affected his life and relationships while it was going on. Matriarch Peggy Langford was in her 90s and lived with several of her adult children, including Michael, and Abby, both in their 60s. [The Watcher,](https://www.netflix.com/title/81380441) inspired by the true story of the Broaddus family who bought a very expensive house in Westfield, New Jersey and received a series of threatening letters from someone calling themself “The Watcher”, takes a slightly different approach to true crime. This also means that the subplot romance between Ellie (Isabel Gravitt) and Dakota (Henry Hunter Hall), the young man who installs their security system, isn’t based in reality.

It revolves around Dean and Nora Brannock, an American couple who purchase their ideal house, 657 Boulevard, in Westfield, New Jersey. But they soon lose their ...

There was a likelihood that Karen was the Watcher because she didn’t appear to be scared to buy the house despite the frightening messages. She was the only selfless in the crowd of greedy eyes whose reputation as a Watcher was not deserving at all. However, that moment of satisfaction was short-lived as Theodora passed away soon, and it came to light that she was not the Watcher and just intended to give Dean a sense of relief. They shifted to the New York house, and Dean even joined therapy, but he could not forget the mystical beauty of the house. From the beginning, Karen appeared to be a lovely friend but ultimately revealed herself to be a villain. She falsely confessed the crime of being a Watcher and represented herself as the culprit. She was nearly certain that her husband was attempting to sell the home by sending her these letters, but she subsequently learned that everything was well-planned and had nothing to do with Dean. His internal struggles led him to do this and hide his failure in front of his family. Nora’s confusion is understandable, given that her husband, Dean, kept secrets from her and wrote the last letter as a Watcher. Dean did not want to let the dream mansion go easily, but when he was unable to make a partner in the law firm, he sent his wife Nora one last letter as a watcher, threatening her to leave the house. The hidden subterranean entrance in the house, too, was frightening enough for the couple. It was revealed that the previous owner of 657 Boulevard also received these letters.

Netflix's 'The Watcher' episode 3 John Graff family murder sequence is based on the real John List murders in New Jersey, where a man made himself lunch ...

Agents went to the man's home and discovered that Clark was actually List, who'd built a new life for himself in the Virginia suburbs. List left a note, indicating that he ended their lives to protect them from an uptick in evil in the world. He was [arrested in 1989](https://apnews.com/article/0abc5141429eda579004f6cf677bbae6), convicted and sentenced to five life terms in prison. As Theodora narrates, we see a flashback that reveals John Graff is the same present-day John who made himself a cold cut lunch in Dean's kitchen, and we learn that his psychological descent began after he lost his job and started siphoning money from his mother's savings account to keep up the illusion that he was employed. He later killed his mother on the second floor, waited for his daughter to return home from school before shooting her as well, and ultimately traveled to his son's basketball game, drove him back to the house, and shot him when they walked through the door. Their conversation grows increasingly unnerving, with John urging Dean to take his family to a Lutheran church down the road while babbling about cyclical chaos breeding world destruction, until Dean becomes hostile and John departs.

Bobby Cannavale's character makes a shocking discovery in an episode 3 sequence that drew inspiration from the real-life John List family murders.

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Dean meets John, a former resident of the house who kind of went a little crazy and killed his whole family. A recap and review of season one, episode two ...

