May 2, 2025 • 35 mins
In this episode of Truth Be Told, host Tony Sweet sits down with journalist and author Patricia Calhoun to explore her eye-opening article “What a Trip! The Ten Wildest Conspiracy Theories About Denver International Airport.” From underground bunkers to lizard people and secret Illuminati symbols, we dive deep into the strange and surreal mysteries surrounding one of America’s most infamous airports.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today, we're flying into one of the strangest, most conspiratorial
corners of America, Denver International Airport. Joining me is a
brilliant journalist and author, Patricia Calhoun, whose article what a
Trip The Ten wildest conspiracy theories about the Denver International
Airport has set off a frenzy of curiosity. From creepy
(00:20):
underground bunkers and secret societies to apocalyptic murals and rumors
of lizard people, Patricia has explored the bizarre myths and
urban legends that swirl around this infamous airport. We're gonna
uncover why the DIA has become ground zero for some
of the wildest theories out there. What's fact, what's fantasy?
(00:42):
And while these stories continue to capture the public's imagination
decades after the airport's opening. So buckle up, conspiracy lovers,
because this episode will take you down the rabbit hole
and beyond. I'm Tony Sweet with Truth Be Told. Please
welcome to the Truth Be Told Studios for the first
time journalist Tricia Calhoun. It's Patricia. How you doing, Miss Patricia.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I'm doing just fine. Thanks Tony.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Well, I told you right before the show that I
passed through Denver about a week or so ago. Yeah,
so I was coming back from Kansas, and of course
I thought about the the airport that I've flown into
many times, and you wrote an art cale said, what
a trip the ten wildest conspiracy theories about Denver International Airport.
(01:33):
I've heard some good stories about this for quite a while,
and so I just kind of want to dive in.
And what really I mean cause you're from Denver, right.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Well, I'm from Chicago, but I've been here longer than
the airport, so I'm qualified to come there.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
We go, Well, what what was the rumors that you
heard and then inspired you to write the story.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well, back, we used to have an airport that was
very convenient, ten minutes away from downtown, but it was
way overgrown. So in the eighties, Denver decided it needed
a new airport and so they found this place to
Helen Gone, way out in northeast, way out there. There
was nothing there at the time, so of course the
first conspiracy theories were all the people who made money
(02:17):
off it. But then the conspiracy theories got much much better.
As plans came through to build the airport. There were
rumors that it was on an Indian burial ground, and
so when the construction started, it was cursed from the beginning.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
How many people died it.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Then, as the construction continued, the rumors got far more elaborate,
some of them based on reality, like there was an
experimental baggage system that actually did eat everyone's luggage in
the in the tests. And from there came like that
there were Martians in the lower levels of the airport,
(02:55):
or if not martians, it had been built as a
concentration camp by the New World Order to imprison bad people.
There's that one. There are giant reptiles down there, there
are lizards, you name it. That airport has it.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Well, where did you start? Because you wrote the article,
but was what was the one thing that really fascinated
you and says, you know what, this might be a
good story to tell.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Well, it was the thirtieth anniversary at the very end
of February, which is why I recapped a lot of
these conspiracies. Most of a lot of them are older
than thirty years. There's the rumor that the runways were
laid out like a swastika or a penis, and the
two shapes are really not that similar. But those rumors
(03:42):
are both out there. Then there were the baggage rumors,
and when it finally opened two years late, there were
problems from the beginning, little glitches here and there. But
the greatest rumor of all was when the Blucifer the
blue Horse Mustang was finally installed after killing its creator.
(04:03):
So Blucifers, it's now called very lovingly in Denver, really
set the conspiracy conspiracy theories going.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I mean, I'm showing a picture for the people that
are listening, and you know, it's a beautiful structure, but
then when you get to the eyes, you're like, oh,
that's that's kind.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Of scary, lowing, crazy red eyes anatomically correct for a
fiberglass horse that's thirty two feet. So it's a startling
site that greets you as you come into the airport
or leave the airport. And it was in a poll
about two years ago it was they pulled Denver for
its favorite piece of public art, and Blucifer or Mustang,
(04:43):
it's official name, was the most loved and the most loathed.
So it's made an impact.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
And you you said the creator died, how did this
creator die?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Well? When the airport was first commissioned, there were a
lot of pieces of public art under our one percent
for Art program, and Luis Samanaz, a famous artist based
in New Mexico, got one of the commissions to create
this horse. He was very behind scheduled. The city kept
threatening to sue him. Finally, he was in his studio
(05:15):
hurrying up before he got fined for missing the deadline,
and as he was constructing the horse, a piece of
the leg impaled him. Oh my god, and died and
that is true, and his kids finished it off for him.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Wow. Now that's pretty random.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
That's a killer horse, no question.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah, I would not want to get too close. Well,
that's pretty crazy, so I know that. Also, you talked
about the structure the way if you look above, and
I'm going to show a picture, but it's also we're
going to dive into the doomsday bunkers buried underneath the airport.
(05:54):
Can you talk about a little bit about what we're
seeing here for the people that are viewing, if you
want to describe to our viewers that are listening what
we're seeing here, because it I don't see much, but
oh I do see it now. I see the swastika.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, the swastika. Frankly I still don't see the penis.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
But I don't see that either.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
But Denver International Airports, it's at the base of the
mountains and in the middle of the country. It was
built as an all weather airport, had started out with
five runways, so you're seeing basically the configuration of the runways.
It was out on old farmland and prairie, so there
was plenty of room for it to stretch out, and
plenty of room, of course underneath to build those doomsday bunkers,
(06:41):
adding to the conspiracy theory for that. When they decided
to have a celebration for the opening and the opening
was delayed, the group that set up the party was
called the New World Airport, which sounds a lot like
New World Order. So that wasn't exactly a smart title
if you wanted to keep conspiracy theorists at bay.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, I you know, I've heard years ago, even when
I was a kid, about the bunkers in the mountains
of Colorado, where you know, if there was a nuclear
war that the it could fit a certain amount of
people in the bunkers or oh that's all true, yes,
which is true, But but I've not heard much about
(07:27):
the doomsday bunker underneath the airport. But I guess if
they're building, you know, out in the middle of kind
of nowhere, maybe people can't observe it as much as
they would if it was closer to the city.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
There were no real neighborhoods at that time to watch
this happen. And like all great conspiracy theories, there is
some truth. I mean, Nora D, the North American Air
Defense Command is based in Colorida Springs, and that is
an underground bunker where you are supposed to be able
to go to withstand nuclear attacks. And part of the rumor,
one version of the rumor has underground tunnels from Denver
(08:05):
International Airport to the underground bunkers at NORAD. I've never
found them myself, but I have been down on those levels.
