Thanks To The People On The Internet These Unknown Objects Have Been Identified

There’s been a lot of posts recently from users who have found bizarre things and are trying to figure out what they are. And that’s where the r/whatisthisthing subreddit comes in. Users post pictures and ask each other, “What is this thing?” as the name suggests. Given the diversity of people on this social media platform, users are often able to identify what those things are immediately. We’ve put together a list of weird things that have found their purpose with the help of social media.

An Indian arrowhead

You probably dream of being involved in your own war against some mystical ancient force if you are a fan of science fiction history. But if you discovered an authentic historic arrowhead, how would you feel?

After they found out that they had stumbled upon the Hopewell Indian culture arrow, dating After they found out that they had stumbled upon the Hopewell Indian culture arrow, dating For those who do not know, the Hopewell tradition is a native American culture found mainly in the north-eastern and mid-western eastern Woodlands during the middle woodland era.

A 30 lb wrench

Looking at this item, and you can instantly tell what it is. However, what makes it confusing is its abnormal size. Did someone just buy this for a joke, or does it serve some kind of purpose in reality?

It’s also weird that the original poster inherited this. It weighs over 30 pounds, and it actually turns out to have a function. Apparently, it was used at the Federal Reserve, and this wrench was actually a major tourist attraction. How cool is that?

Public art for sleeping

The eye for detail of this original poster must appreciate it. Most people would not take a second look at public art, let alone notice how there are two hooks on each side of each metal ring here, which is not something you usually see.

The original poster was confused by this and made them wonder how it could not be public art. It turns out those are hammock stands that are used to swing, sleep, or rest. We hope that next time, people who visit that park will bring their hammocks with them.

Ignorance is bliss.

There’s really nothing worse than seeing specks hanging by threads in your bedroom, only to find out later that it’s a bug? When they posted on Reddit, we can only imagine how this person must have felt, looking for some kind of explanation for these mysterious little specs.

It turned out that they were female lacewings. More specifically, it was female lacewings that laid their eggs on a piece of dry mucus attached to the leaf.⠀ Well, that’s certainly a little disgusting. We believe the user must have been more than happy not to find out!

Detecting items in chips

We have a perfect random object that will blow your mind. If you found this blue disc in a packet of your favorite sour cream crisps, how would you feel about it? Especially when you’re eating casually on your couch.

This original poster must have been shocked to learn that some of the chips were tested before. This is a testing chip, according to social media, that goes through metal detectors to make sure it works. What’s really funny is that because a foreign object got through undetected and unidentified, the chip failed its purpose.

A piece of history

It has been discovered that this miniature mask from New Zealand is equally creepy and beautiful. It’s obvious that, given its extensive mouth design, it was designed for a particular purpose. It turns out this is a yawning dance mask used by the Balinese, a certain tribe.

During their traditional dance performances, it is designed to be a miniature version of the actual masks used. Apparently, because they represent divine Traditional Balinese masks are considered sacred, representing divine messengers.

Shaving has really changed.

As technology continues to evolve, there are a lot of everyday things that could become history in just a few years. That’s why finding items that show how people performed daily tasks in the old days is particularly interesting.

Take this fine china cupboard that was discovered by this original poster as he went through the stuff of his family. It turns out that this is a shaving scuttle used to keep the soap leather warm so that it can be used multiple times. This is just a cool vintage look, rather than being weird.

A Peruvian ceremonial chonta

Peru, on top of being an extraordinarily beautiful country, is known for its rich and glorious ancient culture and heritage. The original poster found a wooden object as they were standing on a beach in Lima, Peru.

It turns out that healer thingy is a ceremonial chonta. It has been used in traditional healing ceremonies. The carving in the wooden staff is made of Chonta Palmwood. You can see it sitting at the head of the ceremonial altar.

Not so creepy after all

Seeing devices from ages ago is really interesting, and it really makes you think about how people lived before technological advances of the modern era. This person described what looked like an unidentified metal object around the local park in the UK.

They are vents for underground gases, according to social media. It seems they must have been disappointed if the poster was hoping to discover something much more exciting and mysterious. Life is not like the movies at all.

Your favorite kitchen tool

If you found a flat silver ball, what would you do? Especially if it looks literally like a flat silver ball and doesn’t seem to have any form or function? Most people will end up pulling their hair, but we still have social media to call on, fortunately.

This turns out to be a stainless-steel soap that, after chopping onions or garlic, you can rub on your hands. Apparently, it helps to take away the smell. It’s pretty interesting, but it would have helped to make it a little more obvious!

No, it is not a coffin.

