Brazilian medium, pioneer in the mediumship of physical effects, very famous in her time, not only in Brazil but also internationally. She was born and lived in Belém, capital of the State of Pará, in the Brazilian Northeast. She was married to Euripides Prado who helped her in her work with love and respect. She had several children. 

Ana produced phenomena of materialisations, apports, photographs, movements of objects, direct writing and other incredible phenomena. 

Her meetings were attended by the most brilliant men of the time, early 1900s, politicians, philosophers, doctors, psychiatrists, lawyers, judges, etc., who certified the authenticity of the phenomena produced through her intermediary. We can name several materialisations not only of flowers, hands and feet, but of entire bodies. Perhaps the most famous case of materialisation was that of Raquel Figner, young daughter of the famous Federico Figner, a rich and powerful man, an active spiritist and personal friend of Chico Xavier, who introduced the electric lamp in Brazil and owned the Edison House in Rio de Janeiro, which at that time was the capital of the country. This fact was widely documented at the time by the press. 

The young girl materialised on several occasions, walking, talking and caressing her loving parents. Many years later, from the spiritual world, Federico Figner, through the mediumship of Chico Xavier, recounted this encounter in the book "Volví". 

Ana also produced "apport’ effects", i.e. the transfer of objects from outside the totally enclosed room to the middle of the meeting room. On several occasions she brought flowers from different regions of the country, which simply appeared on the table to everyone's surprise. 

Different materialised objects such as flowers, hands, feet and others were kept in paraffin and are now part of a museum.  

The phenomena of direct writing fascinated everyone. Many years later, Chico Xavier also developed, among all his physical effects, that of direct writing. Let us remember that it is a matter of putting a piece of paper inside a closed and obviously carefully controlled box, where one or more sentences will appear written, without pencil or writing medium. It is written directly by the communicating spirit, by her will and the collaboration of the vital and special energy of the medium. The important witnesses of these meetings attested that they did not know how these effects were produced but that they were absolutely true. Several of them wrote articles and books on the subject. 

Ana was placed inside a cage for better control of the experiments and the spirits materialised, thanks to her ectoplasm and her capacity for these physical mediumistic effects. 

The respected French spiritist researcher Gabriel Delanne recorded the facts produced by Ana Prado, in his book "Reincarnation", as well as in the "Revue metaphysique" of Paris, in the years 1922 and 1923. 

Among other things, Ana was the best collaborator of the writer Raymundo Nogueira de Faria in his work "The work of the deceased". 

Naturally, at the same time that Anne was visited by the most brilliant men of the day and admired, she was also persecuted and offended by others. Among these enemies was a French priest, Father Florentius Dubois, who wrote articles in the newspapers of the city, ridiculing and offending the medium. He was a bitter enemy of Spiritism. He tried to participate in these meetings but was never accepted. 

Most of these incredible phenomena of physical effects occurred between 1918 and 1921. They obviously contributed in a very important way to the spreading of Spiritism in Brazil and in the world. 

In recent years there has been a growing interest in bringing to mind this wonderful and apparently forgotten Brazilian medium, the forerunner of the famous phenomena of physical effects that have shaken the world. These were times when the spirit world encouraged these amazing demonstrations of physical effects, without any scientific understanding of how they were produced, with the clear objective of awakening dormant consciousnesses to Higher Spirituality. After a few years of much phenomenal movement, it was decided from the Major Plane, that from then on, this awakening should be done through books, meetings and the awareness of the need and urgency to modify ourselves morally, practising the much talked about "intimate reformation", promoted by Allan Kardec, through the Higher Spirits. 

Minutes of the mediumistic séance held at the residence of Mr. Euripedes and Ana Prado, on June 14, 1920 (Spiritist Yearbook 1965) Summarised and translated by Etel Schulte. 

