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Dowsing: Dubious, Discredited, and Dangerous SI_SI new design masters 7/21/11 12:57 PM Page 36 SKEPTICAL INQUIREE] BE N J A MIN R A DF OR D Benjamin Radford is a research fellow at the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and author or coauthor of five books, including Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore. Dowsing: Dubious, Discredited, and Dangerous telling. Dowsing is said to find any- What can you tell me about thing and everything, including missing : the “science” of dowsing? persons, buried pipes, oil deposits, and —J. Gilliland even archaeological ruins (see “Dows- Q ing and Archaeology: Is There Some- thing Under neath?,” SKEPTICAL IN- QUIRER, March/April 1999). People through the conceive of the paranormal as a tasty The dowsing with which most peo- centuries have revered (but ultimately nourishment-free) meal, ple are familiar is water dowsing (also and perpetuated prac- dowsing is a sort of all-purpose side known as water witching or rhabdo- : tices de spite the fact dish. It can stand alone as a New Age mancy), in which a person holds a Y- that they simply do endeavor when searching for water or shaped branch or two L-shaped wire A not work. Dows ing is a missing jewelry, or it goes equally well rods and walks around until he or she textbook example of this. Part of the with a variety of pseudoscientific main feels a pull on the branch or the wire reason for dowsing’s longevity is its ver- dishes, including ghost hunting, crop rods cross, which allegedly indicates that satility in the paranormal world. If we circles (Pringle 1999) and fortune- there is water below. Often a pendulum A ghost hunter seeks spirits by dowsing at Canada’s “haunted” Fort George. (Photo by Benjamin Radford) 36 Volume 35 Issue 5 | Skeptical Inquirer SI_SI new design masters 7/21/11 12:57 PM Page 37 is used, sometimes held over a map. According to many books and ex- perts, dowsing has a robust history, and its success has been known for centuries. For example, “In 1556, De Re Metallica, If you assume that dowsing works—and a book on metallurgy and mining writ- that is of course a huge unproven ten by George [sic] Agri cola, discussed dowsing as an acceptable method of lo- assumption—how does it work? cating rich mineral sources” (Shaw 1995, 64). This widely cited reference is The proposed mechanisms are as a rather transparent example of a logical fallacy called the appeal to tradition (“It varied as the dowsers themselves. must work because people have done it for centuries”). However, it seems that the dowsing advocates haven’t actually read the book, which says exactly the opposite of what they claim: far from dowsers often cannot agree on even the many tests over the years and have per- endorsing dowsing, Agricola states that basics of their profession: “Some in- formed no better than chance under those seeking minerals “should not structions tell learners never to try controlled conditions. There is no sci- make use of an enchanted twig, be cause dowsing with rubber footwear, while ence behind dowsing, and though the if he is prudent and skilled in the natural others insist that it helps immeasurably. main harm is wasted time and effort, it signs, he understands that a forked stick Some practitioners say that when rods can also cost lives: in 2010, modified is of no use to him ... ” (Hoover 2010). cross, that specifically indicates water; dowsing-rod devices claimed to detect If you assume that dowsing works— others say that water makes the rods di- bombs were sold to the Iraqi military and that is of course a huge unproven verge to 180 degrees.” (Radford 2010). assumption—how does it work? The While I have participated in small- proposed mechanisms are as varied as References the dowsers themselves. One source scale tests of water dowsing, I most often encounter dowsers during ghost investi- Evers, Ona. 1977. Everybody’s Dowser Book. San states, “Dowsing is possible ... through Rafael, California: Onaway Publications. the strong psychic energy radiated by gations. Many amateur ghost hunters use Hoover, Herbert Clark, and Lou Henry Hoover, the object and picked up by the dowsing rods to search for ghosts, believ- eds. 2010. De Re Metallica. Whitefish, Mon- ing that ghosts can be detected by (or tana: Kessinger Publishing. [dowser]” (Shaw 1995); another confi- Pringle, Lucy. 1999. Crop Circles: The Greatest Mys- dently states that “dowsing is not weird communicate through) dowsing rods. In tery of Modern Times. New York: Thorsons. .. 2007, I demonstrated dowsing for the Radford, Benjamin. 2010. ‘Bomb detecting’ or spooky . it is as natural as memory. dowsing rod demonstrates danger of pseudo- In fact, some scientists believe it may National Geographic Channel’s Is It science. Discovery News ( January 27). Avail- well be one of memory’s forms ...a Real? television series on “Ghost Ships” able online at http://news.discovery.com/tech in response to a woman who used dows- /bomb-detecting-dowsing-rod-demonstrates vestigial memory of a survival method -danger-of-pseudoscience.html. of searching, using senses other than ing rods on ghost hunts. Dowsers were Randi, James. 1995. The Encyclopedia of Claims, the five obvious ones” (Evers 1977). also prevalent during a 2010 investiga- Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernat- tion into Canada’s “most haunted” loca- ural. New York: St. Martin’s Press. James Randi (1995), in his Encyclopedia Shaw, Eva. 1995. Divining the Future: Prog nosti - of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the tion, Fort George, Ontario (see photo). ca tion from Astrology to Zoomancy. New York: Occult and Supernatural, notes that Dowsers have been subjected to Gramercy Books. Skeptical Inquirer | September / October 2011 37.
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