Do you have the witch in you?

I have a touch of the witch in me. Depending on who you talk to, they may or may not be surprised to find this out. You may be more surprised to find out that J also has a bit of the witch in him.

What on earth am I talking about you may ask??

Well, it's simple: water witching.

It's also called divining or dowsing. If you haven't heard of water witching, here's what dictionary.com says about it: –verb (used without object) 1. to search for underground supplies of water, metal, etc., by the use of a divining rod.

Basically, dowsing is when someone detects hidden or buried water (or minerals) without the use of scientific apperatus. A dowser uses some sort of divining rod. It can be made from wood or copper or other materials, depending on the preference of the dowser. He or she will walk around a piece of property, and when he nears an underground water source, the divining rod will move in some fashion, indicating the presence of water. This is useful especially when you are looking to dig a well on property. Oh, and also as entertainment for the skeptical.

I have to admit that I have always been curious about how this works, and more than a little skeptical. I mean, come on, finding water by walking around holding a stick? Like that could ever be possible. Because he is a scientist both by nature and profession, J was even more skeptical than I was.

We were skeptical, that is, until we went to Colville to visit with my friend Tracy's parents. Apparently Roger, her dad, has a long history of water witching in his family. There was even a big article written about Roger's dad in a Minnesota newspaper. His dad was a very successful dowser. He could not only pinpoint the location of water, he could tell you how deep it was, and how many gallons per minute it would produce. Yeah, right. I'll believe it when I see it. According to Tracy, Roger is almost as good as his dad, and even "witched" his own property in Colville successfully.

This doesn't sound too amazing or impressive at first. Any idiot can walk around a property with a stick and pick a place where they think water would be. Anybody is bound to hit water eventually, right?

Imagine how skeptical the well drilling company was when Roger called them out, showed them exactly where to drill, and told them that the water was deep. Several hundred feet deep, to be more precise. He didn't need them to survey his land, he was confident he knew what he was talking about.

He was right. The drilling company wanted to stop drilling long before they hit water. They thought he was going to a lot of expense unnecessarily, and that they would be better off trying a new spot. Then they hit water, right when and where he told them they would.

We thought this was a great story, but were still a bit skeptical. So Roger got out his divining rods, and took me and J outside to prove it to us.

He demonstrated how to hold the divining rods (his were made from copper), and what to do.




Then he told us the rods would move and form a cross when we came across water if we "had the witch" in us.




Imagine our surprise when J was walking down the driveway and out of nowhere, the rods started moving...all by themselves. See, that's the crazy thing about water witching. You are merely resting the rods in your hand. When you come across water, they move and form a cross all by themselves, with no movement of your hands. (That's J and my friend Tracy.)




They formed a cross (it's more like an "x marks the spot" sort of cross). After J tried it, I gave it a whirl. I was successful, too!

See the goofy smile on my face?? I'm a bit in shock. Those rods moved all on their own...while I was holding them! It's the most bizarre experience I've had in a LONG time!

Then Roger showed us how to figure out how deep the water was. If you hold one of the rods parallel to the ground it will bounce. You count the bounces and that number is how many feet deep the water is. Again, you just hold them and they move on their own.

Then you hold the rod perpendicular to the ground, and it will make circles. Count the circles, and it will tell you how many gallons per minute the water will flow.




We followed his directions. Only after J and I had both done this did Roger tell us what he knew about that particular spot and ask us what our results were.



We were within a few feet of his, and a gallon or two of how fast the water was. Needless to say, we're now believers!