Subjects of Interest:
Candle Face Chronicles
The Lost Souls
November 4, 2023
Every night, as the world sleeps, my reality unravels, thread by thread. It’s been four days since these strange, almost psychedelic states began, each one disturbingly familiar—like a terrifying déjà vu I can’t escape. Falling asleep now feels like venturing into dangerous territory, where closing my eyes becomes the gateway to something haunting.
It all started—quietly enough—on the night after my interview with Mr. Doe. Our conversation rested on a grim truth: the tragic story of a house fire in 1969. He described the little boy lost in the flames with a vividness that left me uneasy. Despite the room’s chill, I felt a strange warmth creeping in as he detailed the charred remains of a once-cheerful home and the stories of Candle Face.
As I reflected on his account, my thoughts kept returning to the hole at the back of the empty lot, the one my friends and I dared each other to jump into as children. I had always associated Candle Face with that spot, perhaps because of the vivid dreams I had after standing in it. While Mr. Doe didn’t confirm its significance, he speculated it might have been a portal of some kind, rather than a place of burial.
The night after we spoke, I sensed a shift, as if his words had unlocked something dormant. As I lay in bed, the blackness behind my eyelids burst into swirling colors, shifting and pulsing with upsetting intent. It felt less like a dream and more like I was being shown something—or warned.
Then came the voices—a chaotic mesh of shouting and screams. Their words were garbled, but their tone was unmistakable: anger, urgency, confusion. The sensation held me in a state between waking and sleeping, weightless and on edge, as if I might drift away at any moment.
Each night since, the sequence has replayed. I jolt awake, heart pounding, only to face the same cycle when I try to sleep again. By day, I tell myself it’s stress or an overactive imagination, but deep down, I know these episodes are tied to Mr. Doe’s story.
By the fourth night, exhaustion consumed me. I scoured online forums, desperate for answers, and stumbled across “hypnagogic hallucinations”—vivid experiences between waking and sleeping. While the descriptions fit, they didn’t explain why my dreams mirrored Mr. Doe’s story so vividly: the little boy, the fire, and Candle Face, all taking center stage.
I kept replaying his words. He spoke of Candle Face with conviction, calling her a spirit who punishes those who mock her. Had his belief seeped into my subconscious, shaping these nightly visions?
Desperate, I reached out to Mr. Doe again. It was just as hard to reach him this time, and when I finally did, his response haunted me: “Perhaps she’s trying to tell you something.” It wasn’t the reassurance I hoped for. If anything, it confirmed my fear—that these dreams might be more than hallucinations. Years ago, I disturbed Candle Face by trespassing into her resting place. Could my renewed investigation have drawn her attention again?
Tonight, as I prepare for bed, I’m caught between wanting answers and dreading another sleepless night. I’ve taken to sleeping with a light on, hoping it keeps the darkness—and the unease—at bay. If I can understand these nightly visits, perhaps I can gain control—or end them for good. Until then, I remain trapped in this strange limbo between waking and sleeping, searching for even a glimmer of light.
Personal Note to My Readers
I’m longing for a full night of sleep that isn’t dominated by these vivid visions. The toll of these sleepless nights is wearing on my days, straining my work and my relationships. It feels like the moment I started asking questions about Candle Face again, I unknowingly pulled her back into my life—and now she’s refusing to let go.
My military training taught me to run toward the threat, not away from it. So, rather than retreat at the first sign of something unusual, I’m prepared to confront Candle Face. It’s unnerving, but I won’t back down.
I know this could be a long and difficult road, filled with more nights of little or no sleep. Still, I’m committed. I hope that by facing whatever is behind these visions, I can finally reclaim the comfort of uninterrupted rest. I’m ready to see this through, no matter where it leads.
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.
0 comments