On a couple of the Stack Exchange network sites in which I regularly participate, there will frequently be a new question (less than an hour old) with views reaching 1k, 2k, or even more. Normally there would be only a handful of views - say 10 to 15.
Is someone gaming the system or are some questions actually showing up in a Google search and magically receiving a lot of interest? I do not believe an arcane question in English Language Learners would generate that kind of interest.
I can't believe that there is any kind of bug in the view count system.
Apparently the answer to this question is that some questions "get hot" and in another question there is much discussion about how "hotness" is determined.
This is simply a question about the apparent effects of that hotness (where do the views come from), not a question about the complex thermodynamics of stack exchange questions.
Two days later:
Today I had a not especially wildly interesting question "arbitrarily" or "randomly" (take your pick) showed up on the list of hot questions. Lots of views, but few, if any, stray up votes for the question. Still, what a rush! And I wasn't late for the party.