There’s nothing on your property that is creepier than discovering a coffin (or anything that vaguely resembles a coffin). The original poster described it as a concrete slab that they found on their friend’s farm. They decided to post the picture online first, instead of just opening it up using a crowbar.

It turns out it’s a septic tank, actually. If they kept on digging, the original poster would even find a pipe on both ends. This is an old-style tank; it was typically buried 1 to 3 feet below ground level.

What is this squishy thing?

There are a lot of creepy things we’ve already talked about, but this one is particularly icky because it came in a closed package. It was defined as “squishy” by the origin of the poster. It’s more than likely that there’s nothing to worry about, according to someone on social media.

They speculated that inside the drink, there were some solids from the milk, which then mixed with the other ingredients to create that blob. Or maybe there was a problem that led to that rubbery hunk of residue in the drink during production. Don’t eat it either way.

From the second world war

Many households have pins, medals, and other items passed down over generations. They wanted to know the origins and the RRW markings of these bear pins. They would find that an organization was set up in New York to give relief to Russia, as it seems, one month after Germany made its move to Russia back in 1941.

This group was called the Russian War Relief, or the American Committee for Russian War Relief. And these bears are, apparently, pins from the Second World War era.

A brand-new hobby?

This one is not exactly a mystery, but if you were born after the 2000s, it could confuse you. It looks just like a bunch of marbles at first glance. Of course, a lot of people have actually used them, so we can see why they would be confused.

A brand-new hobby?

In fact, it turns out this is a wonderful solitaire game, also known as peg solitaire. Apparently, people use this version of the game instead of using cards. Must be a fun way to pass the time.

For the artist inside you

Truly, this item is confusing. It was described as a sort of dresser in the original poster, but with no sides and an open space near the front of the drawer. They would soon discover that it is indeed the cabinet or flat-file of an artist.

Thankfully, the clever people on the internet quickly solved the mystery. By carefully pushing it up from the edges of the drawers, they pointed out that you’d want to be careful to avoid damaging the artwork. This is why we love the Internet.

What are ranger beads?

What is particularly amazing about this particular community is that you have the unique opportunity to see things from all over the world, in Russia or New York City, be it a small village. This original poster discovered these strange looking ropes in the woods in the Netherlands.

The only description they could give was that the bottom has nine beads and the top has four. It turns out that they are called ranger beads, and they are used by individuals to count distance at a known pace. As a society, we’ve come a long way.

The Romans loved their oil.

Although technology has evolved greatly since the days of the ancient Romans and Greeks, seeing some of the household items they used in their daily lives is still delightful. Take, for instance, this clay jar that this original poster found while taking in the garden in the south of the Netherlands.

It is a Roman oil jar made out of terracotta, according to social media. Tons and tons of pottery and terracotta pieces, which can be found through archaeological excavations, were always made by the Romans, revealing the Roman Empire’s traces.

Call pest control ASAP.

This is just one of those images that are only bound to send chills up your spine. Obviously, it’s something organic, and despite the attempts of the original poster to clear it of the way, it came back. The original poster would reveal that “frass” is actually the name of this weird white thing.

What is frass, exactly? The dictionary defines it as the fine powdery refuse or the fragile perforated board produced by boring insects’ activity. It’s a sign for the layman that they need to call someone from the pest control immediately.

Hold on to this one

If you flipped the switch on the back of the old clock, which was called the “miracle eye,” how would you feel about it? We can completely understand how this would have confused the original poster, especially because it sounds like something from a movie.

It is actually, as they would quickly discover, a light sensor that can be turned on and off. The clock will not make any sounds when it is on — unless it detects any light. This is to make sure that during the night, it does not wake people up. How cool is that?

Not from space

What would you do if you encountered this strange thing in your backyard? Is it an electronic item? Is it something religious given the design? Or is it some weird contraption that is used in the kitchen for some particular purpose?

In fact, considering that it is called a special wheel or chair, it is quite unimpressive. Before pouring the concrete, its purpose is to hold rebar in place. We are sure that this uneventful discovery disappointed the original poster.

This one for your pens

Anyone can tell that this is incredibly old, probably hundreds and hundreds of years old, and it takes just one look at this item. So perhaps this is something that should really be on TV.

This is actually a double inkwell, which in the 19th century was fairly commonly used. After writing, the second well can be used to wash your pen so that the ink doesn’t try to clog the tip. You can also use it for two colors of ink if you are not too bothered about your trip getting clogged up.

Spike man to the rescue

Spiders, no matter what anyone else says, are incredibly scary. If it was late at night and you bumped into this spidery-looking and extremely sharp, red-coloured object, how would you feel? It even looks like it has spiked from some angles! It turns out it’s something called an electrostatic animal guard.

