Considering that Colorado maintains a robust legal marijuana industry, it’s worth noting that the presence of a chatty statue in Denver International Airport does not necessarily indicate a weed-driven detachment from reality. Last week, the airport was outfitted with a talking gargoyle to celebrate its 24th birthday.
Animatronic, wisecracking and worthy of Disney, the gargoyle actually interacts with travelers. He tells one flyer she’s standing “too close for comfort” and threatens to eat the “delicious” flowers being carried by another. Appropriately, he sounds like a jaded old man with a chip on his shoulder.
“He’s 243 years old and is here to clear the air on all the conspiracies at DEN,” as per FlyDenver.com.
The latter point stems from the fact that travelers have expressed concerns about airport artwork that depicts a devil jumping out of a suitcase, rumors that the place doubles as the “Illuminati headquarters” (driven by the Masonic symbol on a plaque there) and claims that runways viewed from above approximate a swastika (not really). The gargoyle cheekily plays off of all that as he greets flyers by saying, “Welcome to Illuminati headquarters … I mean Denver International Airport.”
In an airport-produced video that’s gone viral with more than 350,000 views, the gargoyle asks a man in a 10-gallon hat if he has an extra seat for the topper and accuses one mesmerized passenger of having “resting confused face.” He also implores a millennial to “actually put the phone down and have a conversation with me.” Then he tries to cadge cleaning supplies off a passing maintenance worker. Though startled, she wisely refuses him.
While most airports seem designed to keep things on the straight and narrow, Denver International is clearly taking another tack. “We always strive to win the hearts of our passengers by giving them the unexpected,” a spokesperson told Fox News. “We hope the gargoyle gave them all a good belly laugh and more reason to want to travel through DEN.”
Sticking with its reputation for maintaining an air of mystery, however, airport executives are remaining mum on details about how the quick-thinking gargoyle operates. It’s gotta be the Illuminati …