I've read that Joseph Smith was into water witching. I haven't studied that accusation in depth, and I haven't studied water witching in depth, so in this post I'll discuss the issue hypothetically.
If we assume that at least in some cases, water witching is more than randomly successful, two explanations present themselves:
i) The douser might be genuinely clairvoyant. By dabbling in the occult, he acquires extrasensory knowledge. Of course, that's a nice way of saying he's in league with evil spirits.
ii) If a douser plants evidence, or if he's already familiar with the area, acquainted with spots where there's surface water, then he can "discover" what the client paid him to find. That's impressive…unless you consider the possibility that he went to places where he already knew what he was going to find.
In that case, the rod is just a prop. The rod points because the douser is manipulating the rod.
Apropos ii., he's a common fraud and swindler which doesn't bode well for his integrity and trustworthiness.
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