The enigmatic bridge of Scotland where dogs commit suicide

DUMBARTON, Scotland – "I was sure she was dead," Lottie Mackinnon said softly. Mackinnon, nestled in a corner of a cafe while drinking hot chocolate with her two children, described the day she was walking with her Border Collie, Bonnie, on the Overtoun Bridge, in Dumbarton.

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"Something pbaded Bonnie as soon as we approached the bridge," Mackinnon said. "At first, she froze, but then she felt possessed by a strange energy and ran and jumped." A bewitched dog drawn by a malicious force to jump from a bridge? It sounds like an absurd scene from an old episode of "Twilight Zone".

But Mackinnon's dog is one of the hundreds of people the Scots insist on suddenly being forced to remove the Gothic stone structure since the 1950s. Many have died on the steep rocks at the bottom of the valley.

The inhabitants of Dumbarton, northwest of Glasgow, began calling Overtoun, a century-old bridge crossing a 15-meter gorge, the "suicide suicide bridge."

Mackinnon, who grew up in the nearby village of Milton, shuddered in memory of running through the gorge through the trees and bushes in search of Bonnie. But when he approached the dog's body, Bonnie began to moan and finally tried to get up.

"It's a miracle that she survived," he said. In a country peopled with superstitions, myths and monsters – Scotland is the land of the legend of Loch Ness – the bridge has been at the center of a permanent mystery. Why are so many dogs jumping?

Local researchers estimate that more than 300 people jumped off the bridge. the newspapers say that there are 600. It is said that at least 50 dogs are dead.

Some say that there are rational explanations that involve the land and the aromas of mammals in the throat that can lead dogs to a frenzy.

Other explanations acquire a more paranormal tone. The silent, exuberant and sometimes immobile bridge location is a description of what the pagan Celts called a "thin place", a fascinating place where the sky and the earth overlap.

"The people of Dumbarton are very superstitious," said Alastair Dutton, a local taxi driver. "We grew up playing on Overtoun grounds, and we believe in ghosts here because we have all seen or felt spirits here."

The jumps inspired an episode of the American TV series "Unexplained Files". An entire book is devoted to exploring the phenomenon.

But despite all this attention, the mystery is still alive, unresolved.

From a distance, it seems that the ornate Victorian-style bridge, built in 1895, is a simple extension of the entrance path to a contiguous nineteenth-century mansion built in Dumbarton by a wealthy industrialist, James White.

Closer still, we can distinguish the three arches of the bridge that cross a small river, the Overtoun Burn. Standing in the middle of the blackened granite parapets of the bridge, it is easy to forget that the space below is far in the deep gorge.

The current tenant, Bob Hill, said he and his wife had seen several dogs suddenly jump off the bridge since moving to the property, now called Overtoun House, more than 17 years ago.

But Hill, a Texas pastor who runs a local center for women in crisis, had an earthly explanation: the smell of small animals running in the ravine under the bridge led the dogs to a frenzy, then they released their belts . and they jump.

"Dogs perceive the smell of mink or another mammal, and then jump to the bridge wall," Hill said. "And because it's sharp, they'll just break down."

Still, he admitted, Overtoun's motives are "more spiritual than others." "Scotland is a kind of place where there is a lot of supernatural, and it's very common in people's lives," he added.

Paul Owens, a professor of religion and philosophy in Glasgow, grew up in a town near the bridge and recently published a mystery book. When it comes to explaining jumping dogs, he relies on supernatural theory.

"After 11 years of research, I'm convinced that it's all a ghost," he said, while he was sitting in front of a pub on a rainy day in Glasgow.

Owens 'theory is popular with some local residents, who grew up hearing stories about the "White Lady of Overtoun", also known as the afflicted widow of John White, James' son.

"The lady lived alone in pain for over 30 years after her husband's death in 1908," said Marion Murray, a Dumbarton resident. "His ghost has been hanging here since, they saw him through the windows and wandered around the park."

One day, Emma Dunlop, who claimed to have heard "horror stories", still took her Labrador retriever, Ginger, to Overtoun.

She did not let him out of his truck until he was on a leash. "He has never tried to jump," he said, "but sometimes he freezes or hesitates when he gets on deck, so I'm always careful."

Ginger jumped out of the car, ran around his owner and headed straight for the Overtoun Bridge, crossing it without a doubt. But then Ginger froze, looking at something on the deck that seemed empty to the eyes of the man.

"Yes, there's the White Lady," Dunlop laughed, suggesting that Ginger had seen the ghost of the bridge. Then the couple continued their walk.

The New York Times