First Impressions: THE WATCHER

 

We all dream of a home where we will be able to create memories we would cherish forever. 

A home is our safe place, a place where we can unwind, nurture and take care of ourselves. A home is where we feel happy and relieved after facing the harsh realities and the vicious people in our life. 

So when someone enters our home without permission, it feels like an attack on us. Suddenly we don’t feel safe anymore. Our safe place is now a place marred by an outside presence that wants to harm us. 

On June 2014, Derek Broaddus and Maria Broaddus, bought a house in Westfield New Jersey for $1.3 million. The house was a dream come true for the couple that came from humble beginnings and worked hard to achieve success. 

The couple had three kids and were already planning on celebrating their special moments in a house that was going to hold all their memories. 

Then one night, after Derek had finished painting and doing a few renovations around the house, he received a letter in the mail. 

The letter was addressed to the “New Owner of the House.” 

The letter which Derek thought was welcoming at first, became the very thing turned his dream house into a nightmare. 

The contents of the letter implied that strange forces had brought the Broaddus’ to the house. As if that wasn’t enough, the author of the letter continued to be ominous by talking about being the new watcher of the house. He claimed his family had been watching the house since the 1920s and now it was his turn. 

The letter was signed by someone who claimed to be “The Watcher.” 

The Broaddus’ dismissed it as a prank but when the letters continued, each even more ominous than the last, the Broaddus’ sought help from the police. 

After all, the letters spoke about the three children, identifying their names and ages. The Watcher talked about filling the house with young blood and that he would soon call them to him. 

Derek and Maria could no longer consider this letter as a prank. It had become a threat to their children. 

The Watcher talked about the walls of the house and if the family knew what was within those walls. He knew that one of the children liked to paint. He knew their nicknames. 

The police were at first bewildered by the letters but they too believed that it could all be part of a prank considering the Broaddus managed to get the house at a good price and possibly angered a potential buyer. 

The Broaddus tried to do their own sleuthing and suspected their neighbors but could not get any concrete proof against them. 

The Broaddus could never find out the identity of The Watcher and worse, could no longer live in a house they considered unsafe for the family. 

For quite some time, the Broaddus tried to sell the house but got no buyers. After all, the nature of the creepy letters had to be disclosed and who would want to live in a house where there was someone watching their every move and learning everything about them. 

Could the intruder be hiding behind the walls? 

The Broaddus family finally sold the house in 2019 at a loss, but the tale of the Watcher does not end here. 

In that very year, Netflix bought the rights to the story and now finally the TV series is set to release on October 13th. 

Starring Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale, the show will follow the story of the Broaddus family from the time they buy the house to when they receive the letters. 

The trailer looks promising and seems to perfectly capture the terror the family faces when The Watcher begins to stalk them. 

The question is, will this series solve the mystery of the Watcher or leave it ambiguous? The real Broaddus family, sadly never found out who was stalking them. They had to leave the house and the town until finally, The Watcher left them alone.  

The show is created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, both of who were behind shows like Ratched and the recently released Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Ryan Murphy is also the creator of American Horror Story. 

The show has seven episodes and will stream on Netflix from October 13th.