See ‘The Watcher’ House at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey Plus Details About Who Lives There in 2022
Netflix‘s latest binge-worthy true crime story The Watcher has many people wondering about the house at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey. Learn more about the real-life family that inspired the Netflix show, plus whatever came of the person watching their house. Additionally, see a photo of the home at 657 Boulevard, plus discover details about who lives there in 2022.
[SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers ahead regarding the story in The Watcher.]
Netflix’s ‘The Watcher’ is based on the true story of the Broaddus Family
The Watcher features a star-studded cast including Naomi Watts, Bobby Canavale, Jennifer Coolidge, and Mia Farrow, to name a few. Watts and Canavale play fictional couple Nora and Dean Brannock, who exhaust their savings to purchase the home at 657 Boulevard. After moving in, they started receiving letters signed “The Watcher.”
“657 Boulevard has been the subject of my family for decades now,” the watcher writes in his first letter. “As it approaches its 110th birthday, I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming. My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s. It is now my time. Do you know the history of the house? Do you know what lies within the walls of 657 Boulevard? Why are you here? I will find out.”
The Netflix series is based on Maria and Derek Broaddus, who purchased the real-life home in June 2014. The story of “The Watcher” was first published in New York Magazine in 2018 by Reeves Wiedeman.
New residents own the house from ‘The Watcher’ at 657 Boulevard
According to a Google Maps image from November 2020, the home at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey is still standing. ABC 7 New York states Andrew and Allison Carr purchased the home in 2019. Per Zillow, they paid $959,000 for the property. Based on Zillow’s data, the house has not been sold again.
‘The Watcher’ series didn’t film at the real life house
Despite the home in the fictionalized Netflix series and the real-life home sharing the same address, the actual “watcher” house wasn’t used as a filming location. Instead, the neighborhood and homes featured in the series are located in New York (via Tudum).
Authorities never caught the person watching 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey
Despite repeated efforts to find the mysterious “watcher,” authorities never caught the person sending the anonymous letters to the family at 657 Boulevard. Police and private investigators sifted through various suspects to no avail.
Initially, the Broaddus Family suspected their neighbor, Michael Langford. He lived at home with his 90-something-year-old mother and his siblings, who were all in their 60s. Langford’s neighbors described him as “a bit odd” but “harmless” and a “kind of Boo Radley character,” according to Wiedeman’s article — likely Jasper Winslow (Terry Kinney) in the Netflix series. However, despite their hunch, police investigation turned up nothing on the Langfords.
Watch The Watcher exclusively on Netflix. All seven episodes are available to stream now.
