I firmly believe that curiosity and the bright-eyed search for knowledge are what truly make us human. There is a popular ‘What is This Thing’ online community where they share bizarre unidentified items.
1. What Is This Random Set Of Stairs With A Platform? It’s Located At The Entrance To A Local Forest With Walking Trails
Answer: This is for horse mounting.
2. Found This On The Side Of The Road In My Neighborhood. Thought It Was A Brain, Then Dissected It And Now I Have No Idea. Lots Of Small Lobes, Fuzzy Inside, Rubbery?
Answer: You my friend, have just dissected dog poop. Someone’s dog has eaten paper towels in abundance. They can’t digest it and it comes out like this
3. Weird Squirming Living Lovecraftian Nightmare On Our Lawn Chair This Morning. What Is This Thing?
Answer: Hag moth caterpillar with fuzzy “false arms” on its back to make it look like a dead leaf. (We’re looking at the belly)
4. When You Pull The Ring On This, Four Little Pins Come Out. What Is It Used For?
Answer: It’s an anti-theft device for pocket watches.
5. Saw This In A Forest In Germany. What Is This Thing?
Answer: It’s a fridge, or a old time cold room. Basically a room covered with dirt for insulation
6. What Are Those Things Called? I Think They’re Typical Of Gothic Architecture?
Answer: Flying buttresses. They’re there to transfer the weight of the roof outwards to stop the walls bowing and collapsing.
7. I Know This Isnt Exactly An Object But Was Hoping You Guys Could Still Help Me Out. What Is This Purple Smoke?
Answer: it’s a byproduct of burning rubbish with a high iodine content
8. Heavy Black Balloon (?) Hanging Under White Net In A Field
Answer: Home made horse fly trap
9. Plastic And Hollow, Size Of A Big Suv, The Tide Never Reach It, Attached To The Ground
Answer: Large Ship bumper/fender. The are Used to keep huge ships from smashing in the pier.
10. What Is This Fiber/Sand Ball? Found Among Thousands Like It On A Beach In Spain. It Weighs Almost Nothing
Answer: Sea grass ball
11. I Found This Hanging From The Basement Rafters Of My 100 Year Old House. It Appears To Be Two Marbles Or Something Similar In A Hanger Of Some Sort. Any One Have A Clue What This Could Be?
Answer: It’s a razor blade sharpener. A 1930s salesman’s special and it doesn’t even sharpen the blades just realigns the edge and gets you a few more shaves.
12. Found On The Norfolk (UK) Coast. Very Soft And Floppy, Pale Pink But Not Rotten Or Water Bloated. What Is This?
Answer: A hairless seal flipper
13. What Is This Ring My Uber Driver Would Randomly Click?
Answer: Hes praying, thats a counter. The prayer involves repeating a phrase a certain number of times. Traditionally you kept track on your fingers or with a string of beads. This device does the same job.
14. About The Size Of My Hand. Found In The Trash. (I’m A Trash Man). Any Ideas?
Answer: Laser cut “perpetual” calendar.
15. What Is This Weird Net Of Cables And Weights On The Building?
Answer: It’s a wire trellis system for a living wall. The weights at the bottom keep the wires taut
16. What Is This Metallic Construction Found In The Middle Of Nowhere In The Swiss Alps? It’s Wrapped With Barbed Wire
Answer: it’s a snow and/or rain gauge
17. What Are These Red Things? They Are On The Steps Of A Church In The City I Live In. They Don’t Have Wheels But They Are Easy To Move
Answer: place to set things if you sit on the stairs next to them. Like a mini end table
18. Witt In Front Of This Door? Friend Posted It On Fb And No One Is Sure Yet. Broad Ripple, Indiana
Answer: A dam for flood waters.
19. What Is This V-Shaped Scoring? Found In Germany
Answer: That’s an old way to collect sap to make turpentine. It’s called “cat face”
20. Two Spoons Attached To A Wooden Handle At The Thrift Store?
Answer: It’s a musical instrument literally called “spoons”. Used as percussion by clacking the spoons together.
21. Any Guesses As To What This Plane Part Is? Fell Out Of The Sky In Colorado When That United Engine Failed
Answer: I think that’s a vape pen dude
22. What Is This Boat Off The Coast Of Long Island, NY With Three Tall Smoke Stacks?
Answer: Not smoke stacks, piles. It’s a working barge, and those piles are lowered into the sea floor to stabilize the vessel while working. They are very commonly used on maritime construction projects such as bridge and tunnel building, surveying, shore protection, etc.
23. Metal Sphere With Russian Writing Found On A Bahama Beach
Answer: It probably contained high pressure nitrogen (-196 C is the boiling point of nitrogen). Likely used to spin up the pumps of a rocket motor as it started. A sphere is the ideal shape for containing high pressure gas/liquid.
24. What Would Be Shipped In This Strange Shaped Container?
Answer: it’s a ( human or equine) sperm shipping container.
25. Found Coming Out Of A Small Hill. Water Alternates Between Either Side, Going Down Each Step
Answer: I believe this is the Lyon Creek – Cedar Way Stormwater Detention Dam. I contacted an engineer with the city because I was so curious about whether it was a fish ladder or not. They just got back to me and confirmed it is a fish ladder. They also sent an operation manual that includes some history and descriptions, very interesting.
