Spirituality

Controversy surrounds Denver seminary's bizarre 'Yeti blood oath'

By T.K. Randall
July 27, 2025 ·  1 comment

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) A very strange story from Denver, Colorado made local news headlines earlier this month.

It involved a group of 15 seminaries who had been studying at Denver's St. John Vianney Theological Seminary when they were taken on a skiing trip to a house in the mountains by the rector of the time, Fr. John Nepil.

According to reports, the group had been awoken in the middle of the night and were told to sit silently in the living room and wait to be called, one by one, into a trailer that was sitting outside.

Upon entering the trailer, the seminaries reported being faced with, not only Fr. Nepil, but an individual wearing a full Yeti costume, and were told to sit at a table on which sat a dagger and a dollar bill.

The seminary would then be told to lay their arm on the table and make a "blood oath" to "enter into this family" by way of a "sacred tradition" - seemingly involving being cut by a knife.

Those who committed, however, where never actually harmed - instead being considered devoted enough to have their own blood substituted in the ritual with bear blood.They were then told to scream at the top of their lungs to show "commitment to this tradition".

Unsurprisingly, once word got out about this 'ritual', the incident went on to generate a great deal of controversy. Even the police were called out, though they took no action in this case.

In the end, it was revealed that the whole thing had been an ill-judged prank.

"Members of the St. John Vianney Theological Seminary (SJV) community were filmed participating in a prank, being asked to take a blood oath and other imprudent behavior," the Archdiocese of Denver said.

"Fortunately, the investigation uncovered that the event was farce, that no oath had taken place, and at no time was there risk of bodily harm."

"It was, however, part of a deeply imprudent and inappropriate prank."

Source: Pillar Catholic | Comments (1)

Tags: Yeti