And one of the things that also gave rise to it.
At Denver International Airport is the baggage level that was
eating luggage was basically closed off. So there's this whole
level that for years was closed off while they tore
(08:27):
out the baggage system that never worked. I mean, they
just go by the old system. Every other airport works.
But that secret level led to a lot of conspiracy
theories too.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
What was this new baggage supposed to do in the
first place that was different than.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
It was supposed to have things? And think about this.
This was ninety two ninety three when they were working
on it, and it was supposed to be computerized and automated,
so you didn't have to basically have people in carts
pick up your bags, figure out where they were going,
and then put them on the right conveyor belt. This
was supposed to be automated. It never worked, and it
just basically ate the baggage, or so we've been told.
(09:06):
It could have been lizards eating the baggage.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Right right, really now, yeah, well they may like leather
and fake leather and all.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
That knapsacks you're going to you never know clubs.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
So in these underground tunnels, were these theories supposed to
be more military or just hidden executive bunkers for potential
disasters or.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
It really depends on what flavor of conspiracy you like.
Because we had the military conspiracies that they would round
up undesirables and put them in these bunkers and that's
just where they would live and they would become slave
labor doing I'm not sure what then there's the variation
that it was the Illuminati put you with the New
World Order put the people wanted to have a concentration
(09:57):
camp for the undesirables. Then there's the variation that's where
you would go if the desirables would go there during
nuclear fallout. Then you get into the Martians and the lizards,
and those are a little less likely.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Which one do you lean for?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I always have to go for Martians, I.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Think, yeah, that would be mine too. It's more interesting
to me so well.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
And it is an airport, so it makes sense. Would
they would like to blast off when they can?
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Have you heard about UFO sidings around the airport?
Speaker 2 (10:31):
You know, not as many around the airport, but certainly
Colorado has had many many UFO sidings. We just had
a great one last summer outside Red Rocks, the legendary
concert venue.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah, just in the foothills.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
It's so beautiful. But they had a great UFO siding
last summer that no one has yet debunked. We have
a UFO watchtower in southern Colorado where there have been
many many sightings. So we our skies are pretty busy
with unofficial flights.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
With unofficial flights, yeah, I would love to. I think
that would be kind of fun to go to that tower.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Oh, the UFO Watch Tower is a blast, and it's
celebrating twenty five years this summer, so I highly recommend
it for summer vacations.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Do they actually have tourists can go? Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah, it is basically it's a very short tower, but
it's basically tourist trap. But it's in the San Luis Valley,
which is known for all its mystical psychological vartexas.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
All right, I'm going to put that on my travel list.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
You can also see the Alligator Farm and the Great
Sand Dunes when you're down there.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Hey, you might as well get a whole weekend out
of it.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
So, I talked to a lot of people in the
last you know, thirteen fourteen years about when they're writing
books and articles, and some people actually do get some kickbacks,
and not kickbacks, threats about maybe getting too close to
(12:05):
the truth about something. Have you had any not necessary threats,
but people saying you're getting too close to a topic
that's not very popular amongst these sites.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Well, we got a lot of threats not related to
Tender International Airport because we're kind of a cranky weekly
twenty four to seven website that's writing a lot of
stories that people might be upset by. So the airport
actually is one of the things most people can agree on.
We've embraced all this strange conspiracy theories, and if we've
(12:42):
ever hit on any of the accurate ones, those people
are too smart to threaten us. Because it's buried in
so many conspiracy theories, it's hard to choose the real one.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I love it. I love it. And yeah, like you said, anything,
you know, you put yourself in the public eye in
any way and you're touching on some type of conspiracies
or anything. One side or the other is always going
to have something to say. So well sides. Oh yeah, yeah.
One thing that I do, and I'm sure many people
(13:15):
have flown into the airport itself. There's a lot of
amazing murals and I'm going to just kind of show
a few that you can talk about. This one was
very interesting. Like you said, we had the Bluecifer and
then we have this one. Can you talk about this.
(13:38):
I don't know the name of this one.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Well, yeah, this one is by there too. They're Children
of the World, Dream of Peace, and I think This
is the other one by Leo Tunguma, who is one
of the very early muralists. Denver's had a very strong
legacy of muralists, and he painted this right when the
airport was opening, and thees grew out of this piece
(14:02):
pretty quickly, and this held up the New World Order
concept that people were going to come in, military was
going to come in and imprison people. Leo Tunguma was
somehow blissfully unaware that there were all these conspiracies about
his paintings until one day a van of conspiracy theorists
drove up to his studio in Metro, Denver and actually
(14:26):
got out and wanted to talk to him about what
was the truth. And that was how he found out
that his paintings had led to these conspiracies. Allegedly.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
That's right, because when you look at them, there's some
beauty in it, but then there's also looks like a
lot of pain, a lot of like disaster. You know,
it's not it's not the I love the dove on
the tip of the sword. I mean, it's just you're like,
it is what does that mean? And what was his interpretation?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Well, if you look at the second one too, it's
really that peace and love will triumph and the children
of the world will unite. But that first one in
particular does look a little scary, and these aren't small,
and they were right at the entrance to the airport
as you come in, and so they were a little
freaky to some people and definitely inspired lots of conspiracies.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Of course, yeah, I I I've seen it, and like
I said, you're like, what what does this mean? Because
there's not really much of interpretation of other than your
mind flying with you know, like you said, conspiracies or
(15:40):
just what was the what was the artist thinking at the.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Time, right, it doesn't really inspire travel or tourism, which
you would be what they would have authorized. But you know,
another one that really inspired a lot of talk was
one of the early art commissions, and it was gargoyles
in suitcases by the Baggage Claim, which you know, love
it or I think they're pretty great and probably very
(16:04):
accurate when you think about how many luggage pieces of
luggage have been lost around the world. But the gargoyles
are just back because Denver International has been doing a
big expansion, updating a lot of things for its thirtieth,
So those guys are just back. I'm not sure if
the murals by Tanguma are back, but we have been
promised everything will be put back in place.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
You know, with all these rumors and all these conspiracy theories,
how has the airport itself responded to these rumors over
the years and has it changed as the years went on.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
The airport originally was very very sensitive about it because
they thought that here we finally opened this multi billion
dollar project and it seems to be kind of working
after the luggage eating up and everything else, and all
people would talk about were the conspiracies with the Mustang
wasn't in place yet, but certainly Leo Tanguma's murals and
(16:59):
the rumors about the Martians and the reptiles and the
New World Order. So the airport didn't have much of
a sense of humor, although with time it began to
embrace it, and in fact, it had a whole exhibit
devoted to conspiracy theories and showing some of the best ones,
including that New World Order. I think you've got the
capstone that was the big terminal, so they had they
(17:23):
explained why that existed if you believe it, and that
was dedicated before a good year before the airport actually opened,
and it does look a little Mason conspiracy Illuminati, but
the airport ultimately embraced it. And in fact, when the
most recent construction projects started, they put up signs that
(17:45):
said we're under construction or it's the Martians. I mean,
they made fun of all the conspiracy theories, which probably
didn't help travelers who never heard them and couldn't figure
out where they were going.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, and I see that they embrace every so often
about I think there was one sign that had an
alien It says, you know, Denver has its secrets or something.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Like that, exactly so, and you can, actually, I think
maybe still get some souvenirs that are a little marshony
out there, and certainly blucifer is. It's been adopted all
over town as a symbol of Denver.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Has any of the kind of the religious figures in
the area have they ever tried to protest it?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I will say this, the religious figures in the area
have pretty much stayed away. The leaders have enough things
to get involved in art Haters did get involved early,
like shortly after Mustang went up, there was a campaign
to try to get rid of the devil Horse, as
they called him. But that wasn't religious people, that was
just people interesting who thought they had better taste.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
I was gonna say, that's interesting, especially art, because under.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Denver's rules, you can't remove a piece of authorized public
art that went through the proper channels for five years.
