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Some people do it with a wooden stick or sticks, while others claim thin metal "L" shaped rods can find underground water. If I'm not mistaken, there's no science behind it.
Dowsing: Fact or Fiction?
- Thread starter bladerique
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I'll guess that science has been used the best ways to find underground water, and Ouija boards...I mean sticks were not proven to work.
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No one has ever proven that it really works, and you are correct; there is no scientific proof: http://www.randi.org/library/dowsing/
The sad thing is that a lot of people actually believe they can do it, but then they subject their own techniques to a scientific test... and find that they are full of it. Sad when people delude themselves, eh?
The sad thing is that a lot of people actually believe they can do it, but then they subject their own techniques to a scientific test... and find that they are full of it. Sad when people delude themselves, eh?
Fact
Provable, I don't know
Many years ago an old Scots gentleman taught me and few others dowsing.
We used bent metal from hangers
He had us practice in a large room by drawing circles in the air
The person was sent out before he drew the circle and the person then came in and seached for the circle
The success rate was much higher than chance
He sent me out into a packing lot and a lawn, with no instruction about what to expect and what to seach for
I 'found' a long rectangle many yards long and wide and with breaks in these long lines
He told me this was where on old building used to stand, and the breaks were the doors
So I have absolutely no doubt that someone with a high intuative knowledge of the land could dowse for water
Provable, I don't know
Many years ago an old Scots gentleman taught me and few others dowsing.
We used bent metal from hangers
He had us practice in a large room by drawing circles in the air
The person was sent out before he drew the circle and the person then came in and seached for the circle
The success rate was much higher than chance
He sent me out into a packing lot and a lawn, with no instruction about what to expect and what to seach for
I 'found' a long rectangle many yards long and wide and with breaks in these long lines
He told me this was where on old building used to stand, and the breaks were the doors
So I have absolutely no doubt that someone with a high intuative knowledge of the land could dowse for water
RyanW
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I am not a big believer in these types of things, but I have seen it work too many times to say that it doesn't work...
Edit: To add, I don't know about Circles but have seen it work with locating waterlines. My neighbor will often be asked to come locate Sprinkler lines in lawns. He is almost always less than a foot off.
Edit: To add, I don't know about Circles but have seen it work with locating waterlines. My neighbor will often be asked to come locate Sprinkler lines in lawns. He is almost always less than a foot off.
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So it's gone from searching for water to invisible circles? Am i missing something?
When I was growing up in Ohio we had an enormous willow tree in our yard.
The local constable would often stop by and clip some branches to use for dowsing. He used them to locate where to dig a well. He would demonstrate his skill at dowsing to my father and myself and when he walked over the underground stream that fed our well, it was amazing how the Y shaped twig would bend in his hand.
My father and I would try and very little would happen.
The local constable would often stop by and clip some branches to use for dowsing. He used them to locate where to dig a well. He would demonstrate his skill at dowsing to my father and myself and when he walked over the underground stream that fed our well, it was amazing how the Y shaped twig would bend in his hand.
My father and I would try and very little would happen.
i have had guys working in town on waterlines come to me to help find lines they have trouble finding. i have found lines nobody else can find. i have even done it blindfolded just to see how accurate i was. i use L shaped rods and they will cross when i am over the line. i have even found lines that were no longer used. i'm not sure how i do it but i have always been able to do it ever since i was a kid.
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I know my grandpa located his well this way in Kentucky 60+ years ago, and I have seen people locate water lines burried in concrete as well. I myself have done it and confirmed the results just to be assured. I don't know how it works or why but rest assured it does.
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i to have witnessed old wells and water lines being located. i saw dowsing used many times growing up.
in fact, i have a stuborn friend of mine that recently pain dearly for NOT listening to a dowser. he/they are about 9mi. from us (our closest neighbor). he wanted to put in a well here in the mountains and hired an old dowser, he could find no water. being stuborn and having money he decided to drill anyway. $15,000 later all he had was no water and a broken drill bit. the drill rig operator refused to drill no more.
some folks just never learn...
in fact, i have a stuborn friend of mine that recently pain dearly for NOT listening to a dowser. he/they are about 9mi. from us (our closest neighbor). he wanted to put in a well here in the mountains and hired an old dowser, he could find no water. being stuborn and having money he decided to drill anyway. $15,000 later all he had was no water and a broken drill bit. the drill rig operator refused to drill no more.
some folks just never learn...
I was taught by a cousin, who used it all the time. I've seen him find water numerous times. He showed me how, and it also worked for me. I've used both the "L" shaped rods, and willow branches, cut like a slingshot. I like the willow branches best, but I've found water with both styles. I've seen my cousin using the willow rods, and he would grip it as hard as he could, and it would peel the bark off of a fresh green rod, from the pull.
EarlFH
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Never tried it myself, and can't even begin to explain it, but my Grandfather on my Mom's side did it, even to the point that people would contact him to come locate places to dig wells.
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I have witched underground electric lines and water lines. Not sure how it works but it does. I met a man from KS that said he could witch cows and with about a 90% rate of checking for pregnancy. Pretty cool.
