Heather Smith Thomas. The wires did move/ cross. Although Agricola used this illustration in his book and reported that the dowsing rod was being used to locate minerals, he rejected the practice and instead recommended trenching [5]. Cant even understand why anyone would vote Democrat. Some dowsers prefer them to be freshly cut. A dowser, or water witch, is a person perceived to have a skill for discovering underground water with the use of a divining rod, usually a small, forked limb cut from virtually any fruit-bearing tree or willow. I decided to let him try his spot. It could be a tiny seep or huge underground stream. Old Man Joneswas THE guy you wanted to drill for water well when I was a kid. Read more:Ever wonder why there needs to be a pump at the bottom of a deep well? She showed me how at an early age. When you cross the underground stream the rods will swing in toward you. My Grandfarther was a well digger and I saw him use a forked stick from willow trees to find the best place to dig a well. If I can teach 9 yr old to do it anyone can do it following this simple technique. Lynn likes to use a green willow, but even a relatively dry one will work. They both found water in different places. I use any wire i can get hold of. I know that not everyone can. The small end, where you are holding it, is less than 1/4 inch in diameter, he says. Why does the weeping willow root system expand so widely? My grandfather taught me in the 1966 that the Y stick needed to come from a fruit tree. Probably any kind of willow will work for the forked stick and the bobbing stick. they will simply that there is no right nor wrong place, just drill anyplace and you either hit or miss. Next time I try for water I am using science, geology, not BS. Elderly, cantankerous friend of mine said no problem, Ill bring my own coat hangers. Im in Dillsburg, PA 17019. Thank you, Clarence Inman of Bonny Doon . No water after 4-5 days of drilling. Had a well driller challenge me, we both located the same places. I hope I get great results. He does this every day he works and with 100% accuracy. This way you can hold tightly and feel the willow pull on your hands and wrists. Yes, I can witch water. Whenever he went over an area that he had already tested having water the stick would forceably turn down, peeling bark off the stick in my hand and even making marks in my skin. They can also cross rods in groundwater. Use a pen. Subject Headings. No one knows why dowsing worksor if, indeed, it does work. My dad would swear by the witching sticks. Finding Bodies of Water. When trying to find one of the house skeptics. Friend said try witching the pipes. Willow or apple was used to create the strongest 'pull' to the water. The studys findings showed that the dowsers predictions concerning depth and volume were accurate to within 10% to 20%. Two right angle rods will cross in front of you pointing in the direction to walk. I wanted to do some work and didn't want to hit it, so I got in touch and they sent out their pipe-finder technician guy. Dowsing for water pipes could sometimes work this way: When those pipes were buried, someone had to guess how much dirt to throw back into the trench. There was no way to fake that. Some people use two metal rods called divining rods or even wire. Tell them to dig in center. It worked every time. I had two local gurus, both claimed they were great dowsers, come out and dowse the same area. Its a simple tool nothing more than a forked branch cut from a live tree. I can't do it. My mom uses a forked willow branch. You didnt answer your own question, though. The problem is, the water line running to our hydrant goes right under our working chute. might have some false positives! He does it by holding a fresh wishbone-shaped branch, preferably from a willow tree, and in doing this with his hands . He said when you first felt the willow stick move you counted from there to when it went straight down. I can hit water here about every time! In the cellar was the old hand dug well beneath the living room floor.When that branch points down it will nearly break if you try to hold it back,,strange as strange gets..Have not tried in decades but I am sure it will work still.. Maybe the liberals could through a multimillon$ grant out there to research the issue or outlaw it ? Also like vein at least 400 feet long or better. Should have been James Randi. They are simply uneducated on the matter. It scared my hubby, though, and he asked me not to do it again.apparently didnt want to be married to someone spooky. One wanted to run a waterline across me 3/8 mile, under a road and onto a second neighbor to drill a well. One of the most comical things Ive ever witnessed, him shuffling around my yard and whenever his wires got crossed, stomping one foot on the ground and with absolute confidence Dig HERE!10 minutes later with a probeno luck. Im not a doubter. And, if you are looking for oil, it's . My husband and I moved upstate n.y. 14 years ago. I seem to be able to do it, ive always used copper wires because thats what i was told, most of the time they cross, cant hardly stop em, but sometimes they go apart the other way, anyone know what that could mean? I dont care if it is a plastic pipe, a 24, a stream of water or whatever I can find it, even with a dowsing rod made of wooden dowel rods. Thank you, Michael, Hi, I am a 3rd Generation Water-Witch. Scary. I worked for the USDA-NRCS for over 28 years. . I have been dowsing for 50 years with complete success. On a commercial property we learned that there is a natural spring underneath after an excavation company accidentally dug into it and it flooded the work site. He had a standing challenge offering a million dollar cash prize to anyone who pass his tests on any of the above. Some types of rocks are known to be good producers of water, whereas others will not hold or yield useful water. And you dont need a doctor to go and buy yourself a cheap heart rate monitor and blood pressure cuff. Riana Mondavi explains the mysterious art of water witching, a craft her father Marc Mondavi uses to locate water for vineyards for The Divining Rod wines. Scientists were surprised to find that many of the dowsers were spot-on. The guy told him the water is 160ft below us. My religion says that if we are doing something