21 thoughts on “Anybody had experience with dowsing?”
Not personally.
My grandfather made his living as a well driller. He started his company in 1921 and was the past president of the American Well Drilling Association.
He passed away when I was rather young. Through my years I met many old timers that knew him very well. I heard from more than a few that he would walk their property using that method and tell them, here is where he needed to drill.
One guy told me that he didn’t want the well there and argued about it with my granddad. He then said he should have listened because the spot he had chosen didn’t produce. The rig was moved to the location my granddad first suggested and they struck water.
He also drilled for oil and did many test sites for companies throughout Pa.
where both Pennsoil and Quaker State are from.
I have seen it done in western Kansas for water wells. Also I have done it to find underground water pipes. Used brazing rod bent in an L shape.
Yep, bent brazing rods will find water pipes.
Did the same thing many times but only for DI pipe, didn’t work for AC or tile, at least not for me.
I watched my Grandfather do it a couple of times. Right on the money both times.
There are a bunch of Youtube videos on this out there. I watched one guy not only pick up every pipe leading into a house, he even picked up the buried cable for the television.
It was amazing.
Back around 1962 my dad hired a dowser to find where water ran under our property. As a 10 year old curiosity got the better of me and I asked the dowser to show me how it works. He used a green Y shaped bough he had cut off our lemon tree, any living tree would do he stated. about 18 inches on the straight and the thinner branches on the split forming the Y were about the same, Holding it was kind of strange, had to turn palms up and curl fingers around the y inwards toward your chest. Then slowly walk across property arms out straight font in a back and forth separating each run by about 6 feet.
Sure enough, it was spooky as hell. at one point the rod pulled itself downwards strongly twisting my wrists. Surprised the heck out of me. after a few runs, we actually had a pattern by dropping a stone at each down tug, the aquifer ran about 40 degrees diagonal through the plot of land.
I have never tried this again since, but that one time, something was happening, don’t ask me what. I am a trained EE with pretty good dose of physics and chemistry and have no way to explain this that is rational.
Sounds like a nod to the Electric Universe Theory or some such, where you are the antenna (~80% water and a capacitor) and the dowsing rod is the indicator.
Oh, hold the bough rod horizontal to the land, forces you to really curl the wrists upward.
Here in rural north Alabama not everyone is connected to municipal or county water. A lot of people just prefer well water. There are still well drillers and a demand for pumps and pump parts. The local well driller nearest me uses a diving rod to locate water. I can find water lines (metal or plastic) using two coat hangers bent into an “L” shape loosely holding one in each hand. An old timer showed me how to do it when I was a boy. People can scoff, but it really works. Yes, undergrown communication cables and other things (surveying pins that have buried over the years, etc.) can be located using this method too.
Any 2 metal rods will work to find water whether natural or in pipes.
When I needed a new irrigation well on my east 1/4 and after five dry holes and a bad sand well, I had a fella come and dowse a well. He hit it on the money and I got a good well. A neighbor put up a new house southeast of me and when he couldn’t find water after several dry holes, he had the same gent come and dowse his well. 29 feet of gravel on the first try. He used a simple dry willow Y shaped stick and as I drove the pickup around the field he kept up a conversation until he felt something and had me stop. He got out and flagged the spot for the test well and then used his foot to mark an X on the spot for the irrigation well that I flagged. Ervy Dohmen, water witcher now passed away.
I’ve never been able to make it work.
Still in use, can confirm.
I did it as a young lad on our ranch. Learned it from the guy who dug our main well after my folks bought the place (California gold rush country, 1957). Doesn’t work for everybody. Didn’t work for my dad, but if we walked arm in arm together, he could do it. We used boughs from Willow trees mostly although others seem to work fine. Used bailing wire bent in an ‘L’ to follow the flow underground–4″ legs held in your fists, 2 ft. legs parallel with the ground. None of this will respond to surface water.
