17 Odd Things People Found and the Internet Helped Explain

Strange and mysterious objects people needed to know more about.

Published 6 years ago in Ftw

Strange and mysterious objects people needed to know more about.

1
“A small marble-like object, sitting on a desk at my grandparents’ house and it fits in my hand. I never knew what this marble egg was for.” It’s a paperweight — a heavy thing made of bronze, marble, or glass, placed on top of papers to keep them from getting blown away or to keep the sheet from moving. Could also be an antique sex toy... of the plug variety.

2
“What on Earth did I catch?” It’s a sea lily (Crinoidea). A relative of sea stars and sea urchins. By the way, you can find up to 5 species of sea lilies in certain countries.

3
“This thing beeps when the 2 outer prongs are connected and beeps twice as fast when the middle one is also connected. What is this?” It’s a special liquid level indicator for people with impaired vision. If you pour the liquid up to the prongs the device will beep.
4
“This thing was given to my grandmother by her friend. I have no idea what it is.” It’s a traditional Japanese smoking pipe called kiseru. It is used to smoke finely shredded tobacco.

5
“These dots on my beer look like Braille. What do they say?” It’s Japanese Braille. It means “alcohol.”
6
“What is this building in New York City?” It’s a viewing platform called “The Vessel” in Hudson Yards, New York.
7
“An artifact found in the ocean near Vancouver Island.” It’s a modern imitaton of the Indian wolf mask.

8
“Found near a shipwreck.” It’s an 18th-century Spanish trade coin. The water made its markings almost invisible.
9
“I saw this cloud on my way to work yesterday at 5 AM. Other than this, the sky was completely clear.” No, it’s not an alien sign like the one from The Arrival (although some people really hoped it was.) It’s just a trail left by the American launch vehicle Antares. The launch was performed on May 21.
10
“I found this thing lying on the floor of the server room. It looks like a bomb.” Some internet users claimed that they could identify this thing as an anti-tank guided missile “Malyutka.” The author of the photo said that he informed the police about his find. Within several hours, the police took the bomb to a military base to have it destroyed.

11
“We discovered this weird construction on a hillside while hiking." It’s an avalanche control installation used to control and decrease the risk of avalanches.
12
“Found on my grandma’s shelf of items collected while traveling the world.” As it turns out, it’s a special ceremonial cannibal fork used by people from the Fiji islands.
13
“Looks like this truck is transporting a UFO.” The photo depicts the process of the transportation of an F-35 fighter plane.

14
“The 2 ’eyes’ are buttons and when you press both of them and the little mouth lights up. It doesn’t do anything else.” It’s a panic button used to call the police, security, or other kinds of help.
15
“Found a load of these little glass bottles when we were digging up a lawn in Ireland. What was in them?” These bottles were used to carry special oil for batteries and accumulators. Thomas Edison invented a nickel-iron accumulator that was later used for the automatic railroad crossing guards. The oil was poured onto electrolytes and created a special protective cover. Unnecessary bottles were thrown away.
16
“When we were cleaning up the mess in Dad’s garage, we found 3 packages of these yellow bricks that have little round springs inside.” These are used to refill a lava lamp. The spring is placed at the bottom of the lamp and gets heated by a bulb while paraffin wax floats in the water.

17
“What kind of an animal or a thing is this?” To find out what this thing was supposed to be, the owner emailed its creator Robert Croak. He said that it’s a dragon-monkey hybrid.