Life’s full of hidden treasure! Oh, sure, that phrase works metaphorically, too, but we’re being quite literal here. If you’re curious about the world and live for the unexpected, then Bored Panda’s got a treat for you. We’ve collected some of the best photos of interesting finds that people were astonished to discover. So go on, check them out! And though far from everything glitters like gold, you’re likely to admit that most of these finds are valuable in their own right.

Remember to upvote the photos that you loved the most, dear Pandas! Got any interesting finds to share with us? Drop us a comment or a photo in the comment section at the very bottom of this list. And if you’re in the mood for some more unexpectedly awesome finds, check out our most recent earlier posts here, here, as well as here.

While we can find many unexpected things by accident, it’s also important to stay curious as we continue growing older. And that goes for all things in life, not just amateur archeology. After all, keeping that energetic spark alive makes our lives have far more quality. One thing that we value is people keeping their childlike curiosity burning bright no matter how old they might get.

#1 While Tearing Up Their Carpet, My In-Laws Found A Giant Monopoly Board

Image credits: Yamaha234

#2 My Husband Passed Away 2 Weeks Ago And In The Garage Behind A Piece Of Paper Hanging On The Wall I Found This

In the months before his passing he was unable to talk due to his brain cancer, so finding this note from him meant the world to me and is something I will cherish forever. We were married for 24 years.

Image credits: Lacy Summers

#3 This Silver Pendant I Found Metal Detecting Is Dated 227 Years Ago Today

Image credits: Silver_Winged

When we stare at everything with wonder and can’t wait (!) to find or learn something new, even the biggest problems lose their sting. Instead, they’re but challenges. Challenges that you’re already thinking about how to overcome. But our modern schooling system might not be the best way to keep this sense of curiosity because it tends to take independence away from kids instead of driving them to be self-sufficient learners and daring explorers.

In a previous interview with Bored Panda, the president of the nonprofit organization Let Grow, Lenore Skenazy, shared with us that modern schooling goes against the grain when it comes to how learning and teaching happened through much of human history.

#4 387-Year-Old Shopping List Found Under The Floorboards Of A London Home

The full text reads:

"Mr Bilby, I pray p[ro]vide to be sent too morrow in ye Cart some Greenfish, The Lights from my Lady Cranfeild[es] Cham[ber] 2 dozen of Pewter spoon[es]: one greate fireshovell for ye nursery; and ye o[t]hers which were sent to be exchanged for some of a better fashion, a new frying pan together with a note of ye prises of such Commoditie for ye rest.

Your loving friend

Robert Draper

Octobre 1633

Copthall"

Image credits: National Trust

#5 I Found A Baby Albino Oak In My Garden Some Years Ago And Realized That Plants Can Be Albinos Too, But They Do Not Live Long Since They Cannot Photosynthesize

Image credits: Lunabora

#6 Splitting Firewood And Found A Piece Resembling The Sky In "The Starry Night"

Image credits: virgilturtle

“In the United States, for instance, school only became compulsory a little over 100 years ago. Previously—for hundreds of thousands of years of human history—kids learned simply by watching, copying, helping, and playing. In other words, they’d hang around the adults, see how they made things like baskets and arrowheads, they’d ask questions, noodle around, and try to copy what their elders were doing,” Lenore explained.

According to Lenore, kids would pitch in and help their families and communities as soon as they were able to. “They’d help out as soon as they could—fetching things, tracking animals, whatever—and in between they’d be playing with a group of mixed-age kids. All these activities were fueled by curiosity.”

#7 Found A Stargate In The Middle Of Nowhere Near Linz, Austria

Image credits: zodd1981

#8 It's A Little Unnerving When You Wake Up In The Morning And Find These Right Outside Your Tent

Gates of the Arctic National Park, Alaska.

Image credits: mattymeis

#9 We Tore Up Some Carpeting In Our House Expecting Concrete But Instead Found This 70’s Masterpiece

Image credits: CallistoChemical

“You were motivated to learn what the bigger kids in your group knew, too, because they were so cool. Your entire day consisted of observing and practicing the stuff you needed to know— skills and games. If you weren’t curious, you weren’t going to enjoy life, or succeed at it,” Lenore said that curiosity really was (and, in truth, still is) more important than we give it credit for.

“One reason kids might seem less curious today is because most of their education, inside and outside of school, doesn’t require self-motivation, it requires compliance. The drive is extrinsic, not intrinsic. Kids fill out worksheets because they have to, not because these seem interesting, or have any immediate connection to the ‘real’ world,” the expert noted that obedience alone won’t raise people who are full of the joys of discovery.

#10 Found A Steam Room And Hot Tub In My Basement, Behind A Wall During Demo

Image credits: FeedtheFat

#11 Found Original Homeowner In The Walls Of A Teardown

Image credits: widewhiskers

#12 This Swirly Dandelion I Found

Image credits: Golden_Snail_DK

Meanwhile, extracurricular activities also appear to have fallen prey to the demands for compliance instead of encouraging kids to be curious. “Learning soccer means doing the drills the coach assigns, as opposed to tagging along with the older kids and working hard to get good enough so that they’d start letting you play. The key to curiosity, then, is giving kids enough free, unstructured time for them to find something they love to do for its own sake—not for a grade, or coach.”

