New Jersey Couple Tormented By ‘The Watcher’ Opens Up | TODAY
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- When Derek and Maria Broaddus bought their home in Westfield, New Jersey, in 2014, they began receiving disturbing letters from someone who called themselves The Watcher. After years of torment, the couple opened up about the ordeal in a New York magazine article. NBC’s Stephanie Gosk reports for TODAY.
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#NewYorkmagazine #StephanieGosk #TodayShow
New Jersey Couple Tormented By ‘The Watcher’ Opens Up | TODAY
After new buzz feed unsolved episode... anyone?
?
right here
Yes ! I’ve been looking up articles and stuff since I watched it
🙋♀️
HAHAHAH ME
Encrypted User Ikr
They should just bulldoze the house and stick a sign in the rubble "watch this"
😂😂😂😂😂
Haha I agree...burn it down. Someone who is doing this clearly wants the house for themselves. I think it is a neighbor...more specifically a mom on her 50's
Melissa 🤣😂
Haha noice
Ikr- they just wanted it themselves
Who’s from Shane and Ryan?
featherqueen31 it’s buzzfeed unsolved
RandomRather that’s the same thing lmao
Me!
Same I was in their belly for 9 months
me
It's kind of disrespectful to laugh about someone being watched and scared for their life and for the lives of their family. I just think it's rude of the hosts on TV to do that.
exactly 💯 ...Right after saying the family still thinks about it everyday! very rude indeed.
They are awful, sadistic creeps.
the media attracts these type of people..its what they do and its who they are,
They're laughing because it's obviously a hoax perpetrated by the owner who was suffering from buyer's remorse after buying a house he couldn't afford.
Their disgusting the hosts from today.
A million dollar house, and in all that time, those people never once considered the idea of setting up a camera on the outside?
Right? Doesn't make any sense
They get letters. Why would a camera on the outside work?? These people could be on the other side of town?
Yes the person who the rented the house rented put up cameras
N Corp they did and caught a neighbor driving by and was questioned by police but then was let go because there was not enough evidence to make him a suspect anymore
That ruins the hoax
It's easy to laugh about if it isn't your family or your million bucks down the drain.
Ken Simmons exactly ! A family lost their dream home !! And the dad worked so hard for it . Such a sad story
The fake-newscasters are heinous & heartless jackals.
The kids were being threatened!!! Absolutely vile remarks by these people!
They are lying for money
@@stuckinthe60s56 You're an a hole
Annoying how the Today staff laughed off the situation, I'm sure if it was their money put into a house with a watcher it wouldn't be so funny
Or their kids being threatened
seriously. so distasteful
Why do these hosts find this to be funny?
That's what I thought as well. Their joking at the end seemed unprofessional & inappropriate. Plus, it was almost impossible to understand what they were talking about, some inside joke about a coworker maybe, partly because they were all talking over each other. I'm sure the poor family appreciated that these TV hosts found their miserable plight to be so funny.
It's very rude.
Bunch of low turds
Hunter Jay Because they are superficial morons.
Someone would have gotten killed then they would have felt stupid seriously and then this guy never got caught
What a dumb conclusion, suggesting they did this themselves. Right, that would make a lot sense since now they can't sell the house and no one wants to buy it. lol
halfgreek1963 I imagine some think that this is a money-making ploy, kind of like the Amityville case during the 70s.
halfgreek1963 it might be a neighbor, if the couple get scare, and aren’t able to sell it, they might lower the price by a considerable amount, and then the neighbor could buy it
gustavo AND they sued previous owners, if they won / win in court that’ll be a huge sum of money gained
I think it's a neighbor too. Some nosey old guy who has nothing better to do and doesn't want neighbors.
Because the neighbors already didn't like that their nice little community was some how tarnished by the press and news casts members coming around. They liked how suddle and quiet it was so yeah. People just like to make a big fuss over this when they should have been there supporting the family not suspecting them.
I guarantee it’s some family who originally owned the house and were foreclosed upon. My brother was recently looking at a house and the man who built it came up and basically harassed my brother to where my brother quickly decided he didn’t want an enemy for the rest of his life so he passed on it.
And the guy who built the house succeeded
And there are stories of people in other states who lost out on a bidding war who harassed the people who actually bought the house.
