DENVER — Denver International Airport loves to keep us guessing. Whether it’s conspiracy theories or bizarre artwork, there’s plenty of mysteries that have puzzled Coloradans for years.
So, it shouldn’t be surprising that a talking *gargoyle popped up this week in the Great Hall. Greg—that’s his name—interacted with curious travelers by moving and talking to them as they passed.
Next asked a DIA spokesperson why the medieval creature was there, and how it was being operated, but they would not get into specifics. We suspect, there was an audio and visual crew operating the medieval creature based on pictures from our viewers.
A spokesperson at DIA would only tell us that they “pride themselves on being an airport where you never know what will happen.” We’re guessing Greg is part of some marketing ploy. He showed up on Wednesday, and just as quickly as he appeared, he was removed 24 hours later. If you feel like you missed out, DIA says we can expect to see more of Greg in the future.
He does look like a Greg, doesn’t he?
This is not the only gargoyle to make an appearance at Denver International Airport. Did you know there are gargoyle statues in baggage claim? They are said to protect passengers against lost luggage. They’ve been taken down during construction, but the airport says they’ll be back up again soon.
So, please do us a favor. If you see any other gargoyles at DIA, email us pictures to Next@9News.com or get our attention on Twitter with #HeyNext.
*Sidenote: We've debated whether these ornamental statues are really called "gargoyles" before. By official definition, a piece like this should be called "grotesque," and not gargoyle, because gargoyles have waterspouts. But, DIA and several other people used the term gargoyle to describe this piece, likely because that word is more publicly recognized.