Friends say I'm mad, but I 'heard' Princess Diana Suddenly the turnstile moved, and I was propelled forward. My shopping forgotten, I stumbled towards the exit and found a telephone to call my doctor, Brian. I arrived at his surgery in a panic, believing that I might have only minutes to live and urging him to pass on messages of love to my family. Brian attached heart monitors to my chest and talked on the phone to a cardiologist as he monitored the readings. Suddenly a feeling of total calm washed over me and to my astonishment I realised that I could "feel" Brian's thoughts, and I knew the cardiologist was telling him that my heart was fine. How was this possible? Brian gently related what I already knew - that I was OK and not about to have a heart attack. He suggested I might have suffered a severe panic attack and advised me to return to my London home and rest. Meekly, I agreed. Brian had called my husband, who had rushed home to find out what was wrong. Feeling confused and not wishing to alarm him, I said that perhaps it was the menopause. After all, I was 49. That night as I lay in bed wondering what was going on, the voice I had first heard in Harrods returned: "I have died and come back," it said, over and over. What on earth was happening to me? The next morning my husband insisted that his driver Paul take me to our house in Birmingham. As I looked into Paul's eyes when he arrived, I realised that I could feel his thoughts and emotions, too. It was quite a revelation to discover that what he was thinking was how awful and fearful I looked. What he was actually saying was completely different. Trust me, I know how surreal this sounds. By April 10, Good Friday, I had taken to my bed with a high fever that alternated with bouts of freezing-cold shaking fits. Lindsay, my PA, took charge. She called Dr Richard Lawrence, a theologian and dear friend of mine. After listening to my story, Richard suggested to Lindsay that I might have experienced a "walk-in"." A what? I asked when she told me. It's when the spirit of someone who has died enters your energy field, and it feels as though you are now one. You could be possessed. "For goodness" sake," I told Richard over the phone, "it's 1998, such things don't happen." If I had not felt so scared and sick I honestly would have laughed out loud. That night I took a sleeping pill but at precisely 12.20am I was thrown awake by a tremendous shock. I was so cold I thought I might freeze to death although my nightdress was wringing wet with sweat. There was a repulsive taste in my mouth, I smelled awful and was unbelievably thirsty. My eyes were tightly closed but as I lay there I found I could "see," clearly, but through someone else's eyes. In this "vision"," "I" was sitting in the back of a car, being driven at great speed. There was a sickening thud, my chest and head hurt and I saw lights flashing all around me. Inside my head I was screaming "help me, help me," but no words came out of my - Hazel's - mouth. In that moment I knew whose eyes I was seeing through: Diana's. This was, of course, mind-boggling. I had met the Princess a few times - the last occasion being a charity lunch in her apartments at Kensington Palace. We'd chatted about the spirit world and Diana had wondered aloud if she would ever find lasting happiness. But we were never what you might term "friends"." By Easter Saturday, I was extremely weak. Another doctor later told me he couldn't believe how fragile and dehydrated I was, or how strangely cold my hands were. He told me that on a physical level, I was close to death. It seemed that my body could no longer cope with everything going on in my head. It took about a year to recover my health fully and I continued to hear Diana clearly and remain curiously psychic for some three months longer. What I learnt from her during the times her spirit "communicated"" with me was - however sceptical you may be - undeniably fascinating. She told me she wanted people to understand that we all live on, and that her "reality" is as real as ours, but on another frequency. Over the months she shared huge amounts of personal information and predictions - that if Charles could overcome initial objections he would eventually marry Camilla, that William would marry for love and that her butler Paul Burrell was "going in the wrong direction"." In my darkest moments I would hear Diana singing the nursery rhyme Nellie the Elephant, and years later someone told me she had sung this to her friends" children when she was their nanny. As the months passed, I intuitively understood that Diana had said all she was going to say and I heard her less and less until the communications ceased. All that remained was the burning need I felt to tell my story. I was acutely aware of the scepticism I would face, and was determined to seek scientific explanations for my experiences once I was healthy again. I set out on a course of research over some years, speaking to a wide range of cutting-edge scientists including the physicist William Tiller, who has spent more than 30 years studying consciousness at Stanford University in California. He explained to me that our world is not as "solid" as it seems, and that our minds are capable of far more than most of us can even begin to imagine. I certainly understood that. I also contacted Gary Schwartz, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Arizona, after hearing of his famous Afterlife Experiments. He has gathered a body of evidence which he believes demonstrates that consciousness survives physical death. I hoped he would allow me to take part and validate my claim of hearing Diana. He later contributed to the book I wrote about my experiences, saying: "When Hazel first contacted me, I was incredulous at her outrageous claim. In 2004, I tested her in three controlled experiments with experienced mediums and some specific facts that came from Hazel through the mediums were 'jaw dropping" in their accuracy. I eventually concluded that Hazel was indeed in touch with Diana in the spirit world. These experiments at least gave me some personal validation and helped me to understand that I was not "mad"," as some of my friends had presumed. I now know that what I went through is called "a spiritual emergency"," a term coined by the Czech psychiatrist Dr Stanislav Grof. His research has shown that a spiritual emergency, which is when a spiritual awakening becomes a physical crisis, can be triggered by stress or shock. I know how incredible my story sounds, and believe me, I would have been the first to dismiss it if I hadn't experienced it first-hand. I hope that perhaps, having read this, you'll agree that it is not the fabrication of a deranged person but the truth, however unlikely it may at first seem. 'Divine Intervention' by Hazel Courteney is available to purchase from Amazon.co.uk at £8.99.