The animals mostly get a small zap whenever they touch one of the prongs. It’s similar to an electric fence that prevents your animals from straying into the wilderness. Still, it’s smaller to ensure better safety. We hope the original poster did not touch it.

This one is really confusing.

This flat disc with a few holes in it looks pretty benign. What could this have been used for? It even looks like a very stylish ashtray from some angles. However, it actually has a particular purpose…even if it merely looks purely decorative.

This is a flower frog that is used for arranging flowers. The number of holes is designed in such a way that the stems can be arranged. It also comes in a variety of designs and styles. Who could have thought of this?

A special gift from Pennsylvania

Since every location has its own unique environment and circumstances, locals often come up with creative ways to solve everyday problems. Unfortunately, if you are new to that particular area, those very same items might seem mysterious.

This user discovered this yellow thing, and all they could tell was it was made of aluminum, and it was on a lot of phones in southeast Pennsylvania. Actually, they are yellow mesh objects called reflectors of the grid, and they are used to help motorists see and avoid utility poles. Glad we got that figured out.

This needs to be in a movie.

Here’s another item you might see on your favorite science-fiction TV or film. It looks like a bunker for dictators and might have very bad purposes. Or something totally harmless.

The only information the original poster was able to give was that it was a two-lane road being repaired, and they saw this section dugout. It turns out that it is actually used for stormwater retention in order not to overwhelm the sewers. Who could have guessed that?

A radioactive home?

You probably don’t want something in your house that’s radioactive, right? Well, when they came across this buried warning sign in a crawlspace, how do you think this person must have felt? This situation escalated so far that it was necessary to involve even the local media.

Radiation control inspectors decided to examine the site to check out the crawlspace of this person. Fortunately, they found nothing dangerous. It turns out that the warning label was actually from the 1950s and the red boxes did not have anything important—what a relief.

Use this with your purse.

You can guess quickly that for a particular purpose, the object was made. There is definitely something that looks like random plastic bits, but what it is is still quite confusing. What exactly is this strange object?

The entire metal object, according to the wise people of social media, is a bus or a small handbag. The sunken middle part was apparently normally stitched to the top of a purse and used for opening and closing it.

This was used by the disabled.

It looks like another teapot on the first impression if it’s slightly broken. If you look carefully, you can see that there is no lid or markings on it.

It’s also made of white ceramic, and there’s some crazing to the glaze, implying that it’s clearly not from recent years. In fact, as the original poster would soon discover, it was an older version of the modern sippy cup. This was made for people who were too weak or too ill to be able to feed themselves.

Right out of a horror movie

One look at this, if you’re like most people, and you’re just going to be absolutely terrified. Not the original poster, though, who for 20 years kept this around and finally decided to find online information. These are the teeth of the American freshwater drum fish, apparently.

These types of fish typically have teeth (which are not unlike human molars) that they use to break down oysters and mussels for consumption, for those who do not know. They’re also referred to as Google, the grinder, and the grunter fish.

What is a hag moth, you ask?

There are weird things here, and there are oddly creepy things. This has actually been described as “a weird squirming living Lovecraftian nightmare found on someone’s lawn chair.” We can’t even imagine encountering this, particularly with its big, gaping mouth.

On the Internet, a helpful person informed the original poster that it was actually a hag moth. Turns out hag moth larva, due mainly to their fuzzy little legs, are also called monkey slugs. The good news, though? In fact, these unsightly bugs are not a danger to either crops or people.

Debris from rockets gone by

The original poster described this object as a bit of polyester in a honeycomb shape. It was connected to fiberglass and a disk of flimsy aluminum. For the record, in the United States, it was found. The Treasury of Guam. It didn’t take long for the Internet to research and figure out this one, and the answer is pretty intriguing even then.

Actually, it’s because of a recent rocket launch that apparently failed. A Chinese Long March rocket had taken off, but somewhere outside of Guam, its payload was spotted re-entering the atmosphere.

Gotta thank the grandparents.

You know how precise they can be about what items they would like in the house and what items they would not like in the house if you are close to your grandparents especially if one of those items looks like a carved and sacred ancient circle thousands of years ago, from similar reservations.

How couldn’t this capture the curiosity of anyone? This ancient object, according to the internet, is actually a mottled jade Aztec sunstone. Actually, it’s a sculpture dedicated to the sun with hieroglyphs of days, months, and suns.

You might want to skip this one.

You might want to keep scrolling if you are afraid of bugs. Who would eat one of these, we’re not sure, but desperate times call for desperate measures … we guess? Honestly, anyone who eats this can do anything else!

People used cassettes and CDs before we used streaming. We’ve come a long way, of course, but how would you feel if you found this on a magnetic device with a bunch of wires around it? For the answer to this question, you have to go back all the way to the 1960s, because this item is actually called an audio head demagnetizer.

