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Water witching RE: how-to-find-drain-pipe

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kelpaso1

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How does it work? I have bent a couple coat hangers and tried it (out of curiosity) and it does apparently work (for me anyways). Found my septic and well lines at 3 different houses I've owned over the years. I cant explain why it works for me. And I am the last one to believe in witchery and other such nonsense.
 
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FredWanaker

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s happens. In 1916 the city of San Diego was in the midst of a huge water shortage. They hired some guy in a wagon who said he was a rain maker. Three or four days later after he did his rain dance etc the skies opened up and a huge flood came. Dams broke. City never paid him because they didn't want to be liable for the damage and deaths. Dowsing works once in a while too. So does throwing darts blindfolded in the back yard.

Experiments have been done that eliminate these possibilities, by running water through one of 10 pipes laid underground, or moving the position of water pipes. Under such controlled conditions dowsers do not succeed. https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/is-there-any-scientific-evidence-for-dowsing/

SD flood after rainmaker did magic. Historical photos.
 

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metlmunchr

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Finding where to drill for a well and trying to find pipes are two different things. It definitely works for finding pipes, we use it at work all the time.
Agree 100% that it works for locating pipes. Never believed there was anything to it until a guy I was talking with at my shop one day mentioned having to locate a line on his property the previous day using bent wires. Asked him to demonstrate and he said sure. Used a couple pieces of tig filler rod. Told him there was one or more pipes under a drive along side the shop that were put in 25+ yrs ago when we built the shop. Drive is about 18ft wide.

He marked 3 places. I went to the office and pulled an as-built site plan that had the lines located off the edge of the slab. When we measured to the marks he'd placed, all 3 we're within 6 inches or less of the as-built locations. Water line, sewer line, and natural gas line. The man had never set foot on our property prior to that day, and had stopped in to see about having some repair machine work done on a final drive housing off a dozer.
 

Bighead38

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Agree 100% that it works for locating pipes. Never believed there was anything to it until a guy I was talking with at my shop one day mentioned having to locate a line on his property the previous day using bent wires. Asked him to demonstrate and he said sure. Used a couple pieces of tig filler rod. Told him there was one or more pipes under a drive along side the shop that were put in 25+ yrs ago when we built the shop. Drive is about 18ft wide.

He marked 3 places. I went to the office and pulled an as-built site plan that had the lines located off the edge of the slab. When we measured to the marks he'd placed, all 3 we're within 6 inches or less of the as-built locations. Water line, sewer line, and natural gas line. The man had never set foot on our property prior to that day, and had stopped in to see about having some repair machine work done on a final drive housing off a dozer.
That’s exactly what we use it for. Mark outs are usually off so I start digging and check with the rods when I’m getting close.
 

ZRX61

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Agree 100% that it works for locating pipes. Never believed there was anything to it until a guy I was talking with at my shop one day mentioned having to locate a line on his property the previous day using bent wires. Asked him to demonstrate and he said sure. Used a couple pieces of tig filler rod. Told him there was one or more pipes under a drive along side the shop that were put in 25+ yrs ago when we built the shop. Drive is about 18ft wide.

He marked 3 places. I went to the office and pulled an as-built site plan that had the lines located off the edge of the slab. When we measured to the marks he'd placed, all 3 we're within 6 inches or less of the as-built locations. Water line, sewer line, and natural gas line. The man had never set foot on our property prior to that day, and had stopped in to see about having some repair machine work done on a final drive housing off a dozer.
I was within 6in at 3ft depth locating a water line in my back yard that was about 200ft long & it wasn't straight, about 150ft of it curved. Some people hold the wires too tight so you just hold a couple of cut off drinking straws & put the wires in them.
 

MushCreek

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I don't believe that it's possible, but I've used it three times at our place, and it was spot-on every time. I did know where the pipe was within a few feet, but dousing found it exactly. I still don't believe it.
 

DocsMachine

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... You people can't be serious.

No, dowsing does not work. The proof of that is that the utility companies use a $20,000 tool for detecting pipes, lines and wires. You think they'd buy one of those if you could pay an apprentice $15 an hour to use a couple bent coathangers?

Yes, I'm quite sure many of you have experienced "successful" trials, and will argue that point endlessly.

