The answers come to those who seek them. Especially on the subreddit ‘What Is This Thing?‘
This online community is home to 2.3 million members who are always ready to help people identify the mysterious objects they found.
The gig is simple: someone uploads a photo of whatever it is they want the name of, and the gang starts commenting under it, offering their input until, inevitably, a person shows up who knows exactly what it is.
However, even if you’re not posting anything, scrolling through their solved cases feels like an interesting challenge, where you can test (and expand) your own knowledge. So we invite you to do just that!
#1 Strange Metal Thing On The Bottom Of My Drivers Side
Answer: Your mechanic is gonna want that back. It’s part of a lift.
Image source: BlueFlames1723
#2 This Metal Piece Is Attached To The Wall In A Wc In My Airbnb In France
Answer: It’s a magazine rack installed upside down because people decorating Airbnb’s don’t know what they’re doing.
Image source: mmay_a
#3 Saw This In A Restroom Which Has Faucets And Drain Down Low And A Dryer
Answer: This setup prevents Muslims from having to lift our legs up dangerously high while trying to stick our feet in the sink one at a time. The alternative to that is we have to take a handful of water and pour it onto our feet below the sink causing the floor to get wet. Muslims also have to keep their feet clean before praying, which is obviously problematic in a bathroom where everyone pisses on the floor and walks with their shoes between the stalls and the sink, so you might see them trying to keep one shoe on while washing the other foot and then switching. It’s also why we take our shoes off before praying and use prayer rugs to avoid touching unclean things while praying.
Image source: atomicdragon136
#4 Round Shelf Attached By Metal Brackets To Underside Of Table. What Is It For?
Answer: It’s a place to rest your beer while you play cards.
Image source: One_Has_Lepers
#5 Weird Semi Circle Wires With Various Beads On A Wooden Plank Found In An Older House
Answer: A Himalayan Calendar. The outer ring as 12 balls, each corresponding to a month. The next two rings have a tens and ones digit. The tens has three balls for up to the 31st, and the next has nine balls, for 0 to 9. And then four rings for the year, up to 9999.
Image source: Oxfordcommapreacher
#6 Hard, Waxy, Blob-Looking Thing Found During Low Tide
Answer: It’s whale sick get it checked it could be worth thousands a kg. It’s an ingredient used in high end perfumes.
Image source: Swimming_Sea964
#7 What Is This? It’s Made Like A Barrel But Looks Like A Carrier Of Some Kind?
Answer: It is a Vasculum, a sturdy collection container used by botanists on field excursions in which plant specimens can be collected without damaging them.
Image source: Valuable-Camera-7107
#8 Steel, Engraved, Hooked Tool Hidden In The Foundation Of An Old House
Answer: My wife says horse hoof cleaning tool, and she’s a major horse gal. Also, burying an iron object within the foundation of a home was once considered good luck.
Image source: StarsSuck
#9 Made Of Clay/Terra Cotta, Can Fit Inside A Palm. It Came With Something I Bought But Can’t Remember What
Answer: Terra cotta sugar saver. You put it in with your brown sugar to keep it from clumping or drying out in storage.
Image source: potatochild001
#10 What Is This Spoon With A Tong-Like Attachment? Seen In An Antique Store In Lyon, France
Answer: It is a spoon designed to separate the fat from the sauce, called “cuillère dégraisseuse”.
Image source: bazoid
#11 Found On Charmouth Beach, Dorset. Screw Cap And Has Bright Green Liquid Inside
Answer: It’s a diver rescue marker, for ocean rescue. You release it to dye the water around you and even at night a blacklight can light it up.
Image source: howitzer1
#12 What Is This Wall Mounted Metal Thing That Was Seen In Hohensalzburg Fortress? There Were 3 Or 4 Rooms With One Of These Objects And None Had An Explanation
Answer: These are pretty much radiators that were filled with embers and/or hot stones when needed.
Image source: Shadow_F3r4L
#13 This Plaque Came In As As Scrap Metal. Measures Approx 1.5ft X 6in. Made Of Cast Aluminum. Google Turns Up No Results. Witt??
Answer: Probably a horse. The bottom is the sire and dam.
