Awat Dhahir
We may find many strange and weird objects that we might not understand their purpose. A thread on Reddit made it a mission to explain mysterious things found by people.
Viral Strange has collected 15 objects that may be hard to identify.
1. Midwest house built in the early 1900s has a thing on the wall, what is this thing?
Answer: This is the century-old equivalent of your circuit breaker panel. The two sockets on top are for screw fuses and the thing on the bottom is a knife switch like you’d see in the Frankenstein movies. The knife switch is missing its handle which would be bolted to where the hole is in the throwing arm. This is a 2 pole fused disconnect and was likely used for some large appliance like an electric stove or heater or something.
2. My Grandad dug this up? Found in Liverpool, possibly WW2, it was found with the decoration on, what is it?
Answer: This is called trench art (creating various things from the objects that military men had at hand)
3. Found this while digging up a 100+-year-old outhouse in Southern California. Any ideas on what this is? There’s no other writing on the back.
Answer: It’s an early electric toothbrush.
4. I was cutting my watermelon and was confused when I saw these hard stems in it, does anyone know what it is?
Answer: That happens when it is stressed during growing. Likely due to drought, the fruit got messed up inside. It’s technically edible, but likely doesn’t taste very good.
5. This was found in an area of Colorado with a rich history of mining. It was in the vicinity of other random abandoned mine equipment and I don’t know what it is or what it would have been used for.
Answer: As some others have said, this is a boiler. Specifically, this is the “pinned tube”-type heat exchanger component.
6. A weird door I saw in the sea wall in Biarritz, France.
Answer: It is a gate for stormwater runoff that drains into the ocean.
7. Found on a beach of Lake Erie. I’ve lived near the lake my whole life and never have seen something like this.
Answer: Pharyngeal teeth. Likely from a freshwater drum
8. Found this out in the woods…
Answer: It is a steam boiler. Maybe from a train engine, or more likely, maybe from a building used for heat or some kind of power for the mining operation.
9. I found this in a drawer in my office, I think it was left behind by someone who left the place. I work in a Marine biology institute (of a Uni). It is shaped like an Egg about 8cm in length and 5.5cm in largest diameter, white-colored, there’s a 13 digit number on it and “subversiv” written on it.
Answer: It’s likely a dummy seagull egg. I’ve seen this sort of thing used by pest controllers. They swap the real egg for a fake plastic one, the parent bird quietly sits on it all season waiting for it to hatch rather than laying another egg. Seagulls get very aggressive when they have chicks, but stay calm and quiet when sitting on an egg.
10. This came in a bag of pots and kitchen utensils, any idea what this is? The green button slides the green bars out of the way.
Answer: It is a cake slicing knife guide.
11. Found this in my checked luggage after a flight. Have no idea what it is and I’m assuming it was left in there by TSA? Help!
Answer: It is used for wiping detection swabs over luggage or hands to detect bombs. airport security put a swab in the end, rub it over the luggage, and then scans it.
12. What is this black cord in my banana?
Answer: It’s the banana’s seeds.
13. I found this in my attic, any idea what this is?
Answer: A blueberry comb!
14. A strange tool I found while cleaning out my late Grandpa’s workshop. It’s serrated like some sort of saw.
Answer: This is a Japanese-style saw rasp.
15. Found these in my cooked spaghetti. The sauce was canned.
Answer: They are rosary peas and are poisoning.
Which one did you find more surprising? Have you ever found any weird objects? Tell us in the comments!