But the fact is, James Randi offered a million dollars to anyone who could demonstrate the ability under test conditions. They tested something like a thousand applicants, over the course of some thirty years- tests that that doswers themselves agreed to beforehand, and who, prior to the test, had successfully 'detected' samples of water, pipes or wires.

Not one of them claimed the prize. Many didn't even reach the level of statistical probability- that is, a certain number of 'correct' results that would be expected if a person was just guessing blindly.

And yes, I've heard every single one of the explanations as to why the dowser can do it easily in grandma's backyard, but couldn't when properly tested. And they're all horseshit.

It's very much like the old "car battery on concrete" thing- it's utter ****, but people keep believing it because it's an easy-to-do parlor trick (look up the ideomotor effect) and people want to believe it just as they want to believe in the 'power of crystals', UFOs, ghosts and other hokum.

Doc.
 

killahog

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... You people can't be serious.

No, dowsing does not work. The proof of that is that the utility companies use a $20,000 tool for detecting pipes, lines and wires. You think they'd buy one of those if you could pay an apprentice $15 an hour to use a couple bent coathangers?

Yes, I'm quite sure many of you have experienced "successful" trials, and will argue that point endlessly.

But the fact is, James Randi offered a million dollars to anyone who could demonstrate the ability under test conditions. They tested something like a thousand applicants, over the course of some thirty years- tests that that doswers themselves agreed to beforehand, and who, prior to the test, had successfully 'detected' samples of water, pipes or wires.

Not one of them claimed the prize. Many didn't even reach the level of statistical probability- that is, a certain number of 'correct' results that would be expected if a person was just guessing blindly.

And yes, I've heard every single one of the explanations as to why the dowser can do it easily in grandma's backyard, but couldn't when properly tested. And they're all horseshit.

It's very much like the old "car battery on concrete" thing- it's utter ****, but people keep believing it because it's an easy-to-do parlor trick (look up the ideomotor effect) and people want to believe it just as they want to believe in the 'power of crystals', UFOs, ghosts and other hokum.

Doc.

Come on Doc why did you have to ruin the fun by interjecting facts science and logic.
 

ZRX61

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... You people can't be serious.

No, dowsing does not work. The proof of that is that the utility companies use a $20,000 tool for detecting pipes, lines and wires. You think they'd buy one of those if you could pay an apprentice $15 an hour to use a couple bent coathangers?

Yes, I'm quite sure many of you have experienced "successful" trials, and will argue that point endlessly.

But the fact is, James Randi offered a million dollars to anyone who could demonstrate the ability under test conditions. They tested something like a thousand applicants, over the course of some thirty years- tests that that doswers themselves agreed to beforehand, and who, prior to the test, had successfully 'detected' samples of water, pipes or wires.

Not one of them claimed the prize. Many didn't even reach the level of statistical probability- that is, a certain number of 'correct' results that would be expected if a person was just guessing blindly.

And yes, I've heard every single one of the explanations as to why the dowser can do it easily in grandma's backyard, but couldn't when properly tested. And they're all horseshit.

It's very much like the old "car battery on concrete" thing- it's utter ****, but people keep believing it because it's an easy-to-do parlor trick (look up the ideomotor effect) and people want to believe it just as they want to believe in the 'power of crystals', UFOs, ghosts and other hokum.

Doc.
He should have shown up in my ******* yard when I found the pipe I was looking for then. Randi requires a 100% success rate, Finding 49 pipes out of 50 would be classified as a failure by Randi.
 

ZRX61

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The conditions were that a 10-meter by 10-meter test area would be used. There would be a water supply and a reservoir just outside the test area. There would be three plastic pipes running underground from the source to the reservoir along different concealed paths. Each pipe would pass through the test area by entering at some point on an edge and exiting at some point on an edge. A pipe would not cross itself but it might cross others. The pipes were 3 centimeters in diameter and were buried 50 centimeters below ground. Valves would select which of the pipes water was running through, and only one would be selected at a time. At least 5 liters per second of water would flow through the selected pipe. The dowser must first check the area to see if there is any natural water or anything else that would interfere with the test, and that would be marked. Additionally, the dowser must demonstrate that the dowsing reaction works on an exposed pipe with the water running. Then one of the three pipes would be selected randomly for each trial. The dowser would place ten to one hundred pegs in the ground along the path he or she traces as the path of the active pipe. Two-thirds of the pegs placed by the dowser must be within 10 centimeters of the center of the pipe being traced for the trial to be a success. Three trials would be done for the test of each dowser and the dowser must pass two of the three trials to pass the test. A lawyer was present, in possession of Randi's $10,000 check. If a claimant were successful, the lawyer would give him the check. If none were successful, the check would be returned to Randi.

