The Watcher Letters & Toilet Paper Boyfriend | The One With Creepy Notes

Episode 14 Description

It’s Cocktail Confessions time, and this week we’re pouring the Royal Apple — crisp, cozy, and just dangerous enough to make you spill your secrets. 👑🍎

Then we dive into two stories that prove bad notes never end well:

🧻 Dumb Criminals: Meet the Toilet Paper Boyfriend — a North Carolina man who thought TP-ing his ex’s house and leaving a threatening note was a good idea. (Spoiler: it wasn’t. Police were not impressed.)

👁️ Uncorked Mysteries: We open up the chilling case of The Watcher — the New Jersey family who bought their dream home, only to start receiving anonymous, terrifying letters from someone who claimed to be watching their every move.

We’re not your normal sleuths — we’re two girlfriends, sipping cocktails, giggling way too loud, and absolutely unqualified to be doing this. But that’s kind of the fun.

🎧 Pour a Royal Apple, press play, and remember: Stay suspicious… and don’t get Burg-e-ler’d.

#SipSpillSolve #TheWatcher #TrueCrimePodcast #CocktailConfessions #ToiletPaperBoyfriend

keywords

cocktail confessions, dumb criminals, The Watcher, mystery, true crime, podcast, psychological thriller, letters, North Carolina, New Jersey

summary

In this episode of Sip, Spill, and Solve, the hosts dive into a mix of light-hearted cocktail confessions and a chilling true crime mystery. They start with a humorous story about a North Carolina man who toilet papered his ex's house, leading to his arrest. The conversation then shifts to a darker theme as they explore the unsettling mystery of 'The Watcher,' a stalker who sent threatening letters to a family in their new home in New Jersey. The hosts discuss the psychological impact of the letters and the family's subsequent struggles, concluding with listener engagement and a call for cocktail recipes.

takeaways

• The episode features a mix of humor and true crime.
• The hosts share a cocktail recipe called Royal Apple Cocktail.
• A North Carolina man was arrested for toilet papering his ex's house.
• The story of 'The Watcher' involves unsettling letters sent to a family.
• The letters contained creepy messages about 'young blood.'
• The Broaddus family never moved into their dream home due to the letters.
• The psychological impact of the letters was significant for the family.
• The hosts encourage listeners to share their own cocktail recipes.
• The episode highlights the importance of community and listener engagement.
• The conversation blends light-heartedness with serious themes.

titles

• Cocktail Confessions and Creepy Letters
• From Toilet Paper to Terror: The Watcher

Sound Bites

• "It was psychological warfare."
• "I would not live in the house."
• "We should do a road trip. New Jersey!"

Chapters

00:00
Introduction to Sip, Spill, and Solve

02:56
The Toilet Paper Boyfriend: A Dumb Criminal Story

06:47
Uncorked Mystery: The Watcher Letters

25:13
The Psychological Impact of The Watcher

27:34
Listener Engagement and Closing Remarks

29:37
NEWCHAPTER

- 💀 Girlfriends by day, wildly unqualified detectives by night.
📲 Follow along on Instagram & Facebook: @sip-spill-solve
📬 Got tips, wine, or true crime theories? Email: sipspillsolve@gmail.com
🍷 New episodes every Wednesday—where the dumb meets the disturbing.

Producer Madylyn Zeiders

Transcript

Karen (00:01)
Hi, welcome back to Sip, Spill, and Solve episode 14 and we've got a royal treat lined up for you. That's right. Tonight cocktail confession is the

It's a crisp, a little fancy and just the right amount of trouble. Kind of like us. Yep, and speaking of trouble, our dumb criminal this week really wiped out in the romance department. A North Carolina man toilet papered his ex's house, left a threatening note and got himself arrested.

We're calling him the toilet paper boyfriend. So from TP to terror, Then we go into something darker for this season's uncorked mystery, The Watcher. Creepy letters, unsettling neighbors, and the kind of story that makes you want to sleep.

with the lights on. Just like our friend Cindy. So grab your glass, pour yourself a royal apple, and join us as we sip, spill, and solve episode 14 starts

this time cocktail confessions and this week Kiki. Nope, not me.

