Updated 7 a.m. Wednesday Most of the major water companies in the United Kingdom use dowsing rods — a folk magic practice discredited by science — to find underwater pipes, according to an Oxford Ph.D ...

In these times, most of the old superstitions have fallen by the wayside, but dowsing’s many believers robustly defend this ancient practice. I am acquainted with scientists and engineers who have ...

Wouldn't it theoretically work worse than chance? At least by chance, you have you wouldn't theoretically have any biases leading you towards something. Dowsing rods require the user's subconscious ...

FAR WEST TEXAS—Before Jeff Boyd became the city of Marfa’s public-works director, he had a long career underwater. As a commercial saturation diver, one of the most specialized kinds of divers around, ...

There are many different ways to hold a divining rod or dowsing rod. Some people prefer to "witch" for water with a pendulum. The practice relies on the idea that the object will suddenly move when a ...