So there I was, walking through Denver International a few years back, and I looked up and saw… a giant Egyptian god staring down at me. Twenty-six feet of black and gold Anubis, right there at the airport. My first thought was “am I more jet-lagged than I realized?”
Quick Background – Who’s Anubis?
For anyone who skipped ancient history class, Anubis is the Egyptian god of mummification and the afterlife. Usually shown as a man with a jackal head. He protected graves and watched over the whole process of preparing the dead for their journey to the underworld. Heavy stuff.
So yeah, putting him at an airport is… a choice.
Why Was It There?
Here’s the thing – there was actually a totally normal explanation. The Denver Art Museum was hosting a King Tut exhibit back in 2010, and the statue was a promotional piece to get people interested. Creative marketing, basically.
It worked too. The statue became one of the most photographed things at DIA during its three-month stay. People couldn’t stop talking about it. Instagram was blowing up (well, as much as Instagram blew up in 2010).
After the exhibit ended, Anubis got packed up and left. Just a temporary visitor.
But This Is DIA We’re Talking About
Now, if this were any other airport, the story would end there. Normal promotional stunt, nothing to see here.
But Denver International is already conspiracy theory central. The weird murals showing apocalyptic scenes. The “DZIT DIT GAII” dedication plaque. The blue mustang statue that killed its creator (seriously – the sculptor died when a piece fell on him). Underground tunnels that people swear go way deeper than they should.
So when a giant god of death shows up at the terminal, conspiracy folks went absolutely wild. Some connected it to New World Order stuff. Others thought it signified something ominous about to happen. The underground base theories got extra spicy for a while.
My Take
Look, I get the appeal of conspiracy thinking. It’s fun to imagine there’s hidden meaning in everything. And DIA has definitely leaned into their weird reputation over the years – they’ll joke about it in official communications now.
But Anubis was just museum marketing. Effective museum marketing, given how much attention it got. The King Tut exhibit probably saw a nice attendance bump from all those airport photos.
Still, I can’t lie – standing under a massive ancient deity while waiting for my connecting flight was genuinely surreal. Maybe that’s the whole point. Sometimes weird art in unexpected places just makes travel more interesting.
The statue’s long gone now, but the legend persists. Ask anyone about DIA conspiracies and Anubis usually comes up. For three months in 2010, the god of the dead watched over millions of travelers. Make of that what you will.
