Whatever happened to the Westfield Watcher house?

How could I not talk about the case of the Westfield Watcher during the “Cases of Creepy Haunted Houses” episode? (See season 2, Haunting American True Crimes, on the podcast.) Very few hauntings of the spectral variety are as creepy as that story. Which this one isn’t. It’s more like a house-obsessed stalker story.

However, was the whole thing actually fabricated? Increasingly, the evidence appears to indicate that it was.

At least, that’s what I was led to believe based on research I dug up for the podcast episode. Others might reach a different conclusion.

One thing’s for sure, though. The story ended up being lucrative for the family who experienced it. With the help of Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story) and his Ratched co-creator, Ian Brennan, Netflix is turning the tale into a limited series. One that might even release sometime later this year.

We’ll take a closer look at that, but for now, let’s walk through some highlights of the case.

If you want to hear more, be sure to listen to the “Cases of Creepy Haunted Houses” episode. I’ve embedded it below but you can also listen on whatever podcast platform you prefer most.

The History of the Westfield Watcher House

The story of the Westfield Watcher went viral worldwide back in 2015. It all started after Derek and Maria Broaddus bought the New Jersey Dutch colonial in 2014.

They claim that shortly after closing they received a menacing letter from an unidentified person. Among other things, it contained the following creepy declaration: “My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s. It is now my time.” It was signed simply “The Watcher.”

They also claimed other letters stated things like: “Have they found what is in the walls yet? In time they will …” and “I am pleased to know your names now and the name of the young blood you have brought to me.”

Consequently, due to the letters, the Broaddus family never moved into the home.

Instead, they sued the previous homeowners, John and Andrea Woods, for failing to reveal the house had a stalker. Or, rather, “failing to disclose that someone had a mentally disturbed fixation on the house.”

The Broadduses wanted not only the purchase price of the house back ($1.35 million), but “treble” (triple) damages because they were “unable to live in the home without extreme anxiety and fear for their children’s safety and well-being.”

The Woods’ contend they had lived in the home since the 1960s and had ever only received one letter from “The Watcher” —a week before closing. (Exhibit A for super suspicious evidence.) 

The Broadduses tried to re-sell the home for $1.5 million in 2015 but then took it off the market. In 2016 they relisted it for $1.25 million (less than their original purchase price).

They finally sold it to Andrew and Allison Carr in 2019 for $959,360.

Investigating “The Watcher” Case

One of my favorite articles about the case back when it was breaking news came from Lauren Evans of The Gothamist.

Bill Schaffer, whose family had lived in the house from 1955 to 1963, had contacted Evans to say “The Watcher” note was a load of crap. His family had never received any kind of creepy notes like that.

Then she received an email about how someone’s adult son on the block was responsible. He was a local crazy who made life  “uncomfortable” for neighbors. However, no one talked about it because they were afraid to poke the bear, so to speak. They feared they’d antagonize him and he’d somehow retaliate in a more aggressive or dangerous form against them.

Evans went to check Westfield out. She tried to get info from both police and neighbors who lived near the home but didn’t have any luck. 

She did have an interesting conversation with Horace Corbin, publisher of the Westfield Leader, the town’s local paper, though.

Suspicious Circumstances

Corbin felt there were a lot of weird things about Broaddus’s story —weird beyond a Watcher supposedly stalking the house. Weird as in timing issues and actions that didn’t add up.

For instance, Corbin had posed the question to Evans: “When did the closing happen? When was the lawsuit filed, and when was all the work done?”

The work he referred to being the thousands of dollars worth of renovations the Broadduses claimed they made to the home after they’d bought it.

Corbin informed her the Broadduses did not go to the police upon receiving the letters…they went to the Union County Prosecutor. 

They also didn’t file a lawsuit against the Woods family, who they’d bought the home from, until a year after they were allegedly too scared to fully move into their home.

And what about all that work? Neighbors Corbin talked with said they hadn’t seen contractors at the house and he hadn’t found any permits filed with the city. 

In fact, even before there was any news of the Watcher’s letters, neighbors had paid Corbin a visit. They wanted to know if he knew why no one had moved into the house on 657 Boulevard (the Watcher House’s address). They thought it was strange that someone had bought the house 10 months before and hadn’t moved in yet.

Corbin also questioned how a couple who had bought a $300,000 house in Scotch Plains 10 years before they bought the Westfield house, and who had a $175,000 mortgage, could suddenly afford a million-dollar house.

Another thing he found suspect was that they’d also had 12 mortgages in those 10 years.

Mr. Broaddus would eventually respond to this questioning that that’s the”American Way.” Houses appreciate and you sell and buy a more expensive one.

Except…

Does the Great Recession play a part in the Watcher house?

2004 to 2007 was a hot housing market just about everywhere. Tons of people were flipping houses. That could help explain the Broaddus family’s 10 mortgages. If their Scotch Plains house appreciated, perhaps they kept refinancing or taking out mortgages to take advantage of great low-interest rates.

However, you may remember the Great Recession from 2008-to 2010-ish. The housing market at that time was disastrous. Foreclosure city in many places.

Any equity the Broadduses may have had in their home was likely wiped out and was unlikely to have recovered much by 2014.