So by the time the five years were up, the
people who'd originally wanted to get rid of it had
lost interest, and everyone else pretty much loved it, even
if they had no idea why it was standing there.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
But it stands out, I'll put it that way.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Some people think it's for the Broncos, which it is not.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Oh I know, Oh, okay, okay. Well, you've been covering
you know, Colorado, especially Denver for many years, and and
have you seen how the locals, you know, shift in
their perception of the Denver Airport because, like you said,
at the first, it was so far out and with
(19:39):
these conspiracies and in these rumors. Do they mostly laugh
it off now or do they still have many believers
of these conspiracies.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
I have to say, I think any local laughs off
the rumors but loves them. I mean, it's just funny
to have a haunted airport. You know, there's a bridge
you can walk over if you've ever taken the concourse,
and there's actually sound of Native Americans. There's like music
and you can hear chance that they've been put in
and that's an homage to the maybe Indian graveyard that
(20:12):
was there. But that's a little creepy. But if you're
on those moving sidewalks, you will hear that sound coming through,
So that's unusual. People, i think have embraced all the quirks.
People like Colorado because it can be quirky. What they
don't like about the airport is the endless construction and
sometimes the jam trying to get there on Panna Boulevard.
(20:34):
But we now have a train that takes you to
the airport, which is a treat works really well. Construction
is almost finished. We've got a lot of new concourses
bars there. In general, it is pretty close to an
all weather airport. It takes a lot to close Denver
International Airport. Basically the rest of the country has to
be closed for it to close down. So it's worked.
(20:55):
It's a huge economic driver and that could be coincidence
or conspiracy. Maybe the Martians are doing it to make
it a more profitable center, right.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
That could be true. That could be true. Have you
had your any of your own experiences with UFOs or spirits.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Or I'm afraid to say, I'm tremendously insensitive, so I
have not really noticed anything, and trust me, I would
welcome it. So I wish i'd see he felt some.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
I love how you're so honest about that. Bad but true,
sad but true. But I appreciate that the idea of
having hidden messages in plain sight. I know we have
the murals and many other things that we've spoke about,
but is there anything else that those slight little details
(21:45):
that maybe most people wouldn't even notice walking through the airport?
Have you seen any of those? Because you know, murals,
whole walls, But have there been like just little things
that maybe that you have seen or other people have
seen that nobody else sees.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I have to admit I have not seen a lot
of them. They're great little inlays and some of the
floors that are by an indigenous artist. But I don't
think there are any secret messages there but all around
the airport because there was such a robust arts arts program,
and the arts program continues they keep buying new pieces
(22:21):
as they keep doing construction projects under Denver's rules, there's
always something new and wacky to see. You just kind
of have to keep looking.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
So it's like a big modern art museum inside the airport.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
It's pretty close. I mean, it's so big that you
will go many feet, many hundreds of feet sometimes without
seeing a piece. But there is plenty to see there.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
That's awesome. I love that. When with the rumors about
the Native American burial grounds, have they checked with local
indigenous people of that to see if this was true
or not, because I know you said it's a lot
of rumors.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Well, they have checked, and when the construction was going
they had to have an archaeologist out there to make
sure they didn't find anything right, and they didn't. But
certainly that was a hunting ground for several tribes. The
youths were in the area, the Arapaho and Cheyenne were
in the area until the Sand Creek massacre made them
(23:22):
flee the state. So there were there were a lot
of natives who roamed that area, but as far as
we can tell, there was no official burial ground there.
And let me just say, if they found it the
excavators hit it really fast, so stop construction.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Well, I mean, I'm sure they've already spent a bunch
of money before they If they did find something, they're like,
sweep that under the rug. We can't. We can't find
a new site. So we've had.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Enough trouble finding something. Because even to build this airport
under a law that didn't allow Denver to annex property,
there had to be a whole vote with the county
whose land this was in to let Denver annex it
and make the Denver Airport. So there was a lot
of work going into this airport before ground was ever broken.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Olthough this was a vote of the people.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Yeah, we had to vote to allow this to happen.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
How close was it, you know, it wasn't very close.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Our governor at the time really stepped up and was
campaigning for why Denver needed it, And frankly, there's enough
urban rural conflict that rural areas were really happy to
get it. And the only people who were sad pretty
much were denverd's who couldn't get there in ten minutes anymore.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
And this is kind of random, but whatever happened to
the old airport, the old airport.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I will say this, Denver is so landlocked that any
opportunity they get to build on something new is great.
So the Denver Airport, which had been named Stapleton, is
now known as Central Park. And that's another story. But
it's a huge housing and retail area, really a really
strong housing area now because the airport closed thirty years ago,
(25:04):
so a lot of those houses had been there for
a while. They're trees. It's a hot area.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
It was the name was changed from Stapleton, which the
airport was named back in oh It was built in
the twenties and I think named after Stapleton in the thirties.
That was a former mayor of Denver who was also
a member of the kkk oh Wow. Five years ago
they decided maybe it was a good idea to change
the name. So Stapleton no longer exists as a name
(25:31):
for that area and it's now Central Park.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
So it took only five years ago to change the name.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Yeah, there had been some complaints earlier, but you know,
in a lot of in a lot of cities, you're
a founding fathers may not have been the sweetest people.
The founding fathers might have made Martians look good.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Right right? You know, I'm going to go back to
the plaque of the Mason plaque real quick. It's it
circled here. It says the time capsule beneath this stone
contains messages and memorabilia to the people of Colorado in
twenty ninety four. Do we know what's in the capsules
(26:10):
in this capsule?
