It's official: Netflix has dropped the trailer for its limited series The Watcher. Based on the true story of a stalker who terrorized a family via mail to prevent them from moving into their New Jersey dream home, the series hits the streaming platform on October 13—and we even dedicated two episodes of our haunted house podcast, Dark House, to analyzing the bizarre tale.
Like many productions based on a true story, the series—starring Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale—departs a bit from what actually happened. In reality, Derek and Maria Broaddus bought their dream home for nearly $1.4 million, but their excitement quickly turned to terror when they started receiving threatening letters from “The Watcher.” The anonymous harasser claimed that the six-bedroom home in Westfield, New Jersey had belonged to his family for decades, and although he didn’t live in it anymore, he had been put in charge to watch over it, “waiting for its second coming.”
The Broadduses were so spooked that they never actually moved into the house. One year after purchasing it, they sued the previous owners and claimed that they knew about “The Watcher” but didn’t address the situation. Most unsettling of all was the focus on the couple’s young children. One letter read: “I am pleased to know your names now, and the name of the young blood you have brought to me."
Based on the trailer, it looks like the family will already be living in the home as they are stalked and terrorized throughout the series. As for how the rest of the real story turned out, there was an “exhaustive investigation” by the local police and the private investigators hired by the family, but no one was ever identified. After their lawsuit was thrown out and neighbors denied their request to tear down the structure, the homeowners sold the house in August of 2019—but for $500,000 less than they originally paid for it.
The story was first brought to light by The Cut in a November 2018 article. In December 2018, Netflix won a bidding war against Universal, Warner Bros, Paramount, Amazon, and Fox for the film rights to The Watcher, according to Deadline—and Netflix also owns the story as part of the bid package.
Listen to Dark House for a more in-depth look at real The Watcher house story.
