Weird Internet
To some, this may look like a dragon soaring through the sky, or perhaps a terrifying monster descending to Earth. Thanks to our friends on the internet, we can rest assured that we aren’t under attack from some mythical creature. This is simply the contrails of a plane reflected by the setting sun, giving it the appearance of fire. Whoever took this photo must have had quite a fright. Imagine if there were several planes flying through the sky at that time.
Plane Contrails
This sight is truly vomit-inducing. A half-eaten fast-food burger speckled with mysterious bits of blue material. Luckily, former fast-food employees were quick to conclude that these blue chunks are bits of rubber gloves used by cooks when handling the food. Most likely, parts of the glove tore or melted when putting the patties on the grill. While it’s a relief to know that these blue speckles aren’t poisonous or dangerous, it’s no less disgusting. Well, now we know that our fast-food cooks are at least using gloves.
Mystery Food
This street-side jungle gym looking contraption goes by the name Überlandleitung. These structures come in blue, pink, or purple and are used to divert excess groundwater from construction sites in Berlin. Berlin, Germany used to be home to swampland, and much of that groundwater still resides beneath the city today. These pipes are used to divert the water, so the construction site doesn’t flood and cause expensive damage. When the construction is finished, these pipes are packed up and taken away.
Überlandleitung
These odd, perfectly symmetrical circles are reminiscent of crop circles supposedly left behind by aliens. While this site may have some questioning if we have aliens visiting our beaches, the answer is actually much closer to home. These circles were created by marine biologists, or students of the science, during a scientific clam survey. Scientists weigh and count the clams in efforts to learn more about our marine life. Changes in size could indicate environmental influences, and changes in the population could indicate that clams are being overfished. While it doesn’t exactly sound like fun work, it is beneficial to our marine wildlife.
Clam Survey
What is this thing? This a partial jaw belonging to a Black Drum Fish. Those weird, and slightly disturbing, white nodules are actually teeth. The Black Drum is a bottom feeder and searches the ocean floor for its favorite meal, mollusks and crabs. When it finds a meal, its series of block-like teeth grind down its catch. These fish get their name from the unique drumming sound they make using their rows upon rows of teeth, which extend down the throat.
Black Drum Jaw
This is a still shot of a youtube video of law enforcement entering a home in Oklahoma. At first glance, there seems to be nothing amiss, just officers following standard procedure. Someone with a keen eye, however, noticed something very wrong with the video. It appears that the officer, circled in blue, is holding a paintball gun. The screenshot went viral, and jokes upon jokes ensued until somebody pointed out that the weapon is more dangerous than it looks. This gun shoots military-grade pepper spray ball. These pepperballs were designed to disable potential threats rather than kill them.
Pepperball Gun
This one may have people scratching their heads. What is the point of a single taut chain stretching from floor to pavement? The internet came to the rescue to let us know that this is called a rain chain. Rain chains are an alternative to closed rain gutters, which tend to be an eyesore. In general, rain chains are usually more aesthetically pleasing than this simple one. Many rain chains involve a series of decorative baskets or watering cans that flow into one another. It seems these homeowners believe in function over fashion.
Rain Chain
This hunk-o-junk actually serves an important purpose. It is a bee hotel. This strange home is for the outcasts in bee society. Some bees prefer to live alone rather than in a hive, and that’s okay! They contribute to pollination just as much as hive bees do, and, as an added bonus, they are less likely to sting you. Bee hotels are very easy to make, and many homeowners are opting to put bee hotels in their backyard. In addition to providing homes to our fellow critters, they are cute too.
Bee Hotel
Someone else probably should have been tasked with creating this sign. This sign isn’t implying that birds in the area aren’t allowed to fly as it may seem. If you look closely at the background of this photo, you will see a group of flamingos (also called a flamboyance of flamingos). Thanks to social media, tourists have been trying to scare the poor animals to make them fly for an Instagram-worth photo. Luckily for the flamingos, someone has taken the initiative to put up a sign to try and stop this cruel act.
Leave Wildlife Alone
If you ever find yourself in a bathroom in Germany, you may notice a unique porcelain bowl, unlike anything else in the bathroom. Is it a toilet do you wash your hands in it? It is actually a device called a Speibecken, and it serves only one purpose: it’s a puke sink. These sinks are commonplace in German bars, and many frat houses on German college campuses have at least one of these. Beer is part of the culture in Germany, and they have embraced every part of that culture, even the not so glamorous parts.
