Strange and unexpected occurrences happen every day. Here are a few odd news stories that have caught the attention of the media, in no particular order.

1. Ghost Ship. The Lyubov Orlova, a Russian cruise ship built in 1976, could possibly be making its way towards the Britain and Ireland coast. It was sold to Canada in 2010, and two years later they then sold it for scrap. Shortly after they began towing it to the Dominican Republic to be scrapped, it detached from the tow ship in rough waters. They abandoned it in international waters, and now the ghost ship could be on its way to Northwestern Europe. If the ship is still afloat (there’s a chance it could have sunk because it hasn’t been seen since April 2013), the only occupants will be cannibal rats.
2. Castaway washes up in Marshall Islands. Jose Salvador Alvarenga washed up on the shore of the Marshall Islands on January 30^th with a scraggly beard and wearing only tattered underwear. He claimed he had been stranded at sea for more than a year by himself after a fishing trip went wrong—he and a friend were caught in a storm and the engine of the ship stopped working. Alvarenga claims his friend died of starvation a month after they lost function of the ship. He had refused to eat the raw turtle and bird diet that Alvarenga had been surviving on. Although originally people were skeptical of his story, officials in the Marshall Islands say there is no reason to doubt him.
3. Town buried under eight feet of tumbleweed. In late January, Colvis, New Mexico woke up to a town covered in eight feet of tumbleweed that a windstorm had brought in. The tumbleweed caused some trouble such as blocking roads and keeping people barricaded in their homes. However, a cleanup is well underway and pathways were cleared for cars and people soon after the storm.
4. Sochi Hotels. The 2014 Winter Olympics are ongoing until February 23 this year in Sochi, Russia. Despite the high media coverage that naturally come with the Olympics, the state of whether Sochi is fit for the Olympics has been a controversial topic. Athletes and journalists alike have taken pictures of their hotels rooms in questionable condition. There is even a twitter account @Sochiproblem that has thousands of followers and is dedicated to exposing the state of hotels such as toliets in odd places (or without stalls), unfinished rooms and buildings, an athlete who had to break through the door of his bathroom because he was locked in, dirty water, and more.

There are odd things that happen all over the world and some are weirder than others.