Candle Face: The Betrayal of the Paranormal "Experts"

January 29, 2024

Main Subjects: Candle Face

• The Empty Lot Next Door

In paranormal research, you would expect courage from people who claim expertise. What I’ve seen instead is cowardice and a blunt disregard for the truth. This entry comes out of my frustration with the paranormal “experts” I turned to while investigating Candle Face, the ghost I’ve spent years naming, tracking, and writing about.

My path into this part of the investigation started with two interviews with people who claimed to know something about Candle Face. After those interviews, my nights filled with dreams of swirling colors and jarring sounds. Before long, those dreams changed. First came the screams. Then came clear voices and images of Candle Face’s victims asking me to help them find their remains, identify who killed them, and connect with their living relatives. I believe these spirits chose me as their messenger because of my earlier confrontation with Candle Face, which I described in my memoir The Empty Lot Next Door, and because I know how to document what they tell me.

Since October 2023, I’ve been visited by eleven spirits, each describing a violent death. I don’t claim to be an expert in paranormal phenomena, so I went to paranormal investigators, mediums, and psychics in the hope that they could help me make sense of it. Most of what I got from them was infuriating.

Many of these self-appointed investigators act fearless online, but at the slightest sign of actual paranormal activity, they run. Worse, when confronted, they deny it, even when their own videos show exactly that. That kind of dishonesty is an insult to people who are actually looking for answers.

On January 24, 2024, I had a real break in the case when a former colleague, a private investigator, connected the report of a missing African American girl to the testimony of one of the spirits. The moment I published a journal entry about that possible match, these “experts” cut ties with me. Their timing raises obvious questions. Are they jealous because I may have found more in a few months than they have in years? Or do they think I’m using these experiences for literary or financial gain?

There’s another possibility that deserves closer attention. Fear. Many people in the paranormal community are drawn to the subject and still seem deeply afraid of the real thing. Candle Face already has a bad reputation, and I’ve shared direct experiences involving her. These experts may simply be afraid of crossing paths with something they can’t control, and the moment this investigation produced a name, it stopped being abstract. That may be why they pulled away so quickly.

Yes, I’m a writer, and that’s probably one reason I was put in this position. My original research into Candle Face was meant for my blog. Once the spirits started coming to me, the focus changed. It became about their stories. If these experts had done even basic homework, they would know that. If the psychics are what they claim to be, they should have picked up on it immediately. Instead, they question my sincerity while profiting from their own work. They run podcasts. Some post YouTube videos with ads. Their websites sell coffee mugs, shirts, handbags, crystals, tours, rentals, equipment, and whatever else they can attach to their brand. One of them is an author. But somehow, I’m the problem if I write a book that may help these Lost Souls. That is hypocrisy.

So here I am, left behind by people I thought might stand with me. Frauds or cowards, the paranormal community has plenty of both. The people who market themselves as experts in the paranormal run from it. I’m still here, doing the investigation.

The investigation continues in the three most recent entries below. Each adds to the record on Candle Face (Isabel), the Lost Souls, and the Fugitives. You’ll find every entry to date in The Journal.