Well, it is me, kind of. Well, you're right. It is me. I wanted to make it look like it was all G. I'm sorry. This week again is Kiki and it's called Royal Apple Cocktail. Yes, it's a royal apple and it's interesting because my friend Angie kind of gave me the recipe. I would call it like John's Royal Apple Cocktail because she said he made it and she gave me the idea, but it actually is a thing.

So it is Crown Royal, hmm. Applesauce. Yeah. Which cracks me up. Yeah. And apple cider. It's easy. Very easy. Now we had leftover from our last episode. had rimmed our glass. Yes. And we loved it so much. thought, let's not, let's just do that again. So we rimmed it again. And then we threw our leftover apple slices in there. Yeah. And what else did we put in there? We, the applesauce surprised us. We did put, even though that's what the called for. was, that was really.

That was very interesting. So I think that recipe was four ounces of apple cider, one tablespoon of apple sauce and 1.5 ounces of Crown Royal Apple. apple flavor shake and pour as we poured it then over ice with our little green glasses. And it just also tastes like falling in the glass. It's excellent. I love it. So anyway, so if you think of a drink that makes you bold enough to send that risky test to because that's why we're okay. I've always said

from the beginning. Yeah. Odd episodes sober, even episodes gypsy. it just took us like 30 minutes to fix our freaking microphones again. Yeah. And this is episode 14. So just like, so, so anyway, so we have slipped a little. if we jump over our words, you know, please don't take it personally. It's just who we are and how we roll.

So anyway, so what are we, what is our...

What is our wine wine and what the hell this week? It is the toilet paper boyfriend. How much fun is that? Yes. And it is, it sets the bar low. This is a state that I don't think we've heard from. Really haven't we? No, it's North Carolina. I feel like we have.

I'm not sure, maybe we have. So a man in North Carolina in his 30s toilet papered his girlfriend's house. okay. And then what happened? And unfortunately, police, because he toilet papered and on the toilet paper, he left a note.

was holding up my paper and Judy thought I wanting her to read it. No, I'm enthralled in your story. It was childish. It was a childish, angry note. But that took the crime from petty whatever into a hate crime. was how he was charged with hate crimes. Yes, it was a threatening note. And so unfortunately then the police got him on a hate crime. right.

And so he was arrested and also charged with stalking. very interesting. So think twice before you TP somebody's house.

Now I got a story to tell because. because I didn't do a confession with the. yeah. I'll this because. this was my cocktail confession. OK, so everyone knows, you know, when you're in high school, you toilet paper people's houses. Yes. Well, we used to have a game night.

here in our neighborhood and once a month we'd get together and have a game night. And so one night it was me and a friend of mine and we, everyone else had left and we were bored. And so we said, yes, yes. So we started talking about some things we used to do in high school and we actually said, let's go toilet paper. And this was like five, 10 years ago, maybe? Okay, so we were adults.

We had the best time and we were laughing so hard by toilet paper, people who were at the party's house. yes. Yes. That, you know, as a woman who's over the age of 50, even 40, this was where I used to describe and say, I was laughing so hard, I peed myself a little bit. I would have peed myself a lot of it.

And then you had the toilet paper in case, you know. And the funny thing was is we actually were smarter than we were in high school because we said, let's put a little bit of toilet paper on our bushes. Because then everyone would not think it was us.  so smart. But the bottom line too is I think sometimes we need to regress and do things you used to do. Sometimes adulting is not fun.

Do things you used to do and it's fun. But don't attach a hate crime on accident. No, no, we won't do that. We won't We're not going to advocate that. Yeah. So that was cocktail confession. Well now, if anybody of your friends listened to the episode, I mean, did they ever know it was you? Yeah. they did. okay. In fact, then it became a regular thing and some people actually one night, I could not make it to our game night. So they got us and they toilet papered our house.

Now the good part about that is they actually showed my husband and I where we because we when then a few months later it was Christmas time and we're like how do we hang lights outside? Well we did wear the toilet paper. It was so good. So yes, yeah and we haven't done that recently but maybe we should. There's a rash of toilet paper rings in Hanover, Pennsylvania. Well now we're to blame. All right so now

Yes. Uncorrect mystery.

