It sounds like the dumbest title ever of a low-budget horror flick, but rumors of an abandoned ship infested with cannibalistic rodents have been floating around since early 2013.

Picture this: It’s a warm summer’s night and you’re sitting on a beach with your friends around a campfire. The annoying guy with the acoustic guitar has already passed out. Now, it’s time for a ghost story.

Somebody sets the mood with a flashlight and starts the tale by asking: “Hey, have you heard the story of the ghost ship packed with cannibal rats? Anyway, the story goes…” and we’re off.

The Lyubov Orlova was built in former Yugoslavia in the mid-70s to serve as a cruise ship in around the Antarctic. She was specifically strengthened to deal with icy waters.

For decades she proved a loyal servant to her masters, but things were about to change. The owners neglected to keep up with maintenance. They even stopped paying the crew.

In 2010 the staff on board had had enough. After five months without receiving any salary, they walked off and abandoned her in Newfoundland, Canada. The local authorities seized her due to debts of a quarter of a million dollars.

For a couple of years the ship was moored while awaiting its inevitable fate. It was decided to tow her to the Dominican Republic where she would be dismantled. But something went horribly wrong.

As she was dragged slowly towards her final destination a storm was brewing on the horizon. Heavy winds and violent waves snapped the tow cable. Frantically, the crew on the Charlene Hunt, the tugboat assigned for the task, tried unsuccessfully to reconnect the line.

Lyubov Orlova was left in international waters where she was no longer a collision risk for cargo ships or offshore oilrigs. But she wouldn’t stay there. In February 2013 she was spotted drifting approximately 250 nautical miles east of St. John in Canada.

Since then, she’s gone missing. No one knows the exact location of the drifting ghost ship. She could be anywhere from northern Norway to western Africa, and rumour has it that she’s carrying thousands of disease ridden rats with nothing to eat but their own kind.

People have been searching for the Lyubov Orlova for more than a year to cash in the $1,000,000 scrap value. Her whereabouts may be unknown. She could crash into the shore of Devon, Cornwall, Ireland or even Scotland, where her deadly cargo would be unleashed.