The mystery of Scotland's dog suicide bridge (Video)

Studies have shown that since the 1950s or 1960s numerous dogs have have been jumping off a bridge near Overtoun House in south-west Scotland at the rate of about one dog per year -- and no one knows why.

Overtoun House is a 19th-century country house and estate in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It is located on a hill overlooking the River Clyde, in between the village of Milton and the town of Dumbarton. Built between 1860 and 1863 for James Black & White, a retired lawyer and a co-owner of the J&J White Chemical Works, the house and the estate were given by a descendant of his to the people of Dumbarton in 1938. It was then converted into a maternity hospital, and now houses a 'center for hope and healing.'

In a recent article, Ned Donovan wrote, "The area has long been thought to be haunted, and in 1994 a father threw his child off the bridge, claiming the infant to be the Anti-Christ before himself attempting to jump off the bridge. In fact, the sinister background of Overtoun can be traced directly back to Celtic mythology: it is said to inhabit an area of Scotland which is 'thin', i.e. where our world crosses with that of heaven, allowing spirits to cross over into our Earthly domain.

Dogs that leap over the bridge parapet fall 50 feet (15 m) onto the waterfalls below. Some dogs that survived the drop have jumped again. The only linking factors for this unexplained event are that dogs mostly jump from the same side of the bridge, in clear weather, and they are breeds with long snouts.

As to why, Donovan observed, "Over the years it has been argued that dogs are sensitive to supposed paranormal activity and could be naturally drawn towards the spiritual barrier that may exist on the bridge, a barrier we cannot detect.

"The locals in the area believe that the cause lay nearby at Her Majesty’s Naval Base Faslane, where the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent resides. Residents believed that secret naval communications emitted a sound only heard by dogs and caused them to jump off the bridge. Others placed the blame in the sound of the waterfall next to the bridge where the dogs land after their jump.

"The most emotionally charged explanation is that the dogs are simply depressed, and that Overtoun Bridge is for them what the Golden Gate Bridge is to humans."

In 2005 the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals sent an animal habitat expert to investigate the causes as to why dogs kill themselves at Overtoun Bridge. Initially Dr David Sands examined sight, smell and sound factors. After eliminating what a dog could potentially see and hear on the bridge, he eventually focused on scent following the discovery of mice and mink in undergrowth on the side of the bridge from which dogs often leaped. In a test, the odors from these animals were spread around an open field. Ten dogs were unleashed - representing the most common breeds that jumped off the bridge. Of the dogs tested, only two showed no interest in any of the scents while nearly all the others made straight for the mink scent. Sands concluded that, although it was not a definitive answer, the potent odor from male mink urine was possibly luring the dogs to their deaths. His theory is that curiosity killed the dogs.

At the time Dr. Sands appeared in a TV documentary about his study of thee phenomenon and he has since updated that report for National Geographic in 2010 and then again for William Shatners 'Weird or What' in 2012. Watch video clips from these below:

Sources: Wikipedia, The Kernel, The Animal Behaviour Clinic, The Herald Scotland and Overtoun House.