Gunshots rang out from voice mails. Emails and texts read: "I hope you die," "Kill yourself," "We will take pleasure in your pain."
Tanya Gersh found herself buried in an avalanche of hate, one she had not seen coming and one that focused on one fact: She's Jewish.
Gersh was called a "bitch," "a worthless c**t," and told countless times she was nothing more than a filthy "k**e." The vile and ugly words were spelled out in full when sent to Gersh.
The messages began late at night and continued into the early hours, keeping her family awake. Or there was a night of silence, broken by an onslaught at 4 a.m., jolting the family from sleep.
One voice mail -- "You are surprisingly easy to find on the Internet. And in real life" -- ended Gersh's lifelong practice of leaving her home and car unlocked in her little Montana town, nestled by a lake in the Rocky Mountains.
Gersh appears to have become a target for hate after contacting the mother of known white supremacist Richard Spencer. Gersh says she warned Sherry Spencer about looming protests at a building owned by Spencer in Whitefish, a Montana town of 7,300 where both women live.
Gersh says she advised Spencer to disavow the views of her son, including that the United States is a country for white people. She says she offered to sell Spencer's property as of a way of defusing tensions in town. Gersh suggested Spencer donate money to a human rights group.
Sherry Spencer refused to speak to CNN when we reached her on the phone. Earlier, she wrote in a blog post that Gersh, a Realtor, had threatened her, saying protesters and media would turn up and drive down the building's value if she didn't sell.
Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial said Sherry Spencer did not file a complaint with police, though her son Richard Spencer accused Gersh of extortion in interviews and a video diary. No law enforcement agency has filed any charges relating to the dispute.
There was comment aplenty, though, on DailyStormer, which spews neo-Nazi propaganda.
Andrew Anglin, the site's founder, accused Gersh of extortion in a blog post. And he exhorted readers to send Gersh -- whom he also identified as Jewish -- enough messages to make a point.
"Let's hit 'em up," he posted. "Are y'all ready for an old-fashioned Troll Storm?"
He then told them: "(I)t's that time."
Anyone who read Daily Stormer had access to all Gersh's information after Anglin posted it time and again. He put up photos and personal details: phone number, address, workplace and social media profiles -- including one used by her 12-year-old son. Each contained instructions to tell Gersh how they felt.
"Listen here you fucking Jew. You had better back off and leave Richard Spencer's mom alone, you dirty scumbag," one caller said on Gersh's voice mail. "You fucking Jew. You had better back off of Richard Spencer's mom. Everybody is watching you."
The Daily Stormer published more about Gersh and her "Jew agenda," once with a doctored photo showing her and her tween son on the gates of the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
A tweet was sent to Gersh showing her surrounded by gas, with the message: "Hickory dickory dock, the kike ran up the clock. The clock struck three and Internet Nazis trolls gassed the rest of them."
More messages referenced crematoriums and said she should have died in the Holocaust.
A tweet to her 12-year-old son had an image of an oven with the message: "PSsst kid there is a free X-box inside this oven."
More here
Fucking ridiculous. The same damn tactics as GamerGate and other related bullshit. Hope she wins her lawsuit.