The Watcher case is a famous unsolved mystery that has made true crime aficionados ponder about who the mysterious letter writer is. Many fans who watched the Netflix show The Watcher based on the happenings also wonder: Who lives at 657 Boulevard now?
In 2014, Derek and Maria Broaddus bought 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey for $1,355,657 as their “dream home.” The couple planned to renovate the house by hiring contractors when they received multiple letters from a stalker of the house. “Dearest new neighbor at 657 Boulevard, Allow me to welcome you to the neighborhood,” the first letter read. “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.”
The couple received multiple letters from the self-proclaimed “Watcher” and the Broadduses were ultimately scared for the well-being of their family. After years of endless investigation and false leads, the family decided to sell the house for less than what they paid for it. Since the house was still under renovations at the time of the investigation and their decision to sell it in 2017, the Broaddusses never actually moved in to the house.
For a long time, the house didn’t sell and they opened it for renters. “There were a million stories about what was going on with the house,” Real estate agent David Barbosa told Entertainment Weekly. “There was such a stigma on the house. That was our biggest hurdle: Trying to get over that stigma. Plus, you had people riding by the house, taking pictures, walking up to the front door, it was crazy.” Another hurdle that Barbosa had to go through was that people who wanted to place an offer at the house had to look at what lies ahead of them. “The deal was that, if you were going to put an offer in on the house, you had to go down to the attorney’s office and look at [all of the evidence], so you knew what really happened before we went into a hard contract,” he explained One man told Barbosa that he didn’t “give a s—” about the hostile letters the Broadduses received, backed out after looking at the letters. “He went down to the attorney’s office and called me and said, ‘Yeah, I’m out.’ He just said, ‘Listen, after reading everything, there’s no way I’m going in that house.”
After The Cut released a viral article about the house and the investigation, American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan created a loose adaptation of the story for Netflix starring Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale. Though the names of the Broadduses were changed and much of the investigation was dramatized, the house on 657 Boulevard was very much real. Surprisingly, the hauntings and stories of the house didn’t stop people from living there afterwards.
Read below about who lives at 657 Boulevard now and if they receive letters from The Watcher.
Who Lives at 657 Boulevard Now?
Image: Netflix
Who lives at 657 Boulevard now? In 2019, 657 Boulevard was sold to a young couple, Andrew and Allison Carr. According to an update from The Cut, 657 Boulevard sold for $959,000. When they bought the home in June 2014, it closed for $1,355,657. They sold the home at a roughly $400,000 loss, and they had bigger financial losses when they factored in the agents’ cut and $100,000 in property taxes for the bills for utilities, home insurance, the contractors who had begun making renovations to the home, and the lawyers and private investigators for the case.
Did the new owners of 657 Boulevard receive more Watcher letters?
Image: Eric Liebowitz/Netflix
Did the new owners of 657 Boulevard receive more Watcher letters? According to Barbosa, the couple had no problems moving into the infamous house. “They had no concerns at all,” Barbosa said. They also never had any issues with anonymous letters from creepy strangers during their time at the address. “They were really cool.”
Before they moved in, the Broadduses asked their real-estate attorney to warn the new owners about their experiences. “We wish you nothing but the peace and quiet that we once dreamed of in this house,” they wrote on a note. They also attached a photograph of The Watcher’s handwriting in case any new letters showed up. To this day, none have arrived.
The Watcher is available to stream on Netflix.
