Three days after they closed on a new, $1.3 million house in Westfield, New Jersey last summer, Derek and Maria Broaddus received a disturbing letter from someone calling himself “The Watcher,” who claimed that he had been put in charge of watching the house, as his grandfather and father did before him. More letters followed, with creepy, vaguely threatening messages: “Why are you here? I will find out.” “Have they found what is in the walls yet? In time they will.” “I am pleased to know your names now and the name of the young blood you have brought to me.” “Who has the bedrooms facing the street? I’ll know as soon as you move in. It will help me know who is in which bedroom, then I can plan better.”
Needless to say, the Broadduses stayed out of the house once they caught wind that a crazy person was watching it. And now, they have filed a lawsuit against the previous owners, John and Andrea Woods, claiming the Woods knew about the stalker and neglected to inform them before the sale went through. There are several morals to this story: 1) If you’re on the market for a house, you might want to add “Is there a deranged person watching this house?” to your list of questions to ask before closing. And 2) If you’re trying to come up with a good stalker name, you can definitely do better than “The Watcher” …