Image source: Wequiwa
#14 Found In Kitchen Junk Drawer. Heavy, Solid Brass
Answer: Telephone dialer. You put the ball end in the desired number of the phone dial instead of your finger tip and used it to turn the dial.
Image source: boneyheimer
#15 What Is This Oval Metal Thing In A Plastic Holder Mounted To The Kitchen Wall Next To The Sink?
Answer: Steel “soap” bar. Removes odors like onion from ur hands when u wash with it by just adding a strong steel odor on top.
Image source: inzombiac
#16 1940 Mercury Dime Turned Into A Two Sided Spoon Of Some Sort With Fused Ring At The Top. Came With Odds And Ends From Deceased Older Relative From Ohio
Answer: A vintage spoon pendant used for illegal substances.
Image source: tlmsmith
#17 4 Inches, Plastic, Pointed On One Side. Received As A Xmas Gift?! Witt??
Answer: Looks like a page spreader for reading. Point end goes into the spine and thumb in hole so you can one hand books easy.
Image source: Karljoneill
#18 What Are These Heavy Metal Objects I Found In A Thrift Store?
Answer: You hang weights on chains to power mechanical cuckoo clocks. One powers the clock mechanism, and the other powers the cuckoo. The weight turns gears in the mechanism as the chain drops. To wind the clock, you pull on the other end of the chain and bring the weight back up, and the same for the chain that powers the cuckoo.
Image source: reddit.com
#19 Bought A New Pair Of Nike Shoes. Inside The Box Was This Small, Plastic Bubble, Filled With Air, And What Looks Like Tiny, Colorful Micro Plastics. Has A Loophole On The Top And Is About An Inch Long
Answer: Micro plastic particles. Probably to show how Nike helps to clean up our planet. Greenwashing at best.
Image source: tsirs
#20 What’s This Heavy, Brass, Genie Lamp-Like Object With Both A Weird Cutout Spout And A Narrow Upwards Spout?
Answer: It’s a lamp. It’s literally an oil lamp, to be used to create light. The wick goes in the spout. The oil goes in the belly. You light the wick and a flame will burn on the end of the spout like a little candle, and you can carry your lantern around with you.
Image source: FlaxxtotheMaxx
#21 What Would This Antique Silver “Locket” Have Been Used For? It Looks Like Possibly Ink Residue On The Two Pads Inside, But No Indication That The Inside Door Would Have Been Sealed Tightly Enough To Be A Reservoir
Answer: It’s actually a purse. There’s space in there for some coins for bus/cab fare, some powder makeup (behind the little door), and calling cards.
Image source: didilamour
#22 A Short Thick Metal Coil That Can Be Plugged Into An Outlet. Doesn’t Seem Very Safe At All. I’m Thinking It’s Missing A Larger Piece That Creates It’s True Purpose
Answer: Immersion heater. The metal piece goes into a cup of water and heats it.
Image source: Commercial_Wasabi_86
#23 Found This Spiked Metal Collar Hanging In One Of The Upstairs Rooms In The House I Just Bought In Spain
Answer: Anti-wolf collar for sheepdogs.
Image source: delilahgabj
#24 Small Trailer With Individual Openings. Seen While Driving, No Obvious Marking That Would Indicate What It’s For
Answer: It’s for transporting racing pigeons.
Image source: Subaru_turtle
#25 What Is This Cabinet On Wheels I Got At An Antiques Market? The Drawers Can Be Accessed From The Front As Well As From The Back, There Are Also Two Compartments With Small Key (???) Hooks On Each Side
Answer: This is just a scientific specimen cabinet, which could be used for anything from geology to lepidopterology.
Image source: IGutenberg
#26 Found This In Our Donation Bin, We’re A Nonprofit, We Recycle Eyeglasses And Hearing Aids. It’s A Gold Plated Speaker With A Short Cord With 2 Prongs At The End, It Also Has A Gold Plated Clip With An Opal-Like Material Of A Horse On It
Answer: An old Beltone type hearing aid. There’s a transistor in the tie clip, and it plugs into a cord for the hearing aid.
Image source: badluckninja13
#27 Wooden Block With 6 Metal Fins, Inscribed ‘Hemma Patent’
Answer: Cabbage sliced for making sauerkraut.
