“What Is This Thing?” — 25 Times People Asked The Internet To Identify Mysterious Objects This Week

Every once in a while, you come across something so weird you have no choice but to consult the internet hive mind. That’s where r/whatisthisthing shines.

People post photos of mystery tools, odd gadgets, or random objects from their grandma’s attic, and the internet immediately turns into a guessing game for others to identify. Half the fun is scrolling through the wrong answers before someone swoops in with the right one.

It feels like watching an episode of Antiques Roadshow mixed with trivia night, except the experts are just regular people with oddly specific knowledge. Here are some of the most head-scratching “What is this thing?” finds solved this week.

1. “Small electronic object with a suction cup attached to it in a case disguised as a tiny book. Found in a bric-a-brac store.”

Solved By: u/Catch22v

“It’s a remote flash trigger from before they could use radio waves.

It detected light from a primary flash and triggered a secondary flash.”

2. “What is big glass thing? Found at an estate sale.”

Solved By: u/SignNotInUse

“Are you sure it’s not acrylic because it looks like an extra long 20mm acrylic crochet hook.”

u/ditheringtoad Added:

“It is definitely a crochet hook. Unsure if it’s meant for decoration, but it’s definitely a crochet hook.”

3. “My suitcase has this slide out in the handle, what is it for?”

Solved By: u/winstano

“It’s a phone holder, I think. I bought one recently with a similar feature and that’s what it was described as on mine”

u/Impressive_shot_xo Added:

“It sounds ridiculous, but I have on more than one occasion Jimmy rigged my phone on my carry-on while I’m waiting to board…”

4. “WITT plastic and found just below collar on sailor/waterproof jacket ca.12*4cm not very reflective on left side”

Solved By: u/Ancientabs

Per the Henri Lloyd website it is 100% intended as a reflective patch. All the offshore jackets have them.

5. “Found behind floorboards of 2025 Toyota Tacoma. Black, multiple wires coming out of it some going into the trucks wiring.”

More Information:

“My thought is a tracker but I don’t know why it would be in here, truck is paid in full, no theft package or anything, no insurance installed tracker.”

Solved By: u/Crazy83519

“It’s a GPS Tracker”

u/im_joe avatar Added:

“These seem to be so common place. Is there a device to find them or a way to know if one has been installed in a vehicle?

Behind the kick panel, not plugged into ODB port seems really sneaky.”

u/deusmilitus Added:

“A lot of cars bought online on sites like Carvana get their stock from auctions that rental places sell their unwanted cars. They use these trackers to keep track of their rentals. Most places don’t bother removing them.”

u/Suspicious_Dingo_426 Added:

“It costs too much to remove them. It’s cheaper to just leave it there and buy new ones.”

6. “Horse feeder? salt lick? seen at horse stables in Grassau, Bavaria. large suspended ball with see-through cover”

Solved By: u/WanderWomble

Fly trap.

u/Pilot-Wrangler Added:

Works great on Deer and Horse Flies (which is 100% why is there)

7. “Small disc my kid brought home from a school pep rally…”

More Information:

“My kid came home with swag from a school pep rally, which included this 2.5” disc with concave, dimpled faces and a ridged edge about a 1/4” thick.

Can’t figure out what it’s for, and the markings are no help. Thanks in advance.”

Solved By: u/IllNerve4347

“It’s a Gravity Disc”

u/bmbreath Added:

“What does it do?”

u/Gramathon910 Added:

“You play catch with it like with a frisbee or a ball. This one is just smaller so you can throw it further and more accurately.”

8. “Just got a new NFL hat by NewEra, a 9Forty. What are these squishy rectangles on the bill?”

Solved By: u/Mackin-N-Cheese

“The product listings for those hats say ‘the undervisor is accented with a silicone transfer in the team’s colors’, so it would seem it’s just a decorative element.

9. “Mystery from Goodwill- ceramic object with large hold at the top and weird openings on the bottom, fits in hand”

Solved By: u/Featherstych

“A Himalayan salt inhaler pipe.

I have no idea how it would be used, though I suppose the obvious would be to put chunks of the salt inside and bring the top up to your nostrils.”

u/Various_Succotash_79 Added:

I had one back in the day. You’re just supposed to put Himalayan salt in the bottom and then breathe normally (with your mouth!) through the spout. Supposedly the salt air is good for your lungs or whatever.

10. “Found walking around in Iceland – about 7 feet tall and made out of pipes”

Solved By: u/GlitteryCakeHuman

“It’s an art installation. Yggdrasil by David Hebb.”

11. “Blue plastic items with sliding piece”

More Information:

“Received as a gift, and the gifter said they were for our cat, but we have no idea how so! Both items are identical, blue, 10 inches long and 1.5 inches wide. In the 2nd photo you can see that the 2 small bands can slide up and down.”

Solved By: u/kna5041

“It’s a spoon for those churu cat tube treats. The slider pushes the puree out.”

12. “What is this small thing worn like a ring, which looks like it might have a watch on it?”

Solved By: u/OkShare1169

“It’s a click counter. Mostly religious people use it to count their blessings.

For example you need to say 100 Hail Marys. It has two buttons one to count up and one to reset with a mini display.”

