Subjects of Interest:
Candle Face Chronicles
The Lost Souls
March 8, 2024
My plans for an evening walk were ruined by a sudden onslaught of pollen, so I decided to hop on my treadmill instead. It’s set up in the sunroom, diagonal from a corner where Victim #7 and Victim #12 once appeared. As I began slowing down for my cooldown, I heard soft sobbing coming from that same corner. When I glanced over, I saw two faint shapes—a man and a woman.
I stepped off the treadmill, but before I could say anything, the woman spoke up, “Please, keep going. I miss the days when I could run; I miss it so much.” I gave her a kind smile, then walked over to the sofa and sat down, quietly inviting them to join me. They stayed where they were, though, still standing and holding hands. That’s when she started telling her story:
My last day alive is etched into me—every step of that winter jog, every moment leading up to the end. I had my Walkman strapped to my arm, my favorite songs drowning out the cold and the world around me. Music made me feel safe, like I was in my own little bubble.
But that bubble popped when a car slowed down next to me. A young guy leaned out the window and asked for directions. I was so caught up in the music and the rhythm of my steps that I didn’t even hear him at first. I had to pull my headphones off to catch what he was saying.
At first, it seemed normal enough. He asked if I wanted a ride, but when I said no, something in him snapped. Before I could react, he grabbed me—quick, violent, and overwhelming. One second, I was jogging along the side of the road, and the next, I was being shoved into the trunk of his car. My Walkman fell to the ground, the music cutting off abruptly, leaving a silence that made everything feel even more real, more terrifying.
He drove off but came back a few minutes later. I could hear him outside, slow and deliberate, like he had all the time in the world. He was looking for the Walkman. I guess it caught his eye when I dropped it. He picked it up, but he left the battery case and the batteries scattered on the street like they didn’t matter.
I didn’t know it then, but this wasn’t just some random act of violence. He wasn’t acting on his own. Candle Face—yes, her—had sent him. He was supposed to take me to some secluded spot in the woods, part of whatever twisted plan she had. But he didn’t follow through. He killed me instead, right there. Maybe he wanted control, or maybe he just couldn’t resist. Whatever his reason, he defied her, and that sealed his fate.
You see, Candle Face doesn’t tolerate disobedience. She came for him, too, and now he’s stuck here, just like me. She bound us together—literally. Our hands are fused, like some grotesque reminder of what he did to me. I can feel his presence every moment, and it’s unbearable. I hate him, but I’m trapped with him, and there’s no escape—not yet.
Ray, if you want to help, you need to find my Walkman. The battery case and the batteries—they’re still out there, somewhere along that lonely road where he grabbed me. Trace the path of my last run in the Georgetown area. Somewhere in that stretch of road, my body is waiting to be found. If you find it, maybe I can finally be free of him. Free of Candle Face.
Thank you for listening.
She offered a knowing smirk, thanked me for listening, and then slipped back into the portal, her killer following close behind—hand in hand.
Personal Note to My Readers
After they vanished from the sunroom, a thought settled in my mind. The young man, who orchestrated his own end without even realizing it, is now trapped with her in this ghostly realm—an ironic and somewhat fitting twist of fate. The room fell silent, and I couldn’t help but crack a small, dark smile at the notion of his shock and misery upon learning he’s bound to the very sentence he forced onto his victims.
That sense of amusement felt out of place but undeniably apt. As I replay the encounter in my head, I can’t help but feel that faint, hollow laugh in my chest. It isn’t a laugh of happiness, but rather a grim acceptance of the strange justice that keeps him tethered to the fate he imposed on her.
Yet my heart aches for her.
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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