Speaker 2 (26:12):
I do not. I'm sure some people when they put
it in there, and those were a lot of the
founding fathers, not any Stapleton's at that point. We might
find out what they put in it. Some mentioned I
think they put in some of the old flight things
from Stapleton Airport so people could compare what it had replaced.
But there could be a lot of big surprises there.
(26:35):
You might make until the opening, I don't think I'll
be no.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
I will be one hundred and thirty, so I think
I'm good. Also, I also noticed on here. I just
think it's funny it says the most worshipful, which I
thought that's pretty pretty grand to even say that on
(26:59):
a stone.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
H Yeah. It there was so much about that kind
of New World Party, and it was a fairly wealthy
fellow who got involved and said I'll put on this party,
and so that was part of the big celebration for
the airport that was delayed, and so there actually was
no airport opening at the time they had the big party.
(27:20):
But it does seem ill advised the language there, Yeah,
and reason and reason to be suspicious.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Has has uh? Has the local.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Well, I guess there's probably several chapters in that town.
But has anybody made statements of why this was put
in the airport?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Not really. They just explained that it was to honor
the group that had gotten and they raised some money
and that had gotten together to have this big celebration.
But why it's there, it's still kind of a mystery,
and the airport's embraced it. I think most people can't
even remember why it's there.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Yeah, they probably Most people probably just walk past it
and don't even notice it. So exactly, how do these
conspiracy theories, you know, reflect like larger cultural themes, you know,
like distrust of government and fear of surveillance or belief
in secret societies. How do you know when you think
of conspiracy theories, especially with the airport, how do you
(28:22):
feel this affects the larger cultural themes.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Well, it does point to a fact, the fact that
many of us have a big distrust of our government,
of the people who lead things, or also just maybe
a very strong belief that there's something more out there,
that you're not just getting on a United airplane and
getting a little snack that is no longer peanuts, That
(28:49):
there is more to life than this, or death than this,
that there is a greater beyond. And especially as you
get on an airplane and you're flying off into the atmosphere,
you do wonder what is beyond there. So I think
people try to fill that with theories.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Yeah, and I don't I don't care who's in office
or how many years in the future. I think there's
always going to be conspiracy theories. I think there's always
going to be rumors about you know, secret societies. You know.
I don't think that's ever going to change. It hasn't changed,
probably since the beginning of humanity on this planet.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
With the Ananaki consider exactly, and the fact that in
Denver they have attached themselves to the biggest work project
in Colorado in decades. For newspapers, that is just that's gold.
How much fun to be able to write about it,
and that Blucifer continues to create owners and shoot those
(29:47):
eyeballs at you, that people still get scared by Leo
to Gouba's murals. It's all great for us. It's just
great stories.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
I'm sure. I mean many, many little towns have became
very well known because of conspiracy theories or because of
stories like this. So I'm sure anytime they can get
tourism or people talking about it, I mean why not.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
And if you're stuck on a layover, it's kind of
nice to things you can go look at and explore.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Right, Yeah, you can only sit and eat and drink
as well. Most people probably would love that, but I
would be the one that would want to go out
around and read the murals and all that stuff. Well,
you mentioned ten people are ten wildest conspiracy theories. If
you can add eleven, what would you add? And if
(30:41):
not in the not in the airport, give us a
good one from another conspiracy theory for a Denver story.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Oh well, that is good, I have to say. And
again as a newspaper, the fact that we couldn't prove
that there was a conspiracy to make a lot of
money off the construction of the airport was really an
amazing thing, because from the start we thought that it
was a boondoggle. But overall the airport has really worked.
I would say, for it is hard to beat the
(31:14):
Blucifer conspiracy theory and the fact that now and truth
is always stranger than fiction. When you're at a newspaper
and I have to say, the heirs to the Mustang
the horse. They have sued people for painting the horse,
for making statues of the horse, for doing posters that
(31:35):
are parodies of the horse. That's stranger than fiction. I
have to say, I love those. You know Norad, I
think Norad has some of the greatest conspiracies and the
tunnels that exist under the mountains. And of course the
one of the great conspiracies that happened Norad was by accident,
an ad for Sears in like nineteen fifty four had
(31:59):
a phone number that actually was for Nord, which is
why it was how to call Santa, And it was
a series AD with the wrong phone number and it
was the number for Nord. Now maybe that was put
it on purpose, but for seventy years now Nord has
had Santa, has tracked Santa our camber. Well, they still do,
and it's gotten very sophisticated.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah, I remember back in the seventies and early eighties
when I still believe. I mean, I mean when I
still oh you believe, I still believe. I still believe.
But I remember watching the news, Nord says he's over
Colorado or over Chicago. So yeah, I do remember those.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
And so when Santa's done with his roote, he can
just like go in the secret tunnel under Nord and
fly out of DA and have a nice smoothie on
his way.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Well before we get out of here, like I said,
you're editor in chief of west Word. Tell us about
what Westward is and what is your main focus.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
We started, oh almost fifty years ago as alternatives, I know,
talk because we wanted to tell the truth about what
was really going on in Denver as opposed to the
mainstream daily newspapers, which, as you know, are disappearing right
and left all over the country. Now we're still here
to just tell people what's going on in Denver, but
we do it not just in print, but twenty four
(33:20):
to seven on the web. And I have to say,
there always are lots of stories out there, and plenty
of them are based at Da.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Well, if anybody wants to check it out, just go
to Westword dot com and you can see what's latest
in the Denver or Col'm sure Colorado, but mostly Denver.
And it looks like they have a lot of different arts, music, cannabis,
things to do best of Denver. So next time I go,
(33:49):
I'm going to make sure I check it out. But Patricia,
thank you so much for being on the show. I
really appreciate it. That was fun to just go to
some of these conspiracies of things that, like I said,
I've been to Denver Airport many times. Some things I
knew about, some things I didn't. And now next time
I go, I'm going to have more things to walk
(34:10):
around and look at.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Well, great and my pleasure. If you find anything we missed,
please let us know. If the Martians let you escape
to talk to us.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
I will be the Inspector Clouseau of the Denver Airport
when I go next time. That's great, which I'll probably
get arrested or something for doing.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
That sped up and for the baggage claim.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Yes, well, thank you so much, and thank you everybody
for tuning in. And please you know I always go
to Westward one Westward I always say Westward, west word
dot com. There we go. I'm thinking of Westwood one,
which is also a big media outlet. So but we
(34:55):
want to thank you guys and for subscribing, listening and
sharing the show. If you have any questions, please reach
out to Patricia or me and like I said, tell
us what you want to hear. That's what we're here
for to give you what you want. But until next time,
I'm Tony Sweet. See you next Friday right here on
Truth Be Told and on the Club Paranormal Network. Bye.
