June 7, 2024
I slept early last night. Just as I hit the pillow, the shadows in the living room corner began to flicker, along with the kitchen light I left on to help cast a shadow in that corner. I sat up and saw two figures exit the portal and walk towards me. As they neared, I saw that one was a white man around 60. He was rather short, standing around 5'8" or so. The other lost soul was a much younger female, maybe 25 or younger. She appeared black or light-skinned Hispanic, but I couldn’t tell for sure. The male spirit spoke first.
“Hello, Ray. Moana and I need your help.”
Moana looked puzzled. “What did you say?”
Standing to her left, the male spirit switched sides with Moana and nearly yelled in her right ear, “I told Ray we need his help.”
“Oh yes, Ray, we need your help,” she repeated.
We just looked at each other, waiting for the other to respond. I wanted to ask them how to help, but I knew better than to ask.
After looking around confused, Moana spoke first. “Ray, we drowned in Lake Travis around 20 years ago. We both had dreams of Candle Face the night before. Even though we weren’t together the night before, we had the same dream from our own perspectives.”
The male spirit nodded. “I always believed in Candle Face, but I didn’t want to follow her directions, like bringing non-believers to her. I drew the line at participating in killings.”
“Me too, I didn’t want any part of that,” Moana added.
“In my dream, Candle Face said if I didn’t listen to her, I’d be her next victim,” the male spirit continued. “Moana had the same dream.”
The male spirit paused, then added, “Candle Face chooses her followers carefully. She targets those who already believe in her legend but are weak enough to manipulate. She preys on our fears and desires, making promises and threats in our dreams. We were chosen because we both had a history of dabbling in the paranormal and were curious about the other side. She exploited our curiosity and fear.”
Moana nodded in agreement. “She promised us power and knowledge beyond the grave if we brought non-believers to her. At first, it seemed harmless—just convincing people to believe in Candle Face’s power. But soon, she demanded more. She wanted us to lead people to their deaths, to feed her power.”
“We couldn’t do it,” the male spirit said, his voice shaking. “We refused to become murderers. But defying her came with a price.”
“Soon after we got in the middle of the lake that day, the boat nearly tipped over, and we both fell overboard. Moana didn’t know how to swim, so she went underwater. I dived down after her. Once I was underwater, I could see about a dozen skeletal figures grabbing her legs and pulling her down toward the bottom. I tried to pull her back up…”
Moana continued, “But the monsters were just too strong. They kept pulling me down to the bottom. I was almost out of air by then, but I saw a few more monsters on the bottom, holding up a large rock. I was placed at the bottom, and the rock was placed on top of me, finishing the job.”
The male spirit said, “I was almost out of air, too, but I continued to swim down after her. When the rock was in place, the group came after me. They, too, put me under a large rock. Our bodies are still under those rocks, near the marina where we launched the boat.”
“Ray, help free us from the rocks,” Moana pleaded. “If you can find our bodies, our souls will also be free from Candle Face. Please help us.”
The two spirits thanked me and walked back towards the portal. The male whispered something in Moana’s right ear, but I couldn’t hear it. They both stepped in and disappeared.
Personal Note to My Readers
During my high school years, I visited this general area often. I would jump off the cliffs at Pale Face and relax in the water at The Flats. I really enjoyed my time there hanging out with my friends. But many people have drowned in those waters, and many of their bodies were never recovered. It’s possible some of those who never resurfaced could be the “monsters” pulling down Moana and her male companion.
In December 2023, a Candle Face victim visited me to tell me his testimony. I kept putting off writing his story in my online journal. On February 13, 2024, he revisited me, hit me a few times, and even vomited in my mouth. He warned me not to ignore any more spirits. This spirit also drowned in Lake Travis while he was on an overnight boat trip with his two young sons.
Recently, an alarming pattern emerged: three spirits in a row who visited me were all victims of drowning, their lives claimed by Candle Face. This pattern prompts me to investigate deeper and understand the dark thread weaving through these spirits’ testimonies.
I think there have been four drowning victims so far, and there are likely many more. There have been a lot of bodies found in Town Lake or what the new generation of Austinites call Lady Bird Lake. Many believe there’s a serial killer on the loose.
A few months ago, hunched over my desk in the quiet night hours, I began my investigation. The stories of these lost souls, each ending in the cold embrace of water, point to a horrifying possibility: Candle Face is the serial killer responsible for the drowning deaths in Austin and nearby Lake Travis. One spirit recounted, “Suddenly the ground beneath me gave way and I found myself plunging into the cold depths of Town Lake. I struggled, trying to surface, but an unseen force pulled me deeper. Below the water, Candle Face’s face appeared, and her eye sockets seemed sorrowful.”
The rumors of a serial killer targeting Austinites add a ghastly layer to my investigation. Despite the police’s best efforts, the cases remain unsolved, the only link being the victims’ supposed interactions with Candle Face. One of my visiting spirits thought he was helping a drowning child only to be pulled under the surface by Candle Face.
Water appears to play a significant role in Candle Face’s evil activities. Several of her killings are associated with bodies of water, and she often appears near lakes, rivers, and the creek near my childhood home. There are several eerie hypotheses about why water is so central to her actions:
Elemental Connection: Candle Face may have an elemental connection to water, using it as a conduit for her power. Water might amplify her abilities, allowing her to manipulate and kill her victims more easily.
Portal to the Underworld: In some cultures, like the Mayans, bodies of water serve as portals to the underworld. Through these portals, she can drag her victims into a realm of eternal torment, beyond the reach of the living.
Manifestation of Fear: Water may manifest the deepest fears of her victims. Many people have a primal fear of drowning, and Candle Face exploits this fear to exert control and terror over her targets.
To understand Candle Face, on 30 October 2023, I interviewed an 82-year-old gentleman who claimed to have seen her. Around 1990, while walking his dog near the creek at the intersection of Wilson and El Paso Streets in Austin, TX, he saw a young girl with long dark hair seemingly bathing in the water. They locked eyes, and he thought he heard a voice asking, “Do you believe?” He whispered, “Yes.” He never saw her again, but he knew it was Candle Face.
Mr. Doe's story, along with the spirits' testimonies and the serial killer rumors, paints a disturbing picture of Candle Face as a vengeful ghost or a collective manifestation of the city’s fears. As the chosen confidant of these visitors, I find myself at the crossroads of myth and reality, tasked with unraveling the mystery of Candle Face and the serial killer rumors that haunt Austin.
Through my writings, I hope to bridge the gap between the living and the dead, to bring the warnings from those beyond to the living. The task is daunting yet necessary. By weaving together the personal tragedies of the spirits with the broader story of fear and uncertainty that envelops Austin, I aim to shed light on the darkness that looms over the city and perhaps help prevent further tragedies in the waters of Town Lake, Lake Travis, and everywhere else Candle Face’s presence lingers.
Key To Understanding
Purchase Candle Face Chronicles: The Lost Souls [Book One]
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