So we're moving in a little bit different direction this time. is a little bit more creepy as we ease into fall. Yes. We may ease into a little bit more of the creepy. I like that. Oh yeah, I kind of like it too. It gives us a little, I mean it's still a non-solved crime. Yeah. But it doesn't have to do with a missing person or murder. Yes. Yes. But it's creepy. But it's creepy. Yeah. And I kind of like that. So it's going to be a little bit.

darker and so this week's Uncorked Mystery is The Watcher. ⁓ okay. picture moving into your dream home in Westfield, New Jersey I think it was. Only to start receiving letters from someone called The Watcher. And these letters they weren't just nosy neighbor complaints. They talked about young blood, knowing the family's every move and even if they

ask if they found out what was hidden in the walls. Yes. Now we do have, well, okay, so evidently, um, the actual full letters have never been released to the public. Right. So we have seen it, bits of the letters that, so, this family, they're named the broadest family and they had, saved and saved to be to move into buy this house into Westfield, New Jersey, which is a suburb of New York city. So let's just say this house wasn't cheap. No.

Like this was back in the day, what, 2014? It was pretty recent. mean, was, I forget where it was, but I think, And at that point it was over like 1.3 million for this house. Yeah. Yeah. So it wasn't like it was a, you know, like it was, it was a nice move for them. They were looking forward to it, you know, and so all this other things. anyway, so imagine the surprise of, ⁓

when he gets a typewritten letter that's just in his mailbox. And this is the first letter. I'm going to read you what we have of the first letter. Creepy. So it began nicely enough, but it says,

Now, and as it approaches its 110th birthday, I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for a second coming. My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s. It is now my time. Do you know the history of the house? Do you know what lies within the walls of 657 Boulevard? Why are you here? I will find out. Who am I? There are hundreds and hundreds of cars that drive by 657 Boulevard each day. Maybe I am in one.

Look at the window, you can see from 657 Boulevard. Maybe I'm in one. And it ended with, welcome my friends, welcome, let the party begin. Signed the watcher. Okay, that's creepy with a capital C in my opinion. Well, what do you do with that? The thing is, I don't know if I would have even gone to the police at first because I may be thinking, oh, it's some kids.

trying to you know, a prank or something. I It just so I don't know if at first but I would have been creeped out. I would have yeah, there was and they and they were creeped out like it kept it kept them up at night. I'm trying to like, you know, who would do this? Why? You know, all the you know, all these things because you know, who knew them now? The wife Maria she had ⁓

grown up in Westfield, New Jersey. So it wasn't like they were new transplants. Like she had grown up there. So I don't know why the watcher would specifically target, you know, say, I think one of them, well, I'm trying to think it's in the second letter and one of the letters that says about like, are you transplants from, are you one of those transplants? think yes. know, so this person should have known, I would think that, you know, that she was from the neighborhood, but maybe not. Yeah.

and also believe that this was right, was it after settlement or before settlement? Like there's no way that somebody should have really been able to know this. No, I think it was right after settlement and I think they wanted to make some changes to the house. So they had like a construction crew. actually have not officially moved into the house. Right, So honestly, someone must have really actually been watching

the house to see. Well, the people that sold them the house, they found out later that they got a letter a couple weeks, I think, before settlement. And the people lived there like 25, the previous owners. 23 years. And they had no, no. None of did not receive it. So that's what's very odd about this. And the letter that they got just basically thanked them for taking care of the house. And they didn't keep it.

I believe they just threw it. Yeah, because they just thought it was nothing. Yeah, right. Exactly. And then let's see what happened. uh, they, I think it was two weeks later. Yes. think we just kind of settled down and thought, eh, it was just a prank or whatever. Um, their, their renovations were well underway. Yeah. Um, I believe that the, um, the kids were there, you know, the three children, younger children, and they would be playing and doing stuff as

you were working on the house and stuff like that. after, yeah, two weeks later after the first, and then this is an excerpt of that letter. Okay. Do you want to read it? No, you go ahead. Yeah. Nope. You're doing good. Yeah. It says all of the windows and doors in 657 Boulevard allow me to watch you and track you as you move through the house. Who am I? I am the watcher and have been control of 657 Boulevard for the better part of two decades now. In the letter, the writer asked that the Brodus family, oh, I'm sorry, in the letter, I guess the writer had asked the Brodus family had brought the young blood as he had requested.

