Is “dowsing” real?

9 Comments

1. Tami October 17, 2018 Reply

   I was alway a bit skeptical about dowsing until I learned that I can do it. My workplace needed to find the location of a water line. Another employee suggested that we use a friend of his who could dowse rather than spend a lot of money to locate the water line using another means. All the employees were a bit skeptical. Before the dowser attempted to locate the water line, he allowed everyone on staff to attempt to find the water line using his dowsing rods…they were two L-shaped metal rods…one for each hand. He informed us that once the water line was located, the two rods would draw inward and cross one another. I watched 6 staff members fail before I made my attempt. I actually felt quite silly even trying such a thing. I took 3 steps with the rods in my hands when they crossed. The dowser assured us that’s where the water lines were without dowsing himself and just started to dig. BINGO! I’ve never tried dowsing with a stick but have my own dowsing rods now and have never failed to find underground water. I’m just as mystified by how the dowsing works and why I can do it as anyone else but so far, I’ve tried 9 times and suceeded 9 times at finding water lines. The rods seem to have a faster reaction when I’ve searched for a slow water leak for people. I’ve dowsed for both metal and pvc lines and it doesn’t seem to make a difference. I thought maybe the rods reacted to metal pipes since they are also metal but that’s not the case. I have never been asked to dowse for simply water…as some do when they are trying to find a good location to dig a well.

2. Robert N October 17, 2018 Reply

   Divining is an ‘Art’ and not a skill. We have a few professional ‘Diviners’ in my area and the really good ones are never out of a job. For instance this is a very rugged part of the country (mountains, lakes, wild animals) and finding water higher in elevation is difficult for even someone with the most advanced electronic equipment. It’s very spotty and two to three feet away (if you’re not down at lake level or better the largest aquifer in country nearby) you’ll hit basalt rock instead.

   New neighbors of a friend of mine, were building a new home with a view higher above the lake down at my elevation over the aquifer just feet below. There are only a few homes near a wilderness area a couple miles from us where they were building. Being from California, they didn’t fully trust our local ‘Deviner’s’ exact placement of where water could be found at a certain debt at an exact location at a certain gallonage per hour estimate. So they had the drillers move it so the pump house would look better and be closer to the house by several feet. Guess what? No Water!

   This Diviner is no novice at 81 yo and even the local water company and builders still hire him and always go by what, where and the volume he says to drill at. So they drilled deeper and still nothing, when the guy had them pull the rig and move it just feet away (where he said) and got water at the debt the Diviner told him at the rate he said as well! ……don’t mess with a ‘Diviner’ who’s been dousing for over 50 yrs or it could cost you thousands more for your huge mistake in not trusting them!

   I’ve never asked him if he’s Rh-D Negative though and he’s got hearing problems anyway. I haven’t even checked to see if he has Rh-D Negative Eyes. But he’ll tell you it’s an ‘Art’ and not a skill and you are either born with the gift or not. He’ll tell you it’s like a ‘Throw Back Sculptress’ he knows (my sister and he forgets every time). One day at 50 something… she took a class and sculpted art with amazingly “Lifelike Detail”, though she never even tried it before. Her commissioned work is now on display in museums around the country and he’ll tell you that’s how he found out he could ‘Divine’ near anything with such great accuracy! …..he was born to do it!

3. Lura October 17, 2018 Reply

   Dowsers or diviners as they are often called have been helping oilmen since the beginning to find oil. I was personally trained by one of the most famous dowser
   in Texas. He used a special stick cut from a special tree and then put a rag soaked
   in oil on the end of it. He told me that the oil on the rag was what he called a witness. He gave me a private lesson and help find and important well the same
   day. I was introduced to him by a very successful wildcatter. They have a rule that
   you must never tell the geologist about the dowsers. This is a very strict rule. For
   a reference read the personal biography of J. Paul Getty. He mentions the important of dowsers in his book. His father who was a banker shared the information with him. By the way I found a well myself using the dowsing.

• Mike DammannAuthor October 18, 2018 Reply

  “He used a special stick cut from a special tree ”
  What was special about it?

4. Leslie October 20, 2018 Reply

   A cousin of mine got a job with PGE that was mapping all of the water lines up in the Milpitas area, San Jose, Ca, basically the Bay Area. They had him do it by going to property and dowsing for water lines. This is where it becomes unbelievable, but he swears it’s true and I know my cousin well enough to know he believes what he is saying to be true. I’ve got doubts still, just because it sounds rediculous. He said that when there are two water lines belonging to two different properties, in order to tell which line goes to the proper property, he calls out the property owners name, and the dowsing leads him to correct water line! I still can’t believe this is true, but he has tested the theory over and over and says it works every time.
   When he got the job, they had someone train him how to dowse and he believes anyone can do it with the dowsing rods. It’s a matter of science not art. The only way to explain it is comparing it to magnetics. The rods are magnetized to water so as soon as you walk near the water the rods point to it . Doesn’t matter who is holding them . And the special wood is birch wood from a birch tree. I’m not sure what the diviner’s rods are made of but they use metal rods. But birch wood was the original dowsing tool used. My cousins name is Joe Gonzales I can see if he wants to add anything. PG and E is the electric company in our area I believe they were mapping the water so they could put in their gas lines without interrupting the water supply . I am Rh- with Hazel eyes and dark brown hair that turns reddish during the summer when exposed to sun overtime. My cousin Joe is also RH-, we are of Spanish decent.

• Mike DammannAuthor October 20, 2018 Reply

  he calls out the property owners name, and the dowsing leads him to correct water line!

  This part sounds less credible than the rest.

5. Karen B March 26, 2021 Reply

   Dowsing is very real. I watched my grandfather witch for water and he got it every time.
   I grew up on a homestead in North Dakota, we had cattle so it was common to search for new and better watering wells for the cows. Grandpa would get out 2 sticks he would walk along with them pointing out in front of him, when the started moving towards each other he would stop walking and put a stick in the ground and that is where they would drill for a well. He was always right.

6. Debbie Custer March 27, 2021 Reply

   Hi, Dowsing is very real! My husband discovered he could find water lines by dowsing. He drilled into a water line at work and his boss showed him how to look for water lines using 2 clothes hangers, bent into an L-shape. When my husband told me of this, I was fascinated! I had to try this for myself! Yes, I too can dowse, with either metal clothes hangers, bent into an L-shape, or a wooden stick with a V-shape at the end. I have done some research into this ability. Some say you can find whatever you are concentrating on finding. I have not tested the accuracy of that statement. I don’t believe everyone can do this though. When I first discovered this ability, I tested everyone I knew and a few strangers that were interested in what I was doing. My husband, myself and my 3 children could dowse, the rest of my family could not. At this time my son was only 5 years old and he could dowse. We used to go dowsing as a discovery game! The metal clothes hangers will cross and point downward when walking across any running water and is so potent, have nearly been jerked out of my fist. Very strange sensation indeed!

7. Michelle August 2, 2021 Reply

   I have been dowsing since 10 . My grandfather gave me willow to see if I could do it and he was pleased. Now have graduated to coat hangers and have been dowsing for neighbors . But then someone asked me if I hit static. How do the rods react to static or seepage? I have come to spots where the rods move slowly back and forth but never crosses . Is that a seepage? Just curious what this dude was talking about.

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