Latest / Boozy Banter with Friends / The Watcher

Transcript

The Watcher · Boozy Banter with Friends

• 0:18
  Leyla Zmeskal: Hello and welcome to Boozy Banter,
• 0:20
  Diane Black: With friends.
• 0:21
  Leyla Zmeskal: I'm Leyla.
• 0:22
  Trisha Smith: I'm Trisha.
• 0:23
  Diane Black: I'm Diane.
• 0:24
  Leyla Zmeskal: Grab your favorite spirit and join us because shits about to get real.
• 0:29
  Leyla Zmeskal: Hello.
• 0:37
  Diane Black: Hello.
• 0:38
  Trisha Smith: Hello.
• 0:41
  Leyla Zmeskal: Alright.
• 0:42
  Trisha Smith: How you guys doing today?
• 0:44
  Leyla Zmeskal: I'm good, how about you?
• 0:44
  Trisha Smith: I'm good
• 0:45
  Leyla Zmeskal: Good.
• 0:46
  Diane Black: Good, good.
• 0:47
  Trisha Smith: We're hanging out today doing a little day drinking.
• 0:50
  Leyla Zmeskal: One of our favorite, favorite pastimes.
• 0:53
  Trisha Smith: Yes,
• 0:53
  Leyla Zmeskal: Day drinking.
• 0:55
  Trisha Smith: I know.
• 0:55
  Diane Black: Whoop whoop, whoop whoop.
• 0:56
  Trisha Smith: What are you drinking, Leyla?
• 0:57
  Leyla Zmeskal: I am having a, I'm having a cider today, and the cider is called, Zombie Killer.
• 1:05
  Trisha Smith: Perfect.
• 1:06
  Leyla Zmeskal: it caught my eye, it has a fun little, you know, bottle and the name. I was like you know what? I like cider.
• 1:14
  Trisha Smith: Yeah,
• 1:14
  Leyla Zmeskal: Let's do a cider.
• 1:15
  Diane Black: Cider we shall do.
• 1:16
  Leyla Zmeskal: So today is the, Zombie Killer.
• 1:21
  Trisha Smith: It's kind of dark to, it's like a darker cider.
• 1:22
  Diane Black: Yeah, it is.
• 1:22
  Leyla Zmeskal: It's like a traditional. I would say it's a traditional cider. It's not, you know flavors or you know pineapple.
• 1:29
  Trisha Smith: All fancy pantsy.
• 1:30
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 1:31
  Trisha Smith: Yeah,
• 1:31
  Leyla Zmeskal: It's uh, it's actually pretty good. I like it.
• 1:33
  Diane Black: Where did you get that, at your local liquor store?
• 1:35
  Leyla Zmeskal: I got it in Sanford, in Downtown Sanford there is a delicate, like a deli, a German deli down there, Hollerbacks, is very popular down there in Sanford so they have their own little deli and it was the first time that I've been in there and I walked in they have a whole little cold section and the, Zombie Killer, kind of caught my eye It was like this one shall be mine, and i'm going to take this with me to our next recording.
• 2:03
  Trisha Smith: Nice, nice.
• 2:05
  Leyla Zmeskal: And that's what happened.
• 2:05
  Diane Black: And so far you like it, it's pretty tasty?
• 2:05
  Diane Black: Yeah,
• 2:05
  Leyla Zmeskal: That's a true story. That's a real re-acco nt, reenactment of what happ ned?
• 2:13
  Leyla Zmeskal: So far? Yeah,
• 2:14
  Diane Black: It looks good.
• 2:14
  Diane Black: Looks very refreshing.
• 2:15
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 2:16
  Trisha Smith: Diane, you're doing,
• 2:18
  Diane Black: The illusion.
• 2:20
  Leyla Zmeskal: Sounds mysterious.
• 2:21
  Trisha Smith: I know we need to get a cup that says, you know could be vodka, could be water.
• 2:23
  Trisha Smith: Ya, never know.
• 2:27
  Diane Black: Never know,
• 2:28
  Trisha Smith: We're not telling.
• 2:29
  Diane Black: Will not tell.
• 2:29
  Diane Black: Leave it up to your imagination.
• 2:33
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 2:38
  Leyla Zmeskal: Trisha.
• 2:38
  Trisha Smith: I am having,
• 2:39
  Diane Black: You look like you're drinking the illusion.
• 2:41
  Trisha Smith: It does, right? It looks like water.
• 2:43
  Diane Black: It does.
• 2:44
  Trisha Smith: It is a really super easy, Coconut Mojito.
• 2:48
  Leyla Zmeskal: Nice.
• 2:49
  Trisha Smith: I used that Owens Mixer that has the cucumber and the mint, and the lime already in it. And just added it.
• 2:57
  Diane Black: Handy dandy.
• 2:58
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, added it to some Coconut Rum from City Gates, and it is delicious. It tastes like I took the time to muddle up some mint but,
• 3:09
  Leyla Zmeskal: Without the swamp,
• 3:10
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 3:12
  Leyla Zmeskal: Without the swamp in the glass.
• 3:13
  Trisha Smith: You know it's so pretty when they put like the muddled stuff and it's like, please don't do that to me, because I have these retainers.
• 3:18
  Trisha Smith: I don't need a snack in an hour because I have it all stuck in my teeth. I get so mad.
• 3:29
  Leyla Zmeskal: But when you're using a straw, it gets stuck in the straw you can't get anything, you have to
• 3:34
  Trisha Smith: I wish bartenders understood you know, the stress, the stress of dental work,
• 3:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: The struggle of drinking a Mojito, with dental work.
• 3:47
  Trisha Smith: I keep saying any one of those straws it has like a filter at the bottom. And then my husband said yeah, you should start drinking your drinks with a lifestraw. That'll weed out all that debris. like thanks, a big help.
