Mid-set in Des Moines in 1982, something small landed on the stage in front of this singer. He picked it up, bit the head off it, and spent the rest of the tour having rabies injections.
The full story
On 20 January 1982 at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa, a bat was thrown onto the stage during Ozzy Osbourne's set and he bit its head off in front of the audience. He said afterwards he had believed it was a rubber toy and that it moved in his mouth. Mark Neal, then 17, identified himself to the Des Moines Register as the fan who threw it and said the bat had been dead for around two weeks and kept in a freezer; his friend Carmen Kelly and bassist Rudy Sarzo corroborated the account. Osbourne was treated at Broadlawns Medical Center and underwent a course of rabies injections while the tour continued. He died on 22 July 2025, aged 76.
The clues we handed out
— By his own account he thought it was a rubber toy until it was already in his mouth.
— The fan who threw it later gave his name to the local paper and said the animal had been dead for two weeks and kept in a freezer.
— The bassist on stage saw it land and waved him over to it.
— He had been the original frontman of Black Sabbath before going solo.
— Initials: O.O.
How this case played
ALLEGEDLY* edition No. 84. Three strikes to name Ozzy Osbourne, with a free clue
unlocked after every miss.
The jury's verdict
Every case that closes goes to the jury. Players who finished this edition were asked:
Did they know what they were doing?
8 verdicts have been filed. 25% say they knew.
75% say they didn't. A clear majority, but not a consensus.
*A blind item you can check. Every puzzle is drawn from the public record —
court records, official rulings, and moments that unfolded on live television — and the
records are linked above. Allegedly.
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