I would absolutely lay a bet of any amount that the water diviners to which you refer cannot find water under controlled conditions, as noted in the JREF link above.
A second bet says that they cannot pass the prelininary trials.
Water dowsers don’t work by “psychic powers”.
I understand that anecdotes aren’t evidence but finding water LINES in a large yard is common practice for dowsers and I have seen it done not once but many times. Just because no one is sure exactly how it works does not mean it does not work. Same like aspirin.
There is a $50,000 finder’s fee for anyone who wins the $1,000,000 challenge. All you need to do is direct one of the dowsers to the site. If he or she wins, you collect $50,000.
Let us know how it works out.
When building Interstate 88 the Illinois Toll Highway Authority used dowsers to find graves in a pioneer cemetary that needed to be moved. My tax dollars in action, I suppose, but my father, a witness, said it worked real well. More importantly, from a scientific standpoint, was that everybody there needed to be up on their shots for deadly 19th century diseases.
I’d say you’d be better off using casdave’s shadow method. Do a controlled burn in the suspect area so that the growth is all the same height. However, considering the location, I doubt there’s much left of ol’ Prudence and Ezra after 300 years.
As I understand it, the challenge is for paranormal abilities. Dowsers that I know do not claim paranormal abilities.
You undferstand wrongly. Dowsers are welcome to apply; in fact, IIRC, they represent te largest group of applicants.
Ok, what method do they use that isn’t paranormal?
Randi is a moron. He couldn’t conduct a proper test to save his life. This much is obvious.
I really wish you would stop citing him. You really shoot yourself in the foot when you do that. If Randi’s tests are the best argument you have, then you don’t have any argument.
I plan to use his stupidity to my advantage. I have accepted a challenge that he set. He suggested a test of paranormal ability. I accept the test that he set. I am sure I can succeed in the test that he designed.
I don’t actually have any paranormal ability. The test he has designed is stupid, like many of his tests. I’m just taking advantage of a deeply flawed test to make myself a million.
My Eagle Scout project was refurbishing an old cemetary. I actually had the idea, before I had a cemetary to work on. I acquired a 60 year old book written by 2 elderly women about cemetaries in my town, based largely on their memory. Using that as a very basic guide, I headed out into a state park that used to be forest and farms looking for one that was supposed to be out there.
My father and I wandered the area described in the book for a few days, investigating a few dump sites filled with glass and stones, and one site that appeared promising, due to some apparnet rusted metal that looked to be from a fence or gate.
Finally, late one afternoon, I stepped out of the treeline and looked across a large field. On the other side, just up against the other treeline, there was a raised hill, with a few large old trees on top - I remarked to my father, “Now that is a good place for a graveyard”. We walked over and walked up on the hill. The hill overlooked the fields and valley, and the large trees were actually found to be on the four corners of the hill.
Excited, we began poking the soil with a few very long screwdrivers. Before long, I had a hit something hard about 6-8 inches under the soil. Over the next weeks we ended up uncovering 10 stones, pieces of a few others, and after clearing the area of grass and brush identified several field stone graves.
The site now has restored stones, a white picket fence and infomation plaque, and I did some basic research on the family for the local historical societey - actually correcting a number of errors they had as far as birth dates, death dates, and number of children for a few of the family members.
So what are the ground rules for interacting with you in this rapidly derailing thread? Please be very specific.
Scroll down to post #178.
Ah, my pet peeve! Would you people please stop doing this?
Complimentary link, as good a place to start as any.
No official confirmation of this in writing from Randi.
Forum posts from his assistants don’t count.
Perhaps you are right. You wold know better than I would. Is it pro forma that each rejected applicant gets an official confirmation from Randi? If so, how is it delivered? On paper via the Postal Service? Electronically? Some other way?
What possible reasons could you have for optimistically thinking that Randi will give your proposal any consideration whatsoever? In all the years you’ve been chasing this pipe dream, has the man given you one iota of indication that he’d place your application someplace other than the circular file?
Every applicant is required to include a self-addressed envelope with the application. Replies will be sent in this envelope. Until I get the official reply in my own envelope the application is open.
TWEEEEEEEEEET!!
Enough on dowsing! The suggestion has been offered and Napier is free to make the attempt or seek alternative methods of finding graves. However, the thread is looking for ways to discover or confirm the site of an old graveyard, not do battle with Mr. Randi.
Anyone who wants to continue the discussions of either dowsing or paranormal challenges is free to open a new thread in the appropriate Forum.
Those topics are now closed to this thread.
[ /Moderating ]
Thanks for the whistle.
So, a few great ideas. I love the idea but hate the price for GPR. Reading about it makes me think it shouldn’t be that hard, but I have lots of projects that started that way. Ground resistance is a good idea. So’s a tile probe (the name of the long rod you poke into the ground to see if somebody pulls on it). And I’d like to hear more from Batsinbelfry or anybody about how we can expect metal detectors to work. I think they should be able to give out some kind of complex feedback like an acoustic version of what they sense, but most seem to try to automate finding gold coins and ignoring everything else - what if I want to find more mineralized soil, if it’s a clue.
The site is almost entirely wooded, some deciduous and some evergreen. Parchmarks won’t work. But maybe one of us standing on a ladder while the other sweeps a strong flashlight over the ground at a low grazing angle would work.
This property is already a historic place held in some kind of trust. Finding a graveyard on it would increase the value of the history it can offer and help cement its future, as far as I can figure. As an added bonus, at least one of the men who lived here fought in the battles of Lexington and Concord that, in a manner of speaking, started the revolution.
Keep the ideas coming. I could pass on the water witching, but if anybody knows a reputable grave witch…
Well, not an idea for finding the site exactly, but maybe you could get a grant or a loan to help fund GPR or even to hire some extra bodies to cover the ground looking for clues. It’s amazing what types of grants are available.
I’m not sure how much of that would be a conscious design choice. Metal detectors detect conductivity, and gold is one of the best conductors, even compared to other pure metals. Plus, when most metals corrode, conductivity plummets, but gold doesn’t corrode, so it retains its full conductivity more or less forever. Silver and copper can corrode, but not nearly as much as iron, and they’re even better conductors (when uncorroded) than gold, so they should show up well, too.