Here’s a tail for Anzac Day (25th April). Some readers might be familiar with the 2014 film, The Water Diviner, directed by and starring Russell Crowe, set in Gallipoli in World War 1. Although this was a fictional account, there does exist a true account of the work of an actual water diviner, named Stephen Kelley. An account of his story was first published in 1916 in The British-Australasian newspaper, and then reprinted in the BSD journal in 1951. The account speaks for itself, but it is perhaps indicative of the interest in dowsing by the British military, an interest that goes back further than WW1, but is based on the fact that, when practiced by a good diviner, dowsing delivers.

The article is “Water. A true tale of Suvla Bay”:

http://www.dowsing-research.net/blog_extracts/BSD_No74_1951_p105.pdf