Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles Page #8

to actually fulfill

this promise.

You could build heaven

from the ground up.

If you interpret

the end of the movie "2001"

as people building a physical

afterlife in outer space,

then that basically is

the Toynbee idea in movie 2001

to resurrect dead on

planet Jupiter.

In the play "Four A.M.,"

David Mamet uses this

phrase "molecules."

Another one of the enduring

mysteries

of the whole

Toynbee story was

where David Mamet got this idea,

you know, what this

was all about.

So it was incredibly revealing

to read this little piece of

information

in one of

Sevy's letters to Ulis.

Well, David Mamet actually had

even done interviews

where he said...

The play is an homage to

Larry King,

the days when

I used to listen to him

on the radio in the middle

of the night.

Well, now we knew there was

a specific phone call made

in February 1980.

And he was on the air

on Larry King.

And who knows?

But Mamet insists the play

is not based on a real caller.

People used to ask me

where I get my ideas

and I would always say,

"I think of them."

There was no call on the radio,

I made it up.

There are so many

similarities

between "Four A.M." and the

Toynbee Idea campaign.

Certainly, all of the things

that the caller says

sound like they could have come

directly out of the mouth

of James Morasco.

The phrasings in the literature

that we got from Ulis

are so close to that

source in "Four A.M."

Maybe he wrote something down

at the time he heard it.

Went to bed.

Three years later, he forgot

about where he got the idea

and then wrote a short play.

It's kind of mind-boggling

somehow, I don't know.

This is all somewhat

up to conjecture

because we don't know

any of this stuff for sure.

It's all from context clues.

But this is what

I'm thinking...

the library book,

has seen the movie "2001,"

puts two and two together

in his mind.

February 1980,

he makes a phone call to

"Larry King Live"

and gets on the air.

attempts are made to contact

major media outlets.

Very little comes of that

above and beyond

the Clark DeLeon article.

His ways of publicizing

the idea

become more street level

and grass routes as he

experiences more rejection

from the established media.

Sometime around this

point,

he has developed stationary

and is making wheat pastes.

He is also experimenting in

shortwave radio.

He tries to get a pirate radio

station up and running

and broadcasts via his car.

They won't put the

Toynbee Idea on television

and so he just drove around

transmitting directly onto

people's television sets.

He had this grandiose plan

to build a pirate shortwave

broadcaster

to transmit signals

into the USSR.

He actually had plans

and schematics drawn out

so that he could do that.

Sometime between

he perfects

the tile-laying method

and the first tiles

begin to appear.

In the late '80s, Sevy drove

his car across the US

and also visited South America

and laid hundreds

and hundreds of tiles.

This process continues

to this day.

You have to look at it

from his point of view,

which I'm sure is hard for

a lot of people to do.

I think he became

fixated on this idea

that he had found the answer to

overcome death and everything

and decided that if he

could just figure out a way

to publicize the idea

the rest of the story

would kind of write itself.

When this didn't happen,

not only did people not

listen to him

but they were

actively mocking him.

There's a big part of that story

that has to just do

with empathizing

with him as a person.

We found out everything

we needed to find out.

We found out why

the tiler never stepped forward

and took credit for everything.

It gets to this point

where there's this strange

kind of dilemma

where you say,

"Okay, how much is too much?"

And let's just step back

and leave it as it is.

"Mr. Verna, I have so many

questions for you.

"I have listened

to the shortwave frequency

"listed on the fliers from so

many years ago,

"but have never heard you.

"I want to make perfectly clear

to you

"the immense amount of respect

I have for you as a thinker,

"as a creative individual

"and as someone

who has persevered

"despite being ignored or mocked

in the press

"in the early

stages of your campaign.

"I sincerely admire you for your

stalwart dedication

"and your innovation of a method

of circumventing the media.

"Mr. Verna,

if it is at all possible,

"we would love to have you

tell the story

"of this unparalleled publicity

campaign in your own words.

"You have my solemn word,

as someone who has followed

"your creative work

for over ten years

"that it is my

highest priority

"to present your thoughts

and words,

"in whatever form, in the most

respectful and positive manner

"of which I am capable.

"We have tried knocking on your

door to speak in person,

"but began to feel as if we

were making pests of ourselves,

"so we will not do so any more.

"I write all of this to you

in a spirit of total

"openness and frankness.

"I hope you will be able to

respond to us

"and that you would be willing

to share your thoughts with us.

"But whatever decision you make,

"please know that you have my

understanding.

"I hope this finds you

in good health and spirit.

Very truly and respectfully

yours, Justin Duerr."

Imagining this

ending up in his hands

kind of makes me nervous

with anticipation.

I run scenarios over in my head.

It's just that whole world of

possibilities.

I mean, I--

I-- after I do that

for a while,

I just have to stop doing it

'cause it will drive me insane.

Late spring or early winter

of 2007,

I got off the subway train

at Broad and Oregon

in South Philadelphia.

And I catch a bus.

Around the 700 or 800 block,

which is in the neighborhood

where the address on

the Toynbee tile in

South America was--

was... listed, or whatever,

I just--

I had an encounter with

who I assumed to be the Toynbee

tile culprit.

I kind of kept looking

at him 'cause I thought,

"Could that be... could

that be Sevy?

I mean, it very well

could be, he's the right age."

He looked like, sort of

the type of person

that was wrapped up in

his own thoughts or whatever.

Certain people that you see,

you can just tell

that they're more on an

introspective mind trip.

We exited the bus at

opposite sides.

There was some

extremely uncomfortable,

you know...

glancing back and forth

and eye contact and stuff.

It was, you know, uncomfortable

and tense.

But nothing was said.

And-- but we definitely

noticed each other.

All kinds of stuff went through

my head.

For years and years,

I wanted to talk to this person

and for years and years I wanted

to solve the mystery.

But the thing was that

when I ran into him on the bus,

I didn't want to do it.

It's not that I couldn't

bring myself to do it.

I decided not to

bring myself to do it

because I felt like it was not

the right thing to do.

You can't force

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