The Scary Real-Life Story Behind Netflix’s ‘The Watcher’

If you’re looking for something creepy to watch this Halloween month and don’t mind seeing a show inspired by real-life spooks, The Watcher just released its final episode on Netflix and is now available to view in its entirety.

This sinister thriller show co-created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan may seem like another outlandish American Horror Story-esque concept, but this story about a family being terrorized by a mysterious stalker after moving into a new home has some roots in reality.

The series is adapted from a story written by Reeves Wiedeman for The Cut, a magazine which is a part of New York Magazine. It centered around the Broaddus family, Derek and Maria, who had just found a nice home in Westfield, New Jersey and moved into it with their three children.

The first letter arrived in the house while they were doing renovations, and included some confusing and sinister language. “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 end of the letter read.

This first contact also had the letter writer mention that their family has been “watching” this particular house “for decades now,” and included the rather unsettling sentence “It is now my time,” before the questioning began.

Before long, they were receiving letters after the family from “The Watcher” after they moved in which described what their car looked like, how many children they had, and things they were doing in the house.

They received three sinister letters from The Watcher before deciding not to move into the property. The last one they received was truly terrifying, referring to their children multiple times as “young blood.”

The Broaddus family was unable to identify their stalker even after an extensive investigation by local police. The Broadduses later sold the house in 2019 for a significant loss, but they didn’t skip out on town totally and reportedly still live in Westfield today.

The first note was found in 2014, and locals said it quickly spread around town, with one bakery owner telling The Sun that “I know a lot of the residents out there that were really scared about the neighborhood.”

The Watcher is a Netflix Original series and stars Bobby Cannavale and Naomi Watts. The full limited series is available to stream. Here’s a trailer for the limited series so you can see whether you’ll be able to handle it.