HENDRICKS COUNTY, Ind. -- A family feud that went global when a video was posted on YouTube prompted thousands of online comments full of vitriol -- most of which clearly involved family members and their associates.

Delana Ward said she hid a toy gun after a child wouldn't stop bullying other children at a Christmas party.

The boy's father, Greg Cox -- a distant relative of Ward -- accused her of stealing the gun and posted a video of the incident on YouTube.

Since then, Ward has received death threats and other threats of violence. Her house burned over the weekend in a fire that investigators determined was intentionally set.

Experts said the ordeal underscores that online threats should be taken seriously. Numerous comments posted on YouTube.com, TheIndyChannel.com and other sites about this incident have taken a nasty tone.

Hendricks County Prosecutor Pat Baldwin is investigating online threats against Ward and said she isn't surprised by the vast number and severity of the comments.

"Especially when people can be anonymous, they will say horrendous things," Baldwin told 6News' Tanya Spencer.

Baldwin said investigators are monitoring comments online and can track IP addresses through Internet service providers. The online comments could be used as an investigative tool in the case to solve the arson.

Experts who have studied the culture of anonymous web comments said the phenomenon can be tracked back thousands of years.

"It's a mob mentality online," said Carol Jeurgensen-Sheets, a psychotherapist with Indianapolis Psychiatric Associates, who equated nasty comments with the Salem Witch Hunts and the Ku Klux Klan. “If you are worried, if you have a hunch that this could go bad or go south, you need to immediately follow that, and do whatever you need to do to protect yourself."

Ward was worried for her family’s safety when 6News spoke with her last week. Turns out, her intuition may have been right.

Ward and her family are now homeless and in hiding, but her case is the exception. Most mean-spirited online comments never turn from words to action.

Experts said there are several ways in which people can avoid taking online disputes to the next level, such as detaching from the ugliness.