S6 E2: Resurrect Dead - The Enduring Mystery of The Toynbee Tiles
About this episode
This episode explores the Toynbee Tiles, an urban mystery involving hidden messages and the obsession surrounding them.
What happens when you look down at a crosswalk… and the street looks back? This week, we dive into one of the strangest urban mysteries ever embedded into public space: the Toynbee Tiles - handmade plaques hidden in plain sight with a message that feels like a code, a prophecy, and a dare all at once: “TOYNBEE IDEA / IN MOVIE 2001 / RESURRECT DEAD / ON PLANET JUPITER.” We trace how these tiles started showing up decades ago, why Philadelphia became ground zero, and how the mystery spread across cities in the U.S. (and even beyond). But this isn’t just a “weird street art” episode - it’s an audio-documentary deep dive into obsession, pirate broadcasts, missing documents, and a belief system stitched together from history, sci-fi, and the fear of death. Along the way we follow the people who couldn’t let it go, especially artist Justin Duerr, and the investigation that turns up three major clues: a South Philly address, an early newspaper trail, and a bizarre cultural echo that makes your brain short-circuit. Then the story takes a hard left into shortwave radio, alleged signal hijackings, and a stack of documents tied to something called “The Minority Association.” And by the end…
More episodes of That Would Be Rad
- S6 E6: Critters at 40...They STILL BITE!
- S6 E5: Abducted… Then They Sent Him Back | The Carl Higdon UFO Case
- S6 E4: Theories That Change Everything About Alien Movies
- S6 E3: The Mountain That Eats Men - The Mystery of Untersberg
- S6 E1: No Alternative - Secret Tracks and Nirvana Conspiracies
- Could Stranger Things Conformity Gate Still Be Real?
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the That Would Be Rad podcast page.