Can burning candles cause black soot?

Surprisingly, the source of the soot most often is simple candle-burning. Burning candles can be extremely dirty, especially scented ones. Although they appear to burn cleanly, they produce tiny particles of soot that become airborne. Air typically is pulled from the garage into the house, bringing the soot with it.

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Keeping this in consideration, what is candle ghosting?

But us home inspectors are referring to those weird black lines on walls when we talk about ghosting. This typically happens in homes where people burn a lot of candles, especially jar candles. Candles can give off soot which is comprised of tiny carbon particles. This gets deposited all over the house. You can also ask what is causing black on my walls? Ghosting happens when mildly damp, warm and possibly sooty interior air condenses on the sections of walls and ceiling that are colder because they are that uninsulated section of the wood frame. The result: black sooty stains on your walls and ceilings that follow the patterns of the framing.