15 Odd Things People Aren’t Sure What to Do With

Every now and then, we stumble upon things that seem to have dropped out of thin air, leaving us scratching our heads about their origins and how they came into existence. The good news is that a helpful soul can often unravel the mysteries and shed light on these enigmas.

1. “My husband found this in our new house’s ice maker. What is this?”

Answer: It’s jade, an eye massage tool. Here is a similar one.

2. “Weird purple plastic object with a suction cup on the bottom.”

Answer: It’s a massager.

3. “A green glass faceted item — not an ashtray. It is also hollow, which makes it much different.”

Answer: Looks like a geode bowl, usually used for change and keys.

4. “Little razors attached to some handle, found on top of the fridge. My husband has no idea either.”

Answer: It’s an attachment for a mandolin slicer to make julienne-cut veggies. It looks like one of the sides broke off where it clips on.

5. “Found this at a Philips shop. What is this thing?”

Answer: It’s a key fob for a programmable RFID entry system.

6. “Found this object in the kitchen of a deceased relative. About 18 inches long, the puck-shaped end is heavy solid metal.”

Answer: It’s a handheld salamander. You heat the “puck” and hold it over the food to brown or melt the surface cheese, like a French onion soup.

7. “What is this curved wicker object?”

Answer: Looks like a cheap Jai Alai paddle. A hand goes in the loop, and then the inside of the curve is for catching and throwing the ball.

8. “What is this strange piece of plastic for? Any clue what it could be?”

Answer: It’s the antenna from a snail thing. Here is a similar one.

9. “What is this leather thing that was in a subscription box? We can’t figure it out!”

Answer: It’s a Kiko brand leather bookmark. Here is a similar one.

10. “These are squishy rubber balls a little less than 1/2 inch in diameter with divots. Found about a dozen in the street outside my house.”

Answer: They’re NERF-type ammo for kids’ play guns.

11. “My fiancée has this mug, and we can’t figure out what Santa is supposed to be holding. It just says holly-jolly holidays.”

Answer: It’s a list like a scroll, a naughty and nice list, I’d imagine.

12. “What is this chain mail partial glove?”

Answer: Butcher’s glove. Similar to this one.

13. “An aluminum puck scraped by the road, the top part looks like 2 machined pieces separated by a rubber O-ring. A heavy thing shakes within.”

Answer: It’s a car fragrance diffuser. Here is a similar one.

14. “Flying over an area outside of Tucson, and we saw this hole, and it looks like it has water in it.”

Answer: It’s a pit mine, the spiral you see is the actual road trucks drive on to transport the materials mined from the bottom to the top.

15. “It’s upside down but appears to be a feeder or nester of some sort attached to the top of the fence by the previous owner. What is it?”

Answer: It’s for bees, particularly Mason bees.

These discoveries can certainly befuddle us at times. Still, the silver lining is that we’re fortunate to have a community of experts and enthusiasts on the internet who are ever-eager to step in and solve these mysteries.