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or on our website in mid 2014 john and andrea woods were busy packing up their possessions into
00:03:34
moving boxes after living at 657 boulevard for the past 23 years the time had come for the
00:03:42
couple to move on located in the affluent suburb of westfield new jersey their striking six bedroom four bathroom
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dutch colonial style home was the perfect house to raise a family potential buyers would be further
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encouraged by the area's tight-knit community and low crime rate the woods hoped that
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the new owners would settle in quickly to the home they had loved in the days before they moved out john
00:04:14
and andrea woods received a letter after reading it herself andrea showed it to john
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he disregarded it crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it in the trash the letter had
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been signed by someone claiming to be the [Music] watcher [Music] derrick broadus stepped through the
00:05:04
front door of 657 boulevard his wife maria had grown up in the suburb and the two could think of nowhere
00:05:13
better to raise their three young children although they had taken out a hefty mortgage on the nearly 1.4 million
00:05:21
dollar house the broadests couldn't be more excited it was their dream home built in 1905 the house required some
00:05:31
renovations the couple decided to stay in their current residence and get all the
00:05:37
necessary work done before moving in built across 3920 square feet the multi-storey house sat at the end of
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a long curved driveway a white columned porch large bay windows and intricate wood and stonework defined
00:05:57
the stately residence it was surrounded by an expanse of manicured lawn dotted with
00:06:04
lush trees and a well-maintained garden [Music] the broadest children aged 10 8 and 5 played in the yard while derek and
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maria got to work planning their renovations three days after settlement in june 2014
00:06:25
derek spent the afternoon and evening alone painting the interior of the house just before 10 pm as he was preparing to
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leave derek checked the mailbox he pulled out a handful of envelopes mostly bills
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and some pamphlets amongst the mail was a handwritten envelope addressed to the new owner
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it was written with a thick black pen there was no return address derek opened the envelope
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after reading the letter on his porch derek broadus ran back inside and locked the
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door behind him he turned off all the lights so the house appeared unoccupied from the
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street grabbing the phone he dialed the number for the westfield police department an officer was
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dispatched to 657 boulevard and read the letter derek presented to him once he'd finished reading the officer
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looked up at derek with a perplexed expression he asked what the [ __ ] is this the typed letter read
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dearest the new neighbor at 657 boulevard allow me to welcome you to the neighborhood how did you end up here
00:07:49
did 657 boulevard call to you with its force within 657 boulevard has been the subject of my
00:07:57
family for decades now and as it approaches its 110th birthday i have been put in charge of watching
00:08:05
and waiting for its second coming my grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched it in the 1960s
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it is now my time do you know the history of the house do you know what lies within the walls
00:08:23
of 657 boulevard why are you here i will find out i see already that you have flooded 657
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boulevard with contractors so that you can destroy the house as it was supposed to be
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tisk tisk task bad move you don't want to make 657 boulevard unhappy i asked the woods to bring me young
00:08:52
blood and it looked like they listened you have children i have seen them so far i think there are three that i
00:09:02
have counted are there more on the way do you need to fill the house with the young blood
00:09:09
i requested better for me was your old house too small for the growing family or was it greed to bring me your
00:09:20
children once i know their names i will call them and to draw them to me who am i there are hundreds and hundreds
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of cars that drive past 657 boulevard each day maybe i am in one look at all the
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windows you can see from 657 boulevard maybe i am in one look out any of the many windows in 657
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boulevard at all the people who stroll by each day maybe i am one welcome my friends welcome let the party
00:10:03
begin signed the watcher because they had been referred to in the latter derrick broadus emailed the
00:10:20
