Hello All,
First I'd like to address one thing about the 1 million dollar prize for proving that dowsing works. The normal way dowsing works is to find water. Many others have expanded that meaning to include searching for whatever and the ones who made the rules for the prize have put it into that paradigm. That does not mean there is not proof that it does in fact work for finding water, specifically undergound water to be used as a well. I have seen too many times people who could do it. A good friend of mine did it when i built a new house 10 years ago. Now, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story.
Two years ago my area went through a drought and my well survived. Some close to where I live had theirs dry up. My friend came in to each of those I know about and found them more water. Some of it was shallow (most wells around my area tend to be less than 30 feet deep) and some wound up having to drill deeper to get to the water, in some cases more than 200 feet. But in each case they found water exactly where my friend said it would be found, whether shallow or deep, and also in each case he was within 5 feet in depth of where it would be found.
Now fast forward to this summer, our drought this year is considered extreme. Raleigh has less than 100 days of water left in their reservoirs. the water table is way way down and my well is just about empty. i know this because my shallow well pump is now cavitating and i opened up my well and measured it. So I called my friend. Unfortunately his joints are now such that he can't perfom it any longer, but he described the method of using two bent rods and told me I should try it for myself. i was pretty upset, no water, and the person I was hoping could help me couldn't, and he didn't know anyone else who could.
Being the computer geek I am I decided it was time for research, and sure enough there were many sources who claimed the bent rods would work for anyone. Just as many said it was a hoax. I thought, what the heck, what have I got to lose. So I bent me two rods and set out to find more water on my property. I have a huge yard, 4 acres, and 10 years ago my friend had found water everywhere. I was finding nothing. Thought to myself "this is bunk, I can't do it". Just about that time I took a few more steps and the rods moved. Straight in a line. I backed up and they went apart. This time I leaned them almost 25 degrees in a down angle and stepped back across the previous point. While they didn't form a straight line they turned a good 75 degrees, enough that they were fighting gravity, and I wasn't turning them. I even had my wife come and try it. It blew her away. Over the next two days I mapped out the whole stream (and it is a stream or very long pocket of water). 1000 feet long to be exact, and at places 5 feet wide, and within 20 feet of the surface. Yesterday the guy who was going to drill my well showed up. I had marked where I wanted the well dug. He pulled out two rods and said "Let me make sure you aren't making a mistake". 5 minutes later he was setting up his rig right where I had marked. He hit water at 19 feet, and it was clear clean water. After he found the bottom he hooked up his camera and ran it down the hole. He ran it a full 100 feet in both directions and could not find an end point and it was on average 5 feet wide.
Now you can dispute this all you wish, but I have proof by many witnesses that this all occured. And what's more I have water once again.