The Uses of Dowsing

At this point I will list a sampling of dowsing uses culled from the principal U.S. periodical, The American Dowser.[9] Anyone who reads this list and still believes dowsing is a scientific practice rather than a psychic ability has more faith in science than is safe.

Dowsers claim their art has successfully been used: to instruct children in developing their psychic abilities; to find accident-prone highway sections; in veterinary diagnosis; for automobile diagnosis (car dowsing); to derive information in a pending malpractice suit; in narcotics detection; to find fish in the lake (and whether or not they are biting!); to find archaeological sites and artifacts; for finding downed planes or tracking submarines and ships (e.g., predicting the time of their arrival, not to mention their contents and port of origin); to check an area for snakes; in sport hunting (e.g., dowsing for deer); to find unmarked graves; to find lost objects or valuables, murder weapons, and so forth; to find missing persons (e.g., determining whether or not a person is dead by their photograph and, if alive, locating them); for checking the "accuracy" of students' homework; to determine if letters, wills, paintings, and signatures are genuine or forged; to track storms; for use in astrology and most other forms of the occult; to detect multiple personalities or spirit possession; to find "subconscious blocks"; to determine the soil composition and fertilizer needs of one's house or garden plants; to sort eggs to determine the sex of the chick.

As if all this were not enough, dowsers Erwin Stark, Raymond Willey, and Gordon MacLean[10] tell us that in addition to the above we can: track down hunted criminals; uncover a spouse's infidelity; locate "subluxations" or cavities if we are chiropractors or dentists; forecast the weather; measure intelligence; detect pregnancy; find the "right" medical specialist for rare diseases by dowsing the phone book; find ghosts or poltergeists; detect acupuncture points; determine the height, weight, and age of kidnappers or rapists; detect oncoming earthquakes; determine edible plants in the wilderness; find avalanche victims; and -- for the amateur astronomer -- determine the composition of moon rocks, determine whether or not a planet is inhabited, and diagnose the conditions of the astronauts before they land. (Not to mention the further benefit of locating fleas on one's dog!)