Serious question, my grandma's old rain dance trick to find lost screws in the grass worked, but was it luck or does the water really help?

Faith Schmidt · 2026-09-25T11:50:03.491778+00:00

For 15 years I've worked on small engines out of my garage in Boise. My whole system for finding tiny dropped screws is to crawl around with a magnet. Last Saturday I was rebuilding a Honda GX160 carb and dropped the idle jet screw into thick grass. Gone. My 84 year old grandma wandered out, walked to the kitchen, came back with a cup of tap water, and poured it in a slow circle right where I said it fell. The screw popped up floating on a blade of grass in about 4 seconds. Here is what bugs me. She said her dad taught her that back on the farm in the 40s. Water sticks the grass blades together and lifts the metal just enough for your eyes to catch the shine. That makes sense to me. But my neighbor swears it is total nonsense, and she just happened to pour in the right spot by chance. So which is it? Does surface tension actually raise the grass and make the glint easier to spot, or did I just get lucky after 20 minutes of swearing? Anyone else been shown this by an old timer? Want to know if I should start keeping a cup of water in the shop or if I am just being superstitious now.

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Serious question, my grandma's old rain dance trick to find lost screws in the grass worked, but was it luck or does the water really help? | Ask a Weird Expert - Pinecone Attack