What we see is not always what we get. Often, there’s more going on behind the scenes and below the surface than we would ever expect. We’re just not aware of it because it’s hidden, kept secret, covered over.
Well, here are a few things that have given us a glimpse below the surface and behind the scenes, and hinted that there might be even more secrets out there than we suspected.
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Ripped.
This hairless cat does not skip leg day. It has the musculature of the god it was worshiped as back in Egypt.
And you never would have guessed if this macho cat had its fur.
A past life?
This jar of peanut butter’s label came off, exposing its original label. Most likely it was first intended to be part of a batch for export, but things got changed up part way through the production run.
Bonus!
This pasta sauce’s label hid a much more useful secret: that the jar can also be used to measure stuff.
So it’s worth cleaning out and re-using the jar after pasta night is over and done with.
Oh, the colors!
Someone shone a flashlight into a kaleidoscope, and the results were not disappointing. Unlike so many other kaleidoscopes, this one doesn’t keep the light show on the inside.
That’s using your head.
This hat from Tommy Bahama lets you take a good time with it. Well, you do have to supply the ingredients yourself, but underneath the brim there’s a recipe for margaritas.
Definitely in keeping with the brand, too.
Honest Abe got an upgrade.
Well, an upgrade for the 1860s, anyway. A century after his death, this animatronic Lincoln went on display at the World’s Fair.
I guess robo-Lincoln didn’t really need skin where the suit covered, but it’s still a bit odd and unnerving to see it like this.
She’s got that glow.
This gecko’s owner is about to have a lizard population expansion on their hands. No ultrasound necessary — you can see through her abdomen that she’ll be laying some eggs very shortly.
Holy from the inside out.
You’d think that an ancient statue of Buddha would be solid, but this one is hollow, as an X-ray shows.
At some point, worshipers filled the hollow with sacred scrolls and texts and other blessed objects that serve to consecrate the statue.
Looking upside down.
Or in negative, if you prefer, but this image is of a golf course, taken in infrared. Fun fact, infrared has nothing to do with heat. It’s all about how the infrared spectrum of light gets reflected and absorbed.
Green, for example, reflects a lot of infrared light, so it shows up as white, whereas skies appear dark.
Surprise!
Remember when you could get a toy inside a box of cereal or Cracker Jacks? Well, this recliner has a surprise inside too: a possum.
Apparently, the possum had tried to make itself a new home, but ended up being evicted .
It believes it can fly.
Much like the gecko, a thin layer of “skin” can’t completely hide the change in life going on beneath the surface. A caterpillar is well on its way to becoming a butterfly, and you can make out the formation of its wings.
Never would have expected that.
Of course, I’ve also never cooked potatoes and sweet potatoes at the same time, so I never would have gone through with this experiment either.
But there it is, evidence that sweet potatoes float, while white potatoes sink.
That’s…actually kind of concerning.
You know how grease repels water? Well, after a rain storm passed through, a good two-inch radius of pavement around this French fry stayed dry. Ew.
Well, I guess it worked.
This car had one of those clear bra films on the front portion of it for about 14 years. So, if you were wondering how good a job they do at preventing oxidation and other damage, voila.
Jackpot?
This one-armed bandit is long retired now, but if you’ve ever wondered what an old-school slot machine looked like inside, here you go.
The back of this machine has been removed, showing all the inner workings that went into enriching a casino one coin at a time.
The competition is stiff.
One passenger flying on Delta realized that their cups were emblazoned with American Airlines’ logo instead. So, clearly there’s something going on behind the scenes. Perhaps the caterer grabbed the wrong box of cups before the flight.
Well, that would do it.
“This flashlight contains a block of concrete so it feels heavier and sturdier,” the uploader discovered upon opening it up. Have to imagine that many a night security detail swears by this brand.
A change for the better.
These cushions weren’t always red. Rather, the Arizona sun has stripped all the blue and green right out of them.
Funnily enough, they don’t look half bad despite the bleaching.
We see right through you.
This phone is being advertised as waterproof, and from a certain angle, it probably looks mighty convincing. But from a slightly different angle, it’s easy to see that it doesn’t need to be even remotely waterproof. Very sneaky!
Showing your true feelings.
Inside the dog toy on the left was the dog toy on the right, a smaller, sadder cactus. At least you’re getting a bang for your buck with this — two toys in one!
A weight inside.
Inside this lawn ornament was another, smaller lawn ornament. Apparently his is done frequently in production, using dupe or faulty molds of other figures to add weight to the big ones.
Expertly hidden.
Behind a fake electrical socket, these homeowners found a safe! The user did bust it open and inside found a credit card, what looks like half of a cigarette, and a receipt from a barbeque store. Important valuables to be hiding.
Looking even worse.
This is a cactus after decomposition, leaving behind just its spines. This is undoubtedly more terrifying than I ever could have imagined the inside of a cactus looking.
Smart, but disappointing.
Behind this small, concealed door is…a janitor’s closet. While a practical use of a hidden room, I was hoping for something a little spookier.
Number of plays.
This pinball machine had a counter inside to tally up how many times it’d been played! Apparently this was incredibly common in arcade games, and arcades would check them to compare the games’ popularity.
Smaller and smaller.
Inside this Bic lighter was just another, smaller Bic lighter. I don’t know why I find this so shocking seeing as it really does make sense, but I feel scandalized. That’s all it’s been this whole time?
Time to start studying the blade.
Sometimes, when renovating a house, you find a secret safe. Other times, you find a full-blown sword. The comments were filled with debates on the age, if it was genuine or not, but one commenter’s words of wisdom really spoke to me, “Who cares if it is real or fake. The guy found a sword in his house.”
A secret friend.
Behind the label on the Kombucha bottle was a little sloth friend. I’m not sure if his sentiment is cute or creepy. I’m gonna go with cute, but a wary cute.
Genius. Just genius.
This foreign brand of “Pringles” had a plastic tool inside that lifts the chips so you don’t have to struggle to get those last few. You’re telling me that this technology has existed the whole time and we don’t have it? What kind of country is this?
The science behind.
The label on this wine bottle shows the organic chemistry behind its creation, which I sure will stare at and nod sagely while scanning like I understand anything going on there.
Strike!
This is the inside of a bowling ball! This one is rather fancy it seems, and in high-end bowling balls, there are a variety of different “cores.” Cores play a huge role in how the ball moves once it’s thrown.
A hidden artist.
So, let’s count. During home renovations we’ve found a safe, a sword, and now a gorgeous piece of artwork. You never know what could be hiding in your walls.
Um, that’s not how windows work.
I guess this one is just for show? It probably even works from afar. However, up close it’s easy enough to see that this pane of glass is just covering up bricks.
In plain sight.
This telecom box is camouflaged to look like the fence behind it. I can’t tell if it’s done well, though. It looks almost uncanny.
Ringing hollow.
That’s right, the inside of the Leaning Tower of Pisa is empty. The stairs encircle this hollow core. Also, did you know this tower took 344 years to build? Only due to the first architect quitting part way through before another one picked it up ages later.
