Westfield family stalked by "The Watcher"

Holy crapola is all I can say! Can you imagine?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3137697/I-Watcher-Bring-young-blood-Family-forced-1-3m-dream-home-targeted-terrifying-stalker.html?ito=social-facebook

I read this over the weekend - it's terrifying! Whether or not the person writing would ever do anything, the letters and their wording would poison the atmosphere around that home for any family. I hope the authorities find out who it is who has been doing this and deal with him or her. My sympathy to the family that purchased it, not knowing about this creep. I would not have wanted to move my family into it, either.

Wow, file this one under "Truth is Stranger Than Fiction." That poor family. Someone has been reading too much Rebecca.

Threatening children in this way is beyond the pale. They need to catch the perp and put them far, far away for a long, long time.

If ever there was a case for Sherlock Holmes.

Or a case for Sarah Koenig.

Not to diminish how scary this must be, I still think there's a chance it's a hoax or PR stunt.

hmbooks said:
Or a case for Sarah Koenig.
Not to diminish how scary this must be, I still think there's a chance it's a hoax or PR stunt.

A real lawsuit was filed against the previous owner for not disclosing the threats. If this is a hoax it is a very good one.

I don't have a strong opinion on whether or not this is real. BUT, I do recall that when we bought our house in Maplewood, immediately after the closing, we started receiving calls and mail from companies. The callers would ask for me by name, and then say, "When the Jones family lived there, I was their tree service." After several tree companies all made the same claim, I called my realtor and found out that the buyers and sellers names become public record after the closing, and companies regularly use that info to scam homeowners.

It would not be hard for some sicko to search recent closings and evidently, the first letter arrived 3 days after the closing. Maybe it was someone who had wanted the house? There was a woman arrested recently for harassing a family who outbid her for her dream house. The things she did were awful and definitely put the family's safety in danger.

adifferentone said:
I don't have a strong opinion on whether or not this is real. BUT, I do recall that when we bought our house in Maplewood, immediately after the closing, we started receiving calls and mail from companies. The callers would ask for me by name, and then say, "When the Jones family lived there, I was their tree service." After several tree companies all made the same claim, I called my realtor and found out that the buyers and sellers names become public record after the closing, and companies regularly use that info to scam homeowners.

It would not be hard for some sicko to search recent closings and evidently, the first letter arrived 3 days after the closing. Maybe it was someone who had wanted the house? There was a woman arrested recently for harassing a family who outbid her for her dream house. The things she did were awful and definitely put the family's safety in danger.

Perhaps but the new owners are suing the previous owners as it seems the previous owners were receiving these letters as well. This is the lawsuit itself. Buyers claim that seller received a letter from the watcher before the home was sold.

http://documents.gawker.com/the-watcher-lawsuit-1713657328

SO CREEPY

The previous owners got a letter after accepting an offer but before close. As soon as they closed, the new family got a letter. I've got to assume it's some crank who wanted that house but got outbid and tried to break up the deal. Hopefully the Westfield PD talked to every bidder.

hmbooks said:
Or a case for Sarah Koenig.
Not to diminish how scary this must be, I still think there's a chance it's a hoax or PR stunt.

Even if it's a hoax, and not a ghost or maniacal stalker, it's still creepy enough to that I would not move my kids in. The spirit of the home is forever changed by this. I hope the new owners get their money back.

adifferentone said:
I don't have a strong opinion on whether or not this is real. BUT, I do recall that when we bought our house in Maplewood, immediately after the closing, we started receiving calls and mail from companies. The callers would ask for me by name, and then say, "When the Jones family lived there, I was their tree service." After several tree companies all made the same claim, I called my realtor and found out that the buyers and sellers names become public record after the closing, and companies regularly use that info to scam homeowners.

It would not be hard for some sicko to search recent closings and evidently, the first letter arrived 3 days after the closing. Maybe it was someone who had wanted the house? There was a woman arrested recently for harassing a family who outbid her for her dream house. The things she did were awful and definitely put the family's safety in danger.

To me, this is the likeliest scenario. The Westfield market is hot and that house appears to be quite beautiful. Maybe there were multiple bids and this couple won. The disgruntled would-be home owners thought they would play a joke, or worse, hope to force them out of the house. If this was the motive, I gotta say, this pretty brilliant and sadistic.

It's probably going really cheap right now. Let's buy it and demolish it really slowly and see who shows up pissed off at us.

Since this is all over the Internet, we're all 'The Watchers' now.

ridski said:
It's probably going really cheap right now. Let's buy it and demolish it really slowly and see who shows up pissed off at us.

Why are you so interested in seeing what's in those walls... hmmmm...

Hahaha said:

adifferentone said:
I don't have a strong opinion on whether or not this is real. BUT, I do recall that when we bought our house in Maplewood, immediately after the closing, we started receiving calls and mail from companies. The callers would ask for me by name, and then say, "When the Jones family lived there, I was their tree service." After several tree companies all made the same claim, I called my realtor and found out that the buyers and sellers names become public record after the closing, and companies regularly use that info to scam homeowners.