for a good purpose then its alright. Lynn likes to use a green willow, but even a relatively dry one will work . Very profound for someone who is very skeptical. When holding the willow branches, your arms are close to your body with elbows resting against your hips. I wonder if a person's blood type plays a role. Regarding these igneous and limestone areas, geologists and hydrogeologists believe that there is no scientific basis for a dowser or a dowsing tool to have the ability to select a location where a drilled well will intersect subsurface fractures or small caverns. "Water dowsing" refers in general to the practice of using a forked stick, rod, pendulum, or similar device to locate underground water, minerals, or other hidden or lost substances, and has been a subject of discussion and controversy for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. One of the most popular dowsing activities is dowsing for water. For me. That well driller didnt believe in water dowsing originally but now calls me whenever someone wants him to drill a well.. However I will admit. A lot of people think that water divining is confined to rural areas, but that isn't true. Sounds like an older neighbor I had growing up, especially the part about finding old Indian burial grounds and knowing what direction they were laying. If vein is 10 steps wide about 30 feet then there is usually 20-25 gallon well in our area. I can't find a water vein underground, but I can find underground wires and pipes. Only some people have this ability. He has found many water veins and can also do graves. If theres more water on down, it will start over and seek the next one. He said, it's your money, what do you want to do? He had a small well that was surface water coming from a small dam but the output would decrease during times of drought, so he spent a lot of time and money drilling for a better, drinkable water source. I try to stay local. Drooping branchlets are typically green or brown. One example: I located a well for one person on top of a hill, Lynn says. Fill a jar half full with branches and pour boiling water over the branches to fill the jar. When I found out witching would work for me an old well witcher told me that if you cant find water on the top of the hill go to the bottom or vise versa. Mar 22, 2015 #4. He was correct. Place flags apart from each other to see how wide the vain is. I can witch water and find water lines with forked stick or metal hangers, this begin when I was 9 or 10 years old my grandfather was the one who found where water was for everyone who lived near us or for people who ask him to. Note ,the side to side movement helps to determine if the water is sufficient to develope. They found an old hand dug tile. A single rod spinning in a circle is usually a great spot, but Im not sure what it means. Witched my first well in my teens. Some wells have been less than 100 feet. For some it works and others not. I asked if I should go grab someone to witch for water and he laughed and said, I'm heading over there to dig next and pointed towards the road about 200 yds away. He handed me his dowsing rod, which was a forked copper wire, and it worked! After about the the 5th or 6th dry test hole they come to me. This gives more chance to find adequate water, at two levels. Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, claimed radiations (radiesthesia), gravesites, malign "earth vibrations" and many other objects and materials without the use of a scientific apparatus.It is also known as divining (especially in water divining), doodlebugging (particularly in the United States, in searching for . Going to try another well drill very soon. - Event: Tour of Dennis and Ruby Dickens' Farm. L-shaped or Y-shaped Dowsing Rod Traditionally a straight or forked tree branch or twig, usually from a hazel tree, though peach and willow twigs are also acceptable. Dowsing or water witching (hence the name of the novel) is the practice of locating hidden water wells, buried metals, gemstones, or other objects. My boss called in a local witcher and within minutes stated we were a little over 20 from the site moved the rig drilled down around 30 as witcher stated and hit a great vein. Count the number of bobs until it stops. On the spirtual side of this however Grandpa was descended from a Scotsman. Although most would say that dowsing is nothing more than a myth, there are quite a few people today whobelieve in this practice. One of his relatives used a forked willow to locate the origins of a spring that provided the house with water. Locating and drilling into a good water supply can be difficult in areas underlain by igneous rocks such as granite and basalt. Remain still to see if the bobbing starts again. There is amazing power there but Im a bit reluctant to do it because I dont know where the power or ability comes from. I know the overhead power line was said in jest However it does explain witching. They started digging 10' farther to make sure they would find it. The single end was sharpened to a point, exposing the wet, fresh willow wood. So I am completely baffled as to why I can witch water. So definately something to do with natural magnetic or other waves that rods are picking up. Others believe that the talent is all in the dowsing rod. MIKE JOHNSTON. My mother can do it. Water-witching, 1907. In frustration, he asked Lynn to locate water. I put a 1500 gallon surface tank and a pressure tank. He was born in Pipestone, Manitoba in 1933. He had a standing challenge offering a million dollar cash prize to anyone who pass his tests on any of the above. Know any in PA? When we bought our farm in Ohio, in 1966,it only had a hand dug cistern. Not sure whether either of our sons or any of the grandkids can witch. Thanks. Warning be careful if you try that with opposite sex. This is why many people hire a dowser. The technique requires the dowser to hold in his hands a forked green willow branch (or a pair of bent brass rods, or any number of other permutations), then walk about, waiting for the device, also called a divining rod, to dip toward . The depth is what I need for wells. Not a drop. Have also located water lines. A well must intersect enough of these tiny fractures to produce useful amounts of water. If its just a small pull, there