Before Her Death, A Bulgarian Mystic Predicted Scary Pandemic News For 2022

Prophecies are nothing new. Reports of mystics date back thousands of years, including to ancient Greek times, when the famous Oracle of Delphi was a major force in driving the attitudes and behaviors of Greek citizens at the time, as PBS notes. Today, many discredit mystics as non-scientific, but a large number of others still believe: In the United States, for instance, around 49% of people report they have had a "mystical experience," according to Pew Research Center, and 57% believe in "psychic phenomena" more generally (via CBS News).

With those figures in mind, it's probably no surprise that the global psychic industry is no small market: Some estimates say almost 100,000 psychic businesses exist in the United States alone (via IBIS World). But, even in that sea of faces, some people stand out, including a Bulgarian woman named Baba Vanga, according to Newsweek. Though Vanga died over 25 years ago, many people are still paying close attention to her predictions — and some of them even appear to have come true (via the New York Post).

Sometimes called the "Nostradamus of the Balkans," Baba Vanga grew up in a rural village in what is now Macedonia (via All That's Interesting). Vanga, who lived near a volcano, lost her eyesight when she was 12 years old and caught up in a tornado, as the New York Post explains. It was at this time that she started to have her visions. In addition to being able to predict the future, Vanga's followers believed she could also contact the deceased (via Newsweek).

There are many different events that people think Baba Vanga successfully predicted. However, it's important to note that Baba Vanga's predictions, like those of many psychics, were somewhat vague and interpretive. This means that people might not necessarily agree on what Baba Vanga did or did not predict. For instance, in 1989, she reportedly said, "Horror, horror! The American brethren will fall after being attacked by the steel birds. The wolves will be howling in a bush, and innocent blood will be gushing," (via All That's Interesting). Many people have interpreted this quote as the correct prediction of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Still, that interpretation is far from conclusive.

Other things Vanga's followers say she successfully predicted include the Kursk nuclear submarine disaster, which occurred in 1999, and Barack Obama's ascent to the United States Presidency (via the New York Post).

Though Baba Vanga died in 1996, she had plenty of predictions that reached far into the future — including into 2022. For instance, Vanga says we should expect a new pandemic in 2022, from a pathogen that will be discovered in the Siberian permafrost (via the Mirror). Other bold predictions for 2022 include an alien invasion and the expansion of virtual reality so that it dominates the world.

And, even more change seems set to arrive in the coming years, according to Baba Vanga, as she says global hunger will be eradicated by 2028 and doctors will soon be able to use clones to heal people (via the New York Post).

If this future sounds bleak to you, you're not alone. Still, don't worry too much: Some of Baba Vanga's predictions have already been proven false. For instance, though Baba Vanga thought Europe would have dissolved by 2017, it is still very much intact. So there's a chance that alien invasion might have to hold off a while longer.