Original Toynbee Message Picture from Google images
These words have been paved into the history of North Eastern State roads. Tiles embedded into the streets have popped up since the 80s with odd messages such as the one above. Some believe they are the message of someone who have honestly found a way to bring people back to life. Others see them as just another form of vandalism. This is a mystery that may have already been solved.
Recently, investigations have been attempted both via the Internet and on the streets of the paved roads to figure them out. The most common area and the supposed origin, is Philadelphia, holding about 100 original tiles. Other states that are thought to hold original tiles include Pittsburgh, Cleveland, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and New Jersey.
Since the discovery of the tiles and the documentary, Resurrect Dead, copycats have been appearing more and more. The documentary, directed by Jon Foy, won the 2011 Sundance Directing Award. When asked on their official site, resurrectdead.com, where all of these tiles can be found or if theres a list of all of them, the creators of the film, including Mr. Foy and the star Justin Duerr, have said.
“It simply became too difficult to monitor the survivors,” meaning the ones laid out by the original artist, which have stopped completely.
However, the copycats have “spread throughout the United States, with a few appearing as far away as South America and Iran,” said the investigators/filmmakers.
The message has been a popular topic to debate the meaning of, and a common opinion has been reached. The supposed meaning of the original message is divided into the four sentences:
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Toynbee Idea: The first part references one Arnold J. Toynbee (1889-1975), a British historian and philosopher, who questioned the “success and failure of individual human civilizations,” according to the creators of the site and movie.
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In Movie ‘2001: (Sometimes “In Kubrick’s ‘2001) Refers to the late director Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) and his movie, “2001: A Space Odyssey”, directed in 1968. Mr. Kubrick was known for his “subversive commentary on philosophical and political issues,” . The movie was based on the short story “The Sentinel” by Arthur C. Clarke.
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Resurrect Dead On Planet Jupiter: The last two lines are considered to be taken literally. Whoever made the tiles seems to honestly believe in an idea to bring back the dead using the planet Jupiter.
Different connections have been brought up over time, such as Toynbee’s ideas and Kubrick’s film seem to have similar messages of evolution of civilization/man, or that some see the last shot of “2001: A Space Odyssey” to be a shot of Jupiter, along with the movies sequel, “2010”,again having Jupiter play a key role.
The supposed tiler of the past 30 years is discovered in the documentary, but is not seen or talked to by the investigators. They show an immense amount of respect by not forcing the artist to make a comment.Whether it be the man they found or someone else, the tilers tale is a tragedy. Through other tile messages, a somber story unfolds of a man who tried to warn people through his message, who honestly wanted to help, and was laughed at and shunned by his peers. The tiles seem to show the mind of someone extremely paranoid of the world, but whether he had good reason to or not is up for debate, seeing as even after the documentaries release, the prime suspect still refuses to comment.
While the message he wanted to warn people about can get complicated, and is open to interpretation, the story of the Toynbee Idea has at least been shared, and the message received. As one of the last original tiles said, “Thank You, and Goodbye”.
