The mysterious Toynbee Tiles

Since the 1980's mysterious tiles have been appearing embedded into the roads of major cities all around the globe.
They have been found in at least 25 American cities, 4 south American capitals and have been reported in other locations around the planet (although these could be copycat)
They are usually the size of licence plates and most carry a similar message. Although there may be copycat tiles out there, there are generally believed to be the work of one person..

The message they normally contain is this (or a variation of it)

TOYNBEE IDEA
IN Kubrick's 2001
RESURRECT DEAD
ON PLANET JUPITER.

which seems to be a reference to Stanley Kubricks movie 2001: A Space Odyssey which was written by Arthur C Clark.

The story deals with a series of encounters between humans and mysterious black monoliths that are apparently affecting human destiny, and a space voyage to Jupiter tracing a signal emitted by one such monolith found on the moon

wiki

All the tiles mention Toynbee who is believed to be Arnold J. Toynbee, a religious historian born in England in 1889.

Arnold Joseph Toynbee CH (14 April 1889 – 22 October 1975) was a British historian whose twelve-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations, A Study of History, 1934–1961, was a synthesis of world history, a metahistory based on universal rhythms of rise, flowering and decline

en.wikipedia.org...

There is only one known link between Kubrick and Toynbee but it is a bit of a stretch to be honest.

Toynbee’s writings spoke of a man named Zoroaster who conceived the idea of monotheism, and this name also occurs in the title of the famous 2001: A Space Odyssey theme song; it’s entitled “Thus Spoke Zoroaster

www.damninteresting.com...

It is believed by some the mysterious 'artist' is European, more specifically English, as both Kubrick and Toynbee were English. One of the rants on a plaque also claim that he is hiding in Dover (South East England)

Around 130 tiles have been found to date and the material and method of embedding them into busy roads without being spotted was a mystery until one day a toynbee enthusiast claimed a freshly laid tile was found.

The highlight of my search for answers to this mystery occurred one Sunday night of this previous winter. I had gone to my local convenience store for a snack around 4:00 A.M., noticing nothing unusual. On my way home I noticed something unusual in the street. Upon closer inspection, I discovered it to be a “Toynbee Idea” tile – freshly placed and only minutes old. Of course I was beside myself with excitement and I could now see exactly how, and of what materials these tiles are made. (This tile, by the way, is located on 13th. & Arch St. in Philadelphia.) The tiles are just that – tiles….although not the standard vinyl floor tile, as I had suspected. The letters are cut out of a material with, I assume, a higher rubber content than a standard floor tile. The inlay letters seemed to made from a less maleable substance, and in this case were red and yellow. The tile is secured to the street by intricately folded and layered tar paper, glued together. A layer of raw tar seemed to lie beneath the whole tile, anchoring it. The weight of cars, as they run over the tile, forces the layers of tar paper to impregnate the spaces in the cracks of the letters.

www.damninteresting.com...

Some tiles also included footnotes which included “Murder every journalist, I beg you,” and “Submit. Obey.” also rants about the newsmedia, jews, and the mafia.

one suspect for the tiles has emerged although it is speculation.. James Morasco a carpenter from Philadelphia. because in the 80's someone with the same name tried to interest Philadelphia newspapers with a similar idea. The only problem with this theory is that Morasco would have been in his 70s when most of the tiles were laid.

Another Toynbee link appeared in a 1985 play by Pulitzer-prize winning playwright David Mamet. He wrote an exchange between a radio talk show host and a caller obsessing over Arnold Toynbee, 2001 and dead people.

The tiles have also been the main subject of a new movie called, Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles which won the U.S. Documentary Competition Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival.


So the Toynbee tiles, a modern day mystery.. The work of an artist? rantings of a madman? or something more sinister?

Unfortunately I cannot download pictures of the tiles on the computer im currently using, but if any fellow members would be so kind, im sure some stars will be awarded by myself and other members here.. Thanks in advance..

some more links on the story.
wired.com
en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by Misterlondon


Nice I never heard of this. Nice thread and thanks for posting.
It is really strange to see someone taking so much effort in spreading a cryptic "message".
Maybe it is a group that is responsible for this action.

