Dowsing Rods: Defined

Enter "dowsing rods" into Google and you get a wide variety of results. The same is true for the alternate spelling "dousing rods". They are also sometimes called "divining rods" a term I object to except in for one of the definitions.

First I should probably describe what a dowsing rod looks like. There are a few varieties.

The first one that I'll describe is the one I'm most familiar with and I think the one least prone to human error and/or faking.

(This image is taken from "The Rock Town Weekly.")

This is one way to hold a dowsing rod when dowsing for water, oil, or minerals. There are other, more awkward, ways to hold it to further insure that the user can't manipulate the rod himself.

Usually the objective is the find water, thus the name "water witching." I think the 'witching' part has more to do with witch hazel being the traditional wood used rather than any association with actual witches.

It must be made clear that I do not consider this variety of dowsing to be supernatural in nature. It has been given supernatural overtones, however, by the use of prayers to 'influence' the actions of the rods and other rituals. This is a grave error and is why, I think, most Catholic resources put together by the laity say that dowsing rods should not be used.

Also, though it has been used for such, do not use a dowsing rod of any variety to look for lost objects. The traditional use of a dowsing rod is searching out the geological location of water, oil, or minerals. Just being lost doesn't make an item unique enough to trigger any sort of reaction by a non-intelligent object and therefore any reactions that do occur should be suspect!

There, I used an exclamation mark. It's a very important point and I think it deserves the emphasis.

(This image is from "UK Skeptics.">

This is probably the most popular type of dowsing rod and is used not only for water witching but also the detection and communication with spirits. They are often sold along side pendulums of various mysterious shapes and may come with books on the paranormal and spirit communication. The idea is that they will cross, like in the picture, when near a supernatural 'entity.' In communication with such entities the position of the rods indicates either a 'yes' or 'no' answer. The user often states which position is which before asking the question.

What they actually are is a pair of metal (usually brass) rods bent in the shape of an L. The short bit, which is grasped, may of may not have comfortable wood handle covers.

Assuming, as most ghost hunters do, that spirits and other paranormal phenomena are accompanied by strong elector-magnetic fields, the copper rods actually makes some sense. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, and copper is, after all, used in electrical wiring. Depending on the proportion of copper (and perhaps the addition of silver) used, brass can be an excellent conductor of electricity. It also indicated to me that having something other than wood between these electrical conduits and your bare skin might be a good idea. (Rubber gloves come to mind.)

Then groups go and say you can make your own rods out of old coat hangers. *sigh* I guess their brand of spiritualism is more important than believability.

I would be most interested in seeing how a professionally made set of dowsing rods react to a known electro-magnetic field. If anyone is willing to spend the time and money to find out, let me know the results.

*Never* under *any* circumstances use this to contact or otherwise interact with ghosts! It is a really, really stupid idea and one that I covered in Opening the Gate: The Dangers of Divination.

Not only that, but if you happen to be Catholic it breaks standing Church rules. I haven't been able to find details from an official source, but it seems that except in the case of water witching (and then only if no supernatural forces are called upon) use of dowsing rods is forbidden. If that is the official stance I can't say for certain. The word dowsing does not appear anywhere on the official Vatican site.*

* Yes, the Vatican has a web site. *Everyone* is on the web!

Visits from Relatives

I think most people with an interest in the preternatural have heard of relatives returning from the grave to give some comforting messages to those left behind. Some are credible, others... not so much. I dunno, usually when I hear about this sort of thing it brings to mind some New Age strangeness.

But it does happen, nonetheless.

There's one story about a British Naval officer who was seen by guests at a party held at his house. These guests expressed surprise to his wife, since they were under the impression that he was still on tour. His wife assured them they must be mistaken, his ship was in the middle of the Atlantic.

What she didn't know was at that very moment his ship was on it's way to the bottom of the ocean.

Personally, I haven't had a dead relative actually visit. A Great-Great Aunt (or something along those lines) did have a premonition that a younger relative and mother of small children had just died. So when the father came to fetch her to help him take care of the kids she was already packed and waiting on the porch for him.

A friend of mine had a much more detailed encounter with a recently dead relative, and a much more poignant one. It's a very good read. He posted the story as a comment on my Experience Talks post.

Not all things creepy are supernatural: Ghost photos

One of the great mainstays of paranormal research, serious and otherwise, is the ghost caught on film. Usually that film is a set of still images showing a vague, misty shape, like a blob. Some are more spectacular. And much more scary.

There's a Video on YouTube that sets a slide show of such photos to appropriately creepy music.

But are they real? Any of them? I really can't say, though I would have to say that there's a pretty good chance that at least some of them are fake. (I'd even be willing to bet a few cents that most are.)

The thing is that ghost photos are very easy to fake. Particularly for an online audience. There's even a website on How to make a fake ghost photo.

It's really very complete, including such classics as cellophane over the lens and more high-tech Photoshop techniques.

The one they don't cover is the double exposure. This is great at getting ghostly effects, and I suspect the source of a lot of the photos in the above slide show.