Paranormal
The name "Nostradamus" has come to be synonymous with prophecies, owing to his vast collection of riddle-like quatrains which, as a result, have several interpretations and hence are always the subject of debate. However, a lesser known prophet was "Baba Vanga", originally known as Evangelia Dimitrova, a famous prophetess from Bulgaria, one often compared with Nostradamus himself.
Evangelia was born on January 31, 1911 in Strumica, Macedonia with blue eyes and blonde hair. However, she lived in Petrich, Bulgaria, and grew up there. Her father had been drafted in World War I, and her mother died when she was young, leaving her to the care of neighbors for most of her childhood.
As a child, she enjoyed playing "Doctor" and would often prescribe herbs to her friends. A strange game she enjoyed playing was one she invented; She would place an object at a random location, in the house or in the streets. She would then cup her hands over her eyes and begin searching for it.
The story of how she discovered her powers goes something like this: After his father remarried, they had been living on a farm near Petrich. One evening, Evangelia was out in the field, when a sudden storm descended upon the area. The force of the wind uprooted many trees and was she got caught in the updraft. She was thrown away from the field, and was found after a lengthy search, by which point the effects of sand and other particulate matter in her eyes had rendered her blind. Treatment failed to cure her.
Evangelia then spent three years living in a Blind House which she had to leave when her stepmother died, so that she could assist in caring for her younger siblings. It was at this point that her 'powers' started coming to light. Though dates are unknown, these were observations based upon testimonies taken at a later point. For example, Evangelia had once helped in the search for a few sheep that had been stolen from the flock. She was able to give the location and description of the area in which they were currently being held, and to the astonishment of her father and his friends, it turned out to be accurate. Upon questioning, Evangelia simply said that she dreamt it. She had had many dreams, some good, some bad, and a large portion of them had come true. It was then that news of her talent spread and she was being referred to as Baba Vanga. People from all over the country would come to her seeking answers and in many cases, consolation due to the wars. Some notables included Zhan Videnov, former Bulgarian prime minister, and Todor Zhivkov, a communist dictator.
Her brother, Vasil, had decided to join the army, but Baba Vanga pleaded with him not to. She had had a vision, she said, and that he would be killed at the age of 23. He did not heed to this, and joined the army. When his infantry surrendered to the Germans, he was 23, and was tortured and executed.
According to Baba Vanga, her powers were derived from "invisible creatures" whose origins were unknown. Yet, they could communicate with her. For any individual she was consulting with, they would show her the entire person's life, from birth to demise, which she could consult easily. She also claimed to have healing powers, and would often prescribe herbs and spices to cure diseases and ailments, although she did not have anything against modern medicine, other than to say that too much of it would shut down the body's natural harmonies.
Baba Vanga commented on death, “I have told you, that after death the body decomposes, like everything alive, but a part of the body – the soul, or something I don’t know how to call it, does not decompose. You talk about second birth. I do not know what it is. But what remains from a man - it's the soul. It does not decompose, and continues to develop to reach higher states. This is the eternity of soul.”
Baba Vanga would also act as a medium, communicating with the spirits of dead people from up to 200 years in the past. Vanga also prophecized future events, but did not do it very often. She mentioned that "In 200 years, man will make contact with brothers in mind from other worlds," a reference to aliens contact. She also mentioned that aliens had been living on our planet for man years from a planet the aliens referred to as 'WamFim.' It is also claimed that Baba Vanga predicted her own death and mentioned that a 10-year old girl living in France had received her powers, from whom we would soon be hearing.
Despite the apparently high success rate of her prophecies, it of course attracted skepticism from many quarters. As usual, prophecies were made but not understood. After a major event or disaster would occur, would someone realize that the prophecy had been made, which is the usual case with all prophecies.
Among her predictions, she said, "Kursk will be underwater and the whole world will mourn it." In August, 2000, the Kursk submarine sank in a tragic incident. The flaw pointed out in this prediction was that Kursk was also the name of a city, and there were no indications that she was thinking of a submarine when she made this prophecy.
Baba Vanga died in 1996, and now is a well known figure among Bulgarians, one who is held in high regard and esteem.
