Toynbee tiles

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Toynbee Tile in Washington, DC

Toynbee tiles (en. "Toynbee tiles") are messages on the streets of various American cities, which - with slight variations - show an enigmatic text:

"TOYNBEE IDEA
IN MOViE" 2001
RESURRECT DEAD
ON PLANET JUPITER "

(German roughly: "Toynbee idea, in the 2001 film, resurrecting the dead, on the planet Jupiter").

Research

There have been repeated attempts to interpret the message and to find the originator. The American artist Justin Duerr has been working on the Toynbee tile phenomenon since 1993. He made the documentary Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles with filmmaker Jon Foy, which was shown at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival . He found out that as early as 1983 a certain James Morasco had tried unsuccessfully to spread the message of a possible resuscitation of the deceased on the planet Jupiter via the media. Then he started to lay out the Toynbee tiles. In addition, he announced his message via his own pirate station.

The tiles

Usually the tiles are rectangular in shape, around 30 cm wide and 15 cm high, but there are also variations here. Some contain additional text with sometimes confused messages. The tiles are made of linoleum from which the individual characters have been cut out. The tiles are firmly glued to the road surface using tar. It is possible that the prepared tiles were wrapped in tar paper and placed on the street, where they were then pinned down by the cars passing over them. The top layer dissolved over time from the friction caused by road traffic and the writing became visible. Over time, the tiles disappear again due to wear, targeted removal or renewal of the road surface.

distribution

By 2006, around 160 Toynbee tiles were documented. Centers were Philadelphia and New York City , where most of the famous tiles were found. However, other US cities are also affected (including Washington , Baltimore , Pittsburgh and others). Individual tiles have even been found in South America ( Rio de Janeiro , Buenos Aires , Santiago de Chile ).

The message

According to Duerr, the word "Toynbee" refers to the British historical philosopher Arnold J. Toynbee , who reflected on the afterlife in his autobiography Experiences (1969). “Movie 2001” refers to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), in which a journey to Jupiter takes place. It seems that the originator of the Toynbee tiles combined both in his own way.

The presumed author

According to Justin Duerr, a loner from Philadelphia named Severino "Sevy" Verna is the creator of the tiles. Verna used the pseudonym "James Morasco" at times, which initially led the research astray. However, there is no clear evidence.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Oliver Klatt: The secret of the Toynbee tiles . “One day” on Spiegel Online, August 3, 2012
  2. ↑ Justin Duerr's website (English)
  3. ↑ List of the films in competition at the Sundance Film Festival 2011 ( Memento from December 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ LA Johnson: Mysteries underfoot: Pedestrians have long Wondered over Toynbee tiles . Post-gazette.com, May 31, 2006 (English)