I was trying to we were trying to print this off as the letters themselves. Yeah, but it's very difficult. Like it's hard to get a hold of these letters. And I listened to a bunch of podcasts that they really done a lot of deep research and put some of these letters together. Yeah, but it was hard for us to actually find it. Yeah. And then it says, do you need to fill the house with young blood? Did you need to 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 and draw them to me. So, okay, so he's watched. This was just two weeks after the first one. He knows now there's kids. Yeah. So it's obviously someone either that has met them as a nape, you know, like, right. Or someone that has watched, been watching. Right. And how would you watch and not be noticed unless you lived, I would say across the street.

Yes. Or behind them, you know, or beside them, whatever. But now this is starting to get into psychological warfare. Yeah. You know, because basically they're not they're they're not threatening him, the family. There's no thing saying stop doing this. Don't do that. Although it does it does say in other letters to stop construction. You know, you're making the house cry. Yes. Things like that. But it never actively gives them it doesn't say move.

Right, know, and it seems like he's all over the place because at one point then after they get scared, they don't bring the kids back. Yes. And then the next letter that comes says something about, you know, where have the children, where have the young blood gone? Why don't you bring them back to me? So it's like this person doesn't know what they want. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just also there was a total of, I believe, four letters, letters sent to this family. Yep. And.

One of the other ones. then two of them, one was sent to the original owners and then I think another one was sent to another neighbor. Possibly. I'm not sure. Yeah, there was one that was sent and they they just threw it away. They thought it was just which I would do a random, a random thing. Yeah. And it was it was Derek and Maria Brottis was the name. And then the first I think it was in the first letter, the second letter, second letter, I believe it was their name was spelled wrong. Oh.

And but it still have a double D in it. So it's about B R O A D D U S. I forget how they spell it. They did put the two D's in there, which led some like profilers to think that they did that like on purpose to say like, I don't know who these people are. But but yeah. And then I think they of course interviewed neighbors. Then the police got involved or, you know, and they interviewed

neighbors and one of the neighbors had lived there a very long time and I think she was widowed but her children, grown children lived there. she was like 90 and her grown children still lived with her which was odd. Yeah. And the one was a like a schizophrenic, not schizophrenic, but bipolar, something like that. And they said that he would go through the neighbor's yards and he would look in windows sometimes. So he was the obvious

Yes. Candidate. from the way these letters were worded, sounds like to the experts that it was an older person. Yes. They use the word like fancy. Yes. You know, and eventually they were they did DNA testing and they found that it was a female DNA. Surprise, surprise. That's yeah. But you would assume it is a man. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Especially as.

I don't know the way the letters were worded and from what I heard, to me I just pictured a male. I know you just do. You just do. In this like kind of stalker cases. Yeah. Here's what here's that third letter. Yeah. It said 657 Boulevard is anxious for you to move in. It has been years and years since the Young Blood ruled the hallways of the house. 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 very far away from the rest of the house. If you were upstairs, you would never hear them scream. So now you're going after the kids. Yes. Right. And as a mother, I would not take a chance at all with my children. No. know, and then then, then said, my whole the house is crying from all the pain it is going through. You have changed it and made it so fancy. You are stealing its history. It cries for the past and what used to be in the time that when I roamed its halls, the 1960s were a good time for 657 Boulevard. When I ran from room to room, imagining the life with

rich occupants there. The house was full of life and young blood. Then it got old and so did my father, but he kept watching until the day he died. And now I watch and wait for the day when the young blood will be mine again.

Okay. And as it turns out, the Broadus family never actually lived in the house. They tried to rent it. Well, I took a long time for them to decide to not live in it. Yeah. Which it would me too. You spend this money in this house, you know, gorgeous. Yeah. And you can see inside. was beautiful. Yeah. And you know, you just and you want to raise your kids there. And like you said, she's from that area. Right. And it's and they

It leads you to believe that they were targeted as a family since there was never any letters before that. And then there was never any letters since that. So since they sold the house, well, they rented it first. Yes, a little while because it would not sell. Yeah, because word got out and, you know, they people didn't really like what's his name? Derek.

