BBC NEWS => Divining rods ‘help beat drought’
This article popped up on the BBC the other day concerning thee drought in England and it got me thinking about it again.
Southern Water said divining is used by some of its crews, although modern electrical equipment was mostly used.
Divining is one of the techniques used by some of our crews, although by far the majority of teams use modern electrical equipment to measure flows and listen for noises of potential leaks and burst water mains.
Dowsing is really a grey area for me. I think I can safely say that, in general, I don’t believe in any phenomena that cannot be demostrated under controlled, scientific circumstances. While I’m actually fascinated by things paranormal, I’m a non-believer. My interest in them is more of a “well that is a fascinating story/theory and wouldn’t it be interesting if it could be demonstrated to be true?”
Dowsing, of course, falls in that category. There isn’t a scrap of credible evidence that it works. Supposed dowsers simply have never been able to recreate their ability under any form of controllable scrutiny. While I suppose you could make some wacky argument (that would play well in Sedona) that, like quantum physics, the act of observing dowsing changes the outcome, that doesn’t hold much water. (Pun intended.)
So, why do I mention it? Because my great uncle was a dowser – and by all accounts, a really good one.
My great-grandfather ran a farm, and that’s where my grandfather and his brothers and sisters were raised. The story goes, told to me by more than one of the people involved, that during a drought, my great-grandfather cut a divining rod and hauled all the kids out and tested each one of them to see if they could work the divining rod. My great-uncle, TW, successfully located water and they drilled a successful well.
None of the other kids demonstrated any ability to perform the same task.
Throughout his life, he travelled all over the place using his skills to locate things (he could, apparently, locate other materials) and never collected any remuneration beyond travel expenses for his services. He believed if he profited from it, he’d loose the ability. He also believed that one child in each generation had the ability, and he dutifully tested every one of his kids, grandkids, great grandkids, his brothers and sisters’ kids, etc.
Not one of them had the ability.
Of course, this is hardly surprising if you, like me, are quite skeptical of these old wives’ tales and superstitions.
However, there came the day when he tested me.
I can still see the whole scene vividly in my head. He cut a fresh forked branch from the oleanders next to his house. He showed me how to hold it and he demonstrated. He walked out across his yard and, from all appearances, the rod visibly twisted in his hand towards the ground. He then told me that was where the water main for his house ran out to the supply.
It didn’t look like a hoax, and, although I was only 11 at the time, I was a pretty skeptical and sharp-eyed kid.
He then handed it to me and let me try. I walked slowly towards the water supply and… nothing happened.
He was really disappointed, he told me that I was pretty much the last of the family to be tested and that, as soon as he handed me the rod, he was convinced it was going to work. He said I was the first one to really take the rod and use it the right way, but there was absolutely no reaction.
I was still standing right over the water main, and he told me to hold the rod out over it again. There was still nothing. He reached over from behind me, touched my shoulder and that thing pulled straight towards the ground like someone had jerked a string attached to it.
Now I know that scientifically dowsing just doesn’t work, and that eyewitnesses are unreliable, but what happened there was absolutely undeniable. It’s also probably the defining moment in my life that fueled my interest in the paranormal.
I went home to tell my dad and when I told him he’d tested me, my dad told me the tale of when he’s been tested. He told me that, more or less, he had the exact same experience. The second TW put his hand on his shoulder, the rod reacted.
I still don’t know what to make of the whole thing, but I wonder if someday I might not go out and test my kids.
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