I'm accurate to 6in at a 3ft depth.
 

bbbarracuda

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I'm accurate to 6in at a 3ft depth.
"must be within 10 centimeters"

See, you aren't within the less than 4" tolerance of the test. So obviously, dowsing doesn't work. :willy_nil

This is one of those arguments that will never be solved. Many of us have seen or done it themselves, but others won't believe it.
 

ZRX61

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"must be within 10 centimeters"

See, you aren't within the less than 4" tolerance of the test. So obviously, dowsing doesn't work. :willy_nil

This is one of those arguments that will never be solved. Many of us have seen or done it themselves, but others won't believe it.
Exactly, How many people dig for a water line with a 4in wide shovel? I don't even own one that narrow.
 

58Yeoman

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I did it once at work, finding a leaking water line under a grassy "field", but it's never worked for me at home trying to find my well water lines, and I know approximately where they are.
 
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DocsMachine

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He should have shown up in my ******* yard when I found the pipe I was looking for then. Randi requires a 100% success rate, Finding 49 pipes out of 50 would be classified as a failure by Randi.

-Standard excuse #237. No, he didn't. The test parameters were always agreed to beforehand by BOTH parties.

Both the dowser and the testors agree as to what would constitute a "successful" detection. And every dowser would inevitably claim 99-100% accuracy... prior to the start of the test.

This is one of those arguments that will never be solved. Many of us have seen or done it themselves, but others won't believe it.

-Sorry, but no, it's "solved" and has been for centuries. It's as "solved" as vampires, ghosts, werewolves, poltergeists and bigfoot.

To the believers, how does it work? Magnetism? Water isn't magnetic, and copper is a common material to make the rods from. Telepathy? What part of the brain detects telepathy? What part of the brain detects water from many feet away?

And if there were such a region in the brain, how is it there has been no scientific analysis of it? Why has no one been able to prove any form of telepathy? If virtually anyone can dowse, why hasn't MIT yanked some guy off the street, run a bunch of tests, and written a paper on it? If anyone can do it, why did a thousand applicants who thought they could, NOT win Randi's million?

Many of the tested dowsers claimed they could find gold. Why were none of them filthy rich?

Sorry. Dowsing is nothing but a parlor trick.

Doc.
[/QUOTE]
 

firebirdparts

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Experiments have been done that eliminate these possibilities, by running water through one of 10 pipes laid underground, or moving the position of water pipes. Under such controlled conditions dowsers do not succeed. https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/is-there-any-scientific-evidence-for-dowsing/
I can't witch water, but I did see 30 or 40 years ago Amazing Randi do this experiment, and the witchers succeeded in it. amazingly, he didn't know they succeeded, because he's not very good at statistics, or else just pretended he couldn't interpret the results correctly. FWIW.

I don't really believe in it, but I don't believe much in being publicly stupid either.
 

ZRX61

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-Standard excuse #237. No, he didn't. The test parameters were always agreed to beforehand by BOTH parties.

Both the dowser and the testors agree as to what would constitute a "successful" detection. And every dowser would inevitably claim 99-100% accuracy... prior to the start of the test.



-Sorry, but no, it's "solved" and has been for centuries. It's as "solved" as vampires, ghosts, werewolves, poltergeists and bigfoot.

To the believers, how does it work? Magnetism? Water isn't magnetic, and copper is a common material to make the rods from. Telepathy? What part of the brain detects telepathy? What part of the brain detects water from many feet away?

And if there were such a region in the brain, how is it there has been no scientific analysis of it? Why has no one been able to prove any form of telepathy? If virtually anyone can dowse, why hasn't MIT yanked some guy off the street, run a bunch of tests, and written a paper on it? If anyone can do it, why did a thousand applicants who thought they could, NOT win Randi's million?

