Kings Island "The Bat"

I think some people gave you some faulty information when you were a kid and as memories do sometimes it morphed a little bit over time.

The Bat had multiple mechanical issues- it put a lot of stress on the trains and shocks- but it NEVER derailed, and it NEVER seriously injured anyone, let alone killed them.

It's possible that there were ambulances there for something else. It happens and isn't unusual for parks to have an ambulance in park, either for a guest condition (e.g. heart, heat, etc) or even to have one on standby. And you may have seen that at the same time as a mechanical shutdown, someone else told a great story with no truth, and it's grown over the years to a horrible thing that never actually happened.

Something like that would not, and could not, be covered up. But if you'll do some digging you'll see it never happened.

As SirWillow stated, you have been given some false information. No one ever died on the Bat. There is much urban legend associated with Kings Island, particularly regarding fatalities.

This has been discussed extensively here on URC.
Here is a link to an extensive thread on the topic.
It is well worth taking the time to read it.

Kings Island Fatalities

I was told the same thing as a kid by both my parents and the people running the rides . They me someone died was why it was closed .
I was on the first ride when it reopened the next year .

Maybe the person that ran the ride told that to scare people so they wouldn’t complain it was closed ?
Not sure but does seem strange now all a sudden they say no one died .

From this thread, it doesn't seem like everyone knows that there were two Bats. Both were at Kings Island and both were suspended coasters by Arrow Dynamics. The recent one opened in 1993 as Top Gun and was named Flight Deck in 2008. The original one only ran from 1981 to 1983. That one was taller, longer, but slower. The track turned all over the place and the trains could swing like knows one's business. That one was dangerous, but I don't know of any deaths. I did originally live in Ohio, but I don't know if I went to KI in those years. From what I hear, no one who might have ridden it should be upset that it closed.

It's interesting to see "the thread that wouldn't die" pop up again after all these years, and that the only original replies are mine and SirWillow's.

I worked at KI for twelve years. Doesn't make me an expert at anything, but many of the urban myths people hear are just not true.

The details of deaths which actually have occurred at KI have been documented in the post linked below. Read it.

Paramounts Kings Island Fatalities

theRock-steel said:

From this thread, it doesn't seem like everyone knows that there were two Bats.

You might have missed that this was a very, very old thread that was resurrected from the long buried grave. AT the time it was originally created, there wasn't a second Bat. Only the original that had been gone for a while.

and as Rob points out again on that link he posted, no one died on it. :-) (waves at Rob)

Rode the original Bat many times, was a great ride. At the time when riding this ride you just didn't realize just how far it swung. Great ride just bad engineering. I do miss this ride. Yes no deaths occurred on this coaster while it was in operation.

I think that the current Bat is very underrated. At the park, I say only Diamondback, Mystic Timbers, Banshee, and Orion are better.

I agree, The Bat (current one) is a good ride. It never has any line most the time, so I ride it more than anything else almost every visit. Not a big or too intense ride but it's just fun. The operators are also usually real chill too.