People Ask For Help Identifying Their Mysterious Finds
No matter how much a person might know, there are going to be a few blind spots. After all, the world is absolutely jam-packed with potential knowledge, but the brain is only capable of knowing so much.
If you want to understand quantum physics, you're going to need to put the time in. But if you want to understand the purpose of some baffling, weird object, all you really need to do is head over to the r/whatisthisthing subreddit, post a pic, and wait for your answer.
"Driving through Erie, PA. Weird circle in the sky. Lots of folks pulled over taking pics of it."
Ask anyone who grew up in the Great Lakes region and they'll tell you that weird sights are somewhat common along the shores of these inland seas. Lake Erie is particularly...pardon the pun...eerie.
There's nothing otherworldly about the reason for this circle, though. It's a smoke ring from a blown electrical transformer. A small amount of black smoke has gotten wider and wider, slowly turning into a ring, as it floats its way up through the atmosphere.
"Switch on the back of an old clock labelled 'Miracle Eye.' What is this?"
Clocks - the kind you hang on a wall - are basically obsolete in the age of smartphones and smartwatches. But there was a time when wall clocks were absolutely necessary, and many of them came with some intriguing features.
In this case, the clock had a sound feature, likely just an alarm clock or hourly chime. The 'Miracle Eye' is kind of a smart mute feature. If you turn it on, the clock will reduce its sound when the room is dark.
"My friend found this scaffold-like structure on a trip. There was a paintball/airsoft field and a hotel nearby."
I can't help but think that this is what prisons might have looked like in prehistoric times, or perhaps what they might look like in post-apocalyptic times. But the reality isn't this grim - in fact, it's actually pretty cool.
Because there are numerous routes through this thing, it appears to be a jungle gym or maze for kids. With the added context of the nearby paintball course, it could also be a fort of sorts for capture the flag.
"Security camera recorded this guy knocking on my door late at night. What is this in his hand?"
Right off the bat, this seems like something related to ghost busting. But ghosts aren't real, so we're left with a real mystery on our hands - and in this case, while there are a few possible answers, we don't have anything definitive.
This could either be an old-school CB radio or walkie-talkie, or, if it's more specialized, a type of tracking device for dogs. Certain hunting and tracking dogs need to run off to do their thing, and their humans need devices to help track them down.
"Cones of Dunshire found in German Supermarket?"
Not gonna lie - I only clicked on this one for the Parks & Rec reference. Otherwise I'd think that these were some weird festive accessories, like wizard's hats with fun graphics on them or something.
While this was found in the U.K., its origins are actually German. It's known as a Schultüte ("school cone") and it's essentially a loot bag full of party favors and treats to gift to schoolchildren. Seems like a pretty fun tradition, to be honest.
"A massive wrench I inherited. Weighs 30+ pounds. Novelty or functional?"
This wouldn't be a Reddit post without the banana for scale. It's actually pretty helpful in this case, just to drive home how gigantic this wrench actually is. Judging by the wear and tear, I can't imagine it's a novelty product - but if not, what is it?
The answer is actually kind of underwhelming: it's a big wrench, for big bolts. We might be used to seeing bolts and their corresponding wrenches come in smaller sizes, but apparently these things exist as well.
"Found in forest in Sweden...hard to the touch, but drips liquid when knocked."
At first glance, this looks like it has to have something to do with bees or honey, but a closer look shows that it's a little different than your standard beehive. It isn't seeping honey, either, it's kind of sweating a clear liquid.
Of course, if you're a fungus fan, you probably already know the answer. This this a polypore fungus, and the liquid is excess moisture that it can't absorb. The moisture, by the way, has the gross name of 'guttation.'
"Found on Guam in shallow water. 3-meter diameter disk. Top looks like polyester in a honeycomb shape that is fiber glassed to flimsy aluminum disk."
We've done it, folks: we've conclusively found evidence of aliens - or, at the very least, flying saucers. Alright, fine - this isn't an alien spacecraft, because if it was you'd probably have heard about it already.
It might not be from another world, but it's absolutely a spacecraft. When rockets are blasted into the atmosphere, they shed parts along the way, and this is one of those parts. Don't worry, the chance of being hit by one is slim...but not zero.
"20 years of research and reddit is my last hope!"
What's this thing? Well, it's clearly the thing that's going to haunt your nightmares from this day forward, that's what it is. At the very least, I think it'll haunt mine.
As it turns out, this is the inside of a freshwater drum's mouth. What is a freshwater drum, you ask? It's a type of fish that has really disturbing-looking teeth within its throat. It can't hurt you, though. At least I'm pretty sure it can't.
"What is this rodent that just climbed out of my toilet?"
