This text seems to be incorrectly formatted as a level 2 heading...?

This is normal text, but it's formatted as a level 2 heading when a single dash is on the line directly below. 
-

Markdown has two heading syntaxes. The “normal” add “#”'s to the start of a line and the “alternative” add “=” (heading 1) or “-” (heading 2) after a line. So the above is a case of that alternative syntax.