It’s the unexpected that gives rise to dramatic stories of turning crises into challenges, transforming riches into rags, or glory into catastrophe. Without sudden events, there would be no room for astonishing arts, spontaneous romance, adventures, exploration, or other discoveries. Perhaps you haven’t thought of it, but the concept of surprise is made up of many little details that the naked eye might miss.

Unforeseen findings bring excitement and thrill to life, often inspiring people to share them with others. As a result, the Bored Panda Team has scoured the web to find the most surprising things people have captured on camera and shared with the world. Be prepared to be amazed by the coolest and weirdest finds people have stumbled upon in the most unexpected places!

#1 Found An Old Letter Sent To My Mother Who Was Struggling To Make Payments On My Trumpet

Image credits: jacques4801

A great part of knowledge is gained through surprise; it’s the way you first learn about the world. When something astonishes a baby, like an object not behaving the way it is expected to, the infant learns more about it than from a similar predictable object.

A study on 11-month-old babies showed one group a ball rolling down a ramp that was stopped by a wall, while the other group observed the same situation but with the ball magically going right through it. The surprising ball encouraged infants to learn new information significantly better and to explore it more than the toys that didn’t do anything unusual. 

Additionally, the researchers discovered that the infants were not only eager to explore the remarkable objects but also to understand them. Upon seeing the ball passing through a wall, they tested the object’s solidity by banging it on the table, and after seeing the ball hovering in the air, they tested its gravity by dropping it. The results suggest that babies were testing certain hypotheses about the objects’ abnormal behavior.

#2 They Found A 117-Year-Old Wooden Parquet Floor Under The Carpet In A Glasgow Library

Image credits: ThatWillBuffOut

#3 Found This Little Guy At Work Today

Image credits: Boyinthecorn

#4 My Wife’s Mom Recently Passed And She Found This. Her Grandmother Made It Of All Three Generations

Image credits: danspud69

Sometimes, the discoveries scientists make are not only unexpected for the public but also for the scientists themselves. Statistics show that 50% of all inventions are happy accidents. 

An invention like shatterproof glass was also discovered through a mishap. When Édouard Bénédictus, a French scientist, was experimenting with cellulose nitrate in 1903, he accidentally dropped the glass beaker it was contained in. The vessel broke but didn’t shatter into pieces as the solution had formed a plastic coating over the glass. Later, he thought of putting together two layers of glass with a thin film of plastic in between, creating the world’s first shatterproof windscreen. All because of an accident, shatterproof glass is saving lives across the world every day.

#5 Found This Guy Under My Car This Morning. Spent About 10 Minutes Hand-Feeding Him Carrots And Broccoli

Image credits: rcarter95

#6 Found A Stone With Dried Seaweed Attached To It

Image credits: CYBERSson

#7 I Found A Bug Adorned With Gold Markings

Image credits: reddit.com

#8 Found This Painting In A Tree Last Winter

Image credits: silentcrafting

Surprise is different from other emotions like happiness or sadness because it can bring positive, negative, or neutral feelings. The unexpected “happens” in a part of the brain that deals with the perception of different situations. Its job is to help decide whether this is a positive or negative event so that the body can start releasing adequate levels of happiness hormones. Studies have shown that the brain seems to enjoy the unexpected. It is more active when the received stimuli is a surprise and the emotions we feel are intensified by 400%.

#9 Then There Was This Guy

Image credits: Voodootroy

#10 In 1995, My Great-Aunt Gave Me A Stuffed Cat, It Was My Absolute Favorite. When She Passed, We Found Out She Had Bought An Identical Cat And Kept It In Pristine Condition For Two Decades

Image credits: Connguy

#11 Friend Found A Fawn On Their Porch And Called The Department Of Natural Resources. They Said The Mom Left The Baby For Safety While She’s Searching For Food. The Mom Returned After 5 Hours

Image credits: remymartinia

Potential terrorist attacks, natural disasters, health scares, and frauds push people to be more cautious and prepared. In the long run, people mistrust surprises and favor a world that is organized and controlled. Sudden accidents may cause stress, anxiety, and a loss of focus. If the person has experienced multiple unexpected disappointments, it’s normal for them to start connecting surprises with something negative.

A slogan like “The best surprise is no surprise” was highly effective for Holiday Inn hotels for decades. It profited from promising a calm, orderly environment that reassured its clients with predictability.

#12 Housekeeping Staff Found An Owl In The Room Of A Guest That Checked-Out Yesterday

Image credits: http9

#13 I Found A Letter From The USPS To My Dad Back In 1990

Image credits: SadPetDad21

#14 I Made A Florida With All Of The Broken Shark Teeth I Found This Year. Quarter For Scale

Image credits: luciferlol_666

#15 I Found One Of My Mom’s High School Drawings

Image credits: ohheysarahjay

As life is full of challenges and surprises, it’s difficult to try and control things beyond your capacity. The unexpected, instead of a problem, can be viewed as an opportunity. Being open to it can make you more flexible, adaptable, and positive. Spontaneous incidents can be shared with others to create and build deeper connections. It also plays a significant role in creating links in our brains that are later used to generate ideas and promote wonder and curiosity. Perhaps, surprises could be an invitation to explore new, unfamiliar things and not view them as something that is unpredictable and frightening.

