Barn or Farmhouse

[saveasteading]

On 11/05/2025 at 08:10, Tom said:

dowsing is an absolute load of bollocks!

I know. But I used to be able to find drains using 2 welding rods bent to L.

 

They would cross about 1m past the drain, each way.

My dad did it regularly and showed me. No big deal, just matter of fact.

 

Worked on drains, not pipes or cables.

 

I can't  do it any longer.

 

If there was an electric field then a meter would detect it. So:

 

Perhaps it is that 1. We were looking for an expected drain. 2. subconsciously we knew where it was likely to be. 3. The rods legitimised a good guess and excused any wasted excavation.

 

[ProDave]

I found I can do dowsing.  Don't ask me how, it just works.

 

For the skeptics, I suggest you take two rods with bent ends and hold them in your hands.  Now try and make them come together on purpose.  You will find you have to twist your wrists quite a lot, certainly a very visible amount, to make the rods come together.  Then watch someone dowsing and the rods come together without any visible movement of the hands of the person holding them.

 

The comment above about them coming together about 1 metre past the target.  I find that is more a time delay than an actual distance.  Having got a rough location, pass by again walking very much slower and the point of action will be closer to the target.

 

[Nickfromwales]

“The truth is out there, somewhere…”

[IanR]

22 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Don't ask me how, it just works.

 

Gemini got a little frustrated with me asking the question in different ways to attempt to get a positive answer to there being some proof that water dowsing is effective.

 

[For transparency, I know there isn't any scientific proof, but wondered if there was some pseudo-science that attempted an explanation]

 

 

A video at the supplied link was interesting:

 

 

[saveasteading]

Subconscious observation of environmental issues.

That sounds much fancier than my words.

My summary is, I think, that it is not a scientific principle, but a means (tool) for revealing the subconscious.

[IanR]

18 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

I think, that it is not a scientific principle, but a means (tool) for revealing the subconscious.

 

Then why under test conditions is it not more effective than chance?

[ProDave]

I still want to know what makes the rods come together, as I am absolutely certain it is not movement of the holders hands.  So rather than arguing does it find water or not?  I would like to see any study into just WHAT makes the rods come together when they do?

 

My example is my water connection.  Scottish water sub contracted it.  The subbies turned up, dug a hole where the plan said and found no water pipe.  They dug deeper, no pipe.  They dug further into the field, no pipe.  They were about to pack up and go away so I went and got my rods.  You could almost see them stifling laughter when I walked slowly into the field and "found" the pipe about a metre further than they had dug.  They agreed to try a little further and there it was.  I had no knowledge of where the pipe was and was as surprised as them that it was so far from where Scottish Waters plan said it was.

[Gus Potter]

3 hours ago, ProDave said:

For the skeptics, I suggest you take two rods with bent ends and hold them in your hands.

I does work. I've seen Farmers do this.. it's a developed skill that can give you a hint of where things might be.

[Tom]

The late, great James Randi, erstwhile debunker of the paranormal offered a $1 million dollar prize to anyone who could prove ANY psychic/telekinesis/dowsing etc works - unsurprisingly it remained unclaimed.

[Tom]

12 hours ago, Gus Potter said:

I does work. I've seen Farmers do this.. it's a developed skill that can give you a hint of where things might be.

I think the issue is what we are taking as the meaning of "work". If you mean it can occasionally find a pipe etc - OK then maybe it can. But this is because the bent wire is under tension, the bent rods are finely balanced etc - and hence respond to imperceptible changes in hand position, and it is the user who is subconsciously responding to environmental clues.

This is possibly why dowsing has repeatedly been shown to fail under more rigorous testing - these environmental/topographical etc clues aren't there.

If you mean "work" as some channel for some hidden energy or powers of the paranormal - then no, that's just bollocks! 

[IanR]

35 minutes ago, Tom said:

But this is because the bent wire is under tension, the bent rods are finely balanced etc -

 

Apparently (according to badwitch.com) Y shaped twigs are just as effective - hazel is preferred though.

