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“What Is This Thing?”: 48 Times People Stumbled Upon Mysterious Objects And The Internet Offered Them An Explanation
Article created by: Gabija Saveiskyte
If you ever—and we do mean ever—need a mystery solved, ask the internet for help. The amount of collective wisdom, combined with the Holmesian skills of amateur sleuths, is absolutely staggering. And you’re likely to feel your jaw drop at how quickly they find the answer to your question.
The r/whatisthisthing subreddit is a 2.2-million-member-strong online group that solves mysteries. And quite successfully, we might add! Internet users share a photo of an odd, bizarre, and often vintage item that puzzles them. Then, the community comes together to explain what it is, what it’s used for, and (if they happen to know it) share the broader context. It’s honestly one of the most interesting digital communities out there. You’ll find their latest successfully solved queries as you scroll down below.
Here at Bored Panda, we’re pretty big fans of what the r/whatisthisthing community has been doing for the past 12+ years. When you’ve finished upvoting the posts in this list that you think are very best examples of unraveled mysteries, consider taking a peek at our other recent articles about the sub here, here, and here.
More info: Reddit | Wiki | FAQ (Frequently Asked Things Archive) | Guide
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Old Ruler. I Don’t Know How It Is Used Or What Does It Measure
Answer: Slide rule, logarithmic calculating device. These put humans on the moon.
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#2
Came Across This While Hiking Behind An Old Mine In Southwestern Pennsylvania. Several Miles Off Of The Old Access Road. Appears 40 Feet Long, Nothing Written On It, Appears Nothing Is Inside Of It. 25 Feet Or So Off Of The Ground. No Sign Of Life Around It For Miles
Answer: That, my friend, is the daddy of all deer stands.
#3
Iron Cone On Either Side Of A Gate Outside The Entry To A Building In Bath England
Answer: It's a snuffer. A visitor to your house would use it to put out their torch.
#4
What Are These Medal Things On The Corner Of These Stairs And What Is Their Purpose?
Answer: Corner dust guards. They make it easier to sweep dust out of the corners.
#5
Small Elephant Filled With Water Left At Flat After Party. Debating With Flatmates Over What It’s Purpose Could Be
Answer: It's a melted reusable ice cube
#6
What Are These Blue Reflecting Markers For? Mounted On A Pole, Facing The Field
Answer: They are reflecting the headlights of cars to the fields, so that deer avoids crossing the road. So it's for safety of cars and animals.
#7
Found On The Dashboard Of An Old Gmc. A Lucite Like Material, With Ridges
Answer: It's a traffic light viewer. Traffic lights back in the day were mounted on the same side you stopped on which sometimes made it difficult to see the light if you were first in line, this helped reflect the light from above so you could tell when the light changed.
#8
Sunset Pic I Took From Jfk Airport. Could These Shadows Be The Manhattan Skyline?
Answer: I live near Mt. Rainier and this happens too, only at dawn. The mountain casts its shadow on the underside of the clouds. This is just as impressive as that.
#9
Random-Ish Straight But Not Paralel Lines Next To My Office Building… What’s Happening Here?
Answer: You probably live in the UK, where planning authorities often require developers to do "evaluation trial trenching" to make sure there are no important archaeological artifacts that might be destroyed by excavation. If the trial trenches turn up anything interesting, a more serious archaeological dig may be required before building can begin.
#10
4m High Funnel With 3 Outlets Near A Playground And A Beer Garden In Germany
Answer: It's a three-way basketball hoop (Balltrichter mit drei Ausgängen). You can score, but you don't know who gets the ball next. My kids school just got one. The kids love it.
#11
What Is This Growth On My Mugs After I Microwave Them?
Answer: Ceramicist here. So clay bodies are porous, depending on the material. Porcelain is dense, and earthware and stoneware is less. Either way liquids can move through fired clay. Glaze that goes on the outside can look solid, but can have hundreds of tiny cracks and holes. When you microwave liquids or just let them sit in a ceramic vessel they can seep through and crystallize in the cracks and holes. This usually only happens with hand made or cheap ceramics.
#12
Found At A Used Book Store. All Parts Rotate And The Markings/Months Makes Me Think It Could Be For Mapping?
