Black Sabbath were set to perform at an old English castle, but strange things happened during night. Ozzy fell asleep in a room with a fireplace. A piece of burning coal fell off the fireplace and the whole room started to burn. Luckily Ozzy escaped in the last minute.
Later the band saw an unknown person which walked in a room. They followed him but the room was empty and only door out was locked from the inside.
In the end the members were so scared that they had to leave the castle the same night.
The band were originally named the less scary 'Polka Tulk'.
Bassist Geezer Butler has claims he has had psychic abilities since a young age. On one occasion during the early '70s when Geezer was heavily into the occult,
Ozzy gave him a handwritten book some 400 years old. When Geezer took the book home a black cat just appeared in front of him. As he turned back to the book, he found that it had simply disappeared. Geezer said "It freaked me out, I knew it wasn't a cat - I knew
what it was".
After a drunken night out, Ian Gillen (Black Sabbath vocalist for a brief year-long stint) decided to race a brand new Granada, belonging to Paul, the then SABBATH tour manager, around a grand prix go-kart track. After umpteen laps he struck a rock and flipped the machine over leaving it upside down, completely written off.
Ian left a note on the message board saying "Dear Paul, I've left the Granada down on the go-kart track and the keys are in it!" Paul was so angry when he discovered
his pride and joy wrecked that he poured petrol over Ian's boat, set it alight and torched it in true Hawaiin funeral tradition down a nearby canal!
Bassist Geezer Butler supports football team Aston Villa, with many of the band's lyrics alluding to the team and watching them as kids.
The last album the band recorded before Ozzy originally left was the ironically-titled 'Never Say Die'. Then Osbourne left and the band drafted in Dio and continued just as strong.
US cartoon characters Beavis and Butthead chant Black Sabbath song 'Iron Man' on the show but fail to remember any of the words correctly.
The band's name comes from the 60's horror movie (obviously entitled 'Black Sabbath') featuring Boris Karloff.
The album 'Paranoid' was originally named 'War Pigs' but had to be changed because of the Vietnam War.
Black Sabbath have long featured mysterious persons on their album covers. Their debut showed an unknown woman who the Black Sabbath Appreciation Society have blocked the true identity of and there is even less known about the person on the cover of 'Paranoid'.