Digging Up Deep Run Roots

DID YOU KNOW...Dowsing is a practice using metal rods to locate unmarked graves, often employed by genealogists, archeologists and cemetery researchers. It has been used several times here on Edisto and will be demonstrated during the upcoming Edisto & Beyond Tour on October 24th. We are including properties (called Sacred Grounds) where there are unmarked graves. Tour participants will be able to try their hands at dowsing, while respecting these graves and ensuring they are protected.

The FBI has determined it an “unproven method,” finding that it lacks scientific credibility. However, some believe it is an effective method for finding bodies, and it is included as part of some crime scene investigator training programs, including those provided to US government agencies.

Dowsing is simply based on detecting electromagnetism beneath the ground. There is a property in bones under pressure called piezoelectricity, which generates an electric field and that generates magnetism which has a resonance frequency. The metal dowsing rods work to find this magnetism to identify unmarked graves. Dowsers are also able to identify the s*x of the deceased.

On Edisto, this practice has been used on Cypress Trees Plantation, which will be on the tour. Thirty-seven graves have been identified. It has also been used to locate the Con Bailey Cemetery, which is located on property purchased by St. Francis Episcopal Church. In 2023, the method was used on Botany Bay Plantation to locate 16 unmarked graves. The graves were then confirmed by the SC Department of Natural Resources using the scientific method of ground penetrating radar.

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EIHPS Board member, Frank Burnett, helping Miss Lavinia Armstrong learn to use the dowsing rods. Miss Lavinia is a direct descendant of Samson Reed, who is the only marked grave in the Con Bailey Cemetery. Reed was born into slavery and served in the US Colored Corps during the Civil War.