Westfield's 'The Watcher': Fact Or Fiction?

WESTFIELD, NJ — Netflix's new limited series "The Watcher," based on the real-life horror story of 657 Boulevard in Westfield, may leave viewers wondering... how much of this actually happened?

The seven-episode series, directed by Ryan Murphy, follows married couple Dean (played by Bobby Cannavale) and Nora Brannock (Naomi Watts) who move into their dream home in Westfield but start receiving a series of ominous letters by someone called "The Watcher."

Besides the slightly altered names, this premise is essentially a replica of the real-life story of the Broaddus family who purchased the 1905 Dutch colonial for $1.3 million in 2014.

However, the show definitely takes some creative liberties and strays from the real story.

Patch broke down what aspects of the show are based in fact or fiction. Keep reading below, but beware of spoilers:

Fact: Buying 657 Boulevard fulfilled a dream for the real-life family.

Derek and Maria Broaddus, just like the fictional couple Dean and Nora, dreamed of buying a spacious home like 657 Boulevard. Maria, however, actually was raised in Westfield, according to a story written by The Cut, and Derek grew up in a working-class family in Maine.

Another slight difference is that the fictional couple has two children, whereas the real-life couple had three — ages 5, 8 and 10.

In the show, Dean is a lawyer in Manhattan and is expecting to become partner, which would help him afford the house. Similarly, Derek Broaddus had climbed his way up the ladder at an insurance company in Manhattan to become a senior vice president with a salary large enough to afford the $1.3 million house. (However, in the show, the couple purchases the home for more than $3 million).

Fiction: The house is not next to a massive lake.

In fact, there's not a lake in Westfield nearly as ginormous as the one depicted in "The Watcher."

One scene with Nora and real estate agent Karen Calhoun, played by Jennifer Coolidge, shows them walking along a wooden dock that stretches out to a massive lake. Given that the show was not shot in Westfield, but in Westchester, New York, it makes sense why the neighborhood looks a little unfamiliar.

The biggest body of water in Westfield is probably the pond at Brightwood Park, but that looks like a puddle next to the one in "The Watcher."

The swanky country club that Nora and Karen often eat lunch at in the show could be based off of Echo Lake Country Club in Westfield. But again, the lake is practically non-existent in Westfield.

Fact: The letters from "The Watcher" were really that creepy.

Many of the letters from the show are almost word-for-word what the real letters entailed. The mention of "young blood" and the house's "second coming" are all things that the real-life Watcher mentioned in their letters.

You can read some of the creepiest excerpts obtained by Patch here: 'Westfield Watcher' Letters Revealed: The 10 Creepiest Excerpts

Just like the letters in the show, the envelopes had no return address and were always signed by "The Watcher." According to The Cut, the Broadduses contacted the previous owners of the home, John and Andrea Woods, who said they also received one mysterious letter from "The Watcher" but nothing as threatening as the ones the Broadduses received.

However, the Broaddus family, unlike the fictional Brannocks, never officially moved into the home. They made renovations to the home over the first few months, as well as installed a new alarm system, but were too scared to move their children into the home because of the threatening letters.

At first, the family stayed with Maria's parents while continuing to pay mortgage and property taxes on 657 Boulevard, but they eventually listed the house six months after the first letters arrived.

Fiction: The dead ferret, the daughter's secret relationship, the creepy neighbors... all made up.

The creators of the show clearly took a lot of liberties to make the show as dramatic and scary as possible. For instance, the underground tunnels that are connected to the home are completely fictional, as well as neighbor Jasper Winslow riding up and down the house's dumbwaiter.

However, the stress caused by all these events on the Broaddus family is accurate to the real story. According to The Cut, Derek and Maria fought constantly during this time and started taking medication to fall asleep at night. Maria also began seeing a therapist who said she was suffering from post-traumatic stress.

Fact: John List was a real mass-murderer from Westfield.

The show makes references to someone named John Graff, who they say lived in 657 Boulevard.

Graff's story is clearly an allusion to John List — a mass murderer who killed his wife, mother and three children at their home in Westfield in 1971. Although he did not actually live at the "Watcher" house, the show accurately portrayed how the man murdered his whole family and then disappeared.

Similar to Graff in the show, List meticulously planned out the murders in advance so that no one suspected anything was amiss for nearly a month. List assumed a new identity, remarried and avoided any punishment for nearly 18 years.

He was finally caught in Virginia on June 1, 1989 after the story of his murders was broadcasted on the show "America's Most Wanted."

You can read more about the story of John list here.

Fact: The mystery of "The Watcher" is still unsolved.

Although the ending of the series is quite unsatisfying, as it gives no true answer as to who the real "Watcher" is, it is certainly accurate to the real true crime story.

To this day, no one knows who the Westfield Watcher is.

Suspicions that the father, Dean, was behind some of the letters is also accurate to the real story.

Derek Broaddus told New York Magazine that on Christmas Eve, he stuffed the stockings of former neighbors with notes of his own.

According to the story, several families who had been vocal in criticizing the family over their handling of the Watcher letters received hand delivered messages accusing them of speculating inaccurately about the Broaddus family.

The missives included stories about recent acts of domestic terrorism, allusions to mental illness, and were signed "Friends of the Broaddus Family," the story says.

Like the Watcher letters, the story notes that the missives were packed with "simmering resentment" and anonymous.

Broaddus admitted to New York Magazine that he had written the letters and wasn't proud of it. He claimed these were the only anonymous letters he had written and felt driven to his wit's end.

The fictional family's struggle to sell the home, amidst all the rumors, is also accurate to the real story.

It took the Broadduses five years to be free of the home, eventually selling it to another couple for $400,000 less than what they bought it for.

Read more: Infamous Westfield 'Watcher' House Has New Owners

What did you think of the new Netflix show? Did we miss any pieces of fact or fiction? Comment them down below!