I had a gentleman show me using bent copper rods. I couldn't do it at first but he touched my wrists and walked me over the spot where he had located the water. The rods swung closed. After that I was able to do it. A friend of mine was also able to do it (with training). It is like you move into some resistance and the rods close.
Codger_64
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I do it all the time. Much of my work involves excavating. I locate buried utilities, septic tanks, etc. Sucess rate is about 90% within a few feet. I can tell something is there, but not always what that something is. To be sure, I then call the locator service who spots all utilities for me before I dig. They use electronic versions of my metal rods. electromagnitism is my best guess as to the mechanism by which they work.
High water content in the fresh wood is why that dowser kept coming back for a fresh rod. My Granddad, a depression era farmer in Arkansas, used a fruit tree rod. Pear, apple, etc. I can use metal coat hangers, but most accurate results are from a pair of welding rods identically bent. Try it yourself with a pair of rods made from coathangers. Cut them about a foot and a half long and bend a four inch 90 degree bend in one end of each for a "handle". Hold them loosely (so they can pivot in your upright fists) and parallel to each other in front of you about a foot apart (angle them slightly down to orient them parallel) and pass them over a full garden hose, a creek, bucket of water or an extension cord. When you cross the object, the rods will pivot toward each other. I note that they will "read" buried iron and tree roots too.
High water content in the fresh wood is why that dowser kept coming back for a fresh rod. My Granddad, a depression era farmer in Arkansas, used a fruit tree rod. Pear, apple, etc. I can use metal coat hangers, but most accurate results are from a pair of welding rods identically bent. Try it yourself with a pair of rods made from coathangers. Cut them about a foot and a half long and bend a four inch 90 degree bend in one end of each for a "handle". Hold them loosely (so they can pivot in your upright fists) and parallel to each other in front of you about a foot apart (angle them slightly down to orient them parallel) and pass them over a full garden hose, a creek, bucket of water or an extension cord. When you cross the object, the rods will pivot toward each other. I note that they will "read" buried iron and tree roots too.
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26 years working for water districts and I haven't seen any indication that it works. Sure, people "find" water while holding sticks...but nothing that couldn't be chalked up to luck or actual knowledge (sometimes in the background). You throw a handful of darts at a dartboard enough times and you're sure to get the occasional bulls-eye, plus a bunch of close calls that can be called success. After a while people develop a knack for things just through repetition. I can (without holding sticks) often find buried valve caps and water mains just based on physical clues and likely location. A few months ago we were looking for valves on a water main so we could shut it down. Although the valve caps were hidden under dirt and leaves, I took a digging bar and poked (with a clang) right down on top of the hidden metal cap. It made sense that it was there, plus I got lucky...sure impressed the guys though.
I don't know anything about finding underground water by dowsing, but I can and did for many years as an electrical utility engineer find underground water lines, power lines and telephone lines with two pieces of copper wire with a 90 degree bend for a handle.
I suppose the closest I ever came to a scientific test was when I moved to a new district and mentioned one day to my superintendent that I could find underground power lines. He said, "come with me." We went by the service dept, procured two lengths of copper wire, went to the parking lot behind the office. He pointed to the pad-mounted transformer at the edge of the lot and said, "find the power line into this building." I traced a path alone the edge of the paving for about fifty feet, then turning and passing under the paving to the service entrance at the building. He said that was the correct route, and that he had fully expected me to trace a straight line path directly from the transformer to the service entrance.
It is not an arcane or special ability. I have never encountered a person who could not find lines shortly after I showed them how. The most common mistake they made was to try to move too fast.
There are ways to get false readings. It works just as well if you walk under and overhead line. It also works on old rusty wire fence strands under the ground or hidden in the grass.
like almost everything else, you have to keep your brain turned on.
I suppose the closest I ever came to a scientific test was when I moved to a new district and mentioned one day to my superintendent that I could find underground power lines. He said, "come with me." We went by the service dept, procured two lengths of copper wire, went to the parking lot behind the office. He pointed to the pad-mounted transformer at the edge of the lot and said, "find the power line into this building." I traced a path alone the edge of the paving for about fifty feet, then turning and passing under the paving to the service entrance at the building. He said that was the correct route, and that he had fully expected me to trace a straight line path directly from the transformer to the service entrance.
It is not an arcane or special ability. I have never encountered a person who could not find lines shortly after I showed them how. The most common mistake they made was to try to move too fast.
There are ways to get false readings. It works just as well if you walk under and overhead line. It also works on old rusty wire fence strands under the ground or hidden in the grass.
like almost everything else, you have to keep your brain turned on.
You are missing something. It's not about water at all. It's about the dowser's ability to "feel" something. The ideomotor effect mentioned in the article is exactly correct. Whether it's sticks, rods or crystals, the dowser is responsible for the movement. It's the innate ability of that person that determines the effectiveness. I have seen it work for finding a great variety of items, and have no doubt that in the right hands it is an effective tool. But it's all about the effectiveness of the dowser.
This is a highly metaphysical subject, and I could go on for a long time, but I won't, because it seems as though you made up your mind prior to even asking.