5th Dev
The 5th floor of Devereux Hall has more ghost stories than any other floor on campus. Once open to students, the 5th floor, or "5th Dev", was a communal lounge that the residents of the building shared. Several years ago, when the lounge went into disrepair and was deemed a fire code violation, it was sealed and locked from all sides, and the stories grew in number. From footsteps heard late at night heading upstairs and disappearing through the locked door to rumors of mass suicides and seances, the "real" reasons for the 5th floor being closed off to the public has been a topic revisited when gossip on campus gets low for years.
The most famous of all of the stories is the one of the Black Mass. It is said that in the early 1960s, a group of students went up to the 5th floor of Devereux Hall with the intention of conducting a Black Mass and summoning evil spirits. The students were said to have stolen the unconsecrated host from the chapel and brought several books with them, and from there the stories are as varied as the people telling them. Some say that it was successful, that the students saw visions of something dripping from the walls and that the evil spirit they conjured still lurks above the residents of Dev, but none of these stories have been confirmed.
The late Fr. Alphonsus Trabold confirmed that while the students brought pieces to the 5th floor to conduct the mass, they were missing several key components to be successful (including a consecrated host and a prostitute). Still, the stories of the Black Mass remain the most widely known and discussed story on campus, and have sent uneasy shivers through generations of St. Bonaventure Alumni.
The most famous of all of the stories is the one of the Black Mass. It is said that in the early 1960s, a group of students went up to the 5th floor of Devereux Hall with the intention of conducting a Black Mass and summoning evil spirits. The students were said to have stolen the unconsecrated host from the chapel and brought several books with them, and from there the stories are as varied as the people telling them. Some say that it was successful, that the students saw visions of something dripping from the walls and that the evil spirit they conjured still lurks above the residents of Dev, but none of these stories have been confirmed.
The late Fr. Alphonsus Trabold confirmed that while the students brought pieces to the 5th floor to conduct the mass, they were missing several key components to be successful (including a consecrated host and a prostitute). Still, the stories of the Black Mass remain the most widely known and discussed story on campus, and have sent uneasy shivers through generations of St. Bonaventure Alumni.