• 4:08
  Leyla Zmeskal: Appreciate it. In your Christmas stocking.
• 4:10
  Trisha Smith: I'm going to have a life straw to drink my Mojitos.
• 4:13
  Diane Black: Oh my God, that's funny.
• 4:17
  Leyla Zmeskal: That is funny.
• 4:19
  Trisha Smith: So anything new going on, watching anything good on TV?
• 4:24
  Leyla Zmeskal: Actually, season two, Of What We Do In The Shadows, is out.
• 4:30
  Diane Black: I was gonna ask you that, too.
• 4:32
  Leyla Zmeskal: I love that so much.
• 4:34
  Diane Black: I know, it's good.
• 4:34
  Diane Black: I mean, they're just three seasons in,
• 4:38
  Trisha Smith: Yeah,
• 4:38
  Diane Black: I mean three episodes in to season two. But it's it's really good.
• 4:43
  Leyla Zmeskal: I I love them so much. It's so fun, you know, and I tried to find, I tried to think like, who is my favorite character? And I'm like, I like each and every one of them for different reasons. So you know to to Nandor,
• 5:01
  Diane Black: Guillermo,
• 5:02
  Leyla Zmeskal: I love Guillermo, Nadja,
• 5:06
  Diane Black: Nadja, how can you not love Nadja?
• 5:09
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 5:10
  Diane Black: Right,
• 5:10
  Leyla Zmeskal: Even Colin Robinson.
• 5:11
  Diane Black: Colin Robinson, he's at the top for me.
• 5:15
  Leyla Zmeskal: Damn energy vampire, that to me just cracks me up.
• 5:19
  Diane Black: I think I know a few.
• 5:21
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 5:24
  Leyla Zmeskal: But yes, I have been, I was really excited that I saw that, I
• 5:28
  Trisha Smith: I haven't watched it yet.
• 5:29
  Diane Black: I know.
• 5:29
  Leyla Zmeskal: Did you see the first season.
• 5:31
  Trisha Smith: No.
• 5:31
  Diane Black: No.
• 5:31
  Leyla Zmeskal: Shut the front door, Trisha.
• 5:33
  Trisha Smith: I have not seen it yet.
• 5:35
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh my god you will love it.
• 5:37
  Trisha Smith: I will have to start sounds good
• 5:39
  Diane Black: It's clever, it's funny, it's a lot of dry humor, blatent humor, it's j st very good.
• 5:45
  Trisha Smith: Right up my alley.
• 5:46
  Diane Black: They actually stamp, this came on from the movie. Did you ever see the movie?
• 5:51
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, I have.
• 5:52
  Leyla Zmeskal: I've never seen the movie.
• 5:53
  Leyla Zmeskal: What? You gotts watch the movie.
• 5:59
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay,
• 5:59
  Diane Black: I mean they're different, ones movie and ones
• 6:01
  Leyla Zmeskal: Right.
• 6:02
  Diane Black: You know an episode, but i i i don't know if I had to pick one. I think I kind of like this better.
• 6:08
  Trisha Smith: The series?
• 6:09
  Diane Black: Series better.
• 6:10
  Trisha Smith: So, is it on Netflix?
• 6:12
  Leyla Zmeskal: It's on FX.
• 6:14
  Diane Black: Yeah FX,
• 6:14
  Leyla Zmeskal: FX, which is on Hulu.
• 6:16
  Trisha Smith: Okay. All right.
• 6:16
  Trisha Smith: So speaking of Netflix, they have a show that they're going to start filming called, The Watcher, which is about this house I'm going to tell you about.
• 6:32
  Leyla Zmeskal: Shut the front door.
• 6:33
  Diane Black: Yeah,
• 6:34
  Trisha Smith: I know. I can't believe it when I saw it.
• 6:35
  Diane Black: And she did not plan this around that.
• 6:40
  Trisha Smith: So have you, I think we talked about this.
• 6:44
  Leyla Zmeskal: You did on,
• 6:45
  Trisha Smith: Just for a second.
• 6:46
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 6:47
  Trisha Smith: I talked about the, Watcher House in New Jersey. And then I'm like, Oh, you know what, I need to read about that again, and we need to talk about it because it's so creepy. So creepy.
• 6:58
  Leyla Zmeskal: I can't wait to hear so that you have to say about it.
• 7:01
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay, so the Watcher House. This story is about a beautiful 1905 Dutch Colonial Home in quaint Westfield, New Jersey. You know, I just have a hard time imagining anything in New Jersey is quaint. I think because I've never been there and I only see it on the news.
• 7:20
  Diane Black: It's why it's called the Garden State.
• 7:22
  Trisha Smith: Oh True. Residents describe their town, this town of Westfield as a, Mayberry type town.
• 7:31
  Diane Black: Very quaint.
• 7:32
  Trisha Smith: Yeah. So but this house may or may not be cursed.
• 7:36
  Trisha Smith: The Brodus family, bought this six bedroom dream home for $1.4 million in June of 2014.
• 7:47
  Leyla Zmeskal: That's a lot of money.
• 7:48
  Trisha Smith: Yeah. But it's supposed to be, in 2014. But it's supposed to have been the grandest home on this Boulevard.
• 7:56
  Trisha Smith: It's called the boulevard and it had all the big beautiful historic homes, so it's supposed to be the best one. But just three days after closing in June of 2014. Like I said, they received a card shaped envelope in their mailbox, simply addressed to, the new owner, and it had no return address. The type note inside started nicely with dearest new neighbor at 657 Boulevard. Allow me to welcome you to the neighborhood. So,
• 8:29
  Leyla Zmeskal: That's nice.
• 8:30
  Trisha Smith: Isn't that nice?
• 8:31
  Diane Black: And that's how you would respond.
