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

[Stella]

If the house was built in 1905 and not sold until 1994, then it would have been in one family for DECADES, the amount of time the watcher claims all this business has been going on. Sounds like the watcher may be a descendant of the original owners. He or she is very upset that the house has not been left original as he/she remembered it, "running thru those halls as a child...".

 

[marble]

I just read an article that they had been living there. Also, why would the letter state that the watcher can see them through the doors etc. I think they wrote the letter.

Thanks for researching how long the previous owners have been there. That's very interesting.

Also now that it sounds like the letters were sent from Newark I'm even more open to the idea this is a random internet hoax- with the hoaxer(s) telling the family they can see them through the doors and windows *precisely because* they can't really do so (in other words, they doth protest too much).

I also think the other theories still hold water as well, especially a stalker associated with the buyers. Newark Penn station is a major transit hub, with lots of train connections from all parts of New Jersey, Philly, NY and CT. Wouldn't be too difficult to drop a letter in one of the mailboxes outside of the station during a commute, so it's not necessarily someone who lives or works in Newark who's mailed those letters.

Something a bit interesting is that the husband of the couple who bought the property makes his living in the insurance industry, and that's the main industry employer for people who commute into Newark to work. Many of the insurance office towers are connected to Penn station via walkways. If it's a stalker, I wonder if they might be a former coworker or colleague of his.

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

Perhaps it's a grudge that has been passed down through 3 generations? The letter writer said his grandfather had been watching the house since the 1920's. Perhaps he lost his job and savings when the stock market crashed, which resulted in the house being foreclosed on. Having a home you love taken from you can be a bitter pill whose after-taste lasts a lifetime. Grandfather passed this life scarring event onto his son, who passed it on to junior, who now thinks it's cute to scare the living daylights out of anyone who buys the house that he feels rightfully has belonged to his family for nearly a century?

IMO... This is an intriguing theory..... :thumb:

 

[KaaBoom]

No, but the sellers have to disclose all material impairments to the enjoyment and use of the property. Since the stalker apparently wrote to the sellers before the closing, the Complaint argues that they had an obligation to disclose the stalker's existence before the property changed hands. In their view, the threatening letter writer is no different than a leaky roof.

When we last sold a house (about 10 years ago), our realtors advised us emphatically to disclose anything we could think of, no matter how trivial it seemed. They had horror stories of lawsuits that were filed almost a year after closing and took years to drag through the courts.

I'm not sure a crazy stalker qualifies as a material impairment.

 

[Christina_33]

Yeah, exactly. If they weren't livng there, how were they getting the letters.

 

[Christina_33]

You're welcome. I still think it's a hoax though. There's constantly new things and things changing.

 

[Christina_33]

I'd like to know the occupation of the new owners and what city they work in. Maybe it would coorilate with an area from where the letters are comming from. They could be at a Library typing the letter themselves and then mailing it so you can't trace the IP address.

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

I'd like to know the occupation of the new owners and what city they work in. Maybe it would coorilate with an area from where the letters are comming from. They could be at a Library typing the letter themselves and then mailing it so you can't trace the IP address.

I, too, think it would be interesting to know the occupations of the current owners... History of past addresses of residences... Etc....

IMO

 

[wfgodot]

Anyone considering that these missives may be exactly as advertised -- the work of an obsessive outside force whose "subject" is and has been the house itself?

 

[EllieBee]

Anyone considering that these missives may be exactly as advertised -- the work of an obsessive outside force whose "subject" is and has been the house itself?

*looks around*
*ducks head*
*slowly raises hand*

But mostly because that would infinitely creepy-cooler than some lame attempt to get out from under too-much-house.

 

[wfgodot]

*looks around*
*ducks head*
*slowly raises hand*

but mostly because that would infinitely creepy-cooler than some lame attempt to get out from under too-much-house.

+1

exactly.

And, whatever the source, portions of that prose have an edge honed by a very creepy, viscerally winsome, possibly vengeful nostalgia.