previous owners of number 657 john and andrea woods mentioned the letter they had received from the
00:10:28
watcher just before vacating the property but insisted they weren't particularly
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concerned or distressed by its contents at the behest of the producers both couples went to the westfield
00:10:42
police department to officially report the letters assigned to the case was detective
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leonard lugo he advised the broadest to keep quiet about the letters particularly to those who lived on the
00:10:57
boulevard he believed that the watcher was someone who lived close by a few days after receiving the letter
00:11:08
the brothers attended a barbecue across the street to welcome them into the neighborhood
00:11:14
according to new york magazine derek and maria were on high alert during the gathering
00:11:21
they eyed others with suspicion and kept their children close the broadcasters agreed to give one of
00:11:28
their friendlier neighbours a tour of their beloved house their anxiety heightened when the
00:11:35
neighbour commented it will be nice to have some young blood in the neighborhood
00:11:43
the renovations continued at six five seven two weeks after they received the unnerving letter
00:11:51
the broadest had yet to move in maria called in to check the mail when she noticed a familiar looking envelope
00:12:00
instead of opening it she took it directly to the westfield police department the letter inside read
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welcome again to your new home at 657 boulevard the workers have been busy and i have
00:12:18
been watching you unload carpools of your personal belongings the dumpster is a nice touch have they
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found what is in the walls yet in time they will i am pleased to know your names now
00:12:33
and to the name of the young blood you have brought to me you certainly say their names often
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657 boulevard is anxious for you to move in it has been years and years since the
00:12:48
young blood ruled the hallways of the house have you found all of the secrets it
00:12:54
holds yet will the young blood play in the basement or are they too afraid to go
00:13:00
down there alone i would be very afraid if i were them it is far away from the rest of the
00:13:09
house if you were upstairs you would never hear them scream will they sleep in the attic or will you
00:13:18
all sleep on the second floor who has the bedrooms facing the street i'll know as soon as you move in it will
00:13:28
help me to know who is in which bedroom then i can plan better all of the windows and doors in 657
00:13:38
boulevard allow me to watch you and track you as you move through the house who am i i am the watcher
00:13:47
and have been in control of 657 boulevard for the better part of two decades now
00:13:54
the woods family turned it over to you it was their time to move on and kindly sold it when i
00:14:02
asked them to i passed by many times a day 657 boulevard is my job my life my obsession
00:14:14
and now you are too broadest family welcome to the product of your greed greed is what brought the past three
00:14:24
families to 657 boulevard and now it has brought you to me the house is crying from all of the pain
00:14:34
it is going through you have changed it and made it so fancy you are stealing its history it
00:14:42
cries for the past and what used to be in the time when i roamed the talls the 1960s were a good
00:14:50
time for 657 boulevard when i ran from room to room imagining life with the rich occupants
00:14:58
there the house was full of life and a young blood then it got old and so did my father but he kept
00:15:08
watching until the day he died and now i watch and wait for the day when the young blood
00:15:16
will be mine again have a happy moving in day you know i will be watching the letter addressed to the broadcast by
00:15:29
name and included the nicknames that maria called her children the westfield police
00:15:41
conducted surveillance on 657 as derek and maria continued the renovations stressed and on edge they stopped
00:15:50
allowing their children to visit their house and discussed whether they should move
00:15:54
in at all a neighbor at 633 boulevard came forward to say they had also received a letter
00:16:02
from the watcher but they were not particularly concerned by it and had discarded it accordingly
00:16:11
derek and maria were questioned about any enemies they might have none were identified
00:16:20
residing next door to 657 was a man named michael langford michael had lived at the residence since the 1960s
00:16:30
coinciding with the watchers claim in their first letter that their father had watched the
00:16:35
house since then michael now lived with his mother who was in her 90s as well as several of his siblings who
00:16:44
were in their 60s his father had died 12 years prior again corresponding with the line in the
00:16:52
second letter that asserted the watcher had been observing the property for the better part of two decades
00:17:00
known as being a bit odd to the boulevard's residence michael was the first person who popped
00:17:06
into the minds of investigators diagnosed with schizophrenia michael was known to walk through
00:17:14
backyards on the boulevard and occasionally peer into windows he was taken in for questioning but
00:17:22
denied being the watcher or penning any threats his family and to those who knew michael
00:17:29
thought of him as a harmless character incapable of writing the letters with no evidence to keep him in custody
