The message
from Douglas de Lacey contains these words:

Sorry, for an OT post this has gone on far too long. But I'd still be
interested in feedback. Thanks for listening.

I tend to be sceptical about most things but I have long had an open
mind on dowsing or at least about the conventional sort, with a hazel
twig or bent wires. Why? Firstly because there are loads of people who
can get results at least some of the time (at at a probability well
above random). Secondly because while it is currently unexplainable in
scientific terms there is much we do not know for sure and dowsing is
inherently no more unlikely than the ability of homing pigeons to home.
Indeed dowsing might make use of much the same facility, tuning in to
the local magnetic or gravitational field.

Now the caveats.

Dowsing by map just has to be pure bunkum. If the dowsers are not
present on site they cannot interact with the local surroundings in any
way at all.

That the bent wires are moved directly is likewise bunkum. They are
moved either by involuntary muscle movements or deliberately. If they
were moved directly then dowsing would work for everyone every time.
Dowsing was traditionally done with a forked hazel twig which twisted
upwards. ISTM that much the same muscle twitch could produce the
dissimilar movements in the different tools so the modern approach with
wires is actually following the long standing tradition.

As to why the Randi prize has yet to be won who knows. Perhaps Randi is
just demanding too high a standard of proof. Even some commonplace
things don't have a 100% success rate.

I have tried dowsing in the past and it just doesn't work for me but it
doesn't need to be an ability that every one has for it to be real and
if it is something as vague as a sense of direction then there is every
reason to suppose it will be less than 100% successful. But a sense of
direction, like dowsing, could be influenced entirely by subconscious
signals from the local environment rather than local force fields. For
me the jury is still out.

--
Roger Chapman