I'd say 2001 was the Ontario/Torontoghosts' Annus Horribilis to quote Queen Elizabeth II but it really wasn't all that bad. To be honest, the year started off great and ended well and only a few hiccoughs are going to make the mark in my personal memory.

The Torontoghosts and Ontarioghosts expanded at our usual high rate and we actually were seeing a great upturn in submissions and information right up until the tragic events of September 11th. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the brutal act of terrorism caused a downswing in interest in the paranormal and am therefore blaming it for a slow year but one has to know that the general population was distracted and yes, your favourite ghost sites (all of us) suffered a slow down.

Granted, in November, we seemed to make up for some lost time as we had a minor explosion of hits and submissions many of which we are still organizing and working on. To top that off, we had a very interesting photo submitted that appears to show a full fledged, recognizable apparition. Late November and December saw a bit of a boom with hits and submissions up about a full 20% on the previous year.

As well as the usual stuff, we have had some bumpy politics this year but things seem to have levelled off and our work on the Torontoghosts/Ontarioghosts structure have resumed to their usual peak. Sometimes this past few months, I (and this is only about myself) got a bit myopic in my visions of the work and to be honest did a bit of damage by expecting folks to do things not to my specification but to the outlines of being thorough to silence the negative masses. I do apologise to these folks who were upset and hope that time heals the wounds.

On the other hand, I've had several "kudos" from universities and colleges in North America on our work and have had favourable write-ups and reports in news agencies from literally around the world.

We also have accomplished something that we are CONSTANTLY getting rave reviews about... our free Online Course is considered by many schools and websites to be the one of the best resources for ghost enthusiasts and researchers on the web. (One large (non-GHRS) group in The US have even adopted it as a standard for their own group to read and learn from. High praise indeed!)

Our events this year were excellent with the June Road Trip being one of the most oft talked about events of all time. Hopefully, with Jennifer's skill, this years will be even better. The October Event was in all honesty, a tie between last years as far as attendance BUT we were blessed with much better organization, new speakers and this years did something last years couldn't even come close to... We broke even!

2001 was a good year for the GHRS too! Virginia GHRS has expanded and grown exponentially and will probably soon be the largest GHRS out there. Bobbie and her team really work themselves hard and have fun doing it! A great team and an amazing site! Dani has chosen to try and branch out from simply looking into one part of the UK to dealing with the UK as a whole! She's currently assembling a team that will make us all envious I'm sure. Janice, the director of the Nevada GHRS just sent me a copy of her new book on that state's hauntings and her recent apparition photo is definitely something! Heather's crew in Vancouver are going like gangbusters and are rivaling Bobbie for fastest growing GHRS. Jonathon's work for the Quebec GHRS has been getting rave reviews from visitors and soon might be available en Francais which will help expand the Quebec GHRS into an enviable site! Jonathon is now also working with our consultant, John Robert Colombo which should add to an already interesting site. Gary and has crew in Salt Lake have apparently hit a few snags with politics that make our recent stuff look pretty insignificant but I know Gary and I bet the SLCGHRS will be up and at full steam very soon.

So far, back in Ontario, 2002 looks pretty promising for us all with (so far) about five people doing perfect on the online exam and course who I hope will be willing to come on board as full fledged investigators and many new and revised reports/stories/investigations in the offing. Heck, even my personal life is in a positive upswing!

My hearty thanks to all who've assisted and helped (too many to name here) and all I can say is wait till you guys see what's coming up next for us!

Matthew Didier