Candle Face: The Ghost No One Dares to Face

January 5, 2024

Main Subject: Candle Face

Please allow me to rant.

It’s been grueling since I reopened my investigation into Candle Face in October 2023. I thought I’d banished her back to hell. My return to Texas after retiring from the military forced me to face something worse. Candle Face was still active, and she was still terrorizing people. I set out to understand how far her power had spread.

As I went through the stack of emails I had received over the years about Candle Face, my skepticism turned to alarm. She seemed more dangerous than ever. Some came from self-described disciples of Candle Face, describing a spirit that rewarded followers and punished skeptics. For all the fear in their stories, most of these people said very little I could use.

My investigation led me into paranormal groups on Facebook, Reddit, and the Darknet, where I found hobbyists, ghost hunters, mediums, and psychics. That only made my frustration worse.

Many people posting images of “orbs” on these platforms seem fully convinced that their photos show real paranormal activity. Alongside those are the usual cloud photos and grainy pictures of patterns on walls, ceilings, trees, and bushes, most of which are classic examples of pareidolia, people seeing meaningful images in random visual noise. The problem is that once these claims are challenged, the reaction often turns personal. Some posters take any skepticism as an attack and accuse others of bullying. To be fair, some skeptics are rude about it. Others are more measured. The paranormal community is caught in a constant fight between belief and skepticism, and it gets worse when people are deeply invested in what they think they’ve seen.

When I tried to draw these groups into a serious discussion about Candle Face, most of the responses were evasive or openly fearful. They’re more comfortable with safer topics like orbs and pareidolia. That tells me a lot. For all their talk about the paranormal, most of them avoid anything that feels truly dangerous.

Watching paranormal investigators was even more frustrating. Many of them post videos of their ghost hunts. These so-called professionals yell at spirits, provoke them, and act brave for the camera, then panic the moment something happens that they can’t explain. They claim to want real paranormal evidence, yet bolt the second they think they might have found it. Even the ones who stay to the end tend to leave right as the video cuts off, often at the exact sixty-minute mark, which just happens to match the runtime of all their other videos.

My attempts to get help from mediums and psychics went no better. These are people who claim to have direct contact with the spirit world, yet many of them fell silent or started dodging me when I asked for help interpreting the dreams involving Candle Face’s victims. They speak openly about spirits until the case in front of them feels dangerous. Then they back away.

There was one possible lead. I received an offer from a paranormal investigation team during a Facebook video call. They volunteered to investigate Candle Face. At first, that sounded promising. After looking into them, I lost confidence in what they could offer. Their methods felt more like a comedy routine than a serious investigation. Candle Face’s victims deserve better than a punchline.

I’ve had to work through skepticism, fear, and too many half-serious efforts from people who claim they want the truth. I’ve run into more obstacles than answers. The paranormal community may be full of enthusiasm and stories, but much of it backs away when a case becomes truly disturbing. Even so, I’m not backing off. For the people still being haunted by Candle Face, and for what happened to me as a child, this investigation isn’t over.

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.