15 Times Curious People Found the Answer to Mysterious Things They Discovered

Sometimes, we can find things with purposes we can’t fathom. And it doesn’t matter how much we try, we just can’t figure it out. Being too old or too new for you to understand, there’s always someone you can ask for help, whether it be your friends or some kind strangers on the Internet.

1. “What is this hatch I’ve seen on the outside of houses in the UK?”

• It’s a boot scraper for getting the mud off your shoes before going in. They are pretty common. © togtogtog / Reddit
• Had one on my last house, and a lot of pre-Victorian town center houses still have them from the days when streets were unsaved and covered in horse poo. © Live-Dance-2641 / Reddit

2. “These came in a cross-stitch kit. They’re flexible, made of rubber, and the 2 ends are magnetic, so they stick together.”

• They are magnetic cable clips that can be used to keep excess fabric out of the way when cross-stitching. © togtogtog / Reddit

3. “Some sort of hand tool? There’s a wing nut on one side and a round bit on the other that looks like it can be seated in different notches.”

• It’s a handle for a 2-man crosscut saw. © Potential_Dare80** / Reddit

4. “It’s lightweight like paper or dried mud and crumbles easily yet holds its shape in water. Square holes run all the way through to the other side.”

• It’s the inside part of a catalytic converter. © KleverKlem / Reddit

5. “A small cover on the sidewalk with a metal pattern, foot for scale”

• It’s a rain and frost/ice detector. A small current is on the 2 metallic circles, they are not touching and are isolated against each other. When raindrops connect the 2 metals, the small current is amplified or switched, so it can trigger a pump or close windows that are fully open at that time and rain or snow won’t damage things. © thundafox / Reddit

6. “A little red plastic and metal tool, the metal is springy. It has a lock stamped on the short end and a number 7 stamped on the flat side.”

• I believe it is a locking mechanism for a Zyliss Lock N’ Lift can opener. © maple204 / Reddit

7. “What is this set of ropes mounted to this wall?”

• My friend has a setup kinda like this one, and it’s a “yoga wall.” I guess there are some yoga moves where you use ropes to stretch and pose. © Straight-Note-**35 / Reddit

8. “Aside from it obviously being a hammer, what is this extra bit for?”

• Straightening 2×4s during framing. © _one_lucky_redditor / Reddit

9. “These 2 things floated to the ground just after a large plane passed low over my house. They’re gritty and rubbery, almost like dried paint.”

• Reminds me of the flame retardant powder they have big planes fly over fires and drop, maybe a congealed chunk of it. © LilMissMuddy / Reddit
• Thank you! There was an active wildfire in the vicinity the day I found this. © youneednewshoes / Reddit

10. “It’s a long tool with a metal dial on the top that you can twist, possibly related to calligraphy or a type setting.”

• It’s a drafting pen. © teedeeguantru / Reddit
• It adjusts the size of a gap for the size of a line and dips in ink. © caralynncat / Reddit

11. “Made entirely of metal, it was found in a residential area in France.”

• Looks kinda like a bike rack. The seat goes under the sheltered bit, so it stays dry. © BarmyD***Turpin / Reddit

12. “Photos found from my grandpa’s collection show some sort of disc with holes being erected in a city center.”

• It’s related to the Hale Reflecting Telescope at Palomar. © One_Clown_Short / Reddit

13. “A fork with tines of varying width — what is this used for?”

• Honestly, it looks like a failure of quality control. When the punch came down to cut the slots, the fork blank wasn’t all the way in and was a bit cockeyed. If quality control wasn’t having an off day, it would have ended up in the bin. © Collarsmith / Reddit
• Solved! I asked an employee at the restaurant, and they said these wonky ones came in the same shipment as the normal ones, so they figured they were just mistakes as well. © FemmeFataleFire / Reddit

14. “A strange switch? In a baseboard outside the bathroom.”

• Is it one of those baseboard vacuums? You press the switch with your foot and then sweep stuff up to it. © Lothium / Reddit
• Solved, turns out these apartments used to have built-in vacuums, but no longer. © Padfoot426 / Reddit

15. “A sliding tray with holes on both sides of this sofa”

• It’s a tray table. It has another piece to it. It’s a tray with matching pegs. The tray goes on top and the pegs slide in. They fit together, so the tray sits tightly. Then you take the tray back to the kitchen and put the sliding part back, so it’s not in the way. © Klutzy_Journalist_36 / Reddit

Do you have something in your home and have no idea what it’s used for? What is it? We would love to know in the comments.