LAKE DELTON, Wis. -- Imagine having a $200,000 to $300,000 nest egg evaporate overnight.

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That's what a local show-business couple said happened to them after a land battle with the village of Lake Delton. The namesake lake flooded in June and drained the lake, taking nearby homes and land with it. Since then, the village has been hit with legal claims as it tries to shore things up.

One couple is angry with the village, saying it has steamrolled over them and their property rights.

Magicians Rick and Susan Wilcox are masters of illusion on stage in Wisconsin Dells, but in real life, they have failed to make their nightmare disappear.

"This has been one of the worst experiences in our life," said Rick Wilcox.

"It's completely surreal," Susan Wilcox added.

The duo said they have spent $100,000 on lawyers and engineers after being blind-sided by condemnation proceedings, relocation orders and threats from the village of Lake Delton.

"They threatened our house," Rick Wilcox said. "They threatened that it would cost millions of dollars to take care of the repairs on our own. There were a lot of threats."

Susan Wilcox alleges the village distorted the law to achieve its goals.

"I'd say they were strong-arm tactics," said Susan Wilcox. "I think they misrepresented the law to get what they wanted."

At issue is an earthen berm with some pine trees on top of it. The berm forms part of the Lake Delton village dam, WISC-TV reported.

Village and other engineers are now walking the earthen berm near the Wilcox's house, after a three-month land dispute ended Friday.

Frustrated, fed up and facing a temporary restraining order from the village, the Wilcoxes agreed to give the village an easement to a vacant parcel they own next to their house so the village can remove some trees the state Department of Natural Resources sees as a dam safety hazard. The DNR said the larger trees might cause seepage problems in the berm.

Village official Tom Diehl said getting the DNR order complete was the village's only objective.

"The village's only interest is to get the work done that the DNR has required so that we can close the gates on the dam and fill the lake back up again and not have to have a draw down next year," said Diehl.

But Rick and Susan Wilcox said the village knew the dam was on their property and never told them. Now, they contend that they are left with a piece of land that is worthless because no one can build on it.

They said a village engineer told them nothing on their land would stop development before they bought the property.

"He said he was familiar with the land and we could certainly develop it -- but you can’t develop land that is behind a dam!" Rick Wilcox explained.

Diehl said that he has no knowledge of the village assuring the couple the land could be developed, and said the issue was never brought before the village board.

Diehl said the village has handled the whole land issue -- including Wilcox's concerns -- appropriately.

"I think they have been treated very fairly," said Diehl.

Rick and Susan Wilcox could fill in the land behind the berm and abandon their piece of the dam, but so far the DNR has turned down that very costly option.

The couple said they deserve to be compensated somehow for an estimated $300,000 loss in property value. Their title insurance company has denied to cover any of the loss.