Given how fast times change and trends come and go, it’s no surprise that by the time we’re older, the world around us can feel completely unfamiliar.
This isn’t just about the big changes, but also the small ones that happen over decades. My grandmother, God rest her soul, often talked about the habits and routines she had when she was young. She would show us strange instruments and trinkets that no one else in the family recognized.
I can only imagine it’ll be the same for me if I’m lucky enough to live as long as she did.
It’s this sense of nostalgia that makes “what’s this?” articles so popular online. People upload pictures of unfamiliar objects, eager to know what they are and what they were used for.
There’s a new one making the rounds right now, and it’s proving particularly hard to identify.
I’ll admit, I had no idea what the tool in the photo was when I first saw it.
Fortunately, some people did know…
At first glance, it looks like a regular, old tree branch, V-shaped but otherwise unremarkable.
Yet its story as a useful tool for humanity dates all the way back to the 1500s, with a practice known as “Water Dowsing.”
According to reports, a water dowser goes by many names, including “diviner,” “doodlebug,” “well witch,” or “water-finder.”
Its primary job? You guessed it: to locate water!
An individual would hold both branches of the stick in each hand, palms facing upwards. The stem of the V (where the two branches meet) is then tilted toward the Earth at a 45-degree angle.
The user then walks back and forth, supposedly feeling for vibrations at the bottom of the V, which indicate signs of water hidden beneath the ground.
Apparently, dowsing with metal rods was a method used to find metals in the ground during the 1500s. Later, people began using the same method to find water for new homeowners in rural areas.
Check out the video below for more on Water Dowsing!
Did you know what this instrument was for? Let us know in the comments box. If you found this article interesting, check out the one below for more!
