WEBVTT - Waiting Beneath the Streets 0:00:05.921 --> 0:00:23.121 Approach production. Hi, welcome to Silent Secrets, a bedtime podcast 0:00:23.241 --> 0:00:31.041 for curious minds. I'm jay, I'm glad you're here. This 0:00:31.441 --> 0:00:34.961 is your time to let go of today, to settle 0:00:35.001 --> 0:00:40.601 in and slow down, and let curiosity gently carry you 0:00:40.641 --> 0:00:45.280 towards sleep. In each episode, I'm going to share a 0:00:45.321 --> 0:00:49.041 true story of the unexplained, not to alarm you, but 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:52.440 to quiet your mind, to remind you that the world 0:00:52.561 --> 0:00:58.641 is full of wonder and some things we'll never truly understand. 0:01:00.081 --> 0:01:04.681 So take a deep breath, feel your body sink into comfort, 0:01:07.401 --> 0:01:10.881 that the weight of the day drift away as we 0:01:10.961 --> 0:01:25.000 begin tonight's story. Most people don't look at the ground 0:01:25.241 --> 0:01:29.280 when they're crossing a road. They're watching the lights, listening 0:01:29.321 --> 0:01:32.840 for traffic, thinking about where they need to be next. 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:38.681 The street is just something you move across, until one 0:01:38.761 --> 0:01:47.521 day you notice something that doesn't belong. A square set 0:01:47.801 --> 0:01:52.281 into the asphalt to need to be a crack, too 0:01:52.321 --> 0:01:56.361 deliberate to be a stain. You stop, and when you 0:01:56.401 --> 0:02:00.401 look closer, you realize it isn't part of the road 0:02:00.441 --> 0:02:09.841 at all. It's a message. The first time someone noticed 0:02:10.001 --> 0:02:13.881 one of these tiles, it was easy to dismiss a 0:02:13.921 --> 0:02:18.841 bit of street art, maybe a prank, something temporary. But 0:02:18.921 --> 0:02:24.560 then another appeared, and another in different parts of the city, 0:02:25.721 --> 0:02:34.001 in different cities, altogether, always similar, always strange, always saying 0:02:34.361 --> 0:02:40.841 the same thing. The tiles were made of lino, the 0:02:40.921 --> 0:02:44.641 kind you'd expect to see in an old kitchen, not 0:02:44.841 --> 0:02:50.761 sealed beneath the layer of asphalt. Pressed into them were words, 0:02:51.960 --> 0:03:00.561 not slogans, not advertisements, but statements about resurrection and Jupiter 0:03:01.561 --> 0:03:08.161 and something called the Toynbee idea. And once you read one, 0:03:08.601 --> 0:03:17.361 it's hard to forget it was ever there. What unsettled 0:03:17.401 --> 0:03:23.121 people wasn't just a message. It was the placement. These 0:03:23.201 --> 0:03:27.441 tiles weren't glued to the sidewalks or tucked awayne alleys. 0:03:28.761 --> 0:03:35.961 They were embedded in busy roads, intersections, high traffic streets, 0:03:37.041 --> 0:03:44.841 places where cars passed constantly, which meant someone had stood there, 0:03:45.921 --> 0:03:51.361 Someone had knelt down, calmly and deliberately and stalled a 0:03:51.441 --> 0:03:59.961 message into the road itself. At first, people thought it 0:04:00.041 --> 0:04:03.441 must be a group, Surely this couldn't be the work 0:04:03.481 --> 0:04:08.481 of just one person. But as the years passed, patterns 0:04:08.521 --> 0:04:14.481 began to emerge. The wording stayed consistent, The idea didn't 0:04:14.521 --> 0:04:20.641 drift The tiles didn't evolved into something else, They simply continued. 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:26.521 By the nineteen eighties and nineteen nineties, the tiles were 0:04:26.561 --> 0:04:31.481 being documented. Philadelphia became the center of them, but they 0:04:31.521 --> 0:04:37.640 didn't stay there. They appeared in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, 0:04:38.521 --> 0:04:45.320 even overseas, always the same voice, always the same belief, 0:04:46.641 --> 0:04:52.921 as if someone was patiently repeating themselves, hoping eventually someone 0:04:53.041 --> 0:05:06.241 would listen. People began asking the obvious question, what is 0:05:06.281 --> 0:05:14.961 the Toynbee idea? Why