And if Jasper is supposed to be an adult (since we’d been told he was working at the grocery store for years on end without incident until 1995), why would he have been friends with the son? His son is a golden child (sports boy) and his daughter (“the school whore”) is pretty. John gets mugged and assaulted on the way home from work one night, prompting his mom, who just inherited a bunch of money, to help him buy — you guessed it — a house in the suburbs. Theodora responds with a non-answer about how John’s life was a facade and only the Watcher knew the truth. It takes Dean a VERY long time to figure this out, but we all know from the get that “John” is not a “building inspector” and is only here to say ominous, bizarro stuff while holding a knife. She asked Detective Chamberland for all the files on the house, and he was all, “I was waiting for you to ask me that.” I mean … Yet again we are reminded that Dean is the dumbest dumb-dumb who ever dumbed, because when he sees a total fucking stranger making a sandwich in his kitchen who identifies himself, vaguely, as “John the building inspector,” he does not so much as ask any of the construction workers who are right there in the basement if they let John in, nor does he ask John for any identification whatsoever. What follows is a looooong digression about John, who we already know is the man who pretended to be the building inspector because television is a visual medium and John is played by the same actor, with the same styling … Obviously, when this chat ends, Dean goes downstairs to yell at the contractor about it, and the construction dude tells him none of the building inspectors in town are named John and anyway they wouldn’t come to scope out a project until it was completed. I always think it’s funny in shows like this where we’re supposed to believe the protagonists are making all these sacrifices just for the good of their children (e.g., spending too much money while living in a haunted house), but then we basically never see them interact with those kids beyond the bare-minimum logistics (“Honey, get in the car, you’ll be late for school”) or to berate them for some unforgivable act of teendom (“Stop texting”). As the rules of TV-teen hook-uppery require, he hides in the closet and escapes through the window. Personally, I think maybe she is tense because her house is being stalked by an anonymous creeper who broke in and murdered Sprinkles the ferret.

The new show about the house at 657 Boulevard is based on the real-life Broaddus family from New Jersey.

Even after several price reductions, they were unsuccessful and eventually rented out the home until 2019 when they found a buyer, who purchased the home for $500,000 less than they paid for it in 2014. [true crime](https://www.countryliving.com/life/entertainment/g40744242/best-true-crime-shows-to-stream/) (and have already binge-watched [Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story](https://www.countryliving.com/life/entertainment/a41336634/what-happened-to-serial-killer-jeffrey-dahmer-crimes-victims-death/)), you're in luck. Real-life couple Maria and Derek Broaddus bought their dream house in Westfield, New Jersey, in 2014 for $1.35 million (not quite the $3.5 million price tag in the series) and began renovating it. After the Broaddus family bought it in 2014 and began receiving the threatening letters, they never moved in and tried to sell the property in 2015. [Netflix](https://netflix.com/) dropped a brand-new show [The Watcher](https://www.countryliving.com/life/entertainment/a41463239/netflix-the-watcher-cast-premiere-date/), and it is a star-studded horror series. Just like in the show, they soon began receiving anonymous letters in the mail.

Ryan Murphy and Netflix bring a star-studded cast to The Watcher, a true life tale of horror.

His The Watcher character is a teacher named Roger Kaplan. Michael Mouri is an actor best known for his prolific TV output since his debut in the mid ’70s. Mantello is best known for being one of the original cast members in the Broadway production of Angels in America. Outside the bounds of animation, Martindale has popped up in major roles on projects like Justified, The Americans, and Million Dollar Baby. He played Tim McManus on HBO’s Oz and has had recurring roles on CSI: NY, The Mentalist, Elementary, and more. The Watcher casting Margo Martindale as Mitch’s wife Maureen is a masterstroke. She is also set to appear in the upcoming Little Mermaid remake. Pearl and her husband Jasper are a loose interpretation of the real life Langford family. Dean Brannock is based on the real life individual Derek Broaddus. Her character is based on the real life individual Maria Broaddus. Watts is known for her starring roles in major films like Mulholland Drive, The Ring, King Kong, and much more. More important than any of those blockbuster factors, however, is the cast of The Watcher.

Jennifer Coolidge and Naomi Watts talk to ELLE.com about messing around on the set of 'The Watcher', Coolidge's big Emmys night, and roles for older women ...

