Freak events do happen – but how often do you get four in a week?
From Athens changing colour, to horses running through the streets of London, the last few days have been a real gift to the more superstitious corners of the internet.
1. The sails of the Moulin Rouge fell off
Yes, the iconic Parisian windmill mysteriously dropped its sails early on Thursday morning, along with three letters (the front M, O and U) from the sign.
The most famous cabaret club in the French capital is a known tourist attraction, and according to its manager, it has never lost its sails before.
“The Moulin Rouge, in 135 years of history, has experienced many adventures but it is true that for the wings, this is the first time that this has happened,” general manager Jean-Victor Clerico said, according to Reuters.
He explained: “A little before 2am, the wings of the windmill gave way, fell on the boulevard and fortunately at this time the boulevard was empty of passers-by.
“We are relieved this morning especially to know that there were no injuries.”
He added that clearly the incident was not intentional.
Insurers are reportedly carrying out an investigation into what may have happened.
2. The blood-soaked horse running around London
OK this one already made it onto international news, but it was still an unnerving sight.
Horses training with the British Army in central London were spooked by some building work, and five of the animals unseated their riders and bolted.
Four then ran across the capital, shocking many pedestrians in their wake as they thundered down main roads, going against the traffic during the morning rush hour.
Four people were injured in the process and went to hospital.
While all the horses were rescued relatively quickly, two of them managed to run five miles to Limehouse before they were captured.
To make things even stranger, one of the two most evasive animals collided with a car at one point, cutting itself in the process – meaning the white horse was running through the city covered in its own blood.
The defence minster James Cartildge told Sky News on Thursday: “Three of them are fine, two of them are unfortunately in a relatively serious condition and obviously we will be monitoring that condition.
“They are in a serious condition, but as I understand, still alive.”
3. Big Ben stopped
To make matters worse, just before reports of the runaway horses started to go viral, London’s most famous clock mysteriously stopped just before 9am, despite recently being refurbished.
And that was after it announced the time with an incorrect number of bongs.
Then, it seemed to wake up again – but it rang out at 10.06am instead of on the hour.
A House of Commons spokesperson said: “We are aware that the clock dials on the Elizabeth Tower were temporarily displaying the incorrect time this morning.
“Teams worked quickly to rectify the issue and carried out servicing to the mechanism, which has now completed.
“The clock dials of the Elizabeth Tower are currently functioning as normal and no risks to the integrity of the mechanism have been identified.”
By 10.15am, the clock was showing the correct time, and returned to hourly strikes as of midday on Wednesday after its mechanism was reset.
4. Athens turned orange
Looking further afield, it appears strange things have been happening in Greece, too.
A dust storm which blew in from the Sahara desert turned a handful of cities orange on Tuesday, in the worst phenomenon of its kind since 2018.
It stretched across several regions after several strong winds blew in from the south
Weather research director at the Athens Observatory, Kostas Lagouvardos, said: “It’s one of the most serious episodes of dust and sand concentrations from the Sahara since March 21-22, 2018 when the clouds invaded the island of Crete in particular.”
This was not a sudden weather occurance though – it had been building since late March – and was expected to clear by Wednesday.
So X (formerly Twitter) naturally had a field day....