Oraretheytooafraidtogodown
therealone.I would[be]veryafraid
if I werethem.Itisfarawayfromthe
restofthehouse.Ifyouwereupstairs
youwouldneverhearthemscream.
Willtheysleepintheattic?Orwill
youallsleeponthesecondf loor?Who
hasthebedroomsfacingthestreet?
I’llknowassoonasyoumovein.It
willhelpmetoknowwhoisinwhich
bedroom. ThenI canplanbetter.
Have a happy
moving in day.
YouknowI willbe
watching.
DerekandMaria
stoppedbringing
theirkidstothe
house.Theywere
no longer sure
when,orif,theywouldmovein.Sev-
eralweekslater,a thirdletterarrived.
Where have you gone to?
657 Boulevardismissingyou.M
anyWestfieldresidentscom-
paretheirtowntoMayberry,
theidyllicsettingforTheAndy
GriffithShow. Westfieldis 45 minutes
fromNewYork,andthetown’s30,000
residentsarelargelywell-to-dofam-
ilies.TheBoulevardisa wide,tree-
linedstreet.Builtin1905, 657 Boule-
vardwasperhapsthegrandesthome
ontheblock,andwhentheWoodses
putitonthemarket,theyreceived
multipleoffers.TheBroadduseswon
thebiddingwarandgotthehousefor
$1.3 million. They initially suspectedthem 657 Boulevard,toaskwhether
theyhadanyideawhotheWatch-
ermightbe.Andrearepliedthata
fewdaysbeforemovingout,they’d
receivedanoddnotesigned“The
Watcher”.Shesaidthatsheandher
husbandhadneverreceivedany-
thinglikeitintheir 23 yearsinthe
houseandhadthrowntheletter
awaywithoutmuchthought.
TheBroaddusesspent the next
weeks on high
alert.Derekcan-
celleda worktrip,
andwheneverMa-
riatookthekids
tothehouse,she
would yell their
names if they
wanderedintoa
farcorneroftheyard.Thecontrac-
torarrivedonemorningtofindthat
a heav ysignhe’dhammeredintothe
frontyardhadbeenrippedoutover-
night.
Twoweekslater,anotherletter
arrived.Mariarecognisedthethick
blackletteringandcalledthepolice.
Thistime,theWatcherusedtheir
names,misspellingthemas“Mrand
MrsBraddus”andidentifyingtheir
threekidsbytheirnicknames– the
namesMariahadbeenyelling.
657 Boulevardisanxiousforyouto
movein.Ithasbeenyearsandyears
sincetheyoungbloodruledthehall-
waysofthehouse.Haveyoufound
allofthesecretsitholdsyet?Willthe
young blood play in the basement?
“HAVE YOU
FOUND ALLOF
THE SECRETS
IT HOLDS YET?”95
The Haunted House Next Door