Glamorous homeowner calling herself the ‘Wicked Witch of the West’ goes to war with small town after fencing off a beach alongside a creek on her land that thousands used to visit every year

A Colorado woman is embracing the moniker “Bad Witch of the West” after battling her small town over the fence on a beach adjacent to her land that drew scores of visitors.

Taralyn Romero, 43, bought a home next to Kittredge Park in the town of Kittredge, Colorado.

The land totaled 0.68 hectares and had a creek running through her garden, a big part of Romero’s charm.

Her family loved it, but hated the dozens of people, including children, who showed up at the creek every day. The public had been using the land for decades, unaware that it was privately owned.

“For a long time, the community really had this narrative that I was an evil witch who hates children and wants them off her property,” Romero said.

She admitted that she wears the nickname proudly and even uses it as herself TikTok accountwhere she advocates for property rights.

The people she bought the property from had made a silent agreement to let anyone who wanted to use the creek hang out, to the point that most assumed it was part of Kittredge Park.

According to surveys conducted on the property, the land is officially owned by Romero and her fiancé.

“We have 55 people with families, dogs, tents, coolers, grills, umbrellas, towels, six-packs. It had become a water park,” she said.

Romero said she was often treated cruelly online and in person for protecting what was legally hers.

“When you get that kind of disagreement about whose country it is and you get children involved and you use the rhetoric of a screaming lady, then it was really a wildfire for social media,” she said. CBS News.

It became so ridiculous that the haters started committing vandalism in the name of using the land.

‘They verbally abused me incredibly rudely and insulted the country. Sometimes they would take out metal shovels and literally destroy the creek bank, breaking trees and leaving trash behind,” Romero said.

She chose to install barriers around the land herself to prevent guests from using the creek.

‘Even if it’s her country, take it away from her’ and they did, well, they tried,” she explained.

Jefferson County – where Kittredge and the country are located – decided to take Romero to court.

They tried to cite the long history of the public using land and practices known as “adverse possession laws” to get Romero’s land.

Romero used her ‘Real Wicked Witch of the West’ TikTok to rally support from people who sympathized.

“They wrote the commissioners, they made phone calls and they really stood by my side in the fight to keep my property,” Romero said.

Romero settled with the county in May 2023 and a fence was built to officially mark where her land ended. She gave up a small portion to the province in exchange for a $250,000 payout

“Although I was ready to go to the Supreme Court, I had to balance my family life and financial issues,” Romero said.

“At the end of the day I said, ‘You know what, let’s split this baby.’

The fence was built in January and the land outside the fence is now managed by the local parks department.

She said a teenager recently tried to jump the fence, but the barrier settled the dispute.

‘Hopefully this is the last. But unfortunately, I think we’re going to have another summer where people try to push the envelope and get triggered by a fence,” Romero said.

Her next step is to sue the people she bought the house from for not making the history public. Their court mediation is scheduled for later this month.

“Yes, I’m willing to put it behind me, but not before seeking some accountability from the courts for the people who sold me my house,” Romero said.