Denver International Airport isn’t just an airport – it’s a secret underground bunker for the global elite; a Freemason headquarters; and possibly home to a colony of lizard people. That is, if you believe the slew of conspiracy theories that have circulated over the years.
The bizarre stories started long before the first flight took off in 1995.
Denver already had Stapleton International Airport, just ten miles from downtown. So when officials announced plans to build an even larger airport, residents were baffled.
The official explanation was that Stapleton’s runways were too close together, often forcing shutdowns during bad weather. But skeptics saw something else: a cover story for a much darker construction project.
When Denver International Airport finally opened, six years after breaking ground in 1989, it was enormous – twice the size of Manhattan – and $2 million over budget.
To this day, the sprawling complex continues to be shrouded in secrecy and a magnet for conspiracy theories. And airport officials have leaned right in, plastering walls with signs for travelers: “Yes, the lizard people are real.”
For conspiracy theorists, the remote location, high costs and a slew of other unexplained claims could mean only one thing – something sinister was beneath the runways.
Here are some of the most bizarre conspiracy theories surrounding the airport.
Nazi runways and a ‘New World Order’
One of the oldest and most persistent claims is that the airport’s runways form the shape of a swastika.
Aerial photos do show a pinwheel design, but aviation engineers have said that it’s simply a practical layout that allows multiple planes to land in varying wind conditions.
But theorists insist the swastika-like shape is a nod to the Nazi-linked “New World Order” – the secret organization supposedly pulling the strings behind global governments.
There’s also the airport’s dedication capstone, a granite plaque near the main terminal that bears the Masonic square and compass symbol, and credits a group called the New World Airport Commission, according to VisitDenver.com. But the group doesn’t exist which, of course, only fuels the fire.
Local historians say the “commission” was a short-lived committee formed to organize the airport’s grand opening celebrations, named after Dvořák’s New World Symphony.
But to theorists, that’s proof positive that the airport was funded by shadowy elites – either the Illuminati, the Freemasons, or both. The dedication date, March 19, 1994, doesn’t help either: if you add up the numbers (1+9+1+9+9+4), you get 33, the highest level of Freemasonry.
‘Blucifer’
Even before stepping inside, the airport’s most infamous resident greets you from the side of Peña Boulevard – a 32-foot-tall cobalt blue mustang with glowing red eyes.
Officially named Mustang, locals call the fiberglass beast Blucifer.
Its fiery eyes, some say, are a reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Others believe they glow with the souls of the damned.
The real story is tragic enough. In 2006, a piece of the sculpture fell on 65-year-old artist Luis Jiménez during construction, severing an artery and killing him.
His studio later completed the artwork and it was installed in 2008, more than 15 years after it was commissioned.
While many believe the horse’s glowing red eyes were portals to hell and evidence of Mustang’s demonic nature, airport officials explain that the eyes are simply LED flood lights.
The red eyes are also a tribute to the artist’s father, who owned a neon-sign shop in El Paso, Texas, where he apprenticed. Jiménez’s wife Susan explained to Colorado Public Radio in 2019, that his death was a tragic accident and that the horse’s eyes have no evil intent.
She said she remembers an incident years ago where her husband heard a noise in their home and went to investigate.
“He sees these two eyes,” she said. “And he said the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.”
But it turned out to be their horse Black Jack, the model for the Jiménez’s final work, who had mysteriously broken into their living room.
“And so [do the eyes] have anything to do with that incident and this kind of you're afraid of something but then it’s OK [because you realize] it is familiar,” she said. “I don't know. But the eyes do not have any evil intent whatsoever.”
Underground lizard people
A network of tunnels beneath the airport was built for a failed baggage system – but some say it’s now home to reptilian humanoids, government bunkers, and alien research labs.
The airport’s sprawling underground tunnels were built to service an ambitious, automated baggage system that never quite worked.
So left behind was a labyrinth of unused tunnels and maintenance spaces, the perfect setting for decades of speculation.
Some believe these tunnels connect to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), 90 miles away in Colorado Springs. Others are convinced they house bunkers for the world’s elite to wait out the apocalypse.
Airport officials say the tunnels are just what they look like – industrial corridors used for baggage transport and maintenance. Still, their scale and secrecy have ensured the myths live on.
Murals of doom
Inside the terminals, artist Leo Tanguma’s sprawling murals depicting war, destruction, and children in coffins have sparked endless debate over the years, and are, according to theorists, coded prophecies of the New World Order’s plan for global domination.
In one particularly infamous section, a soldier in a gas mask holds a sword over a dead dove as children cower nearby – a chilling image that theorists claimed symbolized a fascist future.
Tanguma, however, insists the murals tell a story of hope, peace and environmental unity.
Gargoyles and Egyptian gods
If the murals weren’t bizarre enough, the airport once housed a 22-foot-tall statue of Anubis, the Egyptian god of death — installed briefly to promote a King Tut exhibit.
Conspiracy theorists, of course, saw it as more proof of occult influence.
Nearby, two bronze gargoyles titled Notre Denver perch in open suitcases above the baggage claim.
Artist Terry Allen said they were meant to protect travelers’ luggage, but even they’ve joined the ranks of the airport’s “suspect” decor.
Today, new animatronic gargoyles talk to travelers, jokingly welcoming them to “Illuminati Headquarters … I mean, Denver International Airport.”
‘The DEN Files’
Rather than dismiss the wild claims, Denver International Airport has embraced its notoriety.
The airport even launched a website, The DEN Files, a play on “The X-Files” TV show, documenting its favorite conspiracy theories.
During ongoing renovations, the airport has covered its construction walls with posters featuring aliens, pyramid eyes, and lizards in hard hats.
One reads: “What are we doing behind this wall? Adding new restaurants … or hiding the Illuminati?”
Another one shows one of the gargoyles in a TSA line and asks: “Streamlined security? Or more secrets?”
But the truth, according to airport officials, is that the ads are part of a marketing series to promote the Great Hall Project, a large-scale renovation of the Jeppesen Terminal, slated to be finished in 2027.
Or, is it just another secret?
