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Does anyone here believe in a dowser or diviner?

kissgoodnightkissgoodnight Member Posts: 4,063 ✭✭✭
edited September 2018 in General Discussion
I did not, until I saw a guy use 2 bent copper wires to find a buried electric line. It seemed to work. He found it very easily. I now believe it works, at least for electrical lines.
What say you?

Comments

  • gearheaddadgearheaddad Member Posts: 15,091 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My Cousin works at a golf course and claims he can find electric and water lines.
    I want to see him do it!
  • JamesRKJamesRK Member Posts: 25,670 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    A forked willow branch works for finding water. I didn?t believe it worked when I was a kid because a lot of people told me it was everything from witchcraft to superstition to a fraud rip-offs. After I found water with it several times I started believing it works.

    It ain?t magic. Anybody can do it. The people who put on a big show and tell you there is something special about them that lets them do it are the rip-off artists.
    The road to hell is paved with COMPROMISE.
  • kissgoodnightkissgoodnight Member Posts: 4,063 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I picked up the copper wires and it worked! My problem was, did it work, or did my knowing where the line was affect my divining?
  • GrasshopperGrasshopper Member Posts: 17,041 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I believe it works. I saw a person witch water when I was a kid. We dug a water well where he said and it was a good spring fed well we drank from all my youth.
  • fideaufideau Member Posts: 11,895 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Saw it done once. Located the well site on our property when I was a kid. Of course, you never know, there might have been water anywhere under that ground.
  • KnifecollectorKnifecollector Member Posts: 3,267 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I am locally known for being able to find good places to dig wells. I use #12 copper wires, I can't use peach limbs like some guys do.
  • Wild TurkeyWild Turkey Member Posts: 2,425 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    When I was young my dad ordered an irrigation well drilled on a farm he had just bought. It was surrounded by irrigated farms so the driller felt he would hit water and drilled in the most convenient spot.

    No water.

    Dad had someone he knew as a dowser come and and he marked a spot a few yards away and the driller hit water. Well produced over 1000 GPM.[:D]

    And wells there are 600+ feet deep.

    Some things we just can't explain.[:D]
  • spasmcreekspasmcreek Member Posts: 37,717 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    yep...i knew a guy who could find almost anything..had a couple of bent brass welding rods always with him...used him when i did work in the NE part of the county for the highway dept...tested him and never fooled him ?????? weird stuff..i couldn't find my boots
  • 84Bravo184Bravo1 Member Posts: 10,461 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've seen it done more than once (for water,) here in the W.NC. /E.TN.Mountains, (granted) a long time ago.

    Yes, I believe.
  • NeoBlackdogNeoBlackdog Member Posts: 17,275 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've located water lines, buried electrical, sewer lines and the like with a couple of bent gas welding rods. Never tried it to locate a well, but all the other stuff I've been within inches of hitting dead on.
  • mrs102mrs102 Member Posts: 1,172 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Our water utility uses a form of that tool to help locate water main breaks. I've seen it used effectively.
  • pulsarncpulsarnc Member Posts: 6,559 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Been doing it for the past 40 years always used brass brazing rods . Never had any success with the tree branches
    cry Havoc and let slip  the dogs of war..... 
  • TRAP55TRAP55 Member Posts: 8,292 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Well drillers would call my great uncle to come and dowse for them. He would show them where, and tell them within 20ft of how far down they had to drill. He was never wrong.
  • pulsarncpulsarnc Member Posts: 6,559 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Been doing it for the past 40 years always used brass brazing rods . Never had any success with the tree branches
    cry Havoc and let slip  the dogs of war..... 
  • longspur riderlongspur rider Member Posts: 2,620 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My uncle could find water & power lines easily. He had a trenching business & dug through them on a regular basis.
  • MobuckMobuck Member Posts: 14,163 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've "witched"water for close to 40 years for fun and profit.
    Sunday afternoon I was out staking a water line in advance of digging it out to access the electric wire buried with the line. The water district guy up the road is coming to verify my proximity but I'm darned confident on the location.
    I'm not infallible as I missed a line 3 years ago by 3' due to depth and a large tree root that gave me a false signal.
    BTW
    I use only green forked sticks.
  • Bottom GunBottom Gun Member Posts: 232 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Before I drilled my well, I asked my neighbor, Alex, to witch it for me. Alex was an older Mexican gentleman. He showed up with a small forked mesquite branch and walked back and forth on my property with it. He stopped at one point and told me to try it right here. He even estimated the depth of the aquafir and the flow rate as well. He said the water was just below 200 ft and to expect 5-6 gal/min.
    He showed me how to do it but no matter what I did, I couldn?t get it to work for me.

    I passed this information to the well driller and his assistant thought it was one of the funniest things he had ever heard and just kept on ridiculing the entire time they drilled. When they reached 200 ft, this smug * clown gleefully asked ?Watcha wanna do now, Boss??
    I told him to keep going and reminded him the witch said the water was below 200 ft.
    They hit water at 220 ft and the laughing and ridicule stopped. When they were finished drilling, they checked the flow and found I was getting 5-6 gal/min.
    ?So I guess the water witch was right on the money, eh?? was my comment.
    Nobody had anything to say after that.

