Subject of Interest:
Candle Face Chronicles
The Paranormal Community
May 26, 2025
It only took me two years inside the paranormal community to realize it’s not really a community. It’s a business model with a fanbase attached. What I thought was a place of curiosity and cooperation turned out to be a mixed bag of thrill-seekers, brand-builders, and, on rare occasions, people who actually want to help.
So to save everyone time and confusion going forward, let’s stop pretending we’re all working toward the same goal. The paranormal world isn’t one community. It’s three. And not all three deserve the same level of attention, respect, or credibility.
There are the Paranormal Fans, the true believers, the backbone of it all. Then there are the Paranormal Entertainers, the loudest group, who market themselves as investigators, psychics, and mediums but are really just selling fear, merch, and empty drama. And finally, there are the Paranormal Professionals, a rare, often silent group whose priority is actually helping people experiencing real, unexplained phenomena.
So here it is, the breakdown. Not all ghost hunters, psychics, or mediums are the same. Not all deserve your trust. And if the lines haven’t been drawn yet, I’m drawing them now.
Group 1: Paranormal Fans
These are the heart of the community. The center of gravity. They’re the ones who keep the conversation going, who pack the haunted house tours, who fill the seats at paracons, and who stay up late watching documentaries and podcasts and swapping stories about ghosts, Bigfoot, and UFOs.
They aren’t frauds. They’re not the problem.
In fact, they’re some of the kindest, most open-minded people I’ve ever met. Most of them are genuinely curious, open to possibility, and excited to learn more about the supernatural. They don’t claim to be experts. They’re just looking for connection, thrill, maybe even healing. They want to believe there’s something more out there.
But that innocence, that curiosity, is exactly what makes them vulnerable. They don’t always realize how often they’re being taken advantage of, by merch-pushing influencers, overpriced events that deliver nothing, fake evidence, and manufactured drama. Group 2, the Paranormal Entertainers, knows this. And they exploit it.
Paranormal fans don’t show up for drama or deception. They show up to learn, to explore, to feel something real. They deserve more than staged ghost hunts, PayPal buttons, and Patreon links disguised as investigations. They deserve the truth.
They’re the reason any of this exists. And they should be treated with respect, not as customers, not as content fodder, but as the backbone of what could be a real and honest pursuit.
Group 2: Paranormal Entertainers
The sad truth is that Group 2, the entertainers, have been taking advantage of the fans for years. They know fans are hungry for answers, for hope. Maybe they want to speak to a deceased relative, or get advice about love or career. Entertainers have learned how to turn that hunger into clicks, cash, and a nonstop stream of staged content. They understand the old saying and they modernized it: “If you want to get rich in the gold rush, sell shovels.”
This is where the real damage is done. And they make up 99 percent of the so-called investigators, psychics, and mediums out there. They’re not here to investigate, warn, or help. They’re here to perform. To sell t-shirts. Push Patreon links. Shill haunted house tickets. Drop podcast links, TikTok skits, YouTube jump-scare videos, and livestreams where they pretend to be shocked by the sound of their own footsteps and a friend knocking on the other side of the wall, then pretend to be scared.
They’re the ones yelling into the dark for likes and followers. The ones turning trauma into TikTok content. The ones tagging #haunted for views while ignoring the real voices of the dead.
They’ll tell you they “help spirits pass on,” right after you Venmo them a donation or buy their $25 t-shirt. Their websites are full of merch, but empty of answers. And their feeds are packed with drama, who stole whose spirit box method, who’s fighting with who, who faked what video. It’s like high school with EMF detectors.
These are not professionals. They’re influencers with ghost props. And no one should confuse them with anything more.
Group 3: The Paranormal Professionals
This is the smallest group by far, and the quietest. These are the ones who don’t chase clout or clicks. They don’t need dramatic voiceovers or fake jump scares. They show up when someone is scared. When a family doesn’t know who else to call. When a business owner hears footsteps after hours and needs real answers, not theatrics or a comedy routine.
They may not be flashy, but they’re effective. They act quickly, quietly, and with purpose. Some of them do run podcasts or have social media pages, but that’s not the point. It’s not about building a brand. It’s about helping people. Helping families. Helping spirits. That’s their mission.
And yes, some of them might sell merch or ask for support, and that’s fair. Paranormal equipment isn’t cheap. Travel costs add up. A few t-shirts or donation links help offset real expenses. But there’s a difference between selling something to keep your work going, and building your entire identity around sales funnels. These people aren’t milking the dead for money. They’re trying to serve both the living and the dead, without going broke in the process. For example, I have spent $20,000 in two years trying to help the lost souls, and I've made no money in the process.
They don’t need to act. They don’t need to fake evidence. They don’t need to start drama to stay relevant. And that’s why you rarely hear about them, because they’re not selling a story. They’re solving one.
My Final Thought
If you’re reading this and wondering where you fall, ask yourself:
Are you here to chase ghosts, or help them?
Are you trying to be seen, or trying to see?
If you’re a fan, stay curious. Just be careful who you follow.
If you’re an entertainer, own it and identify yourself as an entertainer, because we already know. Don’t pretend it’s something more.
And if you’re a professional, you don’t need my approval. You’ve already earned it.
The lines are drawn. Let’s stop pretending we’re all in the same field.
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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