Nate
Ever seen a weird object and wondered, “What is this thing?” Thanks to the internet, it’s now easier than ever to identify mysterious objects.
“What is This Thing” is an online community where like-minded individuals help each other uncover the truth behind strange and weird objects like these. Check out some intriguing posts below and explore more in our previous posts here, here, and here.
1. Plastic Device With A Blade That Cuts A Chunk Out Of Paper
Answer: Wow, that’s a blast from the past. It’s for write protecting a 5.25″ floppy disk.
It’s for making a single sided disk double sided.
2. Weird Semi Circle Wires With Various Beads On A Wooden Plank Found In An Older House
Answer: A Himalayan Calendar. The outer ring as 12 balls, each corresponding to a month. The next two rings have a tens and ones digit. The tens has three balls for up to the 31st, and the next has nine balls, for 0 to 9. And then four rings for the year, up to 9999.
3. What Is This Oval Metal Thing In A Plastic Holder Mounted To The Kitchen Wall Next To The Sink?
Answer: Steel “soap” bar. Removes odors like onion from ur hands when u wash with it by just adding a strong steel odor on top.
4. Found In A Safe In A Deceased Man’s House: 11 Identical Stacks Of Thin Black Paper Strips, Wrapped In Plastic Foil, Covered In Fine White Dust. Measurements Of Each Strip Approximately 16 Cm X 6,5 Cm, Height Of Each Stack Approximately 5 Cm. Other Than That, The Safe Was Empty
Answer: “Black Money Scam”. It’s construction paper or similar, he was scammed to believe it was currency dyed to be smuggled and could be restored.
5. Small Trailer With Individual Openings. Seen While Driving, No Obvious Marking That Would Indicate What It’s For
Answer: It’s for transporting racing pigeons.
6. Saw This In A Restroom Which Has Faucets And Drain Down Low And A Dryer
Answer: This setup prevents Muslims from having to lift our legs up dangerously high while trying to stick our feet in the sink one at a time. The alternative to that is we have to take a handful of water and pour it onto our feet below the sink causing the floor to get wet. Muslims also have to keep their feet clean before praying, which is obviously problematic in a bathroom where everyone pisses on the floor and walks with their shoes between the stalls and the sink, so you might see them trying to keep one shoe on while washing the other foot and then switching. It’s also why we take our shoes off before praying and use prayer rugs to avoid touching unclean things while praying.
7. 4 Inches, Plastic, Pointed On One Side. Received As A Xmas Gift?! Witt??
Answer: Looks like a page spreader for reading. Point end goes into the spine and thumb in hole so you can one hand books easy.
8. We Found This On Top Of A Bookcase While Cleaning Our Office. It Appears That The Jar Is Sealed. The White Things Inside Weigh Next To Nothing. We Didn’t Want To Open It Until We Have Some Idea As To What It Is. They Look Pretty Soft. Nothing Identifying On The Jar Itself
Answer: They look like silkworm cocoons.
9. What Is This Spoon With A Tong-Like Attachment? Seen In An Antique Store In Lyon, France
Answer: It is a spoon designed to separate the fat from the sauce, called “cuillère dégraisseuse”.
10. Round Shelf Attached By Metal Brackets To Underside Of Table. What Is It For?
Answer: It’s a place to rest your beer while you play cards.
11. Plastic Ring With Three Relatively Sharp Metal Claws, Found On Beach In Scotland
Answer: It’s a “claw” to help pull in fishing nets.
12. What’s This Heavy, Brass, Genie Lamp-Like Object With Both A Weird Cutout Spout And A Narrow Upwards Spout?
Answer: It’s a lamp. It’s literally an oil lamp, to be used to create light. The wick goes in the spout. The oil goes in the belly. You light the wick and a flame will burn on the end of the spout like a little candle, and you can carry your lantern around with you.
13. This Metal Piece Is Attached To The Wall In A Wc In My Airbnb In France
Answer: It’s a magazine rack installed upside down because people decorating Airbnb’s don’t know what they’re doing.
14. 1940 Mercury Dime Turned Into A Two-Sided Spoon Of Some Sort With A Fused Ring At The Top. Came With Odds And Ends From A Deceased Older Relative From Ohio
Answer: A vintage spoon pendant used for illegal substances.
15. What Would This Antique Silver “Locket” Have Been Used For? It Looks Like Possibly Ink Residue On The Two Pads Inside, But No Indication That The Inside Door Would Have Been Sealed Tightly Enough To Be A Reservoir
Answer: It’s actually a purse. There’s space in there for some coins for bus/cab fare, some powder makeup (behind the little door), and calling cards.
16. Hard, Waxy, Blob-Looking Thing Found During Low Tide
Answer: It’s whale sick get it checked it could be worth thousands a kg. It’s an ingredient used in high end perfumes.
17. Bought A New Pair Of Nike Shoes. Inside The Box Was This Small, Plastic Bubble, Filled With Air, And What Looks Like Tiny, Colorful Microplastics. Has A Loophole On The Top And Is About An Inch Long
Answer: Microplastic particles. Probably to show how Nike helps to clean up our planet. Greenwashing at best.
18. What Are These Little Knit Tubes?
Answer: They can be used to avoid chairs scratching your floors. So they are socks, but for chairs rather than humans.
19. What Is This Wavy Pattern On The Back Of A Piece Of Mail I Received?
Answer: Obfuscation pattern, it’s there to hide info or keep people from trying to read through an envelope and look at personal information.
20. Made Of Clay/Terra Cotta, Can Fit Inside A Palm. It Came With Something I Bought But Can’t Remember What
Answer: Terra cotta sugar saver. You put it in with your brown sugar to keep it from clumping or drying out in storage.
21. Blue plastic capsules found in dog vomit, ended up killing him
Answer: Gel beads from an ice pack. They may have contained propylene glycol, which is toxic to dogs. Odds are the dog ate more than it vomited.
22. What is this camera-looking thing my neighbors pointed at my backyard?
Answer: Ultra Sonic animal repellent $13 Bucks on Amazon
23. Object found while hiking off-road in Bosnia. Notice the spikes near the end! Wondering what it is.
Answer: Retired USA Army Bomb Tech here (don’t confess to know all foreign XO)… appears may be a Russian HEAT PTAB-2.5KO landmine… STAY AWAY & call local EOD…
24. This object fell from the sky yesterday in the city of Santos, Brazil, and hit a car parked in the street. The car owner said it was pretty hot when found and had a rotten egg odor.
Answer: The piston from a short stroke hydraulic jack- it still has the gland seal’s o ring on it. Somebody tried to operate a wee jack with an excavator’s hydraulic line and invented the oil-powered piston cannon.
25. What is this large vessel I found in the basement of an old psychiatric hospital?
Answer: It’s a mattress sterilizer.