Subject of Interest:
The Empty Lot Next Door
December 18, 2023
SPOILER ALERT: This journal entry contains insights about major characters and their roles in The Empty Lot Next Door. If you're trying to avoid spoilers, it's advisable not to read further until you've finished the book. Reading this journal entry may reveal important plot details you'd rather discover alone.
The relationship between us, the siblings in The Empty Lot Next Door, is a complex web of camaraderie, fear, and transformation. As the youngest sibling, I, Ray, have always held a mix of admiration and apprehension toward my older brothers, Dan and Felix. Their influence on our family life has been complicated, wavering between guidance and turmoil.
Dan and Felix’s tendencies towards rebellious behaviors, including substance abuse and aggressive conduct, cast a long shadow over our family dynamics. This often left Ricky and me in constant unease, navigating our interactions with them with caution and uncertainty. The instances when their actions escalated into outright abuse were particularly distressing, leaving permanent marks on both Ricky and me.
Ricky’s quest for approval from Dan and Felix further complicated their relationship. His efforts to join them in activities like drinking and drug-taking were attempts to carve out his place within the family. Unfortunately, this often resulted in our brothers manipulating or harming him.
Despite the tumultuous relationship, there were moments of genuine brotherhood. For instance, when Felix stood up for Ricky against a bully, it momentarily bridged the gap between us, highlighting the complex nature of our brotherly bonds.
As the youngest, I often observed and sometimes mediated the chaos. Dan and Felix's recklessness profoundly influenced me, shaping my perception of family dynamics and brotherhood. Balancing loyalty to my brothers with awareness of their harmful actions was a continuous struggle.
Our paths diverged as we aged, with Dan and Felix eventually moving out. This departure brought a mix of relief and unresolved emotions. The legacy of our relationship with them continued to impact Ricky and me, influencing our understanding of family and relationships.
In a significant turn of events, my relationship with my brother Dan has dramatically improved. This evolution in our relationship was instantaneous –over a phone call in 2022. That conversation, the first in nearly 13 years, brought understanding and forgiveness. The physical distance that once separated us eventually became a bridge to a new kind of closeness. Once scarce and strained, our conversations transformed into meaningful exchanges where we shared life experiences and laughter and even acknowledged our past difficulties. These dialogues have been crucial in redefining our relationship, allowing us to connect as brothers.
The change in our dynamic is particularly evident during our current interactions. When we meet now, a genuine sense of camaraderie and respect is present, which was missing in our earlier years. We reminisce about our childhood with a sense of nostalgia, acknowledging both the good and the bad times with a newfound understanding. These moments of reflection have been therapeutic, helping us to heal old wounds and build a stronger bond.
This transformation also brought new insights into the nature of brotherhood. It taught us that sibling relationships, like any other, require effort, understanding, and the willingness to see each other as individuals with their own paths and struggles. Our story shows that even the most strained sibling relationships can evolve, leading to deeper connections and mutual respect.
The sibling relationship in The Empty Lot Next Door is marked by complexity and paradoxes. It’s a story woven with fear, conflict, and moments of brotherly connection. Our experiences, though fraught with challenges, were crucial in shaping our development and worldview.
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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