A Speibecken
This strange cluster of gooey capsules looks like a washed-up jellyfish or sea anemone, but it is actually a cluster of squid eggs. These particular squid eggs belong to the Market Squid. Unlike its larger counterparts, these squids are relatively small and don’t stray far from shore, so it’s not uncommon for their eggs to end up on beaches. Each capsule that you see if full of eggs. A Market Squid is capable of laying 50-300 eggs at a time, and these eggs can even have different fathers.
Market Squid Eggs
The answer to this mystery is actually very heart-warming. The mysterious colors and wording on this clock serve as a reminder for when patients in hospital beds need to be turned to prevent bedsores. Bedsores are nasty ulcers that occur when a person has been lying or sitting in the same position for too long. They are incredibly easy to prevent, yet they still happen much too often and can be very difficult to treat. It seems this facility genuinely cares its their patients.
Bed Sore Prevention Clock
Someone found a plastic carrot and black round discs amongst this pile of junk. Seems a bit weird, but suspicions can be laid to rest as this is nothing more than a child’s snowman making kit. If you look at the plastic packaging, there’s a depression in the shape of a pipe. The different size black circles are for the snowman’s buttons, mouth, and eyes. So much for the days of using broken twigs and collecting pebbles to decorate your snowman.
Snowman Making Kit
Someone had the misfortune to find this suspicious bundle of black leather and metal on the floor of their father’s room. Like most of us, this person’s mind went to a dark place, but luckily the internet was able to put this poor soul’s mind at rest. The object is not sexual in nature; it is something called a Yaktrax. This is stretched over the bottom of footwear to give the wearer better purchase on ice, snow, and other slippery surfaces.
Yaktrax
Are these scissors for mutant octopus children? While the vast majority of us could speculate for hours the purpose of these strange scissors, pre-school teachers and daycare providers from across the internet answered our questions. They’re training scissors! The young child puts their fingers in the center two holes while the teacher puts their fingers in the outer holes. This ensures the child learns how to use the tool without hurting themselves in the process. Thank you, teachers, for all you do!
Training Scissors
A man on Reddit posted this picture of a bizarre kettle and asked if anyone knew where he could possibly find another similar to this very unique one. Many people shook their heads and moved on, but it wasn’t long until somebody recognized this object’s distinct figure. It isn’t a kettle at all but a portable men’s urinal for bedridden patients. Luckily for the surprised man, he never used the kettle for boiling water; he only used it as a decoration. Or so he says…
Portable Urinal
Even when we don’t want answers, the internet still has them. When this homeowner saw this in their yard, instead of running away screaming, they decided to take a picture so we can all view this disgusting spectacle. These are two massive worms in the act of mating. Worms are hermaphrodites, meaning they are both female and male at the same time. When two worms mate and all goes well, both partners walk, or rather squiggle, away pregnant. Call it a miracle of life or call it gross, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Worms Mating
This beautiful feline was seen roaming a neighborhood in Texas. Don’t try coaxing this cat into your home, though. This is not a stray cay but a Bobcat. Most bobcats are spotted and grayish in color, but it seems this particular Bobcat was born with a trait called melanism. Most people are familiar with the term Albinism, a condition that causes people and animals to be born with little to no melanin, causing their skin to appear white. Melanism is the opposite of that.
Black Bobcat
This is one of the more sinister and chilling items on the list. The cleaning lady of the woman holding this device said she found it hiding in the bedroom. Troubled, and rightly so, this woman turned to Reddit for answers and discovered the little black box was a recording device. It turns out, her controlling boyfriend did not trust her and bugged her home with an audio recording device and later a camera. Hopefully, everything works out okay for this woman.
Audia Recorder
If you live in the American West and own a cat, then you may be seeing a lot of deceased reptiles with yellow blobs sticking out of them. These blobs look parasitic in nature, but they are actually just egg sacs. This particular lizard is a Western Fence Lizard. They are common in the western states of America. It appears a predator, probably a housecat, caught this animal as it is not eaten and cats are known to hunt prey just for fun. As the unfortunate animal decomposed, its eggs were exposed.
Western Fence Lizard
Did someone knit a sweater for their car? This contraption is actually used by car companies when test driving their new models. It hides the car’s look from the public, press, and fellow competitors. Even the headlights are covered by large patches of material. The strange, spotty pattern is so that the shape and design of the vehicle are indiscernible as well. Although peculiar to some, this is a common occurrence to residents with a car plant in their town.
