Subjects of Interest:
Candle Face Chronicles
The Fugitives
January 23, 2025
It’s been over two months since the last lost soul came to me. On December 2 and again on the 22nd, the Master Shadow inspected my home, searching for the missing spirits. He knows I have them, there’s no doubt in my mind, but I moved them to a friend’s house in Austin before he could do anything. Until I decide who can truly keep them safe, they remain hidden, waiting for their chance at freedom.
But now, I’m certain that no more lost souls will come to me. For over a year, they came, desperate for freedom. And now, nothing. Just silence. Sending them to me was part of her sick, twisted game, yet somehow, some of them, whom I call the fugitives, outsmarted her. Now they’re safe, sealed inside small glass bottles, waiting to be sent to their caretakers. I wish more could come, that more could escape, but I know they won’t. I have to accept that my role has changed.
I feel sad that there will be no more lost souls seeking my help. Knowing they relied on me made me feel special, but knowing I can only help 31 of them is unbearable. My house feels emptier now, quieter, but deep down, I know this is the calm before the storm.
If the Master Shadow inspected my home twice, he will return for a third. And this time, I don’t expect him to come alone. I fully expect Candle Face herself to seek me out, either to retrieve the fugitives or to punish me for interfering. But here’s what Candle Face may not realize: this wasn’t my doing. The fugitives outsmarted her, and if my suspicions are correct, they did so by exploiting the one weakness in her system, her Master Shadow.
It’s possible Candle Face doesn’t even know about the fugitives’ escape. The Master Shadow is responsible for overseeing them, keeping them in her lair, preventing their freedom. If they slipped past him, then this is his failure, not mine. If I have the chance, I plan to confront her with this. I want to pit her against the Master Shadow, make her see his failure for what it is. If I can plant the seed of doubt, make her question his loyalty, maybe, just maybe, I can turn them against each other. Maybe it won’t work. Maybe she already knows. But if there’s even the slightest chance that I can turn her anger toward him instead of me, I have to try.
If Candle Face or the Master Shadow gets to them before I can free them, I know what will happen. I don’t want to say it, but I’ve seen enough to know their suffering won’t end. It’ll just get worse. The lost souls that once came to me were terrified of going back into the portal, and if the fugitives are returned, there will be no more chances. No more hope. Just suffering.
Every moment they remain hidden is a victory, but it’s also a risk. I have to find their caretakers. I have to make sure they don’t end up back in the lair.
For around 15 months, I thought I was simply recording their stories, bearing witness to their suffering. Now I realize I was always meant to do more. I’m no longer just a conduit for their voices, I’m their only hope at freedom.
I wish more would come. I wish more could escape. But I doubt it. My mission now is to ensure these 31 fugitives reach safety. It won’t be easy. I know the Master Shadow will return, and when he does, Candle Face may be with him. But I can’t focus on that yet. The fugitives’ freedom comes first.
Every lost soul that came to me, every clue I’ve collected, it’s all led to this moment. I have no choice but to see this through. The real work begins now.
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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