Trying something new

[Mobuck]

I'm in the process of draining a farm pond in order to replace the water standpipe inside the pond plus having an excavator dip out as much sediment as possible. Now that most of the water is out, this morning I decided to mark the location of the old outlet pipe so the excavator doesn't break it off too short to reconnect. Using a forked willow 'witching stick', I was able to locate and mark the old waterline under 6-8 feet of sediment and muck. The muck made the task a bit more difficult because 5-6' of wet soupy mud caused a constant 'pull' but the water filled steel pipe was much stronger. During a serious drought in the late 80's, I 'witched' water for several wells in a 3 county area without a single failure.
Later, we were watching a TV show that involved detectives looking for unmarked burials and GA asked if I could find something like that. We decided I should go try to find some 'lost' graves in an old cemetery a few miles away and mark them. Some of those graves are long dead family members so it would be fitting to relocate and mark their graves. Finding metal coffins would not be too difficult but these would most likely be wooden coffins so I'm not sure I can make it work but will sure give it a try.
I've been finding buried water and electrical lines for over 40 years but just never felt the urge to look for graves. I did ask her if she was going to dig down to verify what I might find. That came back a resounding NO.

 

[Mobuck]

Well, it worked and I'm feeling no ill effects other than sore hands. I selected thin wands to improve response but using such slender wands can cause some interference/false responses from tree roots and may account for some of the responses. We located 25-40 unmarked burials and confirmed the grave site of my maternal Grandmother's still born sibling (1885 +/-). A few of the finds were confirmed by broken or displaced markers as dating to a similar time frame.

 

[protoolman]

Did you dig any up to confirm? Just kidding! I don't know how witching works but have seen electrical guys find buried lines with copper rods so I'm assuming that's electo magnetic energy. Water must be similar just a different energy? I've seen it done too many times successfully to doubt it

 

[thinckley]

Witching bothers me... Simply because it cannot be explained. When trying to locate a likely place to drill my well in Montana, I hired this company https://www.primarywaterwells.com/?...pqlVkYRNzZBjVQT96B9KT9WJNvhDxzPkaAqMGEALw_wcB to locate it.

When trying to hire a driller, one guy hopped out of his truck, bent a brass or copper rod over, and within 2 minutes located the same place (the flags marking had been covered when I had the drill pad excavated). I was impressed! Still do not know how it works, which still bugs me. While chatting with the guy, he mentioned that the guy that taught him could grab a tuft of hair from a dogs tail and using his rods, follow that dog all over the mountain side.

 

[peachhead]

I have a hard time finding willow sticks around here (I don't even know if we have any). I have used old metal coat hangers. I cut the straight part out, then bend it to a 90.
I don't know how it works either but it works.
I have not looked for graves though, that would be a new one. Might try it.

 

[RoninPA]

Some things just can not be explained but I too have seen it work more times than not so I don't doubt that there is something to it.

 

[krw]

When I ran a water system, all the mains were installed pre manditory lacate wire days. We witchd all the lines w #12 copper wire. Why #12?? You can locate any ditch or ground disturbance. BUT, some people are LOTS better than others!!

 

[Mobuck]

IMHO, finding buried water lines or electric wires is different than what I did today. After seeing it work, I'll not be messing with cemeteries anymore unless specifically asked.
FWIW, I've used copper wire a few times but the willow fork has been more precise for me-maybe just because I have more experience with the green wood forks. I've had some disbelievers follow me and change their opinions after the wood forks twisted themselves to the breaking point.
It's not magic and probably lots of folks could do it. 'Dousers' who work with well diggers have immediate feedback as to depth and amount of water that I don't have. Now that telephone and water companies have electrical locator devices, not much need for dousing. It is funny when I search out a phone line and then the phone company guy comes and his flags follow mine. He asks whose flags are those and I say 'mine'.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Well, it worked and I'm feeling no ill effects other than sore hands. I selected thin wands to improve response but using such slender wands can cause some interference/false responses from tree roots and may account for some of the responses. We located 25-40 unmarked burials and confirmed the grave site of my maternal Grandmother's still born sibling (1885 +/-). A few of the finds were confirmed by broken or displaced markers as dating to a similar time frame.

I find "witching" reports fascinating.

When you say you "located" 25-40 unmarked burials were you searching in an area where there were marked sites so you could search in the immediate areas among the marked ones and locate potential individual grave sites for future confirmation efforts?

How did you confirm the stillborn 1885 site?

I'm not giving you trouble here, I'm interested. I have many relatives from both sides of my mother's family in a very old cemetery in NE Missouri. Most of the graves are pretty well-marked, but some are essentially illegible. I have not made an effort to access whatever cemetery records exist. Any suggestions on how to commence that effort?

 

[Watertender]

I have found buried water lines with 2 metal rods bent at a 90° angle. They cross when you find the line.
I also have 2 friends who are very good at it. One is a retired city water department employee and the other is a retired plumber.
The city my friend worked for even had wooden water lines in some places and he could find those with no problem. These guys are as good as dialing 811.
It's something you either have the knack of or you don't.

 

[Mobuck]

This is an old cemetery so many of the grave sites are sunken. This cemetery hasn't had a new grave for 30-40 years and a few times cattle have knocked the fence down and upset the headstones. There are enough stones still in place to confirm rows in some areas but other areas there are no markers so it's more like walk a line and see if there are any 'hits'. I had 'hits' in areas of the cemetery that had 15-18" diameter oak trees growing so it's possible there are graves under those 50 year old trees.
As for the 1885 grave: the date was known to my family but there was no headstone. About 20 years back our family had a stone made for the baby but no one was sure which side of Great Grandad's grave the baby was buried. We set the baby's marker from best recollection of older family and today's effort seems to confirm correct location.
I'll admit that some sort of 'pretext' is required for my searching. I can't tell a waterline from a power cable or a grave from either w/o some visual input or simply knowing what I'm looking for. I just feel the pull. On some of the graves I found today, there was enough open space for me to approach from 4 directions and mark the actual perimeter of the grave. Other places the graves were too close together to differentiate a line between.

 

[Mobuck]

Ale, most or at least some cemeteries had a plot book. In the cemetery I'm most familiar with, plots were 'spoken for' in advance and recorded in a ledger. For decades, my family maintained the plot book for the cemetery donated by my Great grandfather. A few years back, this responsibility was passed outside the family and we weren't very happy about that but that's a totally different story. How well the information is organized in the plot book varies.

 

[Richard76]

not trying to be a jerk, but it's called Dowsing not witching
see post 8

 

[RoninPA]

Witching sticks, or dowsing rods, are tools historically used to locate underground water, minerals, or pipes, often by holding forked hazel/willow branches or L-shaped metal rods that move or cross when over a target. Used for centuries, this practice is considered a pseudoscience by scientists...

6 of one, half dozen of the other. Different areas use the terms interchangeablly. I don't care what the "scientists" say. If it works it works.

 

[mveach]

not trying to be a jerk, but it's called Dowsing not witching
see post 8

Depends on where you're standing. Both terms are common