The internet is a wonderful place. Sure, it has a few rotten folks trying to spread their toxicity, but a big part of it is also made up of helpful and kind-hearted individuals who are more than willing to share their knowledge and expertise.
This is especially true in communities like ‘What Is This?’, where amateur and experienced sleuths come together to identify the things that people ask them to, no matter how small or big.
One of the most interesting aspects of this subreddit is the variety of mysteries that are posted. From bizarre objects found in the backyard to even stranger creatures spotted in the wild, it has a little bit of everything.
So continue scrolling to check out some of the most interesting cases that these folks have solved. I promise, you will definitely learn a thing or two.
Answer: It is a bottle gourd … Trust me I am an Asian … But I have never seen one that long
Answer: That’s a coconut cutter/shredder. You sit on it and pound coconuts against it
Answer: It’s a SCOBY. A Symbiotic Colony Of Bacteria and Yeasts. It’s not harmful but will make your juice taste sour. SCOBYs are used to make Kombucha. They feed off sugar, natural or otherwise. In this case the sugar in the juice. They excrete lactic and acetic acid, which have a sour taste
Answer: It’s a burl! Woodworkers pay lots of cash for these cuz the inside grain structure is cool.
Answer: It’s a flour duster. You use it to sprinkle flour across your work surface. You can use it to dust powdered sugar over cookies & what-not, too
Answer: It’s a group of millipedes walking together. The ones on the bottom are also walking. Those on top walk over them and once they get to the end, they go to the bottom and cycle through it. They do this to cover more distance quicker.
Answer: This is called Zizania Latifolia Aka Manchurian wild rice. You can cut it into slices and stir-fry for a minute or so, then cook it with some soy sauce until the flavor goes in a bit. It has a nice unique texture, firmer than zucchini.
Answer: Sand dollar.
A sand dollar is a kind of echinoderm. This is the same animal phylum as starfish. The moving bits on the bottom are the tube-feet, similar to those of a starfish.
Answer: It’s a magic prop for a trick in which one bill is turned into another
Answer: It’s a fungus Ophiocordyceps, probably an earlier ancestor.
Answer: It picks up a strobe light on emergency vehicles and then will flash to let them know that their light is green and all other directions are red. E: to clarify the strobe is IR and at a specific frequency and flashing the high beams won’t work. If you are caught with an MIRT you are likely to face very serious (felony) consequences.
Answer: It’s known as a ‘fringe twister’, in this case a double since it can do two strands at once
Answer: This is my old band’s t-shirt. My sister just sent me this link. We only made maybe(?) 2 orange shirts. Curious what thrift shop you found this in. We were based in Philly. Band broke up in 2010. I can confirm that it says Pariah which was the name of our band.
Answer: Some bird species (mostly crows) have been know to give gifts. You just got gifted an abalone shell from a seagull! How cool!
Answer: Design Toscano Canterbury Tales Chanticleer Rooster Bank, 7 Inch, Faux Gold
Answer: It’ds called “duck duck jeep”. Many times they’ll have a tag on the duck saying so. I got my first one in a lowes parking lot a few weeks after my mother died and was in a major funk. Made me smile.
8hundredpounds:
Rubber ducks on jeeps is a thing among owners.
Answer: It’s for adding water in case you want to steam your food in addition to normal baking
Answer: Some people have particularly corrosive skin oils. I used to work in a machine shop, and we called those people, “rusters,” and you never let them touch your tools. Rusters don’t just rust steel, they also corrode brass, copper, bronze, aluminum, zink, etc. If a ruster used your parallels or square and you didn’t clean and oil it right away, the rusted fingerprints etched into the steel would show up within a few hours. I’m guessing a ruster touched that penny at some point, after which is was left untouched for an extended period of time
Answer: Its because they sprayed the trees with an insecticide that was intended to kill aphids, which were dropping a sap onto cars parked underneath the trees. It unintentionally killed thousands of bees so they wrapped a netting over the trees to prevent more from landing in and on the trees.
Answer: I believe this is a moray eel, belly up, with the hook going through its lower jaw. It is hard to see one of its eyes in this photo but I think I can just make it out.
Answer: It’s a stinkhorn. The tip smells like rotten meat to attach flies and spread the spores. It’s hollow. Don’t let your dog need it. My dog ate on. Took him to the vet. Dr. Said my dog was tripping off the mushroom. He was fine after a day of observation.
Answer: Clathrus ruber is a species of fungus in the family Phallaceae, and the type species of the genus Clathrus. It is commonly known as the latticed stinkhorn, the basket stinkhorn, or the red cage, alluding to the striking fruit bodies that are shaped somewhat like a round or oval hollow sphere with interlaced or latticed branches.
Answer: You twist it a certain way and it makes a hook to hang your handbag from a tabletop
Answer: I suspect you have found a Sovereign Citizen in the wild. The references to a trust and to common law suggest something of the sort
Answer: That definitely looks like indigenous First Nations art. I would take it to a local Historical Society or other agency to be looked at.
Answer: It’s called Kheer. Normally eaten warm, but personally, I prefer it cold.
Answer: It’s major power lines. If you can zoom in you can just barely make out some of the towers. They clear out vegetation to make them more accessible and to remove potential hazards to the lines.
Answer: Morse code. “PLEASED TO MEET YOU HOPE YOU GUESS MY NAME” [repeated 4 times]
Answer: It’s not your toilet, it’s your bathtub. And it’s causing a S**T TON of damage to it every time you tun it on without water in it. It turns on the jets for that amount of time
Answer: It’s a southern flying squirrel. About 2 weeks old. His eyes are still developing so dont try to open them. If you try to rehabilitate him, he will become very attached to you and requires a lot of attention and is also nocturnal.
Answer: It should be an invisible ink, shows up under UV light.
Answer: That look like a hand grenade. I would advise calling the authorities to make sure.
Answer: Caribbean House Gecko. Very common in Florida. They’re nocturnal, so if it’s out during the day then it’s probably stressed. Just put him somewhere dark and warm for now.
Answer: it’s a Slow-Worm. Legless lizard. it’s a protected species.
Answer: We’ve removed the device. It’s an anti lock device to pull out or detach locks so it was an attempted burglary. Thankfully they weren’t able to enter. The police will attend in the morning
Answer: Praying Mantis. To be specific, that’s a Chinese mantis. Not native to the US, but was brought over to help farmers by eating pests.
Answer: I believe that is a bowl filled with ash from burnt incense. The tool used here to smooth the top of the ash is called an incense ash press tool.
Answer: It’s not technically a scorpion but, they are called whip scorpions
Answer: Orgone pyramid, used for energy transformation/EMF generator/useful for meditation and all sorts of other spiritual/meta-physic things
Answer: It’s an international date line. It looks like this because it makes an exception around the Line Islands. The Line Islands have about 8,000-ish people on them, and this way, they’re on the same ‘day’ as Kiribati, the nation they are part of. Due to time zones, it’s the same ‘Time’ in the Line islands as Hawaii, but in the Line Islands, it’s the next day.