http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2014/07/mysterious_toynbee_tiles_dot_t.htmlThe site has a few pictures of these tiles.
Mysterious 'Toynbee tiles' dot the streets of Cleveland, other major cities
on July 11, 2014 at 9:09 AM, updated July 11, 2014 at 11:17 AM
CLEVELAND, Ohio—Crossing West Third Street where it meets West Prospect Avenue near Tower City, passersby might miss a cryptic, vaguely ominous message embedded in the asphalt.
“TOYNBEE IDEA IN MOVIE 2001,” a colorful, license-plate-size tile reads. “RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPITER.”
The story behind the tile is as odd as the message: it’s one of more than 500 so-called Toynbee tiles with similar wording found in the middle of streets between Boston and Buenos Aires since the early 1980s. No one knows for sure who made the tiles, though some have their suspicions.
Mobile readers: We've broken this story into several pieces so you can jump directly to any section that interests you. You can hit "back" to return to this list.
Who makes Toynbee tiles? Some evidence points to a reclusive Philadelphia resident, though nobody knows for sure.
How are they made? Find out the "ingenious" way to embed a tile in a busy street without drawing attention. (Warning: it involves a major alteration to your car).
What's that message mean? How can humanity reach the next stage of evolution? These tiles have an answer.
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Who makes Toynbee tiles?
While there’s no conclusive proof, the makers of “Resurrect Dead,” a Sundance award-winning documentary film about the tiles, believe the maker is a reclusive Philadelphia resident, Severino “Sevy” Verna.
The documentary notes that Verna's address was mentioned on a Toynbee tile in Santiago, Chile. The filmmakers also say they have evidence that he espoused beliefs similar to those expressed on the tiles in a newspaper interview, letters, and shortwave radio broadcasts.
The problem is, Verna has never spoken publicly about whether he's the mastermind behind the effort.
His listed phone number was disconnected when a Northeast Ohio Media Group reporter tried to call this week. And he hasn't responded to repeated attempts by the "Resurrect Dead" filmmakers to contact him, according to Steve Weinik, an associate producer of the film who runs a website tracking the tiles.
“The tiles are less of a mystery than he is at this point,” Weinik said in an interview. “He clearly prefers anonymity.”
While there have been copycats, all indications show that the original tiler, whether it's Verna or someone else, is still at work.
Toynbee tiles continue to pop up, Weinik said, though in recent years they've mostly been limited to the Philadelphia area, along with occasional discoveries in New York and Baltimore.
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How are they made?
The tiles are usually made of linoleum -- “not kitchen tile-type material, but true linoleum, which is a different product and a lot harder to come by,” Weinik said. The bottom is made of asphalt crack sealer.
But the real trick is in embedding the tiles in the middle of busy streets without anyone noticing. A chance discovery of a freshly laid tile several years ago, Weinik said, has provided a good idea about how it’s done:
1. Cover the tile with tar paper.
2. Remove a section of floorboard from a car and drive to a major intersection late at night.
3. Place the tile onto the street using the hole in the floorboard and drive away. The tar-paper covering makes the tile look like a bump in the street.
4. In subsequent days, vehicles run over the tar paper, pushing the tile into the asphalt. The tar paper wears away over the letters but fills the spaces in between.
“It’s pretty ingenious and entirely anonymous,” Weinik said. “I mean, all you’d ever see is someone pulling up to a red light and then driving away.”
The Toynbee tile at Third and Prospect in Cleveland dates from the late 1990s, Weinik said -- a time when many such tiles were placed in cities around the Midwest.
The biggest threat to the tiles, not surprisingly, is road repair. Weinik’s website lists a second tile at East 12th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, but a recent visit showed it had been paved over (though a reader has posted a picture of it in the comments below).
Cleveland Department of Public Works spokeswoman Kathleen Dorsey said her department was not aware Toynbee tiles existed before a reporter called to ask about them. Within a couple hours, Dorsey called back to say that several city workers were at Third and Prospect, snapping photographs of the tile.
The city hasn't decided what, if anything, to do about the tile, Dorsey said.
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What's that message mean?
According to Weinik, the tiles’ message, at least initially, was no metaphor -- it was a call to action for humanity to colonize Jupiter as a way to resurrect the dead on Earth.
As outlined in Weinik’s film, the tile’s creator apparently interpreted the writings of Arnold Toynbee, a 20th Century British historian and philosopher, to mean that if one reassembles every molecule of dead people, they’d become alive again.
That thinking was combined with the ending of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” in which a manned mission to Jupiter culminates in the rebirth of humankind in a new, more advanced stage of evolution.
Some of the tiles include side notes as well. The tile at Third and Prospect has two:
“I'M ONLY ONE MAN AND WHEN I CAUGHT A FATAL DISEASE, THEY GLOATED OVER ITS DEATH.”
“THAT'S WHEN I BEGGED THEM NOT TO DESTROY IT. THANK YOU AND GOODBYE.”
Weinik said the farewell message is seen on many Toynbee tiles.
Messages on some other tiles are more inflamed. One tile cited in the film urges readers to “Murder every journalist. I beg you.”
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