• 8:35
  Leyla Zmeskal: A nice little welcome letter to the neighborhood
• 8:37
  Trisha Smith: Right. But then it continued. How did you end up here, the writer asked, did 657 Boulevard call to you with its force within? 657 Boulevard has been the subject of my family for decades now. And it as it approaches its 1 10th birthday.
• 8:59
  Trisha Smith: I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for it's second coming.
• 9:09
  Diane Black: So whoever's watching is 100 plus years old.
• 9:13
  Trisha Smith: No. My grandfather washed the house in the 1920s and my father watched it 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. So
• 9:37
  Diane Black: That's not a warm welcome. Not that you want,
• 9:40
  Trisha Smith: And they just closed on the house, like you right?
• 9:44
  Trisha Smith: know this is their brand new, super excited they're painting, getting it all ready and they get this shit in the mail. So apparently the author of the letter had already been watching the house and family. The letter identify the family's minivan and workers doing renovation, on the home. It stated, I see already that you have flooded 657 Boulevard with contractors so that you can destroy the house as it was supposed to be.
• 10:11
  Trisha Smith: Bad move. You don't want to make 657 Boulevard unhappy.
• 10:17
  Leyla Zmeskal: What?
• 10:18
  Trisha Smith: Right? I know. Is it the house? Is it the person?
• 10:22
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah. What's going on there?
• 10:25
  Trisha Smith: So before before moving in the new owners, Derek and Maria had gone to visit the house and met their new neighbors, while their three children who are ages 5, 8 and 10 ran around the backyard with several kids from neighborhood neighborhood. And the letter writer had already observed this. You have three children? I have seen them so far. I think there are three that I have counted that it goes on. Right?
• 10:55
  Trisha Smith: It goes on. Do you need to fill the house with the young blood I requested? Better for me. Was your old house too small for the growing family? Or was it greed to bring me your children?
• 11:09
  Diane Black: Oh my god.
• 11:12
  Leyla Zmeskal: What the? What
• 11:13
  Trisha Smith: Once I know their names, I will call to them and draw them to me.
• 11:18
  Diane Black: Oh, no,
• 11:19
  Trisha Smith: What would you do if you got something like that in your, you just paid all this money?
• 11:26
  Diane Black: Freak the fuck out.
• 11:26
  Leyla Zmeskal: Is there someone living inside the attic of this house? Is it one of those situations?
• 11:31
  Trisha Smith: No. It says, who am I? There are hundreds and hundreds of cars that drive by 657 Boulevard each day. Maybe I am in one. Look at all the windows you can see from 657 Boulevard. Maybe I am in one.
• 11:47
  Trisha Smith: Look out any of the many windows in 657 Boulevard at all the people who stroll by each day.
• 11:59
  Trisha Smith: Maybe I am one. Welcome my friends, Welcome. Let the party begin.
• 12:05
  Diane Black: Oh,
• 12:06
  Leyla Zmeskal: Holy shit.
• 12:07
  Trisha Smith: And it ended with a signature typed in a cursive font. The Watcher. That was the first letter.
• 12:16
  Leyla Zmeskal: What a fucking letter.
• 12:20
  Trisha Smith: Creepy.
• 12:21
  Diane Black: So before you, if you're getting ready to go on and share the second letter with this, I don't know what your agenda is. But maybe I'm jumping ahead. Look, what was the responses that they call the police?
• 12:33
  Trisha Smith: I'm gonna tell right now.
• 12:34
  Diane Black: Sorry, I'm jumping ahead.
• 12:35
  Leyla Zmeskal: So he called the police. He called them that night. But there was anything they could do. It wasn't mailed.
• 12:44
  Leyla Zmeskal: You know, it was written on the front, like handwritten, but the inside was typed. There was no return address. There was no way to for them to pursue this. So the couple decided they were going to email the former owners of the home, John and Andrea Woods, to see if they could shed some light on this letter. You know, maybe they had dealt with it or something. And they said they had received a letter from the watcher a few days before moving out. And while it was odd, they hadn't gotten any other letters in the 23 years that they lived in the house and they threw it away. It wasn't threatening. It was just a weird letter.
• 13:23
  Diane Black: But just to throw it away. I mean, I don't know if I would just throw that away.
• 13:27
  Trisha Smith: Well was,
• 13:27
  Diane Black: Weird. We don't have the,
• 13:29
  Trisha Smith: So they don't have the letter that they received.
• 13:31
  Diane Black: And we don't know what was said in it.
• 13:32
  Leyla Zmeskal: But How weird is it that the people live there 23 years and only received one letter right before they were moving out?
• 13:39
  Diane Black: It's weird.
• 13:40
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 13:40
  Leyla Zmeskal: Right, which to me is just very strange.
• 13:43
  Diane Black: Yes,
• 13:43
  Trisha Smith: Exactly. They even went with Maria to the police station, and the detective in charge of the case told her not to say anything to their new neighbors, because now they were all considered potential suspects.
• 13:58
  Leyla Zmeskal: So did the people that lived there 23 years, did they leave the house voluntarily? Was it a good, were they moving on, so it wasn't like they
• 14:07
  Trisha Smith: They sold it for a shit ton of money,
• 14:08
  Leyla Zmeskal: They didn't have to leave, they weren't evicted or under, you know, any kind of,
• 14:15
  Trisha Smith: They just sold it and turned a profit and all was good. So now Maria, her family was from Westfield. So she grew up knowing about this house and you know, like seeing it because she lived in this town growing up.
• 14:33
  Leyla Zmeskal: She's their neighbor. I mean, the new owner.
• 14:36
  Diane Black: Okay.
• 14:36
  Trisha Smith: And her still live, still lived there in Westfield.
• 14:40
  Diane Black: Did this house have a history?
• 14:43
  Trisha Smith: No, no, it's just the most beautiful house.
