Did you know our troops and the Iraqi Army have been using dowsing rods to search for IEDs?

[spin]

42. Chances are that you will be unsuccessful. However I knew a man who had the "skill." ...

When I was growing up in Ohio we had an enormous weeping willow tree in our yard.

The local constable used to stop by occasionally to get a couple of forked branches for dowsing. He had a reputation for the ability to find good spots to drill wells and made some money when he did.

My father had a great deal of interest in this and would ask him for a demonstration. I remember his walking past our well and seeing the branch bend significantly as he did. My father and I would try it and nothing would happen.

Of course he faced little challenge as he knew exactly where the well was. My father suspected that this was a trick but we couldn't get a forked branch to dip when we held it as he did no matter how hard we tried.

I still suspect some form of unconscious muscle movement is involved. The constable's success at finding a spot to drill a might well have been simple luck or the fact that in many locations if you drill, you will hit water.

There is a rumor that Albert Einstein believed in dowsing, but this too is questionable.

Albert Einstein had this to say about dowsing, “I know very well that many scientists consider dowsing as they do astrology, as a type of ancient superstition. According to my conviction this is, however, unjustified. The dowsing rod is a simple instrument which shows the reaction of the human nervous system to certain factors which are unknown to us at this time."
http://www.hauntednevada.com/dowsing.html