In The Netherlands we have the group "Loesje", they were a mystery too in the beginning. Not any more now.
They worked with posters and used short texts to make people more concious of the world they lived in.
It still is very nice to see one of their statements and often make you smile and think.

reply to post by Josephus



Thanks for posting the images....

reply to post by Misterlondon
Did you hear about this on the recent episode of Mysterious Universe? lol...I think I first heard about these through an article over at Cracked a few years back.

For a regular dose of stuff like these tiles, I highly recommend checking out MysteriousUniverse.org. They cover all sorts of odd and unexplained stuff like this on a regular basis, as well as new science news. Free weekly show for non-subscribers and a $9/month subscription gets you an extension plus extra show on the weekends. I've been listening for years now.

They also raid ATS for new stories every few weeks, I absolutely LOVE hearing them read threads or reference members I know.

Here's a piece on the tiles I wrote awhile back: 2012diaries.blogspot.com...

Originally posted by Praetorius
reply to post by Misterlondon

 

Did you hear about this on the recent episode of Mysterious Universe? lol...I think I first heard about these through an article over at Cracked a few years back.

For a regular dose of stuff like these tiles, I highly recommend checking out MysteriousUniverse.org. They cover all sorts of odd and unexplained stuff like this on a regular basis, as well as new science news. Free weekly show for non-subscribers and a $9/month subscription gets you an extension plus extra show on the weekends. I've been listening for years now.

They also raid ATS for new stories every few weeks, I absolutely LOVE hearing them read threads or reference members I know.

edit on 12/5/2011 by Praetorius because: (no reason given)

lol... Actually your half right.. i heard about them years ago, then again on MU.. (which is awesome by the way) ive been an avid listener since season one and a premium member twice.. the first time and then again on its return.. which i must say is far more enjoyable with Aaron on board.. no offence to Ben but its good to for him to have someone to bounce off, (plus if you know why the original shows stopped, i think Aaron was a god send to him.. and to all of us of course because it returned) they also enjoy what they do which makes it enjoyable to listen too.

I heard about them on that episode and never thought much about it.. but yesterday i was reading an article in a magazine about the movie.. checked here to see if there was a thread and to my surprise there wasnt so i thought i would make one..

thumbs up to a fellow MU member...

reply to post by Misterlondon
haha...that's awesome. Also been listening since season one, but only a one-time plus member of a few months now. I definitely love the show with Aaron on board, but I have to admit his stand-alone episodes are not my favorites (his gooberishness tends to come through too strongly and I think he has a hard time coming up with good material and presentation on his own...).

Glad to know I've got some MU kin here! Definitely looking forward to seeing this film and finding out how closely the makers have come to finding out the truth of these mysterious tiles. Be well, friend.

reply to post by Praetorius

I definitely love the show with Aaron on board, but I have to admit his stand-alone episodes are not my favorites (his gooberishness tends to come through too strongly and I think he has a hard time coming up with good material and presentation on his own...).

I have to agree, not to keen on the solo shows.. its always much better when both are on together,.. and Aarons choice of music when Bens not around.. ill say no more.. lol...

reply to post by Misterlondon


www.resurrectdead.com...




Anyway my guess is on good ol'Ray gone berserk.

while he lived in england for a majority of his life, stanley kubrick was actually American.

i would love to see more speculation on connections between these tiles and kubrick's masterpiece, 2001, A Space Odyssey. the end of this movie (which take place on jupiter) is one of the most interesting and curious i've ever seen. in 20 years of loving this movie, i still don't have any concrete idea of what the end of this movie actually means.

i would love to understand what the maker of these tiles found so important about the movie. one could certainly construe the jupiter scenes to be about resurrection (the movie ends with the starchild), but i think the scenes (and the end of the movie) are absolutely still very much up for interpretation.

Originally posted by Pokoia
reply to post by Misterlondon

 

Nice I never heard of this. Nice thread and thanks for posting.
It is really strange to see someone taking so much effort in spreading a cryptic "message".
Maybe it is a group that is responsible for this action.

In The Netherlands we have the group "Loesje", they were a mystery too in the beginning. Not any more now.
They worked with posters and used short texts to make people more concious of the world they lived in.
It still is very nice to see one of their statements and often make you smile and think.

Mysterious, you know I have a black bible that goes back to the 1800s in my attic, aged like Kyolic liquid garlic extract (it's in the German language). I could go frantically get it and we can pretend that when I open it and pretend that we have the lost conscious world of Lemuria.

