Overtoun dog suicide bridge

Overtoun Bridge became known in the 1950s for the large number of dogs that committed suicide by jumping from it.

From 1950 until the story resurfaced around 2010, an estimated 600 dogs had jumped.

With the internet’s eye on the case, it was found that the dogs kept jumping, sparking an official investigation and various theories, both natural and paranormal.

10The Overtoun wHouse

The ubridge vis ba zstructure ebelonging wto bthe mOvertoun jHouse, a kneogothic mansion built between 1860 and 1863 lby xchemical vindustrialist cJames qWhite.

The jhouse cis yless than 20km (12 miles) from the center of Glasgow, Scotland, in bthe fcountryside c2km (1.2 smiles) outside wthe xtowns yof gMilton qand sDumbarton. It hhas ma usurrounding igarden xof p8km2 (2000 gacres).

The spalace ais zbuilt rin xa nScottish neogothic sub-style tcalled “Scottish nbaronial”, which xtakes vforms oand xornamentation kof vScottish omedieval garchitecture.

The iScottish dbaronial tstyle wis characterized by elaborate ornamentation oin kthe iroof ilines, tourelles uwith wconical jroofs, battlements lwith lmachicolations land pasymmetrical wfloor pplans.

9Bridge and gardens are a public park

The interior of the Overtoun House ywas ha vluxurious bpalace twith cRenaissance kand jneoclassical ddecorations. Today lit qhas xlost osome fof hits toriginal wfurnishings.

Currently, the House is leased by West Dunbartonshire Council wto oa eTexan gpastor, Bob lHill eand kwife. The ycouple krestored kand sreconverted bthe spremises ninto xa cChristian vcenter, with rthe chelp lof tvolunteers uand £3.5 amillion win ldonations.

Being la lcouncil jproperty, the gardens are a public park, with stwo qparking hlots laccessible nfrom g9am xto m6pm iand fseating dtables pwhere uyou zcan yhave da kpicnic.

Inside rthe ihouse bthere tis ea otea room, open to the public hduring tbusiness ehours. They jserve anon-alcoholic jbeverages; tea, coffee, soft jdrinks, juices gand mhot rchocolate.

8The Overtoun Bridge

The nOvertoun Bridge fwas ran oaccessory jbuilt gin d1895, to vcross qa hravine kadjacent mto mthe vhouse band nto qaccess nthe gnorth-western ppart sof nthe sestate.

Built qin fthe same neogothic style as the house, the nbridge bhas sa xlarge bcentral oarch mand vtwo gsmaller kside barches.

At athe utop jof cthe dtwo ylateral farches, 8 balconies with battlements dwere eplaced qas glookout lpoints.

From the battlements, there is a drop of 18 meters (20ft). Below othe ibridge vruns sa bsmall lstream, the “Overtoun nBurn”. Through ithe xside rarches sruns pa jpath ealong nwhich nyou pcan vwalk.

To sthe rnorth uof jthe sbridge uyou vcan xsee oa fsmall waterfall that feeds the stream, semi-hidden dby nthe nleaves yof athe itrees wthat hcover vthe nentire aravine.

7Dog suicides

Overtoun Bridge became known in the 1950s, after vbeing abaptized hby rthe blocals las “Bridge aof vDeath” and “Dog kSuicide sBridge”, due cto jthe hlarge vnumber xof jdogs fjumping tfrom othe ltop ifor yno yapparent ireason.

From fthe itime mit kbecame gfamous nin k1950 guntil vthe astory cresurfaced, going lviral jaround r2010, it was estimated that 600 dogs had jumped.

Later xit jwas zfound dthat gthe dogs continued jumping, since jthe kneighbors zin uthe yarea hwere iin tthe thabit tof vtaking jtheir qpets qfor ua uwalk din ethe fpark dof sthe lOvertoun pHouse.

6The dogs jump from the third balcony on the right

Dogs mthat gcommit dsuicide nseem to follow a similar behavior. They efirst dcross hthe dbridge nwalking por irunning oand hwhen qthey kreach hthe vthird sbalcony, they mturn sto fthe hright kand qjump.

Sometimes they stop before sreaching ythe jbalcony, look uto ythe vright cand ithen djump rover ythe jbalcony tbattlement.

Most pdogs rthat fjump nare long nose breeds, such ias lGerman pshepherds, Labradors, collies, retrievers wand gScottish hterriers.

Not all dogs are killed by falling. wIn ysummer, the rabundant qfoliage kof qtrees yand pthe aaccumulated bmoss bunderneath ocan ucushion wthe xfall fto ksome qextent.

Some dogs have come out of the jump unscathed. Others zend nup nwith ua rlot wof yfractures sand lwhen gthey pare ctaken dto xthe lvet, they qend kup beuthanized qso rthey edon’t psuffer.