In other words, we need to uncover in ourselves an inner drive to go out into the world and learn and find new and fascinating things. Some of which we’ll be more than happy to share with all the Pandas on the internet.

#13 10-Carat Australian Sapphire I Found In A Creek

Image credits: Numerous_Sport_2774

#14 Frozen Flower I Found In Austin During The Texas Winter Storm

Image credits: Syllabub-Temporary

#15 I Found A Cyclops Moth And It Was Huge. Bigger Than Half My Hand

Image credits: JustAMemeBeingADude

#16 This Morning I Found A Young Frog That Still Had Its Tail

Image credits: MinisterOfVulgarity

#17 This Old Color Pencil Box After Termites Ate All The Wood

Image credits: Drship

#18 Picasso Pebble

Image credits: jonofthesouth

#19 Perfectly Round Rock I Found At The Beach

Image credits: Fudgemnky

#20 Found A Starfish In One Of My Mussels

Image credits: DalhousieU23

#21 Found A Grenade In The Garden, Had A Visit From The Army Bomb Disposal Unit

Image credits: WouldISmellHer

#22 Found A Perfect Salt Crystal In My Sea Salt Packet

Image credits: c3r3n1ty

#23 My Uncle Found A Bag Of Volcano Ash From Mount St. Helens With A Note Tucked In The Back Of One Of His Cupboards

Image credits: blachat

#24 This Tree I Found Grows Into Itself

Image credits: FishayyMtg

#25 Telegram Abbreviations Found In My Great Grandpa’s Notebook

Image credits: Jakz2402

#26 I Found A Misprinted Penny (Front And Back)

Image credits: jar0fstars

#27 My Mom And Uncle Found An USAF Target Drone On The Beach

Image credits: coolmanjack

#28 Found An Edge Piece In My Bag Of Goldfish

Image credits: dj_mumbles

#29 Bought A Vintage Stove And Found A Newspaper From 1954 In It

Image credits: wcs2

#30 My Dad Found This Old Pamphlet Advertising Tourism To The World Trade Centre

Image credits: Demiil

#31 Found This Fish Was Frozen In Piece Of Ice, Texas 2021

Image credits: Daddywithguns

#32 This Piece Of Wall That Got Rounded By The Sea

Image credits: TheCorpseOfMarx

#33 This Weird Lemon That Grew On Our Lemon Tree

Image credits: phantomplayerone

#34 Found This Very Old Holy Bible In My Parents' Garage. Dated 1881. Thought Maybe You Guys Might Find It Interesting As Well

Image credits: strange_days12

#35 I Found This Print From Where A Gray Wolf Slept In The Snow. You Can Even See Her Ribs

Image credits: savannahrosewildlife

#36 While Renovating An Office In DC, I Found A Stack Of Uncashed Checks Dated July-August 1910

Image credits: M4nsqu7ch

#37 This Snake Sword In A Cane I Found On My Walk Today

Image credits: Marenyalia

#38 35 Rings Found On The Beach

Image credits: Meprado

#39 Look How Large This Tree Frog I Found Is

Image credits: hardcoredad

#40 100 Years Ago Someone Lost Their Coin Purse

Image credits: silverwinged

#41 I Found A 5 Leaf Clover

Image credits: AkaMiso

#42 While Hiking An Isolated Jungle Trail In The Amazon, We Came Across This Post Marking The Equator

Image credits: Intagvalley

#43 Digging Through Old Boxes At 4am And Found A 200+ Page Novel That I Hand Wrote In 2009 When I Was 12 Years Old

Image credits: blueskyn01se

#44 A Wall Was Removed In A Victorian House We Are Working At Which Revealed An Old Cast Iron Fireplace

Image credits: blu_skydive

#45 This Nike That We Found While Hiking

Image credits: jurgo4509

#46 Found This Arrowhead While Digging A Hole In My Backyard

Image credits: Jonahw8

#47 Found A Little Piece Of History During A Hike In France: A Roman Shoe Nail

Image credits: Felyana

#48 A Humpback Whale Jaw I Found This Weekend In New England

Image credits: scrambl3d33gs

#49 Some Old Russian Pepsi That I Found

Image credits: aHistoryofSmilence

#50 Found My Old Cell Phone With Optional Clip-On Chatboard For "Easy" Texting

Image credits: ontbijtkoek

#51 Look At This Crazy Icicle I Found This Morning (There Is A Small Hole In The Metal Handrail)

Image credits: merz-person

#52 I'm Redoing My Kitchen And The Old Owners Put A Wall Over An Exterior Door

Image credits: Mercarcher

#53 Jack Miner Was A Hero Of Conservation Who Passed Away In 1944. I Found One Of His Bird Bands Today On The Shore Of Lake Erie In Ohio

Minutes before I picked up what I thought was a shell but turned out to be a piece of plastic. Years of picking up crap on the ground has finally paid off