@@mrbear1302 yeah but not on this case cause the people who wanted the house were the ones that backed down on the deal.
@@sirih4085 Still, some prior owner could have been disgruntled. Especially if, as this post originally said, he were foreclosed and lost the house. Is there any proof a watcher watched the house in the 1920's? I'd say none. Trying, and succeeding, to be spooky the watcher made that up.
Feel the exact same way.. I moved into the oldest house in my county a few years ago and this previous owner whose older always posts about the house, talks when she used to live there.. she is obsessed with the house, when we started to build a fence not even a day goes by and she has a FB post talking crap about our fence the historical value of our house.. keep in mind she lives about 30 mins away from my house now.. like move on and stop being weird
For those who haven't read this story in depth, I suggest reading The Cut's very intensive interview and explanation. You would feel the fear just from reading the article. The husband set up alarms, cameras, hired previous FBI agents, asked neighbors to see if they recognize the handwriting. Multiple nights the alarms would go off, but no one was ever caught, recorded, or seen. One letter even included how the children should be afraid to go into the basement, and the mother should fear because she wouldn't be able to hear them scream. Another letter referring to "bones breaking" and revenge comes in unexpected ways, perhaps a dead pet or a car crash. There are multiple theories as to who the watcher could be (the couple behind the house whose lawn chairs wouldn't face their own house but were placed very closely to the Broaddus in a peculiar position, facing their backyard; the younger male down the road whose girlfriend described him being into violent video games of which his chosen character was The Watcher in it; the odd family next door that includes an old widow and her grown children, one of which has schizophrenia and does odd behaviors like creep into other neighbors' windows) and gets their daily mail for them so could potentially be the one sneaking in the letters, etc. Hence why it is so difficult to solve with so many leads. The oddest part was that when they tested it for DNA, it was found to belong to a woman. Some say it's a red herring, but no one knows. For those who say that it's a hoax from the Broaddus, ask yourself, why would they funnel so much money into the home (renovations, upkeep even throughout this whole ordeal) and then sell it at a loss? Additionally, the family before who sold it also admitted to getting one letter that was "oddly poetic" and just thanked them for taking care of the home. They didn't mention it to the Broaddus' before selling it to them because they claimed to not think much of it. Last but not least, what's the scariest part is how unempathetic or uncompassionate the neighbors were throughout this whole traumatic experience for this young family and worried more about preserving the aesthetics of their town then actually helping this stressed family.
I would have a hard time believing too, if not for all the $ they lost 💸💸💸💸💸
Hello watcher
What about the tunnels in the basement!?? It leads to other houses ? Why nobody looked into that??!!!?
R u the watcher
Wow! Stay out of westfield people! Creepy!
These "reporters" just laughing at the family's turmoil is so clear on how removed they are from everyday people and their lives. It's just a joke to them :(
They're laughing because it's obviously a hoax perpetrated by the owner who was suffering from buyer's remorse after buying a house he couldn't afford.
@@TiaCatR That makes no sense. They eventually sold it for a 400k loss since no one wanted to buy it because of this story.
They laughed at Carson's joke.
Totally! This is exactly what millennial living is...
Anybody else's suffering is an absolute joy for the voyeur.
Sick.
I want to know the history of this house.
Reis World Me too!
Me too!
Well, I know a guy who can fill you in
ruclips.net/video/xBoKesAQFHU/видео.html
So much they aren't telling us!
Oh wow. I didn't realize it was a light hearted story until the "news" people started to make jokes of the family's ordeal. Ha ha so funny.
If it wasn’t for the children’s safety i would move in.
Security system ✅
Attack dogs ✅
Hand gun ✅ ✅☺️
Judy i was thinking the same
Everything minus the dog, dogs are babies not weapons
@@kitteekittee4010 my guard dog gets all the love and is such a sweetie, but will do anything to protect our home
Fleur McCall - thank you.
Strawberry Richardson - 👏👏👍
All of you laughing about someone else's tragedy is in very poor taste. Shame on you
Agreed 👌🏼
it's so not funny. they lost their home their safety and so much money. this is freaking awful
Hello 👋 how are you doing ?
Netflix brought me here...