Today, we're flying into one of the strangest, most conspiratorial
corners of America, Denver International Airport. Joining me is a
brilliant journalist and author, Patricia Calhoun, whose article what a
Trip The Ten wildest conspiracy theories about the Denver International
Airport has set off a frenzy of curiosity. From creepy
(00:20):
underground bunkers and secret societies to apocalyptic murals and rumors
of lizard people, Patricia has explored the bizarre myths and
urban legends that swirl around this infamous airport. We're gonna
uncover why the DIA has become ground zero for some
of the wildest theories out there. What's fact, what's fantasy?
(00:42):
And while these stories continue to capture the public's imagination
decades after the airport's opening. So buckle up, conspiracy lovers,
because this episode will take you down the rabbit hole
and beyond. I'm Tony Sweet with Truth Be Told. Please
welcome to the Truth Be Told Studios for the first
time journalist Tricia Calhoun. It's Patricia. How you doing, Miss Patricia.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I'm doing just fine. Thanks Tony.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Well, I told you right before the show that I
passed through Denver about a week or so ago. Yeah,
so I was coming back from Kansas, and of course
I thought about the the airport that I've flown into
many times, and you wrote an art cale said, what
a trip the ten wildest conspiracy theories about Denver International Airport.
(01:33):
I've heard some good stories about this for quite a while,
and so I just kind of want to dive in.
And what really I mean cause you're from Denver, right.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Well, I'm from Chicago, but I've been here longer than
the airport, so I'm qualified to come there.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
We go, Well, what what was the rumors that you
heard and then inspired you to write the story.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well, back, we used to have an airport that was
very convenient, ten minutes away from downtown, but it was
way overgrown. So in the eighties, Denver decided it needed
a new airport and so they found this place to
Helen Gone, way out in northeast, way out there. There
was nothing there at the time, so of course the
first conspiracy theories were all the people who made money
(02:17):
off it. But then the conspiracy theories got much much better.
As plans came through to build the airport. There were
rumors that it was on an Indian burial ground, and
so when the construction started, it was cursed from the beginning.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
How many people died it.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Then, as the construction continued, the rumors got far more elaborate,
some of them based on reality, like there was an
experimental baggage system that actually did eat everyone's luggage in
the in the tests. And from there came like that
there were Martians in the lower levels of the airport,
(02:55):
or if not martians, it had been built as a
concentration camp by the New World Order to imprison bad people.
There's that one. There are giant reptiles down there, there
are lizards, you name it. That airport has it.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Well, where did you start? Because you wrote the article,
but was what was the one thing that really fascinated
you and says, you know what, this might be a
good story to tell.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Well, it was the thirtieth anniversary at the very end
of February, which is why I recapped a lot of
these conspiracies. Most of a lot of them are older
than thirty years. There's the rumor that the runways were
laid out like a swastika or a penis, and the
two shapes are really not that similar. But those rumors
(03:42):
are both out there. Then there were the baggage rumors,
and when it finally opened two years late, there were
problems from the beginning, little glitches here and there. But
the greatest rumor of all was when the Blucifer the
blue Horse Mustang was finally installed after killing its creator.
(04:03):
So Blucifers, it's now called very lovingly in Denver, really
set the conspiracy conspiracy theories going.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I mean, I'm showing a picture for the people that
are listening, and you know, it's a beautiful structure, but
then when you get to the eyes, you're like, oh,
that's that's kind.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Of scary, lowing, crazy red eyes anatomically correct for a
fiberglass horse that's thirty two feet. So it's a startling
site that greets you as you come into the airport
or leave the airport. And it was in a poll
about two years ago it was they pulled Denver for
its favorite piece of public art, and Blucifer or Mustang,
(04:43):
it's official name, was the most loved and the most loathed.
So it's made an impact.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
And you you said the creator died, how did this
creator die?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Well? When the airport was first commissioned, there were a
lot of pieces of public art under our one percent
for Art program, and Luis Samanaz, a famous artist based
in New Mexico, got one of the commissions to create
this horse. He was very behind scheduled. The city kept
threatening to sue him. Finally, he was in his studio
(05:15):
hurrying up before he got fined for missing the deadline,
and as he was constructing the horse, a piece of
the leg impaled him. Oh my god, and died and
that is true, and his kids finished it off for him.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Wow. Now that's pretty random.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
That's a killer horse, no question.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah, I would not want to get too close. Well,
that's pretty crazy, so I know that. Also, you talked
about the structure the way if you look above, and
I'm going to show a picture, but it's also we're
going to dive into the doomsday bunkers buried underneath the airport.
(05:54):
Can you talk about a little bit about what we're
seeing here for the people that are viewing, if you
want to describe to our viewers that are listening what
we're seeing here, because it I don't see much, but
oh I do see it now. I see the swastika.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, the swastika. Frankly I still don't see the penis.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
But I don't see that either.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
But Denver International Airports, it's at the base of the
mountains and in the middle of the country. It was
built as an all weather airport, had started out with
five runways, so you're seeing basically the configuration of the runways.
It was out on old farmland and prairie, so there
was plenty of room for it to stretch out, and
plenty of room, of course underneath to build those doomsday bunkers,
(06:41):
adding to the conspiracy theory for that. When they decided
to have a celebration for the opening and the opening
was delayed, the group that set up the party was
called the New World Airport, which sounds a lot like
New World Order. So that wasn't exactly a smart title
if you wanted to keep conspiracy theorists at bay.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, I you know, I've heard years ago, even when
I was a kid, about the bunkers in the mountains
of Colorado, where you know, if there was a nuclear
war that the it could fit a certain amount of
people in the bunkers or oh that's all true, yes,
which is true, But but I've not heard much about
(07:27):
the doomsday bunker underneath the airport. But I guess if
they're building, you know, out in the middle of kind
of nowhere, maybe people can't observe it as much as
they would if it was closer to the city.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
There were no real neighborhoods at that time to watch
this happen. And like all great conspiracy theories, there is
some truth. I mean, Nora D, the North American Air
Defense Command is based in Colorida Springs, and that is
an underground bunker where you are supposed to be able
to go to withstand nuclear attacks. And part of the rumor,
one version of the rumor has underground tunnels from Denver
(08:05):
International Airport to the underground bunkers at NORAD. I've never
found them myself, but I have been down on those levels.
And one of the things that also gave rise to it.
At Denver International Airport is the baggage level that was
eating luggage was basically closed off. So there's this whole
level that for years was closed off while they tore
(08:27):
out the baggage system that never worked. I mean, they
just go by the old system. Every other airport works.