• 14:47
  Diane Black: Yeah, okay, the new phrase back in the 40s that.
• 14:51
  Trisha Smith: no, no, no, nothing like that. So, two weeks later, when Maria stopped by the house, she checked the mail and found another letter and called the police. This one said Welcome again to your new home at 657 Boulevard. The workers have been busy and I have been watching you unload carfuls of your personal belongings. The dumpster is a nice touch. Have they found what is in the walls yet? In time, they will. So now contractors that had been an out of the house, inspectors, they said there was nothing in the walls. They just you know, needed insulation or that there was nothing in the walls but this guy or this person implies that there,
• 15:39
  Leyla Zmeskal: Is something in the wall.
• 15:40
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:41
  Diane Black: So I'm wonder if at this point, they're thinking, Okay, somebody's just off the rocker and just,
• 15:47
  Trisha Smith: Absolutely.
• 15:47
  Diane Black: Trying to be a dick.
• 15:49
  Trisha Smith: Yeah,
• 15:50
  Leyla Zmeskal: Right.
• 15:50
  Trisha Smith: Right. Well, it continues. This time the watcher
• 15:51
  Diane Black: Wow, addressed Derek and Maria directly. The Watcher, wrot about learning a lot abou family in the last two weeks especially about their children The letter identify the thre children by birth order, and th nicknames Maria had been callin them outside.
• 16:13
  Trisha Smith: I am pleased to know your names now and the name of the young blood you have brought to me, it said. You certainly say their names often.
• 16:20
  Trisha Smith: The letter even asked about one of the children the writer had seen using an easel inside an enclosed porch. Is she the artist in the family? So somebody is watching, like up close. The letter went on to say 657 Boulevard is anxious for you to move in. It has been years and years since the young blood ruled the hallways of the house.
• 16:47
  Trisha Smith: Have you found all the secrets it holds yet? 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.
• 16:59
  Trisha Smith: If you were upstairs, you would never hear them scream.
• 17:04
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh my god that just gave me goosebumps.
• 17:08
  Trisha Smith: Will they sleep in the attic? Or will you all sleep on the second floor? Who has the bedrooms facing the street? I'll know as soon as you move in, it will help me to know who was in which bedroom, then I can plan better.
• 17:23
  Diane Black: So at this point, I would just be getting pissed,
• 17:26
  Trisha Smith: Right. They haven't even moved in.
• 17:28
  Diane Black: Oh, wow.
• 17:30
  Trisha Smith: There's been the renovations. And so it goes on this letter goes on all of the windows and doors in 657 Boulevard, allow me to watch you and track you as you move through the house. Who am I? I am the watcher and have been in control of 657 Boulevard for the better part of two decades now.
• 17:53
  Trisha Smith: The Woods family turned it over to you. It was their time to move on and kindly sold it when I asked them to.
• 18:02
  Leyla Zmeskal: What?
• 18:03
  Trisha Smith: I passed by many times a day. 657 Boulevard is my job, my life, my obsession. And now you two brought us family.
• 18:15
  Trisha Smith: Welcome to the product of your greed. Greed is what brought the past three families to 657 Boulevard and now it has brought you to me Have a happy moving in day. You know, I will be watching.
• 18:30
  Leyla Zmeskal: Is this some kind of religious lunatic?
• 18:32
  Trisha Smith: I don't know.
• 18:34
  Diane Black: Good question.
• 18:35
  Leyla Zmeskal: Like they keep mentioning greed. And that's one of the seven,
• 18:38
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 18:38
  Leyla Zmeskal: Deadly sins.
• 18:40
  Trisha Smith: Well,
• 18:40
  Diane Black: That's a good question.
• 18:41
  Trisha Smith: They were speculating that you know could have been a neighbor, it could have been a real estate agent that lost out on a deal. You know, there were so many units, but they never did find out. So the Brodus's stopped brin ing their children to the hous, and a few weeks later, they received another letter aski g where they were. So Derek star ed investigating the lett rs on his own. He even susp cted a neighbor that lived behi d them, but because there wasn t enough evidence to form lly accused them of the lett r writing. He wasn't able to p rsue it. He set up webcams arou d the house and property and ven hired a private inve tigator. I would want to know what's going on to
• 19:24
  Leyla Zmeskal: I mean, so far it's very strange,
• 19:27
  Trisha Smith: Right? Kind of slightly threatening, but not, you know, overly threatening.
• 19:36
  Leyla Zmeskal: It's very strange.
• 19:38
  Trisha Smith: Just a stalker right now more than Yeah, so they installed an alarm system, but they still didn't feel safe.
• 19:46
  Trisha Smith: By the end of 2014. The police couldn't do anything more and the letters were starting to sound more unhinged. So here's the next one. 657 Boulevard is turning on me. It coming after me, I don't understand why. What spell did you cast on it? It used to be my friend and now it is my enemy. I'm in charge of 657 Boulevard. It is not in charge of me. I will fend off its bad things and wait for it to become good again. It will not punish me. I will rise again. I will be patient and wait for this to pass and for you to bring the young blood back to me. 657 Boulevard needs young blood. It needs you, come back let the young blood play again like I once did. Let the young blood sleep in 657 boulevards, stop changing it and let it alone.
• 20:46
  Leyla Zmeskal: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
• 20:48
  Trisha Smith: Yeah.
• 20:49
  Leyla Zmeskal: So what are they saying about the first part of it? 614
• 20:53
  Trisha Smith: 657 boulevard.
• 20:55
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay,
• 20:56
  Trisha Smith: That's the house.
• 20:57
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay.
• 20:57
  Trisha Smith: Which he says that a lot in his writings, like over and over like it. We're a title more than an address.
• 21:04
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, it's just very strange,
• 21:06
  Trisha Smith: Right. And,
• 21:09
  Leyla Zmeskal: Did the kids move out?
