Introduction: How to Find Water and Attract Sceptisism
Here's a first - an instructable I am confident will not work.
Dowsing is a method for finding ... stuff. There are several different ways of doing it, but the most common way is "crossed sticks".
(I haven't bothered actually doing this - that would be a waste of time for an old sceptic like me - so the images are plundered from the web)
Step 1: What You Need
The equipment is simple -
A wire coat-hanger and two tubes about as long as your closed fist.
You can use anything for the tubes, as long as they are wide enough to allow the coat-hanger wire free movement. Many people use the tubes from empty ball-points, but you can use whatever you want, as long as they allow the coat-hanger wire to fit loosely.
You also need something to cut the coat-hanger, such as heavy wire-cutters, bolt-cutters or a pair of strong snips.
Step 2: Making the Dowsing Rods.
Cut the twisty bit off the hanger, cut the rest in half, then straighten and bend the wire into two L shapes.
Drop the short parts of the Ls into the tubes, and you're ready to go.
Step 3: How to Dowse.
Dowsing by this method is supposed to reveal unconscious movements of the body when your "sixth sense" reacts to... something.
To start, find a field to find something in. Stand near the edge, relax. Hold a dowsing rod in each hand with the rods pointing forwards.
Walk across the field, followed by your assistant.
As you walk, watch the rods. If your body senses... something, it (apparently) reacts by slightly tensing the back. This tiny movement is amplified by the rods and they move. Whenever the rods make a sudden movement, either crossing or swinging apart, stop and allow you assistant to note or mark the place.
Make several crossings of the field in each direction, noting each point where something happens.
Step 4: And Then?
It's up to you.
There's only one way to find out what's under the markers - dig. Make sure you have the land-owner's permission before you do, and beware of what is under your feet: some dowsers claim to be able to find power lines, or you may find an underground river. Or a sewer.
Whatever, if you find something, add a comment with what you found, where and when.
If you keep getting positive results, then maybe you ought to contact James Randi.
89 Comments
7 years ago
I made these and it absolutely works. You don't even need tubes. Just cut and bend the hangers into an L shape and hold the short ends in your hands loosely. There's nothing magical about it, I'm sure it's the result of a magnetic field created from the water. But I was amazed at how accurate and consistent it was.
Reply 7 years ago
Except water doesn't create a field of any kind.
It's a shame you only just noticed this "skill" - you missed being a millionaire by months:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Million_Dollar_P...
Reply 7 years ago
Bah. I planned to make a video last weekend to prove that this worked, after my experience from the previous weekend when they seemed to clearly detect water lines. Sadly, being very careful not to influence movement with my hands, I discovered it did not. I guess there is something to the ideomotor effect.
Reply 7 years ago
Yes, I read about all the scientific studies today and was surprised to learn that it had generally been invalidated. But I can tell you this: I did not expect it to work. I had a pipe leak outside underground last weekend. I used the two coat hangers, and CONSISTENTLY every water line I crossed pulled those hangers together. Now, this is different than just looking for water, these are water pipes. But it was so consistent that there has to be some rational explanation. It certainly wasn't wishful thinking on my part and it was not the ideomotor effect. Can we post videos here? I'll even record it to show it works.
9 years ago
Blue Hawaii that was jeses
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
If you want to talk to a specific person, click the "Reply" button.
Also, check your spelling and your sarcasm filters.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
Thanks
15 years ago on Introduction
my cuzin just had a 1000 foot well dug in new mexico and he had a dowser find where to dig the well, he was there for the dowsing and it worked
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
lol. I am positive you are joking. Maybe if he used a geologist he could have hit the water table in 20 feet.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Don't know anything about digging a well do you LOL It's obvious.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
There are many places where the water table is much more than twenty feet below the surface, especially in heavily-populated (by humans or farm animals) areas with low rainfall (few people seem to realise that fresh water is a dwindling resource).
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
That much is true. Big populations place a depression in the water table very easily. And it is only going to get more scarce that much quicker with our glaciers vanishing. People debate global warming left and right, but regardless of what the cause is, the fact is that our our glaciers are disappearing and taking most of our water sources with them. We need to do something for the long haul. Desalinization may soon wind up being our only option left.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
at least thats what he told me but i theres a good chance he was just messing with me
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
See, now if you actually did the dowsing you could claim credit. My Dad says he did some dowsing (which makes me think my Dad's a little weirder than I previously thought). But even that doesn't count.
15 years ago on Introduction
i have the reason why this works and why it only works with water. the wood you have to use is ferrous, and if i rember correct they have to have been cut down recently(like 10 min from when you start dowsing) why this works: the roots on ferrous trees have addapted to living in the desert by learning to find water instead of waiting for it to come to them, so when you hold the sticks over water they try to move to the water. i will get a link that supports this.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
I use coat hangers and brazing rod. Beleive it or not, I have never seen a coat hanger tree or brazing rod tree.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
I missed this comment...
Ferrous wood??
"Ferrous" means "to do with, or made of, metallic iron".
What you are talking about is tropism - the variation in a plant's growth triggered by external stimuli. Geotropism makes shoots grow up and roots grow down. Phototropism makes leaves turn towards the sun, and hydrotropism makes roots (not branches) grow into damper soil (they have to actually touch the water, they cannot sense it at a distance).
Tropisms are only exhibited during a plant's growth - they do not occur once the plant is dead.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
hmm, well i forgot the name of the plant and i was hoping that the person down there was right. anyway that was what i was told. it might be wrong but i don't think so. um , i will just find a link, that will be easier because i don't want to give you wrong information.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Sorry, it makes me giggle to see you defending one of the classic witchcraft skills...
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
Witchcraft? How about an "animal magnetism" instructable, now that I'd like to see!