The weird and freaky true story behind Netflix's The Watcher

If true crime is your thing, then at the moment Netflix is the place to be. Ryan Murphy, the man behind Dahmer - Monster: A Jeffrey Dahmer Story , American Horror Story and the less spooky Glee, is knocking it out of the park.

His latest release is seven episodes of slow-building, ominous terror. A family moves into a beautiful new house but they're plagued with letters from a mysterious person who calls themselves 'The Watcher'.

With a cast that boasts Naomi Watts, Mia Farrow and Jennifer Coolidge, a story that opens with a white-picket-fence dream turns into a nightmare. No matter what they do, the family can't rid themselves of the Watcher and the terror they impose.

Read more: Netflix announces new cheaper monthly subscription

As with some of the most creepy on-screen terrors, this one is based on true events. In 2018, The Cut, a website offshoot of New York magazine, published a story about a New Jersey family's nightmare after being stalked by a mysterious letter writer.

It told the story of the Broaddus family, a traditional all-American family who bought their six-bed dream house in 2014. Derek Broaddus and his wife Maria had only been in their home for three days when the first mysterious letter appeared in his mailbox.

A thick, white, card-shaped envelope was addressed, in what The Cut describes as "clunky handwriting" to "The New Owner". Inside was a typed note that read:

"Dearest new neighbor at 657 Boulevard, Allow me to welcome you to the neighborhood.

"657 Boulevard has been the subject of my family for decades now and as it approaches its 110th birthday, I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming. My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in