• 21:10
  Trisha Smith: They never moved in. The family never moved in.
• 21:14
  Leyla Zmeskal: They never moved into the house.
• 21:15
  Trisha Smith: Never because they got the letter right after they bought the house before they had moved their stuff in and that freaked them out.
• 21:23
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh,
• 21:24
  Trisha Smith: Yeah. So they never actually moved into the house. So at this point, the Brodus family was living with Maria's parents and they'd sold their last home, but they were still paying the mortgage and taxes on the boulevard house. So six months after the letter started arriving, they decided to sell the house. So at the end of 2014 when the police were like, yep, nothing. They're like Okay, we got to get rid of this house. They initially listed it for more than what they paid to reflect the renovations that they'd made.
• 22:00
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay,
• 22:01
  Trisha Smith: But now there were rumors going around, you know about the house. Everything ranging from, that there's a stalker, to a sexual predator eyeing the house, so people were like kind of turned off you know, with these rumors, they received several offers too low to even consider since they put all their savings into the home.
• 22:22
  Trisha Smith: So one year after they bought the house, they filed a legal complaint against the former owners, John and Andrea Woods, saying they should have mentioned the letter they received even though the former owners had felt the letter was just strange and not threatening, which I think is kind of weird because I think they're just desperate at this point.
• 22:44
  Leyla Zmeskal: I think they are.
• 22:44
  Leyla Zmeskal: But see, to me it's still strange, like the letters prevented them from moving into the house but they were still creeped out why would they install video cameras and a smoke alarm system if they're not living in the house and because they don't feel secure?
• 23:02
  Leyla Zmeskal: I don't understand that part.
• 23:03
  Trisha Smith: I know he installed the video cameras to try and catch anybody you know lurking around or watching because a lot of the letters referenced,
• 23:13
  Leyla Zmeskal: Someone,
• 23:13
  Trisha Smith: Seeing their kids doing this and that and I think they didn't move in because of the children.
• 23:20
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay, but I don't understand we installed alarm system, but they still didn't feel safe. Well, you're not living there. So
• 23:26
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 23:27
  Leyla Zmeskal: Why? Why are you, Why do you have that feeling of unsafe, you're not living there?
• 23:32
  Trisha Smith: Did they think he was going to like, stick something in the walls, because he threatened that there was something in the walls.
• 23:38
  Leyla Zmeskal: But the security cameras outside would,
• 23:40
  Trisha Smith: Have caught
• 23:41
  Leyla Zmeskal: Somebody,
• 23:42
  Trisha Smith: But they never did.
• 23:44
  Leyla Zmeskal: This seems a little strange.
• 23:46
  Trisha Smith: I know. And then the suing the former owners, they got one letter before they moved out basically telling them Oh, thank you for bringing someone's and they threw it away because they were like it was just weird. It wasn't threatening, which is weird.
• 24:00
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 24:01
  Trisha Smith: But I think because the Brodus's are like okay, now all this stuff is happening. We want to blame somebody,
• 24:06
  Leyla Zmeskal: And we need to get some kind of,
• 24:08
  Trisha Smith: Compensation.
• 24:09
  Leyla Zmeskal: Exactly.
• 24:10
  Trisha Smith: Yeah. So they they filed a lawsuit against them. I think if the, Woods, had showed them the letter that they received prior to them moving in, I think even the Brodus's would have been like, that's stupid.
• 24:25
  Leyla Zmeskal: What the hell is that?
• 24:26
  Trisha Smith: Right? Right, and they would have brushed it off.
• 24:28
  Trisha Smith: So I think this didn't have any merit. But because they filed a legal complaint, it went out into the public and it caught the attention of the media. And a local reporter did a story on it and the Today Show got wind of it.
• 24:43
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh,
• 24:43
  Trisha Smith: And they aired a story about the letters and how you know, it was one of their top 10 creepy at the time. And so now they had news trucks trying to get more of the story hanging out in front of the house and this also caught the attention of, Arm Chair Detectiv s, so people, you know, peop
• 25:04
  Leyla Zmeskal: What did they come up with?
• 25:05
  Trisha Smith: Well, you know, some of the people came up with satellite, like they googled satellite images of the house and they swore they caught, you know, different cars taking photos of the house. But it they couldn't ever determine that it was actually people taking pictures or somebody just driving by and there was like a reflection in the window.
• 25:26
  Leyla Zmeskal: Okay. Okay.
• 25:26
  Trisha Smith: But there were a lot of theories, some of them included, you know, again, a real estate agent who was pissed that, you know, the house sold out from under them, or maybe even a jilted mistress on the part of Derek. But none of them ever panned out.
• 25:44
  Leyla Zmeskal: Ok, but that doesn't make sense why it would be sent to the letter of the previous owner.
• 25:49
  Trisha Smith: Right?
• 25:49
  Leyla Zmeskal: I can understand that for a while they were living there and that Okay, I get it,
• 25:54
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 25:55
  Leyla Zmeskal: Why? The letter to the previous owner,
• 25:57
  Trisha Smith: Saying thank you for bringing new blood.
• 26:00
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, it doesn't make sense.
• 26:01
  Trisha Smith: Yeah. So now Derek and Maria had decided to continue their own personal investigation. They hired a forensic linguist to try to figure out the handwriting on the envelopes. They hired another security company who used to be a neighbor or lived across the street, neither of them came up with anything, they finally got around testing the DNA, which belonged to a woman.
• 26:26
  Leyla Zmeskal: Hmm,
• 26:26
  Trisha Smith: On the envelope.
• 26:26
  Trisha Smith: But it was not Maria. It wasn't any of the neighbors that they suspected. So they never did find anybody, you know, that I belong to. But many in the town started to think that they were just making it up, like making up the letters being at the stories, because of either buyer's remorse, because they really couldn't afford the house, or they were involved in some sort of insurance fraud, and that they were even trying to get a movie deal out of it.