Car Cover
This is not a rock, nor is it a spearhead. This is a fossilized tooth from a Megalodon. Megalodon was an enormous, prehistoric shark that conquered the ancient seas. The largest Megalodons were speculated to have been 60 ft long. Their jaws were so massive that not just one person could stand in them, but a whole family. This person’s hand in the background of the tooth gives you a scope of how dangerous this ancient predator was. That’s one big bite.
Megalodon Tooth
Somebody found this disgusting creature on their lawn chair. It appears to be some kind of fuzzy starfish, but it’s nowhere near the ocean. We have the internet to thank for clearing this mystery up, although it makes the creature no less repulsive. This is commonly known as a Monkey Slug. The Monkey Slug has six “fake arms,” which can fall off without harming the creature. When the caterpillar is ready, it creates a cocoon where it will later reemerge as a moth, commonly called the Hag Moth.
Monkey Slug
Cymothoa exigua is the scientific name for the Tongue-Eating Parasite. These parasites enter through the gills of the fish, offering no chance to the fish to fend them off. Only females will attach themselves to the tongue. They do this by cutting off the blood supply to the tongue until it atrophies and falls off. The parasite then attaches herself to the stump left behind. Besides the disturbing act of severing the fish’s tongue, the parasite causes no other damage to the fish.
Cymothoa Exigua
This rock with the weird carvings is actually a chunk of fossilized tube worms. Pretty gross, right? Maybe people should stop picking up things they find in the wild. Specifically, these are called Calcerous Tubeworms, and they attach themselves to rocks in the ocean. When alive, these creatures are brightly colored, usually orange, red, white, or pink. They can be found in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans. It is not uncommon for chunks of these fossilized animals to wash up on shore.
Calerous Tubeworms
This looks less like a moth and more like an animal spawned from a satanic ritual. This crazy insect is called Creatonotos gangis. It starts out as a mundane, brown caterpillar before blossoming into this monster. In this picture, the moth’s scent organs are inflated, giving it its impressive appearance. The scent organs are used to attract females. When not mating, the scent organs are retracted and barely visible. This creature lives in Australia and several countries throughout Southeast Asia.
Creatonotos Gangis
A quick glance at this animal, and it appears to be just a chubby bunny. However, a longer look reveals that something is not quite right. The ears are oddly shaped for a rabbit, and the legs are much too long and thin. This animal is actually called a Patagonian mara and is absolutely adorable. These animals are found only in Argentina. Patagonian maras are one of the few animal species that practice monogamy, albeit forced monogamy. Once a male has found its mate, he will mark her with his urine and follow her around, leaving scent markings wherever she goes.
Patagonian Mara
The squishy, green thing is called a Spiny Oak Caterpillar. They are venomous and can leave a severe burning sensation upon contact. Although they are pretty unpleasant to look at, they don’t usually have those yellow cylindrical tubes on their backs. This particular caterpillar had the misfortune of coming across a Braconid Wasp. These parasitic wasps lay their eggs inside other insects. The larvae feed off the host insect and eventually emerge from inside their host to create cocoons on the insects’ back.
Infected Spiny Oak Caterpillar
Cedar Apple Rust is the name of the alien-looking mass below. It is a fungus that grows on a variety of trees, including Junipers, Apple, and Cedars, from which it gets its name. During most of the year, they appear as only red-orange spots on leaves, occasionally growing tiny spores. It is only during the spring months after an abundance of rain does this fungus swell to massive sizes. Their spores are carried by the wind to infect other trees.
Cedar Apple Rust
This is probably the most touching item on this list you will see. These gray structures may appear to be the sandcastle equivalent of haunted houses, but they are actually made of concrete. These structures are made by the non-profit Reef Ball Foundation. They place these reef “skeletons” in waters where reef life is declining. These objects have a rough surface that promotes the growth of corals, algae, and sponges. Life is resilient, and it does not take long for animals to congregate and adapt to these structures and call them home.
Reef Balls
Someone found this old keyboard lying around, judging by the looks of it, it hasn’t been used in many years. Before chucking it into the trash where it belongs, they noticed something strange about it. There’s a button with a coffee cup symbol next to it. No, this button doesn’t make coffee. Pressing the button puts the computer into screen saving mode. Kids these days will never know the joy of watching those colorful, 3D pipes race around the screen.
