Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Wednesday Weird

Today, it's another (weird, natch) unsolved mystery. Not a murder this time, but something kind of crazy.

We're talking about the Toynbee Tiles.

The Toynbee Tiles are cryptic message left in different cities, about the size of license plates, all embedded in asphalt. The tiles are all found with some sort of message on them. They all reference 2001: A Space Odyssey and suggest something regarding resurrecting the dead on Jupiter.



Which, yeah, I mean, that crap is weird all right. But let's make it weirder. The tiles have been showing up for 30 YEARS. Since the 1980s, peeps.

Toynbee, a famous historian OR a short story by Ray Bradbury (called the Toynbee Convector), is also referenced in the tiles. And so, maybe you're thinking one crazy guy with a Toynbee and 2001: A Space Odyssey obsession has been going around, putting these tiles into asphalt.



Except, it can't be.

The tiles are found in dozens of cities, AND even in South America. There are over 60 in Philadelphia alone.



There was one suspect, named James Morasco, who showed in interest in 2001: A Space Oddysey and Toynbee, but his wife said he didn't show any interest in Jupiter. Also, James would've been 70 when laying the tiles. Oh yeah, and he died in 2003 and the tiles haven't stopped.




It's likely that there was an original tiler and now there are some copycats, but no one has ever come forward or been caught.

So there you have it. Some cryptic message, embedded int eh asphalt. Who is doing it? And why? We may never know.

.

17 comments:

Matthew MacNish said...

Aliens.

Kyra Lennon said...

That is VERY weird!

Slamdunk said...

Hmm. If in doubt, blame the undead.

I had not heard of that one before Sarah--thanks for enlightening me.

Austin Gorton said...

I can see someone starting this, then copycats around the world doing it too. I could even see this group of people keeping quiet about it, such that no one knows they are doing it.

But how the hell are they embedding these messages in asphalt without ANYONE noticing?

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

All this tells me, miss Falen, is that there are people in this world with too much time on their hands. I wish I could just go around and embed things in asphalt.

Hart Johnson said...

Oh, I love stuff like this... someone taking the time to spread strangeness all over. It IS hard to imagine it not being noticed as it goes in. Clearly someone has a street repair costume and a big truck with a cherry picker basket so they look authentic.

Catherine Stine said...

oooh, woooo, wooo! Singin' a scary song.
Wow, I've never heard of these things but how cool! Wonder what your theory about them is?

Southpaw said...

I hadn't heard of these tiles. I'm with Teebore how does it get in without anyone noticing. Cape of invisibility and a cone of silence?

Christine Rains said...

I've never heard about these things and I know a lot of weird things. They're a bit like crop circles.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

There are worse things these people could be doing!

Elizabeth Twist said...

I just learned about these a while back, but hadn't seen pictures. Awesome. I also love the idea of people spreading random weirdness.

Anonymous said...

Hello!
Hmmmm yep very weird

Nate Wilson said...

Okay, I'll admit it: It was me all along! Bwahahahaha!

What? I was a precocious kid. Besides, everyone knows what would happen if we resurrected the dead here on Earth, and I don't do enough cardio to survive that.

Kelley Lynn said...

I was just in Philly!!! I should have looked! Gonna have to go back...

vic caswell said...

?????

Kimberlee Turley said...

See now, I want to go do one just so I can laugh at everyone who sits there and wonders what the heck it means too.

TL Conway said...

The book you're reading--The Windup Girl. Love it? Hate it? Thoughts?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...