Thinking Sideways: The Dog Suicide Bridge

all of the legwork on this thing. They'll also notice if you had listened to what we're calling the last twenty six episodes before and you're re listening now, the music and sound effects are gone. Yes, we've we've gone back to straight audio, so be warned. We sound a little different today than we do in what you're about to listen to. Yeah, bye bye, Thinking Sideways. I don't think you never know stories of things we simply don't know the answer too. Well. Hello, and welcome to Thinking

Sideways the podcast. I'm Steve, and we have another unusual story for you this week. We do, so let's just go this. This is. This is does not fall in line with any of the stories that we've talked about before. I kind of diverged a little bit here just bear with me through this, dude. They have a format for a reason, you know. Processor Yeah, our story starts in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the Overton House estate. It's a

Victorian house, was built in eighteen sixty two. It's a large stone mansion sits on a palatial two thousand acre estate. But the house is not actually the subject of our story. Oh I know. Near the house is the Overton Bridge, which was built in and spans the Overton Burn burns Scottish for stream. Everything was going along perfectly fine, no

strange activity whatsoever until the nineteen fifties. Since the nineteen fifties, over fifty dogs have apparently committed suicide by jumping from the bridge and falling nearly fifty feet to their deaths on the rocks flow. That's one a year that have jumped and died. Another six hundred dogs have been reported as jumping off of this bridge or trying to jump, and either they made it and they survived the fall.

Some hit the bushes that are below. Some aren't that lucky, or their owners were able to stop them from actually jump. Why do people keep bringing their dogs to this bridge that I want to know, that's a very good question. It's not until recently the people have figured out that it's an unleash area. It actually would be hilarious if the dogs would just like leap over and take their owners with them. Yeah, well that's that's not the way

it went. Uh. Those dogs that survived the fall, when they were brought back to the bridge, they happily tried to jump again. All of the dogs that have jumped off of this bridge, there's some some things that are consistencies in every situation. Every one of the dogs that has jumped has been what's referred to as a long nose breed, so that's a Labrador, a Collie retriever, that type of dog. All of them have jumped from the

same spot. The spot is located between the last two parapets on the right hand side of the bridge, and every time a dog has jumped, it's also been on a clear, sunny day. So, as you pointed out, Devon, it is there is one of your dying. They're jumping at a rate of one dog per month, So what's caused It's an unknown phenomena. There's there's got to be something going on, and of course theories abound, and we have a number of theories, as always, some that sound plausible,

some that are a little bit off. Let's take a look at them. Uh So. In Celtic mythology, the estate is known to be a thin place, meaning that it is an area between between two worlds where Heaven and Earth meet, and because the veil is really thin there,

the animal can sensitor the dogs can sense it. So some believe that because they can sense the bridge between no pun intended, these two worlds, they're attracted to it and in their excitements to get to this new place that they know is they're they're jumping off the bridge before they're realizing where they are, and so unbeknownst to them, basically they're they're so excited they just go for it

and then discover too late that now they're falling. Huh m. Other reports say the Overton houses hunted and that maybe the spirits of the dogs who have died before are luring the new dogs over because that sounds like a thing, Yeah, it really it does. It's possible, it could be. We don't know. Yeah, that weed by a dog be a little odd. I don't even want to know, just little ghostly piles of pooh period. I mean, dogs are pretty friendly, right,

So like that's the thing is you think? Okay, but if a dog came back, why would that be the thing that they do? Like, hey, you know it's gonna be fun. Is killing a bunch of other dogs? Well, maybe maybe they're just having fun and playing hey, co follow me, co follow me, not realizing that the other dog isn't a spirit as well quotes there. Or perhaps they think they're doing him a favorite because doggy having

so so awesome. Or it could be the reverse. It could be that their demon doggies and they're just doing doing evil. So they're the dogs from Ghostbusters basically yea evil dogs. Remember those? Yeah I do. Yeah, those were demon doggies. I've never heard them referred to as demon doggies,

but I'm gonna run demon Okay. The next theory animal behaviors were brought to the bridge to try and figure out what's going on because nobody knows why the dogs are leaping, and they wanted to see what would happen and try and make whatever observations they could to get down to the bottom of so brought a truckload of dogs down and just observed them plumbing into their desks, is how they So, based on the bridge's construction, it's believed that what's going on is the dog's senses are

going into overload. Here's how how the construction of the bridge is set up. The walls which they're jumping off of our eighteen inches thick stone eighteen inches thicks and it's got ivy growing over the top of it in spots which is higher, which makes it above the plane where a dog of that size can normally see. So they don't have an idea that there's something else there, So there there's sense of sight is deceived. The other thing is that, of course it's going over a stream.

