William E. Whittaker, PhD RPA - Grave Dowsing Reconsidered
Quote:
| After publicly discussing my doubts about the effectiveness of dowsing for graves (Whittaker 2005), several individuals that dowse for unmarked burials, or have witnessed it, encouraged me to look further into the matter. They feel dowsing has been shown over and over to be an effective way of locating unmarked graves, and it is an inexpensive alternative to the more expensive and often ineffective geophysical methods such as radar or magnetometer survey. At first glance, dowsing appears to be a good bargain; for virtually no cost, an entire cemetery can be mapped out, with all of the graves lined up in neat rows and sometimes the burials can even be designated male or female. This method seems to eliminate a great deal of headache and heartache. Maintaining a cemetery often brings with it legal and social liabilities and obligations, and many cemetery caretakers are glad to have such an apparently effective and useful tool, especially since cemeteries or the governmental bodies that oversee them are often underfunded. Add to this the reality that cemetery caretakers are often unpaid volunteers who do this work out of a sense of community obligation and it becomes clear why dowsing is a method that remains popular, and why many are reluctant to abandon the only remote-sensing instrument they can afford. ... |
MsSVig