The Alamo — Ozzy Osbourne Arrested (1982)

On February 19, 1982, Ozzy Osbourne was arrested outside the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, after urinating on the Alamo Cenotaph — the 60-foot granite monument erected in 1939 to honour the 189 Texan defenders who died in the 1836 battle. Osbourne was reportedly extremely intoxicated at the time and, in an additional detail that has since become rock legend, was wearing a dress belonging to his future wife Sharon, who had hidden all his clothes to prevent him from going out. He had slipped out of their hotel room and made his way to the most sacred site in Texas history.

Osbourne was charged with public intoxication, briefly held in a local jail, and released on $40 bond in time to perform that evening at the Hemisfair Arena Convention Center. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas, the organisation then responsible for maintaining the Alamo grounds, were significantly less forgiving: Osbourne was banned from performing in San Antonio for a decade. The ban was lifted in 1992, when Osbourne made a public apology to the city and donated $10,000 to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

Today the Alamo and its adjoining Cenotaph — which survived Osbourne's visit intact — draw over a million visitors a year to Alamo Plaza in the heart of San Antonio's tourist district. In the decades since the incident, Osbourne became something of an unlikely figure of local affection: when he died in July 2025, the Alamo itself posted a tribute acknowledging his journey "from infamy to reconciliation." The Cenotaph stands where it always has, presumably more carefully watched.