# Do you believe in dowsing?



## SugarMag (Jun 30, 2011)

Hi all, just became active here. I am a newbie homesteader. I've been reading up for a couple years, just moved to 22 wooded acres. There is a small creek branch, and also an ancient native american site with flint chips and arrowheads. The fella (bless him) that cut my road thinks that the ancient people stayed here cause of a spring. Man, that would be neat! So? Dowsing? Pro or con?


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

Yepper!


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## farminghandyman (Mar 4, 2005)

I have seen it done and work,

I can not do it, my SIL can,


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## LWMSAVON (Oct 8, 2002)

Yes. My Dad did and I can.


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## SugarMag (Jun 30, 2011)

Thanks guys! I'm inclined to believe, just getting settled here and don't really know the folks yet, but a little scared of fire in this drought. So, how would you fish around trying to find a dowser?


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

google Dowser's for your state and start from there.

Do I believe in it...you betcha! I've been known to make it work for me...


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## bignugly (Jul 13, 2011)

My aunt and uncle ran a very successful water drilling business. She did the dowsing and he drilled the well.


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## unregistered41671 (Dec 29, 2009)

There is a large thread about this over in Homesteading Questions.
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/ge...steading-questions/420038-water-witching.html

Many more 
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/search.php?searchid=3851965


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## AVanarts (Jan 2, 2011)

We had a neighbor dowse to find a location for our well. The locals say this guy is good, so I guess it works.

His wife said that she can't do it, but if he puts his hands on her shoulders she can "feel" it and it will work for her then.


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## SugarMag (Jun 30, 2011)

Thanks all! Sure can't hurt to try!


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## loghome mom (Oct 10, 2005)

We had someone come out when we were building and he not only told us where to drill, but how deep the water was. He was right on with both!


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## tarbe (Apr 7, 2007)

No doubt about it!


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## NorthCountryWd (Oct 17, 2008)

Don't know how, but it definitely works.


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## Alaska (Jun 16, 2012)

Ditto
Dont know how or why but it works. I can do it and seems tome anybody that is open to it and some that are not can do it with some basic instruction.
Why all these brilliant scientist have not come with an explanation is beyond me.


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## cmcon=7 (Mar 7, 2010)

not at all


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## wrekless (Feb 21, 2011)

I think there are charlatans out there like with anything else. I do know that when we had water pipe problems on the farm growing up (miles of buried waterlines), I would get handed a couple of copper rods and dad would dig where I marked. I was within an inch or two every time. 

He couldn't do it at all. Kind of like with radios. If I tune in a station and then walk away from the radio it goes out of tune. If my wife sets it but then I walk over to it, it goes to static. I've never understood it, but it seems to work. 

I've never tried for deep natural water, but that would be interesting.


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## downsized (Aug 28, 2012)

wrekless said:


> I think there are charlatans out there like with anything else. I do know that when we had water pipe problems on the farm growing up (miles of buried waterlines), I would get handed a couple of copper rods and dad would dig where I marked. I was within an inch or two every time.
> 
> He couldn't do it at all. Kind of like with radios. If I tune in a station and then walk away from the radio it goes out of tune. If my wife sets it but then I walk over to it, it goes to static. I've never understood it, but it seems to work.
> 
> I've never tried for deep natural water, but that would be interesting.


Okay, silly question... can you wear watches that contain batteries? I ask because I can find water lines and buried electric wires with a bent copper wire (they're beneath my heal when the wire shifts)... but I have a heck of a time with anything that uses batteries (watch, headlamp lights, cameras, etc) and I've always wondered if other people have the same problem or if they're related.

For me, for water lines I'm dead on and with buried electric, I'm within 8 inches left or right. But all of these things are only buried at most 3' under ground. Not nearly the same as dowsing.


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## trimpy (Mar 30, 2011)

Dowsing has been scientifically proven many times over the past 400 years to be no more reliable than random chance.

