Top 10 Baba Vanga Predictions for the Future. Vanga was born in Strumica, then in the Ottoman Empire. She was a premature baby who suffered from health complications. In accordance with local tradition, the baby was not given a name until it was deemed likely to survive. When the baby first cried out, a midwife went into the street and asked a stranger for a name. The stranger proposed Andromaha (Andromache), but this was rejected for being "too Greek" during a period of anti-Hellenic sentiment within Bulgarian society. Another stranger's proposal was a Greek name, but popular with Bulgarians in the region: Vangelia (from Evangelos). In her childhood, Vangelia was an ordinary child with brown eyes and blonde hair. Her father was an IMRO activist, conscripted into the Bulgarian Army during World War I, and her mother died soon after. This left Vanga dependent on the care and charity of neighbours and close family friends for much of her youth. After the war, Strumica emigrated from Bulgaria to Serbia. The Serbian authorities arrested the father, because of his pro-Bulgarian activity. They confiscated all his property and the family fell into poverty for many years. Vanga was considered intelligent for her age. Her inclinations started to show up when she herself thought out games and loved playing "healing" – she prescribed some herbs to her friends, who pretended to be ill. Her father, being a widower, eventually remarried, thus providing a stepmother to his daughter. A turning point in her life was a tornado which lifted Vanga up and threw her in a nearby field (this claim has not been verified with meteorological records or other accounts from that time). She was found after a long search. Witnesses described her as very frightened, and her eyes were covered with sand and dust, she was unable to open them because of the pain.There was money only for a partial operation to heal the injuries she had sustained. This resulted in a gradual loss of sight. In 1925 Vanga was brought to a school for the blind in the city of Zemun (Kingdom SHS), where she spent three years, and was taught to read Braille, play the piano, as well as do knitting, cooking, and cleaning. After the death of her stepmother she had to go back home to take care of her younger siblings. Her family was very poor, and she had to work all day. In 1939 Vanga contracted pleurisy, although remained largely inactive for some years. The doctor's opinion was that she would die soon, but she quickly recovered. During World War II, Vanga attracted believers in her ability to heal and soothsay –a number of people visited her, hoping to get a hint about whether their relatives were alive, or seeking for the place where they died. On 8 April 1942 the Bulgarian tzar Boris III visited her. On 10 May 1942, Vanga married Dimitar Gushterov, Bulgarian soldier from the village of Krandzhilitsa near Petrich, who had come asking for the killers of his brother, but had to promise her not to seek revenge. Shortly before marriage, Dimitar and Vanga moved to Petrich, where she soon became well-known. Dimitar was then conscripted in the Bulgarian Army and had to spend some time in Northern Greece, which was annexed by Bulgaria at the time. He got another illness in 1947, fell into alcoholism, and eventually died on 1 April 1962. She continued to be visited by dignitaries and commoners. After the Second World War, Bulgarian politicians and leaders from different Soviet Republics, even Leonid Brezhnev, sought her counsel; in the 1990s, a church was built in Rupite by Bogdan Tomalevski with money left by her visitors. Vanga died on 11 August 1996 from breast cancer. Her funeral attracted large crowds, including many dignitaries. Fulfilling Vanga's last will and testament, her Petrich house was turned into a museum, which opened its doors for visitors on 5 May 2008.