Also watched a husband and wife team use three dried peas on a thread. Squatted over the X on the ground and called the depth to water within 10 feet.
Us folks here in NW Oregon call it water witching.
I have the gift of such witchcraft.
It’s real. I use coat hangers that I cut up just for such occasion.
It all started when a buddy of mine was trying to find a water line that was running through his field where he wanted to build a pole barn.
He was out in the field trying to witch and wasn’t having much luck so I grabbed the water witchers from him and tried it on a mud puddle. To my amazement, it worked.
Seeing how he had beer and I had the magic, it took about a six pack to chase down the waterline.
Learned the coat hangar method when I was a kid. Seems to be more metal sensitive than water sensitive, although I have detected non-metal drain pipe that way. It also triggers if there are any wires overhead, so you have to be aware of that.
I use #6 AWG copper groundwire (bent in ‘Ls”) with the short ends inserted into palm-width pieces of half-inch plumber’s pvc (the white stuff). 32″ or thereabouts of the #6 being enough.
Hereabouts (Arkansas) we too call it witching.
I use brazing rod, with about 4″ bent just past 90 degrees for a handle. A lot of folks (half or more?) can’t do it. Was taught to ask ( to no one in particular) can I dowse, and should I dowse today. With the two rods held horizontal , crossing each other in front is a yes or positive for water or metal. Going away from each other is a no, negative, or wrong direction. Using a y shaped switch of hazel or willow (or whatever is handy, alive and a bit whippy) with palms up and switch horizontal, dip down is yes/ positive and up is no/negative/turn around. I’ve never seen it done with a plumb. It weirds out some folks when they see it being done.
I just had an epiphany… no, not all over the floor. Stop that.
It seems to be “electric field” in nature, so perhaps skin resistance is the key!?! Mine is 50 megohms, I just don’t get sweaty palms…
Could be, could be…
There has been radio-graphic studies on humans and animals and there is a definite aura encircling us and that type of aura is an electric field. We are really just a big chemical battery… 50 megohms? I would have thought you would have a much lower potential…
Ideomotor effect … Look it up~
Yes the simple reality behind the Star of seances, ouija boards and favorite self confirmation STAR of grifters and scammers forever…
I’ve tried Ouija solo before. It wanted to move. I’d freak and it’d stop. lol. Definitely subconscious driven 😉
Simple test for yourself. Grab an electric fence three times, being shocked each time. Can you actually make our hand close on that wire a fourth time? Fifth time?
LoL, I couldn’t. Brain says DO IT and hand would not close. Very disconcerting, but its same situ, reversed. Same issue bungee jumping. telling hand let go of rail. Betrayal as hand refuses to let me fall away. Took real mental effort to let go!
Back to dowsing- the SECOND issue(which is WHY drilling success happens.)
An aquifer is the horizontal layer below the ground surface which contains water. Horizontal “region” meaning ANYWHERE on property you go straight down, you WILL punch into it.
Depth varies due to various subsurface features.
WHICH water layer you want is also a factor. Near surface in sandy layer will contain all the farm and yard chemicals and maybe its near coast so may be salty too? Go deeper, you want to skip the water which comes from that coal bearing strata. It will smell and taste like turd sulfur. Somewhere down there is better “fresh” water.
Anyhoo, point is this: Sure, dowsing will show ya a place to drill. They are all the same on most properties.
Common sense helps too. Don’t try to drill on the 60 degree solid stone back slope. Flatter ground in your valley will work better.
Spend money on drilling. Check for free review (yor tax $ paid for the database!) of your area’s drilling records of neighbors wells. Federal USGS and State level Geol Surveys have them available for you.
I have no intent to insult or demean anyone for their beliefs, nor their personal experiences. I gave above examples of mind over matter and reverse. And religious/supernatural experience is tangential. Different topic though, I got no quantifiable data for couple things I’ve experienced therein :)-
I am a geologist. I do know about ground water. And I do know about ideomotor effect. Best Regards!