Answer: An astrolabe, the ancient times GPS. Used usually for navigation, also for time measure and other science uses. I got one similar as a keyring.
#13
What Is This Hatch I've Seen On The Outside Of Houses In The UK?
Answer: It's a boot scraper, for getting the mud off your shoes before going in. They are pretty common.
#14
A Scissors Like Device I Bought Years Ago On Flee Market
Answer: It’s a vintage umbilical clamp. That’s why it’s shaped like a stork! Eventually this style did evolve into several types of embroidery scissors that the midwives would use while awaiting labor.
#15
Blue Glass Thing Found At Goodwill. About 5 Inches High With A Hole In Top
Answer: That is a whale oil lamp. Hand blown glass. Very odd blue color. Not cheap !
#16
Sliding Tray With Holes On Both Sides Of This Sofa
Answer: Tray table. It has another piece to it. It’s a tray with matching pegs. Tray goes on top and the pegs slide in. They fit together so the tray sits tightly. Then you take the tray back to the kitchen and put the sliding part back so it’s not in the way.
#17
This Little Hole Appeared In My Parents' Bedroom
Answer: Was a kid. Shot my parent’s window with a bb gun once and got grounded for a month. Hole was exactly this.
#18
This Is A Steel Wire Frame With Two Glass Marbles. It Was Found In An Old Garage Among Various Stuff. The Marbles Can Turn Inside The Frame
Answer: It's a razor blade sharpener.
#19
Thumb Protector Possibly, But For What? Found At A Yard Sale
Answer: Old timey fish monger/butcher thumb guard.
#20
What Is This Thing Used For? A Book With Black Blank Pages Alternating With Thin Translucent Pages
Answer: Photo-Album. You stick paper photos on the black pages. The transparent pages are for protection.
#21
What Is This Big Round Well-Type Thing In The Middle Of The Women’s Restroom? It’s In An Older Bathroom And It Doesn’t Seem To Have Any Water Running To Or From It… Just A Big Cylinder With A Drain In It
Answer: It's a sink. For washing your hands. You step on the ring to start the water.
#22
What Are These Sets Of Seven Dimples On Styrofoam?
Answer: While many plastic objects have little marks on them where the liquid plastic is injected into the mold, expanded polystyrene objects ("Styrofoam") aren't made this way. Instead, small granules of plastic are pre-treated with steam in a large hopper, which causes them to expand into little foam pellets. These foam pellets are poured into the mold, and then additional steam is injected in, causing the pellets to swell even more until they completely fill the mold. The little seven-dot marks are steam injection points.
#23
Found A Large Metallic Cylinder On The Beach Of Husavik, Iceland. What Is This?
Answer: Solved! We asked around and it turns out that these are submarine detectors, nothing to worry about, no explosive inside!
#24
Small Plastic Pouch With Red Gel And A Metal Disc Inside
Answer: Hand warmer. You can "click" the metal piece and it will start a chemical reaction and heat the pad.
#25
What Is This Drain In Front Of The Door Of This House? Living In Snowborne Areas, I Never Saw A Drain Like That Anywhere. Anyone Know The Purpose?
Answer: To kick snow off your shoes.
#26
What Is This Thing? Several Surgical Instruments Were Found Nearby, But It Might Be Not Related To Them At All
Answer: It looks like it was a primitive tool used in the past to assist in birth. Yeouch. A bit of further googling tells me they were used to reduce the size of a babies head if it was too big to deliver, by drainage of the cerebrospinal fluid. Known as destructive delivery. Generally (I hope) for cases where the fetus is already non-living. Frightful.
#27
What Is This Silver Metal Thing With Narrow Bridge And Spoon Like End?
Answer: Ear cleaners, use them to scoop wax more common in eastern countries. Might be confused for a drug utensil by American police as they imagine people snorting the tiniest cocaine hit ever.
#28
What Is Using This Little Wooden House In My Garden?
Answer: It's for any of the solitary bees, like mason bees.
#29
This Piece Of Brass And Possibly Lead Is Embedded In A Piece Of Planed Wood. It Has Been Sitting On A Shelf For Years And I Have No Idea What It May Have Been
Answer: That's a bullet. Someone shot it into a tree and cut it in half. The rough part of the wood is the bullet path.
