The premise of Netflix's latest true crime drama, The Watcher, is a home helper's nightmare itself: a family that has just moved into their dream home in the suburbs begins receiving anonymous letters from a malicious voyeur known as "The Watcher." The miniseries is frustratingly engrossing as the fictional couple Nora and Dean Brannock, played by Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale, slowly fall into paranoia and question everything and everyone around them (opens in a new tab). And the fact that the Watchers were real adds another level of creepiness to the scenario.

The show is based on a 2018 New York Magazine article, "The Haunting of a Dream House," in which Maria Broaddus and Derek Broaddus (Mr. and Mrs. Brannox, IRL) recount the saga surrounding 657 Boulevard. Several details from the actual events appear in the show, including the address of the house and the name of the city of Westfield, New Jersey. However, the show made many changes in fictionalizing the actual crime. The following is a breakdown of fact and fiction (including who purchased the house after the Broadders) analyzed.

In June 2014, before Derek and Maria Broaddus (the real-life models for Mr. and Mrs. Brannock) had even moved into their new home in Westfield, New Jersey, the couple began receiving anonymous letters from someone they called "the watcher". The letter was addressed to the new owners of 657 Boulevard, informing them that they had been watching over the house for generations since the 1920s and had been entrusted to "wait for the second coming." Watcher also scolded the couple who had begun renovations (the reason they had not yet moved in) and threatened to kidnap their three children.

After notifying the police about the letter, the Broaddes learned that the previous owners of the house had also received an anonymous letter before they moved in. The letter had been written by someone who claimed to be monitoring the house, but since the couple had lived on 657 Boulevard for 23 years and had never received a letter before, they discarded it as a prank.

The Broads continued to receive letters, which became increasingly spooky. The letters were addressed by name (although Watcher got their last name wrong) and repeatedly referred to "what is within the walls" of the house. Watcher also wondered why they had not moved in yet, and was eagerly awaiting their move:

Surprisingly, the Broaddos never moved in, even after receiving a letter calling their children "young bloods." They put the house back on the market six months later, but were unable to find a buyer because of the eerie letter (the couple made sure to publish the letter to anyone who seemed serious about the property). Over the next several years, they tried to sell, to no avail, and even considered the option of tearing down the house and selling it, which quickly drew the ire of the Westfield Planning Commission and the local community.

In the spring of 2016, after a four-hour Planning Commission dispute, the Broadders found a renter, a brave family who didn't mind the letters (in reality, only two had been sent by that point in 2014). Shortly after the family moved in, however, a third Watcher Letter arrived. The letter writer complained about the media coverage of the letter (at which point the saga was picked up by the press) and applauded the neighbors, the "soldiers of Main Street," who had prevented the demolition. They even threatened straight-up revenge against the couple:

Truly surprisingly, the tenants did not move out, but only asked the Broaddas to install more surveillance cameras.

Over the years, there were several suspects as to who the watchers were. From the beginning, the police thought it was someone from the neighborhood and looked into a neighbor, Michael Langford, who had lived there since the 60s and was believed to have inspired the program's character, Jasper Winslow (Langford was never arrested). Another suspect was a man who played violent video games under the username The Watcher. When DNA on the envelope later revealed that it was a woman, they investigated Michael's sister Abby, the realtor, and even Maria Broaddus herself.

Neighbors, meanwhile, believed that the Broaddas had sent the letter themselves, realizing they could not afford the house and trying to get out of the sale. In another detail of the reality mirror show, Derek admitted to New York Magazine in 2017 that he sent anonymous letters to neighbors who bashed him on Facebook. Despite years of investigation, the watchers were not identified as of 2018, when the magazine's article was published, and have not been caught to date.

The real-life 657 Boulevard is not the home seen on the show; the sprawling mansion with pool seen on Netflix is actually in Westchester County, New York, where the series was filmed (opens in new tab). The actual house in Westfield, New Jersey, is a six-bed, three-bathroom shingle-style home built in 1905, according to the Westfield Historic Preservation Society. (For those unfamiliar with architectural terms, you can check out the house on Google Maps (opens in new tab).)

Despite 657 Boulevard's gruesome history, real estate waits for no man, and the Broadduses eventually found a buyer for the house; in summer 2019, the couple sold 657 for $959,000, a loss after purchasing it for over $1.35 million in 2014; according to NY Mag (opens in new tab), the couple left a photo of The Watcher's handwriting in case a new letter appeared, but as of October 11, 2022, nothing remains.

Meanwhile, the Broadduses still live in Westfield, and they told the outlet that there are reminders of the Watcher saga all over town. They turned down every offer of an on-camera interview and decided to sell the rights to their story after the article came out in 2018, as the saga would likely be told with or without their permission (in 2016, Lifetime published a story so artful that the couple could not stop it Watcher movie, which took such artistic license); the two reportedly had two requests for the show's production team: that their names not be used, and that they be made to look as much like their family as possible (hence the Brannocks' three children, not (two). They also suggested that the show could burn the house down, but at the end of the finale (open in new tab), the house was still standing.

Of the series' many potential subjects, one is actually based on another true story. In the third episode, Dean meets a mysterious building inspector named "John," who is overly interested in the family dispute and the house itself. Later, private investigator Theodora Burch (Noma Dumezweni) tells the patriarch the story of John Graff, the former owner of 657 Main Street, who killed his entire family in this mansion. While we don't know the truth about the fake building inspector (one of the many stories the show never answers), we do know John List's history.

List lived in Westfield, New Jersey, 30 years before the fictional character, moving in 1965 with his wife, mother, and three children to 431 Hillside Avenue, a 19-room Victorian mansion named Breeznor He was a devout Lutheran and Sunday school teacher, but soon struggled to maintain employment and, according to the Associated Press (opens in new tab), began stealing money from his mother's $200,000 savings account.

On November 9, 1971, List murdered his entire family, shooting them dead during the afternoon. He first shot and killed his wife, Helen Morris Taylor, and his mother, Alma Barbara Florence List, and then shot and killed his daughter Patricia and son Frederick when they came home from school. He then made lunch for himself and closed his and his mother's bank accounts before attending his son John's soccer game. While driving home from the game, he shot and killed John. After placing the bodies of his family members in sleeping bags, he cleaned up the crime scene, took photos from the house, and fled; in a five-page letter to a pastor found when his body was discovered a month later, List confessed that he killed his family to save his soul because he saw too much evil in the world.

The story of John Graff in The Watcher takes a similar turn, with the addition of the Watcher's letter driving Graff to madness. Also, there is no mention of List's 15-year-old daughter having an affair with a teacher, so this detail was probably added to parallel Dean's strange protectiveness of his own daughter. The graph was never found, but List was eventually caught after more than a decade on the run.

After the murders, List lived under the name Robert P. Clark, eventually remarrying and finding work again as an accountant; he was finally arrested on June 1, 1989, in Richmond, Virginia, thanks to America's Most Wanted (open in new tab). List was the subject of an episode in which a forensic scientist used a clay bust to determine the killer's old age. A former neighbor of List's who saw the show notified the authorities. List finally confessed to the murder on February 16, 1990, and was subsequently convicted on April 12, 1990, on five counts of first-degree murder; he died on March 21, 2008, at the age of 82.