00:17:37
michael langford was released the watches letters and envelopes were sent for forensic testing
00:17:46
no fingerprints were uncovered but a dna sample was extracted from the adhesive used to seal
00:17:53
one of the envelopes the dna determined that whoever had sealed the envelopes was female michael langford's sister
00:18:03
abby was a real estate agent police speculated that she might have been compelled to write
00:18:10
the letters after she missed out on acquiring the property's listing herself they covertly retrieved a water bottle
00:18:18
from her work desk from it they extracted her dna profile it was not a match to the dna found on
00:18:27
the envelope former homeowner angela woods also provided a dna sample but it didn't match either
00:18:37
[Music] the second letter sent to the broadesters also made mention of their daughter painting on an easel on the
00:18:46
porch the close proximity of the langfords to 657 boulevard afforded them one of the few views from
00:18:54
which the easel could be seen with police permission the broadest sent a letter to the langfords
00:19:02
it advised them that they planned to demolish the house on 657 boulevard hoping it would spark an outraged
00:19:10
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pound 95 postage cost and they'll deliver them straight to your door cheers with no arrests imminent derek received
00:23:00
help from forensic linguist robert lenahan robert carried out a threat assessment
00:23:06
on the letters based on their vocabulary and the two spaces after each full stop he concluded that
00:23:14
the writer was likely 50 to 60 years of age and an avid reader he browsed the local
00:23:22
forums for language that resembled the contents of the letters there were no matches
00:23:30
a private investigator derrick hyde staked out the neighborhood although they determined that the
00:23:37
langfords were strange they were unable to unearth the watcher derek even turned to a former fbi agent
00:23:46
who had inspired the character of clarice starling in silence of the lambs but to no avail
00:23:55
derek broadus was certain that the langford family were responsible he poured over council plans to see
00:24:03
which houses had views of his property and who would be able to hear his children being called
00:24:09
he also set up multiple webcams around his house according to new york magazine one day a
00:24:18
house painter at the property was working when he noticed something strange he looked out one of the rear windows
00:24:27
the neighbors behind 657 had placed the deck chairs in very close proximity to the boundary
00:24:34
of the two properties instead of facing their own house the couple positioned the chairs to look
00:24:41
straight at six five seven the couple sat on the chairs watching the workers as they renovated
00:24:50
upon investigating this couple it was discovered that their daughter had married a man who lived in 657
00:24:57
previously the promising lead went nowhere all former owners and housekeepers of
00:25:06
657 were also ruled out one by one at eleven o'clock one night police staking out the boulevard
00:25:20
observed a car slow to a stop outside 657 the driver remained motionless in the vehicle for some time
00:25:30
before driving away the car was traced to a woman who resided in a nearby suburb when questioned she claimed that
00:25:40
her boyfriend was driving her car he lived in very close proximity to 657 boulevard
00:25:48
however at the time he was living in a different location she said her boyfriend was known to play
00:25:57
some really dark video games one character he played was called the watcher police contacted the boyfriend who
00:26:08
agreed to an interview when he didn't show a second interview was scheduled he didn't turn up for that one either
00:26:19
without concrete evidence to link this man to being the watcher investigators hands were tired
00:26:26
the men had no legal obligation to assist police with their investigations [Music]
00:26:34
the broadests faced the conundrum they had a beautifully renovated house made to their specifications but
00:26:43
were too afraid to move in derek spent some nights in the attic with the lights off
00:26:50
looking out the windows with a pair of binoculars but the watcher never made an appearance
00:26:58
the broadest family moved in with maria's parents and their grand house sat empty
00:27:06
in february 2015 six months after they had purchased the property the broadest put 657 boulevard
00:27:14
back on the market they asked for nearly 1.5 million dollars 100 000 more than they had purchased it
00:27:23
for with the home's extensive renovations the skyrocketing real estate market and location in one of new jersey's
00:27:32
premier neighborhoods it should have been a quick sell however the watcher had come to the attention of
00:27:41
the local media and there were no interested buyers in june 2015 the broadests filed a lawsuit against the previous
00:27:52
owners of 657 john and andrea woods according to the morning call they argued that they never would have
00:28:01
bought the property had they known there was a person who had a quote mentally disturbed
00:28:07
fixation on their house the broadests were suing for fraud and concealment they believed that the woods should have
00:28:17
disclosed that they had received a letter from the watcher prior to vacating the house
00:28:24
they wanted the woods to refund them the purchase price of the house as well as punitive damages
00:28:32
the lawyer for the broadest explained that they had attempted to sell the house because they are unable to live in the
00:28:39
