Candle Face's Master Shadow: The Broomstick Killer

December 15, 2024

It’s been two weeks since Candle Face’s Master Shadow left me a riddle to figure out who he is. My mind has been in overdrive since then, trying to put it all together. I’ve been sitting at my desk for hours now, hunched over my computer and a stack of notes, with a stiff neck and burning eyes. It’s well past 3:00 a.m., and I can still feel the lingering heat in the air from that night. My wife is asleep down the hall, blissfully unaware of the chaos I’ve allowed into our home. The crystal ball rests on the center of my bookshelf behind me like a guilty secret. It’s been inert in the days since the attack, its surface clear and still. No sparks of red light flicker inside. No silhouettes swirl within. Yet I know what happened was real. My throat is still a bit sore from where that monstrous hand hoisted me into the air.

Before I lose my mind, I need to document the results of my investigation. That night, after the Master Shadow vanished back into the crystal ball, it left me with a riddle:

I was freed to kill but bound again.
My name is yelled, though I bring silence.
Look where the broom sweeps, and you’ll find my mark.

Shortly after the Master Shadow’s visit, I grabbed onto the first symbolic interpretation that came to mind: fire. I reasoned that fire, when unleashed, kills indiscriminately, only to be snuffed out, or “bound again,” once it’s contained. People shout “Fire!” in fear, yet fire’s aftermath often leaves a silent, charred landscape. And ash, what remains of a burned home, must be swept up. “Look where the broom sweeps” could mean ashes. It wasn’t a bad guess in my rattled state.

But as I continued my research, I realized it was too simple. The Master Shadow felt too cunning and too personal to be something as impersonal as a mere element. Its words and actions suggested a deliberate taunt, a clue meant to be solved. And so, over many late nights since the attack, I’ve been looking at every angle.

As a former investigator, I know that sometimes you have to list out every possibility before you can narrow them down. The riddle gave me three main clues:

1. Freed to kill but bound again: This suggests a cycle, someone once restrained, then released, allowed to do harm, and then restrained once more. “Bound again” strongly suggests a person who was captured, imprisoned, or otherwise contained, freed at some point, and then captured again.
2. My name is yelled, though I bring silence: The name is shouted, perhaps as a warning or a cry of alarm. If it’s a person, their name might have been notorious, spoken in fear or anger. Yet this entity “brings silence,” which might mean death. Although I first considered the word “Fire!” here, I’ve since leaned toward something more human, something that leaves lasting scars after the ashes cool.
3. Look where the broom sweeps, and you’ll find my mark: The broom is the strangest part. Why a broom? What mark would it leave or reveal? If not ashes, could it refer to something else involving a broomstick? Or is it symbolic? The searching helped me realize this might be literal, pointing to a killer known for using a broomstick.

Many murderers have nicknames that bring certain images to mind: Jack the Ripper, the Night Stalker, the Boston Strangler. Late-night research and rechecking old case files gave me nothing definitive until I searched specifically for a “Broomstick killer.” That search led me to Kenneth McDuff, known as the “Broomstick Killer.” Before settling on McDuff, I also considered other possibilities:

• Mythological or Urban Legends: I thought of witches, Baba Yaga, and the idea of “Witch!” being yelled in old towns as a warning. But witches and broomsticks felt too mythic for a modern case. And the Master Shadow seemed tied to a more recent evil.
• Firearms and Shouting “Fire!”: In the days after the attack, I reconsidered my first guess. Guns don’t really connect with brooms, and they aren’t “freed and bound” in a legal sense. That path went nowhere.
• Other Killers or Criminals with Cyclical Freedom: I spent many hours revisiting notorious criminals who were imprisoned, released, and then went on to kill again. The U.S. criminal justice system has seen its share of such cases. Names like Ted Bundy came to mind. He escaped and killed again. But “Bundy” wasn’t yelled as a warning, nor was there any broom connection. Most of those criminals lacked that unique broomstick element I needed.

Going back to the broom clue was my breakthrough. Kenneth McDuff was infamous in Texas, known for a brutal killing spree and for using a broomstick as a weapon in one of his earliest murders. He was sentenced to death, bound, then later paroled, freed, due to legal changes and prison overcrowding. He killed again and was eventually captured, tried, and executed, bound again for good. His life and crimes match the riddle almost too perfectly.

Now, does McDuff’s case fit the rest of the riddle?