But that secret level led to a lot of conspiracy
theories too.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
What was this new baggage supposed to do in the
first place that was different than.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
It was supposed to have things? And think about this.
This was ninety two ninety three when they were working
on it, and it was supposed to be computerized and automated,
so you didn't have to basically have people in carts
pick up your bags, figure out where they were going,
and then put them on the right conveyor belt. This
was supposed to be automated. It never worked, and it
just basically ate the baggage, or so we've been told.
(09:06):
It could have been lizards eating the baggage.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Right right, really now, yeah, well they may like leather
and fake leather and all.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
That knapsacks you're going to you never know clubs.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
So in these underground tunnels, were these theories supposed to
be more military or just hidden executive bunkers for potential
disasters or.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
It really depends on what flavor of conspiracy you like.
Because we had the military conspiracies that they would round
up undesirables and put them in these bunkers and that's
just where they would live and they would become slave
labor doing I'm not sure what then there's the variation
that it was the Illuminati put you with the New
World Order put the people wanted to have a concentration
(09:57):
camp for the undesirables. Then there's the variation that's where
you would go if the desirables would go there during
nuclear fallout. Then you get into the Martians and the lizards,
and those are a little less likely.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Which one do you lean for?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I always have to go for Martians, I.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Think, yeah, that would be mine too. It's more interesting
to me so well.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
And it is an airport, so it makes sense. Would
they would like to blast off when they can?
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Have you heard about UFO sidings around the airport?
Speaker 2 (10:31):
You know, not as many around the airport, but certainly
Colorado has had many many UFO sidings. We just had
a great one last summer outside Red Rocks, the legendary
concert venue.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah, just in the foothills.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
It's so beautiful. But they had a great UFO siding
last summer that no one has yet debunked. We have
a UFO watchtower in southern Colorado where there have been
many many sightings. So we our skies are pretty busy
with unofficial flights.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
With unofficial flights, yeah, I would love to. I think
that would be kind of fun to go to that tower.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Oh, the UFO Watch Tower is a blast, and it's
celebrating twenty five years this summer, so I highly recommend
it for summer vacations.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Do they actually have tourists can go? Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah, it is basically it's a very short tower, but
it's basically tourist trap. But it's in the San Luis Valley,
which is known for all its mystical psychological vartexas.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
All right, I'm going to put that on my travel list.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
You can also see the Alligator Farm and the Great
Sand Dunes when you're down there.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Hey, you might as well get a whole weekend out
of it.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
So, I talked to a lot of people in the
last you know, thirteen fourteen years about when they're writing
books and articles, and some people actually do get some kickbacks,
and not kickbacks, threats about maybe getting too close to
(12:05):
the truth about something. Have you had any not necessary threats,
but people saying you're getting too close to a topic
that's not very popular amongst these sites.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Well, we got a lot of threats not related to
Tender International Airport because we're kind of a cranky weekly
twenty four to seven website that's writing a lot of
stories that people might be upset by. So the airport
actually is one of the things most people can agree on.
We've embraced all this strange conspiracy theories, and if we've
(12:42):
ever hit on any of the accurate ones, those people
are too smart to threaten us. Because it's buried in
so many conspiracy theories, it's hard to choose the real one.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I love it. I love it. And yeah, like you said, anything,
you know, you put yourself in the public eye in
any way and you're touching on some type of conspiracies
or anything. One side or the other is always going
to have something to say. So well sides. Oh yeah, yeah.
One thing that I do, and I'm sure many people
(13:15):
have flown into the airport itself. There's a lot of
amazing murals and I'm going to just kind of show
a few that you can talk about. This one was
very interesting. Like you said, we had the Bluecifer and
then we have this one. Can you talk about this.
(13:38):
I don't know the name of this one.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Well, yeah, this one is by there too. They're Children
of the World, Dream of Peace, and I think This
is the other one by Leo Tunguma, who is one
of the very early muralists. Denver's had a very strong
legacy of muralists, and he painted this right when the
airport was opening, and thees grew out of this piece
(14:02):
pretty quickly, and this held up the New World Order
concept that people were going to come in, military was
going to come in and imprison people. Leo Tunguma was
somehow blissfully unaware that there were all these conspiracies about
his paintings until one day a van of conspiracy theorists
drove up to his studio in Metro, Denver and actually
(14:26):
got out and wanted to talk to him about what
was the truth. And that was how he found out
that his paintings had led to these conspiracies. Allegedly.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
That's right, because when you look at them, there's some
beauty in it, but then there's also looks like a
lot of pain, a lot of like disaster. You know,
it's not it's not the I love the dove on
the tip of the sword. I mean, it's just you're like,
it is what does that mean? And what was his interpretation?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Well, if you look at the second one too, it's
really that peace and love will triumph and the children
of the world will unite. But that first one in
particular does look a little scary, and these aren't small,
and they were right at the entrance to the airport
as you come in, and so they were a little
freaky to some people and definitely inspired lots of conspiracies.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Of course, yeah, I I I've seen it, and like
I said, you're like, what what does this mean? Because
there's not really much of interpretation of other than your
mind flying with you know, like you said, conspiracies or
(15:40):
just what was the what was the artist thinking at the.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Time, right, it doesn't really inspire travel or tourism, which
you would be what they would have authorized. But you know,
another one that really inspired a lot of talk was
one of the early art commissions, and it was gargoyles
in suitcases by the Baggage Claim, which you know, love
it or I think they're pretty great and probably very
(16:04):
accurate when you think about how many luggage pieces of
luggage have been lost around the world. But the gargoyles
are just back because Denver International has been doing a
big expansion, updating a lot of things for its thirtieth,
So those guys are just back. I'm not sure if
the murals by Tanguma are back, but we have been
promised everything will be put back in place.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
You know, with all these rumors and all these conspiracy theories,
how has the airport itself responded to these rumors over
the years and has it changed as the years went on.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
The airport originally was very very sensitive about it because
they thought that here we finally opened this multi billion
dollar project and it seems to be kind of working
after the luggage eating up and everything else, and all
people would talk about were the conspiracies with the Mustang
wasn't in place yet, but certainly Leo Tanguma's murals and
(16:59):
the rumors about the Martians and the reptiles and the
New World Order. So the airport didn't have much of
a sense of humor, although with time it began to
embrace it, and in fact, it had a whole exhibit
devoted to conspiracy theories and showing some of the best ones,
including that New World Order. I think you've got the
capstone that was the big terminal, so they had they
(17:23):
explained why that existed if you believe it, and that
was dedicated before a good year before the airport actually opened,
and it does look a little Mason conspiracy Illuminati, but
the airport ultimately embraced it. And in fact, when the
most recent construction projects started, they put up signs that
(17:45):
said we're under construction or it's the Martians. I mean,
they made fun of all the conspiracy theories, which probably
didn't help travelers who never heard them and couldn't figure
out where they were going.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, and I see that they embrace every so often
about I think there was one sign that had an
alien It says, you know, Denver has its secrets or something.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Like that, exactly so, and you can, actually, I think
maybe still get some souvenirs that are a little marshony
out there, and certainly blucifer is. It's been adopted all
over town as a symbol of Denver.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Has any of the kind of the religious figures in
the area have they ever tried to protest it?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I will say this, the religious figures in the area
have pretty much stayed away. The leaders have enough things
to get involved in art Haters did get involved early,
like shortly after Mustang went up, there was a campaign
to try to get rid of the devil Horse, as
they called him. But that wasn't religious people, that was
just people interesting who thought they had better taste.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
I was gonna say, that's interesting, especially art, because under.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Denver's rules, you can't remove a piece of authorized public
art that went through the proper channels for five years.
