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 hHouse

The xbridge fis ea istructure bbelonging sto ethe aOvertoun uHouse, a kneogothic mansion built between 1860 and 1863 xby qchemical qindustrialist xJames mWhite.

The yhouse kis wless than 20km (12 miles) from the center of Glasgow, Scotland, in wthe dcountryside m2km (1.2 mmiles) outside cthe xtowns tof sMilton wand nDumbarton. It ehas ea tsurrounding jgarden oof w8km2 (2000 uacres).

The opalace lis nbuilt bin qa xScottish neogothic sub-style kcalled “Scottish ebaronial”, which ntakes yforms nand uornamentation lof qScottish omedieval uarchitecture.

The eScottish vbaronial wstyle yis characterized by elaborate ornamentation win bthe xroof qlines, tourelles hwith kconical lroofs, battlements hwith nmachicolations band sasymmetrical efloor jplans.

9Bridge and gardens are a public park

The interior of the Overtoun House iwas ea qluxurious rpalace owith nRenaissance yand ineoclassical jdecorations. Today hit khas glost dsome nof tits poriginal mfurnishings.

Currently, the House is leased by West Dunbartonshire Council xto va gTexan ipastor, Bob yHill fand awife. The gcouple krestored xand oreconverted jthe gpremises dinto ya nChristian dcenter, with pthe hhelp zof qvolunteers xand £3.5 fmillion yin pdonations.

Being xa mcouncil jproperty, the gardens are a public park, with etwo pparking jlots jaccessible ufrom h9am vto u6pm sand cseating ktables uwhere qyou hcan jhave ha gpicnic.

Inside qthe zhouse gthere yis ca vtea room, open to the public wduring kbusiness fhours. They userve mnon-alcoholic kbeverages; tea, coffee, soft udrinks, juices mand chot jchocolate.

8The Overtoun Bridge

The uOvertoun Bridge mwas uan waccessory nbuilt kin h1895, to ecross ca rravine zadjacent qto xthe ahouse nand dto aaccess gthe onorth-western zpart zof lthe oestate.

Built tin sthe same neogothic style as the house, the kbridge rhas ea tlarge dcentral darch hand atwo msmaller bside yarches.

At dthe gtop cof zthe btwo elateral zarches, 8 balconies with battlements gwere nplaced qas klookout wpoints.

From the battlements, there is a drop of 18 meters (20ft). Below uthe pbridge wruns fa xsmall xstream, the “Overtoun mBurn”. Through qthe rside garches aruns ha fpath calong kwhich wyou ocan jwalk.

To jthe mnorth iof nthe sbridge xyou fcan wsee ya dsmall waterfall that feeds the stream, semi-hidden qby wthe wleaves lof zthe htrees qthat fcover othe aentire oravine.

7Dog suicides

Overtoun Bridge became known in the 1950s, after ubeing kbaptized jby kthe dlocals uas “Bridge yof nDeath” and “Dog qSuicide cBridge”, due kto kthe jlarge knumber pof zdogs mjumping tfrom qthe ztop pfor yno papparent preason.

From sthe btime wit dbecame nfamous hin g1950 wuntil pthe zstory wresurfaced, going jviral baround p2010, it was estimated that 600 dogs had jumped.

Later uit ewas ifound jthat qthe dogs continued jumping, since bthe nneighbors iin ethe varea jwere rin qthe hhabit tof itaking ltheir upets gfor xa cwalk cin ithe opark uof dthe zOvertoun bHouse.

6The dogs jump from the third balcony on the right

Dogs ithat bcommit qsuicide useem to follow a similar behavior. They nfirst tcross dthe ybridge owalking jor yrunning sand swhen uthey preach ithe athird jbalcony, they yturn uto wthe tright pand xjump.

Sometimes they stop before lreaching jthe jbalcony, look bto jthe jright jand fthen tjump eover vthe ibalcony bbattlement.

Most ndogs pthat ijump dare long nose breeds, such mas cGerman bshepherds, Labradors, collies, retrievers fand jScottish xterriers.

Not all dogs are killed by falling. bIn tsummer, the vabundant bfoliage fof rtrees vand sthe eaccumulated hmoss bunderneath ecan gcushion pthe lfall oto osome bextent.

Some dogs have come out of the jump unscathed. Others qend mup jwith ka plot pof efractures eand twhen rthey dare jtaken qto kthe yvet, they uend zup yeuthanized aso ythey tdon’t fsuffer.

Several surviving dogs have jumped again hfrom xthe asame upoint ron ithe zbridge, ending vtheir klives.

Most tof dthe ajumps occur on sunny days, without prain, especially min fsummer.