Oh, I can answer this one no problem: this is a common toilet mouse, part of the genus mus musculus toiletus. Okay, obviously I'm kidding, and if I saw this I don't think my intellectual curiosity would overpower my urge to shriek and burn the house down.
Fortunately, there are people who are far less squeamish than I am, so this one has been solved: it appears to be a flying squirrel. How the poor little guy wound up in a toilet is anyone's guess.
"What is this phenomenon? Why is the pond so clear and blue?"
My first thought when I see something like this is 'chemicals.' After all, golf courses will dye their ponds blue or green sometimes, and this looks so blue that it seems almost unnatural.
Surprisingly, this is a totally natural phenomenon. Water can be colored by all sorts of minerals, and in this case the mineral is limestone. Calcium carbonate from the surrounding limestone has turned what would otherwise be a stagnant lagoon into a blue wonderland.
"What is this thing that you always see on an escalator?"
I'm genuinely excited to find out the answer to this one, because I've never understood these things. There's no way they're intended to be shoe cleaners, and they didn't even used to be on escalators at all.
The answer (drum roll) is that they're put in place to keep small things (shoelaces, purse straps, and that sort of thing) from getting caught up in the tiny gaps of the escalator. If you want to use them as a shoe buffer as well, no one's going to stop you.
Goat in a field in Scotland, appears to have had handlebars added to his horns?
This isn't a bionic goat, nor is it some kind of cross-promotional collaboration between the Harley Davidson company and some local shepherds. In fact, the true answer is right there if you think about it for a moment.
It turns out this goat is likely a bit of an dummy, and these handlebars are a way to keep it from getting entangled in a wire fence after sticking its head through the gaps. Goats, man - you can't go anywhere with them.
"Saw this in a forest in Germany."
Finding this sort of thing is always exciting. Is it a hobbit house? An entry to the underworld? Some kind of...uh, root cellar? The possibilities are boundless, and the imagination runs wild.
For as mysterious and quaint as this thing looks, it - like many other objects on this list - has a benign explanation: it's a root cellar or cold room. When things are built into the ground, the internal area will be cooler than it would otherwise.
"What is this thing on this serial killer's head while he was in court?"
Knowing that this guy is a serial killer opens the door to all sorts of creepy, Hannibal Lecter-esque possibilities. Is he part man, part machine? Does he need this device to stop the intrusive thoughts?
As it turns out, it's just a hearing aid because he's hard of hearing. Yes, there are far smaller hearing aids on the market, but this court is evidently still using the old, clunky models from decades ago.
"My grandfather told us to NOT remove this when renovating."
The only real way to know if an object is cursed is to, well, feel the effects of its curse. That said, I've never seen something that's so obviously cursed in all my life.
This is an Aztec calendar, likely a reproduction or a souvenir that someone picked up on a vacation. Maybe it isn't actively cursing anyone right now, but I anticipate all sorts of Jumanji shenanigans if anyone ever moves this from its rightful place.
"This person has clear, round, plastic-appearing objects in both of her nostrils - one in each one."
What might look like a unique fashion statement is actually an absolute necessity - and the story behind it is more than a little bit dark. The person shown here is Katie Piper, and she was burned by an acid attack back in 2008.
At first, Katie was in a coma, and then had to wear a plastic mask nearly 24/7. Following that came plastic surgery. Now, though, she's recovered enough that they only vestige of the attack is these devices, which help keep her airways clear so she can breathe more easily.
"What are these compartments for on this bottle opener?"
Thankfully OP has already broadly identified what this is - a bottle opener - but the mystery deepens from there. To me, this doesn't even look like any bottle opener I've ever seen.
As it turns out, this is a very kitted out bottle opener, because those red and green lid things that kind of look like contact lens containers are extra bottle caps. It's actually a pretty useful device for those times when you crack open a bottle, but need to seal it back up again.
"My brother found this (missile?) in the woods in Tennessee."
Sometimes the people who post these images on r/whatisthisthing are basically correct with their initial assumption, but they just want to get a consensus and make sure they aren't off-base.
In this case, yeah - it's probably a missile, or related to missiles. In this case, it could be an Honest John short-range ballistic missile or a replica of one. Here's hoping it isn't live, because it seems more than a little bit dangerous. It's definitely a situation where one should consider contacting the authorities, just to be safe.
"I saw this in my yard. Is this just a type of worm? Or is there a parasite on it?"
This one looks pretty disgusting, no? Knowing the context helps though, and whether this truly is disgusting, or beautiful, is entirely up to you. OP was definitely correct about this being worm-adjacent, and realistically, you may have already guessed what's going on.
The answer, of course, is that this is what happens when two worms love each other very much. To put the answer slightly more scientifically, this is what it looks like when two worms get together to make more worms. Please tell me I don't need to spell this out any further.