#30
What Is This Large Vessel I Found In The Basement Of An Old Psychiatric Hospital?
Answer: Looks like a great big autoclave.
#31
Bunk Beds (?) In A Crawlspace Of A Home From 1959
Answer: Yep, bomb/fallout shelter. For 1959, effectively the same thing.
#32
Older House 1960. Chimney But Opening Is On The Outside Not Inside ?
Answer: Looks like a chimney cleanout door.
#33
Signs On The Truck Say ‘Radioactive’. Metallic Dumbbell-Shaped Container
Answer: It's a radioactive waste transport cask.
#34
Seen While Walking Down The Street. A Ziplock Bag Tacked Above A Door. Seems To Contain Water And A Few Pennies. What Could This Be For?
Answer: Homemade mosquito/fly deterrent. The light reflecting off the water and pennies is supposed to scare off pesky bugs.
#35
Piece Of Silver Found On Mustang Island Right Off Of The Gulf Of Mexico. It Was On The Beach
Answer: Definitely a coin. For a second there, I thought you hit the jackpot, too bad its just a replica.
#36
These Bakery Window Decorations From Kiki's Delivery Service
Answer: Knäckebröd. The movie's aesthetics is heavily inspired by a trip Miyazaki took to Sweden. Yes just to clarify its a Swedish/Scandinavian hard bread.
#37
I Found This Odd Set Of Disposable Cutlery (?) In A New Flat I Just Moved Into
Answer: Yes, definitely cake or clay modeling.
#38
What Is This House In The Middle Of Ocean? This Was About A Mile Off The Coast Of Mobile Al When I Went On A Cruise
Answer: It's the Middle Bay Light.
#39
Black Stone Object Found Buried In A Garden In Somerset, UK. Ornate Carving On Front, Uneven Scratch Marks On Back
Answer: The material appears to be “Whitby Jet”, a material that occurs on the Yorkshire coastline. It was made extremely popular by Queen Victoria as mourning jewelery but it has been used and carved by people in the Bronze Age, Roman era, Viking era etc.. to me it looks like a Victorian amateur carved plaque in Whitby Jet but could be an earlier thing. You can tell if it’s jet by rubbing it-it will retain a static charge and attract dust or lint.
Edit-just realized how small it is. Probably part of a bracelet or necklace from Victorian era.
#40
Witt I Found A Bunch Of These Small Red Cylinders Under My Couch. They're Filled With Cement Like Material Wrapped In Paper Similar To The Paper Crayons Are Wrapped In
Answer: That is a firecracker my dude! Watch your fingers!
#41
Witt I Found At A Thrift Store? Compass, Clock (?) And Springloaded Slots
Answer: 80s car insert. Compass for use with maps Slots for holding coins for tolls. Ford or mazda is my guess.
#42
Small Black Balls That Came Out Of My Cat’s Fur When Brushing
Answer: OK, hear me out, does the furminator brush yhat you have have a black handle with bumps and are some of those bumps missing? Because it looks like the grippy bumps on the handle of mine broken off...
#43
Thin Decorated Metal Plate, 7 Inches Long
Answer: From the catch tray for a Kuerig coffee maker.
#44
Weird Symbols In Saskatchewan Taken From 21,000ft
Answer: Here’s your answer: Ducks Unlimited waterfowl habitat.
#45
Hotel Room Bed Leg Has Red Flashing Light Coming From Rubber Piece…
Answer: There's a YouTube video that says it's a mesh bed bug detector. Video calls it Wirepas.
#46
Paper-Wrapped Substance Inside Plastic Box Inside 60s Czech Military Bag
Answer: This looks like the soap that was used to prevent a gas mask from fogging up.
#47
I Was Watching A Remastered Clip Of Netherlands In 1919. What Are These Reflectors On Their Caps?
Answer: They're called 'oorijzers'. Started out as hat pins, became their own bit of pointless fashion.
- You Might Also Like: "The Ugly Truth Behind History’s Most Celebrated Figures"
#48
Brass Or Copper Like Thing In Bathroom Door Handle
Answer: Copper kills bacteria and germs.
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