NJ - " I am the Watcher..." -- A Hoax ?

  • #321
I think this is a grand hoax, and continued communication would serve to 'prove' the 'victim's ' narrative.

MOO of course.

Ok, so who is sending them? You said you know?
 
  • #322
  • #323
I believe the whole thing was a hoax, as the buyers wanted to subdivide the property and build two houses and sell them both. Their application was denied. THEN all of a sudden they're being terrorized.
 
  • #324
I believe the whole thing was a hoax, as the buyers wanted to subdivide the property and build two houses and sell them both. Their application was denied. THEN all of a sudden they're being terrorized.

It seemed to me that razing the current house and dividing the property into two lots was a strategy the owners tried after all other remedies failed. Imoo, I don't think was their intent when they purchased the house. Otherwise, why spend 100k on renovations just to raze it? kwim?
 
  • #325
IIRC the renos were done after their zoning application was denied.
 
  • #326
I believe it was a hoax to. From what I understand the family like to live above their means and when their plan to subdivide the house and sell it fell through that's when the strange letters started coming.
 
  • #327
Bumping
 
  • #328
well, the lawsuit against the former owners was dismissed, and the people "victimized" by the watcher sold the house, and the new owners haven't received ANY letters, so I think this case is over.
 
  • #329
Didn't the owners sell the story? It may have been worth losing half a million on selling the house and gaining two million in payment for the story. I believe that is what was behind the Amityville haunting. New owners never had a single problem.
 
  • #330
  • #331
  • #332
I am not sure how a movie about this would work since most people now know that it was all a hoax.
 
  • #333
Amnityville made a great movie, and that was a hoax. Hollywood can make a movie out of anything. Anyway, since the former owners sold the story, I'm sure they'll insist it was legit, even producing copies of the letters.
 
  • #334
  • #335
Amnityville made a great movie, and that was a hoax. Hollywood can make a movie out of anything. Anyway, since the former owners sold the story, I'm sure they'll insist it was legit, even producing copies of the letters.
The Amityville Horror was a great movie! Terrified me. I actually got to drive by that house many many years ago. That was cool.
 
  • #336
Didn't the owners change the address and everything in an attempt to thwart fans of the movie?
 
  • #337
Didn't the owners change the address and everything in an attempt to thwart fans of the movie?
I don't know about the address, but they did remodeling to make it look different. That was after I saw it. It still had the iconic windows when I saw it.
 
  • #338
I'm undecided.

They could have really upset someone. They sound quite entitled.
 
  • #339
I know this is old, but Generation Why just did an episode on this so it’s on my mind. I’m undecided if I think it was a hoax or not, but here are my thoughts on each theory:

Hoax—First, their reaction to the letters just didn’t match the threat IMO. I mean the letters were creepy for sure and way more than just “vaguely” threatening, especially regarding the children. The police were right to investigate it. But they were just letters—anonymous letters. To make them completely abandon their one million plus dream house they just spent $100,000 renovating and moving all their stuff in and to move in with parents instead? Really? Seems a bit much. I would have been more angry than scared and would have just gotten a really good security system with cameras everywhere. I would have been prepared and aware at all times for IF something happened, but they seemed to really go off the deep end with fear.
Also the fact that Derik admitted to writing the other letters. Lost a lot of credibility there.

Not a hoax— They didn’t try to split the lot until 2016–after they couldn’t sell it. Some people are saying the letters started after they were denied but that’s not true. Gen Why podcast said they turned down offers for shows about it because they just wanted it to go away. So they didn’t seem to be trying to get a deal. Netflix did eventually buy the rights years later, but the magazine article is what got bought. It sounds like they weren’t the ones shopping it around. They did get some money for it, but I don’t think they got anything like seven figures. I don’t know if it made up for the huge loss they took on selling. It could have been someone obsessed with the house, and I think the Woods may have been tormented by the Watcher for a long time too and finally decided to sell and never mention the letters or the Watcher. Remember one letter to the Broadduses said he had been watching the Woods and he told them to sell. So IF the letters were real, I think the Woods may have just said they got only ONE letter right before they moved and that it wasn’t threatening. No one would ever know—no proof, so it’s not surprising the suit was dismissed. But I think it’s possible they were victims of the Watcher’s harassment as well, but chose to not mention it and hope it didn’t come up. But it did when the new owners got letters and they just said, “Oh yeah—we got just ONE not scary letter. That’s all!” No way to prove anything.

I don’t know, but I do not believe it was a ghost haha. Can ghosts write letters and drive a couple towns away to mail them? That’s why I think it’s silly for them to be THAT terrified. Not a ghost so why would someone do something like that? To mess with someone, that’s why. I would have immediately thought someone was just trying to ruin my enjoyment of my house, and I would have ignored it.

Sorry so long!
 
  • #340
Ooh I forgot about this thread. That's my Friday night sorted, rereading it all again.
 

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