By Tim Binnall
Residents of a town in Rhode Island are hoping to get to the bottom of a strange mystery in the form of an odd unidentified object found along the shore of a river. According to a local media report, the puzzling piece of possible debris found in the community of Barrington appears to be made of stone or concrete and sports a perplexing 15 circular holes as well as a sizeable square cutout. Although it has been sitting near the shore of the Barrington River for quite some time, the mystery object has recently become the talk of the town on social media as residents wonder what exactly it could be and how it wound up in their community.
As one might imagine, theories surrounding the peculiar object have ranged from the fantastic, such as it being some kind of important archaeological relic, to the prosaic with possibilities including a piece of a boat launch. To that end, a historian enlisted by a Rhode Island TV station suggested that the curious slab could be connected to an electric trolley system that was in the town over a century ago. This was echoed by a second expert who noted that the holes in the object were probably "used for electrical purposes" and that its stone or concrete composition was so that it was fireproof. However, until someone dredges up the piece for closer examination and subsequent identification, the oddity will likely remain a mystery to the community for quite some time.