 

[EllieBee]

+1

exactly.

And, whatever the source, portions of that prose have an edge honed by a very creepy, viscerally winsome, possibly vengeful nostalgia.

I am picturing the letters as being written in a flowing, copperplate script on good linen paper......:lol:

....and also "Mr. Burns" from the Simpsons.

 

[wfgodot]

The Watcher's prose, expressed in sonnet form:

It has been the subject of my family for decades.
It cries for the past and what used to be.
You have changed it and made it so fancy --
Why are you here? I will find out.
Have you found all the secrets it holds,
Have they found what is in the walls yet?
Stop changing it and let it alone.
I ran from room to room imagining the life:

Let the young blood play again like I once did;
I will call to them and draw them to me....
It is turning on me it is coming after me
You have changed it and made it so fancy --
Let the young blood play again like I once did,
Stop changing it and let it alone.

I picture it exactly this way.

 

[EllieBee]

I picture it exactly this way.

Very nice.

I am no expert in linguistics, but a couple of snippets sound (to my Southern ear) either archaic or foreign...
"Let it alone" ("leave it alone" would be more common, I'd think)
"Made it so fancy" (sounds almost like the writer is trying to poke fun at the renovations: perhaps he finds them gaudy? "Fancy" does not sound like a compliment to me)

Also, the writer has personified the house, making it sound as though it is a living, breathing organism.

This is fun!

 

[wfgodot]

Very nice.

I am no expert in linguistics, but a couple of snippets sound (to my Southern ear) either archaic or foreign...
"Let it alone" ("leave it alone" would be more common, I'd think)
"Made it so fancy" (sounds almost like the writer is trying to poke fun at the renovations: perhaps he finds them gaudy? "Fancy" does not sound like a compliment to me)

Also, the writer has personified the house, making it sound as though it is a living, breathing organism.

This is fun!

Well-played; noted the first usage myself -- "let it alone" furthers the personification of the structure (which "cries for the past") more than "leave it" would.

The one that most interests me, for, one might say, terror purposes alone, is "[657 Boulevard] is turning on me it is coming after me." Such havoc the lack of punctuation provides.

Holy crow!

 

[pepelepolecat]

I've read way too many mysteries and will admit that I have an overactive imagination. But what if ... what if ... Someone is setting up an alibi. If anything bad happens (fire, break-in, etc.), we have a ready-made guilty party: The Watcher.

 

[Confusion]

Maybe they need to check the walls for hidden passages! I read too many mystery/horror books too. :blushing: That was the first thing that came to my mind when I read about finding what's in the walls, being upset about making changes and being able to see what's going on inside. :thinking: Probably not...

 

[pepelepolecat]

Maybe they need to check the walls for hidden passages! I read too many mystery/horror books too. :blushing: That was the first thing that came to my mind when I read about finding what's in the walls, being upset about making changes and being able to see what's going on inside. :thinking: Probably not...

Oh, that would make this so much creepier.

Also (but off-topic): I LOVE Agatha Christie! She was my first intro to "adult" books, and I voraciously read through my mom's entire collection before I was even in my teens.

 

[LinasK]

Also of interest:
In 1971, John List killed his mother, wife and three children in their Westfield, NJ home.

Spoooooky.

Yeah, but that actually happened, and he was eventually caught under an assumed name years later after a lifelike bust was made of him and he was recognized.

 

[LinasK]

Yep, I thought of John List when I first read about this. John couldn't afford the house so he murdered his family. At least this bunch hasn't resorted to murder yet, they seem to be taking the "haunted" way out, LOL, maybe.

I don't know what to think but I doubt any family is watching a house for 90 years, passing the watching down the line. It could get awful boring, but then again it's Joisey, and I have a long-murdered cousin there plus assorted odd relatives. Who knows?

Thought I saw that he killed them because of his strict religious beliefs and not liking that his daughter was in an acting class...