If you ever—and we do mean ever—need a mystery solved, ask the internet for help. The amount of collective wisdom, combined with the Holmesian skills of amateur sleuths, is absolutely staggering. And you’re likely to feel your jaw drop at how quickly they find the answer to your question.
The r/whatisthisthing subreddit is a 2.2-million-member-strong online group that solves mysteries. And quite successfully, we might add! Internet users share a photo of an odd, bizarre, and often vintage item that puzzles them. Then, the community comes together to explain what it is, what it’s used for, and (if they happen to know it) share the broader context. It’s honestly one of the most interesting digital communities out there. You’ll find their latest successfully solved queries as you scroll down below.
Here at Bored Panda, we’re pretty big fans of what the r/whatisthisthing community has been doing for the past 12+ years. When you’ve finished upvoting the posts in this list that you think are very best examples of unraveled mysteries, consider taking a peek at our other recent articles about the sub here, here, and here.
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#21 Thumb Protector Possibly, But For What? Found At A Yard Sale
Answer: Old timey fish monger/butcher thumb guard.
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237points
#22 These Little Specs On My Bed? Every Time I Dust Them Off, They Reappear Within 2 Hours And I Have No Idea How. They Just Kind Of… Spawn? It’s Really Grossing Me Out
Answer: The shape (slightly oblong) looks like termite frass (poop). It's likely they are eating the wood beams in your ceiling and have made a hole through the non-wood material of your ceiling to have a place to dump their poop. You should get the place inspected ASAP.
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231points
#23 What Is This Thing Used For? A Book With Black Blank Pages Alternating With Thin Translucent Pages
Answer: Photo-Album. You stick paper photos on the black pages. The transparent pages are for protection.
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224points
#24 What Is This Big Round Well-Type Thing In The Middle Of The Women’s Restroom? It’s In An Older Bathroom And It Doesn’t Seem To Have Any Water Running To Or From It… Just A Big Cylinder With A Drain In It
Answer: It's a sink. For washing your hands. You step on the ring to start the water.
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220points
#25 What Are These Sets Of Seven Dimples On Styrofoam?
Answer: While many plastic objects have little marks on them where the liquid plastic is injected into the mold, expanded polystyrene objects ("Styrofoam") aren't made this way. Instead, small granules of plastic are pre-treated with steam in a large hopper, which causes them to expand into little foam pellets. These foam pellets are poured into the mold, and then additional steam is injected in, causing the pellets to swell even more until they completely fill the mold. The little seven-dot marks are steam injection points.
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209points
#26 Found A Large Metallic Cylinder On The Beach Of Husavik, Iceland. What Is This?
Answer: Solved! We asked around and it turns out that these are submarine detectors, nothing to worry about, no explosive inside!
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208points
#27 Small Plastic Pouch With Red Gel And A Metal Disc Inside
Answer: Hand warmer. You can "click" the metal piece and it will start a chemical reaction and heat the pad.
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199points
#28 What Is This Drain In Front Of The Door Of This House? Living In Snowborne Areas, I Never Saw A Drain Like That Anywhere. Anyone Know The Purpose?
Answer: To kick snow off your shoes.
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196points
#29 What Is This Thing? Several Surgical Instruments Were Found Nearby, But It Might Be Not Related To Them At All
Answer: It looks like it was a primitive tool used in the past to assist in birth. Yeouch. A bit of further googling tells me they were used to reduce the size of a babies head if it was too big to deliver, by drainage of the cerebrospinal fluid. Known as destructive delivery. Generally (I hope) for cases where the fetus is already non-living. Frightful.
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193points
#30 What Is This Silver Metal Thing With Narrow Bridge And Spoon Like End?
Answer: Ear cleaners, use them to scoop wax more common in eastern countries. Might be confused for a drug utensil by American police as they imagine people snorting the tiniest cocaine hit ever.
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192points
#31 What Is Using This Little Wooden House In My Garden?
Answer: It's for any of the solitary bees, like mason bees.
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185points
#32 This Piece Of Brass And Possibly Lead Is Embedded In A Piece Of Planed Wood. It Has Been Sitting On A Shelf For Years And I Have No Idea What It May Have Been
Answer: That's a bullet. Someone shot it into a tree and cut it in half. The rough part of the wood is the bullet path.
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181points
#33 What Is This Large Vessel I Found In The Basement Of An Old Psychiatric Hospital?
Answer: Looks like a great big autoclave.
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176points
#34 Bunk Beds (?) In A Crawlspace Of A Home From 1959
Answer: Yep, bomb/fallout shelter. For 1959, effectively the same thing.
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173points
#35 Older House 1960. Chimney But Opening Is On The Outside Not Inside ?
Answer: Looks like a chimney cleanout door.
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171points
#36 Signs On The Truck Say ‘Radioactive’. Metallic Dumbbell-Shaped Container
Answer: It's a radioactive waste transport cask.
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169points
#37 Seen While Walking Down The Street. A Ziplock Bag Tacked Above A Door. Seems To Contain Water And A Few Pennies. What Could This Be For?
Answer: Homemade mosquito/fly deterrent. The light reflecting off the water and pennies is supposed to scare off pesky bugs.
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169points
#38 Piece Of Silver Found On Mustang Island Right Off Of The Gulf Of Mexico. It Was On The Beach
Answer: Definitely a coin. For a second there, I thought you hit the jackpot, too bad its just a replica.
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167points
#39 These Bakery Window Decorations From Kiki's Delivery Service
Answer: Knäckebröd. The movie's aesthetics is heavily inspired by a trip Miyazaki took to Sweden. Yes just to clarify its a Swedish/Scandinavian hard bread.
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165points
#40 I Found This Odd Set Of Disposable Cutlery (?) In A New Flat I Just Moved Into
Answer: Yes, definitely cake or clay modeling.
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164points
