TERRI Stromeyer, 36, is a very attractive, vivacious woman. She's tall, slim, beautifully dressed and has a terrific sense of fun. She is also a link to the spiritual world.

"I'm not the kind of person even I'd think of as a medium," she laughed.

This week a survey has revealed that 63 per cent of the population believe in the paranormal - in life after death.

Terri, who lives in a West Oxfordshire village, does more than believe. She has the ability to talk to and see the spirits of the dead.

"I'm both a clairvoyant and a clairaudiant. I see pictures, in my head, like a television screen and I hear the spirits too," she said.

Terri has always known she was psychic, even as a child.

"We lived opposite an undertaker and chapel of rest. I had a fascination with the comings and goings and I always felt as if I knew who was in the coffins," she said.

Only years later did Terri realise how much she really was in tune with the spirits of the dead.

She was in her twenties and driving back to Oxford from London when strange things started to happen in her car. "Sometimes I'd go to get into an empty car - and feel like there was no room for me, as if the car was already full," said Terri.

On this particular journey, Terri noticed it was very hot. She looked down and saw the heater on full.

"I'd turn the sliding control down, look back a while later and see it'd gone back up again.

"Then a voice said 'For the past 20 minutes I have been turning your heater from cold to hot. You have been so engrossed with listening to the radio and, without thinking, you have been returning it to cold'.

"I was scared rigid but then the voice said 'Child, do not be frightened, I come in peace.'

"I was terrified. I put my hand on the slide and pushed it and then watched it slowly slide back up again. It told me firstly that it wasn't stuck and secondly that the owner of the voice was doing it."

At home, strange occurrences continued. "My car's alarm would go off and stop when I turned towards the car. A plate of food shot out of the fridge and objects would disappear and then reappear somewhere else."

Eventually, she realised there was something going on. She told someone about it, fearing she was going mad and was advised to go to a spiritualist church.

"They welcomed me with open arms. It was like going home. "I felt I was among people who understood." she said. Immediately she was accepted into a psychic development circle, where people who have psychic intuition learn to harness their power.

Terri is now a member of the Greater World Christian Spiritualist Association. "You need to be trained how to use it. I wanted to have a life of my own sometimes, uninterrupted by the spirit world. I know how to do that now because I've been trained to harness my gift properly," said Terri.

Her psychic development put paid to a long-term relationship after her boyfriend found it impossible to come to terms with Terri's gift.

"He just couldn't cope with it. Luckily, my current partner is fully supportive," said Terri.

Her contact with the spirits comes through her own spiritual guide, Simeon. It was he who tried so desperately hard to gain Terri's attention in her car.

Lotte Duncan, an up-and-coming chef from Thame, wanted to know what direction to take career wise and asked for Terri's help.

And the results were so amazing she now sees her every six months.

At the first session Terri was approached by Lotte's grandmother who had an amusing tale about squirrels and chestnuts. When she repeated it to Lotte, the 31-year-old was amazed.

"My grandmother used to live in Squirrel Cottage and used to make us laugh by saying the squirrels would come and nibble our toes. So I knew straight away that Terri was for real. My grandmother died ten years ago but we were very close. I was very shocked but it did not scare or upset me. Instead I was comfortable. My grandmother said she just wanted me to be happy.

"Another time Terri told me I would be getting a new car. I had just bought one so thought it was unlikely. But then there was a hailstorm which smashed it up and I was given a replacement car while it was mended."

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