dowsers

People with the skill or ability to detect the presence of water, minerals, treasure, archaeological remains, and even dead bodies located underground by means of a divining rod. Dowsers grasp the rod by its two prongs and appear to receive transmissions from the hidden substance or object that cause involuntary muscular contractions, which in turn make the rod bend, twist, or quiver violently. Some dowsers claim to be ableto detect buried substances merely by passing a divining rod over amap of the area where the substance lies hidden. This ability has as yet no scientific explanation, but dowsers generally deny that divination is part of the process.