Posted by Laurence Monkhouse on November 19, 2003 at 08:40:03 from 62.252.64.9 user Laurence_.
In Reply to: Titty finding water with a forked stick posted by Ed Kiser on November 19, 2003 at 04:50:45:
I assure you that it DOES work. Or at least something happens. if you hold a forked hazel stick in the manner shown and walk about then a high proportion of people will feel something in their hands.
An easier way to do it which works for almost everybody is to get a couple of welding rods or similar pieces of thick wire. Bend them in a right angle with one part about 6 inches long and the other a couple of feet or so. Hold one 6 inch bit loosely vertically in each hand and have the long bits pointing forwards horizontally in parallel in front of you and walk about. Almost certainly they will suddenly swing towards each other at some point. It feels uncanny - I can understand why Titty felt upset.
I once did an experiment at a party. I knew where the drain at the back of my house ran and had a tap on so that there was running water in it. I then extracted the guests one by one from the party at the front of the house, blindfolded them, gave them the rods and asked them to walk across the back yard without telling them what was happening. In virtually every case the rods swung at the same point over the drain.
Building Control officers in my department use these rods to find underground services.
I don't know why it works, I am not good enough at dowsing to say exactly what it means when the rods swing or the forked willow twists, but SOMETHING certainly happens. I can only assume that it is an innate human sense that we have forgotten the use of. But it is certainly there.