Birdman & The Mysterious Toynbee Tiles

Sometime in the 1980s, mysterious “tiles” started appearing to be inlaid into city streets in cities across America, and even in South America. They all had similar lettering, style and themes. But no one knew how they got there. A 2011 documentary may have discovered the truth about the tiles, but to this day, no one has ever claimed responsibility. In this episode, we examine the real-life mystery of the “Toynbee Tiles” and then play the quiz game with Comedy Magician Erik Tait.

“TOYNBEE IDEA IN MOVIE 2001. RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPITER.”

These were the words that Bill O’Neill noticed in the roads around his neighborhood in Philadelphia. They were strangely arranged on a small tile or plaque inlaid in the asphalt. The small tile, around the size of an American license plate, would usually be bright colors like red, white and blue, but sometimes just white or just red. And the words would change from tile to tile, but would always be centered around the same theme, and the lettering was exactly the same. The same letter shapes, the same tile material, the same themes.  Nobody could tell Bill what they were, so he started a website to log them – Toynbee.net. The website is long gone, but Toynbee.net helped sleuths all over country – and even in South America, spot even more of these strange tiles and log them and their locations. So while the website is gone, the mystery still remained.

Thanks to the internet archive, you can still view a lot of the work from Toynbee.net. But even without that, it’s easy to find listings of Toynbee Tiles around the internet now. 

“4th Street and Sanson Street

5th Street and Walnut Street

7th Street and Chestnut Street

11th Street and Oregon Avenue”

The list of spotting of these colorful inlays in the road were chronicled on the site and kept growing into the hundreds, and then organized by city. Spotters would email sightings into Bill, who would add them to the list. You can even go back and see Bill’s very first post about the tiles, including the text from an email dated 1996.

He included a photo of a tile, and typed, “I’ve seen this plaque embedded in road intersections all over Philadelphia and NYC while others have reported seeing it in other states. What is it? What does it mean?” 

For the tiles to appear throughout the U.S. and South America with the same lettering, style, and themes before the era of Internet virality, suggests that they were being done, or at least orchestrated by the same person. 

Let’s talk about the themes on the tiles. 

The main text usually refers to “The movie 2001,” which is a reference to Stanley Kubricks’s 1968 film, “2001: A Space Oddysey.” We know this because in some of the tiles, he calls out Kubrick by name. Instead of “Movie 2001,” they might say “Kubrick’s 2001.” 

They also commonly referred to the name “Toynbee” or “Toynbee idea” and the phrase “resurrect dead” or “resurrect dead on Planet Jupiter.” This seems like a crazy non-sensical ranting – and it is, but it is referring to something. If you look up “Toynbee,” you’ll see it’s possibly a reference to Arnold J. Toynbee, who was this historian who was a scholar of International Affairs and Global Politics in the 20s, 30s and 40s. He wrote a book called “Experiences” in which he has a very strange passage about the possibility of the human soul being separate from the human body and how that could lead to the idea of reanimating a dead body. Another theory about the meaning of Toynbee had to do with a Ray Bradbury SciFi story called “The Toynbee Connector” about colonizing Jupiter. Arthur Clarke had a play called “Jupiter V” about a mission to Jupiter and the ship was called the “Arnold Toynbee.” And David Mamet, the playwright, has always believed that the tiles are alluding to his work “4 A.M.” in which a character calls a radio show talking about reanimating life on Jupiter. These works all sort of talk about the same ideas, but the leading theory is most likely referring to Toynbee himself.

Another theme that appears in a lot of tiles is an extreme loathing of the media. They would sometimes refer to the “ground bones of dead journalists” and there was one that instructs the viewer to “murder every journalist. I beg you.” It’s thought that the creator of the tiles bought into a conspiracy theory that connected the press to world governments, the soviets and – of course Jews. Because no conspiracy theory is complete without a dose of anti-semitism. 

Sometimes the tiles would appear with smaller additions around them in smaller print. Those would be a little more unhinged and would sometimes contain instructions, such as telling people they must make tiles, or murder journalists. 

Whoever was creating these tiles was seemingly disturbed. Or was it just a piece of art meant to create that illusion? Whatever it was, by the mid-90s, they had caught the attention of news stations.

“TOYNBEE IDEA IN MOVIE 2001. RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPITER.”

