I remember every detail of how my dad and his friend looked for a place to drill a water well on our property. It was 1964 and dad had already drilled on well a couple of years before, but the drillers hit natural gas before hitting the water table. It was a real disappointment for my parents because they had saved up to drill this well and still didn't get water. Over the years however the gas well supplied all the fuel to heat our home.
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So here we were again looking for a water well location on our small rural property. The “water witch” showed up with a willow branch that looked like a forked part of the tree. It was about 18″ long in a “Y” shape. The single end was sharpened to a point, exposing the wet, fresh willow wood. The man acting as “witch” held the branch by the fork ends with the point sticking straight out in front of him.
He walked the yard until the branch started to bob up and down in his hands. Shortly it began moving until it pointed straight down. I thought for sure it was a trick, but as I watched him come at the spot from different angles I realized that the stick was moving on it's own. Each time he came over that spot the willow fork would point straight down. We put in a well there and hit good water for our home.
I never had the need to witch for a water well myself, but at one time I did own a trailer park and needed to find underground gas and water lines before digging . I didn't use a willow branch for that, but used two steel hangers instead.
I unfolded two hangers and straightened them, then bent them in and “L” shape. Holding on in each hand by the short part of the “L” I would start out with them pointing straight out in front of me and walking forward. By holding them loosely in my hands so they could pivot freely, I would walk over the area where I suspected the lines were buried.
When I passed over the buried lines the two hanger wires would begin moving towards each other until each one pointed straight across to the other. That told me I was standing directly on the buried line full of gas, water or sewer. By testing it repeatedly from different directions I would verify my position.
Time after time I would dig the spot and find the line I was looking for. Dowsing is a natural phenomenon that we don't entirely understand, but it really works great.