Though the lines are geographically accurate on occasion, the existence of these ley lines has been contested almost since Watkins made his observation. One researcher, Paul Devereux, claimed that the concept was bogus, and that there was no way they could exist, and that a reference to them in an occult book is the only reason that supernaturalists believe in them. And how intriguing it was. Crossroads, in particular, were regarded as redolent of otherworldly powers. As unconsecrated ground, crossroads became common places to bury suicide victims and so-called witches, as well as points from which evil or restless spirits would supposedly disperse and ghosts would roam. More esoteric beliefs blossomed during the folk revival of the 1970s. The Malvern Hills in the United Kingdom, said by Alfred Watkins to have a ley line passing along their ridge Kendall, David G. (May 1989). "A Survey of the Statistical Theory of Shape". Statistical Science. 4 (2): 87–99. doi: 10.1214/ss/1177012582. JSTOR 2245331. When ley lines cross or intersect, if a building or home is located on that intersection, energy is constantly flowing and may be chaotic

Many people have drawn their own ley lines to prove just how coincidental they can be, connecting everything from pizza restaurants to movie theaters to churches on maps. For example, structures which are considered haunted are often said to be much more active, even dangerous, when along a ley line. Again, ideas such as this originated much later than Watkins’ original book, but are certainly the overall perception of the phenomenon today. Mark stones (used for navigational purposes) and standing stones (used for rituals and other ceremonies) are also found across the Herefordshire countryside. Watkins believed that mark stones like the “whetstone” found at Hergest Ridge or the stone found in the corner of an old house in the village of Pembridge marked important places of trade, and also fell into ley alignment. He also believed that a darker truth might explain some of the standing stones he encountered in the Herefordshire countryside. For instance, the Queens Stone in the village of Symonds Yat has strange grooves painstakingly carved into its exterior, which Watkins dubiously imagined may have been used as slots for wooden poles to hold prisoners who were the victims of human sacrifice rituals. A study by David George Kendall used the techniques of shape analysis to examine the triangles formed by standing stones to deduce if these were often arranged in straight lines. The shape of a triangle can be represented as a point on the sphere, and the distribution of all shapes can be thought of as a distribution over the sphere. The sample distribution from the standing stones was compared with the theoretical distribution to show that the occurrence of straight lines was no more than average. [54]In supernatural circles, ley lines are often at the heart of understanding our place in the universe and on planet Earth. Hutton, Ronald (2013). Pagan Britain. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-197716.

Ley lines have been characterised as a form of pseudoscience. [52] On The Skeptic's Dictionary, the American philosopher and skeptic Robert Todd Carroll noted that none of the statements about magnetic forces underpinning putative ley lines have been scientifically verified. [51] Charlesworth, Michael (2010). "Photography, the Index, and the Nonexistent: Alfred Watkins' Discovery (or Invention) of the Notorious Ley-lines of British Archaeology". Visual Resources. 26 (2): 131–145. doi: 10.1080/01973761003750666. S2CID 194018024. The idea now more than before is that these ley lines link up under the entire world. They represent ancient points of great energy, placed by a culture we no longer remember. Ley Lines and The SupernaturalIf your business is on a ley line, you may find an increase in energy. That energy may be increased amounts of positive OR negative See also: Alignments of random points Eight-point ley line alignments of pizza restaurants in London Marcus, Clare Cooper (1987). "Alternative Landscapes: Ley-Lines, Feng-Shui and the Gaia Hypothesis". Landscape. 29 (3): 1–10.

Hauser, Kitty (2008). Bloody Old Britain: O. G. S. Crawford and the Archaeology of Modern Life. London: Granta. ISBN 978-1-84708-077-6. At this time, people came to believe that the lines themselves somehow held great energy, and that they in fact spanned the whole globe—not just Britain. The lines were vectors for magnetic energy running throughout the entire world. Examples of Ley LinesIn any case, the idea has gained a great deal of traction and popularity, however much it has evolved from Watkins’ first conception of it.

This 2nd edition of this book contains an expanded classification of Earth energies, Earth energy grids, Nodes and now includes a new classification of large Vortexes along with their descriptions. In addition to that it contains maps of Energy lines around the city of Bath in the UK and a wide area around the Avebury stone circle. Hutton, Ronald (2009). "Modern Druidry and Earth Mysteries". Time and Mind: The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture. 2 (3): 313–331. doi: 10.2752/175169609X12464529903137. S2CID 143506407. Williamson and Bellamy's book brought two different responses from the ley hunter community. [41] Some maintained that even if the presence of earth energies running through ley lines could not be demonstrated with empirical evidence and rational argumentation, this did not matter; for them, a belief in ley lines was an act of faith, and in their view archaeologists were too narrow-minded to comprehend this reality. [41] The other approach was to further engage archaeologists by seeking out new data and arguments to bolster their beliefs in ley lines. [41] Hutton noted that this pulled along "a potential fissure between rationalism and mysticism which had always been inherent in the movement". [41] Ruggles, Clive L. N. (2005). "Ley Lines". Ancient Astronomy: An Encyclopaedia of Cosmologies and Myth. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. pp.224–226. ISBN 978-1-85109-477-6.

Regardless of their validity, the concept of ley lines has captivated fans of the supernatural and science fiction for years. They often appear as the explanation for paranormal events, or as explanations for the fantastic monuments in science fiction movies or novels. And what was the theory that emerged from these purposeful wanderings? Being a practical man of the world, Watkins decided that these alignments represented ancient thoroughfares, routes along which goods such as salt, and craftsmen like flint knappers, traversed the countryside. He does speculate that the ley-men, surveyors using twin poles to lay out their routes across the landscape, were seen as seers of some sort because of their near-magical powers (he imagined the famous chalk Long Man of Wilmington to be an image of a ley-man) and that superstitions built up around way markers as the paths themselves fell into decline. But at heart, this practical man of means insisted that ley lines were a crucial element of pre-Roman British trade, tentative first steps on the journey to the mercantile empire in which Watkins grew up. When I began looking for local ley lines, I first thought of a local Native burial mound located in Safety Harbor, FL. I had a feeling it was built by the Natives on or close by a ley line. Then, I simply googled “ley line maps + United States” and BOOM. There are dozens of maps accessible online. Please don’t ask me to provide you with a map. It’s as simple as a Google search. Once you have a ley line map, print it out and lay it on top of a local map to see where the lines travel and intersect.