Water. H2O. Warmed ice.
whatever you call it, California's farmers
are running out fast.
And after three years of draught,
they're turning to surprising methods
to find more.
Can I get some more water, please? Thirsty.
They're called dowsers, and they claim to have
supernatural water finding powers.
Thanks to climate change,
desperate farmers have them booked solid.
I'm booking out, you know, three to four weeks in advance.
I thought it was bullshit.
-Yeah. -But it's worked for me.
KOSTA: It really does sound like bullshit,
so why do people believe in this?
Is dehydration playing tricks with their minds?
To find out, I headed for draught-plagued California
to meet one of these water witches
or dowsers.
I'm Larry Bird, and do I dowsing.
Larry Bird. Hey, who said white men can't dowse?
-(chuckles) Okay. -No?
-Okay, all right. Okay. -It's not really a joke.
You know, the lack of water is-is really not a fun thing.
Rivers are drying up.
-Yeah. -And my name's on the line.
It's not really your name on the line, Larry Bird.
But Larry's right about climate change.
Last summer, three percent of California
was facing extreme or exceptional draught.
This summer, it's up to 88%.
So it makes sense that desperate farmers
are turning to Larry Bird,
the Great Wet Hope.
But how exactly does this work?
Once you're on water, it's-it's like it's got its own current,
its own frequency.
You feel like some kind of static electricity
that's-that's actually backfiring
and coming off that water.
My rod over here tells me I'm over something.
-See, this one doesn't move. This one does. -Yeah.
You can just tell where the rods open up.
Actually, you feel, uh, energy flowing right through your body.
It has a tingly situation.
Are you sure you don't just have to use the bathroom?
-(chuckles) No. -Did you go before we left?
While Larry took a tinkle, I investigated a bit further.
Groundwater expert Ben Frech.
I'm not gonna call anybody's profession bullshit.
So you're saying it's not bullshit?
It has no scientific basis.
A hydrogeologist, uh, can bring a lot of tools,
uh, to the situation, such as a proton magnetic resonance.
When they essentially put a electrical current
into an aquifer and they gauge that's current's, um, reaction
-to the water molecules. -Yes, electric current.
That's what the dowsers are doing.
Well, hydrogeologists bring a practical and methodical method
to locating and extracting groundwater,
-compared to a dowser, um... -Mm.
...which uses, um, a stick.
-They would refer to it as a-- as a rod. -Okay.
KOSTA: But Farmer John says these so-called scientists
are the real scammers.
I've had guys that drill wells come out and look for it.
Spent money. Didn't find no water.
I dug four or five of 'em. It was $15,000.
-$15,000? -Yeah. But Larry Bird found me water.
-He did? -Three times.
-Downtown! -(chuckles)
What would you say to a California farmer
with a handlebar mustache who says
that dowsing has worked for him many times?
These are folks who usually are doing this in the same area.
-They get to know the land, they get to know what works. -Mm.
Um, they're probably applying a certain level
of scientific method to what they're either
knowingly doing or unknowingly doing.
So these are unknowing scientists?
-Possibly. -Potentially.
Is this science?
-I'm making a science out of it. -You make it a science.
-Be more specific. -Uh, you know,
geologists can look at soil, they can look at gravel.
They can say, "Well, you know, this water should be here."
But dowsing's an art that goes clear back to,
uh, Egyptian time, Chinese time, early years of...
They would use reeds or whatever.
KOSTA: Larry might not be a science expert,
and he definitely isn't a history expert,
but he might be an archaeologist,
as the one thing he could find was a fossil.
See that rod moving right there? That's a tooth,
a tooth, a tooth, a tooth, and a tooth and a tooth.
Uh, what is that-- a stingray that looked like that?
Yeah, you found a stingray?
He's putting off energy of... ten,
20, 30, 40, 50,
80. Wow.
90, 100, 150,
60, 70, 80,
181, two, three. Whoa!
What are you doing right now?
I'm actually counting the energy that's coming off of him.
-His energy. -From the dead stingray?
His energy is 180.
180 what?
-Uh, well... -Energy units?
Uh, it's a current. It's just a current.
Okay, great, so we found a stingray. What about water?
But Larry says water isn't the only thing
he's had a close encounter with.
I've dowsed all over the world.
And Stonehenge-- you know, they're missing,
um, what's there.
It's actually a, um...
antenna system that goes right into Stonehenge.
Antenna system? Human?
-Not ours. Yup. -Nonhuman antenna system.
-Aliens? -They're all over the world.
Are you telling me that buried around the Earth
are multiple alien antenna systems?
-Spaceships. -How many?
-Thousands. -Thousands.
What do you say to dousers who claim that their methods work
because they've found over 200 wells
and a few alien spacecraft?
I don't know how to respond to that.
So, what do you believe is under Stonehenge?
Uh, dirt, rock, maybe some water.
KOSTA: I had to agree.
Sensing water under the ground is one thing,
but alien spaceships?
It all seemed too crazy.
Until I found out that fake Larry Bird
is making real Larry Bird paychecks.
I would say $500 on the average.
You make $500 to wander around a field
until you have to pee, and then say, "Dig here"?
-Yeah. -You know what?
You're a genius, man.
KOSTA: $500. I guess it was time
to stop being a fake journalist
and start being a fake water witch.
Just one question: how quickly could Larry teach me
to use his racks-on-racks-on-racks rods.
As soon as we come to the waterline, your rod should open
one way or the other or move one way or the other.
Now, see, mine is moving there.
-I'm definitely sensing a metal rod in my hand. -Okay. Okay.
You gotta hold something.
-Why is it going towards you? -I don't know.
-But that's okay... -I suck at this!