As much as we all love to be beacons of knowledge for those around us, there’s nothing wrong with admitting that you don’t know something and need some help.
When these people couldn’t identify items they’d found or saw, they came to the internet for assistance, leaving us with some curious facts so we can learn a little ourselves!
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“Arrived in the post for me. Small glass tubes with 2 tiny ball bearings in them. No idea and not something I’ve ordered.”
Ah, a good old mysterious package story. Nothing nefarious though, the poster chalked it up to some sort of eBay mixup seeing as these are the rattles put inside fishing lures, something they never ordered.
“Recently been gifted this tool, does anyone know what it could be?”
If you thought ‘some sort of axe’, you’re almost right. The user came back to their post to say they’d been told it was a sugar cane knife, but one that’d been repurposed out of old metal, thus the unusual shape for such a tool.
“Brass object, has a screw that slides up the side and pushes a wire out the top?”
In one of the most hyper-specific answers I’ve ever seen on one of these, this is called an ‘in line nipple pick’, meant for cleaning out a breech plug in a black powder muzzleloader, which is a type of gun.
“We are clueless as to what this is. Seems like it opens but can’t figure out how.”
In a very cool answer, this is a camera! Specifically the Polaroid SX70.
“1 through 300 metal tags found in an old 1920s ice box. The copper wires are there just to hold the whole stack together.”
Less of an item itself and more of an unused bunch of items, this is a set of locker numbers from an old metal company that never got stamped into products.
“Found this in my tuna but not sure what it’s from.”
Finding something unexpected in your food is never a good time, but this one’s even worse because it looks pretty nasty. Nothing dangerous though, it’s actually a tuna egg sack. Completely safe and edible, but I wouldn’t blame you if you’d rather toss it.
“Circle rainbow spotted from an airplane?”
A phenomenon with a very cool name, this is called a Glory . It’s caused by light interacting with water droplets in clouds in a very specific manner, casting a ring of light.
“What exactly is this structure and why does it have a pointy top? Seen in a village in Northern India.”
Though I don’t blame this user for thinking this, but the shape of the roof has no special meaning. This is a standard thatch hut, with the roof being so pointy as to accommodate the center pole that supports it.
“Found this is my uni rec room. It’s a plastic tube with white crystals inside, can anyone ID it?”
This small piece is part of a breathalyzer, missing the larger bag attachment that one would actually inflate. What it was doing in a university rec room, no one knows.
“What is this giant structure that appeared overnight?”
This photo specifically makes it look like some sort of alien craft touched down, but it’s far less nefarious. This is just a silo. Some of these pop-up ones are used for grain, some for wood pellets, but sometimes it’s for storage in large construction projects and the like.
“My local science center is hosting the local history society and even the hosts of the event don’t know what this thing is.”
One reason this might have been so hard to identify is that it isn’t a full item itself. It’s an insert for an antique vegetable slicer, likely made for mashing.
“Found in the bottom of the Meramac River when the water was super low. Looks like a house.”
It is a house! Sort of. It’s a fairy house, miniature versions of houses made for decoration and whimsy.
“The chicken scissor things are a family heirloom but I can’t understand what they do.”
Fitting to the chicken design, these are egg scissors, made for slicing boiled eggs!
“This unusual teapot doesn’t have a lid, no markings, a handle on the front, is white china and there is some crazing to the glaze so is obviously not modern?”
This is called an ‘Invalid’s Cup’, which was a cup designed for the weak and sick to use when they couldn’t properly feed themself. Put a liquid in the cup, hold the handle, and drink from the spout without it spilling. Like a sippy cup for the ill.
“These are on the ceiling in my garage. It must be for hanging something specific but I can’t think of anything that wouldn’t fall out.”
They’re right in that it’s for hanging something specific, it’s for storing storm windows and screens in the offseason!
“My suitcase was lost in Johannesburg and delivered to me today with two bags of strange contents I can’t ID, and which I definitely didn’t pack.”
Initially strange looking, it was deduced that this must have been a gift from whoever sent their bag back, as it’s snow fungus, a type of fungus you can make soup with!
“This strange clearcut sundown. Spotted in Denmark, one minute past sundown. What’s this weather phenomenon called?”
This isn’t so much the sunset being cut as it is one very large specific sunbeam. This particular phenomenon is called a Crepuscular Ray!
“These came with my trainers, they don’t piece together and don’t fit into the shoes at all.”
That’s because they’re not supposed to fit into trainers of any kind. These are replacement bits for the bottom of the heel on a high-heeled boot which must have accidentally been put in the wrong box.
“What are these? My friend has a big bag full and can’t figure out what they are.”
These are cake decorating tools! You fit them in a longer plastic holder to drag around the outside of the cake to make a pattern, like this!
“Found this washed up on a beach in Massachusetts. It’s wooden and looks handcrafted. Maybe a piece of a chair?”
Not a chair, something far more interesting. Someone in the comments pointed out that it looks like a Backstaff , which was a navigational tool used even before the sextant! And yes, it was widely suggested they take it to a museum.