Many of the tested dowsers claimed they could find gold. Why were none of them filthy rich?

Sorry. Dowsing is nothing but a parlor trick.

Doc.

What are you scared of?
 

DocsMachine

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What are you scared of?

-Not a thing. Personally, I think it'd be cool as hell if it worked, or that telepathy worked, or remote viewing, or that the Loch Ness Monster was real.

But it doesn't. It's a parlor trick, same as Uri Geller's spoon bending, or that guy that could turn the pages of a phone book without touching it (until somebody sprinkled styrofoam beads around the book, showing that he'd been simply blowing on the pages) or that guy that could stick things to his forehead (until it was dusted with talcum powder.)

And if it was kept to parlor trickery, I'd be fine with it. I was briefly an amateur magician, and I love to see well-done tricks.

But this is one of those things that way too many people- as shown in this very thread- believe is absolutely true. That's like believing that the magician actually pulled a rabbit out of his hat, or that David Blaine can actually levitate, or that David Copperfield actually made the Statue of Liberty disappear.

Doc.
 
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kelpaso1

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But it doesn't. It's a parlor trick, same as Uri Geller's spoon bending, or that guy that could turn the pages of a phone book without touching it (until somebody sprinkled styrofoam beads around the book, showing that he'd been simply blowing on the pages) or that guy that could stick things to his forehead (until it was dusted with talcum powder.)

And if it was kept to parlor trickery, I'd be fine with it. I was briefly an amateur magician, and I love to see well-done tricks.

But this is one of those things that way too many people- as shown in this very thread- believe is absolutely true. That's like believing that the magician actually pulled a rabbit out of his hat, or that David Blaine can actually levitate, or that David Copperfield actually made the Statue of Liberty disappear.

Doc.
Have you actually tried it? As I said, I don't believe in witch craft but it has worked for me 100% every time I have done it. I cant explain why but.... I did not trick myself so how else to explain it? I thought the same as you until I actually tried it.
 

DocsMachine

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I cant explain why but.... I did not trick myself so how else to explain it?

-Easy. It's called the Ideomotor Effect, which has been known and studied extensively for well over a hundred and seventy years now.

It IS a trick. It's similar to the placebo effect- you're tricking your own mind, which is why it's so believable to those that have tried it. If someone else shows it to you, most people tend to be skeptical. If you do it yourself- and don't know how it's done- it's very convincing.

I guess if it were a trick then there would be videos on YT showing you what the trick is.

-You mean like this one, this one, this one and this one?

This one is still one of my favorites. It doesn't deal with dowsing or ideomotor directly, but gives you a good idea on how you can be an are fooled by both yourself and others.

Doc.
 

charbar

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Tried it once in my yard for chits and giggles. Couldn't get any results. Kept pointing to the whiskey bottle on the patio table. I do drink water with my whiskey so I guess it did kind of work :lol: In the end I just ended up looking like a drunk idiot roaming around in the yard with two bend pieces of wire.
 

DocsMachine

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I tried it myself, once.

Here's part of my driveway, about ten feet from my water well. No signal.

boomsanidiot01.jpg

Over my septic tank, still nothing.

boomsanidiot02.jpg

Outdoor faucet, oddly enough, still no trace.

boomsanidiot03.jpg

How about a pipe? Nope. No change.

boomsanidiot04.jpg

A rock?

boomsanidiot05.jpg

A tree?

boomsanidiot06.jpg

A truck?

boomsanidiot07.jpg

How about... Whoa!

boomsanidiot10.jpg

What a reaction! This stuff really does work!

:D

Doc.
 

Dan in Pasadena

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It is such an obviously preposterous idea that a person with some wires or a stick can SOMEHOW detect subsurface water I am shocked anyone - and especially anyone here on GJ, the epicenter of cynicism - considers it possible much less thinks they have done it.
 

ZRX61

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-Easy. It's called the Ideomotor Effect, which has been known and studied extensively for well over a hundred and seventy years now.

It IS a trick. It's similar to the placebo effect- you're tricking your own mind, which is why it's so believable to those that have tried it. If someone else shows it to you, most people tend to be skeptical. If you do it yourself- and don't know how it's done- it's very convincing.



