Floyd man continues family tradition of dowsing
Donald “Donny” Lucas remembers watching his father walk around with a stick in his hands as a six-year-old in the late 1950s. He was dowsing, or "water witching," using what is referred to as "The Gift" — a rare talent of being able to find groundwater from the surface.
Donald “Donny” Lucas remembers watching his father walk around with a stick in his hands as a six-year-old in the late 1950s. He was dowsing, or "water witching," using what is referred to as "The Gift" — a rare talent of being able to find groundwater from the surface.
Lucas's Gift isn't just knowing where there is water underground, but also knowing how deep the water is and how much there is using a forked stick. He explained that “there are underground streams running all through everywhere.”
“As far as the flow goes, it is the feel of the stick that tells me the flow — if it is a weak or strong stream," Lucas said, noting that the depth is more nuanced to decipher and requires more of a conversation. "It is going to sound crazy, but I ask my stick.”
Dowsers can use a variety of items to help them locate water, but Lucas has been using his forked stick — which is about 18 inches long with offshoots of six to eight inches at a 45-degree angle; "about the shape of an inverted Y," he said — for years because "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." He clarified that he can "cut about anything, and it will work" for him, thanks to The Gift.
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For Lucas's nephew, he said, wood sticks do not work, and he has to use welding rods. “He bends them into a 90-degree angle, and he will walk across [where there is water], and the rods will turn outwards when he gets to the stream."
Although most people in the world are not able to sense water the way Donald's family can, he said that it is not a rare gift in his family. The Lucas family has been living in Appalachia since the 1700s, when they arrived in Giles from England. His great-grandfather, who lived down in Locust Grove, also had “The Gift," but it skipped his grandfather, who did not believe in water dowsing and said that water witching was a “bunch of hooey," Lucas said.
The first time he remembers finding water is more than 60 years ago, when he was seven years old and accompanying his father, Daniel, on a mission to find water for another community member.
“My brothers and I thought it was fun," Lucas said. "We all got a forked stick, and it just randomly worked for two out of three of my brothers, too.”
Lucas said that he probably would not have gotten into finding water for people, except for when his father got older and could no longer walk, he started to pass along Lucas's phone number when people called for a dowser. Lucas joked about using the same tactic on his own children once he's no longer able to do it himself. He said his daughter's Gift is so strong that she could probably do it "with a blade of grass.”
Lucas has helped more than 100 people in the last 15 years find underground water streams for drilling wells, he said. Dowsing is not only used for finding wells; some dowsers can sense waterlines, sewer lines, and sometimes even electrical lines. Lucas said his father was even able to help people find lost gravesites.
While Lucas has spent years helping those in need find the perfect spot for the wells to be dug, he explained that it isn't an exact science. Sometimes, you can miss the mark by an inch or two, and the well-diggers will miss the stream.
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Lucas noted that he is not able to sense the water without the dosing rod in his hand. He doesn't sense anything in his body — “no sensation, just in your hands," he said.
"The sharper or stronger the pull, the more water there is," Lucas explained. "If you come across a strong stream, and you try to hold the stick, it will ring the bark off in your hand. It will leave blisters; I just can't hold it.”
Lucas said that if you want to know if you have The Gift, you can cut yourself a “Y-shaped stick and hold it in your hands.” You can start by going over a known underground water source and see if the stick moves for you. Lucas says that it will not work on surface water like a creek for him.
Lucas noted that he is happy to have this Gift. “I have met a lot of great people doing this, and hopefully helped people out along the way," he said. He doesn't advertise; it is just by word of mouth.
You can find Donny Lucas most Fridays or Sundays at the Floyd County Store playing a stand-up bass or guitar.
Donald Lucas finds an underground water stream in Floyd. Video by Tanja Vidovic
