This Paranormal Life - #189 The Watcher: An Unsolved Suburban Nightmare

Episode Date: December 1, 2020

Just a few miles outside Manhattan in a sleepy suburb of New York, one family lives in constant fear. They are being haunted, but this is no ordinary ghost story. This is the terrifying and unsolved case of The Watcher.Patreonhttps://patreon.com/ThisParanormalLifeYouTubehttps://youtube.com/thisparanormallifeTwitterhttps://twitter.com/ThisParaLifeInstagramhttps://instagram.com/thisparanormallifeSecret Society Facebook Pagehttps://www.facebook.com/groups/thisparanormallife/Edited by Kami Tomanhttps://TomanEdits.comIntro music: https://www.purple-planet.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you become an amphibian? What's the best way to drown out my demons? Beer or whiskey? Answers to these questions and more on this episode of This Paranormal Life! Yo! Hey! Welcome back to This Paranormal Life, the weekly comedy podcast where every Tuesday we investigate a different paranormal tail case or claim and get to the bottom of whether it's truly paranormal or not. a different paranormal tail case or claim and get to the bottom of whether it's truly paranormal or not and as always you're joined by myself mr kicker movena this guy across from me mr rory powers how you doing today rory i'm doing great it is an honor as it is every week to be here

representing the paranormal uh in front of all these these lovely listeners and to respect the ears of our listeners we're just gonna dive right in rory no ads no plug-in live shows nothing and you know what that's not just because we have no live shows and zero sponsors sure we're doing this out of you know respect actually for both yeah yeah we got a lot of time and money um but because we love you guys so much that's the reason why we're not we're not doing it but if you do want to sponsor the podcast please do do get in touch there's a lot of time in this podcast to fill this episode actually came as a listener submission from jacob frank who emailed us at this paranormal life podcast at gmail.com so thank you jacob and this story was broken and reported originally by

reeves weideman in the cut so thank you to them for some great reporting. I'm going to put the link to that in the description of this episode. Today's case is a little different, Rory. Normally on This Paranormal Life, we take a case from history or a phenomenon of some kind and try and work out whether it's paranormal or not. But this story probably isn't paranormal. In fact...

Well, that wraps up this week's episode, I guess. Thanks for listening everyone keep rolling oh okay there's more in fact i don't think it is and yet it is an unsolved mystery something that you and i and the listeners at home can try and get to the bottom of here on the podcast this is like detective poirot walking into a room, shooting a man and then saying, it is time to investigate the crime. It's kind of all wrapped up in a nice little package before we've even started. This is just a taste of how confusing things are going to become. Okay.

Over the next 40 minutes. And at the same time, this is something far more real and terrifying than almost anything we've covered on This Paranormal Life before. Jesus. This is The Watcher. It's June 2014 and we're in Westfield, New Jersey. A quiet residential neighborhood, a new home to one young family, Derek and Maria Broaddus. Derek and Maria Broaddus and their kids were relocating and they had picked the perfect spot. The neighborhood is leafy and peaceful.

It was voted one of the safest cities in America. And all of this only 16 miles outside of Manhattan, where Derek worked as a senior vice president at an insurance company. Wow, we're talking that white picket fence lifestyle here. Oh, yeah. Suburban house, cushy Manhattan job. Apple pie cooling on the windowsill. These guys are living the dream. And an insurance company is the kind of place you would need to work to live in Westfield,

especially this street, Boulevard. Along with being one of the safest neighborhoods, it's also one of America's richest. Somewhere where executives from Manhattan can go once they have kids and get a four-bedroom house with a lawn and a driveway. Derek and Maria moved into 657 Boulevard. For 1.3 million dollars, they would live in the most beautiful home on their street. Jesus! Built back in 1905. That's a lot of moolah! It sure is, but I guess compared to Manhattan, it's kind of peanuts. Yeah, still a lot. One evening, three days after buying the house,

Derek was in the living room with Maria and the kids. There were a ton of renovations required, so they hadn't moved in fully, but were just unpacking some furniture and essentials. Realizing he hadn't yet checked for any mail since they moved in, he walked out to the mailbox. Walking back into the house, he sifted through the mail, a couple of bills,

and then a small white envelope with fine handwriting on the front, spelling out the new owner. 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 the 1960s. It's now my time. Do you know the history of the house?