The dowsing apparatus does nothing other than amplify the slight movements of the hands. This is called the Ideomotor effect. Subconscious knowledge or perception (certain rocks, plants, and other topological features) can manifest through these slight movements as well. Dowsing is also heavily susceptible to a confirmation bias, where only positive results are cherry picked and negative ones are disregarded.

The simple truth is that using the simple hit-and-miss method your results will approach a 75% success rate in the US. Some water exists under the surface almost everywhere on the planet. With adequate rain fall and favorable geology it really isn't hard to find water.

Rely on science (a trained geologist for example) and not magic.


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## reubenT (Feb 28, 2012)

Well; It does work. Those who do it know that it does. 

We studied into the hows and why's of it quite extensively, and what we found out made us steer clear of it ever since. 

There's actually nothing scientific about it. It's actually a division of spiritualism at work. There's great evil behind it masquerading as good. I won't get near it.


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

reubenT said:


> Well; It does work. Those who do it know that it does.
> 
> We studied into the hows and why's of it quite extensively, and what we found out made us steer clear of it ever since.
> 
> There's actually nothing scientific about it. It's actually a division of spiritualism at work. There's great evil behind it masquerading as good. I won't get near it.


Why is it when something can't be explained, it's always called Evil???? Spiritualism is not evil, it's been around before the time of Christ.....


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## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

I can do it.
My son can do it.
My spouse, and both girls cannot.

It freaks me out.


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## farminghandyman (Mar 4, 2005)

as far as drowsing goes, some can and some can not do it, and there are testimonials to that effect on the above statements, 

but now the question I see is what are they in tune to, like post 17, says I can find wires and pipes, 

my SIL can do it most of the time, but we were trying to find the power wires in his yard, he could trace what we guessed as water lines, but could not register the power lines, 

now one old guy I knew thought you needed to hold a vile or a piece of what you were wanting to find in one of your hands with the rod to tell the rod what to look for, 

he walked his property for months with a small bottle of crude oil and believed in it enough to drill an exploratory well, he did not find oil,

like I have said I have seen it work on wires and pipes and so on, so yes I believe it works, but like in our area there is nearly water 100% of the under ground, area, 

so how does one single out one thing or for what one is looking for, I do not know,

but if some one can find a pipe that runs under the earth and there is no visible sign of it left some thing is happening,

but one time my SIL was building a bin and we needed to dig footers and he keep locating a "line", it appeared to run from the well pump house out to a pasture, the interesting thing for nearly ever 100 foot he would walk across the area and would mark it, the marks were in a perfectly straight line, (there was no sign of a tank or hydrant in the pasture, and this "line" went under one grain bin and was going to be under the new bin we were building, and the footers for this bin on a stand called for some reasonable deep footers, and the "line" was indicated, under where one of the footers was planed to go, we talked to the owner, and he was unaware of any pipe running in that direction, (this is about 400 yards of pipe or the line being indicated), straight as a taught string, so we dig and did not hit any thing, 
was there a line there, I do not know, we did not find one, (not a place a wire would have been put either), (we did not check on the other side of the well house) Or beyond where the bin was going to be, 
what we were locating I do not know it appeared to be a line on the surface but I think we would have hit it with the back hoe when digging, was it some thing else under deeper I do not know was it a stream of water 300 foot down?

I think it works but I do not know if one can tell what there locating,

I have had my SIL do some at my place, trying to find some waterlines we found the line and we found other as well, some was a nail in the ground and some we never did figure out what he was feeling, or the rods were feeling, 

(I believe in it but I do not know its accuracy or discrimination ability's)


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## Wildcat (Dec 2, 2012)

My dad was the local dowser in our small town. Some people brought in well drilling companies and dug until it was costing them a fortune. Dad didn't charge a penny. He would walk with a v shaped stick from an apple tree. I could only do it if he held my shoulder. The stick would turn so hard to the ground that the new bark would peel off in my hand. He could tell you where it was and how far down. Never missed. He was always within three feet of what he said. No one can tell me dowsing doesn't work.


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