40 Times People Had No Clue What They Found, But The Internet Solved The Mystery (New Pics)

Have you ever come across an item that made you wonder, “What the heck is this?” You may have found a peculiar object lying in the street, noticed something strange in your partner’s kitchen or come across a puzzling object at a thrift store. In these moments, Google can’t always provide the help we need. It’s hard to describe something when you have no idea what it’s called or where it came from, but r/Whatisthisthing will always have your back.

This community has been around for 15 years and has amassed an impressive 2.9 million members. That means, if you reach out to them asking for help identifying an item, there are nearly 3 million people who will be willing to get to the bottom of what it is. Even if the object is a hundred years old or was found in your grandmother’s attic, you won’t have to wonder about what its purpose is for long.    

It’s probably not going to be every day that you discover something you’ve never seen before. But when these rare moments do happen where you find yourself asking what an item is, it’s nice to have a game plan to figure it out.

According to the Science & Industry Museum in Manchester, the first step is checking for clues about where the object came from. For example, you might be able to spot a brand name, a serial number, the manufacturer’s name, the year it was created, etc. Any information you can find on the item might be helpful in your search!      

Next, start searching online using keywords that might help you identify the strange object. These words might include the color, the shape, the material and more. It’s also important to consider where you found the item, even if it might not seem relevant at first. If something ended up at a garage sale or flea market, it can be difficult to track down its origin. But keep in mind the part of the country you’re in, who was selling it and more. Every item has a story, and it’s fascinating to connect all of the dots of an object’s journey!      

Once you’ve established what exactly an item is, it’s also a good idea to seek out any information you can find from museums or online records about where exactly it came from and if there’s anything about that specific one that makes it special. For example, it might have been created for one purpose and then adapted to do something else over time. Or it might have had significance in the media, if it was featured in a particular film or book in the past. Even something as simple as an antique toaster might have a unique story. 

One wonderful thing about the age that we live in is having access to unlimited information on the internet. And with that, we have unlimited access to connections as well. Internet sleuths are incredibly impressive nowadays, and if you can’t find something out on your own, there’s an extremely high chance that someone else can help you out. That niche item that’s been sitting in your father’s garage for decades can easily be identified by groups like r/Whatisthisthing. 

And if you want to start seeking out mysterious items that you’ll then have to identify online, you might want to start frequenting your local thrift stores, antique malls, estate sales, garage sales and more. Don’t be afraid to dig through every item until you find something that puzzles you, and if it’s sold at a low price, you can take it home with you! The hunt is so much fun, and you might even discover something that’s incredibly valuable.