A new creepy drama series has shot to success on Netflix. Seven-part drama, The Watcher follows the chilling story of the Brannock family, whose dreams of settling into a new neighbourhood are destroyed and many viewers have been gripped.
Released last week, on October 13, the show has already shot to the top of the streaming service's top ten and viewers have watched as the Brannock's lives are ruined when a mysterious stalker called 'the Watcher' begins terrorising them. As the series is so creepy and unnerving many viewers have been asking if the show is based on a true story.
The Watcher is based on the New York Magazine article, The Haunting of a Dream House by Reeves Wiedman, which is based on a true story. In the drama, Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale play Nora and Dean Brannock, based on real-life victims Maria and Derek Broaddus.
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In 2014 Maria and Derek brought 657 Boulevard, a sprawling house in the idyllic New Jersey suburb of Westfield. They had hoped this house would be their dream home but soon began receiving worrying letters from someone who anonymously called themselves the Watcher before they had even moved into the home. The letters' author claimed to be the house's watcher ahead of its "second coming". The Broadduses shared the content of the letters with website, The Cut, with the first one reading: "657 Boulevard has 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.
"My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s. 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."
Creepy.
The Broadduses received a total of three letters, with the second one identifying their children by name and nickname, and containing details they claim could have only been noted by someone who had been inside the home or extremely close to it. They also discovered that the houses' previous owners, the Woods, had also received a letter just before they moved out, but none in the previous 23 years of living there.
Maria and Derek suspected one neighbour Michael Langford was behind the chilling letters that detailed information about their children and information someone could only know from being in the house or very close to the house, however, he was cleared as a suspect. 'The Watcher' was never found and Maria and Derek rented out the home instead of moving in.
In 2019 they sold the house for $400,000 less than they brought it for. To this day 'The Watcher' has never been found.
Maria and Derek shared their letters with New York Magazine and in 2018 Reeves published the story. The Watcher is available to stream on Netflix.
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