Subjects of Interest:
Candle Face Chronicles
The Lost Souls
The Fugitives
December 28, 2024
Today felt like a big step forward in my plan to protect the fugitives. After some consideration, I decided to take extra precautions with them. I purchased a roll of QR code stickers from Amazon, and over the past week, I’ve been entering the information the fugitives provided me into a QR code generator. Each fugitive now has their own unique code on a sticker affixed to their bottle, a small yet vital step in ensuring their safety as the situation grows more complicated.
The process of entering the information was both tedious and exciting. Writing down their stories—the fragments of their lives and deaths—felt like a reminder of how fragile this whole effort is. These fugitives, as I’ve come to call them, have entrusted me with their safety.
Despite today being my birthday, this felt more important than any celebration. Ensuring the fugitives’ safety couldn’t wait. I drove to Austin to hand over the box of 30 fugitives to Michael. I decided to keep one fugitive with me, feeling that I’d be a better caretaker for this particular spirit. Michael is my childhood friend and the same person I called Mark in my memoir The Empty Lot Next Door. We’ve stayed in touch over the years, and I trust him implicitly. Michael agreed to keep the box at his house for now. My reasoning was simple: if the Master Shadow decides to return to search for the lost souls, I don’t want the fugitives anywhere near me. My house has already seen enough of him, and I can’t afford to take chances.
The drive to Austin was uneventful, but driving in the middle of the night probably wasn’t a good idea. I kept looking over my shoulder to the back seat, thinking the Master Shadow or Candle Face herself would appear. My mind played tricks on me, every shadow on the road feeding my anxiety until I forced myself to focus, repeating that this was the right thing to do. The box sat in the backseat, and I couldn’t help but glance at it in the rearview mirror every so often. The thought that these spirits were being hunted by the Master Shadow or something worse was enough to keep my nerves on edge.
When I arrived at Michael’s house, he greeted me with the same easygoing demeanor he’s always had. He didn’t ask many questions, probably because he already had the answers. I gave him a quick rundown of the situation, explaining that the bottles needed to be kept safe and undisturbed. Michael, being the practical person he is, asked if there was any chance of the spirits escaping. Deep down, I knew they weren’t evil. I’d seen their desperation, their need to escape the forces hunting them. I assured him that the bottles were secure and that the fugitives were good, not evil.
Driving back home, the absence of the box in my car felt strange, almost unnatural. Even though they’d only been with me briefly, their presence had become a constant reminder of my responsibility. Now, without them, my life feels both lighter and emptier. I can’t shake the thought that I’ve just set something larger into motion.
For now, all I can do is wait and hope that the decision to move the fugitives was the right one. The QR codes will help if I need to keep track of them later, and spreading them out—when the time comes—will hopefully weaken any chance of detection. I can only hope that I’ve made the right decision, though the nagging uncertainty refuses to leave me. The Master Shadow has promised to return, and when he does, I’ll need to be ready for whatever comes next.
Is Candle Face real?
This is a complex and deeply personal question. On the one hand, there's the possibility that Candle Face is a manifestation of my childhood trauma, a figure created by my mind to cope with fear and emotional turmoil. On the other hand, the consistent details, physical evidence, and shared experiences with others suggest that Candle Face may be a genuine supernatural entity. Whether Candle Face is real or a creation of my psyche, her impact on my life has been undeniably profound. Ultimately, the answer to this question is up to you.
How are you able to communicate with the dead? Are you a psychic or medium?
I don’t consider myself a psychic or medium, although many in the paranormal community believe I have some kind of gift, perhaps one that I haven’t fully tapped into yet. Unlike those who claim to communicate with any spirit, my ability seems limited to connecting with Candle Face’s victims and Candle Face herself. While I’m not sure how this works, the connection is strong and focused on these particular Lost Souls, allowing me to share their stories and seek justice for them.
Do you use AI to create your content?
From October 2023 to around March 2024, I personally wrote the short descriptions you see on Google and social media platforms when my web pages or journal entries are shared or found in search results. These descriptions are those brief, 160-character summaries that pop up beside the URL. It was challenging to condense complex ideas into such a small space.