13. “Chain links that are welded in place.”

More Information:

“Any idea what this might be? Is it just art or does it serve a purpose?

Vaguely looks like an outline of a high heel at some angles.”

Solved By: u/mydamnnameismykie

I’m not sure but it makes me think of a wine bottle holder I’ve seen.

u/KryptosBC Added:

It’s a wine bottle holder.

14. “White box on wall of new apt with no logo shown with & without cover”

Solved By: u/JamesTMPhoto

This is going to be a sensor from a company called Runwise. They retrofit AC and heating systems with their own networks to make systems more efficient. That zigzag on the top left is their logo.

Source: hired them to add sensors to a condo I run in NYC.

15. “Finger sized black leather sheath. Has leather straps to tie it closed. Tip is fringed so the end is hollow.”

Solved By: u/Crimson_Kang

“Hey I finally get to answer one! Decoration for a motorcycle lever, it goes over the clutch and brake lever on the handle bars”

u/ToriaCrux Added:

“Like putting tassels on your bike”

16. “Lights on a metal beam on wheels, in a UK football stadium, what is it?”

More Information:

“I was performing a magic show in the function room of a football stadium, I could hear multiple people debating over this thing’s purpose…

– a line painter
– dries the pitch
– helps the grass grow

Anyone know what it is?”

Solved By: u/Crested10

“It’s a grow light. To promote grass growth in low light conditions.

Specifically located at the goalmouth where grass needs to be reseeded more often due to high traffic.”

17. “Found in an old barn on a property we bought. Metal and glass.”

More Information:

“Bought a property a few years ago. This was in one of the barns on the property. I took these photos for this purpose but then they got lost to the sands of time. Appears to be metal and glass soldered together. Don’t have a scale but it’s pretty heavy for its size.”

Solved By: u/lvm__

It’s a high-power vacuum tube with forced air cooling radiator, the kind which was used in powerful radio transmitters and early radars.

18. “Flathead metal pin/nail with a white plastic cap where the pointy end should be. 20mm long, 1-2mm wide). Found in sewing stuff.”

More Information:

Found on the floor when I was cleaning out sewing stuff. I feel like this is going to be so obvious but I can’t figure it out.

Solved By: u/thatgirlsthings

It’s a tooth from a hairbrush.

19. “Small (20mm in diameter) metal disk found in Perthshire, Scotland field for ID.”

More Information:

“When I was a kid growing up in Scotland, I found this small metal item while out in a field Perthshire field in Scotland.

I’ve kept it for about twenty years because I always found it interesting, but I never knew what it actually was.

Feels heavy given its size. Approximately 20mm in diameter across the face, and 4mm deep along the short edge.

Would anyone here be able to help identify it? Thanks in advance!”

Solved By: u/SpezSucksDC

It’s a Russian bale seal

u/PeterHaldCHEM Added:

Fells heavy?

It looks like a lead seal.

They were used on a lot of things.

(Funny that it says “A PS LEVIN N66” in Cyrillic letters. Maybe something imported from Russia)

20. “Large metal box about 6′ long in the middle of the woods”

More Information:

“Found while hiking in the woods. Didn’t touch it, but curiosity is getting to me.

There is also an old abandoned still nearby, we think it may have been used for moonshining. Upstate NY”

Solved By: u/aces_high_2_midnight

A storage tank for maple sap is my guess. In the old days when sap was gathered in buckets it would have been stored in something like this until they had the time or capacity to boil it all down into maple syrup. If you find any more of these around the property that’s likely what it was for.

u/technosquirrelfarms Added:

Yes. And prob left upside down to keep leaves and dirt out. Then forgotten that way. It may have an outlet pipe fitting

u/deadbeef4 Added:

Yep, and those sure look like maple trees around it.

21. “What is this lit up box shape on stage at this school play?”

More Information:

“I recently filmed a school play version of The Jungle Book and when I was editing I noticed this box shape lit up in the background.

I thought at first that it was my editing software doing something weird, but then I realised it was there in the original footage and it changes colour depending on the lighting so it was actually part of the set background.

What is it?”

Solved By: u/Pure-Shirt-9267

It’s a warning from the projector display settings

u/firedmya Added:

A/V equivalent of an engine warning light?

22. “Some sort of large wooden wheel with an empty center”

Solved By: u/redditheretobrowse

Human (hamster) wheel for making your own snow cones. Saw one at a ren-faire.

u/ntlane2004 Added:

The colorful tubes are for adding flavor to the ice and the wheel basically just lift a large hammer and drops it to compress the crushed ice.

23. “What is this thing the black thing and the silver tanks and blue hoses? This recently popped up at work”

Solved By: u/Joe2x4

Black things are heavy duty water pumps. The silver vessels are likely filters, there is a whole row of used sediment filter bags next to it.

u/pearshapedscorpion Added:

You’ll see something like this when there is work being done on/near water or sewer lines to bypass a section of piping so it can be worked on without disrupting service.

u/ZombeePharaoh Added:

I don’t think we’d be seeing filters if this was a simple bypass.

Filters make it seem like a SWPPP thing.

u/Lalfy Added:

Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan