The film Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles* just won the U.S. Documentary Competition Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival, and so we asked puzzlemaker Eric Harshbarger to give us a look at the mystery behind the tiles.*
Though these modern days of the 21st century are filled with many puzzles, there seem to be few true mysteries anymore. As a professional puzzle designer and follower of puzzle hunts, I have personally witnessed how drastically the connectivity and community of the internet, the power of Google, and the sheer volume of information readily available to all makes the solving of many brainteasers almost trivial. Throw in the fact that most puzzle memes, alternate reality games, and online mysteries invariably end up just being marketing campaigns for soon to be released (and too often forgotten) films or television series, and one begins to wonder if any modern day, genuine mysteries truly are left.
The existence of the "Toynbee Tiles" might be just such a mystery. This world-spanning puzzle does not involve a musty old map from a remote archeological find. It is not written in an ancient language that few can read. It is not trying to get you to by a ticket to an upcoming summer blockbuster. And it is not giving up its answers easily.
Rather, these linoleum plaques which have been embedded in the asphalt roadways of major cities throughout the world for over two decades are a true conundrum of the present day. They are written in English (though proper grammar and syntax are often lacking), they are fairly easy to access (if you know where to look), and they have attracted the attention of many puzzle enthusiasts in the age of the all-knowing World Wide Web. However, despite all of this, no one really knows what the hell is going on.
I first became aware of the existence of Toynbee Tiles after reading an article on MetaFilter back in 2002. However, since I lived far away from Philadelphia and the other major cities where these cryptic signs were appearing (Pittsburgh, Cleveland, St. Louis, etc), I had to satisfy my curiosity with webpage clicks and URL addresses. Undoubtedly, I was not the only person to be intrigued by the mystery around this time, for the period from 2002 through 2009 saw an increase in the number of new tiles that appeared far and wide.
Were these new tiles the work of the original creator? No doubt there are copycat Toynbee tilers out there now ("House of Hades" is one movement that is making its own tiles, and there's even a how-to video on MAKE Magazine's website). The meme has spread, but it is far from passé. Google may spit back over tens of thousands of results for a "toynbee tiles" query, but that does not mean the mystery is solved.
There are suspects: a Philadelphia resident, James Morasco, is often thought to be the originator of these plaques -- possibly in an attempt to proliferate his conspiracy theories, or maybe to advance a theory promoting exploration, colonization, or "resurrection" of humanity on the planet Jupiter. But Mr. Morasco passed away in 2003, and hundreds of tiles have cropped up since then. Most of the signs still refer to Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the historian Arnold J. Toynbee (after whom the tiles get their name), and the fifth planet from our Sun; but the tone of the inscriptions, their sizes, and the format of their letterings has varied greatly at times. And, oddly, after several years of great proliferation of the tiles, very few new plaques were laid in 2010.
Trying to uncover a motivation for the tiles' existence will quickly lead one down a rabbit hole populated with science fiction writers (Clarke, Bradbury), playwrights (David Mamet's short play 4 A.M. may have something to do with all of this), and radio personalities. The tiles may have begun to spring up as early as 1980, but even today, over thirty years later, little is known for sure.
Probably the most extensive investigation of the tiles takes the form of the new documentary film, Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, by Philadelphia-based filmmakers Justin Duerr, Jon Foy, Colin Smith, and Steve Weinik. Duerr is a well known musician and artist of the Philadelphia underground scene, and with that city being the epicenter of Toynbee activity, he is also an expert on the tiles. In 2005 (five years after meeting Duerr) Foy started a film project about the plaques, and six years later the work was finally complete. The research for the film took the documentarians around the United States where they visited about one hundred of the Toynbee sites. They even uncovered a previously unsighted tile placed at a rest stop off Interstate-95.
After hundreds of hours of filming and editing, Colin Smith (one of the producers, writers and co-stars of the movie) thinks at least some of the mystery behind the tiles might be elucidated. "Yes, we definitely think we are closer," he told me through an email interview, "I'm not going to say that we are ready to close the book, because we are not, but we've come up with some pretty huge and very satisfying finds. The mystery persists nonetheless."
Steve Weinik, the film's associate producer and co-star, agrees: "For the first time, really ever, the movie establishes a solid timeline and explains the motivation and ideas behind the tiling campaign. We've made a strong case for who/what/when/where/why/how. In addition to all that, the movie is driven by a more universal personal story, which is told beautifully and wraps up nicely."
Having personally been interested in this oddity for nearly a decade now, I was ecstatic to hear that a documentary on the subject had been filmed. And the fact that it just took top prize in the U.S. Documentary category at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival should encourage other puzzle enthusiasts that regardless of how many of the Toynbee secrets the movie resolves, it will be, indeed, very enjoyable to watch. And, of course, the mystery of the tiles themselves will likely continue to intrigue and mystify for many more years to come.