• 26:58
  Trisha Smith: Considering Maria had grown up in Westfield, the family was shocked and embarrassed that the community had turned on them.
• 27:05
  Trisha Smith: When asked neighbors said they were just concerned about property values and getting a reputation because of the media coverage. So they're very No, yeah, they're worried about, you know, the Yeah, there were but yeah, nobody was really buying their story at this point.
• 27:25
  Leyla Zmeskal: Well it a little odd,
• 27:27
  Trisha Smith: Doesn't it? It does, because I mean, aside from the threatening letters, nothing physical had happened. like nobody had threatened their property or attack them or, or anything like that.
• 27:38
  Leyla Zmeskal: It's just weird and creepy. But if you have security cameras and alarm system, I don't understand why you would still feel like, Oh, I can't move in there.
• 27:47
  Trisha Smith: Right?
• 27:48
  Leyla Zmeskal: Like, to me, it's like, No fucking way we bought this place, I'm moving the fuck in here, right? And if something happens, I'll have a gun, I'll get some guard dogs or whatever and go from there,
• 27:59
  Trisha Smith: Right. And people online when they heard the
• 27:59
  Leyla Zmeskal: I'm sure people were pissed, story, were even ridiculing them for not having the nerve to move into the house for the exact same reasons that you're saying now. So there was a span of time where they decided to put the
• 28:10
  Trisha Smith: They were pissed.
• 28:10
  Trisha Smith: And they went to, they had to house up for sale again. But once potential buyers read the letters, they backed out, their attorneys suggested selling to a developer to tear the house down and divide the property into two vote on it, the City Council and literally the entire town showed lots. But once that got out to the community, up and was like hell no,
• 28:40
  Leyla Zmeskal: Because that could be a start of a downhill situation there.
• 28:43
  Trisha Smith: Exactly, exactly.
• 28:43
  Trisha Smith: So after it was voted down, they were able to finally find renters who weren't afraid. And they were agreeable, as long as security cameras were installed.
• 28:57
  Trisha Smith: So they did that and they were renting it for less than what they their mortgage. Yeah. So two weeks after the renter's moved in, Derek went to the property to take care of some things and the new renter handed him a new letter in the same card shaped envelope. On the outside was written, violent winds and bitter cold to the vile and spiteful Derek and his winch of a wife, Maria.
• 29:28
  Leyla Zmeskal: Well now,
• 29:29
  Trisha Smith: I know. This la letter arrived two and a half years after the first and was anger filled like this, whoever the watcher was at this point was pissed off. The writer had clearly been following the media and watching Derek in the home .
• 29:45
  Trisha Smith: It read you wonder who, The Watcher, is? Turn around idiots.
• 29:49
  Trisha Smith: Maybe you even spoke to me one of the so called neighbors who has no idea who the, Watcher, could be. Or maybe you do know and are too scared to tell anyone. Good move. I walked by the news trucks when they took over my neighborhood and mocked me. I watched as you walk from the dark house in an attempt to find me telescopes and binoculars are wonderful inventions. 657 Boulevard survived your attempted assault and stood strong with its army of supporters barricading its gates, my soldiers of the Boulvard followed my orders to a tee. They carried out their mission and saved the soul of 657 Boulevard with my orders.
• 30:30
  Trisha Smith: All hail The Watcher, maybe a car accident, maybe a fire, maybe something as simple as a mild illness that never seems to go away. But makes you feel sick day after day, after day, after day, after day. Maybe the mysterious death of a pet, loved one suddenly die, planes and cars and bicycles crash, bones break.
• 30:59
  Leyla Zmeskal: What the fuck.
• 31:00
  Trisha Smith: It sounded like at this point threatening, right?
• 31:04
  Leyla Zmeskal: And slightly unstable.
• 31:06
  Trisha Smith: Right, right. And it sounds like like they are saying yes, I am a neighbor, doesn't it?
• 31:14
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh, yeah.
• 31:15
  Trisha Smith: So,
• 31:16
  Leyla Zmeskal: Kinda sounded that way to me,
• 31:17
  Trisha Smith: Right? They said that one of the neighbors on the backside of their property.
• 31:19
  Trisha Smith: There's two, one of them was they had suspected but didn't have any proof. And the other were a couple that when they had a contractor came in notice that they had lawn chairs in their yard. But instead of facing their yard, the lawn chairs face directly at their house. And they pointed it out to to them and so,
• 31:46
  Leyla Zmeskal: The contractors did,
• 31:47
  Trisha Smith: Yeah. And they became you know, one of their suspects, but there was no proof they couldn't accuse anybody without any proof. Anyhow, after continuing to rent out the house at a loss and dealing with hostility from the community for another two years. The house finally sold in 2019 to Alison
• 32:03
  Leyla Zmeskal: That's significant, plus all the cost and Andrew Car for $959,000 which was a significant loss$440,000 less for,
• 32:18
  Trisha Smith: Renovate
• 32:18
  Leyla Zmeskal: Renovations.
• 32:19
  Leyla Zmeskal: Do you want to me do the Googles?
• 32:19
  Trisha Smith: Yeah, which it's sold in July of 2019, which made it just over five years after buying it without ever having moved in. Like they never lived in this house. So the watcher is now being turned into a limited series on Netflix. And it's Oh no. And Naomi Watts.
• 32:42
  Trisha Smith: supposed to star Bobby Cannavale what's hebbeen in? Th name sounds familiar, but
• 32:55
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh,
• 32:56
  Trisha Smith: Yeah. They're gonna play Derek and Maria Broadus and it will be based on the story that I used to reference this and it was written by, Reeves Wiedemann for New York magazine's, The Cut.
