People Explain What These 93 Strange And Weird Things In Old Homes Are (New Pics)

Memories: in the ‘50s my grandfather had the lids of pint jars screwed to the underside of a shelf above his bench. In each jar were screws, nails, bolts, and nuts and a bit of camphor to keep them from rusting.

Lowers chandelier for cleaning in the dining room below

Pencil sharpener
I especially like the placement of the dry wall screw , so when you trim your pencil you can rip your knuckles w

Ash removal , my Grandmother had one . There's a container in basement that collect the ashes. The reason she saved hers , in the Spring when she planted her Vegetable Garden she used wood ash too keep the bugs away. She didn't like it the ideal of pesticides . Really the food she grew was Organic! Hooray for my grandmother !!

It's to stop people from peeing in the alley, it'll splash back on them

My guess… a drain. Then again, a portal to Lucifer's Lair.
Pour a bucket of water down and see if it drains…. But make it Holy Water. That way you are covered on both possibilities.

Corner bollard to protect the corner of the building from cart wheels.

Public toilet lock, and in the UK the source of the saying "I need to spend a penny" as a polite way of saying that you're going to the loo. A penny was the charge when public toilets were first installed, and I remember them still being in use in department store toilets when I was a kiddie, as well as outdoor public toilets.

Mezuzah. Jewish people have them at each door (except bathrooms). They touch the mezuzah and then kiss their fingers. Inside is a small paper Torah scroll. It's a visual reminder that G-d is always present.

Because the old doors was not made of cardboard

This small, domed stone structure in the UK is known as a "village lock-up" or sometimes referred to as a "round-house lock-up" or "cage" in local terminology. These were once common in British villages from the 18th and 19th centuries and were used to temporarily detain drunks, petty criminals, or people who had been arrested before they could be taken to a magistrate or larger jail.

The heat came up from the coal furnace in the cellar. I can actually remember when my grandparents still used theirs. There were smaller grates in the ceilings on the first floor that let heat go up to the second floor bedrooms. They also doubled as an intercom system. You just yelled up or down through them if you needed something

It supposedly bult crooked to keep witches from entering.
Many older homes have crooked chimneys

Omg an ancient Roman bath house, the first ever discovered in America. You should turn your house into a museum and charge 10$ per person

The object found in the old farmhouse is a glass fire grenade.
These items were a form of early fire extinguisher, popular from the 1880s to the 1930s. They were typically filled with fire-retardant liquids, such as salt water or carbon tetrachloride, and designed to be thrown at the base of a fire to extinguish it.

There used to be a tradition where you would hide the house key in the newel post as a symbol of ownership to grant prosperity to the home.

It’s a furnace control damper. Chain would’ve been attached to open or close the damper

Corded phone, like an at home phone booth lol

Yes…that rack used to hold porcelain insulators, and incoming electrical wires were once tied to them for electrical service. Common on buildings in the 1920s-1950s.

Coal furnace it opens and shut the damper

It’s probably the original staircase to the attic. A lot of people put the bathroom in there because the space wasn’t being used when plumbing first came out.

Boot scraper to get dirt off your shoes before you enter the house.

Supposedly these features were the toilets. They just dropped right out to the moat.

Reminds me of the hole that likely still remains in the floorboards of my Aunt's home in Denver. One day, back in ye olde late 1900s my Uncle, having just lectured me on gun safety, agreed to show me his firearms. After removing one firearm from the nightstand he tried to clear the round that was in the chamber when the gun went off. Went through the bed, into the floor, and is likely somewhere still in the dirt of the crawlspace.
My father, ever the comedian and somewhat of a jerk, patted my uncle on the shoulder and asked when he planned on mounting his mattress trophy over the fireplace.

Damper from when the house had a coal furnace

This was for rooms to call for service.
Evidently this household was large enough to have maids or ‘footmen’ and this told them which room required their attendance.

The Exhaust fan - for smell of fried chicken, bacon, sofrito, rice and beans to billow out into the neighborhood…

Drying racks if large dowels for blankets sheets and so forth smaller for towels etc.

It’s a dinner bell. Turn the crank, ring the bells, the farm crew come running for their dinner.

Yeah. This house, built in early 1950s, has hard wood tongue & groove flooring. The lamp that lightens the stairway is missing but was on/off by a two-way switch at this bottom dite & the head of the stairs above. A Great way to save an the electric bill!

Electrical insulators for an old electric service

Yes, there are old window weights

I think it may be a closed well. If you look at the bricks there are several layers and it looks to be in shape of a circle. An outhouse most likely wouldn't have that many bricks. But it could be a cistern where they gathered water (rain water) for animals, irrigation of some sorts, but they are usually kind of like a barrel or enclosed.

It says Ariel right on it. Old antenna plug for a tv or radio back in the day

Navy. Brass bc well everything is brass
S. R. Is state room (where officers live
It tells where the different toilets drain. It is a souvenir from someone’s past. Not Sears roebuck but i like the thought
I’m a submarine guy so I don’t know where mds mdp and all that. Lines up to
mid something portside
Mid something starboard side
Mid something P & S. (Left and right side. ).

That looks like half a fluorescent lamp set up with the ballast still there

As the wife of a Mason this chimney is fully functional. It has flues on both sides of the window, that allow the smoke to rise. The window works at it should opening and closing.

A damper control for a coal furnace. If the floor hasnt been covered over you will find two small holes in the floor below if that the damper chains would have passed through

Missing parts to a water well pump. We see them here a lot and people take them apart for lawn ornaments . They don’t work - just for decoration

It’s a mechanical doorbell where you turned a knob on the outside of the door and it rang the bell, I just about bought a house that had one of these but a more modern version from the 1930s.

Speaking tube , some you’d blow through and they’d whistle and then you’d talk to the person on the other end.

They are called whistles. You use them to nail into . You can install trim or flashing using them

Fire grenade, it's safe as long as its sealed. Some people collect them. Just be careful with it, keep it somewhere safe, it will still put out a fire as well. It contains carbon tetrachloride.

Keeps the witch's out of the jacuzzi

I remember before these they were in walls to allow heat from fireplaces to get to other rooms, in the 1800s things changed a bit, but there was always a way to make sure the heat traveled through,whether from coal stoves, or wood or other there were always forms of making heat travel through old houses

That is an old utility transformer / service entrance distribution point, likely from the 1930s–1950s era.
It’s basically the building’s main power feed, long before modern breaker panels were standard.

That is a decorative element called a drop finial. There is probably a newel post above it.

1930s bakelite outlet. These were usually surface mounted for use with multiple plug types.

The scales like that were used in assay offices. You put the precious metal on one side and you added weights to the other side until it balanced. They also use those in General stores to weigh merchandise that was sold by the pound

The horseshoe signifies good luck. Point up like in the photo means catching good luck. Pointing down means showering with good luck.

That’s an old telephone lol
You could hear when it’s time for dinner
No central heat then, each kitchen had a stove and that was the hvac of the day
Also a rock by the stove was there to take to bed to keep you warm at night

Telephone shelf

It’s was for the horse and cart