Ivanka Yaneva – one of the closest friends of Baba Vanga
I was a friend of Baba Vanga for more than 43 years. My husband was a sanitary officer in the concentration camp of Valkovo – this is where I was a teacher. When our child was 3 years old, he got very sick and neither doctors nor sanatoriums were able to help him. Then my husband insisted to take our son to Baba Vanga. I was an avid communist back then, and I told him that I don’t believe in psychics or future tellers. He didn’t step back, and in August 1943 we went to visit Baba Vanga. There were many people waiting outside her house – this year the Bulgarian king did visit the prophetess. We sat in the the yard to wait for our turn, and suddenly we heard someone saying in a loud voice: “Baba Vanga is looking for the teacher from Valkovo.” I came in and Baba Vanga started: “Your name is Ivanka, You father’s name is Ivan, your grandmother’s name is Ivana, her father’s name was Ivan, and his wife’s name was Iova. You and your husband will have another child, and her name will be Ivanka.”
I was speechless, and didn’t say even a word. Then Baba Vanga said: “so you don’t believe any psychics or fortune tellers huh? Now you came to ask for your child. He is having kidney problems. You will go back and will tell your doctor that I said that he is having a kindey problem, and he will give you the right medicine. You child will urinate red urine, but don’t worry this won’t be blood. Your child will grow up, will become a good man, and will travel around the world.”
At first I couldn’t believe a single word of what Baba Vanga was saying. On my way out she said: ” You and I are very like-minded, and we will become close friends for whole life.” I told myself that’s nonsense – we don’t have nothing in common.
Time have passed and what she said came true with a striking accuracy. We bacame very good friends, and whenever I had a chance, I did go to see her. I remember her husband Mitko used to say: “Ivanka, if you were a sister of Baba Vanga, she probably wouldn’t have loved you so much.”
Mitko unfortunately was a drunkard, but nevertheless Baba Vanga truly loved him. She never had or ever thought to have a second husband after Mitko died. She was really suffering because she couldn’t have a normal life with him. Once I remember when she told me that it wasn’t really easy for Mitko to live with her either, because of her phenomenal skills. They loved each other very much, but were both sharing very heavy fate. She even knew when exactly Mitko will die. It was an afternoon on Friday, and we were staying together. Suddenly she just said: “Ivanka, Mitko will pass away tomorrow. Go and help my friends to prepare and clean the house.”
This is how it happen . On the next day I was at school, and they called me in the hospital. When I got there I saw Baba Vanga close to Mitko, crying out big tears. Mitko asked me to get closer to him and whispered me: “Ivanka – I don’t feel sorry that I will die young, but I feel very sorry that I am leaving Baba Vanga alone on this world. She doesn’t have her own child, she doesn’t have nobody. But you are healthy and strong, and promise me that you will help her.”
Mitko passed away at 5:00 pm – exactly as what Baba Vanga said. Me and my husband went to her house in Petrich, and prepared everything for the funeral. Under Mitko’s bed, we found and threw away hundreds of alcoholic bottles…Baba Vanga was very sad, and did cry a lot. I couldn’t be present at the funeral, as I had a very important work in Sofia, that I couldn’t cancel. When I came back, Baba Vanga told me: “Ivanka I slept a whole day and night without waking up. I was very tired, and didn’t want to hear what people will say at the ceremony. When I fell asleep Mitko’s spirit sat nearby me – just like a little chick under his mother’s wing.”
Apparently she went into a deep trance.
In the summer of 1964 together with Baba Vanga we went to Varna. She said that we are going to visit my son Nikola. He was a student at the navy academy in Varna, and so I instantly became worried if something had happened to him. Baba Vanga assured me that he is absolutely alright, and that he is studying for exams right now, and we will give him courage when we visit him.
We stayed in Varna for 14 days. Baba Vanga had never been at the sea before, and she was happy as a child nearby it. However she never took off her clothing to put on a bathing suit. I didn’t even try to persuade her. She explained: “My body should not be bared – the powers do not allow me to.” I had bought her a bathing suit – she put it on, she thought for a second and then again she insisted that she shouldn’t be bared, and took it off. She stayed the entire day with her shirt on. After all we had a great time with her excluding this small detail on the beach.
Then we went back to Sofia, and Baba Vanga told me that we had to stay here for one night. It turned out that she had a meeting with Todor Zhivkov – the leader of communistic Bulgaria. In the morning, Zhivkov’s people came to pick us up with a black car. They took us to a big hall room, they opened one door, and we saw Todor Zhivkov sitting at a very luxurious sofa. I got really worried, as I thought that if Baba Vanga goes into a deep trance and starts to talk about the things those communists were not suppose to hear, we would have gotten into a big trouble. While I was shaking, a couple of generals entered the room and they asked Baba Vanga if she can tell them who had stolen the precious icon of St. Petka in Sofia. Baba Vanga told them: “Are you having any doubts who has it? Do you have these men who you are suspecting? Bring them to me.”
They brought in three priests. To one of them who had crossed his arms on his chest Baba Vanga yelled at: “Take off those dirty hands off your chest. You took the icon and gave it to this man on your right, and he gave it to this man on your left, and then you hid it. Now I will tell them where to find it.”
Then she turned to the generals and started: ” From here go in the direction of Eagle’s Bridge. Go up on King’s Boulevard and after three intersections you will see a house that has roof similar to a villa. Make a left turn, pass this house, go over a small water canal, and at the end of the street you will see a very small house – this is where they hid the icon.”
In the less than 30 minutues, the police officers brought back the stolen icon – it turned that it was exactly at the same spot, where Baba Vanga had described.
Zheni Kostadinova graduated Philosophy at the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. She has worked as an editor at the student TV show “Ku-Ku”, and as a reporter at the National Radio “Horizon”. For over 15 years she is a columnist at “Weekly Trud” newspaper writing about esoteric and psychology. In the same newspaper she is maintaining a page on literature. Zheni Kostadinova is the author of some of the most popular books written on Baba Vanga including “Baba Vanga The Prophetess”, “Baba Vanga Predictions”, “The Secret of Baba Vanga”. Her first book was translated into Russian, Polish, Latvian, Serbian, and Albanian. Zheni is a member of the Union of Bulgarian Writers. She had published three books of poetry: “Fire Sticks (2002), “17 love colors” (2007), and “Fig Jam” (2008). In 2012 Zheni has founded the art-house “Kuklite”. It is a doll gallery and a mini-museum located in the old downtown of Sofia. The gallery exhibits different dolls placed in specific categories. Besides the exhibitions, the art-house “Kuklite” also have the priority to work with children from the local schools, so they learn more about the traditions and customs of the different nations. The main idea is to transform the art-house “Kuklite” into a centre for cultural exchange, creative collaboration between representatives of different fields of art, science and philosophy. The art-house will hold meetings with interesting personalities, and will be a place of exhibitions, seminars, workshops, premieres of books and documentary movies, puppetry, and many other great events. The art-house “Kuklite” will also be a place where collectors can display their favourite artefacts and can share the history associated with them.
