After receiving frightening letters from 'The Watcher,' family flees home and sues previous owners
A New Jersey husband and wife are suing the previous owners of their home, saying they didn't disclose the fact that someone calling himself "The Watcher" was sending unnerving letters to the house.
Derek and Maria Broaddus purchased the $1.3 million house in Westfield, New Jersey, last year, and received their first letter from The Watcher that May, PIX 11 reports. The Watcher claimed that his grandfather and father both watched the house before he did, and he has "been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming." Knowing that the family had children, he wrote, "Have they found out what's in the walls yet?" and "I am pleased to know your names now, and the name of the young blood you have brought to me."
Sufficiently freaked out, the family left the home after receiving three letters and has yet to return. The suit says that they are "consumed daily by stress, anxiety, and fear regarding what 'The Watcher' will do," and since news has spread about the creepy messages, they won't be able to sell the house. Mayor Andy Skibitsky said the police have conducted an "exhaustive investigation," but so far, no arrests have been made, and it remains to be seen if the Broaddus family actually has a legal case.
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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