Not personally.
My grandfather made his living as a well driller. He started his company in 1921 and was the past president of the American Well Drilling Association.
He passed away when I was rather young. Through my years I met many old timers that knew him very well. I heard from more than a few that he would walk their property using that method and tell them, here is where he needed to drill.
One guy told me that he didn’t want the well there and argued about it with my granddad. He then said he should have listened because the spot he had chosen didn’t produce. The rig was moved to the location my granddad first suggested and they struck water.
He also drilled for oil and did many test sites for companies throughout Pa.
where both Pennsoil and Quaker State are from.
I have seen it done in western Kansas for water wells. Also I have done it to find underground water pipes. Used brazing rod bent in an L shape.
Yep, bent brazing rods will find water pipes.
Did the same thing many times but only for DI pipe, didn’t work for AC or tile, at least not for me.
I watched my Grandfather do it a couple of times. Right on the money both times.
There are a bunch of Youtube videos on this out there. I watched one guy not only pick up every pipe leading into a house, he even picked up the buried cable for the television.
It was amazing.
Back around 1962 my dad hired a dowser to find where water ran under our property. As a 10 year old curiosity got the better of me and I asked the dowser to show me how it works. He used a green Y shaped bough he had cut off our lemon tree, any living tree would do he stated. about 18 inches on the straight and the thinner branches on the split forming the Y were about the same, Holding it was kind of strange, had to turn palms up and curl fingers around the y inwards toward your chest. Then slowly walk across property arms out straight font in a back and forth separating each run by about 6 feet.
Sure enough, it was spooky as hell. at one point the rod pulled itself downwards strongly twisting my wrists. Surprised the heck out of me. after a few runs, we actually had a pattern by dropping a stone at each down tug, the aquifer ran about 40 degrees diagonal through the plot of land.
I have never tried this again since, but that one time, something was happening, don’t ask me what. I am a trained EE with pretty good dose of physics and chemistry and have no way to explain this that is rational.
Sounds like a nod to the Electric Universe Theory or some such, where you are the antenna (~80% water and a capacitor) and the dowsing rod is the indicator.
Oh, hold the bough rod horizontal to the land, forces you to really curl the wrists upward.
Here in rural north Alabama not everyone is connected to municipal or county water. A lot of people just prefer well water. There are still well drillers and a demand for pumps and pump parts. The local well driller nearest me uses a diving rod to locate water. I can find water lines (metal or plastic) using two coat hangers bent into an “L” shape loosely holding one in each hand. An old timer showed me how to do it when I was a boy. People can scoff, but it really works. Yes, undergrown communication cables and other things (surveying pins that have buried over the years, etc.) can be located using this method too.
Any 2 metal rods will work to find water whether natural or in pipes.
When I needed a new irrigation well on my east 1/4 and after five dry holes and a bad sand well, I had a fella come and dowse a well. He hit it on the money and I got a good well. A neighbor put up a new house southeast of me and when he couldn’t find water after several dry holes, he had the same gent come and dowse his well. 29 feet of gravel on the first try. He used a simple dry willow Y shaped stick and as I drove the pickup around the field he kept up a conversation until he felt something and had me stop. He got out and flagged the spot for the test well and then used his foot to mark an X on the spot for the irrigation well that I flagged. Ervy Dohmen, water witcher now passed away.
I’ve never been able to make it work.
Still in use, can confirm.
I did it as a young lad on our ranch. Learned it from the guy who dug our main well after my folks bought the place (California gold rush country, 1957). Doesn’t work for everybody. Didn’t work for my dad, but if we walked arm in arm together, he could do it. We used boughs from Willow trees mostly although others seem to work fine. Used bailing wire bent in an ‘L’ to follow the flow underground–4″ legs held in your fists, 2 ft. legs parallel with the ground. None of this will respond to surface water.
