The Overtoun Bridge is a common arch bridge in Scotland that dates back to 1859. Overtun gained fame thanks to dogs, which for several decades end their lives by jumping from this architectural structure. The first case of dog suicide was recorded in 1951, by 1955 there were already more than 48 such cases, in the same year it was found that mainly dogs with long muzzles jump from the bridge. For most of the animals, jumping from a 15-meter height ended in death, but some survived and, after recovering, came to the bridge again to complete what they had begun. Another interesting fact is that the dogs are jumping not anyhow, and not anyhow from where: a favorite place for jumping is between the last two flights on the right side,from where our four-legged friends throw themselves upside down and nothing else.
Local residents immediately dubbed the bridge cursed and began to bypass it. In 1994, a terrible bridge took the first human life: a father who was out of his mind threw his child off him, and then he went after him.
The phenomenon received international attention and the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals sent a representative to investigate. An expert ethologist (animal behavior specialist) David Sexton found that the undergrowth under the bridge is simply teeming with mice. And as you know, the smell of these animals greatly affects the behavior of dogs and cats. Sexton conducted an experiment: he spread the smell of three types of mice found on the Overtune Bridge and observed the behavior of dogs. As a result, only two dogs out of 30 showed no interest in the mouse scent, while the rest thoughtlessly ran to the place where the stench spread. “There is no mysticism here: dogs just run to smell - it's their nature,” says David Sexton.