said.“Yourtownisn’tassafeasyou
thinkitis,andthere’sabogeyman
obsessedwithyou.”
Froma saferdistance,theWatch-
erwasa real-lifemysterytosolve.A
groupofreddit.comusersobsessed
overGoogleMaps’StreetView,which
showeda carparkedinfrontof 657
with,oneuserthought,a manhold-
inga camera.(Others,morerationally,
saw“pixelatedglare”.)Proposedsus-
pectsincludedajiltedmistress,a
spurnedestateagent,alocalhigh
schooler’screative-writingproject,
guerrillamarketingfora horrormovie,
and“mallGothshavingfun”.
SomepeoplethoughttheBroad-
duseswerewimpsfornotmovingin.
“IwouldNEVERletthissickostopme
frommovingintoa house.”
ThisirkedtheBroadduses.“Noneof
themhavereadthelettersorhadtheir
childrenthreatened,”Dereksaid.
InWestfield,peoplewereonedge.
MayorAndySkibitksyassuredthe
publicthateventhoughthepolice
hadn’tsolvedthecase,theirinvesti-
gationhadbeen“exhaustive”.Then
BarronChambliss,aveterandetec-
tivewhohadbeenaskedtolookat
thecase,discoveredsomethingsur-
prising:investigatorshadanalysed
theDNAononeoftheenvelopesand
determinedthatit belongedtoa wom-
an.Thepoliceaskedforpermissionto
testMaria’sDNA.Itdidn’tmatch.
Chamblissdecidedtolookmore
closelyat neighbour AbbyLang-
ford,whoworked as a real estate
agent.Wassheupsetaboutmissinga
commissionrightnextdoor?Buther
DNAsamplewasn’ta matcheither.
Onenight,Chamblissanda part-
nerweresittingina vanwatchingthe
house.Around11pm,a carstopped
outfrontlongenoughforChambliss
togrowsuspicious.Hesayshetraced
thecartoa womanwhoseboyfriend
livedontheblock.ShetoldChambliss
herboyfriendwasinto“somereally
darkvideogames,”includingonein
whichhewasplayingasa character:
‘TheWatcher’.Heagreedtocomein
foraninterviewontwoseparateocca-
sions.Hedidn’tshowupeithertime.
ButChamblissdidn’thaveenough
evidencetocompelhimtoappear.W
hiletheBroaddusescontin-
uedtobeconsumedbystress
andfear,fortherestofWest-
field,thestorybecamelittlemore
thana creepyurbanlegend– a house
towalkbyonHalloweenifyouwere
brave.Inspring2016, 657 Boulevard
wentbackonthemarket.Butpoten-
tialbuyerswouldbackoutoncethey
readtheletters.
Feelingasiftheywereoutofop-
tions,theBroadduses’realestate
lawyerproposedsellingthehouseto
a developer,whocouldtearitdown
andsplittheproperty.Butthetwo
lotswouldbejustshyofthe21-metre
widthmandatedbyzoninglaws.
Whentheplanning board met
todiscussgrantinganexception,
more than 100 residents showed up.98 March 2020
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