Also watched a husband and wife team use three dried peas on a thread. Squatted over the X on the ground and called the depth to water within 10 feet.
Us folks here in NW Oregon call it water witching.
I have the gift of such witchcraft.
It’s real. I use coat hangers that I cut up just for such occasion.
It all started when a buddy of mine was trying to find a water line that was running through his field where he wanted to build a pole barn.
He was out in the field trying to witch and wasn’t having much luck so I grabbed the water witchers from him and tried it on a mud puddle. To my amazement, it worked.
Seeing how he had beer and I had the magic, it took about a six pack to chase down the waterline.
Learned the coat hangar method when I was a kid. Seems to be more metal sensitive than water sensitive, although I have detected non-metal drain pipe that way. It also triggers if there are any wires overhead, so you have to be aware of that.
I use #6 AWG copper groundwire (bent in ‘Ls”) with the short ends inserted into palm-width pieces of half-inch plumber’s pvc (the white stuff). 32″ or thereabouts of the #6 being enough.
Hereabouts (Arkansas) we too call it witching.
I use brazing rod, with about 4″ bent just past 90 degrees for a handle. A lot of folks (half or more?) can’t do it. Was taught to ask ( to no one in particular) can I dowse, and should I dowse today. With the two rods held horizontal , crossing each other in front is a yes or positive for water or metal. Going away from each other is a no, negative, or wrong direction. Using a y shaped switch of hazel or willow (or whatever is handy, alive and a bit whippy) with palms up and switch horizontal, dip down is yes/ positive and up is no/negative/turn around. I’ve never seen it done with a plumb. It weirds out some folks when they see it being done.
I just had an epiphany… no, not all over the floor. Stop that.
It seems to be “electric field” in nature, so perhaps skin resistance is the key!?! Mine is 50 megohms, I just don’t get sweaty palms…
Could be, could be…
There has been radio-graphic studies on humans and animals and there is a definite aura encircling us and that type of aura is an electric field. We are really just a big chemical battery… 50 megohms? I would have thought you would have a much lower potential…
Ideomotor effect … Look it up~
Yes the simple reality behind the Star of seances, ouija boards and favorite self confirmation STAR of grifters and scammers forever…
I’ve tried Ouija solo before. It wanted to move. I’d freak and it’d stop. lol. Definitely subconscious driven 😉
Simple test for yourself. Grab an electric fence three times, being shocked each time. Can you actually make our hand close on that wire a fourth time? Fifth time?
LoL, I couldn’t. Brain says DO IT and hand would not close. Very disconcerting, but its same situ, reversed. Same issue bungee jumping. telling hand let go of rail. Betrayal as hand refuses to let me fall away. Took real mental effort to let go!
Back to dowsing- the SECOND issue(which is WHY drilling success happens.)
An aquifer is the horizontal layer below the ground surface which contains water. Horizontal “region” meaning ANYWHERE on property you go straight down, you WILL punch into it.
Depth varies due to various subsurface features.
WHICH water layer you want is also a factor. Near surface in sandy layer will contain all the farm and yard chemicals and maybe its near coast so may be salty too? Go deeper, you want to skip the water which comes from that coal bearing strata. It will smell and taste like turd sulfur. Somewhere down there is better “fresh” water.
Anyhoo, point is this: Sure, dowsing will show ya a place to drill. They are all the same on most properties.
Common sense helps too. Don’t try to drill on the 60 degree solid stone back slope. Flatter ground in your valley will work better.
Spend money on drilling. Check for free review (yor tax $ paid for the database!) of your area’s drilling records of neighbors wells. Federal USGS and State level Geol Surveys have them available for you.
I have no intent to insult or demean anyone for their beliefs, nor their personal experiences. I gave above examples of mind over matter and reverse. And religious/supernatural experience is tangential. Different topic though, I got no quantifiable data for couple things I’ve experienced therein :)-
I am a geologist. I do know about ground water. And I do know about ideomotor effect. Best Regards!