The Watcher
After Dahmer, there is a new title that is capturing the morbid attention of Netflix viewers: it is obviously The Watcher, another arrow in Ryan Murphy's infinite arc that here packs a very distilled psychological thriller. The fact that, however, has further hooked users is that the story told, that of a couple who buys a house and is targeted by obsessive anonymous letters, really happened, albeit with some narrative licenses. Beyond how the miniseries ends after its seven episodes, many are therefore wondering how the real facts went and what the situation is not only of the family that inspired the protagonists played on the screen by Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale but even those who now live in the house at the center of the story.To recap, in fact, the Brannock family of the series is inspired by Derek and Maria Broaddus, husband and wife who in 2014 bought a house at 657 Boulevard in Westfield , New Jersey: Before they even moved in, they started getting paranoid and threatening letters signed by a mysterious Observer while they were doing renovations. Six months after the first letter, the Broaddus, frightened, decided to put the house up for sale, which only happened in 2019 and at a price of 400 thousand dollars lower than their initial cost. According to local magazine NJ.com, the purchase was made by a couple named Andrew and Allison Carr, who never made public statements on the news case. However, it is known that the Broaddus have sent them a message (not anonymous, this time): “We hope that in this house you will find nothing but the peace and tranquility you have always dreamed of”.
Who knows if it was really like that. After all, after police investigations and private investigators, the supporter of those letters has never been identified. The case, however, still seems open: a few years ago the Broaddus had asked the county police to close it to get back the various evidence (especially the letters) and the DNA samples that had been found on the envelopes in order to continue the investigations privately, but receiving however a refusal. Also a few years ago the investigators, analyzing the traces of saliva left on the letters had come to the conclusion that the Observer could be a woman but, after having subjected many neighbors of the couple to voluntary comparison tests, they had not found matches. The mystery is still unsolved. And the Broaddus? Now they live elsewhere and over the years have refused interviews or requests for documentaries on the affair: the production of The Watcher, however, have asked to change some details of their family for privacy reasons. Derek then said he will never watch the series.