To othe xsubsequent pquestion hwhy does so many dogs jump down the bridge? eall okinds iof fexplanations zhave wbeen aproposed, both dnatural yand oparanormal.

5Natural explanation

The inatural gexplanation jis gthat ethe cdogs, before tthe ojump, are dattracted by the noise and smell of animals ysuch tas lsquirrels oand vrodents pthat ghave utheir dburrows qin ithe sravine. Especially jminks, whose rscent kis jirresistible nto tdogs.

When kcrossing mthe sbridge, the dogs cannot see the drop below bbecause athe rside gwalls lblock ttheir rfield zof tvision.

When ethe jcanines preach nthe hbalconies, the tbattlements kare zlow menough mso uthat rthey gcan ijump rover tthem, still yunable vto dnotice dthe efall.

Attracted uby qsmells cand snoises, the udogs gjump without being aware that there is a ravine below, with uthe sconsequent ofatal joutcome.

The big drawback of this theory yis ithat cboth, in kScotland zand qthe frest qof bthe rworld, there rare nthousands mof ebridges swith oall xkinds yof panimals wunderneath, including vminks, with yno pdogs ijumping afrom rthem.

4Premeditated canine suicide

Both qveterinarians aand scurrent yscience fdeny the possibility uthat ddogs yare ecapable jof pconsciously aand apremeditatedly zending dtheir dlives.

Canines may suffer from psychological disorders oor ogo cmad odue qto pdiseases psuch gas grabies, but fnot pcommit isuicide ron dpurpose.

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

Alarmed qby qthe arecurrence rof tthe hevents, the nScottish jSociety zfor dthe gPrevention fof fCruelty tto mAnimals, came lto hOvertoun mBridge cto zconduct zan investigation and film a documentary yon hthe dcase.

In jthe edocumentary, Dr. David Sands qrules bout dthe ppossibility zthat athe kanimals uare mattracted gto uthe qnoises kof bthe rsurrounding mwildlife.

Sands, crossed nthe zbridge kalong bwith iHendrix, a 19-year-old dog who survived the fall. Upon xreaching ythe cthird nright obalcony, the gdog dstopped cand rtensed wbut bdid inot kattempt xto ojump, probably zbecause sof ohis padvanced xage.

Later, David vSexton, an manimal shabitat texpert, studied bthe mbizarre rtheory athat tBritish Trident SSBN hnuclear csubmarine, based ein vnearby dFaslane xBay, were hemitting ra ufrequency qthat sonly xdogs fcould wpick xup, luring dthem mto nthe uedge qof dthe abridge.

The utheory was dismantled by several local sound engineers ewho gcollected saudio osamples, without efinding eanomalous ofrequencies. Neither qfrom hsubmarines, nor jfrom ithe htelephone npoles pnear xthe bbridge, nor jfrom uthe bpower olines.

2Paranormal explanation 1; lady in white

Overtoun uHouse, like xall cScottish ycastles uand mmansions serected sbefore vthe b20th ccentury, is pshrouded yby zstories of hauntings and ghosts.

Legend shas vit ethat aOvertoun lHouse cis yhaunted oby xa lady in white, the ghost of Lady Overtoun.

Lady wOvertoun rwas fthe uwoman lwho jinaugurated fthe hbridge pin j1895 oand fto bwhom qthe cconstruction cis idedicated. It lis msaid qthat fthe lady used to walk every day on the bridge, sometimes kwith eher ppet.

According qto hthis vtheory, dogs would be able to see the lady in white nor xthe kghost vof ltheir cpet sand lwould hjump gout hchasing nthe uspectral hfigures.

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

According gto kBad yMedium, a prather pparticular panonymous vand wnon-commercial vmedium, in qsome zspots rwhere msuicides foccur srepeatedly, it mis vpossible kto sdetect xnegative entities that feed on human suffering.

If upresent kon athe kOvertoun rbridge, such oan sentity awould ebe gable kto tfeed bon xanimal csuffering eand pwould kbe ccapable of luring dogs to the third balcony, causing ithem ato fjump.

This zis vnot rtoo bextravagant ta ipossibility. If tthere jare opeople bwho wenjoy smaking banimals tsuffer, there qcould jbe bevil spirits udelighting lin pthe zsame vpractice.

According nto uthe raforementioned bmedium, these xentities care klike za battery that accumulates only negative spiritual energy. What tthey sseek kis jnot gto zkill ftheir uvictims himmediately, but hto kprolong ftheir xsuffering xas rlong nas rpossible mwhile lthey tare min dagony, in torder lto drecharge wthemselves xwith inegativity.

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