Oh, boy. Do you know what lies within the walls of 657 Boulevard? Put your stuff back in the boxes. Why are you here? You've heard just about enough of this letter. I wouldn't even get to the bottom. I'd be like, Susan! Yeah, just, it's f***ing weird.

Let's just go back. I see already that you have flooded 657 Boulevard with contractors so that you can destroy the house as it was supposed to be. Bad move. You don't want to make 657 Boulevard unhappy. You have children. I have seen them. So far, I think there are three that I have counted.

Are there more on the way? 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? Once I know their names, I will call to them and draw them to me. This is terrifying.

Who am I? There are hundreds and hundreds of cars that drive by 657 Boulevard each day. Maybe I'm in one. Look at all the windows you can see from 657 boulevard maybe i'm in one look out any of the many windows in 657 boulevard at all the people who stroll by each day maybe i am one he's like there's a series of bins right by the house opposite maybe i'm behind them he's like he just like

puts down the letter and looks over and there's just a man looking in between oh no no don't actually look at the bins that was just a hypothetical that was a hypothetical option look at look back at the cars again it's the bin man too simple derek you shouldn't have given it away maybe the twist is I'm the postman who delivered the letter. The next day, the postman has like a scar down one of his eyes, blood in his teeth. It's obviously

the postman. Maybe I'm the postman. The hunky postman with the giant hog. Who wouldn't want to be the postman? That sexy dude. You know, postmen don't actually get as much respect these days as they deserve you know it's a letter it's obvious you put it in there you're sincerely the postman all right so it was the postman you don't know which postman though look at the hundreds and

hundreds of postmen in new york city who could it be welcome my friends welcome let the party begin oh god the watcher derek's heart was racing as his wife was entertaining the kids she noticed the grave look on his face before he suddenly started off into the next room he started switching off every light. Honey, what's going on? Keep your voice down! What? You're the one yelling! Never mind! Christ, just get down!

He pulls the curtains and starts peering out through them into the dark street. He grabs his mobile and immediately calls the police. Minutes later, when a squad car arrives, he passes them the letter. What the f**k is this? I'm hoping you can tell me. Where did it come from? Do you have any enemies, Mr. Broadus? Anyone who might want to get revenge or blackmail you? God, no. I mean, we just moved to this street. All right, all right. We're gonna take some details and keep a lookout on the street for a while. Trouble is, this thing could have come

from anywhere. You call us if you get another like it." That night, Derek and Maria talked about the letter, trying to decide if it was a hoax or prank or who could have wrote it. Derek kept reading one line over and over. I asked the woods to bring me young blood and it looks like they listened. I mean, that was probably by far the most disturbing line. So yeah, that's a good one to kind of hone in on. Derek opened his laptop on the table. I don't have enemies, but I can think of someone who has some explaining to do.

He immediately started typing an email to Andrea and John Woods, who just sold them the house. Oh, Woods, like a name. Yeah. I thought he was like, i asked the tree god for children's blood right okay the woods the previous owners of the house yeah which is i don't know which is creepier asking the previous owners of the house to bring them young bring him young blood yeah that is a little strange uh but maybe not quite as strange as asking god the forest fairies to bring you a children's fair andrea wood replied the next morning she

explained that in 23 years of living there nothing weird ever happened they never even needed to lock the doors when they went out because they didn't have kids they didn't have young blood that is until one week before they moved out. She just dropped this sprinkled this at the end of the conversation, by the way. And now that I think about it, someone called The Watcher actually did write us a letter. They explained they'd been watching the house for generations. Andrea didn't think much of it and she threw the letter out the next day. Although conveniently decided to sell the house a week after that.

Immediately after, yeah. So immediately there was a pattern. the next day. Although conveniently decided to sell the house a week after that. Immediately after, yeah. So immediately there was a pattern. This wasn't a one-off prank. So Maria went to the police station to report what was happening. Good evening, Mrs. Broadus. I'm Detective Leonard Lugo. I've read your report. Here's what I need from you, all right? Don't talk to any of your neighbors about this. They're all suspects at this point. Do you alright? Don't talk to any of your neighbours about this. They're all suspects at this point. Do you understand? Maria drove back to the house,

replaying the conversation with the detective in her head. Good evening, Mrs... Sorry, I'm just doing some ad-lib effects. You can keep reading and I'll... Well, good evening, Mrs. Locke. I feel that might be distracting. No, no, no, go for it. You know, so it's like she's driving home. I'm imagining, like, rain on the windshield and stuff.