home without extreme anxiety and fear for their children's safety and well-being
00:28:46
the woods maintained that the letter they received from the watcher was not threatening
00:28:52
they countersued the broadesters claiming they had been defamed by the lawsuit which was gaining considerable media
00:29:00
attention while waiting for the civil suit to be heard the broadest family rented out 657
00:29:10
their tenants were fully aware of the bizarre goings-on at the home the parties had a special rental
00:29:18
agreement it featured a clause that gave the tenants permission to vacate the house
00:29:23
should another letter from the watcher arrive with no children and two large dogs to
00:29:31
protect them the tenants felt confident enough to sign the lease in february 2017 a few weeks after they
00:29:41
moved in an envelope appeared in their letterbox it had been two years since the last
00:29:49
letter from the watcher had been received this time the envelope was addressed violent winds and a bitter cold
00:30:00
to the vile and spiteful derrick and his wench of a wife maria the letter inside asked where have you gone to
00:30:12
657 boulevard is missing you the letter was confiscated by the westfield police department
00:30:21
who initially kept its contents confidential forensic testing failed to uncover any
00:30:28
fingerprints or dna on the ladder or its envelope the tenants agreed to stay on despite
00:30:36
the remainder of the letter containing increasingly violent threats towards the occupants of their house
00:30:43
their only condition was that the broadests install additional security cameras derek promptly did so
00:30:53
in another desperate attempt to offload the house which was now causing them a significant
00:30:59
financial burden the broadest is applied to the westfield planning board their plan was to raise the house they
00:31:07
had put so much work into and subdivide the land into two lots to sell residents in westfield protested the
00:31:16
proposal they argued that smaller lots would be out of character for the community in march 2017
00:31:26
the planning board formally rejected the plan they cited that at 67.4 and 67.6 feet respectively
00:31:36
the subdivided lots would fall two and a half feet short of the mandated 70-foot
00:31:42
required allotment in a further bout of bad luck the civil case lodged by the broadest
00:31:50
was thrown out in october 2017. it was determined that the case could set an unreasonable precedent for what
00:31:58
sellers would need to disclose to potential buyers the broadest is put 657 boulevard back
00:32:06
on the market for the reduced price of 1.1 million dollars the mysterious watcher left the idyllic
00:32:18
westfield area in a state of unease police assured the public that they had conducted a thorough
00:32:26
investigation but admittedly were no closer to solving the case a journalist from a local newspaper
00:32:35
speculated that the broadests themselves could have been responsible for the letters he
00:32:42
theorised that the family might have gotten in over their heads with the mortgage
00:32:47
and were looking for a way to wriggle out of their financial troubles another theory was that the broadests
00:32:54
concocted the entire series of events in order to profit from a potential television or movie deal
00:33:02
the broadests angrily denied these allegations they also copped flack on social media
00:33:09
with users calling them cowards for being scared away from moving into their home
00:33:15
by a couple of letters maria brought us even took a dna test to rule herself out
00:33:22
as a suspect derrick broadus told the today show i was a depressed iraq on july 1 2019 derrick and
00:33:36
maria broadus sold 657 boulevard to another couple for just over 959 thousand dollars
00:33:44
four hundred thousand dollars less than they had purchased the property for five years earlier this also
00:33:52
didn't cover the significant amount of money they put into renovations according to all that's interesting
00:34:00
maria brought us said at the end of the day it came down to what are you going to
00:34:06
risk we weren't going to put our kids in harm's way the broadest decided to stay in
00:34:15
westfield purchasing a modest home in an undisclosed location the watcher eyed the blank sheet of
00:34:29
paper before them with pen in hand they began scribbling across its surface you wonder who the watcher is
00:34:41
turn around idiots maybe you even spoke to me one of the so-called neighbors who has
00:34:48
no idea who the watcher could be or maybe you do know and are too scared to tell anyone
00:34:57
good move i walked by the news trucks when they took over my neighborhood and democked me
00:35:04
i watched as you watched from the dark house in an attempt to find me telescopes and
00:35:11
binoculars are wonderful inventions they went on to detail how they might cause the broadest family's demise
00:35:23
maybe a car accident maybe a fire maybe something as simple as a mild illness that
00:35:30
never seems to go away that makes you feel sick day after day after day after day maybe the mysterious death of
00:35:41
a pet loved ones suddenly die planes and cars and bicycles crash bones break the watcher then folded the ladder and
00:35:56
slid it inside an envelope they sealed it shut and rode across its front to the vile and spiteful derrick and his
00:36:06
wench of a wife maria the letter rendered you are despised by the house and the watcher one
00:36:18
[Music] this was the final letter penned to the broadest family by the watcher in 2017
00:36:28
no further letters have reportedly been sent to 657 boulevard since the watcher remains
00:36:38
unknown [Music] you