changing class of column to numeric creates random blue hyperlinks to nowhere

Hi,

Welcome to the community!

Is it always the same numbers that end up being a link? And if you look at them in the excel file, are they formatted differently?

It's good you added a screenshot, but the best way of stating you problem is by providing us a minimal reprocudible example where you provide a minimal (dummy) dataset and code that can recreate the issue. Once we have that, we can go from there. For help on creating a Reprex, see this guide:

Good luck!
PJ