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Water Witching - fake or real?
My Desk | 07/02/2014 | Abathar

Posted on 07/02/2014 6:32:17 AM PDT by Abathar

I'm curious, has anyone else seen someone use a stick to find water before, and do you believe it works?

We sold a piece of property and had to move a well that was on it to another older well we drilled years ago but never used. When we couldn't find the cap with a metal detector the well driller who put it in 20 years ago said we were looking in the wrong place, because there was no water there. He went back to his truck, pulled out a stick, and he and his assistant started walking the property and marking where the stick swung down. He told us that there was a gravel vein running N to S and it had to be in that area, that where our memory told us it was was wrong, and he never would have drilled there.

Long story short, he was within 4 ft. of where the old well was found with that stupid stick and its been screwing with my mind ever since. 3 days ago I would have snorted derisively and and used my best Sheldon Cooper "Hokum" imitation, but now I don't know what to think. Has anyone else seen it work or was he just lucky?


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Science; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: dowsing
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To: BwanaNdege

Nope, out neighbor drilled 2 wells at over 150’ once and were bone dry, never got a drop moved 100’ over towards the valley and hit good water at 40’. Too many people around here have no water at all on there property for that picture to be true in all places.


21 posted on 07/02/2014 6:44:30 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: Dryman

You tryin’ that ol’ pickup line, again? That’s so 70’s.

:)

Shouldn’t matter, all the people I know that this works for are all over the year.

Sag, if it matters.


22 posted on 07/02/2014 6:44:40 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: Abathar

I’ve seen this done successfully.

Years ago, we purchased a cabin property next to our house at the lake. We wanted to locate the septic so a water well came by with two coat hanger wires bent to an “L” shape.
He walked across the yard and I watched as the two wires crossed right over the septic tank. To confirm the find, he walked across from another direction and the wires responded at the same spot.


23 posted on 07/02/2014 6:45:47 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Rip it out by the roots.)
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To: Abathar

It’s real. Very real.

I can prove it. Please send your account number/pin and I’ll email you the proof.


24 posted on 07/02/2014 6:46:06 AM PDT by Drango (A liberal's compassion is limited only by the size of someone else's wallet.)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

It really freaks out the skeptics when you do it blindfolded...

it freaks them out more if it works for them.


25 posted on 07/02/2014 6:46:50 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: Abathar

A friend and I were visiting his grandmother—gosh, almost 40 years ago—and she started talking about dowsing. She got a forked stick and showed me how to hold it, with the point sticking up and the forks bent apart with a little tension, like a spring. Then she pointed me out into her yard. I don’t know how it worked or if it’s all psychological , but that stick moved when I got to a certain spot, the point pulling down toward the ground. She said there was a flooded mine shaft down there. I’m a skeptic by nature, but I’ll never forget the feel of that stick twisting in my hand.


26 posted on 07/02/2014 6:47:13 AM PDT by Bubba Ho-Tep ("The rat always knows when he's in with weasels"-- Tom Waits)
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To: Abathar

“In controlled tests, dowsing fails every time.”

https://www.google.com/search?q=james+randi+dowsing+test&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb


27 posted on 07/02/2014 6:47:35 AM PDT by jiggyboy
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To: Abathar

Don’t believe it for many reasons that would upset some.

Area’s top well driller has drilled 4 wells for us......swore to the method.....then added, “I know there’s water there - you can tell by the groove in the land there is a fracture below. First well was 500’ that delivered a quart a minute.....duh......

Also, no fracture......all 500’ was shale so black it looked like coal - and some of the nation’s first coal mines are 1/2 mile from us........

I picked two other sites. All were the same shale. He picked 4th site, but it was only 40’ from a 600’ well that he drilled 7 years earlier that had run dry.....

Trouble is all anyone has is anecdotal evidence - no scientific research has ever been done to verify the method......


28 posted on 07/02/2014 6:49:11 AM PDT by Arlis
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To: Abathar

Joe Birman, a noted glaciologist who was my geology professor said that water witching is, of course, baloney, and he expressed amazement that so many people believed in it.


29 posted on 07/02/2014 6:49:11 AM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: HereInTheHeartland
I've done it with metal coat hangers bent into a long "L" shape.

