Divining rods

[MossRoad]

And I never knew there was an Ardmore, IN.

Technically, there's not anymore!

There are still a couple road signs in the area pointing to it. There is an old school building that is a church, now. There are 3-4 churches still active. There is a hardware store (a real hardware store) still. Several small businesses, a barber shop, a beauty salon, a very used used car lot, TWO stop signs and many dilapidated houses (not mine, of course! ). All-in-all it is a lower middle class, quiet neighborhood where most folks keep to themselves and the crime rate is pretty low with just a couple burglaries each year. Property taxes are low, low, low!!!

As for the divining rods... our entire county is an aquifer. I don't think you could drill anywhere and come up dry. Just not possible. So you don't hear too much about dowsers as their services are not needed.

 

[MossRoad]

That's hilarious, Jay, because as a kid, I used to wonder where they came up with the name "chester drawers" myself.

Two of dad's sisters married brothers from Springer, so I've been there a few times. And as a kid in the 4-H Club, I showed Berkshire hogs in the Gene Autry Colliseum in Ardmore, so as a Gene Autry fan, it kinda annoyed me when they renamed it the Hardy Murphy Colliseum a few years ago.

I know a woman that used to work as the receptionist in Gene Autry's office in Hollywood! Another small world tidbit!

But she lives here now... and has city water, so, again, no dowser required.

 

[mgamber]

No scientific experiment has EVER shown diving rods to produce any more accurate results than guessing. It's all hoopla! If you truly can produce greater than chance results then there is a Million Dollar prize waiting for you (no really, $1,000,000 is yours from the James Randy Foundation if you can do it) The fact that not one single person has ever completed the first round of tests (which is simply to demonstrate the ability with greater than chance accuracy) proves to me that it is all in the mind. As a previous poster said, you probably already have a good idea of where you want to dig, thats why it seems to work, but the reality is if you had just gone on the hunch you would likely have hit what you were looking for anyway.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Works for me. I find underground pipes this way.

 

[biggerten]

No scientific experiment has EVER shown diving rods to produce any more accurate results than guessing. It's all hoopla! If you truly can produce greater than chance results then there is a Million Dollar prize waiting for you (no really, $1,000,000 is yours from the James Randy Foundation if you can do it) The fact that not one single person has ever completed the first round of tests (which is simply to demonstrate the ability with greater than chance accuracy) proves to me that it is all in the mind. As a previous poster said, you probably already have a good idea of where you want to dig, thats why it seems to work, but the reality is if you had just gone on the hunch you would likely have hit what you were looking for anyway.

Not true! Liz Taylor and I were in the UFO the other day, and we were able to witch up Bigfoot, two unicorns, and a leprechaun guarding a pot of gold. Couldn't find the tooth fairy or Easter Bunny. We didn't try to find Santa because we already know where he lives.

 

[mgamber]

Works for me. I find underground pipes this way.

Put two hot dogs, one in each hand. Wiggle them around so they are "turning" clockwise.

Go find your pipe. When the hotdogs start spinning counterclockwise you are there.

Believe in the power of the hotdog.

 

[mbohuntr]

I don't pretent to understand it, but I've seen it too many times to discount, The fella came out, found a vein, dug one hole and we had plenty of water.My neighbor simply started punching holes with his backhoe and finally hit water on his seventh try...right next to our well, on his side of the line I've had the rods work for me on unfamiliar ground to find a cast iron sewer line. It repeated for the three of us that tried it. I'd love to solve the mystery, I'd be rich!!!

 

[Steve_Miller]

My neighbor had his property witched, found water where they said. Me, being skeptical dug where I wanted the well, on the fifth hole I gave in to a hole lined with clay that will hold water and I feed it from my downspouts off the roof. Later I tried witching and had my uncle do it too and we both ended up in the same spot, which was a small spring next to my foundation that I knew about when the foundation was dug. Of all the people I know now that can witch and get very strong responses from the rods (no matter what they use) is that most if not all of them have some form of arthritis, relavent or not, it probably has something to do about it.

Steve

 

[biggerten]

Anecdotal stories are proof of nothing. ****, everyone I meet is money ahead at the casino, but somehow the casino stays in business.

When these charlatans are tested under controlled conditions, in a double blind study, they fail.

If you want to believe, go ahead.

But explain to me why Exxon, Shell, etc spend hundreds of millions of dollars per year on hydrogeologists, drill dry holes, etc instead of a fail safe dowser who'd do it for a 12 pack.