-You mean like this one, this one, this one and this one?

This one is still one of my favorites. It doesn't deal with dowsing or ideomotor directly, but gives you a good idea on how you can be an are fooled by both yourself and others.

Doc.
None of the videos show any *trick*. Also: Please explain how those of us who go looking for a water line via dowsing & find it (under 3ft of dirt) are fooling ourselves?
At this point I think you're just trolling.
 

Dan in Pasadena

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None of the videos show any *trick*. Also: Please explain how those of us who go looking for a water line via dowsing & find it (under 3ft of dirt) are fooling ourselves?
At this point I think you're just trolling.
He's absolutely not.

Click on the link I posted in Post #2 and read about how the ideomotor effect works. People don't want to believe a perfectly reasonable scientific explanation for a "mysterious" process that is completely UNreasonable to expect to work in the first place!
 

DocsMachine

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At this point I think you're just trolling.

-And you're not? You're trying to claim magic is real, and getting annoyed when I don't swallow your schpiel. :)

The "trick", as I said, is the ideomotor effect- if you'd read the article or watched the videos, which you clearly did not, they explain how the mind makes subtle, unconscious movements to make the wires move. Or the Ouija board planchette move, or the forked yew stick to dip, or the pendulum to swing a certain way.

Why did your body do this? If you're looking for a place to dig a well, in most places in the United States, groundwater is ubiquitous. Personally, it would take some serious work to NOT find water. I know a family who has a well-drilling company, and there's never a question of where- as long as it's X number of feet from a septic field, and convenient to get the truck to, you WILL find good water.

If you're looking for a buried pipe, such things are typically buried in straight lines. In an average suburban yard, that water line is pretty much straight across the yard from the street. I'm sure many of you could guess where they are without the wires.

Ditto anything else buried- sewer lines, water lines, etc. No one ever buries them in a curlicue, and if there's a curvature to it, it's obvious and gradual to pass a tree or other fixture.

You don't know you know it, but the dowsers are generally looking in their own yard, a place they've been a thousand times. You have a good idea where the water line comes in from the street, or where your wellhead is or where your septic tank is buried, and whether you consciously think about it or not, it's easy for part of your mind to simply draw a line between Point A and Point B.

Yes, I very much believe that you believe you did it. But I also know for a fact- I'd bet a year's pay- that if you tried it under proper observational conditions, you, too, would do no better than random chance. That is, you'd have a better chance just guessing.

Doc.
 

ZRX61

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He's absolutely not.

Click on the link I posted in Post #2 and read about how the ideomotor effect works. People don't want to believe a perfectly reasonable scientific explanation for a "mysterious" process that is completely UNreasonable to expect to work in the first place!
Great, so whats the scientific explanation of why it works? In my case I was looking for a 1/2in line in a 75x200ft area.
 

DocsMachine

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Great, so whats the scientific explanation of why it works?

-Speaking of trolling. :rolleyes:

Those links summed it up admirably. Ideomotor is sub-conscious muscle movements, stuff you don't have to actively think about, like balance, or where to put your hand when somebody throws a ball to you.

And you make the wires move by subconscious knowledge of where the thing is, as I just described.

I was not there when it was buried, but I can see my power pole, and I know where the cable entry is to the shop. I never saw the trench, I have no idea how deep it is, but I could throw a rock and lave it land within a foot of the line, from 25 feet away. I have no doubt you had a fair idea where the thing you were looking for was, before you ever started.

On the other hand, YOU tell ME how it's supposed to work. What part of the brain detects water? How far away can it detect it? Why does it not detect itself? Is the accuracy reduced or enhanced on a humid day?

Here's the other thing: Out of the thousand or so people Randi's organization tested, no two made the same claim. Water was a common target, but some claimed it had to be "moving" water. They could not detect 'still' water. (A statement used to explain why they couldn't detect water in a mason jar concealed in a simple paper bag.) Others claimed the opposite- that the moving water in the pipes interfered.

Still others claimed they could only detect gold, or oil. Many claimed they could detect anything, as long as they had a sample of it.

Most claim it worked via magnetism- except as I said, water is neither magnetic nor produces magnetism, and copper was a popular material to make the rods out of. (Because it's "more conductive". No, really.)