26. This Guy Just Walked Up And Down The Meadow With This Thing. What Could This Be?
Answer: magnetometry or magnetic survey – not GPR
27. These Appeared In My Friends Back Yard, They Are Gelatinous But Start To Dissolve When You Start Touching Them
Answer: Looks like water beads / plant gel. They’re a kind of gel-like ball that absorb water and are used in plant pots. They get bloated and will burst if in water for too long.
28. Found While Trail Running. What Are These Things? There’s Rotten Wood That Goes Along It That Looks Cut/Altered By Man. Would It Be For Making A Flat Surface To Easily Maneuver The Mine?
Answer: It’s a collapsed wood-stave pipeline, it may have been for dewatering the mine
29. At The Beach In Southern Ca. Alive With Claw Things That Moved In Purple Sheathes. Bubbly Body. A Feather Stuck To It????? (Screenshot From Video)
Answer: Looks like a cluster of goose barnacles with a random feather in there
30. What Is This Thing That Looks Like Superman’s Pod? I Saw While Going For A Walk In Burbank, Ca
Answer: An old prop from the show Colony. This looks a lot like the pods that “outliers” (highly skilled humans) were scooped up by the aliens to go fight other aliens.
31. So, I Found This Thing On Google Maps, It’s A Very Strange Feature That I Can’t Find Anything But Conflicting Info About Online. Google Maps Says It’s A Train But How??? Why?!!! Does Anyone Have Any Solid Facts About What This Is?
Answer: It is a block of ice thrown from the near by mountain in an avalanche.
32. Found 100 Feet Underground In Old Cave/Mine. It’s Rusted Metal, About 2 Feet Tall With Pipes Attached. The White Thing Is Electrical Wire Wrapped Around It
Answer: Hydraulic ram.
33. Counter Or Monitoring Station Found On A Log In Zion National Park
Answer: something to measure inflow to an aquifer
34. Why Does This Truck Have A Giant Frame Around It?
Answer: To haul building materials like sheetrock or lumber.
35. Strange Mask? Found It But I’m Not Sure What It Is
Answer: the makeup or mask worn by the Beast in the 80s/90s “Beauty and the Beast”
36. Found This While Renovating. Any Idea? Bomb Squad On The Way. Montreal, Qc
Answer: That is an artillery round, probably 155. Looks unfired, good that EOD is en route. Do not mess with it.
37. What Is This Thing: Some Beach Sand In Ecuador Is Magnetic
Answer: Ironsand, also known as iron-sand or iron sand, is a type of sand with heavy concentrations of iron. It is typically dark grey or blackish in colour.
38. Found This Tiny Book With No Cover And Has These Weird Text In It
Answer: Handbook of Royal Arch Masonry, Guide for Chapter Officers
39. Thing With Wheels I Found In The Woods
Answer: Its what’s left of a Volkswagen beetle.
40. Near The Side Of The Road In West Virginia, Three Sides Of It Have Those Room Things
Answer: west virginia iron furnaces
41. Key In The Ceiling At School
Answer: test duct detectors in a fire alarm system. Duct detectors will shut off the air conditioning unit if it senses smoke to prevent it from circulating the air.
42. Found These Tiny Metallic (I Think) Balls In A Pile At A Truck Stop. They’re All Perfectly Spherical, Can’t Be Crushed Or Melted. It Feels Like Metal Sand
Answer: They’re balancing beads. Pour them inside a tire to balance it instead of putting it on a machine. Cheaper for drivers and faster for technicians
43. Found Next To A Cliff In The UK, Has Chains In It. Any Ideas What This Thing Is?
Answer: It is line workers hut, used to store equipment and bits and pieces. With the casualisation of the workforce these huts have gone out of use.
44. I Think We Found A Military Helmet While Digging Up A Stump In Our Yard. Maybe Ww1? And Another Rusted Part That Looks Like A Gear Shift.
Answer: It’s an M1917 Civil Defense Helmet. Manufactured 1917 to 1942.
45. Mounds Outside Of Hotel Near Seoul
Answer: Korean burial mound
46. What Is This Keyhole In The Wall Next To An Outer Door?
Answer: It’s probably for the fire department. We have a key hole just like it next to our parking lot gate. This way they can open it in case of an emergency
47. Found This Building While I Was Hiking In West Kerry, Ireland
Answer: It’s a water tower, formerly used to refill steam engine tanks or tenders. There used to be a railway there from 1891 to 1953.
48. Found By An Old Lakehouse, 5 Gallon Bucket For Scale. Lid Is Stuck In This Position, Only Text To Be Found Is Pictured On The Lid. Reads No 7 194 C.
Answer: an old underwater pump housing/filtration system
49. What Are These For In An Outdoor Area Of A Hospital?
Answer: These are emergency showers. An affected person (chemical spills, laboratory mishaps, etc) will pull the level on the top and tepid water (OSHA defined between 60F and 100F) will douse the affected from the shower head (above) and boot sprayer (below). The duration of these showers is required to be 15 full minutes at approximately 20 PSI.
50. My Boss Just Got Married, And Due To A Combination Of Indian Tradition And Him Being A Bro, He Brought Us These Little Snackboxes. He Left Before I Could Ask Him Much About Them. What Are They Called And What Are They Made Out Of?
Answer: The white block to the left is made with cashew nuts and sugar : It is called kaju barfi. The yellow block looks like it is mango flavored barfi. The circular one looks like dried fig with nuts stuffed in it. The shiny ones have edible silver foil and are also made from almonds, cashews and pistachio nuts. They are all made with clarified butter and are delicious desserts.