There's water falling onto rocks, and if you've ever been on any kind of stone structure above a stream, the echo can make it quite so now they can't rely on their sense of hearing. While surveying the area. The animal behaviors wanted to try and get down to the bottom of it, so they started checking out the area around and underneath the bridge, and they think that they They say that they have found clues indicating that there's a large population of mink living in the undergrowth below

the bridge. So the theory is is that the dogs are on the bridge, they can't really see what's they can't see over the edge, they can't hear very well. But then they catch this really strong smell of mink. And I have read accounts that evidently they are extremely extreme. They're like ferrets and all those things, and the they have a really strong owner. That's why is it for crab page for example. I didn't know that, but they are. They're really strong smelling, so the dogs can smell that.

Now we'll go back to one of the facts that links every case, which happens on a clear, sunny day, so there's heat rising from underneath the bridge. It's in that air current is carrying that scent over, whereas on a cool or windy day, the dogs wouldn't notice it as much. And it's all dogs that are traditionally bred to be hunters, so they're basic instinct is to go for that, to chase that, right, I mean, that's that's

what they're bred to do, chase things like that exactly us. So, yeah, they jump up on the bridge to pursue this smell. And once they're up there and they realize where they're at their momentum. Unfortunately then carries them right over the brink and it's too late. Yeah, I could see the first time around. I could see that. But the ones that repeat it the second that they're trying to do it again, It's like, dude, you know this so stranger, so odd is that these dogs are happily doing it

again and nobody knows why that is. Yeah, dogs are pretty good at learning not to do things that hurt them pretty quick. You would think, Uh, there there has been and I say this with some hesitation, there has been a study done of the sense of the animals that they found underneath the bridge of the droppings of because they found mink, they found mice, and I can't

remember what the third animal was. And I watched their their experiments because they videotaped the whole thing, and they bunch of dogs in the field one at a time. They would let them go and see which smell canister they went to. But there was nothing to indicate how accurate this was. In other words, was the mink at the same odor level as the other two containers anything like that. It was It was almost positive that this supposed study was for one of those shows, the sensationalized shows.

Oh well, we're gonna get to the bottom of it in today's episode. And you don't know how well this experiment was set. And they did it with ten dogs. Oh yeah, ten dogs. Seven out of ten went for the mink. They go nuts over the man. They didn't go they didn't go bonkers. But the ones that went for the mink did go straight towards it. They didn't they didn't even bother with the other ones. But again,

we don't know. Maybe the guy had put tons and tons of mink scent in there and not a whole lot in the other two because he doesn't know because he can't smell it to the proper proportions. So there's there. It's dubious to me as to the validity of that study. So I I don't I don't know that that one's very plausible to to rely upon. The other theory that I've got here goes even farther, and it's not aliens before you jump in. The aliens are my favorite thing.

I know they are, but even I can't draw a connection for aliens on this one. No, it is depression and suicidal tendencies. Here's the way the theory is going. We all we all know that dogs are really tuned into our emotions and the people they're around, they tend to pick up those those cues and they'll react accordingly. If somebody's sad, doggy sad, you're having the dogs happy. So this theory that that is out there is that the people who are walking their dogs across the bridge

are already in a depressed state of mind. Dog throws himself to his desk and and they are looking out over this vista and they're seeing how far down it is, and they starting to contemplate maybe they don't want to go on, but they're not sure. And that is being transferred to their dogs somehow extremely well, to the point that the dog is then running and jumping over the edge. Okay, so I I could see that for like one or two,

but six hundred and fifty years, there's no way. Well, and here's the other fact that to me disputes that theory and and just puts it in, puts it to the ground. In the entire hundred plus years that that bridge has been there, one person has died from falling off of the bridge, throwing themselves are just accidentally having This is actually a really terrible story, but it was.

