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Water Witching - fake or real?
My Desk | 07/02/2014 | Abathar

Posted on 07/02/2014 6:32:17 AM PDT by Abathar

I'm curious, has anyone else seen someone use a stick to find water before, and do you believe it works?

We sold a piece of property and had to move a well that was on it to another older well we drilled years ago but never used. When we couldn't find the cap with a metal detector the well driller who put it in 20 years ago said we were looking in the wrong place, because there was no water there. He went back to his truck, pulled out a stick, and he and his assistant started walking the property and marking where the stick swung down. He told us that there was a gravel vein running N to S and it had to be in that area, that where our memory told us it was was wrong, and he never would have drilled there.

Long story short, he was within 4 ft. of where the old well was found with that stupid stick and its been screwing with my mind ever since. 3 days ago I would have snorted derisively and and used my best Sheldon Cooper "Hokum" imitation, but now I don't know what to think. Has anyone else seen it work or was he just lucky?


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Science; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: dowsing
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To: Abathar

Its real. In the South everybody gets the water dowser out to spot the site for the well. My sister and brother in law bought a piece of property outside Waynesville, NC. The downser came out marked the spot and the well guy drilled and and voila’.


81 posted on 07/02/2014 8:30:41 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose o f a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: Eccl 10:2

“If you are going to refute someone, use facts. If it’s not physics, what is it? Why?

Don’t just whine like a 3 year old. Prove your point, at least anecdotally, or don’t make it at all.”

Someone who uses the statement: “It’s not magic, but likely physics.” is demanding facts?

What scientific principle in physics supports water-witching? Give something fact based to rebut instead of ludicrous, superstitious bs and we’ve got someplace to start at least.


82 posted on 07/02/2014 8:40:29 AM PDT by Fuzz
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To: goodwithagun

The original poster referenced Dr. Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory sitcom. The character is supposedly high functioning Asperger’s. Anyway, one of his famous lines is, “I’m not crazy, my mother had me tested.”

__________________________________________________________

Yes, but Sheldon’s mother later regretted she didn’t take him to that specialist in Houston.


83 posted on 07/02/2014 8:42:57 AM PDT by chaosagent (Remember, no matter how you slice it, forbidden fruit still tastes the sweetest!)
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To: goodwithagun

ahh....Thank you for assisting your culturaly impaired FReepers.


84 posted on 07/02/2014 8:45:24 AM PDT by G Larry (Which of Obama's policies do you think I'd support if he were white?)
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To: Abathar

I saw a guy exactly locate a well with two crossed over, straightened out coat hangers. He said “dig about 36 feet.” Shit, we hit water at 35’. He apologized.


85 posted on 07/02/2014 8:56:56 AM PDT by Safetgiver ( Islam makes barbarism look genteel.)
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To: Georgia Girl 2
In the South everybody gets the water dowser out to spot the site for the well.

Anywhere you drill will strike water.

86 posted on 07/02/2014 9:02:55 AM PDT by fso301
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To: Abathar

I was always skeptical of water-witching although many folks I knew claimed it worked. In the early ‘80s I was a site superintendent of townhouse and apartment projects in Vancouver, B.C.

One fine day, after preparing an underground parking lot for paving, it was discovered that the drainage contractor had not mapped the clean-outs or runs of sub-surface drainage tiles.

Short of recruiting a dozen laborers with shovels, I was at a loss as to how to map and flag the pipes. One of my plumbing contractor’s men suggested witching; I laughed but gave it a try with two bent steel form-ties. It was uncannily precise and effective, even if inexplicable.

I’ve never had cause to try the technique again, but am no longer a “denier”. ;^).


87 posted on 07/02/2014 9:07:54 AM PDT by headsonpikes (Mass murder and cannibalism are the twin sacraments of socialism - "Who-whom?"-Lenin)
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To: Abathar

My dad use to find water for folks drilling for wells in our rural neighborhood.


88 posted on 07/02/2014 9:08:46 AM PDT by mware
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To: Abathar

Was he drilling in fractured rock or did he hit an impervious clay layer that was thinner at the 100’ well location?


89 posted on 07/02/2014 9:32:20 AM PDT by BwanaNdege ( "For those who have fought for it, Life bears a savor the protected will never know")
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To: headsonpikes

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if people spent more time trying to figure out why it works for some people than conducting studies that say it doesn’t work?


90 posted on 07/02/2014 9:35:09 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: fso301

“Anywhere you drill will strike water”

Sadly not true especially in the mountains.


91 posted on 07/02/2014 9:52:30 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose o f a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: golux; Abathar
If you can channel Elmer Shuffleburg, he will teach you all about dowsing. Wire coat hangers and such are not quite cricket here. Hazel wood forked branch is the way to go. Cut at the full moon, of course.

And don't try it in Texas. You'll keep coming up with crude oil.

92 posted on 07/02/2014 9:56:55 AM PDT by Kenny Bunk (The GOP is dying. What do we do now?)
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To: golux
"Well, well well... You have inadvertently created one of the most revealing threads on Free Republic."

Indeed, I figured to get at least 25 people making fun of me, but this is extremely interesting now.

93 posted on 07/02/2014 10:23:53 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: SoothingDave

LOL!


94 posted on 07/02/2014 10:25:24 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: BwanaNdege
"Was he drilling in fractured rock or did he hit an impervious clay layer that was thinner at the 100’ well location?"

My property is in the hills, at the very front of it is a road and on the other side of it is a river valley. The hills are stone, most people have cisterns instead of wells because you will NOT hit water no matter how deep you drill. I pump my water back from the well 8/10 mile to my house, it was either that or pull it from our lake, and that didn't excite me at all. I can go on the other side of the road and hit water with a hand drilled well, once on our side you have a short apron that might or might not produce but beyond that, you will get nothing. A whole lot of money changes hands when the property can support a well, so people make sure before they list it and if its there, they would find it because we don't have rural water this far out.

95 posted on 07/02/2014 10:38:14 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: fso301

“Anywhere you drill will strike water.”

That’s just silly...


96 posted on 07/02/2014 10:43:43 AM PDT by babygene ( .)
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To: Abathar

Hubby can do it as well as his dad did. Uses just two wires.


97 posted on 07/02/2014 10:51:52 AM PDT by gopheraj
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To: Fuzz
What scientific principle in physics supports water-witching?

Same principle as a Ouija board. Which is what I use to find water, instead of a witching stick. It's easier to just ask the demons where the water is.
98 posted on 07/02/2014 10:56:52 AM PDT by ZX12R (Never forget the heroes of Benghazi, who were abandoned to their deaths by Obama)
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To: Abathar

Yes, it works. I use metal coat hangers or welding rod. I cannot tell what I found, how deep it is, gpm, or anything else, but something is there.


99 posted on 07/02/2014 10:57:51 AM PDT by Rannug ("all enemies, foreign and domestic")
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To: ZX12R

“Same principle as a Ouija board. Which is what I use to find water, instead of a witching stick. It’s easier to just ask the demons where the water is.”

Could very well be the same principle, but what makes you think the Ouija board is controlled by demons? It’s more likely controlled by your subconscious.


100 posted on 07/02/2014 11:07:21 AM PDT by babygene ( .)
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