These were the words that Bill O’Neill noticed in the roads around his neighborhood in Philadelphia. They were strangely arranged on a small tile or plaque inlaid in the asphalt. The small tile, around the size of an American license plate, would usually be bright colors like red, white and blue, but sometimes just white or just red. And the words would change from tile to tile, but would always be centered around the same theme, and the lettering was exactly the same. The same letter shapes, the same tile material, the same themes.  Nobody could tell Bill what they were, so he started a website to log them – Toynbee.net. The website is long gone, but Toynbee.net helped sleuths all over country – and even in South America, spot even more of these strange tiles and log them and their locations. So while the website is gone, the mystery still remained.

Thanks to the internet archive, you can still view a lot of the work from Toynbee.net. But even without that, it’s easy to find listings of Toynbee Tiles around the internet now. 

“4th Street and Sanson Street

5th Street and Walnut Street

7th Street and Chestnut Street

11th Street and Oregon Avenue”

The list of spotting of these colorful inlays in the road were chronicled on the site and kept growing into the hundreds, and then organized by city. Spotters would email sightings into Bill, who would add them to the list. You can even go back and see Bill’s very first post about the tiles, including the text from an email dated 1996.

He included a photo of a tile, and typed, “I’ve seen this plaque embedded in road intersections all over Philadelphia and NYC while others have reported seeing it in other states. What is it? What does it mean?” 

For the tiles to appear throughout the U.S. and South America with the same lettering, style, and themes before the era of Internet virality, suggests that they were being done, or at least orchestrated by the same person. 

Let’s talk about the themes on the tiles. 

The main text usually refers to “The movie 2001,” which is a reference to Stanley Kubricks’s 1968 film, “2001: A Space Oddysey.” We know this because in some of the tiles, he calls out Kubrick by name. Instead of “Movie 2001,” they might say “Kubrick’s 2001.” 

They also commonly referred to the name “Toynbee” or “Toynbee idea” and the phrase “resurrect dead” or “resurrect dead on Planet Jupiter.” This seems like a crazy non-sensical ranting – and it is, but it is referring to something. If you look up “Toynbee,” you’ll see it’s possibly a reference to Arnold J. Toynbee, who was this historian who was a scholar of International Affairs and Global Politics in the 20s, 30s and 40s. He wrote a book called “Experiences” in which he has a very strange passage about the possibility of the human soul being separate from the human body and how that could lead to the idea of reanimating a dead body. Another theory about the meaning of Toynbee had to do with a Ray Bradbury SciFi story called “The Toynbee Connector” about colonizing Jupiter. Arthur Clarke had a play called “Jupiter V” about a mission to Jupiter and the ship was called the “Arnold Toynbee.” And David Mamet, the playwright, has always believed that the tiles are alluding to his work “4 A.M.” in which a character calls a radio show talking about reanimating life on Jupiter. These works all sort of talk about the same ideas, but the leading theory is most likely referring to Toynbee himself.

Another theme that appears in a lot of tiles is an extreme loathing of the media. They would sometimes refer to the “ground bones of dead journalists” and there was one that instructs the viewer to “murder every journalist. I beg you.” It’s thought that the creator of the tiles bought into a conspiracy theory that connected the press to world governments, the soviets and – of course Jews. Because no conspiracy theory is complete without a dose of anti-semitism. 

Sometimes the tiles would appear with smaller additions around them in smaller print. Those would be a little more unhinged and would sometimes contain instructions, such as telling people they must make tiles, or murder journalists. 

Whoever was creating these tiles was seemingly disturbed. Or was it just a piece of art meant to create that illusion? Whatever it was, by the mid-90s, they had caught the attention of news stations.

For years, people collecting reports of Toynbee Tiles had no real leads on who had created them. The only clues were the frequency of the tile locations and that wasn’t helping much. No one had come forward to claim credit. 

When I first heard this story, my first question was – how in the heck is someone getting a tile into an asphalt road that’s already been laid? If you tasked me with inlaying something into a road, I wouldn’t know where to begin. I would assume, I’d have to chip away at the road to create space or have some sort of industrial strength adhesive or something. But people who have studied these tiles have likely figured out how they were created and installed. The tiles were at first suspected by Bill O’Neill to be made out of metal, but then one of his emailers suggested they were some sort of plastic that was baked into the street or perhaps stenciled on with a thick plastic-like paint. One Toynbee Tile enthusiast finally thinks he solved this mystery. His name is Justin Duerr, and he’s responsible for spreading the word about the tiles more than anyone else. 

