Overtoun Bridge is a category B-listed structure over the Overtoun Burn on the approach road to Overtoun House, near Dumbarton in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It was completed in 1895 to a design by the landscape architect H. E. Milner.

Overtoun Bridge has attracted international media attention because of the number of dogs who have reportedly leapt from it, often dying upon landing on the rocks 50 feet (15 m) below; the bridge has also been the site of a human murder and an attempted suicide. Despite local ghost stories and people getting strange feelings, researchers have determined that the story of dogs committing suicide off the bridge is an example of folklore and urban legend.

History And Construction

Lord Overtoun had inherited Overtoun House and the estate in 1891. He purchased the neighbouring Garshake estate to the west of his lands in 1892. Carriages had been unable to gain access to the Overtoun mansion along the old eastern approach road as the incline was too steep, work commenced on constructing a new driveway as soon as Garshake was acquired.

Designed by the civil engineer and landscape architect H. E. Milner, the bridge was constructed using rough-faced ashlar and was completed in June 1895. It comprises three arches: a large central arch spanning a deep valley at the bottom of which flows the Overtoun Burn, flanked on each side by lower, smaller pedestrian arches.

Unexplained dog death

The deaths have received international media attention. The canine psychologist David Sands examined sight, smell and sound factors. He concluded that although it was not a definitive answer, the apparently even surrounding ground and foliage masks the drop on the other side, especially to dogs with their lowered point of view, and makes it appear that the whole area is one even plane. That, combined with the odour from male mink urine was possibly luring dogs to jump to the other side.

Author Paul Owens in the book "The Baron of Rainbow Bridge: Overtoun's Death Leaping Dog Mystery Unravelled" argues against Sands "Scent Theory", and the widely held "Optical Illusion Theory" and instead offers a supernatural explanation for the dog leaping phenomenon. Author Owens who has 4 decades of personal experience with the Overtoun Estate, and who lived there for 13 years at the foot of the bridges West Drive proposed that Overtoun has historically been cloaked in a blanket of supernatural activity e.g. fairies, presences, spirits, earth energies, and ghosts, which supersensitive dogs are picking up at the bridge.

A local hunter, John Joyce, who has lived in the area for 50 years, disagreed with the "Scent Theory". He said in 2014, "there is no mink around here. I can tell you that with absolute certainty." Local behaviorist Stan Rawlinson said in 2006 that dogs are colour blind and perceptual problems relating to this may cause them to accidentally run off the bridge.

Owners of Overtoun House, Bob and Melissa Hill interviewed for The New York Times stated that they have seen in the 17 years they have lived there "several dogs suddenly dive off the bridge" but as for the reason, Bob Hill says it is because "The smell of small animals scurrying around in the gorge below the bridge drives the dogs into a frenzy, then they break free of leashes — if they’re on any — and jump. And because it’s tapered, they will just topple over.”

The canine deaths have prompted claims of paranormal activity at the bridge. Paranormal investigator Brian Dunning asked, is it possible for "a dog to commit premeditated suicide"? David Sands stated "it's impossible for them to commit what we humans would call suicide." David Sexton from Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Wildlife investigated the bridge further and discovered that the end of the bridge where dogs are "are said to favor" contains "nests of mice, squirrels, and minks". Sands set up an experiment with ten dogs, On a field prepared with canisters containing mouse, squirrel, and mink scent, one of the dogs went to the squirrel scent, two preferred to play with their masters, and the remaining seven all went straight for the mink scent, many of them quite dramatically.

Other events

In October 1994, a man threw his two-week-old son to his death from the bridge because he believed that his son was an incarnation of the Devil. He then attempted to commit suicide several times, first by attempting to jump off the bridge, later by slashing his wrists.