Family sells 'haunted' house where they received terrifying letters for years, despite never living there

Letters threatened the family's children, referred to as 'young blood'

A family that has been the target of creepy letters signed anonymously by “The Watcher” has sold their home after five years at $400,000 loss.

In 2014, Maria and Derek Broaddus purchased the home in Westfield, New Jersey, an affluent town, for $1.4m.

However, before moving in, they decided to make some renovations to the house - at which point they received the first letter from “The Watcher”, according to an investigation into the house by The Cut.

The initial letter welcomed the family to the neighbourhood and introduced the anonymous writer as a guardian of the home.

It reportedly read: “657 Boulevard has been the subject of my family for decades now and 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.”

Despite never moving into the house, the family continued to receive letters from the writer as renovations continued.

Subsequent letters focused on the family’s children, referred to as “young blood”, and often included veiled threats, such as whether the owners had discovered what was in the walls.

One letter sent to the family reportedly read: “Will the young blood play in the basement? Or are they too afraid to go down there alone. I would [be] very afraid if I were them. It is far away from the rest of the house. If you were upstairs you would never hear them scream."

In an effort to put an end to the letters and the stalking, the family attempted to sue the previous owners in 2015, alleging that they had also received a letter from “The Watcher” that they had not disclosed.

However, the lawsuit was dismissed in 2017. Private investigators and home security systems were also unsuccessful in identifying the writer and the case has remained unsolved.

After five years and multiple unsuccessful attempts at selling the house previously, the Broaddus family successfully sold the home for $959,360 on 1 July.

In December, the rights to the family’s real-life haunted house experience, which captured national attention, were purchased by Netflix, according to Deadline.