So by the time the five years were up, the
people who'd originally wanted to get rid of it had
lost interest, and everyone else pretty much loved it, even
if they had no idea why it was standing there.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
But it stands out, I'll put it that way.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Some people think it's for the Broncos, which it is not.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Oh I know, Oh, okay, okay. Well, you've been covering
you know, Colorado, especially Denver for many years, and and
have you seen how the locals, you know, shift in
their perception of the Denver Airport because, like you said,
at the first, it was so far out and with
(19:39):
these conspiracies and in these rumors. Do they mostly laugh
it off now or do they still have many believers
of these conspiracies.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
I have to say, I think any local laughs off
the rumors but loves them. I mean, it's just funny
to have a haunted airport. You know, there's a bridge
you can walk over if you've ever taken the concourse,
and there's actually sound of Native Americans. There's like music
and you can hear chance that they've been put in
and that's an homage to the maybe Indian graveyard that
(20:12):
was there. But that's a little creepy. But if you're
on those moving sidewalks, you will hear that sound coming through,
So that's unusual. People, i think have embraced all the quirks.
People like Colorado because it can be quirky. What they
don't like about the airport is the endless construction and
sometimes the jam trying to get there on Panna Boulevard.
(20:34):
But we now have a train that takes you to
the airport, which is a treat works really well. Construction
is almost finished. We've got a lot of new concourses
bars there. In general, it is pretty close to an
all weather airport. It takes a lot to close Denver
International Airport. Basically the rest of the country has to
be closed for it to close down. So it's worked.
(20:55):
It's a huge economic driver and that could be coincidence
or conspiracy. Maybe the Martians are doing it to make
it a more profitable center, right.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
That could be true. That could be true. Have you
had your any of your own experiences with UFOs or spirits.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Or I'm afraid to say, I'm tremendously insensitive, so I
have not really noticed anything, and trust me, I would
welcome it. So I wish i'd see he felt some.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
I love how you're so honest about that. Bad but true,
sad but true. But I appreciate that the idea of
having hidden messages in plain sight. I know we have
the murals and many other things that we've spoke about,
but is there anything else that those slight little details
(21:45):
that maybe most people wouldn't even notice walking through the airport?
Have you seen any of those? Because you know, murals,
whole walls, But have there been like just little things
that maybe that you have seen or other people have
seen that nobody else sees.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I have to admit I have not seen a lot
of them. They're great little inlays and some of the
floors that are by an indigenous artist. But I don't
think there are any secret messages there but all around
the airport because there was such a robust arts arts program,
and the arts program continues they keep buying new pieces
(22:21):
as they keep doing construction projects under Denver's rules, there's
always something new and wacky to see. You just kind
of have to keep looking.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
So it's like a big modern art museum inside the airport.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
It's pretty close. I mean, it's so big that you
will go many feet, many hundreds of feet sometimes without
seeing a piece. But there is plenty to see there.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
That's awesome. I love that. When with the rumors about
the Native American burial grounds, have they checked with local
indigenous people of that to see if this was true
or not, because I know you said it's a lot
of rumors.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Well, they have checked, and when the construction was going
they had to have an archaeologist out there to make
sure they didn't find anything right, and they didn't. But
certainly that was a hunting ground for several tribes. The
youths were in the area, the Arapaho and Cheyenne were
in the area until the Sand Creek massacre made them
(23:22):
flee the state. So there were there were a lot
of natives who roamed that area, but as far as
we can tell, there was no official burial ground there.
And let me just say, if they found it the
excavators hit it really fast, so stop construction.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Well, I mean, I'm sure they've already spent a bunch
of money before they If they did find something, they're like,
sweep that under the rug. We can't. We can't find
a new site. So we've had.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Enough trouble finding something. Because even to build this airport
under a law that didn't allow Denver to annex property,
there had to be a whole vote with the county
whose land this was in to let Denver annex it
and make the Denver Airport. So there was a lot
of work going into this airport before ground was ever broken.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Olthough this was a vote of the people.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Yeah, we had to vote to allow this to happen.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
How close was it, you know, it wasn't very close.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Our governor at the time really stepped up and was
campaigning for why Denver needed it, And frankly, there's enough
urban rural conflict that rural areas were really happy to
get it. And the only people who were sad pretty
much were denverd's who couldn't get there in ten minutes anymore.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
And this is kind of random, but whatever happened to
the old airport, the old airport.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I will say this, Denver is so landlocked that any
opportunity they get to build on something new is great.
So the Denver Airport, which had been named Stapleton, is
now known as Central Park. And that's another story. But
it's a huge housing and retail area, really a really
strong housing area now because the airport closed thirty years ago,
(25:04):
so a lot of those houses had been there for
a while. They're trees. It's a hot area.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
It was the name was changed from Stapleton, which the
airport was named back in oh It was built in
the twenties and I think named after Stapleton in the thirties.
That was a former mayor of Denver who was also
a member of the kkk oh Wow. Five years ago
they decided maybe it was a good idea to change
the name. So Stapleton no longer exists as a name
(25:31):
for that area and it's now Central Park.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
So it took only five years ago to change the name.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Yeah, there had been some complaints earlier, but you know,
in a lot of in a lot of cities, you're
a founding fathers may not have been the sweetest people.
The founding fathers might have made Martians look good.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Right right? You know, I'm going to go back to
the plaque of the Mason plaque real quick. It's it
circled here. It says the time capsule beneath this stone
contains messages and memorabilia to the people of Colorado in
twenty ninety four. Do we know what's in the capsules
(26:10):
in this capsule?
