Netflix Buys A Mystery
Threatening letters? An unsolved case? NEW JERSEY??
MYSTERY MOB!
Happy Friday!!
This week’s nibble features spooky letters, a poor “innocent” family, and a potential Netflix adaptation in the near future (for real they bought the rights to this story in 2018.)
Welcome to “Dead House.”
Amityville horror? Where are Ryan Reynold’s abs?!
Three days after purchasing their New Jersey home, Derek & Maria Broaddus received a white, card-sized envelope addressed to “The New Owner.” A pleasant greeting from a neighbor? A ‘welcome to the neighborhood’ discount from the local hardware store, perhaps?
(spoiler alert: no.)
Dearest new neighbor at 657 Boulevard,
Allow me to welcome you to the neighborhood.
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.
The letter continued on with a chilling amount of details about the Broaddus’s children, and even went so far as to refer to them as “young blood.” There was, of course, no return address. Just a cursive signature: “The Watcher.”
And with that, it’s no surprise that the police were then swiftly contacted.
Oh good, another reason for me to not trust my neighbors
A second letter was received. This one claimed:
“[the house] allow[s] me to watch you and track you as you move through the house…”
The family stopped their move-in permanently (horror film families -- take notes!! Leave the house!). The police however, found zero leads so Derek began his own investigations. He planted cameras around the property and heavily suspected his neighbor, Michael Langford.
Living out of their old home, Derek began to slide into “A Beautiful Mind/Charlie Kelly” territory - documents everywhere and multiple copies of the letters (now 3 in total). He even ended up hiring both a private investigator and a former FBI agent to help with the threat.
Together they discovered 2 registered sex offenders within the area and pulled evidence from the team of contractors that had renovated the home. But alas, by the end of the year, the case remained cold.
The Broadduss’s had to move out of their old home (which they had sold) and move in with Maria’s family. They sold the creepy (and potentially haunted?) home for much lower than they bought it and well, that was that. (At least for them.)
I’m suddenly less upset about my monthly HOA fee
This story goes… pretty deep. As it’s still unsolved, there’s an enormous world of theories and horror stories surrounding the case. Suspects range from the neighbors to Derek himself in a marketing ploy for a movie (Netflix, did you get played???). Oh and of course some believe it's the house itself and the demon hiding within its walls. There’s even a possible connection to the Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine.
Welp, looks like I’m never moving anywhere again
Do you guys even remember the Goosebumps TV show? (dang I think we just aged ourselves.) So what do you think? What really went down with those letters?
Feel free to tumble down the rabbit hole:
The New York Magazine article
Coverage from CNN
Deadline on the Netflix acquisition
As always,
Stay ‘spicious
-Andy and Mark
Pssst. Hey! You. Yeah, you, the one still reading. Question: are you a true fan of Mystery and Crime? If so, join our official Mystery Nibbles Facebook group and our official SubReddit. We discuss all the goods: mysteries, crime, and anything ‘spicious.
(And hey, tell your friends about us. Share the love!)