Over on Reddit, people are asking internet strangers for help identifying strange objects that they found. From alien-looking skulls found on the beach to scary strangers using unknown devices for devious reasons, here are a few of the weirdest objects that needed identification.
1. What Is This Device This Woman Is Holding? What Is She Doing?
Answered by u/Sleep_on_Fire:
It’s a frequency scanner. Often used by car thieves.
People have a bad habit of keeping their vehicle keys close to their front doors.
These can read the codes from that distance and enable thieves to get into your vehicle, disable the security features in the process, and drive away with your car. Especially if the vehicle doesn’t require a physical key to be in the ignition.
Note the cars parked on the curb. Prime target for a fob clone theft.
Answered by u/the_ultimate_pun:
They’re hoping you keep your keys right by the door on hooks.
2. ‘Relative Found These Eggs In Her Yard In Georgia, Hanging From A Tree’
Solved by u/CWreck:
I’m betting a bird of prey caught itself a pregnant snake and had started tearing into it but flew off with the rest of the snake, and this uterine tube fell out due to the weight of the eggs.
Posted by u/LillyPip:
How on earth did you figure that out in four minutes? This sub is astounding.
Answered by u/CWreck:
Sorry for the long delay in replying, I was getting my talons done.
All jokes aside, I grew up in the country, still live in the country. You see, hear, and experience all kinds of things that many people would never have the chance to experience. Sometimes, it comes in handy. Ha!
Posted by a Redditor:
Could the eggs still hatch?
Answered by u/CWreck:
I highly doubt it considering they were still inside the animal, and [it] looks like they were laying out in the elements, too.
3. Why Is This Gentleman Wearing A Mask? What Is Its Purpose?
Answered by u/Kendermassacre:
My guess would be it’s one of the old varieties of war injury masks. As you can guess, reconstructive surgery was in its infancy. Here is an example.
4. Toilet Paper Wrapped In A Cloth And Tied Together With Tape And Rubber Bands. Why Was This Made?
Answered by u/Few_Simple6340:
It is a homemade sploof.
From Urban Dictionary:
Sploof – a plastic bottle with the end cut off, filled with dryer sheets, and covered with a thick sock; is used to smoke grass when you dont wanna get caught, cause it hides the smell.
Answered by u/inairedmyass4this:
If that’s a [dryer] sheet, then it’s definitely a sploof.
[Dryer] sheets work great to absorb/mask any scent.
Response from OP u/cofyground:
Dude, I think… I think you’re actually right. My brother is actually a smoker. He […] started smoking in secrecy about 10 years ago, so it would make sense for him to have been using a ciggie-silencer back then.
5. ‘Super Small Mini Flask? The “Needle” Screws Into The Flask’
Solved by u/creesa:
It’s a pendant for perfume. Typically worn on a necklace.
Answered by a Redditor:
I can give you some history.
Back in the day, (17-1800s) things were not nearly as clean as they are now, especially in Victorian England. A simple walk or carriage ride down the street was often unbearable, not to mention dangerous, as disease was rampant along the Thames.
Women would often dab a bit of perfume on a handkerchief and hold it up to their nose and mouth, not only to block the scent of feces and industrial waste, but to protect themselves from diseases.
Answered by u/TenPoundSledge:
Because at the time it was the belief […] that diseases were caused, at least in part, by “bad air.”
6. ‘My Friend Found This Weird Rock On The East Coast Of England. What Is It?’
Answered by u/shockzone:
It looks like a fossil of a cluster of tube worms.
Answered by u/Meepo69:
I woulda dropped that sh*t if I was him and read that.
Answered by u/gabbagabbawill:
Calcareous tube worms. Not a fossil.
7. ‘What Is This? Found It By My Toaster. Please Don’t Tell Me It’s Some Kind Of Cockroach Molt’
Answered by u/99999999999999999989:
Damn, that looks a lot like a rattlesnake rattle.
In what part of the world do you live? It looks small, so possibly a juvenile snake. But geez, caution is definitely advised.
Response from OP u/sal25:
…Riverside county in Southern California. Rattlesnakes are found in the wild here I believe, but I never heard of anyone having one in their home!
Answered by u/99999999999999999989:
You have now. Definitely call an exterminator.
Answered by u/shadow_squirrel:
It is 100% [a] rattlesnake rattler. What’s interesting is that it’s actually [broken]. So at one point, it was most likely longer than that. It came off a pretty decent-sized rattlesnake.
Source: Am from Mississippi. See rattlesnakes everywhere all the time.
Update from the OP u/sal25:
…It was just the rattlesnake rattle that my dad brought from a recent trip to Mexico…
Solved! Just texted my sister about it, and apparently my dad brought it over from Mexico as a souvenir or something. LOL.
8. Found On A Beach In Massachusetts. Is It A Skull? A Sternum?
Solved by u/nobody2u:
Back in the 1970s when the fish factory was working on Point Judith, these used to wash up every so often. I was young and was told that they were tuna skulls. Perhaps an Atlantic bluefin tuna?