Speaker 2 (26:12):
I do not. I'm sure some people when they put
it in there, and those were a lot of the
founding fathers, not any Stapleton's at that point. We might
find out what they put in it. Some mentioned I
think they put in some of the old flight things
from Stapleton Airport so people could compare what it had replaced.
But there could be a lot of big surprises there.
(26:35):
You might make until the opening, I don't think I'll
be no.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
I will be one hundred and thirty, so I think
I'm good. Also, I also noticed on here. I just
think it's funny it says the most worshipful, which I
thought that's pretty pretty grand to even say that on
(26:59):
a stone.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
H Yeah. It there was so much about that kind
of New World Party, and it was a fairly wealthy
fellow who got involved and said I'll put on this party,
and so that was part of the big celebration for
the airport that was delayed, and so there actually was
no airport opening at the time they had the big party.
(27:20):
But it does seem ill advised the language there, Yeah,
and reason and reason to be suspicious.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Has has uh? Has the local.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Well, I guess there's probably several chapters in that town.
But has anybody made statements of why this was put
in the airport?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Not really. They just explained that it was to honor
the group that had gotten and they raised some money
and that had gotten together to have this big celebration.
But why it's there, it's still kind of a mystery,
and the airport's embraced it. I think most people can't
even remember why it's there.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Yeah, they probably Most people probably just walk past it
and don't even notice it. So exactly, how do these
conspiracy theories, you know, reflect like larger cultural themes, you know,
like distrust of government and fear of surveillance or belief
in secret societies. How do you know when you think
of conspiracy theories, especially with the airport, how do you
(28:22):
feel this affects the larger cultural themes.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Well, it does point to a fact, the fact that
many of us have a big distrust of our government,
of the people who lead things, or also just maybe
a very strong belief that there's something more out there,
that you're not just getting on a United airplane and
getting a little snack that is no longer peanuts, That
(28:49):
there is more to life than this, or death than this,
that there is a greater beyond. And especially as you
get on an airplane and you're flying off into the atmosphere,
you do wonder what is beyond there. So I think
people try to fill that with theories.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Yeah, and I don't I don't care who's in office
or how many years in the future. I think there's
always going to be conspiracy theories. I think there's always
going to be rumors about you know, secret societies. You know.
I don't think that's ever going to change. It hasn't changed,
probably since the beginning of humanity on this planet.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
With the Ananaki consider exactly, and the fact that in
Denver they have attached themselves to the biggest work project
in Colorado in decades. For newspapers, that is just that's gold.
How much fun to be able to write about it,
and that Blucifer continues to create owners and shoot those
(29:47):
eyeballs at you, that people still get scared by Leo
to Gouba's murals. It's all great for us. It's just
great stories.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
I'm sure. I mean many, many little towns have became
very well known because of conspiracy theories or because of
stories like this. So I'm sure anytime they can get
tourism or people talking about it, I mean why not.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
And if you're stuck on a layover, it's kind of
nice to things you can go look at and explore.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Right, Yeah, you can only sit and eat and drink
as well. Most people probably would love that, but I
would be the one that would want to go out
around and read the murals and all that stuff. Well,
you mentioned ten people are ten wildest conspiracy theories. If
you can add eleven, what would you add? And if
(30:41):
not in the not in the airport, give us a
good one from another conspiracy theory for a Denver story.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Oh well, that is good, I have to say. And
again as a newspaper, the fact that we couldn't prove
that there was a conspiracy to make a lot of
money off the construction of the airport was really an
amazing thing, because from the start we thought that it
was a boondoggle. But overall the airport has really worked.
I would say, for it is hard to beat the
(31:14):
Blucifer conspiracy theory and the fact that now and truth
is always stranger than fiction. When you're at a newspaper
and I have to say, the heirs to the Mustang
the horse. They have sued people for painting the horse,
for making statues of the horse, for doing posters that
(31:35):
are parodies of the horse. That's stranger than fiction. I
have to say, I love those. You know Norad, I
think Norad has some of the greatest conspiracies and the
tunnels that exist under the mountains. And of course the
one of the great conspiracies that happened Norad was by accident,
an ad for Sears in like nineteen fifty four had
(31:59):
a phone number that actually was for Nord, which is
why it was how to call Santa, And it was
a series AD with the wrong phone number and it
was the number for Nord. Now maybe that was put
it on purpose, but for seventy years now Nord has
had Santa, has tracked Santa our camber. Well, they still do,
and it's gotten very sophisticated.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah, I remember back in the seventies and early eighties
when I still believe. I mean, I mean when I
still oh you believe, I still believe. I still believe.
But I remember watching the news, Nord says he's over
Colorado or over Chicago. So yeah, I do remember those.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
And so when Santa's done with his roote, he can
just like go in the secret tunnel under Nord and
fly out of DA and have a nice smoothie on
his way.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Well before we get out of here, like I said,
you're editor in chief of west Word. Tell us about
what Westward is and what is your main focus.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
We started, oh almost fifty years ago as alternatives, I know,
talk because we wanted to tell the truth about what
was really going on in Denver as opposed to the
mainstream daily newspapers, which, as you know, are disappearing right
and left all over the country. Now we're still here
to just tell people what's going on in Denver, but
we do it not just in print, but twenty four
(33:20):
to seven on the web. And I have to say,
there always are lots of stories out there, and plenty
of them are based at Da.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Well, if anybody wants to check it out, just go
to Westword dot com and you can see what's latest
in the Denver or Col'm sure Colorado, but mostly Denver.
And it looks like they have a lot of different arts, music, cannabis,
things to do best of Denver. So next time I go,
(33:49):
I'm going to make sure I check it out. But Patricia,
thank you so much for being on the show. I
really appreciate it. That was fun to just go to
some of these conspiracies of things that, like I said,
I've been to Denver Airport many times. Some things I
knew about, some things I didn't. And now next time
I go, I'm going to have more things to walk
(34:10):
around and look at.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Well, great and my pleasure. If you find anything we missed,
please let us know. If the Martians let you escape
to talk to us.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
I will be the Inspector Clouseau of the Denver Airport
when I go next time. That's great, which I'll probably
get arrested or something for doing.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
That sped up and for the baggage claim.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Yes, well, thank you so much, and thank you everybody
for tuning in. And please you know I always go
to Westward one Westward I always say Westward, west word
dot com. There we go. I'm thinking of Westwood one,
which is also a big media outlet. So but we
(34:55):
want to thank you guys and for subscribing, listening and
sharing the show. If you have any questions, please reach
out to Patricia or me and like I said, tell
us what you want to hear. That's what we're here
for to give you what you want. But until next time,
I'm Tony Sweet. See you next Friday right here on
Truth Be Told and on the Club Paranormal Network. Bye.
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