Subjects of Interest:
Candle Face Chronicles
The Lost Souls
November 21, 2024
There I sat, watching TV in the living room, when the kitchen lights began to flicker. Of course, I know—we all know what that means. The sunroom door creaked open, and a young Hispanic woman in her early twenties walked in. Her expression was somber, her eyes hollow, and a wide, jagged hole pierced through her translucent forehead. Violence had marked her death, leaving no room for doubt.
“My name is Lupe,” she began, quiet but firm. “I need you to hear what happened to me. I need someone to know the truth.”
I gestured for her to sit, but she remained standing as she dove straight into her story.
“I was 21 when they killed me,” she said. “That night, in 1993, I left my little girl with my parents to visit a friend. I parked in front of her house, but she didn’t answer when I knocked. She was expecting me, so I didn’t understand why she wasn’t home. Confused and upset, I decided to leave.”
Her voice grew louder, anger twisting her expression as she turned away from me. “I never made it to my car.”
She turned back to face me. “Some men were standing outside my friend’s house. I didn’t know them, but I smiled as I passed. That’s when I saw it—a dark truck creeping down the street.”
She clenched her hands, her translucent fingers trembling slightly. “I didn’t even have time to react. The window rolled down, and I saw the barrel of a rifle pointing out. There was a loud crack. One of the guys by the curb grabbed his leg and fell, screaming. And then…”
She paused, reaching up to touch the hole in her head. “And then the second shot came. It hit me here.” Her voice softened. “I didn’t even feel it at first. I just collapsed. I could still see them—the men in the truck. One of them smiled at me. He was wearing a hat. And then they drove off, like it was nothing.”
Her voice faltered, and for a moment, she was silent. I waited, then asked gently, “Were you the target? It sounds like the men were the targets.”
“No,” she replied firmly, a flicker of bitterness in her tone. “I was the target. Those men, they killed me for her.”
“Who?” I asked, though the answer was already forming in my mind.
“Really, you have to ask?” Her voice sharpened. “You know who I mean. She’s the one they worship, the one they kill for. I didn’t know it then, but I saw her later. After I died.”
Lupe’s form flickered as she continued, her words spilling out faster now, as though she feared time was slipping away.
“I woke up in a place I can barely describe,” she said, her voice trembling. “It was dark, but not like the night. The shadows themselves were alive. There were others there, trapped, silent, their faces blurred like smudged glass. I screamed, but no sound came out. That’s when I saw her.”
“She stood in front of me, her face burned, melted, twisted into something no one should ever have to see. She didn’t speak, but I felt her watching me, studying me. And then she smiled, like she was pleased. Pleased that I was there.”
But something didn’t sit right. “Why you?” I asked. “Why were you targeted?”
Lupe hesitated, looking towards the floor. “It was random,” she said, but her voice wavered.
“Was it really random? Or was there more to it?”
Her eyes welled with tears, and she finally looked back at me. “There was a time I laughed at my friend. She believed in this ghost—a ghost that helps people but kills those who don’t believe. I thought it was ridiculous. I told her so. She got angry, but I didn’t think it mattered.”
“Do you think your friend had something to do with this? Did she know you’d be attacked? Is that why she asked you to come over and didn’t answer the door?”
Lupe’s form shook, her tears falling silently. “Maybe. Maybe that’s why she called me over but didn’t answer the door. Maybe she knew.”
Her voice broke, and she began to sob. “She was my friend. I trusted her.”
She wiped at her face, though the tears left no trace. “I didn’t understand then, but I do now. Candle Face’s followers, they’re everywhere. They watch, they listen, and they choose. My death wasn’t random. It was a warning, a punishment. I laughed at the wrong story, and for that, they killed me.”
The lights stopped flickering, leaving the room still and quiet. Lupe’s death wasn’t a random act of violence but a calculated act of devotion to Candle Face. A twisted reminder of how far her followers will go.
Lupe, I’ll not forget.
The lights stopped flickering, leaving the room still and quiet. Lupe’s death wasn’t a random act of violence but a calculated act of devotion to Candle Face. A twisted reminder of how far her followers will go.
Lupe, I will not forget.
Personal Note to My Readers
Lupe said Candle Face’s followers are everywhere. What does that even mean? Are they confined to Central Texas, where most of the victims are, or do they stretch beyond to other parts of the state, the country, or even the world?
And then there’s the question of truth itself. Was Lupe truly killed for Candle Face, or was her death just another act of violence? She wanted me to know the truth, but why did she say it was random? Was she protecting her friend, even though she may have been involved in her death?
Maybe the truth isn’t just about what we know—it’s about what we’re willing to believe. That belief, whether it’s in Candle Face, in justice, or in hope, shapes our reality.
So, I leave you with this: What do you believe?
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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