Except even there, there seemed to be a great deal of disagreement. Some used bent coathangers, some used copper wire, some used a pendulum (usually a crystal of some kind tied to a string- tell me how that is supposed to be affected by groundwater or magnetism) some used a forked stick (willow, yew, birch, etc.) and so on and so on. Some said they could do it with materials found locally, others had to bring their own "tuned" device with them. (Rolleyes, again.)

Nope, sorry. It's been tested thousands of times worldwide, by dozens of organizations, involving thousands of trials. Not one has ever succeeded.

Doc.
 

ZRX61

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-And you're not? You're trying to claim magic is real, and getting annoyed when I don't swallow your schpiel. :)

The "trick", as I said, is the ideomotor effect- if you'd read the article or watched the videos, which you clearly did not, they explain how the mind makes subtle, unconscious movements to make the wires move. Or the Ouija board planchette move, or the forked yew stick to dip, or the pendulum to swing a certain way.

Why did your body do this? If you're looking for a place to dig a well, in most places in the United States, groundwater is ubiquitous. Personally, it would take some serious work to NOT find water. I know a family who has a well-drilling company, and there's never a question of where- as long as it's X number of feet from a septic field, and convenient to get the truck to, you WILL find good water.

If you're looking for a buried pipe, such things are typically buried in straight lines. In an average suburban yard, that water line is pretty much straight across the yard from the street. I'm sure many of you could guess where they are without the wires.

Ditto anything else buried- sewer lines, water lines, etc. No one ever buries them in a curlicue, and if there's a curvature to it, it's obvious and gradual to pass a tree or other fixture.

You don't know you know it, but the dowsers are generally looking in their own yard, a place they've been a thousand times. You have a good idea where the water line comes in from the street, or where your wellhead is or where your septic tank is buried, and whether you consciously think about it or not, it's easy for part of your mind to simply draw a line between Point A and Point B.

Yes, I very much believe that you believe you did it. But I also know for a fact- I'd bet a year's pay- that if you tried it under proper observational conditions, you, too, would do no better than random chance. That is, you'd have a better chance just guessing.

Doc.
Never claimed it was magic.... I live in the Mojave Desert, we get 5in of rain a year. The pipe I found was curved over about 150 of the 200ft length in the back yard. at one point it did a 4ft joggle to one side for no reason at all. No trees, just flat dirt, I'd lived there about 2 weeks at the time.
I succeeded in finding the pipe. The entire length. You'd be hard pressed to find a humid day where I live, it's usually about 6% with high's of 10-12%.
 

theundermount

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... You people can't be serious.

No, dowsing does not work. The proof of that is that the utility companies use a $20,000 tool for detecting pipes, lines and wires. You think they'd buy one of those if you could pay an apprentice $15 an hour to use a couple bent coathangers?

Yes, I'm quite sure many of you have experienced "successful" trials, and will argue that point endlessly.

But the fact is, James Randi offered a million dollars to anyone who could demonstrate the ability under test conditions. They tested something like a thousand applicants, over the course of some thirty years- tests that that doswers themselves agreed to beforehand, and who, prior to the test, had successfully 'detected' samples of water, pipes or wires.

Not one of them claimed the prize. Many didn't even reach the level of statistical probability- that is, a certain number of 'correct' results that would be expected if a person was just guessing blindly.

And yes, I've heard every single one of the explanations as to why the dowser can do it easily in grandma's backyard, but couldn't when properly tested. And they're all horseshit.

It's very much like the old "car battery on concrete" thing- it's utter ****, but people keep believing it because it's an easy-to-do parlor trick (look up the ideomotor effect) and people want to believe it just as they want to believe in the 'power of crystals', UFOs, ghosts and other hokum.

Doc.
man i work for the water utility, i use dowsing rods to quicky pick up house service lines, it works for me on a regular basis
 

DocsMachine

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man i work for the water utility, i use dowsing rods to quicky pick up house service lines, it works for me on a regular basis

-I've no doubt. And I'm sure that, having worked for said utility for presumably a fair number of years, that without the wires, you would otherwise have no idea whatsoever where the lines might be? :D

Doc.
 
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