She Bought A House On Land That Locals Loved. Then The Town Turned Against Her.
Kittredge is home to fewer than 1,000 people. But, fueled by Facebook rumors and social media infighting, a community disagreement has become a toxic battle leading to real-world confrontations, a lawsuit, and death threats.
Stephanie McNeal, BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on February 17, 2023
The way locals tell it, Bear Creek, which runs alongside Kittredge Park in Kittredge, Colorado, is one of those places childhood dreams are made of.
But one day in spring 2022, a sign appeared next to the creek. “Private Property,” it read. “Residents and Invited Guests Only.” In June 2022, another joined it, reading, “No Trespassing.”
Soon, rumors started circulating. “I started seeing things in the groups,” Colleen Duke, a member of neighborhood groups, told me. “[People were] saying these terrible things.”
Pretty soon, the issue spread from the internet to real life. Angry parkgoers sneered and yelled outside the house where the Evil Lady lived. They complained at public and private forums. They demanded something be done.
And so, the local government did something. In July 2022, the Board of County Commissioners in Jefferson County, Colorado, filed a lawsuit against the homeowner, asserting that it retained rights to the land she claimed was hers and asking a judge to declare it was open to the public.
That’s one side of this story. On the other side is the woman who owns the house and property, Taralyn Romero, and her fiancé, Michael Eymer. They say they have watched in horror as their attempts to assert Romero’s rights have made them the targets of an unyielding social media hate campaign that has left them traumatized, and seriously concerned for their safety and that of Eymer’s 11-year-old daughter.
Much discourse has been devoted to the impact of online groupthink and how social media can whip groups into a frenzy. These dynamics also play out on a micro level. Kittredge has a population of fewer than 1,000 people and yet, fueled by Facebook rumors and social media infighting, a community dispute has become a toxic battle leading to real-world confrontations, a lawsuit, and death threats.
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