The Rods Cross for Me

First Experience of Dowsing Rods

In the early 1970s I worked for GPO Telephones as a cable test engineer and was often in the position of having to ask a gang to excavate a hole in a road to get to an underground cable fault. It was before electronic services locators were readily available and judging where the duct line containing the cable was positioned was often difficult.

One of the old gang leaders, an ex Royal Signals WWII soldier, got two copper rods out of the truck and bent them into L shapes announcing that he could locate the line by dowsing. He proceeded to walk across the section of road surface repeatedly with the rods held out in front of him and, to everyone's great amusement, showing them crossing. Among the hilarity and ridicule, he convinced a couple of us to have a go. Of those of us who tried, two had nothing happen and two of us had other experiences.

The first time the rods crossed for me was almost frightening and certainly unsettling. I repeated the exercise concentrating on not letting the angle of my hand or arms change convinced that I was just somehow copying what I had seen; but they did seem to have a mind of their own.

The cable way turned out to be within 18 inch of where we had seen the rods cross but I have to concede that it was where we would have expected it to be regardless of the rods.

What I couldn't get over was that there was no sign of movement in the rods other than close to where we knew services would be buried; but distinct and apparently independent movement close to them

50 Years Later

Over 50 years since, I have occasionally experimented, usually just for the amusement of spooking other people by getting them to try it. As with that first day for me and my colleagues, some experience nothing while others are startled by something happening which they feel no control over.

I have tracked drains in my own garden but more recently I have been tracing old steel water pipes in an area where they are not so predictable and am about to get involved with helping map old field drains in open country. The latter project will be followed up with pilot holes excavated to confirm or disprove findings which is what has started me writing.

No Scientific Basis Known

The practice of Dowsing or Divining is frequently labelled as a Pseudoscience and there is no known scientific basis for it; Indeed, there are many apparently controlled studies showing no better than 50-50 success, i.e. no better than random.

However, many people do believe that dowsing does have a place and in my own experience I am happy to use it as an addition tool in conjunction with electronic equipment and taking out pilot holes to confirm any apparent results.