The Empty Lot Next Door

Handprint on a window with a dark, eerie landscape outside.

The Empty Lot Next Door

More than a ghost story

Small house burning in bright flames at night, the fire that destroyed the house on the empty lot next door.

The First Record of Candle Face

Before Candle Face Chronicles existed, there was only a memory.

In the late 1970s, my family moved into an old house on Ben Howell Drive in Austin, Texas. Next door was an empty lot where a house had once stood before it burned to the ground. At the back of that lot was a strange hole in the earth. No one could clearly explain why it was there.

Neighborhood children told stories about the fire, the girl who died in it, and the warning tied to the hole left behind. The details changed depending on who told them. Some said the whole family had been buried in the lot. Others said only the girl had died. But one part of the story stayed the same. Anyone who jumped into the hole would be haunted by her.

Eventually, curiosity got the better of me. One night, I jumped into the hole to prove the story was only a rumor. At the time, I believed I had settled the matter.

I was wrong.

That choice marked the beginning of something that followed me for years.

The Origin of the Investigation

The Empty Lot Next Door is my award-winning and best-selling (First Edition) memoir that first documented those childhood events. It was written long before Candle Face Chronicles became a larger investigation.

The book recounts my experiences growing up in Austin during the late 1970s and mid 1980s. What began as ordinary childhood exploration slowly turned into something far more disturbing. A presence began appearing in my dreams. Strange signs began showing up around our home. Handprints appeared on windows where none should have been.

I eventually gave the figure a name.

Candle Face.

The name came from the burned appearance of the little girl who began appearing in my dreams. Her face looked as though it had been melted by fire.

At the time, I believed these experiences were something I needed to forget.

Instead, they became the foundation of everything that followed.

Handprint on a window with a dark, cloudy sky and houses in the background.
Five neighborhood kids standing around the hole in the empty lot next door.

The Story Inside the Book

The Empty Lot Next Door is more than a ghost story. It's a record of childhood lived under a quiet and constant fear.

The book explores the strange events surrounding the empty lot and the burned house that once stood there. It also tells the story of growing up in a family struggling with poverty, instability, and silence. Many things went unspoken in our home and neighborhood. The haunting became one more secret I carried alone.

The empty lot eventually became the center of our childhood world. My friends and I played there, built a treehouse in the large oak tree, and spent endless afternoons exploring the area. Yet the strange hole at the back of the lot never stopped troubling me.

The more I tried to disprove the legend, the deeper the mystery became.

How It Connects to Candle Face Chronicles

Decades later, memories from that time began returning.

The handprints.
The dreams.
The burned face of the little girl.

Those memories eventually led to a new investigation into the identity of the spirit I once called Candle Face. That investigation became Candle Face Chronicles.

The Lost Souls, The Fugitives, Isabel, and the later discoveries all trace their origin back to the events described in The Empty Lot Next Door.

Without that childhood experience, Candle Face Chronicles would never have existed.

Candle Face drags Ray into the creek in The Empty Lot Next Door.
Candle Face holds Ray’s mouth and nose shut as he lies in bed, from The Empty Lot Next Door.

Learn More About The Empty Lot Next Door

The full story of those events is told in The Empty Lot Next Door, originally published in 2010 and later revised in a second edition in 2023. The first version was written as a young adult story. The second edition reworks that material into a more accurate account of what happened.

LEARN MORE

The Empty Lot Next Door

Book cover for "The Empty Lot Next Door" by Arthur Mills: a dirty handprint on a cracked window overlooking an empty lot at dusk.

The Empty Lot Next Door

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Do You Believe in Ghosts?

Whether you believe or not, my traumatic real-life experiences in The Empty Lot Next Door will make you question the nature of reality. Discover who Candle Face was, how she taunted me, and how she transformed my childhood into a living nightmare.

 

Based on True Events of a Haunting in Austin, Texas

The investigation into Candle Face didn’t start with Candle Face Chronicles, it started with my childhood haunting. The Empty Lot Next Door is my award-winning memoir that first introduced Candle Face, drawn from real experiences growing up in Austin in the 1970s and 80s. What began as a terrifying memory became the foundation for everything that followed.

The Second Edition: More Truth, More Terror

My much-acclaimed memoir, The Empty Lot Next Door (originally published in 2010), returns in a more terrifying second edition released in 2023. While the original captivated young readers worldwide, I’ve reimagined this new version to unsettle even the most seasoned horror fans. I've carefully reworked the story to reflect actual events, deepening the psychological tension and heightening the vivid imagery.

The Empty Lot Next Door Storyline

When I was young, my family excitedly moved into a new house next to an unusual vacant lot in our Austin neighborhood. A strange, deep hole lay mysteriously at the back of that lot, the site of a home destroyed by fire years before. At first, the empty lot was just an exciting playground where my new friends and I played. But soon, I learned the unsettling story behind it—that a little girl had died in the flames there. According to neighborhood legend, anyone who jumped into the hole would be haunted by her restless spirit.

Drawn by curiosity, I recklessly challenged the legend and became haunted by that same little girl. I called her Candle Face because of her scorched face and body. Soon, Candle Face began invading my dreams, leaving handprints and disturbing signs around our home, even when I was awake.

Yet, The Empty Lot Next Door is more than just my ghost story. It's also about the loneliness I felt as a child, unable to share my fears with my family, who were overwhelmed by their own struggles. I quietly tried to understand my frightening reality, afraid to burden anyone with my secret terrors. Ultimately, my memoir shows how a childhood filled with silence can haunt far longer and deeper than any ghost.

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Also Available on Amazon

You can purchase The Empty Lot Next Door directly from my website or through Amazon. Ordering here means you’ll receive a personally signed copy and support me more directly as an independent author, since Amazon takes a significant share of each sale and doesn't offer signed copies. Amazon, however, often provides faster shipping, free shipping in some cases, and easier returns, while signed copies purchased through my website are nonreturnable. Either way, I appreciate the support.