And as you said, she's like replaying the message. Okay, we'll give it a go. You just continue the story. I act like I'm not even here. She pulled up and... Good evening, Mrs. Lolo. Well, I mean, if you're going to animate her internal voice, I don't think she'd be replaying his greeting.

It'd probably be the bit about everyone is a suspect. Don't talk to the neighbors. Because he also like, there's a bit we didn't include where he was just like, I need to refill the coffee machine. That thing's been on the fritz for two weeks now. There's no way she's. Chief promised us a new machine two weeks ago. She's replaying office politics of an office she's not even works,

that she doesn't even work at. There was a lot going on in the conversation, I just feel like like i'm starting to think you just can't remember the important bit of the dialogue i can remember the important bit all right okay which was the coffee machine no being on the fridge no no the the watcher oh with the kids yeah got it got it got it got it sorry that's the bit that yeah you're right is probably more playing back in her head. Yeah. Maria drove back to the house, replaying the conversation with the detective in her head. We think it's the watcher.

He didn't say that. He didn't say that at all. We think it's the watcher? She told him about the watcher for the first time. This watcher's a bigger pain in my ass than this coffee machine. Okay, which is on the fritz. On the fritz. It happens to be, yes.

It basically distills hot bean juice. That's what a coffee machine does. That's the entire purpose of a... How has a detective got this far in his career without knowing what coffee is? Several more children have been kidnapped in the time it's taken for him to explain. I'm so sleepy from this coffee machine being on the fritz. She pulled up in the driveway as Derek was showing an old couple who lived nearby a tour of the renovations. Maria smiled as much as she could as they greeted her.

Oh, good timing. Iris, Peter, this is my wife, Maria. Nice to meet you, Maria. Welcome to the neighborhood. Oh, nice to meet you too, and thank you. It's a beautiful street. You know, it'll be so nice to have some young blood in the neighborhood. Derek and Maria's faces dropped when they heard this familiar line. Now that the Broadduses knew they were being watched, they lived in fear. When the kids strayed too far from Maria, she would scream after them to come back. She didn't know who or what was out there. And just when they would feel safe,

odd things would happen. One day Derek looked out on the yard and saw one of the contractors standing, confused, on the grass. Hey there! Is everything okay? What? Oh, morning Derek. You see my sign? What do you mean? Yesterday I hammered a sign into the lawn here and someone's ripped it out. What the hell? A few days later, Maria drove to the house to do some renovation work and pick up any mail they might have missed. As she opened the mailbox, she let out a small scream and jumped back. There it was, another small envelope. She paced inside and immediately called the police. Within the hour, the police and Derek were standing in the living room,

watching as Maria opened the envelope. Welcome again to your new home at 657 Boulevard. Just to reiterate, I will be eating your children. Just in case you forgot. You didn't RSVP to my outdoor barbecue. I didn't hear back, so I thought I better do it. I didn't know if the last letter

got lost in the mail. You know how it is these days. Can't trust the Postal Service. The workers have been busy and I have been watching you unload carfuls of your personal belongings. 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 out what is in the walls yet? Oh, no. In time, they will. Well, it's about to be right now. You can't say something like that and not expect... Derek just quarterback tackles the walls. I am pleased to know your names now

and the name of the young blood you have brought to me. The watcher went on to name each of the children in order of age and their nicknames. You certainly say their names often. I saw Lucy painting in the study. Is she the artist in the family? Oh, this is so creepy. Maria practically in the study. Is she the artist in the family? Oh, this is so creepy. Maria practically dropped the letter.

No one could have seen her daughter painting that day. She was inside, away from any windows. 657 Boulevard is anxious for you to move in. It has been years and years since the Youngblood ruled the hallways. 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. If you were upstairs, you would never hear them scream. 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 is in which bedroom.

