Baba Vanga: Who is the blind mystic who 'predicted the rise of Isis'?

Her prophecy has encouraged conspiracy theorists to point to the rise of Isis as evidence for her claims

Baba Vanga reportedly made hundreds of predictions over her 50-year career (Wikimedia Commons)

A blind Bulgarian mystic has made headlines for purportedly warning of the rise of Isis decades ago.

Baba Vanga supposedly warned Muslims would invade Europe in a 'great Muslim war' which would end with the establishment of an Islamic caliphate by 2043, with Rome as its epicentre.

Her prophecy has encouraged conspiracy theorists to point towards the rise of Isis as evidence for her claims.

Who is Baba Vanga?

Baba Vanga was born Vangelia Pandeva Dimitrova and led an ordinary life up until the age of 12, when folklore says she mysteriously lost her eyesight during a massive storm or freak tornado.

According to the story, her family found her several days later, her eyes sealed shut and encrusted with a thick layer of dirt and dust.

She later said she experienced her first vision during the days she was missing, and believed she had been given the ability to heal people and predict the future.

Quickly attracting a cult following, she was visited by Bulgarian tsar Boris III during the Second World War.

She later served as an adviser to the Bulgarian Communist Party leaders, some of whom allegedly exploited her to further their own agendas.

It was alleged she used data gathered by Bulgarian secret services to win the trust of her visitors, which included many foreign and domestic politicians.

The house where she worked was reportedly bugged, and there is some suggestion she may have been manipulated to give suggestions to visiting politicians.

Her most famous predictions

Baba Vanga reportedly made hundreds of predictions in her 50-year career, becoming known as the "Nostradamus of the Balkans".

She claimed her abilities had something to do with the presence of invisible creatures she could not explain, which gave her information about people.

Her followers believe she predicted global warming and the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami when she warned: "Cold regions will become warm ... and volcanoes will awaken.

"A huge wave will cover a big coast covered with people and towns, and everything will disappear beneath the water. Everything will melt, just like ice."

Smoke pours from the twin towers of the World Trade Centre after they were hit by two hijacked airliners in a terrorist attack 11 September, 2011 (Robert Giroux/Getty Images)

She is also said to have predicted the 11 September terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York, reportedly saying: "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 gush."

However, many of the people who were close to her have claimed she never made some of the prophecies attributed to her on the internet.

Baba Vanga predicted the 44th President of the United States would be the last (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Although she is said to have correctly predicted the 44th President of the United States would be African-American, she also stated he would be the "last US President".

She also predicted nuclear war between 2010 and 2016, which she said would lead to the abandonment of Europe.

In the future, she predicted aliens would help civilisation live underwater by 2130 and that there would be a war on Mars in 3005.

Shortly before her death in 1996, she said a 10-year-old blind girl living in France would inherit her gift, and promised the world would soon hear about her.