Experts warn that the annual cycle of apocalyptic news about Baba Vanga's "prophecies" is not simply a curiosity, but part of a disinformation agenda that finds fertile ground on Tirana's portals and screens.

Vladimir Karaj | BIRN

On December 3, the Albanian Telegraphic Agency asked in a headline published on its front page: “Will Baba Vanga’s prophecy that could change the world in 2026 come true?” The answer is simple: No!

Although there is no evidence that Baba Vanga, a Bulgarian mystic named Vangeliya Pandeva Gushterova, made any written predictions during her lifetime, there are dozens of articles about her alleged prophecies in Albanian media, including public ones.

These conspiracy theories circulate year after year, generally translated by tabloid media and without any editorial control.

Publications quoting Baba Vanga are filled with warnings of catastrophes; the long-awaited encounter with aliens; prophecies about the disappearance of Europe and the collapse of the world under the rule of Vladimir Putin.

Researchers view such reports as part of disinformation campaigns or false narratives, which they say are linked in one way or another to propaganda spread by the Kremlin.

Erlis Çela, a media and communication researcher, observes massive information pollution through disinformation disguised as curiosity, a phenomenon he considers dangerous.

“This danger has to do with the fact that mystical prophecies and apocalyptic narratives, which are served to the public as news, are often used as an instrument for spreading propaganda,” Çela told BIRN.

Even Viola Keta, a fact-checking expert, sees these publications as part of agendas.

"Such news, with characters dressed in mysticism, speculation and untruths, exploiting people's emotionality and being spread repeatedly, especially on the eve of events of global interest, are very likely part of agendas that seek instability and confusion," Keta emphasized.

"The Truth" According to Baba Vanga

Vangeliya Pandeva Gushterova [1911-1996], otherwise known as Baba Vanga, was a blind Bulgarian mystic and healer, who during the communist regime was instrumentalized by the state and, most likely, was suspected of being used by the secret services through the Institute of Suggestology.

She is also known for her relationship with Lyudmila Zhivkova, the daughter of Bulgarian dictator Todor Zhivkov.

In the 80s, Vanga received visitors including leaders of the Soviet Union, and her meetings were managed in detail by the state, which also charged a symbolic fee from visitors.

This has sparked speculation, but the fact is that for the predictions she shared with visitors, she received a salary from Zhivkov's regime.

Although she is now known globally for her geopolitical and apocalyptic predictions, her granddaughter, Krasimira Stoyanova, the most reliable biographical source about Vanga, wrote that in reality she mainly gave personal health advice and left no written prophecies. She lived most of her life in the Rupites area of ​​the Kozhuh Mountains of Bulgaria and died in Sofia on August 11, 1996.

Most of the predictions attributed to her year after year are believed to be later fabrications, by individuals, performers, tabloids, and occasionally even Russian propaganda, which use her name to spread disinformation and fear.

The academic study “Mediums, Media, and Mediated 'Post'-Truth: Baba Vanga in the Russian Imagination” by Mary Neuburger and Adam Hanzel from the University of Texas at Austin, illustrates how the figure of Baba Vanga is being used for propaganda and to create pro-Russian narratives.

Researchers say that "in most cases, the "truth" according to Vanga is beneficial to Putin's regime" and point out that the "prophecies" often come from media outlets close to power, but they can also be sporadic inventions that are massively believed due to Vanga's status.

While noting that this is not something directly controlled by the Kremlin, as anyone can produce a new prophecy in Vanga's name, researchers emphasize that it suits the regime, especially when predicting possible successes for President Putin.

Bitter Winter, a magazine published in Turin that writes about human rights and religious freedoms, explains that in fact Baba Vanga was known in Bulgaria not for her geopolitical predictions, but for her advice on the health of those who went to visit her. A bit like those who "read" a cup of coffee or the palm of a hand.

However, the magazine notes that media outlets in Russia such as Komsomolskaya Pravda, a newspaper close to the regime, have repeatedly repeated the “prophecy” of “Putin controlling the world.” The prophecy initially accompanied Putin’s victory in the 2018 elections (something entirely expected) and was republished in 2022 to encourage the invasion of Ukraine.

Usually this "prediction" and those that signal the end of the West, to make it more digestible, are accompanied by additional information on scientific achievements, bad weather, and natural disasters in various parts of the world.

A 2024 BIRN study on “The Spread of Disinformation Narratives Against NATO and the EU by Adversarial Actors in the Albanian Media” found that Vanga and the mysticism surrounding her was one of the ways in which pro-Putin and anti-EU or NATO narratives ended up with Albanian readers.

"Although a non-political figure, Baba Vanga's predictions are often used by conspiratorial and disinformation media to reinforce certain narratives, including against NATO and the EU," the study states.

Fake news laundromats

Despite the prophecies being refuted year after year, the Albanian media, generally blindly following the British tabloids, reproduce them without any change. Thus, the "prophecy" that Europe will end in 2024 and then in 2025, are shared by the same media without reflection.

Among the media outlets that publish Baba Vanga's prophecies are national television stations such as Top-Channel or TV Klan, which generally translate them from the Daily Mail. Similar materials can also be found in other well-known media outlets in the country such as Euronews, Panorama, Shqiptarja.com.

Disguised as curiosities, these texts with “click-bait” headlines about the end of the world and catastrophes or miracles, become extremely viral near the end of each year. To be credible, the articles are accompanied by “successful predictions,” even though no one is able to verify them.

This form of republishing is known as the fake news laundromat. The process usually starts with an anonymous source on social media, is forwarded to tabloids, and ends up copy-pasted into the media in Albania, including public agencies that do not need “click-bait” as they are paid for by the state budget and not by advertising.

"Unfortunately, I find that this type of news has become routine in Albanian media. Many of the portals are not interested in filtering the propaganda narratives that are camouflaged in these publications," said Erlis Çela.

"For me, it is extremely concerning that a public media outlet, which is supported by taxpayers and does not operate with the logic of commercial media, publishes news that aims to drive clicks and that has no verified facts," he added.

Despite the lack of real sources, or even the total absence of the source of the "prophecy", the reference from one media outlet to another risks being seen by the public as reliable information.

According to Keta, readers are finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish real information among the large number of speculative publications.

"Another important thing is how aware the public is that the media from which this news was obtained is known for speculative and sensational news and an anti-immigration approach, which is further linked to the politics that inspire this approach," concluded Keta.