15+ Eye-Opening Photos That Show What Happens If You Just Leave Things Alone

Being forgetful can be a problem, but sometimes it’s the reason why beautiful things appear. As it turns out, a piece of cream cheese forgotten in the fridge, a bag of grass seeds left alone for a couple of months, or leftover soy sauce at the bottom of a cup can amaze you if you just leave them unattended and let the artist called “life” do its job. Sometimes, it takes just one night for the magic to be done.

We at Bright Side found 18 examples of what can happen to items that you forget about for a while, and these pics look otherworldly.

1. “I unintentionally left beets to overwinter in the garden. The chicken is for scale.”

2. “My partner left an artichoke out while we were on vacation. It’s starting to sprout a flower.”

3. “This fountain was left running during really cold weather and froze.”

4. “I left a sunflower to dry in a cookbook, and it ate the pages.”

5. “This box of chocolates has been left in the sun for years, but the blue ink never faded.”

6. “I accidentally left a bowl of beet juice on the counter, and the top layer rippled.”

7. “I left a mushroom grow-kit on the stove overnight and woke up to this crazy spore pattern on the pan below.”

8. “This broccoli we left out sprouted.”

9. “An avocado pit left out in the sun now looks like a mythical egg of sorts.”

10. “I left some plastic utensils in my car.”

11. “The soy sauce I forgot about had its salt crystallized.”

12. “This bag of grass seed I left out for a couple of months”

13. “I accidentally left some spaghetti with mushrooms in the microwave for a week. Now it’s a fluffy ball of mold.”

14. “My husband popped this energy drink in the freezer to cool in down fast, then he forgot about it.”

15. “Oil that had been sitting in a fryer for 10+ years —it’s solid but gelatinous and very sticky.”

16. “My dad found a very old banana in his coat pocket.”

17. “The microwavable potatoes I left over winter break sprouted.”

18. This mold on some cream cheese looks extraterrestrial.

Have you ever seen something surprising happen to items you just left and forgot about? Share your stories of everyday magic in the comments!