Subjects of Interest:
Candle Face Chronicles
The Lost Souls
December 13, 2023
My wife and I were getting ready to watch another episode of Breaking Bad when I felt an odd nudge, almost like a reminder that I should go to bed earlier than usual—maybe in case another spirit showed up. And then, as if I’d summoned him with my thoughts, a figure stepped out of the portal, walking toward my bed in a sharp business suit. Every step he took made a clear, precise tap against the floor.
Without any sort of greeting, he launched into what he needed to say, radiating a sense of urgency:
Surrounded by the energy of the city, I moved through the sea of people from all walks of life. The streets were alive—towering skyscrapers, flashing signs, the buzz of a metropolis that never stopped. Beggars sat in doorways, cafes overflowed with chatter, and the distant hum of live music added to the chaos.
My life, though, felt like the opposite of that vibrancy. It was a cycle of deals, profits, and endless deadlines. In the corporate world, my name was synonymous with ruthless efficiency. Boardrooms were my battlegrounds, and my sharp mind was my weapon. I thrived in the chaos of business, but beneath the surface, I wondered: Was it worth it? The sacrifices I made—joy, relationships—what did they amount to? I never voiced these doubts. I buried them deep under layers of ambition.
As I walked through the crowd, lost in my thoughts, something—or rather, someone—caught my eye.
He was standing at the corner of Congress Avenue and Sixth Street, a ragged man holding a tattered flyer. His clothes were worn, his hands trembling, but it was his eyes that stopped me. They were desperate, pleading.
“Excuse me, sir,” he said, holding the flyer out to me. “Please, take a moment to read this. It’s about our savior. She has saved countless lives. You could be next.”
I barely glanced at it, brushing past him like he wasn’t even there. The paper crinkled in my hand before I let it fall to the ground.
“Save my life?” I scoffed. “I don’t have time for delusions.”
I laughed to myself as I walked away, my mind already turning back to market strategies and stock prices.
But that night, back in my apartment, something lingered. The man’s eyes, his voice. My apartment, pristine and expensive, felt colder than usual, almost suffocating. It mirrored the isolation I tried to ignore.
I told myself it was nothing. Stress, maybe. A long day. But as I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, a voice whispered at the edge of my consciousness. It was faint, almost like a thought, weaving through the noise in my head.
Then the light flickered.
When I turned, she was there.
Candle Face.
Her presence was impossible to describe—both beautiful and horrifying. She looked like she was made of shadows and light, her body flickering like a candle’s flame.
“Do you still disbelieve, businessman?” she asked, her voice haunting and melodic.
I couldn’t move. My words came out broken. “This... this can’t be real. You’re… you’re an illusion.”
Her laughter was emotionless, almost mocking. “I am as real as the emptiness you felt when you dismissed my disciple yesterday,” she said. “Your skepticism, your disbelief, has summoned me to you.”
She reached out, her hand more shadow than flesh, and I felt its heat even before it touched me. Doubt and dread consumed me. The world I’d built on logic and profit shattered, and all that was left was fear.
When her fingers touched my forehead, it was like a floodgate opened. My entire life flashed before me—every moment of ambition, every sacrifice. I saw myself chasing success at the expense of everything else. Faces I hadn’t thought about in years appeared: family, friends, people I had pushed away. Their expressions were filled with sadness and disappointment.
I realized, too late, what I had given up. The moments I could have chosen happiness or connection, I had traded for something hollow.
I begged her for mercy. I told her I could change, that I wanted to believe. But it didn’t matter.
“It is too late,” she said, her voice final.
She claimed my soul, pulling me into her lair.
The next day, the city didn’t stop. No one noticed I was gone. My absence barely rippled through the relentless pace of the world. My apartment remained untouched, a pristine monument to a life that had looked successful but was empty at its core.
And somewhere, on those same streets, the ragged man stood at another corner, holding out his flyer. His eyes searched the crowd, pleading for someone to listen before it was too late.
After the businessman finished his testimony, he stepped backward into the portal in the corner of my bedroom, his shoes tapping just like before. Before disappearing completely, he had more to say:
Take a moment to step back from the relentless pace of work and truly listen to those around you; their stories can enrich your life in ways success alone can’t. Don’t wait until it’s too late to realize that life’s true value lies in connections, not just accomplishments.
Personal Note to My Readers
Reflecting on the businessman’s testimony, I’m reminded of something crucial: how important it is to truly listen to both the living and those who feel unheard. In our day-to-day rush, we can easily dismiss someone’s story or plea—just like that overlooked flyer. Whether it’s a friend’s warning, a stranger’s request, or a loved one’s silent struggle, these neglected voices hold information we often miss when hurrying through life.
The businessman’s words aren’t simply a call for our help but also his attempt to help us. He asks us to slow down and pay attention to what people around us are saying. We shouldn’t wait for something supernatural to remind us how important it is to listen. Let’s start with everyday moments and embrace the lessons we can learn from each other.
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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