Stephen King, the prolific author renowned for his mastery of horror fiction, has published more than 75 novels, novellas, and 200 short stories throughout his esteemed career. His body of work, which spans novels, screenplays, and comic books, is vast and ever-expanding. However, despite his unmatched output, King has had his fair share of abandoned projects—works that either didn’t meet his high standards or were abandoned because they remained unsolved mysteries, much like one chilling idea that may have become his greatest unfinished horror novel.
King’s approach to writing is famously blue-collar. Treating his craft like a daily job, he writes consistently, dedicating three to four hours each day to create a “fairly clean” six pages. This disciplined regimen allows him to draft a full-length book in just two months. In his memoir On Writing, King dispels the myth of the elusive muse, emphasizing the importance of one key principle: “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: Read a lot and write a lot.”
This no-nonsense attitude has fueled King’s productivity, but it’s also made him more pragmatic when it comes to unfinished works. If an idea doesn’t click, he moves on quickly. Yet, he sometimes reflects on those lost ideas, one of the most intriguing being a story he once shared with Conan O’Brien in the 1990s.
The tale, set at Denver’s Stapleton International Airport, began with a simple premise: a husband and wife on their way to a flight. The wife asks to use the restroom, and though the husband hesitates, he agrees with the stipulation of a five-minute wait. When she doesn’t return, the husband grows anxious, a sense of unease permeating the air. Soon, another couple arrives, and the wife also disappears into the restroom, never to emerge.
As King described it, the situation spirals out of control. More people enter the bathroom, and screams soon follow. One by one, women become trapped in the restroom, and the growing sense of horror prompts an escalating response from local authorities, the FBI, and even the governor. However, despite their best efforts, no one can explain the source of the terror.
King confessed that, as much as he loved the idea, he could never quite figure out what was happening in that airport restroom. “I could never figure out what the hell was going on in there,” he said with a chuckle, recalling the moment during his interview with O’Brien.
And so, the story of the mysterious restroom and its terrifying secrets remained unfinished, one of the many works that King set aside. While King has gone on to create countless bestsellers, this particular tale remains an enigma—perhaps a project he may someday return to, should inspiration strike.
For now, the horror of Stapleton Airport remains one of the greatest King stories that never was, leaving fans to wonder what truly lay behind those bloodcurdling screams.