At 8 ½ o'clock in the evening of the 14th of June 1920, in the street of Tomoios, number 43, in the city of Belén de Pará, Brazil, where Mr. Eurípedes Prado resides, being present: (names the authorities), among them: Mr. Kouma Horigoutchy, Japanese Minister to the Brazilian Government, Dr. Justo Chermont, Federal Senator and wife, Dr. Virgilio Mendoça, State Senator, Dr. Amazonas de Figuereido, Professor of the Faculty of State Law, Dr. Napoleon de Oliveira, Chief of State Law, Dr. Napoleon de Oliveira, Chief of State Law, and Dr. Napoleon de Oliveira, Chief of State Law. Napoleon de Oliveira, chief of police, Mr. Santiago, member of the State Court, teacher Eltare Bosio, Captain Pedro Borges, assistant to the Governor, Dr. Nogueira de Faría, 1st Prefect of the Capital (he would later write a book recounting the materialisation sessions which would be published by the FEB a year later), Mr. Antonio Martins Pinheiro, intendant of Belém and some others, as well as members of the Prado family. 

The work begins. In the left corner of the balcony-terrace a kind of cabinet was installed, lined with a black tarpaulin and assembled in full view of everyone. The curtains on the right side of the cabinet and on the front were left hanging. Inside this cabinet, which we will call the ‘mediumistic cabinet’, a cage was placed, previously inspected by the assistants, and a strong cord of cotton thread was passed around it as a control, which was sealed. After receiving the medium (Ana) this cage was padlocked in the presence of the three... (she names them all), some of whom were witnessing this for the first time. In front of the cabinet two buckets were placed, one with cold water and the other with melted paraffin, at a fairly high temperature. 

The light was dimmed and the terrace was illuminated by an electric lamp, which provided good light. Behind the row of assistants, in the direction of the mediumistic cabinet, a fan was working. Before starting the work, Mr. Eurípedes Prado received a triptological message in which the Spirit said that everything was fine and told Mr. Virgilio Mendoça that at some point he would be able to approach the cage, which happened shortly afterwards. He asked him to invite someone who was there for the first time to approach the cage as well. They chose the Japanese Kouma. They both then saw the materialised spirit inside the cage next to the medium. 

About 20 minutes later the "Spirit John" came out of the cabinet, dressed in black, both trousers and jacket, and wearing a white hood. He was barefoot. He shook hands with Mr. Mendoça and the Japanese minister. He walked and looked around the room, showing off naturally to everyone. Then he went to the paraffin, showing his wax-covered hand, which was touched by the three of them. Martins, Chermont and Mendoça. 

After the mould was made, Spirit John handed it to Mr. Kouma. He continued to move around the place and made another mould. Several of the people present asked him to bring Anita, a female spirit who had already appeared on several occasions. John went to the cabinet and shortly afterwards a young girl of about 14 or 16 years of age, dressed in white, blouse and skirt, with long flowing hair, was seen to appear. The girl knelt down, prayed, got up, walked and moved freely among those present. She remained like this for about a quarter of an hour. She took the fan from the hands of Mrs. Bastos and went to fan Mr. Kouma, who seemed to deserve the honours of the evening. When the fan was returned to him, it was slightly damp at the handle. The young woman was so well materialised that it caused much astonishment because she looked like flesh and bones. After a few more turns she retired to the cabinet and disappeared. The session seemed to be over when John reappeared, this time, dressed in a white robe. He knelt down and prayed. He approached the audience twice more and then went to the cabinet. A few minutes later he could be distinctly heard waking the medium. Before finishing the work, he still greeted the audience with a kind of handkerchief. 

When the séance was over, the medium awakened, the light was switched on and the cage was examined by the attendants. The sealing wax and the padlock were intact. When the medium was removed, the Japanese minister went inside the cage and examined the padlock, the strength of the bars and everything else he could. Everything was in perfect condition. Those present were more than amazed. 

Here ends this record of a materialisation session conducted by our Ana Prado in 1929. An important event in the history of Spiritism.