In July 2003 three members of the EMDG were interviewed by the Nottingham Evening Post and invited to give a demonstration of their dowsing skills at Wollaton Hall.

Chairman John Wright, Secretary Linda Darlison and Linda Hextall responded to the challenge.

Part 1 -  25th July 2003:

There is a lot more to dowsing than looking for water. The rods can even find missing people.

Just Divine!
How does it all work?

Dowsing is one of those mysterious skills which people either laugh at or shy away from. But dowsers say it is an art which has been used for thousands of years, and anyone can do it. LIZ CARTWRIGHT found out how it is done.

THE American tourist was scratching his head and looking baffled. In the end, he couldn't stand the suspense any longer and he came over to take a look.

"What on earth are you doing?" he asked the women with their divining rods.

"We're dowsing," they said.

But the explanation didn't help him, and he seemed even more mystified than before.

It was a hot summer's day at Wollaton Park and, while the ice cream man, was doing a swift trade in 99s, the members of the East Midlands Dowsing Group, were near the stable block with their divining rods. Linda Darlison, Lesley Hextall and the group's chairman John Wright were eager to show me their dowsing skills. The East Midlands group is affiliated to the British Society of Dowsers which even has its own magazine Dowsing Today.

RODS AT THE READY: Members of the East Midlands Dowsing Group, from left, Chairman John Wright, from Milford, Derbyshire, Linda Darlison from Awesworth; and Lesley Hextall, from Breedon-on-the-Hill

According to the society, to dowse is to search with rods or pendants for things hidden from view or from people's knowledge.

John explained that dowsing can be applied to searches for a great number of artefacts and entities. Most people associate dowsing with the search for underground water but this is only one aspect, he says.

It is believed Queen Elizabeth I even brought dowsers over from Germany to search for tin and lead needed for weapon making.

X FACTOR: Lesley Hextall with divining rods

But dowsing has been going on for hundreds of years when man would search for water for his animals and crops. What perhaps is less known is that dowsers search for other underground features, such as archaeological remains, cavities and tunnels, oil, veins of mineral ore, underground building services, missing items and occasionally missing people.

Although no thorough scientific explanations for dowsing has yet been found, says John, it is thought that there is some connection between the dowsing reaction and changes in magnetic fluctuation.

The East Midlands Dowsing Group, of which there-are several Notts members, get together regularly for meetings, and then go on site visits, to investigate old buildings or sites of former villages which may have stood thousands of years ago.

Some people believe that dowsing is to do with extra-sensory perception. John, Linda and Lesley don't elaborate.

"When you ask a question your arm will move a certain way," says Lesley "You have to be confident in your dowsing to use this technique, as it's quite difficult to do."

And then she adds: "And it also stops you looking like a prat in public."

At the west side of Wollaton Hall, the trio asked questions of their rods: "Was there a path here?" "Where did it lead?" "Did it lead to the house?"

Linda gave me some rods and John showed me how to hold them properly at right angles. "Hold them like this," said John. "That's right, now bring your elbows in..." Not really knowing what I was doing, I followed Linda.

"There was a path here," she said. "Here is an edge..." and off she went stepping out and asking more questions, getting a "yes" or "no" from the rods and plotting out a plan in her head.

Linda added: "If people don't believe the rods are moving, you can place them in Biro holders."

While it is considered unreliable by some archaeologists and geologists, some utility companies still use divining rods to plot out underground drains and manhole covers.

"Most public utility companies working in the field will have someone with a pair of rods," said John.

By using this technique Linda found out that the tree was 373 years old.

But Lesley dated the tree at 267 and John at 276. Holding my rods nervously, I asked the same questions and miraculously, the rods responded by moving, on their own, in and out. I dated the tree at 365 years old.

Within half an hour, the dowsing trio had come up with several theories on Wollaton Hall.

A SPOKESWOMAN from Wollaton Hall says some of the trees do still stand from the 16th century when the hall was built and it was quite possible that the oak tree we dated could have been more than 300 years old.  But she was unable to give a precise age.

Wollaton Hall and the park were built on coal mines - which is how the Willoughby family made their money.

John's theory that the nine-feet-high tunnel led from the west wing to the stable block could also be true.

"There are tunnels underneath the hall and the park, from the mining days," said the spokeswoman.

"And the servants' quarters were in the west wing, so a tunnel could have been used to access the stables."

"There were also underground ale cellars and there could have been underground access to that," she added.

She said Linda's running water theory was well-founded too, as there is a natural spring under the hall's cellars.

TONY Youens is an expert in researching psychic claims. He is based at Nottingham Trent University.

Investigating dowsing comes with his work.

"I don't believe dowsing can be done," said Tony. "We say that the rods move because of ideomotor response."

This means that the person holding the rods makes tiny little movements, although unwittingly.

Tony said: "You can't see the movement, and the person with the rods doesn't know they are doing it.

"It's the same with ouija boards. People say they aren't moving the glass but they are. If you blindfold the people round the ouija board, move the letters around and then ask questions of the glass, the whole thing is thrown into confusion."

Tony is currently working with former American magician James Randi, also a dowsing sceptic.

Randi is currently offering dowsers $1m if they can successfully dowse for water.

British dowser John Roberts has taken up this challenge and will be appearing in the US with the hope of collecting the prize money.

"We will test him with concealed pipes and one pipe will have water", says Tony.

"There is nothing spooky going on. I think it's nonsense, pure drivel. But if anyone can prove they can do it, I would like to test them."