Conspiracy Theories: Toynbee Tiles: Huh?

If I asked you what a Toynbee tile was would you know what I was talking about? Well I’m assuming that only maybe a small handful of people actually know what these are. If you are from Philadelphia and have walked the streets you might know. If you watch 6ABC and saw a special done by Matt O’Donnell awhile back you might know. You also might have no idea what I’m talking about. Well I’m about to tell you. Are you ready? Let’s delve into the streets of Philadelphia….literally.

Toynbee Tile
The robot is new and most likely a copy cat

So what is a Toynbee tile? Well I will start off with a picture.

A picture is worth a 1,000 words. Ok so what is this? This is a Toynbee tile. They are cryptic messages found embedded in the streets in various cities all over the world. The largest population of these odd tiles lay right here in our own city. Philadelphia has the largest number of reported tiles to date. Now they are just about all different but the majority of the tiles have the same message.

Toynbee idea

In Kubricks 2001

Resurrect Dead

On Planet Jupiter

Ok, let’s break it down. Toynbee is a reference to Arnold J. Toynbee. Yes he is actually a man. He is a British historian that had some unconventional views on the rise and fall of civilization. Obliviously “In Kubricks 2001” has to pertain to Stanley Kubrick 2001 A Space Odyssey. The movie involves mind bending themes about life, death and time travel. Resurrect the dead is about furthering mankind. Finally Jupiter is the outer space setting for 2001. So those are your tiles in a nutshell.

Ok so what is the mystery? The tiles themselves are unusual. Even though I dissected the lines, together on one tile they don’t make sense. Also where are they coming from? Who is putting them down? What is their message? What are they trying to say? Now I can’t answer all of those questions but I can give you more to think about. I can even tell you how to make your own tiles. But for now let’s get back to the existing tiles.

Ok so who is doing this and why? That’s the million dollar question. No one knows why. The tiles started to appear back in the early 1980’s. There are over 60 in Philadelphia alone. Tiles have also been found in Ohio, Missouri, Pittsburgh, Maryland Indianapolis, New York, Washington D.C., Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Buenos Aires and finally Rio de Janeiro. Just wait, it gets stranger. Hold on…wait for it… the tile that was found in Rio had an actual address on it. An address that points to 2624 S. 7^th Street in South Philadelphia. How strange. So of course the person at this address must be the culprit. Many people have tried to interview this individual. He insists he knows nothing. Nothing but a dead end. In fact there has only been one suspect this entire time and his name is James J. Morasco. Unfortunately Mr. Morasco died in 2003. So it seems no questions were answered. Also the tiles continued to pop up even after Mr. Morasco died. So either Mr. Morasco never had anything to do with these tiles or he did and copy cat just continued his work after he passed. Either way or oddly enough Mr. Morasco was a Toynbee fanatic. An Arnold J. Toynbee fan. Also some of the newer tiles say raise the dead, not resurrect. So to this day these tiles will still remain a mystery.

So next time you walk the streets, especially in Philadelphia or in any city, have a look around. You just may be stepping on a mystery.

To make these tiles yourself and to start your own mystery please see the following blog. I'll do a quick how to on how to create these with simple materials.