Using dowsing rods for location mapping - effective or placebo?

This might be controversial on here but I've been experimenting with dowsing rods during investigations and I'm getting consistent, repeatable results that I can't attribute to coincidence.

Here's what I do: I map out a location, do baseline EMF readings, take temperature readings, then use dowsing rods to identify "hotspots." Then I go back and do focused investigation on those spots. About 60% of the time, I get anomalies on those spots that I didn't get elsewhere.

I'm aware of the placebo effect and ideomotor response. I'm sceptical of dowsing as a general principle. But I'm wondering if dowsing might work through some mechanism we don't understand - consciousness interacting with environment, sensitivity to EMF fields without conscious awareness, etc.

Anyone else use dowsing? And be honest: is this actually useful methodology or am I just good at choosing investigation spots by coincidence?

The problem with dowsing is it's indistinguishable from random selection. If you're getting anomalies at 60% of spots, that might just be 60% baseline anomaly rate in the locations you're investigating. You'd need to do a proper controlled test - dowse without seeing the results, then compare to baseline anomaly distribution. Otherwise you're just pattern-matching.

I used to use dowsing rods and I genuinely believed they worked. Then I did a blind test - marked spots on a map, dowsed without seeing the marks, then compared results. Completely random. My brain was just unconsciously pushing the rods toward the spots I expected to find activity. Ideomotor response is real and it's powerful.

About 60% of the time, I get anomalies on those spots that I didn't get elsewhere.

What's your baseline anomaly rate? Like, if you picked random spots without dowsing, how often do you find anomalies? That's the critical comparison. If it's 60% everywhere, then dowsing's just random. If it's 20% random and 60% on dowsed spots, then maybe something's happening.

Dowsing's been tested scientifically loads of times and never performs better than chance. I know it feels effective, but that's probably because you're subconsciously choosing spots that seem likely to have activity anyway. Like, people are good at reading environments intuitively - that doesn't mean the rods are detecting ghosts, just that your intuition is decent.