Oddities, artifacts, and strange finds! It doesn’t take a visit to a museum or gallery to see things you’ve never seen before. Sometimes you can find mysteries right in your own backyard.
But what fun is a mystery without a solution? These people took to the internet for help in identifying their bizarre discoveries!
“Me and my parents found this in our backyard earlier today (it reads ‘do not enter poison gas’), it’s on a circular concrete thing.”
This must be a terrifying thing to find in the backyard of your own home, but it ended up being rather mundane. It’s the cap to a septic tank!
“A specific type of hammer, from my work at a College in Scotland.”
So today I realized I must still be five years old, as I learned part of the head of a hammer is called a “peen” and I giggled over that for a moment. Then I went on to learn that blacksmithing hammers had many different types of peens, including a diagonal peen, which is what the hammer above has!
“Mystery ceramic or porcelain piece found on beach in Cancale, France.”
If my French isn’t too rusty, the words translate to “obedience and discipline.” It was discovered to be part of the rim on a decorative plate showing a French military unit from the late 1860s. What a niche find!
“Found in a WalMart’s men’s restroom.”
Of course, some people suggested a condom dispenser, but many were quick to note the slot was too big and Walmart would not be a common place for those. People then settled on a diaper dispenser. For $1, the uploader could find out for sure!
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“What’s the point of the ‘gargling fountain’ on the right? Seen at the Ocean Expo Park in Okinawa, Japan.”
Someone in the comments did a great job at explaining, so I’ll lend you their expertise: “It’s pretty common for people in Japan to rinse and spit when they get a ‘thick’ or unpleasant feeling in their mouth. It’s considered unhealthy to swallow that back down, so temples and spaces where you might walk a lot will have things like this.
Since the red is marked ‘fluid’ and not water, it’s possible that there’s heavy fluoride or some other chemical added.”
“Friend bought a new (to him) house, there’s one of these in each bathroom. Don’t appear to be connected to anything.”
If you thought it looks like some kind of rack like I did, you’d be right! It’s a magazine rack, though I’m sure it hasn’t been used in a while.
‘The hole gets smaller when I squeeze it. Found in kitchen at parents house. What do I use it for?”
This device strips corn of the cob! I get this is personal preference, but I don’t see the use for this tool. On-the-cob is the best way to eat corn!
“Was using plastic spoons to pour some sugar in my tea when i noticed these strange pattens formed from the sugar sticking to the spoon. Anyone know how this happens and from what?”
The shape of the pattern has to do with how the plastic formed and moved while it was molded, but the sugar sticking to it is due to static electricity!
“Translucent gelatinous matter with black/white spots, found in local woodlands.”
What looks like some sort of forest jellyfish is actually frogspawn , or frog eggs!
“What is this stabby thing on wheels that arrived in the mail by mistake.”
While it sure is stabby-looking, it’s by no means a weapon. This is a tool used to pull weeds out of cracks and gaps in pavement!
“Thin slabs of ivory with days of the week on the top found in my closet.”
This is called an “aide de memoire,” French for “memory aide.” It was used as a calendar of sorts, meant for jotting down appointments and other events coming up in the week!
“Found in a WW2 Duffel Bag. They look like Monopoly houses but aren’t.”
It would be almost cooler if they were Monopoly houses, but they’re not. They’re resin beads for a bracelet, and when put together they would look something like this.
“I found this jammed in my front door lock, it’s about 1.5” long. What is it.”
Unfortunately, it’s probably the worst thing to find in your door, as it’s part of a lock pick set. Someone noted that the tool being there means someone must have gotten scared off while trying to break in, as no one would want to leave something so incriminating behind.
“Odd yellow liquid filled balls found inside of cigarettes, definitely not menthols, cannot break them with your fingers. Found in the tobacco, not the filter. Anyone know what this could be?”
So these are ion-exchange resin beads, which help filter out some of the bad chemicals in the smoke. Apparently, ion-exchange resin is used in sugar manufacturing, juice production, and pharmaceuticals!
“I found this in our kitchen drawer when I moved in, none of my flatmates have an idea. The smaller part has a bit of weight to it and it’s made from rubber/silicon. What is this thing?”