Justin Duerr and filmaker Jon Foy created the documentary, “Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles” in 2011. Let me tell you – it’s one of the most intriguing documentaries I’ve ever seen. Foy followed Justin around for years along with fellow researchers Colin Smith and Steve Weinik, trying to solve this mystery and it actually led them to some interesting conclusions. First of all – the material and deployment we just mentioned. At one point, Duerr came across a tile that hadn’t finished being installed. It was wrapped in tar paper and stuck down onto a street in the early morning. It’s Duerr’s belief that the creator places these tiles down and allows busy traffic to adhere them to the ground. The paper apparently wears away over time and reveals the tiles.

He also has done more work than anyone – save for possibly Bill O’Neill and toynbee.net to try to solve this mystery of who put them there.

One of the clues that Duerr talks about is a strange incident in which residents of a Philadelphia neighborhood reported hearing an interruption to their radio stations. The theory is that it was a local short wave or ham radio operator overtaking their signals and this person would spout crazy theories about Kubrick’s 2001 Space Odyssey, railing against the media and talking about resurrecting bodies on Jupiter. All of the same themes found in the tiles. And to be able to do that – to hijack a radio signal, a person would have to be nearby. 

Another clue comes from that same neighborhood. In the streets near where the radio signal was heard, people were reporting what they called “prototype tiles.” Bits and pieces of Toynbee Tiles. Almost like the materials and deployment methods were being tested out. 

Perhaps one of the largest clues came from a series of call in radio shows and newspapers. In 1983, a person named James Morasco called into radio shows and wrote opinion pieces in the classified section of newspapers around Philadelphia about this Toynbee idea of the soul and body being separate and sending dead bodies to Jupiter to become reanimated. He claimed to be the head of an organization called “The Minority Association.” When he would call into journalists on the radio, he would often be laughed at and treated like a crazy person. There was a James Morasco in Philly, but it wasn’t him, according to his wife. He was an old man at the time and didn’t know anything about creating tiles. He had died in 2003 at the age of 88. The theory that Justin Duerr came up with was that James Morasco was an alias. One possible name that could be connected with the tiles was someone in South Philly known as “Railroad Joe.” An address found on the back of one of the tiles was his – his real name was Julius Priori. Railroad Joe died in 1987. Most of the tiles appeared after that. But the new resident of the home was the man that Justin Duerr believes is the one behind the tiles. 

He believes the creator to be a man named Severino Verna, known to his friends by the name “Sevy.” Verna was a reclusive Philadelphia resident and the short wave radio signals and test tiles all were centered around where he lived – Railroad Joe’s old house. Sevy was known by many as “The Birdman.” He loved birds his whole life. And there’s a disturbing story about Sevy’s childhood. He would take pigeons that had died, cover them in cement, and put them into a bucket with the hopes of resurrecting them. His parents owned a funeral home and its believed that Sevy was obsessed with death and resurrection. Duerr and his fellow researchers believe in their hearts that Verna is the tiler. Verna has denied having anything to do with the tiles. His family also claims to have no knowledge of his creating the tiles. 

The most intriguing clue for me that points to Verna is the way the tiles are deployed. How was he getting these into the busy street without being seen? Verna drove a beat up old car. The passenger seat of the car had no floorboards. You could see through to the street below. It’s thought that this is how he would get the linoleum tiles wrapped in tar paper onto the street. 

But again – no one has ever definitively solved this mystery. And no one knows how they showed up not only in Philadelphia, but Boston, Kansas City, Utah, even some cities in South America like Rio de Janiero, Santiago Chile and Buenos Aires. Could it be that the tiler was a HAM radio enthusiast who connected with other people about his theories? Did he mail them their own tiles to install? 

Sadly, this is just a mystery. We really don’t know. Most tiles only last a few weeks before either being worn away or removed by the city. The most recent tile was in 2016 in Philadelphia. Some cities, like Chicago consider the tiles graffiti and will remove them if found. Meanwhile, Philadelphia’s Streets departments has recognized their significance to the public as a mystery and has promised to save a few as long as they can easily be removed in the future. 

So did “Birdman” Sevy Verna create the tiles? I’m convinced, but who knows. What we do know is this is an enigma that’s captivated people for more 30 years. The Internet Says it’s True.

For years, people collecting reports of Toynbee Tiles had no real leads on who had created them. The only clues were the frequency of the tile locations and that wasn’t helping much. No one had come forward to claim credit. 

When I first heard this story, my first question was – how in the heck is someone getting a tile into an asphalt road that’s already been laid? If you tasked me with inlaying something into a road, I wouldn’t know where to begin. I would assume, I’d have to chip away at the road to create space or have some sort of industrial strength adhesive or something. But people who have studied these tiles have likely figured out how they were created and installed. The tiles were at first suspected by Bill O’Neill to be made out of metal, but then one of his emailers suggested they were some sort of plastic that was baked into the street or perhaps stenciled on with a thick plastic-like paint. One Toynbee Tile enthusiast finally thinks he solved this mystery. His name is Justin Duerr, and he’s responsible for spreading the word about the tiles more than anyone else. 

