MythBusters has recently disclosed an intriguing fact about a topic they declined to explore, and the reasoning is fascinating.
If you haven’t yet tuned into MythBusters, you’re missing out on their remarkable scientific investigations that test the validity of popular myths.
For instance, they once investigated whether a hovercraft could glide over an active minefield without setting off any explosives, hypothesizing that the pressure it exerted might not be sufficient to cause a detonation.
Surprisingly, the experiment was successful.
Despite their broad range of topics, there was one particular subject that the team absolutely refused to tackle.
Adam Savage from MythBusters shared that the one thing they ‘wouldn’t do with a 50-foot barge pole’ was Dowsing.
If you’re unfamiliar with Dowsing, it is an ancient practice prevalent in Europe during the 1500s.
This involves using a forked stick as a divination tool to find underground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, and other objects.
Also referred to as divining, doodlebugging, water finding, or water witching, the practice involves moving the stick until it seemingly locates the desired object.
Though often labeled as pseudo-science, Dowsing has occasionally shown success in finding targeted items, prompting the Catholic Church to ban the practice and Martin Luther to condemn it for breaking the first commandment of Occultism in 1518.
In 1662, it was even branded as satanic.
However, the reason Savage and his team avoided the topic wasn’t due to superstition but rather because it wasn’t ‘provable’.
In a YouTube Q&A session, Savage explained: “Unfortunately, it is not based in physics or science-fact, and it has never survived a double-blind test.”
“Dowsing is unprovable.”
He noted that “every time it has been tested; it has come up for naught.”
The challenge is that, while it might seem like the perfect story for the show, there are individuals who are considered Dowsing experts.
Savage elaborated: “There’s someone who has this as a living and I’m not going to tell them they’re an idiot. I don’t think that they’re being dumb.”
“They grew up, they were taught this thing, there may be all sorts of fascinating ways in which the human body can detect tiny changes in gravity or magnetism or just landscape and understand where the water table might be rising closer to the surface.”
“All those things are possible and plausible, and that’s a level of subtly that’s difficult to get inside the 42 minutes of the show we had to make.”
Savage suggested that disproving it would mean involving an expert in Dowsing and then having to make them appear foolish.
In a way, the MythBusters team was quite considerate by choosing not to explore this topic on their show.
They avoided potentially stigmatizing the practice or ridiculing those who believe in its effectiveness.
Today, Dowsing still exists, with some practitioners using two metal rods, and for them, it remains a legitimate pursuit.