A rather mundane answer, it’s a tea infuser — a rather large one at that — with the metal bit missing! One this size is meant for jugs and pitchers of tea over single cups.
“Found this hidden in the ceiling of my basement with a bunch of others. Made out of glass, appears to have some sort of tape or paper border around it. Shining a light through it doesn’t project a clean image.”
A gorgeous little piece of art, this is a glass slide for a magic lantern ! The magic lantern was a specific projector that would, well, project the images on the slides up onto walls and screens.
“Found this in my honda crv. Gonna leave it in until the police arrive. It unlocked the door but the alarm still went off.”
Like the lock pick from before, this is exactly what it looks like. Someone used this device to break into this user’s car, but nothing was stolen. They likely ran away when the alarm went off. The attempted thieves were caught trying to break into another car in the same lot just days later!
“Found it in a river, have no clue what it is.”
You’ve heard of flasks for alcohol, but here’s one for gun powder: a Colt Glass gunpowder flask — an older one, too, seeing as they are now made of copper .
“What is this thing on this serial killers head while he was in court?”
Despite its almost sinister appearance, this headpiece is actually helpful. It’s a pair of sound amplifier headphones, essentially a big hearing aid.
“Ever since I moved into my house a few years ago this thing blinks either red or yellow at night. I can’t tell what it’s for. It’s connected to some wiring in my attic.”
An exact answer for this was never found, but it was identified to be part of the security system. Others urged this user to call the company to find out what it does, and told stories of secret security features houses they moved into had, like playing a voice alarm asking for help when the power goes out, or calling the police when someone entered through the back door.
“Lethal, metal, ornamental comb-type thing bought in Portabello Road market many years ago.”
Called a miao comb , they likely originated from China and were made to hold head wraps in place!
“Heavy metal cubes on the end of chain with different shapes on each side of the cubes.”
If you are a Star Wars fan, you might recognize these. They’re the dice used in the card game Correlian Spike, which is a card game in the Star Wars universe. These are likely meant to be a replica of Han Solo’s pair, which he kept as a lucky charm throughout the series.
“A strange blue foam forming the coast of a lake.”
This is cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae. It can occur naturally in many bodies of water, but some strains of the bacteria pose a health risk, as it is very toxic and dogs especially run a danger of ingesting some if their owners let them in the water.
“I found a box that apparently says ‘rare and precious collectors item’ which contains this vial with a reddish brown substance inside.”
A definitive answer couldn’t be made, but one user explained how it likely isn’t actually anything special: “Boxes with this inscription are generic gifts/souvenirs. I’ve seen them containing everything from wood jewelry to small drink bottles. […] it looks like a generic tourist souvenir and without context, it would be almost impossible to identify.”
“This looks like a shoe horn, but its really short compared to the examples I’ve found online. Is it a shoehorn?”
It’s actually kind of the opposite of a shoehorn. It’s called a bootjack and is meant to help remove shoes with dirtying your hands. Put one foot on the flat part and use the horns to take off your other shoe.
“What is this phone attachment?”
This brick of an attachment is a phone scrambler, meant to keep calls private, untraceable, and untappable.
Uhhhhh… Does anyone want to go into the water in their wheelchair…?
What looks like an accessibility ramp mishap was actually intentional, as it’s a kayak hutch! They’re designed this way so people can safely board their kayaks and push themselves into the water.
“I moved into a new house and found 12 silver globe’s of different weight along with 12 plastic tubing holders that connect with metal on inside.”
Can’t find a possible use for a random object? There’s always a chance it could just be decoration, like these! Gazing balls are reflective spheres used in landscape decoration.
“The inside is a hard shell and the outside is a bit scratchy, they vary in size. I was told it’s for exfoliating but that doesn’t seem right, what is it?”
Turns out, exfoliating is exactly right! These are silkworm cocoons , and are a popular natural product for exfoliating the face!
“These were in my bag of Tostitos Scoops. I’ve almost eaten the entire bag. What are they?”
These little guys are likely balls of cornmeal that fell off somewhere along the production line but still got fried anyway. Safe, but I’m not sure how good they’d taste on their own.