Derek brought us. Yeah, they don't really like Derek a lot. And the family, thought, you know, for whatever reason, they were not accepted into the neighborhood. Yes. I think maybe because it's all caused trouble and the police were there and all this other stuff. So I feel like it was like they couldn't have moved in anyway. They would not have been accepted anyway. Yeah. You know, but then the word came out about the watch of the letters got out somehow. And then that puts a stigma on a home. Sure. Oh my gosh. I know.

Like when we go to Gettysburg to do those ghost tours or whatever, they never take you to a home and say, this is happening haunted. This is, this house is haunted. Because legally they can't. anyway, and then the brontesses ended up taking the woods to court, the people who owned the house forward to court because there's a law basically in New Jersey that you have to disclose anything like.

that. Well, they didn't even think that was anything. if I would, in all honesty, if I was the owner, I wouldn't have thought that either. I've moved, I got this letter, ⁓ this is funny. Yes, I would never have. So that case was dismissed. You know what mean? So it's... Well, and then the brates also tried selling the land or something and they wanted to make it... down. Tear the house down and the township or...

The HOA refused that. They were stuck with this house. They couldn't live in and they couldn't... I I would just be so devastated. I would too. And I think they ended up living with relatives. With her mother. Okay. Yeah. Until they bought something else, I think. Yeah, but they took a major... Major hit. I think it sold finally for 900-something thousand. So they lost about 400,000.

Yeah, ⁓ that's not even including, I don't think, the renovations that they had done. Yeah, I do not know. now they... when the renters moved in though, that's when they got the fourth letter. So that was like later. Yeah. So they get the fourth letter and then it says, this one's interesting. Then it gets kind of attack mode. It says, the vile and spiteful Derek and his wench of a wife, Maria. Wow.

So now it's personally, now it's really honed into personal and bunch of a white. That's like that's old people speak. That's true. So anyway, I said the letter then teased the writer's identity saying that perhaps the couple hadn't encountered him before. This I'm reading off of the Today Show website. If you want to look at that, I don't want to get accused of plagiarizing. yeah.

We get accused of a lot of things. know. It says, wonder who the watcher is? Turn around, idiots. The letter read, maybe you even spoke to me, one of the so-called neighbors who has no idea who the watcher could be. Or maybe you do know and you're too scared to tell anyone. That would freak me Good move. Mm-hmm. Yeah. then it went on. I don't have the rest of that letter to threaten them. never know what could happen if it's a car accident or you get sick or there's broken bones. It'll always be.

It was really, was, it was psychological warfare. it traumatized them. Like they both ended up having like some mental issues. I would have trouble sleeping even in a different location. Now, interestingly enough, the people who bought the house have, they say they have not gotten any letters. However, the police have been out there 58 times for, well in the beginning it was for

people, somebody trying to break into the basement. Okay. Somebody trying to do the other thing. And then a lot of them, think them were once there was a movie on Netflix called The Watcher. Yes. Once that came out, then you have your rookie lose, you know, people who I think they might have to call them for trespassing or, you know, something like that. So I don't know how many of those 58 were those, but there was a lot that had to do with like suspected break-ins or yeah, which would just freak me out. Me too. And I had seen The Watcher.

on Netflix. did you watch that? Yeah. few years ago. And honestly, I think you should watch it. Anybody should. I didn't see it. But one of the things I did do, like what is the difference between Netflix and of course what happened real. So honestly, watch the Netflix movie because it's creepy. Yeah. But it does say the family moved in in the Netflix. They did not move in in real life. Right. In Netflix, they tried to make

the neighbors very creepy, very criminalized, spooky. But in real life, the neighbors were mostly normal, except for the one. Also, they did have neighbors behind them who in real, who had their this older couple who had lived there for a very long time, like decades, who had their lawn chairs set up look that like next to the fence, they can look directly into their house.