probably isnt much. Over the last century, several studies have shown that the average dowser is no better at predicting the location of water than anyone else. I am a 4th Generation Water-witch. I believe it works, but I cannot do it. I have seen his fingerprints on something in a few minutes. I am John Benscoter, my phone# is 570/833/4250, my address is 345 Beech Grove Road, Laceyville, Pa. 18623, my email is johnrbenscoter@yahoo.com. In 1518, Martin Luther condemned dowsing as a sin. It has to be underground. I sit in a chair to steady myself while holding the large end about 6 inches from the ground. If the side to side is weak then not enough water. At first when I started I would just walk around in an area and if my stick went down Id say try here. Also then count the side to side movements to determine the depth of the second vein. If a landowner wants a well drilled within a hundred or so feet of a building site, almost any location selected will have similar potential for yielding water to a well. Kind of like some people have success wearing copper bracelets and such. I've read through this whole thread. Even found well water for our church in the last year. . He said you need to believe in it for it to work. He passed in 2020 or maybe you too could have become a millionaire. It worked for me using a peach tree fork. Facebook; Well driller use divining willow branch to locate the spot to drill for water during the long drought in Western USA. illow will work for the forked stick and the bobbing stick. The newest type of drilling rig was used, and the actual drilling time was 3 hours. None of the dowsers rods or twigs even twitched at this location. I can walk across a field using the wire. Eventually got mad when Im starting to laugh some and him yelling at me to do something to help and go flush a d%#n toilet! Ive only had to sit down to laugh and catch my breath like that a couple times in my life. Repeat for the second rod, and you have yourself some homemade copper dowsing rods! Your dowsing rod should also be relatively flatno branches sticking out in odd directions. Whoops, I misspelled his name. He had me try and the stick would pull me to the ground when I walked across it. He was floored, and I had no idea what was going on. Lines. 3 of 8 4 of 8 Marc Mondavi, vice president of Charles Krug Winery and a water witch, holds his copper diving rods on Monday, Dec. 3, 2012 in St. Helena, Calif. Russell Yip/The Chronicle Show More . After locating water with the coat hangers I used a willow branch about 3 foot long and about a quarter inch dia. Amber Kanuckel is a freelance writer from rural Ohio who loves all things outdoors. The force was strong. Most fresh groundwater occurs in the pore spaces of sedimentary rocks and sediments. I dont know why this is still discussed. Not a drop of wqter. I have seen it work. NASA's Aqua satellite will provide crucial information about the water in the ground and the weather on the horizon. I hired 3 dowsers to witch my property. Some water witchers use a forked willow branch and by gripping the two forks firmly, the willow rod will move up and down when placed over and underground current of water. I had a well driller witch a location and put a rock about as big as my fist at the location in the grassland area, he said get a second opinion from mr Powell, I called him, he came, I told him I wanted a well somewhere in that 2 acre area, he stumbled around as he was about 90 years old, using about 8 ft of a grape vine in a horseshoe shape, he said you see that rock, your best water is about 1 ft from that rock and 3 tiers of water, the well proved to have 3 levels of water per the driller. It was about 18 long in a "Y" shape. Then if the driller hits one and only gets 2 or 3 gallons per minute (not enough to service a home), he can continue drilling until he hits the second vein. . Yes, it does. It led me right to them! One witcher in the Cochrane district witched over twenty wells in the area in 1976. I water-witch with my job 3 to 4 days a week. Im about half of them the wire will start going down on them when they approach the vein. The term Water Witching is believed to be derived from ideas of magic, but it actually involves relaxation, focus and potentially some knowledge about trees. I was having a well dug before we built our house 4 years ago. Hes into genealogy. Many dowsers prefer forked sticks made from willow, peach, or witch hazel wood. In fact, historical images that appear to represent dowsing appear all over the worldin the temples of Egyptian pharaohs, in ancient Chinese etchings and more. While the majority of dowsers search for water, some practitioners use this technique to find all sorts of things: gold, bombs, or even the missing remote control to theTV. I moved to a rural community from Chicago in the early 70s. jesus warned us about powers like this,,,,,,,, those powers do not come from HIM,,,,,,,,any serious christian would stay far away from those types of capabilities because they are from the evil one. After he finished he had me try it. Two of us on the board could locate graves, the others could not. Would move left or right and continue same process until I would regonize a vein or underground stream. These rocks do not contain pore spaces through which water can flow. More for local enjoyment. I can find stuff in the open, but the the overhead messes me up. He says the cemetery located is located on private land near Seminary, Ms. at a place calledPeps Point that dates to the 1800s. Would be grateful if youd share. Image copyright iStockphoto / Monika Wisniewska. He would then hang the pliers from his finger and they would spin around and tell him the depth of the water. He was a professional magician who billed himself as, "The Amazing Randy". The National Ground Water Association, in a position statement, "strongly opposes the use of water witches to locate groundwater on the grounds that controlled experimental evidence clearly indicates that the technique is totally without scientific merit" [2]. 23 years ago I had a bunch of tiling done. Then the rods look like this: . The divining rod: A history of water witching, with a bibliography Water Supply Paper 416 (1917) When he walks over a water source, the long end swings in the direction the water is flowing.