• 33:09
  Trisha Smith: The seven figure deal for rights to the magazine story also included rights to the family story, which was originally set to be adapted for a feature film, right, filming for The Watcher will reportedly start in Fall of this year. Crazy right?
• 33:31
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, that's a little weird I don't,
• 33:34
  Trisha Smith: So now the new couple, have never like, they haven't put out that they've gotten any letters, like either they're not saying or they just haven't gotten any, it's kind of hard to like wrap your mind around the fact that.
• 33:46
  Leyla Zmeskal: Why them, so if the other, the first owners lived there for 20 something years.
• 33:53
  Trisha Smith: 23, 23 years.
• 33:54
  Leyla Zmeskal: 23 years and nothing until right before they moved out.
• 33:59
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 33:59
  Leyla Zmeskal: Seems a little, planned.
• 34:03
  Trisha Smith: Okay, so there was one thing that happened. I guess after the whole thing with the tearing down the house and it went to the city council and all of that and around the holidays there were a bunch of letters that went out basically you know slamming the neighbors and defending the Brodus family.
• 34:22
  Leyla Zmeskal: By who?
• 34:23
  Trisha Smith: The husband, he admitted to writing those letters which were very different in tone.
• 34:30
  Leyla Zmeskal: But.
• 34:31
  Trisha Smith: But he still wrote them and tried to make them anonymous. So in turn could have been buyer's remorse, like they bought this $1.4 million house and then realized oh shit, this is really expensive because six months later they tried to get
• 34:47
  Leyla Zmeskal: Or maybe you know his wife push him, out of it.
• 34:52
  Trisha Smith: Right,
• 34:52
  Leyla Zmeskal: To buy this house.
• 34:53
  Trisha Smith: Buy the grandest house on the block of the of the city she grew up in.
• 34:58
  Leyla Zmeskal: Up in and he said Shit, we can't afford this. We need to dues I need to do something to get out of this, but it's not doing it the right way.
• 35:09
  Trisha Smith: Which the neighbors even brought that up.
• 35:11
  Trisha Smith: They said that How did he go from like a $300,000 house to this $1.4 million house in this like sort of,
• 35:22
  Leyla Zmeskal: How did he do that?
• 35:23
  Trisha Smith: He, his answer back was well, this is America and you get promoted and you get raises and,
• 35:30
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, that's a huge fucking jump though for a house. I mean, what kind of promotion did he get to go from a $300,000 house to a over $1 million house? What kind of promotion was that? Because,
• 35:41
  Trisha Smith: Right, also depends on when they bought the three. I mean, if they bought that when they first got married, and just sat on it until they had kids.
• 35:50
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 35:50
  Trisha Smith: Because like their oldest what I said was 10.
• 35:53
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, think so.
• 35:53
  Trisha Smith: And they were in their 40s. So I mean, they could have bought it, you know, in the beginning of their careers, then realized our kids are growing.
• 36:00
  Trisha Smith: And now we have three,
• 36:03
  Leyla Zmeskal: I don't know there's still.
• 36:04
  Trisha Smith: Really odd and I'm hoping, I'm really hoping that somebody at Netflix does a little more research and figure something out makes me even wonder like Maria, who grew up in that city. Is it somebody she knew, like maybe didn't like her family or didn't like her personally, and was like trying to scare them.
• 36:25
  Leyla Zmeskal: But when they have done that to them already, Why all of a sudden now in this new hour,
• 36:29
  Trisha Smith: They didn't live in this neighborhood.
• 36:31
  Leyla Zmeskal: Why all of a sudden, if they if no letters were given before,
• 36:35
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 36:36
  Leyla Zmeskal: Why all of a sudden now,
• 36:37
  Trisha Smith: Right?
• 36:38
  Leyla Zmeskal: And why haven't the new owners mentioned any letters, and the renters was just that one letter came to the renter,
• 36:45
  Trisha Smith: The one letter came to the renter, but it was addressed to them, it was still addressed to Derrick and Maria.
• 36:51
  Leyla Zmeskal: So the whole time, we're renters were living there, there was no letters,
• 36:54
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 36:55
  Leyla Zmeskal: So the beginning of the letters were focused on a new blood and new this and knew that all of a sudden when there's renters coming in, wouldn't you think that that would be the time that, The Watcher, actually targets the renters that are actually living in there? I don't know there's something there's something quite to that story that I'm like, it has to do,
• 37:14
  Trisha Smith: Something is not fitting.
• 37:15
  Leyla Zmeskal: Something does not make sense.
• 37:16
  Trisha Smith: Well, and the other thing, okay, this house was built in 1905. And a lot of times it says, like the one letter come back, let let the young blood play again, like I once did, like, did they was it a former tenant or a former owner of the house, like they did research and they said, there was nothing, you know, that showed anybody that was still around from who owned the house prior to the, Woods.
• 37:43
  Leyla Zmeskal: But they said in the beginning of the letters that their grandfather and their father,
• 37:48
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 37:48
  Leyla Zmeskal: Had.
• 37:49
  Trisha Smith: From the 20s,
• 37:50
  Leyla Zmeskal: From the 20s.
• 37:51
  Trisha Smith: To the 60s, and now.
• 37:52
  Leyla Zmeskal: So is there anybody in that neighborhood that had lived there for all that time? Maybe it was a kid that played with kids that lived there,
• 38:02
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 38:03
  Leyla Zmeskal: And they stayed in the house, that whatever house that they lived in the neighborhood,
• 38:07
  Trisha Smith: Right? So they're the that was the family that lived behind their name was the, Langford's. Peggy Langford was in her 90s, that lived in this house back there, and several of her adult children, all in their 60s still lived with her. The family was odd, and but harmless. According to the other neighbors. He described. The younger one of the younger Langford is Michael as like he didn't work. He was like a poet type, you know, free spirit whatever the Langford house was right next to the easel on the porch where they said that they saw the little girll painting.
