The Dowser's Path

Nebraska Stories

Air Date: 01/22/2026

Bill Bolte walks old cattle trails and quiet graveyards with a pair of bent rods and a gift he can’t explain. What began as a childhood lesson has become a lifelong practice, using dowsing to uncover forgotten histories, lost graves, and 19th-century trails long vanished from the map. Alongside his neighbor, Kyla Greving, Bill demonstrates how this centuries-old technique still stirs the earth, revealing traces of the past that time almost erased.

Bill Bolte reviews an 1885 plot map of the Old Ogallala Trail before dowsing.

Bill points to the location of the Ogallala Cattle Trail as it crosses the North Loup River.

The rods cross where land has been disturbed.

Bill carries a pocketful of flags to mark where the metal rods cross.

Bill and Kyla walking the Prairie Creek Cemetery. Note the rods are uncrossed.

As Bill and Kyla walk through the cemetery, the rods in their hands cross simultaneously. Crossing rods are said to indicate disturbed ground.

Bill Bolte, Ann Manning-Warren and Nebraska Public Media crew members.