I have the Whirlpool Duet front-loading washer. A few weeks ago I lost my car key fob. The last place I remember having it was the front pocket of my jeans. Then this weekend I found the bottom half of an ink pen in the washer after a load. The other half of the pen is nowhere to be found.
Is it possible there’s a hidden compartment in the washer somewhere where this stuff is hiding? I know it’s farfetched and the key fob could conceivably have fallen out of my pocket anywhere, but I don’t know what else could have happened to that pen.
I know that dryers confiscate lots of stuff. The last time I took my (22 y.o.) dryer apart, I found several buttons, 3 or 4 half-pairs of earrings, most of a charm bracelet and $4.87 in change. Washing machines - not so much. I’m not familiar with any of the front-loaders, but I can’t see much getting lost in there, since the seals have to be water-tight. Although it is possible that some small items could get wedged in there somehow.
I just wanted to share the dryer story. If you’re short of change, it’s a good place to look. I once found close to $15 in change in a customer’s dryer!
I’ve always thought that washing machines who eat socks were Urban Legends (or outgrowth of paranoia) - until I saw a demonstration of the effect on a TV show (Die Show mit der Maus) some months ago. They put a single sock in a washing machine, and in no time at all it was sucked into the the gap between the rubber seal and the drum (the gap is usually not visible, because of the flexibility of the rubber), and had disappeared, only by the revolving of the drum.
So yes, the machine does eat stuff. Do you know enough that you can dismantle it? The missing stuff might be damaged though - the sock wrapped around the heating coil, and the combination of the heat and the revolving of the drum mostly dissolved the fabric. :rolleyes:
I once read a theory that one out of each pair of socks has the capacity for cannibalistic behavior, and that the stresses of the laundry process are the usual catalyst for these episodes. Like the black widow or praying mantis, the agressor sock will devour its submissive mate, and, if sufficiently hungry, will also consume any handkerchiefs or plain white undershirts unfortunate enough to stray close enough to its gaping maw.
It has been observed that on some occasions, two agressor or two submissive socks are paired together. Under such circumstances, the pair forms an inseparable bond, transforming overnight (in a metamorphasis science has failed to explain) into a wire coathanger.
Detatch the agitator, & check underneath it.
Small items are sometimes lodged there.
So then elastics would be the pupal forms? I have a nest of them in my kitchen junk drawer.
I don’t have that many wire hangers… some of mine ar plastic and I had to replenish both wire and plastic hangers several times in the past year. I theorise that there is some process removing the hangers from my apartment and substituting small scraps of paper.
A washing machine is like a cow, with a 'second stomach, where it stores odd socks and sometimes other small items to ruminate on during the dark of night and in particular during the dark of the moon.
Oft times the dryer is in cahoots with the washer and cooperates in these nefarious activities. 
I had to repair a washer for some students. It wasn’t emptying but was leaking a bit.
Siphoned off the water in the tub and then removed the hoses/trap underneath.
There was a bra underwire that had pierced the hose, causing the leak, 23 £1 coins and change, A ballpoint pen (ruined) and a rubber band wound around the pump spindle, preventing the pump from emptying the machine.
Of course, I read this just after reading about socks metamorphosing into wire coathangers, but I thought it said, “Detach the alligator…”