Mystery Item

January 18, 2009 1:00 PM

What is this thing?

The above is listed on "Best of Craigslist." Usually, when similar posts are popular, it either means the item is question is something really obvious and the poster is a toolbox for not knowing it, and/or the poster is taking the piss (Exhibits A, B, and C.). I assume this is similar, but I'm not in on the joke. What is this "Mystery Item"?

posted by granted to grab bag (12 comments total)

I'd need an interior look, but here are a couple of guesses:

A prefab industrial booth, possibly for observing hazardous or high fume (duh--also hazardous) processes

a prefab all weather spa of the type made by Kohler & others in the 70s & 80s and installed in pool centers. There would be plumbing connections that allowed for mist, spray, temp settings, and so on, as well as temperature settings (dry heat, moist heat).

My .02 worth.
posted by beelzbubba at 1:13 PM on January 18

I don't think this is a joke, there's no extra detail or overly long explanation. There's not much to get a size reference of, other than the leaves, but it looks like it could fit in the bed of a small truck or other vehicle and provide an enclosed storage/work area.

The two vertical windows look like they should be aimed out the back of a vehicle. Though the seam between the small windows doesn't look like it opens so that's probably not an access point. The larger horizontal spaces may have held windows or some other inserts, and the tree raised bumps along those windows look like they sit on protrusions built into the vehicle or carrier or whatever this thing sits on.
posted by Science! at 1:16 PM on January 18

Like an extra small version of this, not meant for a pickup but some other small utility vehicle like a gator or something.
posted by Science! at 1:17 PM on January 18

just a guess: outdoor telephone connection cabinet, on its side, with the face with the narrower holes being the bottom.
posted by troy at 1:21 PM on January 18

Well, I just called the guy who posted the ad (you can find the original craigslist ad if you search for it) and he said it's about 4.5' X 4.5' X 8'. It's made of fiber glass and is hinged on the top surface (not shown) and can be opened so that the two vertical windows become horizontal and the horizontal ports become the top.

He thinks it goes to a boat and really, really wants to know what the heck it is.

Not fake.
posted by Science! at 1:38 PM on January 18

Why doesn't he ask the previous owners of the house it came with?
posted by JohnnyGunn at 3:02 PM on January 18

Looks somewhat like a Fotomat booth. Prefab film development booths that popped up all over North America in the 1970's.
posted by Muirwylde at 4:10 PM on January 18

I worked in a fotomat booth in college, and that ain't one of them. For one thing, we never had to climb in through a hinged door on the top side.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:19 PM on January 18 [1 favorite has favorites]

Go get it and take pictures. This could be fun!
posted by Electrius at 8:54 PM on January 18

It really looks really familiar...I keep turning the screen sideways and imagining the horizontal ports are a doorway...as if it connected something--like between the jetway and the plane...but why would you need a connecting walkway that folds (with a hinged roof with windows)?
posted by whatgorilla at 10:13 PM on January 18

Looks like a great sandblasting or spraypainting booth to me. I don't care what it was, that's what it is. :)
posted by aeschenkarnos at 10:27 PM on January 18

whatgorilla has a point. It does look like airline service equipment. I can't quite make sense of that, but it has the look. I'm thinking, besides part of a jetway, of those lift trucks they use to service the galley. But it doesn't quite fit.
posted by Goofyy at 8:43 AM on January 19