[Tom]

Come on then Ian, I'll split the $1m with you 

[Onoff]

I wonder if dowsing works best if barefoot so you're properly grounded?

[SteamyTea]

On 11/05/2025 at 08:14, JohnMo said:

Worked for me, works for the company I used, that's all I can say.

Did they drill other test bores, say 2m from the devine one, and then some random ones.

Generally, if you drill deep enough, you hit ground water, that is just geology, not mystical forces.

[ProDave]

7 hours ago, Tom said:

I think the issue is what we are taking as the meaning of "work". If you mean it can occasionally find a pipe etc - OK then maybe it can. But this is because the bent wire is under tension, the bent rods are finely balanced etc - and hence respond to imperceptible changes in hand position, and it is the user who is subconsciously responding to environmental clues.

My point a few post above is it needs a massive movement of your hands to make the rods come together if you are just standing there.  go on try it?

 

When you are actually dowsing and you find something then the rods move together with no preceptible movement of your hands.

[ProDave]

20 hours ago, Gus Potter said:

it's a developed skill that can give you a hint of where things might be.

That's another statement I contest.  I found almost by accident that dowsing works for me.  I have done absolutely nothing to develop any skill.

[JohnMo]

58 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Did they drill other test bores

No test holes. Straight in to proper boring. First water hit, I think at over 20m, as predicted, second water at about 34m as predicted. Approx figures was drilled in 2020.

[SteamyTea]

3 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

as predicted

 

3 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

as predicted

As predicted in this this website.

https://www.bgs.ac.uk/information-hub/borehole-records/

[JohnMo]

37 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

 

As predicted in this this website.

https://www.bgs.ac.uk/information-hub/borehole-records/

Interesting ours isn't on the database, all those near us where done for a proposed road scheme, so most are 2.5m to 5m range looking at ground makeup.

[SteamyTea]

3 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

Interesting ours isn't on the database

Not sure about Scotland, but I think in England it is a legal requirement to resister them.  Worth checking (the legalities, to the registration).

[Onoff]

I bought a book on dowsing when I was in the Idle of Wight. 

 

I've lost it. I wonder if I could find it with two bent welding rods?

[G and J]

6 hours ago, ProDave said:

That's another statement I contest.  I found almost by accident that dowsing works for me.  I have done absolutely nothing to develop any skill.

My experience was a bit different.  The first time I did it I found it very difficult to stop the rods crossing. 
 

The time lag thing is pertinent, abd I found that the slower I went the more repeatable the results. 
 

However, posting stuff asserting that divining works is more something I associate with peeps who smoke jossticks and crochet their own yoghurt.  Not me at all. 

[Tom]

13 hours ago, ProDave said:

My point a few post above is it needs a massive movement of your hands to make the rods come together if you are just standing there.  go on try it?

 

When you are actually dowsing and you find something then the rods move together with no preceptible movement of your hands.

All dowsing techniques seem to follow what I describe - an item (be it hazel twig, coat hangar etc) held in balance or under tension, this inherently unstable setup allows the item to move, apparently involuntarily, by the ideomotor effect.

 

13 hours ago, ProDave said:

go on try it?

I did, decades ago, and you can certainly convince yourself it works - but then you apply some rational thought, and much as it would be nice to think of mystical powers, ley lines, joss sticks etc, all logical reasoning and evidence points to the mundane. 

[Gus Potter]

On 13/05/2025 at 17:04, ProDave said:

it's a developed skill that can give you a hint of where things might be

To quote myself... bad form I know!

 

On 13/05/2025 at 17:04, ProDave said:

That's another statement I contest.  I found almost by accident that dowsing works for me.  I have done absolutely nothing to develop any skill.

Ok. The first few times I tried it was with welding rods and found it worked. An agricultural contractor showed me how to do it. I was gob smacked!

 

Yes it does not work all the time but in the absence of any other info it's worth a punt in my view as it costs nothing.