To all inquiries, therefore, the Survey gives the advice not to spend any money for the services of a water witch for locating underground water. Pretty straight forward and quite damning. The dowsers are still going strong, however, and each Fall they congregate in Danville, Vermont, wherein the headquarters of the national society rests. The town has a population in the hundreds, and annually it is invaded by thousands. All manner of lectures and displays of dowsing may be enjoyed there, and the gathering seems to grow every year.
Pseudoscience marches on.
The Gordon McClean chapter attended this year's festivities, assuring all the faithful that dowsing was alive and well in Connecticut, which brings me back to my conversation with one Richard Paskowski. Mr. Paskowski is the chapter president for the Connecticut group. He informed me that he was a water witch. That is, his specialty was in dowsing for water, as opposed to metals or missing people. Most dowsers are quite specialized, according to Mr. Paskowski, who states that someone good at the finding of water, is probably not good at locating missing persons.