History Main / DowsingDevice

* In one of the ''Robin and Marian'' medieval mysteries but Clayton Emery, Robin and Marian encounter an extremely eccentric dowser with a reputation for being able to find stolen objects. He does a wild mystic dance while following his dowsing rod, and Robin deuces the secret of his success. He has trained his old three-legged dog to track by scent while staying behind him. The dog follows behind him, and he uses the dance to keep turning around and seeing where the dog is and staying ahead of it.

* ''The Young Ghost-Hunter's Guide'' by J.H. Brennan says dowsing can be used to detect ghostly presences, and describes how to make the metal rods from wire coathangers, claiming it's more reliable than the forked stick because you can ''see'' what the rods are doing.

** In ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesRubyAndSapphire'' episode "Sky High Gym Battle!", Team Rocket uses the Dowsing Machine, now called Itemfinder, to find treasure under the Fortee Gym. The treasure turns out to be Pikachu's Thunderbolt that turns the dowsing rods into lighting rods.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' has a similar system called the Sheikah Sensor which allows you to search for [[MiniDungeon Shrines]] and, after an upgrade, nearly any living thing or collectable material in the game. Instead of using your sword in first-person view however, the Sheikah Sensor instead works as Link moves, giving off a stronger signal when he moves towards the closest desired object.

* In one of the ''Robin and Marian'' medieval mysteries but Clayton Emery, Robin and Marian encounter an extremely eccentric dowser with a reputation for being able to find stolen objects. He does a wild mystic dance while following his dowsing rod, and Robin deuces the secret of his success. He as trained his old three-legged dog to track by scent while staying behind him. The dog follows behind him, and he uses the dance to keep turning around and seeing where the dog is and staying ahead of it.

*** James bought one from [[TheBarnum Infernado]] in "A Ghost of a Chance", which is dubbed as a Treasure Detector. It looks the same as the video and card games, but is treated as a rip-off by Jessie and Meowth as it mostly finds bottle caps. In the next episode, however, the Treasure Detector did find valuable treasure in a warehouse... guarded by Gastly.

** In ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoon'' episode "A Team-on-Team Tussle!", James uses a modified Dowsing Machine to find the Darkinium Z crystal. Unlike the other examples, it succeeds flawlessly... and naturally, [[YankTheDogChain a Totem Raticate guarding the Z crystal destroys the machine]].

* James uses one in an episode of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', it looks the same as the video and card games, but is treated as a rip-off by Jessie and Meowth as it mostly finds bottle caps.

[[folder: Films -- Animation]]

** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]'' has this as a main mechanic, using Link's sword to search for keys, pick-ups and [[DistressedDamsel Zelda]].

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has the Itemfinder, also called the Dowsing Machine in Japan and, internationally, from Generation IV onwards. The Pokétch, introduced in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', features a Dowsing Machine ''application'' which essentially performs the same function.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'', dowsing is Nazrin's schtick. Her rods appear to be ''weather vanes''. Also uses a crystal pendant.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Stephen finds a lost dog in ''Webcomic/{{Paranatural}}'', and figuring he'd find it's home eventually, he goes to a fortune teller to see how things will turn out. The woman isn't thrilled Stephen can't pay her, but pities him and gives him some advice and a set of (fake) dousing rods to help find the dog's home, telling him to point any potential customers her way.

* Used a few times in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'': once by a treasure-hunting imp who was looking for the treasure of the ancient Smurfs, and once by Gargamel to track down Smurfs.

* Used a few times in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'': once by a treasure-hunting imp who was looking for the treasure of the ancient Smurfs, and once by Gargamel to track down Smurfs.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' has this as a main mechanic, using Link's sword to search for keys, pick-ups and [[DistressedDamsel Zelda]].

* In one ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short, Wile E. Coyote gets his tail on fire, so he uses a divining rod to find for water to douse it.

* [[FridgeBrilliance There is a theory behind dowsing]] based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_gravity#Local_topography_and_geology the change in gravity over large underground gaps or caves]] (like a subterranean water pocket compared to surrounding rock), which could be felt in the pendulum (either fork, rod, [[ShapedLikeItself or actual pendulum]], the important thing is it moves in a pendulum like fashion) by a highly trained and very sensitive operator. However, he or she should be [[PrecisionFStrike sensitive as hell]] to feel such an infinitesimal change in oscillation by hands only.