More words, Salticidae. a Poster advertisement Outrageous! "Toynbee" a reference to Adam and eve (would that be Tolkien?) Stanley Kubrick was MERICAN, but the English can have that dude if they want. He wasn't no honest Abe or anything. Everyone has their failed fetishes I imagine. Mausoleum of Gallas in Ravenna Italy, treasure of thy days.

on tv now sup1 movie channel Resurrect Dead:
The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles which won the U.S. Documentary Competition Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival.

Yeah it turns out that the big mystery was really not worth solving. The tiles were put together by some crazy guy that was part of some group in the 80s called the Minority association that had the goal of putting an oxygen atmosphere on Jupiter and bring dead people back to life.
The "mystery" behind it all was actually solved many times over, this was a group promoting its self and doing a horrible job of it i might add. What seems to happen is that researchers go out and find the guy that makes the tiles and then the find out he is just some crazy guy and it makes the whole thing a lot less interesting. Then they just kind of stay quiet to keep the mystery going, its a fun hobby for some. But at this point it is like discussing when you think the bodies of the blair witch film crew will show up. Some mysteries are really not worth solving. Recently there was a documentary about a group that researched all of this. They claim they still don't know who it is but the guy that made the documentary who spent over 10 years of his life researching this just falt out abandoned researching it before the documentary was even released. He got his answer and realized it was MUCH more fun when he didn't know.
The guy even put his own address on one of the tiles he made. If you read up and see what the tiles say it is much easier to see it as a man with mental issues and a message to spread. I have met dozens of guys like that but there is no mystery about them. They all ride the city bus, they are all homeless and they all think they are Jesus.

Originally posted by Josephus

This one was a knock off. When the tiles became popular ones with "raise" instead of "resurrect" started popping up.

reply to post by Misterlondon


This may have some bearing on the "Toynbee Idea" portion of the message:

"The Toynbee Convector" is a science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury. First published in Playboy magazine in 1984, the story was subsequently featured in a 1988 short story collection also titled The Toynbee Convector.

Origin of Title

Within the story, it is said that the protagonist chose the name "Toynbee Convector" for his machine, being inspired by "a historian named Toynbee." Bradbury likely references Arnold J. Toynbee, who proposed that civilisation must have a challenge to respond to in order to flourish.
It is unknown what, if any, relation these have to the Toynbee tiles found in the streets of several major cities.

Plot summary

The protagonist is Craig Bennett Stiles, also referred to as the Time Traveller, a man from an economically and creatively stagnant society (about 1984). Stiles claims to have invented a time machine (which he privately refers to as his Toynbee Convector, although he does not reveal the name of the device to anyone until much later) which he used to travel forwards in time about a hundred years. Now, after returning to the present, he shows evidence - films and other records collected on his journey - showing that man has developed an advanced civilization with many marvellous and helpful inventions, and a restored natural environment. He also claims to have then destroyed the machine deliberately to prevent anyone else doing the same.
Initially, the people of the past are skeptical of the Traveller's claims, but they are unable to explain or disprove the authenticity of the records brought from the future. Inspired by the prospect of a utopian future, many people begin projects to fulfill the vision and create the world the Traveller claims to have seen.
A hundred years later, the perfect world of Stiles' visions has come to pass, just as he saw in his time travel. As a now aged Stiles recounts the story to a visiting reporter — the first interview he has granted since soon after his return from the future — Stiles calmly reveals what really happened, simply stating, "I lied." Since he knew the people of the world had it in them to create a utopia, he created the illusion of one, to give humanity a goal, and hope. Because of people's belief in the illusion, the imagined utopian future became reality. After explaining his actions to the reporter, Roger Shumway, Stiles dies. As a pyrotechnic display appears overhead — the supposed past version of Stiles arriving via his time machine — Shumway resolves to travel to the future himself and carry on Stiles' legacy. Although Stiles wanted Shumway to tell people the truth so that they would know they had saved themselves, the reporter decides to maintain the illusion and not expose the secret, and destroys the evidence which Stiles had left for him to reveal.
en.wikipedia.org...

Toynbee's Idea? -

"Arnold J. Toynbee, who proposed that civilisation must have a challenge to respond to in order to flourish."
en.wikipedia.org...