Dowsing

Dowsing is a controversial practice which dowsers claim empowers them to find water, metals, gem stones, and hidden objects by carrying or waving a stick or other apparatus over a piece of land and watching for any movement. However repeated tests under controlled conditions have never provided support for this claim.

Claims made

Most dowsers look for things hidden under the surface of the earth. Most claim to be able to detect moving water. Some believe they can find standing water, oil, precious metals, base metals, minerals, or lost items. Many dowsers believe their success rate is near perfect, over 90 per cent, but none have ever done better than chance in controlled tests.

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Some proponents claim to be able to find water or minerals by dowsing a map. Like dowsing by walking, this method is unsupported by any scientific hypothesis, which leads most to classify it as pseudoscience, although some proponents claim it is some kind of extra-sensory perception. Magician Uri Geller claims to have done such dowsing for oil and mining companies.

Related Topics:
Mineral - Map - Pseudoscience - Extra-sensory perception - Uri Geller

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When done using a pendulum, it is called radiesthesia.

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There also seems to be a cultural preference attached to dowsing. While waterdowsing is the most common, dowsers in Great Britain often look for 'magical' lines, called Leylines, connecting ancient Celtic monuments, such as Stonehenge. In Germany, and to a lesser extent the surrounding countries, dowsing is popular to detect so called 'earth-rays'. These alleged rays supposedly emanate from deep within the earth. Being on an earth-ray hotspot is supposed to cause myriad negative effects, from sleeplessness to cancer. In the USA, dowsing for precious metals and oil seems to be more popular than elsewhere on the planet. This may be due to the history of the gold rushes that have taken place in the USA and the American dream of striking it rich.

Related Topics:
Great Britain - Leylines - Celt - Stonehenge - Germany - USA

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