And like I say, some of the greatest parts I’ve ever played, I got in the last two years. And by the way, that comment was made as like, “This is ridiculous, but this is the theory,” and it was said to me because I came in quite late. And yes, we had this friendship that was there on the page and it was important to me that we were comfortable with each other and everything and we just kind of got to know each other on and off the set. And I don’t like to be boxed in. Not to say that I wasn’t trying; I had been trying to break through for more than a decade, but it wasn’t until I was in my early thirties that I actually managed to get a job where people actually were gonna see this film, and that was Mulholland Drive. I don’t like to be told “these are the rules” too much. Trying to keep up with Jen and then also hold a straight face is not the easiest, but it was fun [laughs]. What was your first day on set together like, and what was it like building that rapport for the show? We definitely went off the page and did some of our own stuff. I grew up in suburbia outside of Boston and it’s the eeriest kind of story ‘cause you realize how vulnerable you can be in an instant. I know Jennifer, your Karen is a little more fictionalized, but Naomi, did you try to get in touch with Maria Broaddus? Watts’ co-star Jennifer Coolidge, however, would opt for a more defensive approach—one that includes “a bunch of rottweilers and pit bulls and german shepherds to surround the house.” The Emmy winner portrays Karen Calhoun, a realtor and old friend of Nora’s who seems to be hiding a secret.

Jennifer Coolidge & Naomi Watts talk about their new Netflix show The Watcher, a wild series from Ryan Murphy based on a chilling true story.

And what's so interesting about the true story of this show, there's been a lot of debate if The Watcher is even real or not. Inspired by the true story of the infamous “Watcher” house in New Jersey. Ominous letters from someone calling themself “The Watcher” are just the beginning as the neighborhood’s sinister secrets come spilling out. I really liked her, and she was always someone I really admired. So you would definitely think "Oh, is it this one? And so we know each other and I really liked Nora. The Watcher also Well, friend question mark, because we see Karen drive by the Brannock house, and it certainly looks like she may be more invested than it seems. Well, you pulled it off in the first episode. And I don't know, don't have their finesse... And so she's just really trying to embrace it. Nora Brannock and her husband Dean (Bobby Canavale) move into their dream home, 657 Boulevard, when they begin to receive letters from someone who dubs themselves The Watcher.

According to a 2019 report by CNN, the real people who received the ominous letters, Derek Broaddus and Maria Broaddus, never actually lived in the six-bedroom ...

A report by [Distractify](https://www.distractify.com/p/broaddus-family-now) reveals that the Broadduses moved to a different home in Westfield and allegedly bought it under an LLC to protect their family's safety. When the Broaddus family sold their story's rights to Netflix for the series, they made two specific requests at the expense of their safety. They initially purchased the home for a little more than $1.3 million in 2014 and sold it for roughly $959,000, per its [Zillow](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/657-Boulevard-Westfield-NJ-07090/40090611_zpid/) listing. Multiple reports claim that the letters from The Watcher were investigated by the Westfield police department, the Union County Prosecutor's Office, an ex-FBI profiler, a private investigator, and, of course, the Broaddus family. Per CNN, The Broadduses attempted to sue the Woodses in 2015 for "fraudulent concealment, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress," as well as other problems they'd faced since moving into the property. "It has been years and years since the young blood ruled the hallways of the house. In one of the letters, they suggested they'd spent time in the home in the 1960s, decades before the Broadduses moved in. [The Cut](https://www.thecut.com/2022/10/the-watcher-657-boulevard-update.html), the Broaddus family moved their belongings into 647 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey between June and August 2014, but they never lived there because of the threatening letters they kept receiving. Will the young blood play in the basement? The Broadduses have since moved from the $1.3 million property, but are still looking to crack the case and find the culprit behind the disturbing letters — especially because one of their neighbors received a communication from The Watcher, too. If you're binge-watching The Watcher and find yourself wondering what the real Derek and Maria Broaddus are up to now, look no further. With the new Netflix show introducing more people to their story, the Broadduses may be able to finally solve their case.

The Watcher star Naomi Watts has reacted to the episode 1 sex scene and explained how they've evolved on screen.

[The Watcher](https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a41372721/netflix-the-watcher-trailer-release-date/) star Naomi Watts has shared how she approached the sex scene in the show's first episode. I’m glad for the change for the younger generation especially," she said. It was all very easy, really." I’d worked with him once before, and just felt very, very at ease with him, and the situation, also, with Ryan [Murphy]. And just feeling safe, you know? Speaking to Digital Spy about the filming of sex scenes, Watts noted: "Since the [#MeToo] movement took place, everyone’s super-respectful, and there’s lots of conversation.