Make an open fist, stick the short arms into each hand and walk.

The wires cross. Back up and they open. Forward, they cross again.

Strange but true.

30 posted on 07/02/2014 6:49:31 AM PDT by FroggyTheGremlim ("It is not the color of his skin, ... it is the blackness that fills his soul")
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To: Abathar

I was taught witching by the County electrician in my first job - I was assisting him for the week by digging for buried power lines - he witched the parking lot and then assisted me - we dug his hole...nothing we dug my hole - nothing - we dug in between them and found the buried line....now either he had an inclination by seeing previous construction blu prints or it was legit - Im still not sold on it.


31 posted on 07/02/2014 6:49:47 AM PDT by Revelation 911
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To: All

I feel a little better now, thanks.

I was ready to put on my asbestos undies when I posted this because I figured most of you would have a good joke at my expense, but your relies makes me think that mom didn’t need to have me tested either.


32 posted on 07/02/2014 6:50:01 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: HereInTheHeartland

It works because of electromagnetic fields the exist naturally around different molecular structures. I use metal clothes hangers straightened out and bent into Ls. Hold two together in one hand. When you cross over changes in the EM fields the metal rods will react to change.


33 posted on 07/02/2014 6:50:12 AM PDT by gr8eman (A good rant should have the word "crap" in it at least 4 times!)
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To: Abathar

It seems to be real but I’m not going to guess why.


34 posted on 07/02/2014 6:52:02 AM PDT by freedomfiter2 (Brutal acts of commission and yawning acts of omission both strengthen the hand of the devil.)
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To: MrB

Have no clue how it works, but it works. I have used the 2 steel rods to find buried pipes and water well location, successfully.


35 posted on 07/02/2014 6:52:49 AM PDT by X-spurt (CRUZ missile - armed and ready.)
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To: Abathar

I use welding-rods to find metal pipes ,wire and pvc water pipes (flowing water) underground. I’m a witch ‘er .


36 posted on 07/02/2014 6:53:29 AM PDT by piroque ("In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act")
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To: Abathar

I know this is anecdotal, but here is my story. I built a cabin in MT. and had to drill for water. I didn’t believe in “witching” so I told the driller to drill right there. After $6000 was spent and over 500 feet of drilling I managed to get 1.5gpm of dirty water. My next door neighbor used a dowser and got over 250 gpm in less than 150 feet.


37 posted on 07/02/2014 6:53:59 AM PDT by 2nd Amendment (Proud member of the 48% . . giver not a taker)
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To: Abathar

According to a farmer friend, it’s legitimate. He hired a water witch to locate water for a new house (on ground in the country, that the water witch was unfamiliar with), and the guy was successful. He used two metal divining rods, bent at right angles at their tips - and held one in each hand, with his arms stretched out straight in front of him. When the right angles turned to face each other (it took a bit of walking), he turned to my friend, and said, “The aquifer (spelling?) is directly below us. I don’t how deep it is, but it’s down there.” And it was.


38 posted on 07/02/2014 6:54:48 AM PDT by Basil Duke
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To: goodwithagun

We had a well drilled on our farm and water witching was used to find the best place to drill. I watched them do it and asked if I could try. Dang if the metal rods didn’t twitch in my hands and turn together in the same direction and cross. No matter how loosely I held them, they moved on their own.


39 posted on 07/02/2014 6:55:23 AM PDT by Cowgirl of Justice
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To: BwanaNdege
"Dowsing" and "Water Witching" 'work' because anywhere you dig will (in most situations) hit the water table.

Bingo.... In my neighbourhood of about 200 homes, all have their own wells and generally, the elevation is fairly flat. I've become the unofficial 'well and water supply consultant' for our neighbourhood association and as such, I have a copy of the well drilling records for about 90% of these wells. When these wells were installed, each hit water at about 95 feet deep so what would be the point of walking around with two sticks or wires? The aquifer beneath our feet is basically as flat as a pancake. As for the stories here about using this method to accurately locate underground leaks that are closer to surface, there might be a logical scientific explanation.... but I suspect that the person doing it has other experience factors that come into play on this.

40 posted on 07/02/2014 6:56:25 AM PDT by hecticskeptic (In life it is important to know what you believeÂ….and more importantly, why you believe it.)
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