Dowsing is the purported skill to be able to find water via
divination. Dowsing is also sometimes called "water witching" or "divining". A
Dowser uses a tree branch (or L-shaped wire hangers) to locate where an underground "stream" is located. There is no plausible physical explanation for dowsing. While proponents cite anecdotal evidence of the efficacy of dowsing, actual scientific study of dowsing reveals it to be a
pseudoscience. An article in the January 1999 issue of
Skeptical Inquirer examined a pseudoscientific
German dowsing study with the conclusion
The Munich dowsing experiments represent the most extensive test ever conducted of the
hypothesis that a genuine mysterious ability permits dowsers to detect hidden water sources. The
research was conducted in a sympathetic atmosphere, on a highly selected group of candidates,
with careful control of many relevant variables. The researchers themselves concluded that the
outcome unquestionably demonstrated successful dowsing abilities, but a thoughtful
re-examination of the data indicates that such an interpretation can only be regarded as the result
of wishful thinking. In fact, it is difficult to imagine a set of experimental results that would
represent a more persuasive disproof of the ability of dowsers to do what they claim. The
experiments thus can and should be considered a decisive failure by the dowsers.