“My name is yelled, though I bring silence.”

In Texas, McDuff’s name was tied to judicial failure and terror. Communities cursed his name and shouted it in outrage at the system that let him go free. In that sense, his name was yelled as a warning and condemnation. The silence he brought was the silence of the grave, his victims and their families left in mute horror.

“Look where the broom sweeps, and you’ll find my mark.”

McDuff earned the nickname “Broomstick Killer” because of his use of a broomstick in a murder. This line directly points to that nickname, guiding me to him as if the Master Shadow wanted me to know who he was.

I’ve also connected another dot: a newspaper snippet about a prostitute named Crystal, murdered in North Austin. The paper printed the name she worked under. It’s also the only name she ever gave me. I recall a lost soul named Crystal who reached out to me on May 24, 2024. She mentioned her killing in North Austin. At the time, I assumed it was a Candle Face follower directly behind her murder. But now, seeing Crystal’s name linked to McDuff’s known or suspected victims, I’m convinced that the spirit I spoke to was one of his victims. One more detail helped push me there. In her testimony, Crystal said she once bit her attacker on the right cheek, hard enough to get away from him. I pulled up every photograph of McDuff I could find and studied the right side of his face. The images are old and grainy, and I won’t call what I see proof. But I couldn’t rule it out, and I’ve learned to pay attention when a detail refuses to rule itself out. Was McDuff a Candle Face Deliverer, killing for Candle Face, and now rewarded for his work by becoming the Master Shadow?

Had Crystal’s spirit been trying to guide me toward McDuff’s identity all along? Rereading old notes and comparing dates and details suggests she may have. If Candle Face can summon or control the evil spirits of history’s worst murderers, then the Master Shadow’s appearance and riddle serve as an ugly test. Solving it brings equal parts satisfaction and dread.

Could there be another killer who fits this pattern? Someone else freed, bound again, associated with a broom? After extensive searching, I found no one else so clearly tied to this particular weapon. McDuff was paroled, killed again, and then executed. It’s a well-documented chain of events. The broomstick detail is too specific to be a coincidence.

I should also explain why I first thought of fire. That night, I was reeling from the attack. The Master Shadow’s grip was searing hot, and my mind latched onto the idea of shouting “Fire!” as a warning call. In hindsight, the personal nature of the riddle, the historical weight behind it, and my investigative instincts all point to a human monster behind the fire. Fire doesn’t care who it kills, and it doesn’t make threats about returning. The Master Shadow does.

The fact that Candle Face can conjure or channel the spirit of a murderer like McDuff speaks to her power. McDuff’s name is tied to legal failure, cruelty, and terror. That’s exactly the kind of energy Candle Face might exploit.

Since the attack, I’ve grown more certain of his identity and purpose. If he truly is Kenneth McDuff’s spirit, then I’m dealing with something beyond a mere haunting. Candle Face may be using the psychic remnants of killers to enforce her will or terrify those who oppose her. I think I remember from somewhere that the worst of Candle Face’s followers, the ones who kill for her, become shadows. Now I know where that came from. When she led me through her Lair, I saw dark shapes, most of them roughly human, powering her machines and feeding off the pain they caused. I didn’t look closely at them then. I think now they were men once. Killers she kept. In any case, the Master Shadow said he’d be back. I believe him.

For now, I’ll keep documenting everything. I understand more now than I did on the night of the attack. Knowledge is the only weapon I have. The connection to Crystal’s murder gives me a heartbreaking link: a victim’s lost soul reached out to me months ago, and only now do I understand why.

Naming him may be the first step toward stopping him. If I’m right about the Master Shadow’s identity, then perhaps I can find a way to destroy him along with Candle Face.

I’ll continue researching Candle Face’s methods. How are these killers’ spirits summoned or contained? Are there historical precedents for this kind of necromantic practice? Over the next days and weeks, I’ll dig deeper into archives, old ritual texts, and reported hauntings. Crystal’s story might hold more clues.

For tonight, I’ll put these notes away. The clock is edging toward dawn, and I’m exhausted. I’ve made progress. I think I’ve identified the figure behind the riddle. He’s likely Kenneth McDuff, the Broomstick Killer. And I know he’s under Candle Face’s control.

The Master Shadow promised to return, but this time, I’m better prepared. I understand the enemy I face. That will have to be enough for now.