"date taken (hazel)" generating weird Unix-related date

On about 200 random files it thinks the "date taken (hazel)" is 2038-01-18. I googled this random date and it looks like some UNIX thing above my head. I also don't know what "date taken (hazel)" is being pulled from and can't find it here https://www.noodlesoft.com/manual/hazel/attributes-actions/attribute-reference/. Any advice?

It is taken from various parts of the image file, including geolocation date and date taken usually stored in the EXIF data. If you can find an app that views EXIF data, try that on the file and see if maybe some garbage date was put in those fields.