And I forget when one of the workmen said comment it to Derek and just said that this is creeping him out because these people are just staring, sitting there staring into your house. So I know that would creep me out. But and then the last thing on the Netflix, too, is just they had tunnels and cult like affairs and murders, whereas that never happened. And right. But I would say to anybody, it gives you an idea of this story. Right. Right. To definitely watch it. Yeah.

it to me and it's still on soft. Right. They still have no idea. He or she covered their tracks so well. Yes. I mean, I listened to some podcasts that were, I'll put in the show notes because it was two ex FBI agents that were profilers. And you know, they, they think it's someone who had a grudge against the family. And it would have been state someone who was a very spiteful person who, they said like,

say you're at a family gathering and would just say something like, not nice, but couch it in something like, you oh, I see you're moving up in the world and moving, blah, blah, blah. But then, underneath is, is a very manipulative person. so they didn't think from those, from how they looked at the whole case, like dissecting the letters and stuff like that, they felt it was someone trying to act like they were from, that they were older than they were trying to.

Mislead they thought it would they did think that it was a woman. Okay, but they thought it was all kind of Smoke and mirrors that those that that person never would have actually harmed Yeah, how about that? I mean, I would you rather I thought would you rather be like I think I'd rather be attacked than to have something psychologically Yeah, I would with my head

I would, and then I'd be scared if someone watching me. It's awful to do to somebody. couldn't think of anything because your home is where you need to feel safe. That's your, you know, so it would take away all of that. When you look at the pictures of the house, you can see there are a lot of windows. Like everywhere. It's beautiful. Yeah, but I would, I could never sit in my living room and look outside and not be freaked out. No.

Now, another thought too I did hear on one of the podcasts, and I don't know about this, they think that the family, the Broaddus family, actually sent the letters themselves. I don't believe it either, but they think because they got in over their heads after buying the house, they wanted to get out. they did, but they lost a lot of money.

I don't anyway that yeah, know that bad and I don't think well and well the FBI people haven't ruled those profiles did not rule that out. Yeah, it's not self-incrimination. It's called self something when you do something, you know the rumors around the neighborhood or that they were doing it for a movie deal. well, they got a movie deal but that that cost them $400,000. You know, I mean, I don't know. I just yeah, don't swear. Yeah, I don't think.

because it came just two weeks after you pretty much bought this or when that was before that. It was quite great when they had settlement. think it was the day of settlement. Everything to me, I'm unqualified. We totally don't take our opinions for anything. I hope we explained the story well because it's hard on a two second cocktail. But you can look it up. It's just very fascinating. There's lots of

people who've done videos and YouTube things about it. listened to Crime Hub. Have you listened to him? Okay, no. I really, really liked his take on it. I'll put a link to another one. ⁓ I can't think what hers was called. meant to bring that along, but they actually like acted out kind of. wow. And that one was really, really good too. Yeah. So I'll put the links to those because we I enjoyed them and each one had a different kind of take on everything.

but the bottom line is creepy as mm-mm. And I wouldn't even, even if I didn't have kids, I would not live in the house. Nope. Nope. With getting letters about watching. know, I know. But I think we should do a road trip. Road trip! Yes! New Jersey! Okay, I'm sure that they don't get that every day. I'm sure they do. ⁓

I mean my apple. My apple has been soaked in Crown Royal. Oh, this was a very good cocktail. Okay, so we don't really have, well we did have a listener. A positive. Yeah, positive. We'll take it. We'll take it. In our little burglar bag, is that what we're calling it? Yes, we're calling it burglar bag. We had a mail that said that they

thought it was our best intro yet that would have been on episode 12. Yes. And they were anxious to listen to the rest of the story. And so that was from Frederick Merrill and thank you. Yes. We don't know who you are. We want to thank you. Keep listening. You can do fan mail on through bus. If you listen to us on bus. Yeah.

there's a little thing you do fan mail. Yeah, and it doesn't come up a name. It just comes up what a location doesn't. If you like the episode after you listen to it. episode really sucks. So as always, this is the Sip Shop to get your merch. Yes. ⁓

and you can contact us through sipsbillsolve at gmail.com. Send us your fall cocktail recipes. Yes, we're on fall now, people. Yeah, fall and what else? You can reach us on our Facebook page. Our Facebook, our Instagram, also YouTube. Don't forget now. Don't forget YouTube. Yeah, but you can reach us and leave us comments. we're there. Thank you. Please support us. Support can be beautiful. Cheers. ⁓