Bill Northern – Animal Communicator
Bill’s globetrotting search for water and his work healing sick horses was a far cry from his early life in the United States, where he grew up in Warsaw, a small town in remote eastern Virginia.
By modern standards, he had a hard childhood.
His father, who ran a general store in the town, died when Bill was just seven. His mother, lacking sufficient business acumen to continue running the store, sold the business.
Life for Bill and his mother was a financial struggle. So much so that when he was 12, he began working 30 hours a week in his uncle’s restaurant, fitting the work around school, and 50 hours a week during school holidays.
“I had to support myself. I never went hungry, but if I wanted extras, I had to go out and earn the money. That was not unusual.”
It was during his time growing up in rural Virginia that Bill’s lifelong love of horses developed. Over the following decades, he became drawn into the world of horseracing, working as a judge at racetracks, ensuring that trainers and drivers were sticking to the rules. He also owned between 30 and 35 trotters throughout his life, although he said he only ever owned one he would describe as successful. That was before he discovered his new-found skills.
Bill busied himself at the restaurant for five years, using the proceeds from some of his labours to persuade his uncle to buy him a typewriter, which he used as his ticket to better school marks.
“My handwriting was not very good and you got better grades if you typed your assignments.”
The effort paid off, as Bill was awarded a scholarship to attend the University of Richmond, though he recalled that he didn’t exactly use the time productively.
“I didn’t plan to go to college and I had never been anywhere on my own before. I ended up spending most of my time playing poker, playing in a band, and shooting on the rifle team. I didn’t work.”
After another unsuccessful stint at a second university, Bill headed to Washington, D.C., where he worked in a hotel and rubbed shoulders with some of the capital’s movers and shakers before returning to Warsaw, where he set up his office and janitorial supplies business.
Bill ran the business for 25 years until he discovered dowsing and decided to concentrate on that, subsequently retiring from the business world.
In later years, he travelled six months of the year, attending many horse shows throughout the eastern United States during the northern summer. He would then escape to New Zealand to avoid the harsh North American winter, although he said it was the warm, friendly people that were the biggest drawcard for him.
“I spent one winter in Florida, but I missed New Zealand too much to do it again.”
He had been coming south since 1989, staying in Rakaia—a town he said was very similar in size to his hometown back in Virginia. At various times, he dabbled in real estate in New Zealand but had largely given up playing the property market, preferring to devote his energies to filling dry wells and helping horses.