    My friend, Alex, is no longer with us. He passed away a few years ago and took his remarkable talent with him.
    Mechanical engineers have their moments.
  • truthfultruthful Member Posts: 2,143 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yup, I watched my Dad do it many, many, times. He tried to teach me how to do it but I didn't have the skill. Finally one day after Dad had located a strong water spot, he gave me a new stick (he used young apple branches), and told me how to hold it really really tight.I walked forward across the spot he found with no results. "Try it again", he said. "This time I am going to walk close behind you and hold your wrists." We walked forward again. As we approached the water spot he found, the stick started to move downward. I held it as tight as I could but the stick kept moving down. Directly above the spot, it pointed straight down. I released my grip on the stick and found out that I had twisted the bark off the stick with both hands.
  • bullshotbullshot Member Posts: 14,720 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've done it for years, finding sewer and water lines and buried conduit.

    Heard from a lot of skeptics over the years ..... until they see it for themselves. I have no idea why it works (doesn't for everyone) but it has never failed for me.
    "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you"
  • asopasop Member Posts: 9,019 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've seen it done with copper rods with great success. I believe it has to do with the earth being dug up and the magnetic field being disturbed?
  • 4205raymond4205raymond Member Posts: 3,423 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Use to be a fella in 50's back home in Va. who used a willow branch. He was really good at finding water but would not ask for pay. Folks gave him a little green stuff, chicken, pig, you name it. Don't know if it was the willow branch or his magic palms.
  • 4205raymond4205raymond Member Posts: 3,423 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Use to be a fella in 50's back home in Va. who used a willow branch. He was really good at finding water but would not ask for pay. Folks gave him a little green stuff, chicken, pig, you name it. Don't know if it was the willow branch or his magic palms.
  • babunbabun Member Posts: 11,038 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Found buried lines, pipe for over 40 years. [retired electrical contractor].
    Used 2 pieces of solid copper wire , then bought one of these...

    magnetomatic01.jpg
  • jwb267jwb267 Member Posts: 19,664 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I prefer an apple limb to find water and plain old welding rods to find anything else buried
  • montanajoemontanajoe Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 60,240 ******
    edited November -1
    I've used two metal coat hangers to find water lines,on more than one occassion,with great success. Yes,I believe in them.
  • arraflipperarraflipper Member Posts: 1,256 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I use what ever metal is handy and locate water lines and drains, sewer and electrical lines. Why it works I don't know, but it does. I never tried to locate water, because around here most places you can't miss.
  • mnrivrat48mnrivrat48 Member Posts: 1,707 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    My neighbor tells a story of using dowsing rods to detect the gender of people buried in the cemetery. Seems he witnessed a fellow do this by walking over the grave and having the rods move either toward or away from each other depending on male or female occupants.

    When he (my neighbor) showed disbelief the guy was able to do this he was given the rods to try for himself. The markers were hidden from him and he walked a row of graves as shown and said he was able to do it also with 100% correctness.

    I guess I will keep an open mind to the whole issue. Would be interesting to do this over a transgender and see what would happen. [?]
  • AzAfshinAzAfshin Member Posts: 2,985 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    <Face Desk/>

    Are you guys serious? Water dowsing? Please. Anyone here who thinks they can or know someone who can really do this, James Randi offers a $1,000,000 prize to anyone who can prove they have such an ability. All you have to do is submit to a controlled test. This prize has been on the table for years for anyone who claims psychic abilities and funny enough, nobody has been able to collect it. Just look him up on youtube. Here's a short little blurb about water dowsing:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMtuWymUzz4
  • cowboy77845cowboy77845 Member Posts: 316 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yes. That's how folks around home located place to dig wells.
  • capguncapgun Member Posts: 1,848
    edited November -1
    Scientific analysis "dowsing does not work when it is tested under properly controlled conditions that rule out the use of other cues to indicate target location."
  • jwb267jwb267 Member Posts: 19,664 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by AzAfshin
    <Face Desk/>

    Are you guys serious? Water dowsing? Please. Anyone here who thinks they can or know someone who can really do this, James Randi offers a $1,000,000 prize to anyone who can prove they have such an ability. All you have to do is submit to a controlled test. This prize has been on the table for years for anyone who claims psychic abilities and funny enough, nobody has been able to collect it. Just look him up on youtube. Here's a short little blurb about water dowsing:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMtuWymUzz4



    F that old bus turd
    there are some things that are un explainable. dowsing is one of them
    I had an aunt that could remove the pain from a burn. my dad could stop the hiccups
  • AzAfshinAzAfshin Member Posts: 2,985 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by jwb267
    quote:Originally posted by AzAfshin
    <Face Desk/>

    Are you guys serious? Water dowsing? Please. Anyone here who thinks they can or know someone who can really do this, James Randi offers a $1,000,000 prize to anyone who can prove they have such an ability. All you have to do is submit to a controlled test. This prize has been on the table for years for anyone who claims psychic abilities and funny enough, nobody has been able to collect it. Just look him up on youtube. Here's a short little blurb about water dowsing:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMtuWymUzz4



    F that old bus turd
    there are some things that are un explainable. dowsing is one of them
    I had an aunt that could remove the pain from a burn. my dad could stop the hiccups


    Of course, let's ignore facts, logic, reasoning and scientific method and just go with our feelings (I know a political group that does that too) and "fish stories". I always say, ignorance is simply a lack of knowledge and is not bad. Stupidity is when someone insists on ignorant statements and will not accept logic and facts.

    Tell you what, I'll put my money where my mouth is. I'll take 10 drums, fill 3 with water and bury all ten in a place with no water under ground (or at least within a reasonable depth) at reasonable distances from each other. I'll flag the location of all the drums. You get to do the water dowsing and have to identify exactly the 3 drums with water. If you do, I'll give you $1000, but if you fail, you give me $1000. You can bring someone else if you like instead. But each wrong attempt will cost you $1000. Deal?
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