Water witch harnesses a divine flow
Spunky the Wonder Toad
Local man's dowsing techniques help locate hard-to-find wells, septic tanks
By KELLI B. GRANT
Journal Staff
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BILL WARREN
Journal Staff
Stanley Van Nederynen lightly grasps a bent piece of welding rod in each hand,
holding the piece delicately so that the parts not resting against his palms
hover parallel to the ground.
Van Nederynen begins to inch forward with his arms in front of him. Suddenly,
the wires swing out to the left and right. Van Nederynen's dowsing technique has
found groundwater.
Dowsing is the process of using a divining rod to search for underground water
or minerals. Also called "water witching," the practice of dowsing has been used
for thousands of years around the globe.
Van Nederynen, 71, has been dowsing for more than half of his life. He goes out
to dowse for people in the county, usually farmers or new landowners, several
times a month.
"Sometimes, in a dry year, I might do two or three a week," Van Nederynen said.
Other dowsers use a tree branch to divine, but Van Nederynen prefers to use
welding rod. He said not only are the wires less painful -- the force exerted on
a branch can cause it to tear into the skin -- they are also more accurate.
"The tree branch will show the spot, but not the line," he said. "(The wires)
pick up everything. You have to figure out the source to tell what it is."
Bob determines depth
Van Nederynen said he makes no preparations before arriving at a site to dowse.
Once he has located the water source using his dowsing wires, Van Nederynen uses
a longer metal wire to determine the depth of the water source. Holding one end
of the wire near his navel, the rod moves forcibly up and down -- each bob
equaling an estimated 2.5 feet between the surface and the water source.
A fishing bob serves as Van Nederynen's third dowsing tool. By holding the bob
over the water source, he claims, the quantity of water can be determined. The
bob is supposed to swing around violently where there are larger quantities of
water.
Van Nederynen said most of his dowsing customers are referred to him through
local well drillers and by word of mouth. In addition to locating water sources,
he has located septic tanks and old drilled wells and pinpointed breaks in
pipes.
"If I were a health inspector, boy, would I be a blinger!" he said. "I could
tell you what everybody had underneath their land."
Skeptical clients
A lot of people call just to see dowsing in action, he said.
"Some of them are very skeptical. I tell you, I pick the men out of the boys on
this one," said Van Nederynen, who charges a flat fee of $10 for dowsing. "Most
of them are astounded."
According to the Skeptic's Dictionary, dowsing is not based upon any known
scientific or empirical laws or forces of nature. Most skeptics subscribe to the
theory that involuntary motor action causes the rods to move, but others add
that dowsers' success rates are not high enough to merit anything beyond pure
chance.
George Berry, a local well driller and owner of Berry Drilling in Trumansburg,
has worked with Van Nederynen for more than 20 years.
Berry said some of the dowsers he works with are all talk, but others -- such as
Van Nederynen -- really know their stuff. On some sites, he said, dowsers
independently searching for water have chosen the same location.
"Most of the time, they are right on," he said.
It is the customer's choice whether to use a dowser to search for water or
locate it through other means, Berry said. He warns them the method is far from
perfect.
"There's no way you can pick up a stick and find water, but it works," Berry
said. "It's still a hit or miss deal, but Stanley's done something remarkable."
Runs in family
Van Nederynen first learned how to dowse 40 years ago, after his brother
experimented with the technique. He then began learning from other dowsers in
the area. With study and practice, he became proficient.
"It was just something I found out I could do," he said. "I said, 'If I'm going
to do it, I'm going to do it right.'"
Talent for dowsing runs in Van Nederynen's family. He said the wires work for
his four children, and so far, at least one of his nine grandchildren. He said
his two great-grandchildren are both too young to try the technique.
Van Nederynen was born right outside of Ithaca, and has lived in the area all
his life. After spending his early years as a pig farmer, he now works
artificially inseminating cattle.
When he isn't working or dowsing, Van Nederynen enjoys hunting, fishing and
crafting lures. He and his wife, Irene, also can vegetables from their garden in
Trumansburg. Jars of jams, jellies, sauces, pickles and tomato juice line their
cellar, supplying them with the garden's bounty year-round.
Community members with interesting or alternative lifestyles are featured every
other Tuesday in Alternative Tompkins. To suggest a profile subject, contact The
Journal at 274-9224.
http://www.theithacajournal.com/news/stories/20030513/localnews/290061.html
Originally published Tuesday, May 13, 2003