Modern Mysteries

Greyfriars Bobby mystery has finally been solved

By T.K. Randall
July 26, 2022 ·  4 comments

The dog's statue remains a popular tourist attraction. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 4.0 Sumit Surai This heartwarming true story, which has since been the subject of several books and a movie, dates back to the 19th Century when a small dog spent 14 years guarding the grave of his deceased owner - John Gray - at Greyfriars Cemetery in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The dog would go on to become a local celebrity and upon his death a statue was erected to commemorate his vigil.

Even today, both the status and the cemetery remain popular tourist attractions.

One aspect of the story did remain unresolved, however - while the dog was long thought to be a Skye Terrier, more recently this assumption has been called into question.Now though, researchers have finally been able to solve this mystery once and for all by revealing that the dog was in fact a lesser-known Dandie Dinmont terrier.

At the time, they argue, Skye Terriers were mostly only found on the distant Isle of Skye, whereas Dandie Dinmont terriers were quite commonplace in Edinburgh.

The dog was also described at the time as a "Scotch Terrier" - a term often used to refer to Dandie Dinmont terriers.

"The more I researched him for our book the facts led to only one conclusion: that Greyfriars Bobby had to be a Dandie Dinmont terrier," said researcher and author Mike Macbeth.

Source: The Telegraph | Comments (4)

Tags: Dog