Jupiter? Why resurrection? The answers were 0:05:15.201 --> 0:05:19.320 never clear. Some trace the phrase back to an obscure 0:05:19.361 --> 0:05:23.440 belief that humanity could one day bring the dead back 0:05:23.481 --> 0:05:30.441 to life using advanced technology, an idea that blurred science, philosophy, 0:05:30.721 --> 0:05:35.721 and faith. Others pointed to the film two thousand and one, 0:05:36.001 --> 0:05:42.721 A Space Odyssey, a movie about evolution, transformation, and becoming 0:05:42.761 --> 0:05:46.881 something more than a human, but none of it explained 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:50.601 why someone would take this belief and press it into 0:05:50.681 --> 0:05:58.720 the streets of real cities. What makes the Toynbe task 0:05:58.801 --> 0:06:03.801 feel different from other mysteries is their patients. There was 0:06:03.841 --> 0:06:10.200 no rush, no escalation, no attempt to attract attention, just 0:06:10.281 --> 0:06:18.161 the same message installed again and again across decades, as 0:06:18.161 --> 0:06:21.801 if the person behind it believed that time itself would 0:06:21.841 --> 0:06:28.921 do the work. Over the years, the tiles changed slightly, 0:06:29.841 --> 0:06:37.201 different fonts, different layouts. Sometimes the tone shifted. Some messages 0:06:37.281 --> 0:06:45.121 sounded defensive, others almost pleading. It was as though the 0:06:45.161 --> 0:06:50.361 person placing them was aware they were being misunderstood, and 0:06:50.401 --> 0:06:56.440 replaced the tiles and the pavement. Eventually, many of the 0:06:56.481 --> 0:07:03.481 tiles disappeared roadworks, reservicing and time. They were cracked apart 0:07:04.241 --> 0:07:09.241 or buried under a new layer of asphalt. But if 0:07:09.281 --> 0:07:18.401 you survived, faded, worn and half hidden, still saying the 0:07:18.441 --> 0:07:32.681 same thing they always had. What's interesting about the Toynbee 0:07:32.681 --> 0:07:36.801 tars is that they don't ask anything of you. They 0:07:36.801 --> 0:07:43.121 don't demand belief, and they don't explain themselves. They simply exist, 0:07:44.201 --> 0:07:49.081 quiet statements left behind by someone who may never want 0:07:49.121 --> 0:07:56.281 to be known, only to be understood. If you're listening 0:07:56.281 --> 0:07:59.281 to this now in bed, think about the streets you 0:07:59.321 --> 0:08:05.201 walk every day. How many messages have been erased without notice, 0:08:05.841 --> 0:08:09.681 how many beliefs were pressed into the world and quietly 0:08:09.761 --> 0:08:15.961 paved over, and how many are still there waiting for 0:08:16.041 --> 0:08:24.081 someone to look down somewhere beneath the road, a sentence 0:08:24.561 --> 0:08:32.241 still exists, talking about resurrection, talking about Jupiter, not shouting, 0:08:33.121 --> 0:08:52.441 not whispering, just waiting. Thank you for listening to silent secrets. 0:08:53.481 --> 0:08:56.601 I hope tonight's story has given your mind something soft 0:08:56.721 --> 0:09:01.961 to wander through as you drift towards rest, that the 0:09:02.041 --> 0:09:06.321 quieter the night wrap around you, now that mysteries will 0:09:06.321 --> 0:09:12.761 still be here tomorrow, close your eyes, breathe deeply, and 0:09:12.881 --> 0:09:19.801 let's sleep take over until we share another secret next time. 0:09:20.881 --> 0:11:59.361 Good Night, m D. Thanks for listening to this episode 0:11:59.441 --> 0:12:03.241 and supporting this story. Independent storytelling that shapes the world 0:12:03.361 --> 0:12:06.161 is what pod shape really cares about. Right now, there's 0:12:06.201 --> 0:12:08.721 thousands of people listening to this show and our other 0:12:08.761 --> 0:12:12.121 true crimes, and they're completely engaged. More than ten million 0:12:12.161 --> 0:12:15.561 Australians listen to podcasts each week. If you've ever thought 0:12:15.601 --> 0:12:18.441 about advertising your business in a podcast, there's a link 0:12:18.441 --> 0:12:21.001 to reach out in the show notes, or head to 0:12:21.001 --> 0:12:22.881 podshape dot com to book a free call.