Me too!😁
I would stick 10 cameras on the house and a sign on the yard saying "Im watching you too!"
and then a bunch of security cameras in front of their house facing the house with a letter saying “no u” with an uno reverse card inside of it.
I am happy that this story was enventually pick up and adapted by Netflix.
Yeah,but Netflix completely butchered the story.
Seems like the watcher needs a watcher also
The cast sure gets a kick out of this ridiculous situation. They all are so lame and so is the round table.
i ate the way they do the news with so many people talking at the same time, no one said anything that is intelligent and then they giggle, so dumb
I’m here because of Netflix Lol
Here after watching Netflix's The Watcher ??
That show was funny and terrifying lmao 😂 best show of 2022
this cast tries too hard to be lovey-dovey all the time, it's annoying.
Very much so!
I live in Westfield New Jersey where this house is, and this story took over the town. They don’t mention it but the reason they couldn’t track it is because the letter didn’t have a stamp, as it was hand delivered to the home and then the letters got too graphic the family had to leave. The house is still for sale, it’s a very beautiful home.
No they weren't. Articles state the letters were processed in the Kearny USPS distribution center
Either way, cameras around or near the mailbox would either catch the perp, or, if they watched them be installed, would force them to stop sending/delivering the letters
Sounds like a "critter cam" for the mailbox would've been a good thing, no?
@@firewoman7722 that’s exactly what I was thinking the entire time, like why didn’t they just put a camera pointing at the mailbox so they could see who was putting the letters there in the first place
Letters were delivered by the mailman not the watcher
I don't feel like I am getting the whole story. Missing pieces.
See, this sort of thing would not make me move out of a house. After the first one or two of those letters, I'd start writing REFUSED across the outside and refusing them. No need to let yourself be played like this.
Yes!
Right...
But if “The Watcher” is in fact violent, antagonizing them is probably not the best idea. You aren’t dealing with a sane person, so its best to tread carefully
I’m pretty positive someone was walking up and putting them in the mailbox themselves, not sending them through the mail. So writing “refused” on them would do no good
I somewhat agree if I was living alone but I think the main reason the letters spooked them is the implicit threats to their children and thanking the owners for bringing ‘young blood’ to the house and whether they will hear their screams in the basements.
I would put up 50 cameras with signs that say "we're watching you to" unser every one!
Are there any cameras inside and outside the entire house to record that creepy guy ?
And why not just build high fences throughout the yard ?
It doesn't make sense
Bart Simpson they were sent letters; why don’t people get that?
Bart wouldn't make a comment like that,he say something like "that house can eat my shorts"! I don't think you're bart at all
@@Sheraz150 not by the msil service numbnuts
@@thebobsagetguy How do you know they weren't sent through the post office?
@@mrbear1302 Hand written with no to or return address. Plus no stamp. Also then it could be tracked the post office would know who sent them. Do you know nothing about sending letters?
"maybe some teenage kids"
Why is it always the teenagers that get the blame? This sounds more like something of Karen nature
That was probably the culprit…
Then they all had a giggle about it? How crass and insensitive.
Oh shut up!
Omg just don't t open suspicious letters. Toss it out and live your life!!!!
Saying that you are doing it to yourself just revictimizes the victim. It's used when the authorities cannot figure it out or don't want to figure it out.
I'm SURE 'the authoritues' know exactly 'who' is doing it,they could BE PART OF IT,AND WILL DO NOTHING TO REMEDY THE SITUATION. 'THEY' don't want people IN THAT HOUSE.,PERIOD. WHO OWNS IT NOW,IS MY QUESTION?
Boy, it doesn't pay to buy a Dutch Colonial... the Amityville house was one, too.
I just watched the Netflix series on this and it said based on a true story so I had to do some digging. It’s frightening and I cannot imagine how they felt, esp with children!
I imagine that the Watcher would be entertained to see me carrying my shotgun around the house, securing my concealed carry revolver to my person everytime I left the house, coming to and from target practice, installing an alarm system and security cameras, the training of my new German Shepherd attack dog etc.
I would demolish that house so the watcher could watch that!
They just should wire the house and the mail box with 4k Cameras and get a great Dane dog !
shankar reddy Exactly. If you can afford a million dollar home then you should put a good security system and cameras.
Great danes are gentle giants, try a rottie!!! They imprint on their family and are super weary of strangers.
