When the members of the Yale a cappella troupe the Spizzwinks(?) “began to notice a smell” at auditions, they figured it might be time to check out the box an earlier participant left sitting on a table outside the room. And, lo and behold, upon opening the box, they found a “thawing severed deer’s head.” This presumably accounted for the smell.

Though leaving a severed deer’s head in a box outside an a cappella audition isn’t explicitly illegal, the New Haven Register reports, Paul Kowlaski from the New Haven Health Department says it was “probably not the most appropriate thing to do.”

The Yale Daily News surmises that the severed deer head may be a part of an intense Yale a cappella feud between the Spizzwinks(?) and their rivals, the Society of Orpheus and Baccus, also known as the SOBs. They’re reporting that the alleged prankster has “ties” to the SOBs, and that the university accordingly has suspended them from the rushing process, which means there will be no SOBs this year as a result.

This is some serious business—as one member of the Yale a cappella community told the Daily News, removing SOB from the rush process could damage their “long-term legacy.”

“They’re not going to recover from this for at least five, maybe 10 years,” she boldly declared, though anonymously.

The horror!

I weep for these poor Yale students and the legacy of their club for people who want to sing with other people but not with instruments.