It would not be hard for some sicko to search recent closings and evidently, the first letter arrived 3 days after the closing. Maybe it was someone who had wanted the house? There was a woman arrested recently for harassing a family who outbid her for her dream house. The things she did were awful and definitely put the family's safety in danger.

To me, this is the likeliest scenario. The Westfield market is hot and that house appears to be quite beautiful. Maybe there were multiple bids and this couple won. The disgruntled would-be home owners thought they would play a joke, or worse, hope to force them out of the house. If this was the motive, I gotta say, this pretty brilliant and sadistic.

If that is the case, why would the would be buyer make an offer to buy the house when the new owners put it up for sale? I would think they would jump at the chance of finally getting the house considering that they new owners are having a real hard time selling it once they disclose the letters.

qrysdonnell said:

ridski said:
It's probably going really cheap right now. Let's buy it and demolish it really slowly and see who shows up pissed off at us.

Why are you so interested in seeing what's in those walls... hmmmm...

Tribute to the late Christopher Lee, of course.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065854/

Couldn't they get the FBI/U.S. Postmaster to figure out where the letters are coming from? It is hard for me to imagine that with the amazing technology that's out there that this situation couldn't be solved.

ridski said:

Tribute to the late Christopher Lee, of course.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065854/

Alternate title: "When Dooku Met Tarkin."

mjh said:
Oddly enough, I am underwhelmed by the story and would like to believe that I would ignore the letters and move right in. But, it is hard to know without being in their shoes. we had loads of calls (especially chimney and carpet cleaners) when we bought our Maplewood home, all claiming to have worked for the previous owner.

Nah. That would freak me the eff out and I'd move straight back to Elm Street, Amityville if it happened to me.

pmartinezv said:

Hahaha said:

adifferentone said:
I don't have a strong opinion on whether or not this is real. BUT, I do recall that when we bought our house in Maplewood, immediately after the closing, we started receiving calls and mail from companies. The callers would ask for me by name, and then say, "When the Jones family lived there, I was their tree service." After several tree companies all made the same claim, I called my realtor and found out that the buyers and sellers names become public record after the closing, and companies regularly use that info to scam homeowners.

It would not be hard for some sicko to search recent closings and evidently, the first letter arrived 3 days after the closing. Maybe it was someone who had wanted the house? There was a woman arrested recently for harassing a family who outbid her for her dream house. The things she did were awful and definitely put the family's safety in danger.

To me, this is the likeliest scenario. The Westfield market is hot and that house appears to be quite beautiful. Maybe there were multiple bids and this couple won. The disgruntled would-be home owners thought they would play a joke, or worse, hope to force them out of the house. If this was the motive, I gotta say, this pretty brilliant and sadistic.

If that is the case, why would the would be buyer make an offer to buy the house when the new owners put it up for sale? I would think they would jump at the chance of finally getting the house considering that they new owners are having a real hard time selling it once they disclose the letters.

Who knows? Maybe they are just so angry that they want them out of the house. I believe this was the motive of the woman who stalked the family that outbid her. She loved the house so much and her fury with the new homeowners drove her to stalking and defamation.

ridski said:

mjh said:
Oddly enough, I am underwhelmed by the story and would like to believe that I would ignore the letters and move right in. But, it is hard to know without being in their shoes. we had loads of calls (especially chimney and carpet cleaners) when we bought our Maplewood home, all claiming to have worked for the previous owner.

Nah. That would freak me the eff out and I'd move straight back to Elm Street, Amityville if it happened to me.

Yes, this is nothing like getting cold calls from local services. This person is purposely threatening.

I hope the creep is found and the old and new owners successfully sue and collect damages from the weirdo

RobB said:
The previous owners got a letter after accepting an offer but before close. As soon as they closed, the new family got a letter. I've got to assume it's some crank who wanted that house but got outbid and tried to break up the deal. Hopefully the Westfield PD talked to every bidder.

The only evidence that the previous owners knew about "the watcher" is what the letters stated. In order for the buyers to win the lawsuit, they have to prove that the owners purposely kept the threats quiet, and as far as I read, the only evidence is what the letter-writer is claiming. I don't recall reading anything about the previous owners coming forward to say they got a letter when they accepted the offer.

ETA: It's kind of odd that the buyers want all of their money back, but the lawsuit states that they want to maintain the deed to the property. What the hell for? If they are so scared, why not just cut all ties and get away from there?

I wonder why the previous owners wanted to move

galileo said:
I wonder why the previous owners wanted to move

They bought the place 25 years ago - probably retiring and/or kids graduated. Time to move to North Carolina.

It wouldn't be that hard to photoshop the legal documents, and it's not as though Gawker is all that trustworthy for their journalistic integrity.