And a local man named Kevin moy he was evidently severely depressed, having to illusions, and he threw his two week old son off of the bridge and then tried to jump himself. He now this, his state of mind was obviously not solid because he thought that he was the anti Christ and that his son was Satan. That

that's that's pretty far out there. And think again, if it's only one person doing it, then that means that to me, logically, this whole depression state from my owner causes I don't Yeah, And why wouldn't be just this bridge because there are plenty of places around the world where people take their dogs and contemplate suicide. There's no reason for it to be this one bridge. Yeah, I agree.

I'm leaning towards the mink theory. I think what they needed is get some guys with playing throwers down there and the barbecue all the mank and make sure they don't come, make sure they know not to come back. And then at the same time that's going to sort of erratic hit the mink smell with the flamethrowers and then and then just send a lot of dogs over the bridge and see if they jump. Yeah, that that's one way to go. As much as I hate to say it, I kind of agree with Joe in terms

of the mink theory. Here's another little fact about the mink. Mink were introduced to Scotland about a hundred years ago, years ago something like that, but their populations in the wild hadn't gotten that large, and it was only in the fifties that it was known that there was a large mink population just living in the wilds, which would Land lend credence to. In the fifties is when all

this started. And there's you know, some massive warren of mink living underneath that bridge because it's near water and all these other things that they eat. So there is some some factors there that make me lean that way, but I don't know. Yeah, I guess as far as all of the theories go, that's the one that I find the most plausible as well. But you know, why a dog would do it a second or third or fourth time baffling to me. You know, I know some dumb dogs, but not that many dumb dogs, I mean,

And yeah, it's a hard that's a hard one. Yeah, it's a big mystery to me. Is it a haunting? Is it another world? Is it this animal instinct that's driven by scent, that's that's causing him to jump? We we just don't know. There's no hard evidence to exactly what's causing and we can't ask the dogs. We'll wait a second, maybe we can, Oh, we can we hire a dog whisperer. Really had to go there. Yeah, pretty much a story about dogs, of course. Okay, Well, I'm

glad we got that out of the way. Yeah, I don't know, it's it indeed mysterious, but I'm kind of curious stuff they have signs posted on the bridge. As far as I know, there are no signs posted on the bridge, And and I know that I don't remember who said why do people keep walking their dogs there?

It evidently wasn't one of those things that was widely reported to the public or that people knew about until recent history, when people have started the stories hit the internet and it's been on shows and people are figuring it out now. And so I, like I said before, I'm pretty sure that anybody that takes a walk in that area make sure that they have their dog on the leash before they crossed the bridge. Yeah, that's just shocking. I mean, make sure your dog is not strong enough

to take you over with him too. That would be a problem. Why wouldn't you put signs up? I don't know. Why wouldn't you put like, you know, chain link fences all over the place. Wouldn't you put a sign up? Yeah? I don't you know. That seems like the responsible caring thing to do, Like a sign at either end that just says caution, leash your dog. No, no suicide area. No, it can't be. It can't be written in English because

that's racist. It would have to be written. It had to be one of those big yellow and black diamond shaped science It's got like a sort of picture of a dog leaping up a bridge, you know, I mean you think, I sure they could come up with some kind of international sign for dogs suicide. Yeah, let's look on the net. That's probably already is Scotland. They speak English,

they do speak it, funny. Yeah, But suppose that somebody would like say like Japan, and they hear about this bridge and they come there with their dog just to check it out. They I know, I know, they deserve to lose their dog, but maybe they do. Yeah, yeah, yeah, So anyway, we always solved that mystery. Maybe not. I don't I don't think we solve that mystery as it is. Well, if anybody else there has motivation to read about this story, you can certainly go ahead and read all about it.

We've got the links to this particular story on our website. That website is Thinking Sideways podcast dot com. If you have some alternate theories that you want to tell us about, or you just know some other strange stories that you'd like to hear us cover, feel free to go ahead and send us an email. That email address is thinking Sideways Podcast at gmail dot com. And with that, we're going to go ahead and get out of here and we will talk to you next time. Everybody, I still say it's aliens