Denver Airport Finally Embraces Its Bizarre Reputation

One of the murals at the Denver International Airport, painted by Leo Tanguma.

Ever since opening to both fanfare and derision in 1995, the Denver airport has been ground zero in the conspiracy theory world, if only for the very long list of blatant peculiarities it contains, mostly in plain sight. I covered most of them HERE in June. 



Denver is kind of unique in conspiracy circles because you don't have to make it all up - most of it is right out in front of God and everybody to see. From the fascistic imagery on murals and the Masonic control panel-looking capstone touting a "New World Order" (sort of), down to the giant, blue-with-glowing-red-eyes horse of Lucifer's on the road into the terminal areas, the place is its own worst enemy.

Now, apparently, the CEO of the airport has decided to openly embrace the paranoia.

From an article in today's Denver Post:

“We have a CEO (Kim Day) who really embraces the conspiracy ideas,” said Heath Montgomery, senior public information officer for DIA. “We decided a few years ago that rather than fight all of this and try and convince everybody there’s nothing really going on, let’s have some fun with it.” 

2016 marks a turning point in the airport’s marketing savvy. For the first time, DIA is featuring a modest, museum-style exhibition of the most notable (and, admittedly, least controversial) theories in honor of October as “Conspiracy Month.” Events have included a “conspiracy-themed costume party” and free “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” screening — chosen because the coordinates for the alien landing in the 1977 film supposedly point to DIA’s location (in reality it’s an empty field 51 miles northwest of the airport).Most of the theories are so laughable and easily disproved that DIA is happy to weaponize them as marketing tools. That, in turn, translates to an estimated “hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars” in free publicity, Montgomery said. 

“Those aren’t even pictures of our airport,” he said as a Buzzfeed video played on a TV screen behind him in the conspiracy exhibit, which runs through Oct. 31 in the main terminal. “People see it out of context and then it continues the dialogue. YouTube is a big propagator of this. There’s been so much misinformation out there that people just regurgitate and spout it without thinking or addressing the reality behind it.”

(I never knew about the gargoyles and the Close Encounters thing. This place is a gift that just keeps on giving.)

Read the whole article HERE.