The Dog Suicide Bridge | Why Have Hundreds of Dogs Jumped?
in the martin scotland there's a 19th. century gothic bridge that crosses a. 50-foot ravine. it's officially called overton bridge. but its unofficial name. is the dog suicide bridge oh no. do i even have to ask since the 1950s. hundreds of dogs have mysteriously. jumped off this bridge. and 50 of them died let's find out why. [Music]. built in 1895 the ornate bridge leads up.
to overton house. a 19th century manor built by wealthy. industrialist james white. on the outskirts of the village of. milton in the scottish lowlands. it spans overton byrne a deep gorge with. a small river. and hundreds of dogs have attempted to. commit suicide by jumping off this. bridge. and stories about overton bridge are all. over the internet and. have been featured on the tv series the. unexplained files there's even an entire. book. dedicated to this phenomenon but despite. all this attention. the mystery is still unsolved so what's.
going on here. there are those who believe that the. suicides are caused by supernatural. forces. they point out that the bridge's. location fits the description of. a thin place which according to celtic. pagan beliefs. is a location where heaven and the earth. meet oh i'd like to see a video on thin. places. that's a good idea another theory blames. the white lady of overton. who haunts the overton house now her. husband john died in 1908. leaving the widow to grieve for over 30. years.
and after she died she became the ghost. known as the white lady of overton. according to local legend the white lady. has been seen in the windows of the. house and wandering the grounds. still grieving another even darker story. describes a terrible event that happened. in 1994. that year a 32 year old father threw his. own baby. into the gorge below because he was. certain that his child was the. antichrist. the baby died the following day and the. father was declared insane. obviously and committed to an.
institution locals say that dogs jumped. from the same spot. where the baby was thrown they believe. there's some kind of supernatural. rift that affects dogs behavior now most. animal behaviorists agree that dogs. don't commit suicide. dogs can certainly become depressed. which leads them to waste away and die. slowly. but there's no reason a normal healthy. dog would throw itself. off a bridge so what's going on here. the question is why this bridge why.
overton bridge. over all the other bridges that are here. in this country. in 2006 dr david sands a canine. psychologist. investigated the bridge dr sands said. the way that the bridge is constructed. is probably a factor. the walls of the bridge are about waist. high and completely solid. there are also trees and dense greenery. that grow higher than the walls. so there are no visual cues for the dogs. to realize that they're on a bridge. or that there's a drop on the other side. of the wall also the tops of the walls. are tapered. so that if a dog jumps on top of one.
it's probably going to fall. even if it realizes it made a mistake so. this explains why a dog would be unaware. that jumping is dangerous. but why would it try to jump in the. first place well dr. sands has a theory for that too he. points out that minks were introduced to. scotland in the 1920s. and began breeding in large numbers in. the 1950s. this is the same time when the suicide. supposedly started. so not only are mink present in the. undergrowth under the bridge. but also squirrels mice all kinds of.
forest critters. that dogs enjoy he made me this color. so that i may talk squirrel. my master is good and smart the theory. is the scent of one or more of these. animals grabs a dog's attention. than wanting to chase down the source of. the scent the dog jumps over the wall. without realizing the danger. this theory is supported by the fact. that all of the incidents appear to. happen on dry sunny days when. animal scents carry more clearly and. scotland doesn't get a lot of dry sunny.
days so. it kind of stands out dr sands performed. an experiment to see what scents were. most attractive to dogs. he took 10 dogs to a field and they were. the same breeds that jumped off the. bridge. in the field were three containers each. containing an animal scent. seven of the dogs headed straight to the. container containing. the mink scent like right to it minks. emit a strong odor that gets dogs. very excited so the most logical theory. is that on sunny days when scents are. carrying well. long-nosed dogs are catching a whiff of.
mink in the undergrowth below the bridge. and in general with dogs the longer the. nose the better their sense of smell. so then driven by their instinct to hunt. and unaware of the dangerous fall. they jump off the bridge in pursuit of. prey. checks out so what we have. seems to be a plausible explanation for. the dog suicide bridge. but locals aren't buying it people who. visit the overton bridge also talk about. experiencing a strange feeling when. they're there. and some have even said they feel an.
invisible finger kind of. prodding them to the end of the bridge. and what do you think the jabbing finger. was. the white lady of overton when skeptics. confront locals about the supernatural. theory. many are quick to point out that there. are other bridges just like this. all over the area with the same. characteristics yet dogs are not jumping. so what do you think have we debunked. this story or is there something more. going on here. let us know in the comments i think. what's going on is dogs are dumb. oh and if anyone knows about a fish.
suicide bridge i'd be interested in that. not funny. thanks for hanging out with us today my. name is aj that's hecklefish this has. been the y-files. if you had fun or learned anything today. comment like subscribe. share all that stuff really helps out. the channel until next time be safe. be kind and know that you are. appreciated. [Music].
you.
