Baba Vanga Bulgarian Mystic

At the beginning of April we went on an excursion to Macedonia and South-west Bulgaria with my school. The country of Bulgaria has taken on many shapes over the last couple hundreds of years. We are often told that Macedonia is (shh don't tell them this) really Bulgaria and just pretending to be different. So we traveled through "far western" Bulgaria and on our way back across the border stopped in Petrich and Rupite to visit the house of Baba Vanga (some times called Leila Vanga) as well as her shrine.

Baba Vanga was born January 31st 1911 in Strumica, a town near the Macedonian/Bulgarian border. Legend goes that as a young girl, she was out in the fields one clear day when a tornado like storm dropped out of the sky overtaking her. It picked her up and flung her miles from where she had been. Friends found her there blinded by dust and sand and carried her home. As time progressed her wounds did not heal and she was sent to a school for the blind to learn to care for herself. A few years later she came down with a grave illness and after recovering understood that she had gained the ability to see the future. During WWII she was visited by many people hoping to receive knowledge about their loved ones and looking for reassurance. Throughout her life she attracted many believers and skeptics. She was visited by high government officials, famous people and normal people alike. They would line up en mass outside her house waiting for the chance to speak with her. To this day her house and government built shrine/complex is a very popular Bulgarian tourist attraction where people come to pay their respects to this marvelous mystic.