So I get where Corbin is coming from in his questioning.

Is that why they concocted the Watcher story? To generate interest? Publicity? Did they see it as a way to help sell their new home?

Who knows?

The Watcher House Neighbors

In a 2018 article, The Cut presented the most thorough examination of the case of the “Haunting of 657 Boulevard” up to that time. It included more excerpts from the creepy “Watcher” letters than had ever been previously released.

It also included details like how the Broadduses had attended a barbecue to welcome their family and another new one who had recently moved into the neighborhood. No one knew about the letters at that time. Police had instructed the Broadduses not to talk because one of the neighbors could be the culprit.

At the party, someone mentioned the Langfords to Derek Broaddus. The Langfords lived next door and were described as an odd, but harmless, family.

Peggy Langford, who was in her 90s, and some of her adult children, all in their 60s, lived with her. One of them, Michael Langford, was the neighbor, the “local crazy,” that Lauren Evans from The Gothamist had received an email about.

Derek Broaddus immediately felt Michael Langford must be the Watcher and went directly to the police. 

Detective Lugo said he’d questioned Michael a week after the first letter had arrived. He found no hard evidence against Michael and it didn’t seem like it could be him. 

Surveillance of the Watcher House

Derek Broaddus put up cameras and would sit up in the dark watching for anyone approaching his house. 

In addition to hiring a private investigator, he also consulted the FBI agent who had served as the inspiration for Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs.  They served together on a high school board of trustees.

Former FBI Agent Robert Lenehan was also hired to examine their case. He analyzed the letters and didn’t feel whoever had written them would act on any of the threats. 

Watcher House Suspects

Derek and Maria Broaddus remained convinced it was their next-door neighbors, the Langfords. Investigators, however, wanted to consider other neighbors, like two child sex offenders who lived within a few blocks.

But something huge was retrieved from one of the letters: DNA. It was determined to belong to a woman. 

This re-directed the Broaddus’s attention to the Langford family because one of Michael’s sisters, Abby, worked as a real estate agent. Was she upset about losing out on a commission when the Woods family sold but didn’t use her as the selling agent?

However, her DNA was tested and found not to be a match.

Which the Broadduses felt was part of a town conspiracy against them. They had recently told prosecutors they were going to file a civil suit against the Langfords and now there was suddenly DNA evidence which was obviously not favorable to their case.

Well, understandably, the Langfords were pissed. As Sandy Langford pointed out, his family had lived in their home since 1961 with no issues or complaints from anyone else. Suddenly the Broadduses moved in and had this weird stuff happening and were immediately pointing fingers at his family just because his brother Michael was a little off?

Another Family Receives A Watcher Letter

There was one other family who later said they had also received a weird note around the same time the Broadduses received their first one. Except, they just threw theirs out.

Their kids were grown and it didn’t seem like anything except an anomaly. Investigators only found out because after the story first hit the news, one of their kids posted about it on Facebook, then later deleted it.

It didn’t do anything except confuse the case more. Since the family no longer had the letter, they couldn’t compare handwriting or try to obtain a DNA sample from it or anything else potentially useful.

The Watcher House Cold Case

Veteran Westfield police detective Barron Chamblis also worked on the case. He conducted a couple of stakeouts, one which resulted in investigating the driver of a suspicious car that stopped in front of 657 Boulevard one night.

The car belonged to a girl who lived in a nearby town. Her boyfriend lived on the same block as the Westfield Watcher House though. During questioning, she told them how her boyfriend had been into some dark video games, including one where he played as a character called “The Watcher.” 

The boyfriend was since living elsewhere though. He initially agreed to come in for questioning, but never showed up.

Chambliss wondered if maybe it was a prank and perhaps the girlfriend had helped. Maybe her DNA was on the envelopes?

But there was no evidence to compel the boyfriend to appear or to justify obtaining a DNA sample from the girlfriend.

When nothing else happened and no new clues presented themselves, the case went cold.

But the story doesn’t quite end there…

The “Friends of the Broaddus” Family Letters

On Christmas Eve 2017, residents who had spoken out against the Broadduses online found anonymous letters in their mailboxes signed from “Friends of the Broaddus Family.” The letters accused the people of inaccurately speculating about the Broadduses. 

In The Cut article, author Reeves Wiedeman related how Derek Broaddus was asked if he had written the letters.

Amazingly, he admitted that he had but that even his wife hadn’t known he’d done it. He said he wasn’t proud of it and that those were the only letters he’d written. 

The Watcher on Netflix

Even though the Broadduses sold their house at a $400,000 loss, they may have recouped that —and potentially banked lots more— with their Netflix deal.

The limited series is titled, what else? The Watcher.

We don’t know when it’ll be released yet, but we do know a couple of big names slated to star in it, including Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale as Maria and Derek Broaddus. Deadline recently reported that Jennifer Coolidge has also signed on.

“Cases of Creepy Haunted Houses” Episode

Check-In

Do you find the Broaddus’s story of “The Watcher” believable or suspicious?

Either way, I think it’s creepy AF. I’m confident Ryan Murphy will do the twisted tale justice. I’m looking forward to watching it on Netflix. What about you?