Then I can plan better. All of the windows and doors allow me to watch you move through the house. Who am I? I'm the Watcher. and I've been in control of 657 Boulevard for the better part of two decades now. The Woods family turned it over to you. It was their time to move on and kindly sold it when I asked them to. I pass by many times a day. 657 Boulevard is my life, my obsession, and now you are too, Broadus family. 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. There are too many things going on. i don't know if the house is haunted now or if it's just a normal house being watched by a weirdo there's a lot of layers to this rory what are you doing if you get these letters i'm moving out they haven't even moved in yet it's great they're still renovating you're gonna solve yourself a lot of trouble i mean this is i i'm laughing at what you're saying but i mean this is all very pertinent to where this story is going yeah look this is a real life horror story everyone screams at the horror movie screen saying don't go in there why would you go in there yeah and the broadest family know it so at what point is it too much is is one

letter enough to sell the house that you just spent 1.3 million dollars on or is two letters enough i guess it depends on the contents of the letters yeah this is 10 letters worth of material condensed into just one i mean it this is worse than just a phone call death threat yeah this is yeah this is not not good and i like what you're saying about you don't know what this is that's part of what drew me to this story is because it has a paranormal flair to it right the watcher can basically see things that a human shouldn't be able to yeah it's as if he's in the walls like a ghost yeah it's so weird for him to there's so many things going on that he's just like you know i, I'm watching, I'm in the bushes.

By the way, have you been in your basement yet? Yeah. You might want to take a look down there. And it's like, well, what does that even mean? Yeah. It's so strange. There's stuff in the walls. What does that mean?

Is that a metaphor? Like skeletons in your closet? Or is there, should they literally be ripping down the walls? I mean, at the very least, this is enough material to get the police to do a stakeout near the house. Hell yeah. It seems like he's not very far away from the property. Yeah, he said he passes by many times a day. How many people can there be? Yeah, you have a pretty good opportunity to catch him that he's's admitted to being, at most, 10 feet from the house.

So a few days later, Derek and Maria go to a barbecue across the road. They keep everything on the DL and keep a lookout for suspects. They talk to one set of neighbors over by the grill. Boulevard is a great place. We've been here 20 years and I wouldn't live anywhere else. I think you'll love it. Everyone gets along, talks to each other. Well, almost everyone. Like I said, lovely place.

Oh. Does someone not get along? Well, not exactly. It's just your immediate neighbors, the Langfords. They're a strange family. The house belongs to Peggy Langford. She's in her 90s, lives there with her six kids. They're all in their 60s. The youngest is Michael, long-haired guy, kind of a Boo Radley character. But when Derek brought this information to Detective Lugo, he shut it down. Oh, Lugo's coming back in this story? Oh, hell yeah. I'm glad he's coming back. All right, here we go. You know, Lugo is one of those cops that you know just from name alone he doesn't do things by the books yeah he doesn't do he doesn't follow your rules and regulations yeah sometimes he'll just

commit the crime himself go to like a non-regulation weapon like everyone else gets a tiny little uh like state pistol he carries a desert eagle yeah but he's also doing weird shit like he's put a red dot sight on his nightstick it doesn't really make any sense but it's just weird and unorthodox and you know he looks like shit we're talking hopper from stranger things here he's like a miserable like divorcee yeah all he cares about is the job anymore stubble always a cigarette hanging out if you bring him in to like investigate a suspect he'll knock out his fellow officers free the criminal and and just see what happens next to just stir things up and then whenever they question why did you let that person go he's like i'm not bothered

with the small fry we need to get the kingpin it's like he was the kingpin we took five years to get him that was an undercover project two officers died trying to get him in here well you could have said something you don't think there's a guy above him? He's the one we need. All right, Lugo coming back in this story. As I say, Detective Lugo shut this down. It ain't the Langfords. I know those people. In fact, I already brought Michael Langford in here for questioning, but was getting nowhere.

But all the dates line up. They've been there since 1960, just like the watcher said. Listen. Obviously slams his fist on the table. But all the dates line up. They've been there since 1960, just like the Watchers said. Listen! Obviously slams his fist on the table. Is it sipping? He's pointing his Desert Eagle at Dirt's head. Escalating it way too far. Sipping a hot cup of bean juice from the coffee machine. Because the thing's been on the fritz.

Of course. Since he joined the precinct. In fact, Lugo is the only one that Fonzie style can give it that nudge to start the machine. At this point, Lugo's sipping a Frappuccino because he had to go to the Starbucks because of the coffee machine being out. This isn't CSI.

In Westfield, when the wife is dead, it was the husband. There's nothing I can do right now. They attack my family. Where I come from, if. They attack my family! Where I come from, if you attack someone's family, you get your ass beat! And so Derek had to start his own investigation. He set up cameras all over the property. He went full crazy, corkboard of maps, photographs, strings, pictures of all the houses in the

neighborhood. He hired a private investigator and former FBI agent. Actually, the FBI agent that they based the detective in Silence of the Lambs on. Wow. They started studying the letters written by the Watcher. Detective Blugo, I only do things by the book. My renegade brother has a different idea about how things should be done. Ironically, I should be the one enforcing the law.

