Ozzy Osbourne Returns to Bat Site

I just read in the news that Ozzy Osbourne is on tour with Rob Zombie and their scheduled November 2, 2007 stop will be Ozzy's first return to Veteran's Memorial Center in Des Moines, Iowa where he reportedly bit the head off a bat in his 1982 concert.

It has been an ongoing debate as to whether or not Ozzy actually bit the head off of a bat at that concert for 25 years now, Ozzy himself never really giving the same answer in regards to that incident in the many interviews he's talked about it in since.

Well, I would like to put an end to this debate, at least for all those that find my posting here (or the many other places I have found talking about the incident on the web and tried to put an end to the mystery with the same explanation).

I can give you an exact account of that infamous day in Des Moines, Iowa. I was there. In fact, I was the one Ozzy threw the bat at.

I did not notice how Ozzy got the bat to begin with. Whether it was thrown up on stage as Ozzy claims it was, or if it was a prop he brought along, I cannot say. In a recent interview, Ozzy claims the bat was thrown up on stage and was in fact rubber. But I really doubt Ozzy can even remember what he put in his mouth last week, let alone 25 years ago. The bat was quite real, and its head remained intact.

I was standing in the second row while Ozzy was prancing from one side of the stage to the other, clapping his hands above his head to the beat of the music, trying to get the audience to join in and do the same, while the bat was hanging out of his mouth. Ozzy passed in front of me and noticed that I was the only one NOT complying to his request to clap with my hands above my head. He stopped in front of me, removed the bat from his mouth, pointed directly at me and said, 'Clap your f***ing hands or I will curse you!' I smiled, and Ozzy threw the bat at me.

The bat hit me square in the chest, though at that particular moment, I did not know that it was a bat. I caught it as it bounced off my chest. It was slimy and the ribs of the wings jabbed at my fingers. I dropped the sticky, spiny thing into my coat pocket and proceeded to enjoy the rest of the show.

After the show, out in the parking lot, my friends and I took the object out of my pocket and spread it out on the hood of the car using the tips of a couple of pencils. I didn't want to touch it again after feeling how slimy it felt when I had caught it. It was only then that we realized it was a small, dead bat, and it wasn't until later we heard that he had supposedly bit the head off of it.

The next day on the radio, a Des Moines rock station I always listened to was playing spots announcing that Ozzy was to have rabies shots and whoever had the bat should turn it in to the authorities so that tests could be done to see if Ozzy needed to have the shots or not. Being the rock 'n' roll faithful that I was, I called the radio station to ask where I should take the bat. They informed me that the spot was a paid 'advertisement' and that I could do whatever I wanted with the bat.

Ozzy never had the rabies shots. He never bit the head off the bat. Someone shouted controversy and Ozzy saw an opportunity for publicity. Apparently it worked because 25 years later, people are still talking about it.