Subjects of Interest:
Candle Face Chronicles
The Lost Souls
September 22, 2024
Yesterday, September 21, 2024, I attended the 7th Annual Paranormal Fest at the Black Swan Inn in San Antonio. It was my first time at a paranormal festival, and to my surprise, I genuinely enjoyed the experience. The event was filled with speakers and booths, showcasing a wide-ranging mix of authors, paranormal investigators, psychics, and mediums offering their services.
One of the highlights was meeting a group of paranormal investigators from Paranormal Journal. They seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say about Candle Face. I explained that most paranormal investigators, psychics, and mediums I’ve met online haven’t been interested in Candle Face or helping me with the lost souls. They appeared surprised by that, given the nature of the work I’m trying to accomplish. I mentioned how many groups I’ve seen on YouTube run at the first sign of something knocking, which prompted one of the Paranormal Journal members to chuckle and respond, “We run towards the knocking!” That got a laugh from everyone. I replied, “Everyone says that,” which led to even more laughter.
Despite the humor, there was a seriousness in their eyes—something I’ve only seen from the Houston-based paranormal investigation team, GenX Paranormal Investigations. They stood there listening to me, studying me, and giving off a vibe that maybe—just maybe—I’ve finally found a San Antonio/Austin-area paranormal team willing to help me with the lost souls.
Feeling renewed hope, I wandered around the venue and spotted a psychic sitting at her booth. I decided to approach her and ask for a reading. She was enthusiastic until I mentioned Candle Face and the lost souls. When those words left my mouth, her expression shifted, and she quickly told me that she likely couldn’t help. I thanked her and moved on, approaching another psychic who, to my surprise, remained intrigued even after I mentioned Candle Face. She agreed to do a reading—my first reading ever.
The nearly 30-minute session was insightful, yet everything she said seemed vague, almost like it could apply to anyone. Tarot readings work this way: they can be interpreted broadly, making them applicable to various situations and people. The ambiguity is what makes them feel personal and accurate. Still, hearing her say things out loud was oddly comforting, like getting a new perspective on a familiar view. Although I didn’t get her name, her CashApp information listed her as “Victoria Doane.” I’d recommend her to anyone interested in a reading, as she was kind and professional.
She gave me permission to record and post the reading:
But I couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe a standard psychic reading wouldn’t provide the specificity I needed for the lost souls. I’m not dismissing the field—far from it—but if readings are meant to help us see what’s already inside ourselves, perhaps I need a different approach for the answers I’m seeking.
Interestingly, several psychics, including Victoria, have said that I have latent mediumship abilities that need to be refined. I’ve heard this before. Maybe I need to stop relying on the paranormal community and develop these abilities myself. The thought of doing it all alone is intimidating, though. My interactive investigation was never about me solving everything on my own; it was about inviting others to participate, investigate, and ultimately help free the lost souls and defeat Candle Face. However, finding the right balance between doing the work myself and delegating tasks has been challenging.
That’s the core dilemma: how much should I rely on others versus relying on myself? It’s been only 11 months since I started seeking help, but the paranormal community I’ve reached out to has been hesitant, scared, too busy, or not serious about the paranormal. Maybe it’s time to rethink the plan and focus on sharpening my own abilities. If I truly have mediumship potential, then perhaps I should explore that path more seriously. I’ve found an opportunity to do just that.
This Saturday, September 28, 2024, a small gothic café and boutique called Trible Six Social in San Marcos, TX, is hosting a Mediumship Bootcamp. The description reads: “Unleash your inner mystic with our Mediumship Bootcamp—a powerful day intensive designed to sharpen your psychic abilities and deepen your connection with the spirit world.” It sounds perfect for someone looking to hone their skills. But then I wonder—do I really need this? After all, the lost souls who come to me are clear as day, speaking directly to me without needing devices like ghost boxes, Ouija boards, tarot cards, or crystal balls. While others in the paranormal community rely on such tools, I seem to access these communications without any aid. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with different ways of connecting to the lost souls, relying more on direct communication without these tools. Instead of using ghost boxes or pendulums like many in the community do, I’ve focused on tuning into their energy through visualization and deep meditation. I’ve noticed that I get clearer impressions by shifting my focus this way without needing external devices. It’s not a perfect science, but it’s a start. If I can refine this approach, maybe I won’t need to rely on traditional methods at all. Maybe I should be teaching a class instead of attending one! Of course, I say this in jest, as there’s always more to learn. I don’t need these things, but continuing to learn never hurts.
On top of my mediumship abilities, I’ve been dabbling in remote viewing. I connected with a professional remote viewer named Stacey Tallitsch through the Get Haunted Network. He suggested that remote viewing might help me with the lost souls. Intrigued, I enrolled in his beginner’s class. It’s been fascinating but far more challenging than I anticipated. For example, I discovered that what I see during remote viewing is often the opposite of reality—an unexpected twist I still struggle to adapt to. Maybe I need to modify the process to suit my needs, just like I’m adjusting my mediumship abilities to fit what I’m trying to achieve.
I even asked Stacey if he’d be willing to use his more advanced remote viewing skills to help with the lost souls, but I haven’t received any help from him or other experts I’ve reached out to—just as I haven’t received help from dream interpreters, psychics, and mediums. That’s why I attended the Paranormal Fest 2024 at the Black Swan Inn—to try my luck with the Texas-based paranormal community. But here I am, back at square one, relying on myself and honing my abilities instead of waiting for others to join in.
I’ve said this countless times before, but I still find myself drawn to the paranormal community, seeking assistance where none has been offered. I’ll continue asking, but I must accept that help will remain elusive. Maybe I’m meant to do most of this work myself while relying on my readers to support me with research and clues.
I don’t need to do it all alone, but I’m beginning to realize that I must carry the bulk of this journey myself. Candle Face is closing in, and the lost souls are counting on me—not just to hear their voices, but to ensure their stories are told. My true strength doesn’t lie in the tools I use or the people I meet. It’s in the unrelenting determination to give these lost souls the closure they deserve. But determination alone won’t bring them peace. Only results will. And so far, I don’t have many to show.
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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