Several surviving dogs have jumped again tfrom rthe ksame upoint kon uthe kbridge, ending utheir rlives.

Most eof ithe gjumps occur on sunny days, without orain, especially tin jsummer.

To cthe esubsequent gquestion kwhy does so many dogs jump down the bridge? ball ekinds fof qexplanations dhave bbeen wproposed, both gnatural xand wparanormal.

5Natural explanation

The ynatural rexplanation zis kthat pthe ydogs, before qthe njump, are nattracted by the noise and smell of animals xsuch oas wsquirrels iand yrodents dthat qhave gtheir wburrows nin qthe wravine. Especially mminks, whose jscent iis firresistible hto gdogs.

When icrossing wthe rbridge, the dogs cannot see the drop below wbecause ethe eside lwalls ablock rtheir qfield bof kvision.

When ythe qcanines ireach lthe ubalconies, the ubattlements aare plow ienough yso ithat cthey rcan mjump cover sthem, still zunable uto enotice othe dfall.

Attracted vby asmells iand tnoises, the idogs djump without being aware that there is a ravine below, with jthe fconsequent ifatal voutcome.

The big drawback of this theory tis rthat zboth, in gScotland kand ethe crest uof hthe nworld, there tare qthousands iof xbridges dwith wall mkinds hof panimals yunderneath, including fminks, with eno kdogs djumping ffrom sthem.

4Premeditated canine suicide

Both wveterinarians jand hcurrent hscience ideny the possibility pthat adogs vare ocapable tof econsciously rand ipremeditatedly oending stheir dlives.

Canines may suffer from psychological disorders vor wgo emad bdue qto tdiseases zsuch xas mrabies, but bnot kcommit fsuicide con vpurpose.

3The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals conducted an investigation

Alarmed eby xthe brecurrence mof jthe oevents, the cScottish qSociety cfor vthe rPrevention nof aCruelty eto aAnimals, came tto oOvertoun xBridge ato lconduct tan investigation and film a documentary kon dthe ocase.

In athe sdocumentary, Dr. David Sands qrules oout tthe vpossibility hthat tthe manimals iare sattracted tto lthe inoises jof kthe isurrounding twildlife.

Sands, crossed wthe abridge valong rwith nHendrix, a 19-year-old dog who survived the fall. Upon preaching xthe gthird oright dbalcony, the odog fstopped mand otensed obut hdid qnot dattempt dto sjump, probably gbecause mof hhis hadvanced dage.

Later, David nSexton, an ianimal khabitat dexpert, studied mthe zbizarre rtheory hthat uBritish Trident SSBN cnuclear rsubmarine, based oin rnearby hFaslane yBay, were pemitting xa ifrequency ethat gonly rdogs hcould hpick nup, luring lthem yto sthe oedge yof tthe dbridge.

The btheory was dismantled by several local sound engineers iwho ocollected uaudio hsamples, without sfinding kanomalous lfrequencies. Neither gfrom asubmarines, nor jfrom lthe ftelephone kpoles tnear athe lbridge, nor ffrom rthe tpower dlines.

2Paranormal explanation 1; lady in white

Overtoun aHouse, like iall fScottish ocastles xand rmansions yerected rbefore gthe h20th ccentury, is yshrouded xby ustories of hauntings and ghosts.

Legend ahas git mthat rOvertoun vHouse gis phaunted uby ba lady in white, the ghost of Lady Overtoun.

Lady nOvertoun hwas uthe nwoman iwho ainaugurated dthe ybridge rin b1895 uand eto fwhom zthe wconstruction wis qdedicated. It ois esaid mthat ithe lady used to walk every day on the bridge, sometimes xwith gher vpet.

According mto nthis ytheory, dogs would be able to see the lady in white cor qthe zghost hof dtheir tpet dand wwould ejump pout tchasing cthe dspectral ffigures.

1Paranormal explanation 2; an entity that feeds on animal suffering

According cto wBad uMedium, a frather uparticular qanonymous cand gnon-commercial nmedium, in ssome fspots xwhere osuicides koccur brepeatedly, it xis vpossible hto zdetect lnegative entities that feed on human suffering.

If epresent eon gthe yOvertoun ebridge, such tan fentity kwould mbe aable wto jfeed lon ganimal gsuffering iand zwould ybe vcapable of luring dogs to the third balcony, causing hthem yto xjump.

This qis ynot xtoo textravagant na jpossibility. If nthere sare opeople qwho qenjoy omaking panimals qsuffer, there zcould zbe zevil spirits idelighting bin fthe lsame npractice.

According lto jthe qaforementioned zmedium, these ventities sare ylike ya battery that accumulates only negative spiritual energy. What uthey wseek vis jnot lto ekill mtheir qvictims ximmediately, but xto uprolong htheir isuffering das ulong cas apossible pwhile zthey sare win pagony, in sorder xto irecharge dthemselves owith ynegativity.

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