I think that dowsing is mostly a method to justify relying on somebody's gut instinct, intuition, experience or common sense, for lack of (affordable and practi

I think that dowsing is mostly a method to justify relying on somebody's gut instinct, intuition, experience or common sense, for lack of (affordable and practical) alternatives. Digging a well isn't cheap and people want something "better" than letting the well diggers make their best guess, even though their best guess is generally good enough. My favorite dowsing story is from when I was a kid, a new house was being built downhill from my parents' house and the developer hired a dowser for the well. The dowser started to mark out a spot directly downhill of my parents' septic tank until my dad warned him.