Here's the real story behind Ryan Murphy's true crime thriller series 'The Watcher' on Netflix, and everything that was made up for the show.

And The Watcher won" — both works pay tribute to this sentiment, albeit in different ways. While the seven-episode show is a work of fiction loosely based on real events, that part is true. [John Graff was inspired by the real crimes of John List](https://ew.com/tv/the-watcher-john-graff-true-story-john-list-family-murders/), who, on Nov. Clark turned out to be List, who'd built a new life for himself in the Virginia suburbs. [told authorities she thought her neighbor](https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/nyregion/25list1.html), a churchgoing accountant named Robert Clark, looked like the image of List she'd seen on the show. Theodora's research uncovers that a past resident, John Graff, received menacing letters from the Watcher as well, which preceded a grisly crime that saw him shoot his wife in the back of the head before killing his mother on the second floor of the house. But, you can soothe your soul by watching Karen call Nora a "c--t" in episode 7 — perhaps the best line delivery in the history of television — on a loop to get your fix for chaotic women. The Broadduses did hire a private investigator to snoop on their behalf, but The Cut's piece makes no mention of said sleuth being a gorgeous British woman with impeccable taste in coats and gloves. in 2014 before they received a string of bone-chilling letters from an anonymous stalker claiming to be a protective "Watcher" of the building. [Mia Farrow](https://ew.com/person/mia-farrow/)) are the first set of peculiar neighbors that Nora and Dean meet upon arriving in Westfield. "One day, I was looking out the window and I saw this older guy sitting in one of the chairs," Woodward told The Cut. The real-life gathering morphed into a three-hour hearing, with some neighbors expressing concern over everything from the threat of knocking down trees (hello, Pearl!) to voicing distaste over the thought of the new houses having displeasing front-facing garages.

A melding of traditional investigative journalism and true crime storytelling, “Father Wants Us Dead” tells the story of List, a seemingly mundane accountant ...

If you would like to see photos, get more information about the episodes, connect with other listeners or with us, you can do so at [fatherwantsusdead.com](https://fatherwantsusdead.com/). A melding of traditional investigative journalism and true crime storytelling, “Father Wants Us Dead” tells the story of List, a seemingly mundane accountant and father who was always in his church pew on Sunday. Rebecca Everett may be reached at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). Nearly a month passed before police discovered the bodies of his family in their mansion on the posh north side of Westfield. 4 in Australia and No. Years later, as they continued to run down leads and try new ways to find him, he hid in plain sight, even marrying an unsuspecting woman. 5, and reached No. But this isn’t the tony suburb’s most horrifying true crime story. chart at No. [John List,](https://www.nj.com/news/2022/05/havent-checked-out-the-father-wants-us-dead-podcast-see-why-thousands-are-listening.html) the accountant who murdered his family in 1971 and disappeared for 18 years. [Netflix’s new series “The Watcher,”](https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2022/10/inside-the-watcher-bobby-cannavale-naomi-watts-bring-a-creepy-nj-mystery-to-netflix.html) based on the all-too-real nightmare of a Westfield family. [the real story behind 657 Boulevard in Westfield here](https://www.nj.com/news/2022/10/the-real-story-behind-the-watcher-netflix-series-yet-another-creepy-nj-tale.html).)

The Westfield, New Jersey home that inspired Netflix's 'The Watcher' had a hard time finding a buyer that wasn't spooked by the haunting history at 657 ...

[Her Bootstrapped Makeup Brand Is On Track to Be in 600 JC Penney Stores](/article/436344). [real estate](https://www.entrepreneur.com/topic/real-estate) agents failed to sell the home, Barbosa took on the listing and put it on the market for $999,999 in March 2019. The letter said the anonymous sender's family was put in charge of watching the home for decades and hinted at grim secrets within the home, in addition to a "second coming," according to The Cut. According to the real estate agent, the new homeowners haven't received any threatening letters since moving in. Plus, you had people riding by the house, taking pictures, walking up to the front door, it was crazy." "There was such a stigma on the house.