There was a bit of a mix-up at the job fair. I was supposed to be the by-the-books detective. He was supposed to be the renegade private investigator. Things just kept getting harder for Derek and Maria and the picture kept getting fuzzier. Their neighbors were fighting with them, threatening them with court for falsely accusing them. Suddenly this sleepy, rich, safe town was full of threats. Maria would be in Trader Joe's and turn around to find someone staring at her or her kids before they turned away. The FBI agent found out that there

were violent convicted criminals living within just a couple blocks of their house. One day, Derek was at the house doing some work when he looked out their back window into the garden of their neighbors. He could see an old couple relaxing in deck chairs. Except their chairs were weirdly close to Derek's house. But not only that, their chairs weren't pointed into their garden. Both their chairs were pointed directly at the Broaddus' house, staring up at Derek through the window. Derek and Maria felt like they were losing it at this point.

They both started having terrible nightmares. Maria dreamed a giant man with a pitchfork was trying to abduct their children and she was trying to stop him oh god this is the problem though when you're in a situation like this is that all of a sudden you you're almost you get you become paranoid so it's like these little things that usually wouldn't have been such a big deal are now you're like hyper focusing on everything you know like the neighbors having their furniture kind of facing a little bit more towards your house that's usually a thing that shouldn't necessarily set off alarm bells exactly but if if you're in this situation all of a sudden you're seeing that and being like you want to come in here you want to come into my house watch her yeah because i think like maria's other experience was that

someone at trader joe's looked at her children um yeah but in the context of receiving the watchers letters that could be a serial killer a hundred percent yeah you're just in a different mindset altogether totally the renovations were finally complete but could they really bring themselves to move in properly? At this point, Derek was getting alerts to say that burglar alarms were going off in the middle of the night multiple times a week. He was carrying a knife every time he went to the house. He even put an ad on Craigslist to hire a military vet just to work out in the front yard full time. What? You're joking. All this sounds extreme, but the

letters from the watcher were becoming more unhinged by the day. That's my dream to be hired on the internet to just work out in someone's garden. Is the vet thing optional? Can I be a conscientious objector? I can't imagine the ad would ever ever be we need a draft dodger to work out in the front garden i should get a veteran's discount on account of putting in 1000 hours on halo 3's online multiplayer i've served in many a battle sir been through the worst of it truly they're like i mean we don't care that much but you are scrawny. You've got a lot of working out to do. We actually think you might be the watcher. You're weird enough to be him, so no.

Do you agree with these practices? I mean, I asked you before, what would you do if you got the letters in the first place? I mean, at this point, what do you think? Are you holding on to the house? Are you doubling down by hiring armed guards to guard your your house what year is this set in again like two years ago two years ago i feel like you could they could have done a bit more sorry 2014 2014 i feel like if it's 2014 they could have done a little bit more in terms of like home security okay you could set up like cctv cameras it shouldn't just be that an alarm goes off that as if there's someone in the house

they should be able to get video footage of this person i think i brought well i definitely wouldn't move in 100 i would not move into this house but i would almost because i cannot stress no amount of security is enough yeah he seems to be made of ectoplasm he can just kind of go wherever he wants but i would almost i think i would get so into this that i would take it upon myself to catch this person yeah like i i would be i would almost flip it on them i'd be like i'm not only not moving into this house, but now I want to catch the watcher. Can you imagine, though, living this experience, moving house, renovations, everything, the watcher on your tail? You're also a senior vice president at an insurance firm in Manhattan.

That's not exactly like a 35 an hour week job. Yeah, that's pretty intense. This guy barely has enough time to say hello and goodbye to his wife at the start and end of the day let alone become a vigilante catching some kind of predator yeah like this must be what it feels like to like be a dad working full-time and uh one of your kids is just a weirdo and you're already kind of like working a job like looking after uh your family trying to have a relationship still with your your wife while you're both uh in the middle of your lives and then you got this kid at the dinner

table who he's flicking a butterfly knife you ever seen the insides of a dog it's like jesus christ billy you just spent an hour making a nutritious meal for the kids so that they you know their brains develop and they get good grades at school so they can get the most other opportunities in life the kid just flips the plate onto the floor and bites off the head of a rabbit and you're like jesus christ i have so much work to do before I go to sleep tonight. Yeah, I have a massive meeting tomorrow where I'm pitching the shareholders a new company structure. And I think Billy, my 17-year-old son, is murdering barnyard animals. It's just something you don't need to deal with. Billy's like, nah, that's small fry, dad.