#16 Found A Dude Playing Johnny Cash Tunes From Inside A Trash Can Today In Cambridge

Image credits: Forwhomitmay

#17 These Medieval Ruins Randomly Found Under A School’s Gym Hall

Image credits: jones_666

#18 This Butterfly My Uncle Found Has The Number 88 On His Wings

Image credits: marckferrer

#19 My 11-Year-Old Daughter Has Insisted On Checking The Mail The Last Couple Of Days. Today, I Checked It. This Is What I Found

Image credits: BallCoach79

If you are a natural enjoyer of the unexpected, there are several other Bored Panda publications you can check out, just by clicking here or here. 

And if you’re not but you wish to be, try to proactively look for opportunities in any surprise, whether you’d be taking a trip and letting others lead the way or reading a book without knowing anything about it in advance.

#20 Fishing With My Dad And Caught A Backpack Full Of Weapons And Stolen Jewelry

Image credits: danktrilliums

#21 These Huge Blueberries I Found

Image credits: ImObviouslyOblivious

#22 Found The Cliff This Clif Bar Came From

Image credits: AnGabhaDubh

#23 I Thought I Lost $350 And Then Three Months Later I Found It In My Four-Year-Old’s Room

Image credits: Bigmacleafs14

#24 I Found This 1937 Gibson At An Estate Sale Many Years Ago. The Owner, Norman Byerly Of The 1st Armored Division, Traveled The Europe Theater During WWII, Carved All Places And Dates

Image credits: follysurfer

#25 My Girlfriend Found This Rock That Resembles Me

Image credits: BoarderGod

#26 Found A 1-Day-Old Kitten In The Engine Bay Of Our Truck At Work

Image credits: oreeos

#27 Toaster Bath Bomb I Found At The Mall

Image credits: frogmug

#28 Y’all, I Lost My Passport Two Years Ago And Have Been Using The Same PDF Scan As A Substitute Ever Since. This Is Where I Found It Today

Image credits: _callumknight

#29 I Saw Some Ants Carrying A Glove Up A Lamp

Image credits: ri4nn3

#30 Found This Little Guy In My Laundry Room In Sparta, Tennessee

Image credits: KJ_the_sparten

#31 Look What I Found

A decently hidden GPS tracker on a 2015 Hyundai Elantra. This model was available on Amazon for about 60 bucks. We let the customer know.

Image credits: Tanyeen

#32 A Friend Called Me About A Crazy Salamander They Found Cleaning A Ditch. I Had To Relocate It

Image credits: indicator_species

#33 A Baby Western Rat Snake That My Dad Found On My Sister’s Property Yesterday In Cleveland, Texas

Image credits: joliesmomma

#34 15-Gram Gold Nugget I Found Metal Detecting At Vermont Dirt Road

Image credits: Silver_Winged

#35 My Mom Found One Of My Old Tests From Almost 20 Years Ago

Image credits: Vascular_D

#36 Removing A Cheap Mirror Glued To The Wall, Only To Find An Even Cheaper Mirror Glued To The Wall Beneath It

Image credits: musicalvoyyeur

#37 I Found A Tiny Pocket Knife At A Music Festival

Image credits: shroomsaregoooood

#38 Found A Playboy That’s Been Written Entirely In Braille From 1978 At Work Today

Image credits: smokeymctokerson

#39 I Don’t Like That I Found This Mug At Goodwill

Image credits: RealMainer

#40 Lizard Eggs (I Hope) Nestled In An Outlet Box

Image credits: Phanniphoenix

#41 I Found This On The Trail In Northern India, And I Thought It Was Pretty Cool

Image credits: Knobag

#42 Clearing Out My Recently-Deceased Grandfather’s Attic And Found Just Over 200 Grams Of Gold Powder

Image credits: Brody1911

#43 I Found A Roman Coin While Out Walking

Image credits: Demongeeks8

#44 Someone Buried An Old TV In Our Backyard At Some Point

Image credits: es_price

#45 Someone Is About To Have A Terrible Realization

Image credits: abe88741

#46 Dad Opened Up The Washer To Replace The Pump And Filter. Found These Pennies That Had Been Eroded From Rolling Around In The Filter For A Few Years

Image credits: Exciting-Piccolo2155

#47 I Found A Pack Of Cigarettes That’s Actually A Calculator

Image credits: Afraid_Condition_267

#48 The First English Edition Of Edgar Allan Poe’s Complete Works, 1875, Found In Italy Amidst A Stock Of Books On Offer At 20 Euros

Image credits: stemas_art

#49 A Family Member Found One Of His First Phones Which Is Still Working

Image credits: TheOneAndOnlyOwen

#50 There’s A Dried Flower In This 165-Year-Old Latin Book I Just Found In Our Attic

Image credits: yepjeeway

from Bored Panda https://ift.tt/qE5ubyH
via IFTTT source site : boredpanda