The Westfield Watcher's Letters Contain Some Creepy Material

The story depicted in the Netflix series The Watcher is the stuff that some of the most common horror movies are made of. In the movies, a nice family moves into their dream home, only to find something potentially sinister lurking beneath the floorboards. In this case, the plot is based on a very true story and the Westfield Watcher's letters, as explained in the show, are totally real.

In the show, and in the real life version of the story behind the series, a family gets the chance to move into a home in a coveted neighborhood, and soon after, they start receiving menacing letters from someone who calls themselves the "Westfield Watcher." They tell the family in the letters that they are tasked with watching over the house, but the letters get increasingly sinister.

In 2014, the Broaddus family bought a house in Westfield, N.J. But before they officially moved into their new home, they started receiving letters from rhe Westfield Watcher. In the letters, an individual told the family that their father and grandfather watched the property for decades and now, according to the author of the letters, it was their turn.

According to released passages from the letters, one of the creepier letters said, "Do you need to fill the house with the young blood I requested? Better for me. Was your old house too small for the growing family? Or was it greed to bring me your children? Once I know their names I will call to them and draw them to me."

Another letter hinted at the family's lives in danger. It said, "Maybe a car accident. Maybe a fire. Maybe something as simple as a mild illness that never seems to go away but makes you feel sick day after day after day after day after day."

Some of the Westfield Watcher's letters referred to the family's young children, calling them "young blood," and wondering if they were too afraid to play in the house's basement. The letters were so frightening for the family that they never even moved into the house.

As a result, the Westfield home was rented out and eventually sold. And, despite how creepy The Watcher seems on Netflix, for the real Broaddus family, nothing happened beyond the letters.

The address in The Watcher, 657 Boulevard, is the same as the real life location of the house where the family received the threatening letters. But the series shows the family move in and get settled in the house rather than feel too afraid to even get that far, which is what happened in real life.

The Watcher trailer indicates that an actual person watches the family from the outside. But for the real Broaddus family, they didn't report seeing any malevolent or human figures outside the house's windows. They did report suspicions of neighbors in the area, but the identity of the Westfield Watcher was never discovered and it remains a mystery.

Watch The Watcher on Netflix beginning on Oct. 13.