I'm going to kill you. Well, Jesus, now I have to worry about this he's threatened to murder me yeah that's it's just it's too much it's too much to deal with like I say this was getting worse and worse as each letter from the watcher became more unhinged the house is crying from all the pain it's going through. Is he dying? It sounds like he's getting older. I think it's the hogs sending these letters. 657 Boulevard is turning on me. It's coming after me.

I don't understand why. What spell did you cast on it? It used to be my friend, and now it's my enemy. I am in charge of 657 Boulevard. It's 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 stop changing it and let it alone it needs you come back let the young blood play again yet let the young blood sleep in 657 boulevard okay it's kind

of a run-on thought here i feel like maybe the watcher just just take five there's no rush to get this thing out. Just, like, take a second to figure out what you actually want to say. And then start writing the letter. This is, like, as the thoughts are forming in his head, he's writing them down. You guys need to leave. But no, wait, wait a minute. But I need the young blood.

So actually come back. Shit. And listeners, find out what happens next. You'll have to tune in next week. Oh! For part two of this Paranormal Life's investigation into The Watcher. Woo!

So, Rory, a lot to digest, bud. Yeah, man. From part one. I mean, will the coffee machine ever be fixed? Will Detective Lugo get fired for gross negligence? What about Private Detective Blugo?

Will he finally realize that sometimes you do have to do things illegal to get it done? Very possibly. These are all the questions that people are going to come back to have answers for. I really have to stress with this one. I think what gets me excited about this is like, you know we have fun with with the characters and the dialogue and things a surprising amount of the dialogue we read today is verbatim it's stuff that was reported between detective and derrick and maria and the police this was a very recent very real unsolved mystery yeah it's kind of it's unsettling how real it is you know usually

we have the um the joy of a case we're investigating uh possibly not be real uh but this is to the truest form a very real thing presumably the letters you're reading are exactly the letters that arrived in these letter boxes oh those are word for word exactly which is very disturbing because as i said these run-on sentences these wild thoughts they're they're not even very specific it'd be almost more reassuring if he was like hey by the way i'm a i'm the neighborhood pedo i'm gonna be in the bushes between eight and nine can't catch me yeah at least you'd be like oh well we gotta move yeah exactly we kind of know what's going on one second this dude is like i'm watching the house the next he is the house this is really unsettling here

this person seems to be unhinged yeah very good point they say like like something like nine out of 10 kidnapping attempts end in like an amicable, okay, here's your $50,000. Here's your hostage back safe and sound. It's a business. There are insurance companies that exclusively deal with, they have whole teams that exclusively deal with kidnappings and negotiating with hostages and pirates.

Those are like bread and butter crimes of daily life. But this is like the police don't even know what to do. Detectives don't even know what to do. Yeah. It's worrying that, you know, you've got this guy who's probably worth a lot of money. You said he works at an insurance company in Manhattan. And yet this guy wants the young blood, which is really, really disturbing on a lot of levels. This is like getting a random letter from someone and you know you're like look i've got a tesla parked in the driveway i got a

golden rolex on my my watch like you can take it all and they're just like nah i want your dirty socks it's like all right you're you're obviously insane like Like, this isn't going to work out at my benefit. There's no bartering you can do with them. They're not going to take the Tesla. They obviously don't want money. They want the young blood. Yeah, at that point, you just silently back away and throw the socks and then run. So, guys, I hope you enjoyed the first part of our investigation into The Watcher and this episode of This Paranormal Life.

And thank you again to Jacob Frank for suggesting this to us. I can't wait to dive back in next week and go even deeper and try and solve this one. For Derek and Maria, who probably haven't slept since that day. Yeah, that's terrifying. Guys, if you enjoy This Paranormal Life and you just can't get enough and you just can't wait till next week, don't read the story online because that will ruin it for you. Instead, head on over to patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life where there are in excess of 35 bonus episodes, full length investigations into the paranormal ready for you to download right now. you to download right now. If you are stuck at home like we are, like many of us are, and you need a little entertainment in your life, a little bit of mystery, a little bit of mayhem, it's a great place to get over 35 hours of content. From $5 a month gets you access to all of those bonus

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