An Arizona mother and son who allegedly attacked their neighbors told police that the violent episode was the culmination of a years-long feud wherein the two households had been battling each other with voodoo and other forms of witchcraft. The weird incident reportedly occurred early Monday morning in Phoenix when, authorities say, Gabriela Martinez and Alberto Ayala began brawling with the people who live next door to them. According to the police, the victims wound up badly beaten, and the suspects stole their cell phones and a necklace one of the neighbors had been wearing. When cops investigating the case questioned the duo, they offered a rather fantastic explanation for what sparked the fight.

Ayala told police that the incident came about after his mother grew "fed up" with their neighbors torturing her with witchcraft, specifically voodoo dolls. For their part, the victims asserted that Martinex and Ayala had also been practicing the proverbial dark arts in an effort to disrupt their lives. The strange circumstances that sparked the scuffle were echoed by Martinez's boyfriend, who told a local TV station that the two households had been engaged in a veritable spiritual war for the past several years.

"He's doing witchcraft, like satanic stuff," Pablo Santiago said of his girlfriend's neighbor, "he's over there poking the dollies. Right when he sees me on the camera, you can start feeling him poking you in your body." While Martinex and Ayala may have hoped that Monday morning's fisticuffs would put an end to the long-running feud, it almost certainly only exacerbated their problems, as the pair have been charged with armed robbery over the incident and, as such, their next neighbors may wind up being on a prison cell block.