Image source: Interesting_Usual882
#28 Strange Looking Hook Thing Found Buried In A Hutch. The Inscription On The Hook Side Is In French. Any Ideas?
Answer: It’s a butter curler, for making fancy bits of butter.
Image source: Curious-Creation
#29 What Are These Little Knit Tubes?
Answer: They can be used to avoid chairs scratching your floors. So they are socks, but for chairs rather than humans.
Image source: InevitableDevice2182
#30 Found In A Safe In A Deceased Man’s House: 11 Identical Stacks Of Thin Black Paper Strips, Wrapped In Plastic Foil, Covered In Fine White Dust. Measurements Of Each Strip Approximately 16 Cm X 6,5 Cm, Height Of Each Stack Approximately 5 Cm. Other Than That, The Safe Was Empty
Answer: “Black Money Scam”. It’s construction paper or similar, he was scammed to believe it was currency dyed to be smuggled and could be restored.
Image source: sbs_str_9091
#31 Plastic Ring With Three Relatively Sharp Metal Claws, Found On Beach In Scotland
Answer: It’s a “claw” to help pull in fishing nets.
Image source: machukahn
#32 We Found This On Top Of A Bookcase While Cleaning Our Office. It Appears That The Jar Is Sealed. The White Things Inside Weigh Next To Nothing. We Didn’t Want To Open It Until We Have Some Idea As To What It Is. They Look Pretty Soft. Nothing Identifying On The Jar Itself
Answer: They look like silkworm cocoons.
Image source: loveofGod12345
#33 What Is This Wavy Pattern On The Back Of A Piece Of Mail I Received?
Answer: Obfuscation pattern, it’s there to hide info or keep people from trying to read through an envelope and look at personal information.
Image source: 1nesandzer0s
#34 Plastic Device With A Blade That Cuts A Chunk Out Of Paper
Answer: Wow, that’s a blast from the past. It’s for write protecting a 5.25″ floppy disk.
It’s for making a single sided disk double sided.
Image source: R_McN
#35 I Spotted A Few Of These Wrought Iron Poles On A Road In Central London, They Must Have Had Some Historical Usage, But I’m Not Sure What. Perhaps For Lamps? Did The Circle At The Top Used To Hold Something? Was The Arm On The Right For Hanging Something?
Answer: It’s an early 19th C Gaslamp. The gas is piped up the pole, and a copper pipe would have extended into the glass lamp house, which fitted into the hoop.
Image source: scientificdramatist
#36 I’ve Ruled Out With Experts It Being Any Type Of Electrical Insulator Which Is The Main Answer I Get. Found In Western Ma River While Artifact Hunting, Village Settled Circa 1750s & In 1845 Boston Rail Line Went In. Def Old Dump Site. Glass & Porcelain. Ornate Swirls, No Makers Mark. Have Videos Too
#37 What Are These Rails Between The Main Rails Called And What Is Their Purpose?
#38 Large Two Chambered Concrete Object Found In The Rural Woods Of Iowa
#39 Strange Tower Made Out Of Storage Containers On A Construction Site. Has Doors In The Middle And Also A Roof Hatch. The Inside Is Lighted With Lamps
#40 Found In The Middle Of The Woods Near Suburbs. Several Tubes Along The Edge. Obviously Some Kind Of Burn Pit
#41 Some Kind Of A Plastic Handle In The Ceiling Of The Bathroom In An Old Apartment. It Has A Metal Rusty Long Rod Attached To It That Can Be Seen While Pulling It Down, And Probably A Spring, Cus It’s Jumping Right Back When Letting It Go
#42 What Is This Tiny Fork For? Dinner Fork For Scale
#43 This Object Felt From The Sky Yesterday In The City Of Santos, Brazil, And Hit A Car Parked In The Street. The Car Owner Said It Was Pretty Hot When Found And Had A Rotten Egg Odor
#44 Weird Plastic Red “Key” That I Found In My Apartment After The Firefighters Left After A Fire
#45 Found In The Middle Of The Woods Near Suburbs. Several Tubes Along The Edge. Obviously Some Kind Of Burn Pit
#46 Found This Spiked Metal Collar Hanging In One Of The Upstairs Rooms In The House I Just Bought In Spain
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