Witching For Water
(Page 2 of 3)
November/December 1970
By the Mother Earth News editors
"I reckon I've found more than a hundred wells around here, and I've never missed once," Barham says. "There's some land that don't have water though. Three of us walked the whole yard of our church, about an acre, and nobody's stick even quivered. Finally had to pull in water from way off the land. I got a good stream of water here in my yard. One stream comes in from the West and crosses another one out of the South, right about there in front of that truck. If I had a peach stick I could show you, but I can't do it with nothing else."
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A lot of people think that water divining is confined to rural areas, but that isn't true. Mrs. J. P. Pendergrass, of Raleigh, N.C., does her witching in suburban Laurel Hills. She found her own well and says, "It's the best one in the development. I witched two others out here, and one of them is real good. The well driller wouldn't go where I told him to on the other one though, and they haven't got enough water."
She used to travel all over the state finding wells but hasn't done any witching in a couple of years. Her husband vetoed her trips after Mrs. Pendergrass went on a job where the land wasn't cleared and walked around in brambles as high as her head. When she did go out of town, though, Mrs. Pendergrass would accept travel expenses . . . but no pay for finding the well.
"Mostly, I get a big kick out of being able to do it," she says. "Since I have the gift, or I suppose you call it a gift, I feel like I might as well use it." One way it's come in handy for her is locating water lines for people who want to tap into them and don't know where they are.
Mr. A. B. Lowery is eighty-two, and has just about retired from the well finding field. He says, "I can't hardly do it anymore; the strength is gone from my hands." But he's found a lot of wells in his day.
Mr. Lowery learned from his father, and he doesn't consider it any particular gift. He contends that anybody can do it, but his son disagrees. "Pa'll tell you anybody can do it," he says, "but I can stand right over the well and the switch won't turn for me."
According to Lowery, you have to stand facing north, because water always flows north to south and you have to walls with the flow. He figures there's water everywhere, but the switch turns hardest where there's the most water and w here it's nearest the top of the ground.
Lowery's not too particular about the kind of stick he uses just so it's a straight, new sprout. He's witched with peach, and even dogwood. He holds the sprig palm up, under his finger tips, and bends it into an arch. When the branch get, over a good water source, it'll wring the bark off in his hands.
J. D. Goldston is another one who believes anybody can use the switch if they want to. He's a well driller, and he's not sure whether it's all a coincidence or not, but he's had good luck, and figures it doesn't hurt anything. He's drilled behind a lot of dry wells and found water where his stick turned.