By March 2024, I began letting Wix, my website host, handle this task for me. Their AI generates these summaries much faster and often with more precision than I could manage within that tight character limit. It was a practical decision to let the system take over this small aspect of my work, allowing me to focus more on my writing and investigations.
The web pages and journal entries themselves are entirely my own. My writing encompasses a wide range of topics, including the testimonies of the Lost Souls, my investigations into Candle Face/Isabel, my books like Isabel: The Forgotten Daughter of La Llorona and The Haunted Handbook, as well as other works and research. Everything I write is rooted in my decades of experience in writing (over ten books in 15 years) and my 30+ years of expertise in intelligence analysis, missing persons cases, and human trafficking investigations. The core content you read always comes from me.
By early March 2025, I decided to create a Shopify account to sell copies of Isabel: The Forgotten Daughter of La Llorona, The Haunted Handbook, and to look for caretakers for The Scrolls of Souls. It was a tremendous amount of work to manually transfer all 130 journal entries from Wix to Shopify and recreate the Google SEO titles and descriptions for each entry. Shopify’s blogging platform also required a summary for each journal entry. Summarizing my work was taking around 30 minutes per entry, which became overwhelming and unsustainable.
To streamline the process, I allowed AI to create the summaries for me by uploading each journal entry and letting the AI generate the SEO descriptions, summaries, and ALT text for images. Here's a clear breakdown of what is AI-generated:
- Some journal entry titles.
- Nearly all SEO journal descriptions (up to 160 characters).
- Nearly all summaries (which are only available in the backend and not visible to the public).
Everything else you read comes from me, whether it’s documenting testimonies from the Lost Souls, researching Candle Face/Isabel, or writing my books. The AI simply handles the tedious, mechanical parts of the process, leaving the writing, storytelling, and investigations entirely in my hands.
I review all AI-generated summaries and descriptions to ensure they accurately represent the essence of my writing. My decision to use AI for these backend tasks is about maintaining efficiency and allowing me to focus on what truly matters: writing, storytelling, investigations, and giving voice to the Lost Souls, protecting the Fugitives, investigating Candle Face/Isabel, and exploring new projects. Your experience as a reader is shaped by my work, not by AI.
Why did you end the podcast?
I decided to cancel the Candle Face Chronicles Podcast for two key reasons. First, while the Get Haunted Network is a fantastic community for paranormal entertainment, it wasn't the right fit for the serious and important nature of my work with Candle Face Chronicles. The network's lighthearted tone didn’t align with my mission.
Second, the friends and family of one of Candle Face's victims reached out and asked me to stop discussing their loved one on the podcast because it was causing them too much pain. Their request made me realize that my work, while well-intentioned, was unintentionally hurting those who are still living and grieving.
These reasons led me to end the podcast, but I remain committed to continuing my mission to uncover Candle Face’s origins and methods with a renewed focus on compassion and respect for the living.
Why did you stop using www.candleface.com and start using www.branchingplotbooks.com?
I have had the branchingplotbooks.com domain since 2012, but I transferred the domain to Shopify to use it as my storefront. I needed to do this because Isabel: The Forgotten Daughter of La Llorona can't be published or sold via Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing because of its spiral binding requirement. The same goes for The Haunted Handbook.
I decided to sell them, along with most of my other books, on Shopify because it allows me to provide a more streamlined and reliable experience for my readers. It also enables me to have full control over my work and how it reaches my audience. Additionally, all my books are still available on Amazon (paperback and Kindle), except for Isabel: The Forgotten Daughter of La Llorona and The Haunted Handbook due to their unique binding requirements.
I also chose to use Shopify’s blogging platform, keeping all books, my journal, and the shopping experience located in one place.
I plan on keeping www.candleface.com up for the interim, but it will likely go down as well, or at least be redirected to www.branchingplotbooks.com. In the end, I want my work to be more streamlined and easier for the paranormal community and my readers to find my work, read and help the lost souls, protect the fugitives, and care for the Scrolls of Souls.
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