Rollback the 60s

This tool was used when recording with cassettes whenever there was magnetism built up in the tape path. There is absolutely no way that the original poster could have guessed this.

An old sediment filter

Regardless, basements are quite frightening, but what would you do if you found a dark, mysterious electronic object, particularly one that is hooked up to the waterline? This one is actually a pretty innocuous object, despite its scary and serious appearance. It’s a filter for sediment, which prevents particles from getting into your water.

But then again, this one does have some history, as it has a very old filter cartridge inside. In our basement, we would also love to have some history.

Yet another UFO?

There is one thing that will just not die away, despite the technological advances over the last few decades: our unwavering interest in identifying those so-called unidentifiable flying objects. To be fair, if someone saw this thing in the sky, they’d totally want to take photos of it.⠀

The mysterious circle was actually called a soliton, which is a self-reinforcing wave, according to social media. Smoke coming from the transformer causes the circles themselves, creating these strange, round plumes in the air.

This one is for the kids.

How would you feel giving your child this extremely strange-looking, semicircular device with a cow-like design? Although it looks like the shape people would use when painting their toenails, it obviously has a different shape. Social media, of course, came to the rescue once again and announced that it was a door stopper.

Its goal is to help protect small fingers, preventing them from getting trapped in the door. The next time someone asks, “Won’t someone think of the children?” you can show them this device.

Your new favorite game?

If you look at this weird carved circular stone with these strange markings on it, you’re bound to think it’s a sacred object from an ancient culture. It is missing a part, the tiny red piece that is supposed to fit into the middle, as the original poster would quickly find out.

Actually, in an indoor version of the classic game of horseshoes, it is one of two game pieces that came up with the horseshoes. Much better, someone had one growing up on the social media website. Unfortunately, it ended up being in the woods.

We need this someone ASAP.

We are sure that in the next 20 or 30 years, there will be a lot of everyday items that will be outdated. The perfect illustration of this is this odd item received by a college freshman.

They had received this item from the university and decided to ask for the Internet after not being able to figure out what it was. It turns out this is a germ key, actually. It is used by individuals to open door handles without touching them to prevent infections from spreading. We would love one of these.

A very ornamental missile

Many of the mysterious things a person can find are totally banal and have no serious backstory. Then there’s this object. The brother of this user found this thing in the Tennessee woods.

As it turns out, it is actually a missile outside the nearby military high school that is mounted on a plinth. We are happy that this was discovered by the original poster, as this can be particularly scary based on its appearance. In a museum, if we are honest, it might be better suited.

A fire grenade in a research lab

Finding strange things in the woods or your backyard is one thing, but it’s another thing when you discover it in a research lab. It looks like there’s something inside this glass item. The original poster, a scientist himself, is totally dumbfounded.

They would discover that it was actually an early 1900s fire grenade. The reason some were just filled with good old H20 and others were filled with random chemicals, according to social media, is to help put out any fires by smothering them.

Not so creepy after all

This thing looks like something from the set of a rural horror movie at first glance. The only clue that could be given by the original poster was that a paintball field and a hotel were nearby in Europe. People were not exactly able to figure this one out on the internet, but our best guess is that it’s actually a three-dimensional maze.

Not So Creepy After All

It is used in camps for kids and other kinds of outdoor activities. It is an example of an ancient practice, according to some other individuals, of building sculptures using plants.

The coolest jar opener ever

If you discovered this weird shop item, complete with jagged teeth, how would you feel? It’s from the 70s, apparently, and the original poster found it on the underside of their cabinet. While it looks quite benign, it has an obvious purpose, actually.

However, it is also not what you might have suspected. It’s simply an opener for a jar, that’s all. You know, we might get one of these for ourselves, actually. We wonder if it actually ended up being used by the original poster.

Is it a bird or a UFO?

There are strange things that might make you think of something out of a science fiction movie, or perhaps a conspiracy by the government. The original poster saw this wind turbine, just cheerfully spinning away, clipped onto cable lines near their house.

When they found out that the object is used to identify flying objects, we are sure they must have felt a sense of relief. It is apparently a bad flight diverter, which provides both lines and innocent birds with a more affordable method of reducing the hazard.

Be careful with this one.

You should always be careful about mysterious objects, but you might want to take extra precautions when you’re around a mysterious axe that is razor-sharp. The original poster thought that the item was from Japan and was an axe.

They would soon discover that it was not an axe, but a delimbing instrument which, when one reaches higher limbs, is used in a tree. Users can cut them off quickly due to this tool’s sharpness. This certainly isn’t something you want, particularly if you have kids, to lie around the house.