Justin Duerr and filmaker Jon Foy created the documentary, “Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles” in 2011. Let me tell you – it’s one of the most intriguing documentaries I’ve ever seen. Foy followed Justin around for years along with fellow researchers Colin Smith and Steve Weinik, trying to solve this mystery and it actually led them to some interesting conclusions. First of all – the material and deployment we just mentioned. At one point, Duerr came across a tile that hadn’t finished being installed. It was wrapped in tar paper and stuck down onto a street in the early morning. It’s Duerr’s belief that the creator places these tiles down and allows busy traffic to adhere them to the ground. The paper apparently wears away over time and reveals the tiles.

He also has done more work than anyone – save for possibly Bill O’Neill and toynbee.net to try to solve this mystery of who put them there.

One of the clues that Duerr talks about is a strange incident in which residents of a Philadelphia neighborhood reported hearing an interruption to their radio stations. The theory is that it was a local short wave or ham radio operator overtaking their signals and this person would spout crazy theories about Kubrick’s 2001 Space Odyssey, railing against the media and talking about resurrecting bodies on Jupiter. All of the same themes found in the tiles. And to be able to do that – to hijack a radio signal, a person would have to be nearby. 

Another clue comes from that same neighborhood. In the streets near where the radio signal was heard, people were reporting what they called “prototype tiles.” Bits and pieces of Toynbee Tiles. Almost like the materials and deployment methods were being tested out. 

Perhaps one of the largest clues came from a series of call in radio shows and newspapers. In 1983, a person named James Morasco called into radio shows and wrote opinion pieces in the classified section of newspapers around Philadelphia about this Toynbee idea of the soul and body being separate and sending dead bodies to Jupiter to become reanimated. He claimed to be the head of an organization called “The Minority Association.” When he would call into journalists on the radio, he would often be laughed at and treated like a crazy person. There was a James Morasco in Philly, but it wasn’t him, according to his wife. He was an old man at the time and didn’t know anything about creating tiles. He had died in 2003 at the age of 88. The theory that Justin Duerr came up with was that James Morasco was an alias. One possible name that could be connected with the tiles was someone in South Philly known as “Railroad Joe.” An address found on the back of one of the tiles was his – his real name was Julius Priori. Railroad Joe died in 1987. Most of the tiles appeared after that. But the new resident of the home was the man that Justin Duerr believes is the one behind the tiles. 

He believes the creator to be a man named Severino Verna, known to his friends by the name “Sevy.” Verna was a reclusive Philadelphia resident and the short wave radio signals and test tiles all were centered around where he lived – Railroad Joe’s old house. Sevy was known by many as “The Birdman.” He loved birds his whole life. And there’s a disturbing story about Sevy’s childhood. He would take pigeons that had died, cover them in cement, and put them into a bucket with the hopes of resurrecting them. His parents owned a funeral home and its believed that Sevy was obsessed with death and resurrection. Duerr and his fellow researchers believe in their hearts that Verna is the tiler. Verna has denied having anything to do with the tiles. His family also claims to have no knowledge of his creating the tiles. 

The most intriguing clue for me that points to Verna is the way the tiles are deployed. How was he getting these into the busy street without being seen? Verna drove a beat up old car. The passenger seat of the car had no floorboards. You could see through to the street below. It’s thought that this is how he would get the linoleum tiles wrapped in tar paper onto the street. 

But again – no one has ever definitively solved this mystery. And no one knows how they showed up not only in Philadelphia, but Boston, Kansas City, Utah, even some cities in South America like Rio de Janiero, Santiago Chile and Buenos Aires. Could it be that the tiler was a HAM radio enthusiast who connected with other people about his theories? Did he mail them their own tiles to install? 

Sadly, this is just a mystery. We really don’t know. Most tiles only last a few weeks before either being worn away or removed by the city. The most recent tile was in 2016 in Philadelphia. Some cities, like Chicago consider the tiles graffiti and will remove them if found. Meanwhile, Philadelphia’s Streets departments has recognized their significance to the public as a mystery and has promised to save a few as long as they can easily be removed in the future. 

So did “Birdman” Sevy Verna create the tiles? I’m convinced, but who knows. What we do know is this is an enigma that’s captivated people for more 30 years. The Internet Says it’s True.

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