 

[The Dougster]

As a kid growing up in Central Texas, one summer I snagged a job working for a well driller who owned an old cable tool rig.. Made a whopping $5/day but that's another story for another thread... Once I asked him about dowsers, etc, and his response was that anywhere you drill you will hit water....
Later in life as a groundwater geologist, I discovered that he was right.... These stories about hitting a big vein of water are just that, stories... Now, having said that, there are exceptions.... In limestone formations, there are vugs, fractures and underground cave that are filled with water and water flows/migrates underground just like it does on the surface. Water seeks it's own level. 'N that's a fact..

 

[mbohuntr]

This sounds like some fun research, I know I didn't move that branch in my hand by myself, It isn't possible given the position of your grip, and the branch didn't drop until he touched my shoulder, and he didn't tell me what he was going to do, and what the expected result would be. Whether or not this gives a reliable signal of the presence of water is another story, but SOMETHING happened, and I'm thinking about magnetic, or electric fields.

 

[biggerten]

This sounds like some fun research, I know I didn't move that branch in my hand by myself, It isn't possible given the position of your grip, and the branch didn't drop until he touched my shoulder, and he didn't tell me what he was going to do, and what the expected result would be. Whether or not this gives a reliable signal of the presence of water is another story, but SOMETHING happened, and I'm thinking about magnetic, or electric fields.

Oh, magnetism between two guys.

I've *heard* about that. My twig bends the other way.

The point is, you *know* something that has been proven demonstrably false, scientifically. OK, then. Good luck. That's how snake oil gets sold.

 

[Bird]

Well, I know if works because I saw Mr. Sam'l do it, with a lot of encouragement from Festus, on Gunsmoke.

 

[mbohuntr]

That's ok, I got big shoulders. You can't see an atom, but we split them. We can't see electrons, but scuff your feet across the carpet and your gonna get whacked! The world is full of skeptics, and rightfully so, but I am not influenced by watching someone else make claims,SHAM-WOW!!!! but by a repeating and unexplained physical occurance. That is how discoveries are made.

 

[Bird]

You're right, Mike. There's just many things in this old world that we don't understand yet, and may never understand.

 

[mbohuntr]

Oh yeah... I got one of those 'spensive metal detectors that one of those "diviners" figured out, and a box full of coins and goodies to show for it...and it does tell you if what is in the ground is worth looking at or not. Found a sterling silver thumb ring two weeks ago.

 

[cowboy357]

I Here you mbohuntr , i,ve seen it done , No clue What Made it happen Or what it Meant , But it DID Happen . My dad Used a Guy after We put Down 5 different wells & couldn,t find any decent water .

The Guy He Used Walked around for Awhile & Stopped at a spot & Said . Putter down right here, Theres a Good Natural Stream . & Darned if it wasn,t Great water right smack in the middle of the other wells we put down , Was it luck, Maybe but sure didn,t Matter to Us at the time . I,ve seen a lot of Things I cant Explain . But Just Because Someone says It Cant be Proved ( On a Quick Internet Search ) dont Mean it dont Exist IMO .

I,m still Going to Try the wire Deal Because I Have no Idea Where the Lines could be Buryed due to the trees all over the place & its over a 200 foot run . If it works Fine , If Not Oh well . . Bob

 

[mbohuntr]

I'm thinking along the lines of magnetic fields. Your body contains enough charge to trigger a trace on an EKG machine, and induction caused by moving though a magnetic field might be enough to induce a similar field in two parallel conductors(the wires) making them attractive. Would moving water cause such a field? Maybe the electrochemical process of corrosion? I do know the metal detector generates a better response in relationship to the length of time the object is buried. It will even (under certain conditions)give a response to the soil "halo" of an object you already dug up..

 

[mbohuntr]

I just posed this question on an electronics forum. Lotsa schmart peoples there...this should be an interesting discussion.

 

[EastTexFrank]

Have I seen it done successfully? Yes I have. Have I done it successfully? Yes I have. Do I believe it? ... kinda.

I used two welding rods bent at 90 degrees with one end placed in cardboard tubes. I held the cardboard tubes with the rods held parallel and diirectly our front. When they moved in and crossed, that's where the water line was, 18" down. I placed a flag in the ground and did it again about 20 feet away and placed another flag. I traced out the old metal water line within about 6". I won't even try to explain it but it worked with no input from me other than holding the cardboard tubes.

I can't say it would be my method of choice for detecting water lines but hey, if all else fails, what do you have to lose?