Water Witching

My Uncle Chas (Charles Fountain Beatie, II) had a small piece of wooded land on the headwaters of Beaver Creek. The place was at the end of a dead-end lane, just beyond the Carus Cemetery. It was not far from my grandparents’ home.

During one of our summer visits to Oregon we camped at Uncle Chas’ place rather than staying in the house with my grandparents and Uncle Jack and Aunt Ada.

One evening our family was joined around the campfire by uncles, aunts, cousins, and grandparents. The lively discussion turned to the subject of water witching. My father decided to demonstrate how the process worked. He cut and trimmed a forked willow branch. The cut stem was about a foot long and the two forks were about a foot and a half long, each. By grasping the ends of the two forks it was possible to cause the stem end to point downward by bringing the fork ends close together.

So, grasping the two ends, my father began to whoop and holler and prance around like a mad man. Shortly he tripped on a root. As he began to fall he brought his hands together, causing the stem end to point straight down. And father fell face downward in the headwaters of Beaver Creek. Thus proving that, in at least some cases and situations, water witching does work!