Who is The Watcher and what do they want? Episode 4

A seemingly perfect suburban home becomes the stage for a terrifying ordeal. The Broaddus family is terrorized by a mysterious figure known only as "The Watcher." As they receive increasingly disturbing letters, fear and paranoia grip the neighborhood. Who is behind these threats? What do they want? Join us as we dissect the chilling details and try to identify the elusive Watcher.

When Derek and Maria Broaddus bought 657 Boulevard, Westfield, New Jersey in 2014 they started receiving anonymous letters from someone who signed themselves ‘The Watcher’.

The letters frightened the Broadduses, they contained veiled threats and personal information. Who was sending them these letters? Who was The Watcher and what did they want?

In this series we analyze the notes, letter by letter and word by word to find out who the watcher is.

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This feature is opinion provided for commentary, education and entertainment only.

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[kjones]

bicycles crash- made me think of the children more likely to ride a bike and crash?

[forrestnelson]

I hadn't thought that perhaps the watcher was an ex of Derek. The last letter seems very angry in tone, maybe because the "party" is over for the watcher. The mention of telescopes and binoculars was interesting but then I thought about Google Maps and all the things you can see by repeatedly checking a location with it. This was an enjoyable way to spend a morning by going through these 4 episodes. Thank you Jack!

[LetmeRefresh]

Jack, thank you for this excellent analysis!!

[kjones]

I think the house is a metaphor for the watcher, as the house is in dreams so can it be in subconscious, talking about the house being "strong" and withstanding assaults, is how she feels

[LisaMW]

The entire series was excellent! Thank you for breaking this down!

[Jane-xtlu]

Great idea, I can see an ex doing it. It's shame-inducing for a woman to be obsessed with 'watching' an ex (bunny-boiler) so she pretended to be obsessively watching the house. Created lots of misinformation to conceal who she was. She might have wanted to feel she still had some kind of relationship with him, where she could reveal her obsession with his personal life, plus have power to affect his feelings, the way he still affected hers.

I agree she read a lot and I think she was actually pretty creative and sophisticated. But very neurotic and passive/aggressively sadistic.

[sweetsus]

It could be a gay man who is attracted to Derek. Who was close to him in his old neighborhood and is angry about the move away from him and his old life. Might feel betrayed and feel Derek 'traded up'. He might have enjoyed watching the kids play in the old neighborhood. The kids may even know him?

[coolscavenger]

I wonder if it was an ex, a former friend or family member that they no longer keep in touch with. Someone that is invested or was invested in some kind of relationship with them.

I wonder if the person, probably female has a psychiatric illness like Borderline Personality Disorder. A feature of which is ‘I hate you, please don’t leave me’. Also the loneliness and self loathing. I don’t think this person has much going on in their life and the Broddus family represents everything they don’t have; a marriage, family, job, wealth. Things perhaps they think they should have had?

This has been a brilliant series. I loved the Netflix series but this was just as good. I hope there are more series in a similar vein to come out in 2025.

[Rosieskiss]

The paragraph mentioning all sorts of bad things that can happen to a person seems like an attempt to make them attribute anything bad that does happen to the watcher. She wants to be remembered.

[Rosieskiss]

Violent winds refers to Derek, and bitter cold to Maria?

[Peeved]

I certainly think the letter writer may be involved in real estate. I'm not sure about it being an ex of Derek's. I wish we could ask him what he thinks about that theory.

[AnnetteLyonTrueCrime]

I agree that it’s someone who wants to be with Derek, like an ex or someone who has wanted to date him. Maybe they had an affair.

One more but that supports the idea of a female author: the description of illness sounds like a chronic condition. Autoimmune and other chronic conditions appear in women more than men.

[kjones]

yes, a woman in the past, maybe had an abortion?