9. What Is This Round, Metallic Disc Found In West Germany? Is It Dangerous?
Suggested answer from u/Mooha182:
Possible anti-armor/tank mine. It looks in good condition, and does not have a fuse or place for a fuse. The lack of rust indicates it is either concrete or some non-ferrous metal. It is very similar to a USA produced training mine, except it isn’t painted/marked as inert.
We use an almost identical concrete cast one, albeit painted “inert” blue, for an office door-stop. Maybe not the best use of a fake mine, but it sure does stop the door, as well as people.
Solved by u/crayons-forbreakfast:
Wheel cap from Trabant…
Additional note from u/FLATHERT:
I think this is correct. But having a bomb squad come in and treat it like a teller mine is safest for everyone.
10. ‘An Old Samsung PC Keyboard… What Is The Coffee Cup Key For?’
Solved by u/mrrp:
It activates the screen saver.
Answered by u/spekt50:
When CRT monitors were common, if you left a still image on the screen, the image would burn into it and still be visible even with the monitor off. Older LCD monitors even suffer from image burn to a degree.
Reason you don’t see them often anymore is because monitors now just simply go to sleep mode to save the screen and power. Saving power wasn’t much of a thing back then.
11. Wooden Dentures Found In A Ceiling
Additional info from OP u/TripWire111:
The wooden denture/teeth in the photos look to be the correct size to be functional and are clearly quite old. A family member found them in Eastern Massachusetts above a ceiling panel after a house fire, and our attempts to figure out exactly what they are have been futile.
The only other similar examples of wooden dentures I’ve been able to find had real teeth embedded into them, as opposed to the wooden, carved teeth in this example. At one point we tried to reach out to see if a museum might be able to tell us more (I’m not sure of the details as I was quite young at the time), and we were told we could donate them if we wanted, but no additional information was provided.
There is no writing on the item, but they were stored in the ornate cloth bag pictured.
Answered by u/toothqueencolleen:
This is not for a human mouth for sure. I worked in a lab for a long time and don’t think this was used in the fabrication process, as it does not look close to anything at all that was used, even historically. I am so curious to find out.
It looks like the wooden teeth held a different material that would better resemble natural teeth but possibly melted in the fire or over time. I am emotionally invested now! Keep me in the loop!
Possible answer from u/AoMujina:
You’ve got a real treat here, friend. I’m gonna guess it’s some sort of charm for good teeth health. Maybe I’m biased, but if they were found here in Japan, they might be omamori (御守 or お守り). But I don’t know, really, just a guess. I’m gonna look into it more tomorrow. The wrapping and ribbons also suggest the same for me.
12. What Is This Disc-Shaped, Brass Time-Keeping Mechanism?
Solved by u/malepitt:
13. What Are These Lightweight, Hollow, Metal Things?
Solved by u/cucutano:
Pretty sure that they are medical dilators, for an orifice yet to be determined.
14. ‘Found This On A Beach In New Zealand – There Were Thousands Of Them At The High Water Mark. What Is It?’
Answered by u/PantsMcShirt:
It’s part of a siphonophore… Looks awfully like a man o’ war sail with the tentacles broken off.
DO NOT TOUCH THEM, like hydrozoans (jellyfish, etc.), they can have stingers that could potentially be fatal to humans and will at least be very painful, even after being washed up and dead for some time.
Answered by u/C_Luz11:
My aunt picked up one of these in the ocean thinking it was a bottle. Had to take a nice trip to the hospital.
Answered by u/OstapBenderBey:
AKA Blue bottle
AKA “Floating terror“
Answered by u/IDoNotAgreeWithYou:
Rule #1 in nature, if it has pretty colors, don’t touch it.
Note from the OP u/goforajog:
Rule #2 in nature DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING. I’m from the UK and kind of used to nothing natural being all that deadly. I sometimes forget that’s not the case most places and do stupid things like this.
Physically I’m fine, I’m just now coming to terms with how much of a moron I am, though.
15. What Is This Symbol? Drawn In The Middle Of The Night On A Neighbor’s Gate
Answered by u/sadlittlegirlbunny:
Is this in the UK? If so, I think its a “street /hobo” marker meaning “alarmed.”
Comment from OP u/VaryagsOfMiklagaard:
Yes, it’s UK, and the property is alarmed, but I mean, there are warnings that it is alarmed, so maybe it’s for some low-life criminal that never went to school.
Answered by u/servuslucis:
16. What Is This Needle Found In A Hamburger?
Solved by u/therealdarkcirc:
Looks like it’s from an insulin pen of some sort.
Answered by u/flipside90nb:
100% insulin pen needle
Source: have been a diabetic 22 years.
17. ‘Plastic Circular Object Found In A Supermarket Rotisserie Chicken’
Answered by u/meowpitbullmeow:
Looks like a cap. Maybe to spices or seasonings?
Solved by the OP u/Mr-Online-Man:
Solved! Thanks for all the help! It’s a cap! From our house KAI brand scissors used to cut the chicken! Thanks everybody!