Screen Saving Mode
Somebody found this slimy web growing in the home of their carnivorous plants. This “thing” is actually alive. It is commonly referred to as slime mold, they grow in moist environments and feed on bacteria and dead plant matter. There are many different types of slime molds, and many people assume these growths are fungi. However, slime molds ingest food which kicks it out of the fungi family. Slime molds are not harmful to humans, and some people even keep them as pets.
Slime Mold
This little guy is a product of Starship Technologies. He’s a food delivery robot that can deliver food within a 4-mile radius of any given restaurant. He moves at the same speed as the average (human) pedestrian, so he poses no danger. This robot can even navigate around people and objects. When the robot has reached its destination, the customer uses an app on their phone to unlock the robot and retrieve their food. To date, these robots have made over 100,000 deliveries.
Food Delivery Robot
Somebody had the misfortune of finding this disaster in their backyard. These objects clearly look like eggs, but why are they strung together like that, and who put them there? It is speculated a bird killed a pregnant snake. In the process of capturing the snake, the uterus must have been ripped open, and these eggs fell out as the bird flew away. Knowing how the eggs got to be there makes the situation even more repulsive. It’s evident from the look on the guy on the lawn mower that he’s not looking forward to cleaning this up. Who can blame him?
Snake Eggs
Somebody returned to their car one day to find this package wedged under the door handle. Naturally curious, this person turned to the internet for answers, and what did the internet have to say? It turns out many people believe pine needles have healing properties. Wiccans and practicers of magic often use pine needles to remove negative energy and even illness from people. Whoever left this must have been a believer in these properties and just trying to spread a little positivity.
Bundle Of Pine
This perfectly square bit of gold couldn’t possibly be natural, could it? It’s actually completely natural, and it called fool’s gold or pyrite. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to figure out why this mineral is called fool’s gold. It looks identical to gold but holds none of the monetary value. Fools gold forms in almost perfect cubical shapes, where gold grows with slightly rounded edges. Fool’s gold is somewhat darker and brassier in color, whereas gold is, well, golden. The differences are subtle, which makes identifying it very tricky.
Fool’s Gold
If you don’t know what it is, don’t touch it. Plain and simple. This unsuspecting person is holding a Portuguese man o’ war, and it is highly venomous. Their stings are excruciatingly painful and can lead to swelling of the larynx, which inhibits breathing and possibly death. They are capable of detaching their dangerous tentacles, which can remain potent with venom for days. These tentacles are nearly impossible to detect and have stung many swimmers. Let’s hope the specimen in the picture has been dead for quite some time.
Man O’ War
To the average eye, this looks like either a glob of vaseline or a giant invisible worm. Thankfully, for the sake of humanity, the latter doesn’t exist. This is the egg sac of the highly venomous Cone Snail. Each pouch contains a whopping 500-700 eggs. The reason for the high amount of eggs is because very few survive. These sacs are often found under rocks on the beach. Be careful if you find one though, it could mean that a dangerous Cone Snail is nearby.
Cone Snail Eggs
Someone found a strange, pea pod looking thing and decided to bring it home. Imagine their surprise when bright red balls started poking out! Probably afraid an alien-like creature would pop out, this person turned to the internet for answers. Turns out this is a pod from a Magnolia Tree, and the red bits poking out are berries. The berries are non-toxic, and having a magnolia tree in your yard will draw all kinds of hungry animals to your backyard.
Magnolia Seeds
This picture may have you thinking twice about eating an apple, or any fruit, straight from the tree. A whimsical person might say these little, green specs look like miniature party balloons; however, the reality is much more revolting. These are Lacewing eggs. Lacewings attach their eggs to foliage. Each egg is connected by a hair-like string to the foliage where it hangs for about a day before hatching. Lacewings eat aphids, so many gardeners welcome them in their garden.
Lacewing Eggs
While dog lovers may be distracted by the furry pupper, others are looking at the curious object in the girl’s lap. It’s too small to be a typewriter, and it’s too intricate to be just a box. This object is a flutina accordion. These instruments are intricate and require a lot of practice to master. While it’s possible the girl in the photograph played the instrument, odds are it was just a prop. Many photographers enjoyed using these accordions as props as it gave the person posing something to do with their hands.
Flutina Accordian