Umm what if they are mailing it and receive it by the mailman
@@kitteekittee4010 theyre not its not posted by the mail
I literally was shook watching THIS ..traumatizing I couldn't stop watching
Id get security and move on in ;I'd be damned if I'd let a letter writer run me out of my home
That story is on Netflix now as a series 😮
The Netflix series is just full of drama . Most of which never happened . It's like The Crown . They have based it very loosely on events and added their own story to it . Read about the real case . People watch TV shows and believe everything they see these days .
Why are these people laughing at someone else's nightmare? They are disgusting individuals and should be ashamed of themselves!
They are highly inappropriate at all times.
I would put it up on Airbnb and turn it into a tourist attraction
I think the watcher is somebody who can't afford the place.
Who came from Netflix hit 👍
I would set up cameras an motion detector while I'm gone. And then antagonize the person by saying never leaving it's mine
I don't understand why they wouldn't put a camera to show who put the letter in their mailbox.
Such an unprofessional panel to laugh and joke about the family's horrific ordeal. Not to mention a huge financial loss. Shame on you.
Can someone be petty and buy it just to tear it down? 🤪
They tried. The stupid residents created a ruckus and the judge denied. My guess is that some of the oldest residents are either psychopaths or part of a creepy scary cult and don't want normal people to live there
Nobody ever thought about installing some cctv cameras???
From what I know this particular house has a long history of this Watcher sending these creepy letters. It makes me very curious as to why the person is doing this
Did they question the mailman?
@Olivia Doerr i said that
So they should have pulled a Tyrion. Go to each of the suspected neighbors. Tell them each a different story about the plans for the house (tear down, sell, add on etc) or some other fake personal story, and see if the letter addressed what was said.
Buzzfeed unsolved sent me hear
Uummm very inappropriate for the anchormen to burst out laughing after reporting something so stressful and disturbing. I think the watcher is just a jealous loser who couldn't afford the house for himself.
You'll be tormented alright.....by the ridiculous taxes in NJ!
😂😂😂
I'm calling his bluff, kids we move in tomorrow.
You have to read the full story. This clip doesn't do it justice.
AT ALL.
This would never have gone down in the hood. So glad I live in Newark.
Word
🤣🤣
That is insane!!!! How did they never find the watcher? Who would do that and why?
If I had the money I would buy it. I would give them something to watch. And I'm moving in my entire family with the dogs.
facts and hella guns
Thats what Iam saying buy some highly trained Belgium Mallinois and I promise you aint nobody getting close to that house.
Just set up a camera at the mailbox???
darlingmyo2 it goes through the post office
Why doesn't the post office see where it came from and keep an eye on their mail by working with the police? Kind of negligent.
This needed to be an episode on Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack.
There's a series on Netflix about this house. When I saw the trailer, I thought it was a horror film, so I didn't watch it. This situation is definitely creepy either way.
This house does not look like it’s worth a million dollars.
Sick!!!! The Watcher deserves a prison sentence!!!!!!!!
they got a whole Netflix series out of this.
Me: Heres a loud noise in the house.
Also Me: All hail the watcher!
This is terrifying. I highly doubt they did it themselves. I wanna stay there! They should Air BnB it.
What a great idea to bulldoze the house and put up apartments!!! I'd paint the apartments pink with purple doors as well, so that the "Watcher" has to watch that. The apartments can say, "WINNING!"
I'd still live there, I wouldn't even open them they'd get shredded and set in a pile at the end of the driveway.
Why would they send letters to themselves as a hoax? They have lost alot of money on this
Look up people that owned the house or people with mental illness in the area...I'd find the guy for sure....no doubt.
I think it's one of their neighbors...a mom more specifically. Someone who works near the area where they are dropping of the mail. Someone who has wanted the house badly.
This is how I would have handled it. Hire trained security dogs like rottweilers, dobermans, and german shepperds (at least 4) to guard my house 24/7. No one would get 1 inch over my property lines!
I get it. A stately historical house in an old neighborhood, rich young people move in, immediately renovate ("destroy") the charm. No other owners got threatening letters because they all accepted the house in its original beauty. So we have an older person who isn't as affluent, obviously loves the house and wishes it were hers, some jealousy, some mental illness, bam.
Yes!
