Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions - James Randi [173]
After unbelievable problems with the pumping system, we photographed and mapped the scene with great accuracy and got everything down on paper, attested to and witnessed thoroughly. The shuttle bus sped off to town to bring the first contestant to the scene.
Mr. Fontana had come from Pisa. He had told us that he had the ability to detect ordinary water traveling in pipes under the streets, but not sewage water ("not enough magnetism"), and that he dowsed maps for oil with "100-percent success." Further questioning revealed that he had never checked any of his oil findings! But he was happy to show us a huge world atlas he carried about, and he traced for us a massive, underground river of oil extending all the way from Greenland through England, France, and Italy and Sicily, ending in Tunisia. The folks at that end, said Fontana, were robbing Italy of oil by draining it off. I kept my doubts to myself.
Please note that the dowsers' claims and theories mentioned here are typical of the breed all over the world. They are not especially bizarre, as such notions go in this most widespread of all delusions. I have heard more farfetched theories frequently.
Mr. Fontana (his name means "fountain") wiggles a pendulum while following nonexistent underground water.
Fontana traversed the vertical line X in his attempt to follow path C (the horizontal path at the top), then the line Y in another attempt to locate C. He decided not to make a third try, saying we could use his first attempt (X) as his third guess.Thus his first and third guesses actually paralleled path B—the direct line between the valve and the reservoir!
Fontana checked the area for existing natural water, then tested his dowsing device over the exposed pipe. He determined that two underground streams crossed each other on the site, and we marked them for his reference. He thought they would not interfere with the test. Using a straight willow rod, as Stanziola would do later on, he found what he believed to be the entry point of the flowing pipe and started in. Then he changed to a pendulum. The accompanying map shows where he walked and plotted, compared to where the water actually was. And it shows why I feared for my prize money as this first contestant proceeded.
Zero hour. Mr. Borga begins his attempt. The inlet area is on the left; the starting position is marked by the striped pole.
Fontana had drawn path C for his first test. He started off at the position opposite the inlet faucets and zipped across the plot, waving his pendulum wildly and pointing out spots where pegs should be placed.On this first try he came surprisingly close to path B, though it was empty during that run. In fact, some of his pegs were within the limits of the test, if applied to path B. As I saw this, I feared that perhaps the plan of the pipes had gotten out (I did not know which path had been chosen) and that I'd been had. But I trusted that the dowsers were basically honest, and under no circumstances would I renege on my offer. I had committed myself and would stand by the agreement, whether cheating was going on or not.
Mr. Fontana was a direct and uncomplicated man. He had assumed that the pipes entered on one side and exited on the other. He was almost right. I'd put in one simple pipeline, path B, to demonstrate that even a direct, straight flow was not detectable by the dowsers.That was amply shown by the rest of the contest.
It happened that path B was the third of Fontana's tests. He decided that this was a repeat of the first one (which