657 Boulevard.Photo: Google Maps
A house that was watched for decades, letters sent from anonymous senders, and a mystery that is still unsolved to this day. This is the true story that inspired the hit Netflix series,The Watcher,and is attracting fans to the real house that inspired the show.
The attention has been so intense that town police officers are stationed outside of the home to monitor trespassers, and yellow caution tape now lines the edge of the property. A barricade was also placed at the front of the driveway.
Eric Liebowitz/Netflix
“We are all concerned for the family living there now and their neighbors,” resident Trish Dulinkski toldnj.com. “I cannot imagine how long it will be before people lose interest so the neighborhood can go back to normal, nor can I imagine how much mail the poor current owners will receive from crackpots all over the world.”
The Netflix series is based on the real-life couple, Derek and Maria Broaddus, who purchased the six-bedroom Dutch colonial home for $1.3 million in 2014. They had plans to renovate the property until they received an anonymous letter addressed to “The New Owner.”
“My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s,” the mystery sender wrote. “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 sender also knew eerie details about the family, asking if there would be more “young blood” on the way for the couple, who already had three children. The letters were always signed simply “The Watcher.”
Too spooked to move into the new home, the Broadduses rented it out for the next two and a half years. The renters also received a letter, which was filled with chilling threats.
After reporting the letters to the police, who said they couldn’t help them, the Broadduses set up their own surveillance cameras and even hired a private investigator. They had no luck finding the culprit and ended up selling the home for just $400,000 after five years of ownership.
source: people.com
