Folk singer Laura Marling plunged into an icy lake in the dead of night after a mysterious 'shaman' told her the water had magical powers.

The British star embarked on a road trip across the U.S. last year (12), staying in remote locations and playing intimate gigs in tiny venues as she took a break from the grind of the music industry.

In Oregon, she fell into conversation with an enigmatic medium who advised her to drink the water from Lake Shasta in California, but the singer got a nasty shock when she later decided to follow his advice.

Marling tells Uncut magazine, "I was staying in a shaky motel and couldn't really sleep, because I was scared someone was going to break in. So at 5am, I got up, when it was still dark, packed up the car and drove down this little dirt track about a mile outside of town.

"I walked a couple of steps and thought, 'No, it's not worth it,' and was absolutely going to get back in the car. (I was thinking) 'No one knows I was here. It's like this never happened.' That triggered this explosion of thought process where I said to myself, 'It's not about whether anybody knows. This is something you may never have the chance to do again.'

"That didn't stop the fear. But I overcame it and started running. I didn't see any water, and fell right into the lake. I had the presence of mind to fill up a canteen with some water, then I ran back to the car. I got on the highway, welled up with excitement... But I didn't take a sip of the water until later, when I stopped for gas. Nothing could describe the taste. I'd never tried anything like it."

Asked if the effort to gain mystical powers worked, Marling replies, "No!"