Either behind them or across the street….they may not necessarily want the house, but they don’t want it renovated. Remember also that the previous owners received a letter thanking them
For keeping it “nice”.
I can’t dismiss the off story of the girl who had the weird boyfriend though and was driving over there with a letter…??????
Has anyone else noticed that this is a recycled story that they've covered once before?
Yeah..like ages ago ay
It’s called an update. For those who didn’t see the first segment years ago, they have to give a breakdown about wtf is going on. I mean, this isn’t a new concept to how the news works.
@@KatiesArabVision so wtf is the update? They still dont know who's sending the letters, just like they said last time!! This story is proof they don't have anything better to talk about & their story coverage sucks.
Eee Bee You seem very bitter at the fact that they are covering the story in any capacity...lol, you watch any houses lately?
Yeah that’s all just laugh and make light of it st the end. Wtf
how lame,all they needed to do was install a security camera pointing to the mailbox lol
If you're here after the Netflix series and the series is what you're talking about you're right. But if you're talking about the real life story then the letters were mailed and they got the name of the PO where they were processed but the letters had no stamp and no return address
These schizophrenic people aren’t worth it I’d back out of a purchase like that it’s not worth them being burnt alive sometimes its better to buy brand new homes no bad history but also check land records for bad things that might’ve happened on the property years ago
Kareem Khan are you serious? A schizophrenic person? People with schizophrenia are not necessarily dangerous. My brother has schizophrenia and wouldn’t hurt a fly, it’s ignorant people like you that are really doing the harm. Smh
The letters were placed in the families mailbox, the house sold in 2019, and now Netflix has a show coming out about it
I bet it’s that rundown house next door with the creepy single guy who sits on his porch that faces the house. Ok, kidding, but seriously I can’t imagine it’s that difficult finding out which neighbor is doing this.
Who watched the Netflix show?
Amazing how much power one psycho can wield.
True, just look what Trump has done.
This happened to us in the uk. It turned out after a disaster in the house, it was a total psycopath in a Government room.
I was born and raised in NJ. I moved out and I never want to go back. The only thing these people are going to be haunted by is the ridiculous property taxes they are going to pay. Good bye NJ....
Weird how they simply didn't sweep the house for planted spy cameras etc. or get a high powered telescope, to watch for anyone, watching back?
I don't understand why no one ever found out who the watcher
Buzzfeed unsolved
Enclose the entire property with a huge, no see thru, fence! Then move in
Since the letter contained personal info about their car & what was being done, sounds like a disgruntled, jealous neighbor(s), person who lost a bid, or one of the contractors.
From the Cut story, they thought it was an older person who was well-read. And familiar with the history of the house. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was the 90 year old Langford lady. Also, schizophrenia is genetic.
My parents neighbor lady was friendly for years, but when she got that age, she went a little nuts & paranoid, and thought my dad was trying to “steal” her property & had a fence built around the land and called the cops because he hung up the phone on her (after accusing him of all this stuff, meanwhile he has been mowing her yard for free for almost a decade).
But also the guy who goes by “The Watcher” in the video game and never showed up for the interviews, twice, is also very suspicious.
As a future potential homebuyer, I don’t like this prank and even this news. That’s just pure evil in such act when people just wants to get a place of their own and live peacefully
I would feel perfectly safe with my pistol, shotguns, cameras and dog 🐶. My dog would scare them the most. Dachshunds are vicious little things😊
Nutella Is Life This message is approved by Nutella
Criminal with AR-15 could trump handgun, shotgun and dogs.....
@@mrbear1302 then the gun can be an AR15. Problem solved
@@jeffreytaft4614 Which problem would that be?
@@mrbear1302You replied that a criminal with an AR15 trumps a handgun to Nutellas Life original comment. So, hence, my reply.
It may be a former owner not wanting anyone else to own it or someone who wanted to get it & wasn't able to do so. They need to get some backbone & stay in the house regardless.
And these reporters are taking this as a joke? All laughing and stuff? Wow!
Obviously there wasn't just one watcher.... If it's real, there must be the whole neighborhood.....
Something tell me the watcher is actually the owner of the house who make the letter 👀
Why Was This In My Recommendations After Watching “The Watcher”😂😂😂
That house really reminds of the house in amityville horror