• 38:47
  Trisha Smith: They'd lived there since the 60s when, The Watchers, father supposedly started watching the house. Richard Langford died 12 years before this family moved in, and the current watcher claimed to have been on the job for the better part of two decades. So the police did bring the younger son Michael Langford in for an interview, and he denied knowing anything about the letters, but the Broadus has said that the narrative of what he said match things mentioned in the letters Yeah, there was some suspicion there, but there wasn't any evidence. So short of an admission, there wasn't anything that the police department could do about it. So the Brodus's were still suspicious of the Langford and with the cooperation of the Westfield police. They sent a letter to the Langford announcing plans to tear down the house hoping to prompt a response but nothing happened.
• 39:53
  Trisha Smith: They brought Michael Langford in for a second interview but got nowhere and his sister Abby accused the police of harassing their family. Eventually, the Brodus's hired a lawyer who met with several members of the Langford fam as well as their attorney to show them the letters along with photos explaining how their home was one of the few vantage points from which the easel could be seen the length birds insisted Michael was innocent. Again, nothing was ever done about it.
• 40:23
  Trisha Smith: They found out that Michael lampe Langford, the one that they had been interviewed, the police had been interviewing had been diagnosed with schizophrenia as a young man, he sometimes spooked newcomers to the neighborhood when he did strange things, like walk through their backyard or peek into the windows. But again, you know, everybody in the neighborhood just kind of dismissed it because he had been there,
• 40:47
  Leyla Zmeskal: For so long.
• 40:49
  Trisha Smith: Yeah. So when they found out that the DNA analysis on the envelope belong to a woman, they started looking at Abby Langford, Michael sister, the one that had complained about harassment. She was a real estate agent. And they wondered if maybe she was missing out or on a commission. You know, like if she got mad because it was sold right out from under her, but they managed to snag a water bottle that was hers and the DNA didn't match,
• 41:21
  Leyla Zmeskal: Right.
• 41:22
  Trisha Smith: So again, they had to, let it go. They were planning to file civil charges against the Langford's. But it never panned out. They had been living there since 1961. And nothing had ever happened.
• 41:38
  Leyla Zmeskal: I don't know, I think it might be the Langfords.
• 41:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: I don't know, It's just too many coincidences. And either it's the Langford's, or it's the the new owners that gotten over their head, and they're trying to get out of it. And they figured maybe if they get out of it, they can make get some deal out of it.
• 42:01
  Trisha Smith: Right.
• 42:01
  Leyla Zmeskal: You know, which
• 42:03
  Trisha Smith: They did,
• 42:03
  Leyla Zmeskal: Stuffs happening.
• 42:04
  Trisha Smith: Right. Right. So yeah, there's a lot of questions. And I don't know, because it was all letters. They were all anonymous. They were all delivered directly to them.
• 42:16
  Trisha Smith: I don't know if that they're ever going to be able to figure this out unless somebody has like a deathbed confession.
• 42:22
  Leyla Zmeskal: Right.
• 42:22
  Trisha Smith: That Like I said, I hope Netflix says hey, let's see what we can dig up. They got the money to find out. Let's see what they can find out because there's got to be more to this.
• 42:33
  Trisha Smith: And I think it's got to come out at some point.
• 42:36
  Leyla Zmeskal: I'm interested to see it though.
• 42:38
  Trisha Smith: I know me too.
• 42:39
  Leyla Zmeskal: I'm really curious to see what this is going to be.
• 42:40
  Trisha Smith: I wonder how long it's gonna take before it comes out.
• 42:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: Hopefully not long.
• 42:43
  Trisha Smith: I know.
• 42:44
  Leyla Zmeskal: Netflix has been doing some really good stuff.
• 42:46
  Trisha Smith: Right? Right. And just, you know, quick to.
• 42:50
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah, alright Netflix, wow me.
• 42:53
  Trisha Smith: I know, I'm waiting,
• 42:54
  Leyla Zmeskal: Waiting. I'm waiting.
• 42:57
  Trisha Smith: So when it goes out, or if there's anything else, then we'll have an update here. But until then, it's just a mystery. And I'm going to need another cocktail because of it
• 43:11
  Leyla Zmeskal: And talk about it more.
• 43:12
  Trisha Smith: I know,
• 43:13
  Leyla Zmeskal: Let's do it.
• 43:14
  Trisha Smith: Theorize. Maybe we should get on Reddit,
• 43:16
  Leyla Zmeskal: Oh,
• 43:17
  Trisha Smith: Anonymously because they're mean on Reddit.
• 43:19
  Leyla Zmeskal: They are kind of mean on Reddit.
• 43:20
  Trisha Smith: I know, but maybe they have somebody.
• 43:22
  Leyla Zmeskal: Intimidated me a little bit when I tried to branch out.
• 43:24
  Trisha Smith: Maybe they've got theories on there that we can see.
• 43:28
  Leyla Zmeskal: Yeah,
• 43:28
  Trisha Smith: If they sound good to us, we should do it.
• 43:30
  Leyla Zmeskal: Alright,
• 43:30
  Trisha Smith: Alright.
• 43:31
  Leyla Zmeskal: Until next time,
• 43:32
  Trisha Smith: Okay.
• 43:32
  Leyla Zmeskal: Cheers.
• 43:32
  Trisha Smith: Cheers.
• 43:35
  Leyla Zmeskal: Hey, like what you hear?
• 43:37
  Diane Black: Check us out on Instagram.
• 43:38
  Trisha Smith: Or send us a message at Boozy Banter With Friends.com
• 43:42
  Leyla Zmeskal: Thanks for listening.
• 43:43
  Trisha Smith: Until next time,
• 43:44
  Diane Black: Late-a.