The Odd Conspiracy Theory About This American Airport

There are conspiracy theories surrounding Denver International Airport and, frankly, it's not all that surprising. The unusual architecture of the place is obvious to any traveler. Then there's the odd artwork, gargoyles overlooking baggage claim, and a giant 32-foot-tall blue horse sculpture with red eyes, for example. The miles of secret tunnels underneath the airport have fueled plenty of speculation. You also have to throw in the fact that airport officials have never even tried to debunk the bizarre theories about the Denver hub, but, instead, have even encouraged them (via The Denver Post). From theories about runways built in the shape of Nazi swastikas and bunkers under the airport that are really the headquarters of a secret society to the rumor that aliens gave the coordinates to build it, the nefarious ideas about the secret purpose of DIA and who really built it are many and varied (via Denver).

It was former Minnesota governor and retired professional wrestler Jesse Ventura who really helped popularize the conspiracy theories surrounding DIA, according to The Denver Post. In a 2012 episode of his show "Conspiracy Theory," Ventura focused on the airport, then many other media outlets picked up the story. Now the theories are fueled by the internet and annual media stories.

Despite infamous construction problems, the hub opened in 1995 as a replacement for Stapleton Airport. But one could argue of all the many conspiracy theories that really changes everything it's the one about a secret society that built the airport. Now which group — the Illuminati, the New World Order, the Freemasons, or all of them together — built it depends on whom you talk to, but believers think it was the Freemasons. 

According to Denver, the dedication capstone at the airport's south entrance, which has a date of March 19, 1994, has a time capsule under it that contains symbols of the Freemasons and the names of two grand lodges and their grand masters. Airport officials say it's only evidence that the Freemasons did the stonework. Yet, the stone mentions a group called the New World Airport Commission. That group doesn't actually exist, however, the name is close enough to that of the so-called New World Order that suspicions have abounded for decades (via Denver). Why put the name of a nonexistent group on the capstone of an international airport? That is one of the main questions that drives this theory.