this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2025
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I don't believe in dowsing, I have seen it done exactly once, and then a farm dam was dug with an underground spring directly in the centre of it, so my observations show it to have a 100% success rate from a sample size of 1, which is a bit awkward.
Wikipedia agrees with you. Commonly viewed as a psuodoscience. The equipment is very good at amplifying subtle hand movements.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing?wprov=sfla1
I can see a little grain of truth in finding depressions and soft ground as the dowser shifts their body to stand level, which may indicate geological features associated with ground water.
Humans also have a really good sense of smell for petrichor, which might also be related to ground water, with dowsing just being useful to focus on suble things like smell.
Anyone who thinks dowsing can detect water directly is clueless or lying though, and dowsing has absolutely been used as a grift before.